Since I already opened the story behind “Angels On A Rampage” on the
“Hurtsville” blog last week, I will tell you a little bit about
songwriting and I’ll show you how the song sounded right after we had
recorded the very first demo at the writing session.
I had always written songs pretty much alone until spring 2010. Or of course someone, typically producer Jukka had many ideas on how to make the songs better, but the actual writing process was just me and my songwriting guitar on my sofa. It felt safe that way.
My publisher suggested that I’d start traveling outside Finland and doing co-write sessions with other songwriters too. They said it might give me new ideas and I could possibly learn to express my stuff better. I didn’t like the idea too much in the beginning but I thought I’d give it a try. If you stay too comfortable as an artist, you become boring and you start repeating yourself. And that can’t be too good for the career and for the music. And of course Stockholm, where they said I should start, is not the worst city in the world, I thought why the hell not.
Nobody said it out loud but the situation with Sunrise Avenue was pretty hard those days. Our second album PopGasm didn’t sell as good as the record companies or even we had hoped, even though I think there were great songs on it too. Especially Welcome To My Life. But it just didn’t sell. The tours were great and all but the fact is that if the album doesn’t sell, you will not be financed to make new music. I was in slight financial problems personally too those times after all the stuff that had happened so paying everything on our own or by myself wasn’t an option. Already one of my friends had sold his house for the first album and I was sure there would not be another one to sell.
The whole thing was a mess those times due to some problems inside the band and also the fact that we were still learning to live with the success that the first album brought. I knew our next album would either be a success and we’d become strong again or … I don’t know what would have happened but I would not be sitting on this 5-star hotel balcony writing this blog if it the sales would have stayed poor.
So… I flew to Stockholm and I must admit my stomach was full of butterflies as I sat in the taxi on my way to the studio. On the other hand I was totally getting out of my comfort zone going totally naked with my songwriting skills into a room with new folks. What if they thought I’m nogood? Or they didn’t like my voice or they just wouldn’t like me or what ever? My self-confidence was not mountain-size those times. On the other hand I knew I’d have to write a hit - alone or with someone - or the Sunrise ship would go down.
At the song writing sessions you focus on the melody and the lyrics. Of course you record some kind of a track too so there’s something you can listen to and play to the record industry folks, but you put all the energy on the actual melody & story.
Since 2010 I have written maybe 150 songs at these sessions. Only eight songs of these have ended up on Sunrise Avenue albums. Some songs have found a new home on some other artist’s albums, but many of them are still waiting for a reason to exist. And some of them are already forgotten. That’s how it goes in this business. You need to write around 30-40 songs to have 12 good ones for the album. I counted quickly 37 songs written for “Unholy Ground” album. Only the best 12 made it. Sad but true ;)
So. Before lunch we had finished the melody and the lyrics. We couldn’t have done it that fast without Sharon’s never-ending ideas for the lyrics. If the feeling is right, I’m usually pretty fast with the melodies but the lyrics can be a four-week-nightmare if I write alone. But with Sharon you have a basket full of good rhymes to choose from when you need a good line somewhere. After the lunch break, we worked with the track for maybe 2-3 hours. I loved Carl’s drum pattern idea immediately and actually you can hear the same drum thing played by Sami on the final track to. We decided to keep the rest very simple at the session so the song would stand out better. Just a bass, acoustic guitar and a (pretty crappy ;) electric guitar. And Sharon’s lady-like vocals too, even though they didn’t work with the final production unfortunately.
There it was – job well done. I went to my hotel and slept bad. I was getting ill, I thought.
I must say, I love these songwriting trips. Even though I love the people in my life, I love being totally alone with my thoughts for weeks somewhere away from home. You just live for the songs and you feel super lonely. That’s when the best and the most honest songs come out of my system.
Before we get to the songwriting demo, I’d like to give you a little advice if you wanna write songs. Focus on the melody and the lyrics. Period. Don’t hide the possible weakness of the song behind a drum loop or some arrangement stuff. If your song really is a good song, it has to work with something very minimal too. I believe in melodies and simple lyrics that people can actually understand. If your neighbor’s 4-year old kid starts smiling or jumping around with only the chorus melody – you have a diamond in your hands. Hallelujah!
So… Now to the demo. Here it is.
https://soundcloud.com/samu-hapa-haber/angels-on-a-rampage-songwriting-demo
And here is the new live version on our Facebook video player. It’s from the Unholy Ground Live DVD – out this Friday!
https://www.facebook.com/sunriseavenue/app_1477485535854823?app_data=9
Big love everyone! 4 days to our FIRST EVER “best of“ album release. Quite amazing!
Hugs,
Samu
I had always written songs pretty much alone until spring 2010. Or of course someone, typically producer Jukka had many ideas on how to make the songs better, but the actual writing process was just me and my songwriting guitar on my sofa. It felt safe that way.
My publisher suggested that I’d start traveling outside Finland and doing co-write sessions with other songwriters too. They said it might give me new ideas and I could possibly learn to express my stuff better. I didn’t like the idea too much in the beginning but I thought I’d give it a try. If you stay too comfortable as an artist, you become boring and you start repeating yourself. And that can’t be too good for the career and for the music. And of course Stockholm, where they said I should start, is not the worst city in the world, I thought why the hell not.
Nobody said it out loud but the situation with Sunrise Avenue was pretty hard those days. Our second album PopGasm didn’t sell as good as the record companies or even we had hoped, even though I think there were great songs on it too. Especially Welcome To My Life. But it just didn’t sell. The tours were great and all but the fact is that if the album doesn’t sell, you will not be financed to make new music. I was in slight financial problems personally too those times after all the stuff that had happened so paying everything on our own or by myself wasn’t an option. Already one of my friends had sold his house for the first album and I was sure there would not be another one to sell.
The whole thing was a mess those times due to some problems inside the band and also the fact that we were still learning to live with the success that the first album brought. I knew our next album would either be a success and we’d become strong again or … I don’t know what would have happened but I would not be sitting on this 5-star hotel balcony writing this blog if it the sales would have stayed poor.
So… I flew to Stockholm and I must admit my stomach was full of butterflies as I sat in the taxi on my way to the studio. On the other hand I was totally getting out of my comfort zone going totally naked with my songwriting skills into a room with new folks. What if they thought I’m nogood? Or they didn’t like my voice or they just wouldn’t like me or what ever? My self-confidence was not mountain-size those times. On the other hand I knew I’d have to write a hit - alone or with someone - or the Sunrise ship would go down.
At the song writing sessions you focus on the melody and the lyrics. Of course you record some kind of a track too so there’s something you can listen to and play to the record industry folks, but you put all the energy on the actual melody & story.
Since 2010 I have written maybe 150 songs at these sessions. Only eight songs of these have ended up on Sunrise Avenue albums. Some songs have found a new home on some other artist’s albums, but many of them are still waiting for a reason to exist. And some of them are already forgotten. That’s how it goes in this business. You need to write around 30-40 songs to have 12 good ones for the album. I counted quickly 37 songs written for “Unholy Ground” album. Only the best 12 made it. Sad but true ;)
So. Before lunch we had finished the melody and the lyrics. We couldn’t have done it that fast without Sharon’s never-ending ideas for the lyrics. If the feeling is right, I’m usually pretty fast with the melodies but the lyrics can be a four-week-nightmare if I write alone. But with Sharon you have a basket full of good rhymes to choose from when you need a good line somewhere. After the lunch break, we worked with the track for maybe 2-3 hours. I loved Carl’s drum pattern idea immediately and actually you can hear the same drum thing played by Sami on the final track to. We decided to keep the rest very simple at the session so the song would stand out better. Just a bass, acoustic guitar and a (pretty crappy ;) electric guitar. And Sharon’s lady-like vocals too, even though they didn’t work with the final production unfortunately.
There it was – job well done. I went to my hotel and slept bad. I was getting ill, I thought.
I must say, I love these songwriting trips. Even though I love the people in my life, I love being totally alone with my thoughts for weeks somewhere away from home. You just live for the songs and you feel super lonely. That’s when the best and the most honest songs come out of my system.
Before we get to the songwriting demo, I’d like to give you a little advice if you wanna write songs. Focus on the melody and the lyrics. Period. Don’t hide the possible weakness of the song behind a drum loop or some arrangement stuff. If your song really is a good song, it has to work with something very minimal too. I believe in melodies and simple lyrics that people can actually understand. If your neighbor’s 4-year old kid starts smiling or jumping around with only the chorus melody – you have a diamond in your hands. Hallelujah!
So… Now to the demo. Here it is.
https://soundcloud.com/samu-hapa-haber/angels-on-a-rampage-songwriting-demo
And here is the new live version on our Facebook video player. It’s from the Unholy Ground Live DVD – out this Friday!
https://www.facebook.com/sunriseavenue/app_1477485535854823?app_data=9
Big love everyone! 4 days to our FIRST EVER “best of“ album release. Quite amazing!
Hugs,
Samu
