Fraziertunes

This is song number two for FAWM 2010 and I'm working again on that Motown sound. This is your classic break-up song - guy done wrong by his woman and trying to get over it. Continue reading →

Song number one of the 2010 FAWM is here! Other than Summertime, this is my first attempt to get a recognizable Motown sound and generally I'm happy with the product. It's a happy song about finding joy in the song of the world around you. Continue reading →

The first song I ever performed competitively was "Summertime" by George Gershwin from the opera Porgy and Bess. Continue reading →

When we started recording I had planned to play the guitar in a Django Rhinehart style but the whole thing ended up feeling more Irish (Pogues specifically) than French, so Doug sang more "drunk" and we went with it. Continue reading →

Some of my favorite songs of all time are from the Irish band The Pogues and "Lullaby of London" is my favorite of those songs. Continue reading →

Written in 2001, Recalling You is a hook turned into a song. The chorus is one I often find myself humming when I'm not thinking about anything. The lyrics are throw-away, but the tune sticks with me almost 10 years later. Continue reading →

I wrote Close My Eyes to sing to Amy during our wedding. This is the fourth, completely rewritten version of the song - the country version. I was a little nervous about getting it right, making sure it sounded like how I felt and conveyed what I meant. When we played it during the wedding, I sang to her and amazingly didn't forget any of the words. Continue reading →

Yep - I wrote this one for mom. I know... my mom's not really into house or ambient electronic music, but she does love me, so I like to think of this like when I would make her paintings out of paint blown around a piece of paper using a straw. Maybe not her favorite kind of art, but she still put it on the refrigerator. Continue reading →

The Mixsub2 version of Pearl's Wedding is meant for the dance floor - preferably a very tiny one packed with people looking to lose themselves for a few hours on a Sunday night. Continue reading →

Pearl is a wonderful friend who’s known me mostly through music.  We met at church, singing in the choir as kids.  When she asked me to be in her wedding (I seem to remember there were 24 people on the … Continue reading →

While working on a Christmas song for the San Dimas Songwriter Showcase this week, Amy mentioned that I should write something somber and serious. This is not that song, but it's a song for her. Continue reading →

While pastoring at Foothill Community Church, I put together a youth band that proved if you give kids a chance to be excellent, they'll amaze you. "Last Seven Words" was the name of the band (based on the old joke that asks, "Know what the last seven words of the church are?") and it was made up of a 7th grade drummer, an 8th grade vocalist, two 9th grade guitarists and the old-man bass player who was a Junior in HS. By the time I left the church they were able to play anything I threw at them... as long as it sounded like punk. Continue reading →

Originally written to sound like a the La's song, "In The End" struggles with its identity and has ended up with a Portishead / Aimee Mann treatment as well. It's not exactly about anything - I just wanted to play with the no-chorus-simple-refrain structure. Continue reading →

I heard an interview with Robert Downey Jr. where he talked about his drug abuse saying along the lines of, "It's like I have a loaded gun in my mouth, and I like the taste of metal." There something of that in this song, but I think the self-destruction here is a little more active instead of waiting for the trigger to be pulled. Continue reading →

My foray into big beat, Vicious owes much of its existence to artists like Fat Boy Slim and BT. Musically, it's pretty loud and obnoxious, hence the name, but it was written around 1999, so it makes sense historically. Continue reading →

Although I wrote this song for my wedding to Amy, it's really more of a worship song to be used in a service. After we used it at our wedding it was used in two more weddings immediately after, which is pretty cool. It's a song about letting go and becoming part of something bigger. When You Are Near Continue reading →

When I started leading music at Glendora Friends Church, there was this kid who played drums for me named Andres Estrada.  He was only in high school at the time but even then he was playing out on Saturday nights … Continue reading →

After Confidence found a home on college radio back in 2000, I decided to rerecord the song in a more acoustic style with a simple 808 drum kit knocking out the rhythm in the background and a simple electric piano filling out the rest. This is the canonical version of a very sappy but sort of sweet song about love. Continue reading →

Written sometime in 1998, Confidence was something of an homage to Pet Shop Boys complete with Neil Tennant-esque "Aaaaah" ending. This got some college radio play back in 2000 and ended up on a compilation disc. This lead to me rerecording a new version on guitar that's become the canonical version of the song. Continue reading →

Written and sung by Greg Veen, I played most of the backing instrumentation on this track.  It’s got a fairly loose feel to it and was recorded in an evening sometime around 2003. Broken Down in Tulsa