I’m thrilled to announce that my new single “Stuck in Another Time” has been released! My Idyl Tea bandmate (and brother from another mother) Hank Engel and I joined forces to sing together on this one. Hope you like it!
“Stuck in Another Time” came to me one October night while I was sitting in my studio, strumming my guitar and thinking about my oldest pal and original musical partner Hank Engel. I always record song ideas on the “Voice Memos” app on my iPhone so I don’t forget them. I call these “song seeds”. They are the original ideas that only later may develop into a finished song. Here is the “song seed” for “Stuck in Another Time” recorded mere minutes after I came up with the first few lines:
Hank and I met on the first day of Grade 3. We became fast friends in part because we loved the same music. Every school day morning I’d walk over to Hank’s place and ring his doorbell. Usually, when I showed up at Hank’s place to pick him up, music was playing either from his compact Radio Shack cassette player or his miniature red portable turntable. We’d often sing songs together as we walked to school.
Hank’s sister had made him a cassette dub of the “American Graffiti” soundtrack and we were pretty much addicted to it. It became something of a gateway to the fantastic songwriters and recordings from the late 1950s and early 1960s. There is a certain freshness and romance to these songs that was simply irresistible. They may have been chronologically older than the songs we were hearing on the radio but, they were new to us.
We knew the record back to back and Hank and I would try and emulate what they were doing with their voices. We sang many of them. I can clearly recall singing “Book of Love” by the Monotones with Hank on the lead vocal and me on the background vocal while going back and forth on a swing set. In actual fact, the 1970s Top 40 radio was actually pretty diverse and we certainly listened to that as well, but, we were particularly captivated by this music from another time.
We saved our money from paper routes and mowing lawns and bought guitars when we were still in junior high. By the time we were in high school, we were writing our own songs and playing shows with our first real band “Route 66”.
It was during this time that we discovered a bunch of new bands that weren’t so much trying to emulate the past but rather, were using sounds and instruments from yesteryear to make something new: The Clash, The Ramones, The Jam and a bit later, The Replacements, Husker Du, The Pretenders, The Violent Femmes, R.E.M., Rank & File, The Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen to name but a few. These bands really inspired us to roll up our sleeves and put in the time to practice and write songs. We recorded a couple of our original songs with “Route 66” at our local campus radio station (CJSR) and, much to our surprise, both songs entered the top ten. Hearing your song on the radio is a thrill that never gets old.
Lyrically, “Stuck in Another Time” has some fun with cliches of living in the present and living in the past but it also laments the passing of our original musical heroes. It asserts the legitimacy of creating new music from sounds and styles that are considered “retro”. Mostly, it’s just a tune about missing an old friend. For those willing to dig, there’s also a few lyrical wormholes to songs from our old band Idyl Tea.
The song sat around half finished for over a year, but soon it became obvious that I had stumbled across an earworm. I couldn’t forget it if I tried! I kept on coming back to it until it started to take shape as the finished song it is today. One night, while tracking new songs for my upcoming album Morning Stars Mournings Hush with drummer Mike Silverman and bassist Tom Murray (and after a few whiskies), we decided give it a shot. I wanted the intro to be “Four-on-the-snare” like a Motown song. That beat was actually quite popular in the early eighties but you don’t hear it very much anymore. Mike, Tom and I recorded a version of it live-off-the-floor. When we heard the playback, it was as if it was leaping out of the speakers! It was clear we were on to something.
As luck would have it, a short while later, Hank was visiting Edmonton and I asked if he wanted to swing by my studio and take a stab at a vocal part. He did, and the rest, as they say, is history!
The song is available now on all of the digital streaming platforms or, if you prefer to purchase a high quality download, it is available on Bandcamp. Stay tuned for a special live-off-floor video of this song which will be released later in the month.
“Stuck in Another Time” on Apple Music
“Stuck in Another Time” on Spotify
“Stuck in Another Time” on SoundCloud
“Stuck in Another Time” (song audio) on YouTube
“Stuck in Another TIme” on Amazon Music