My New Year’s resolutions in the past have pretty much been inclined to creative endeavors, something I’d like to continue for the foreseeable future. They were terrific resolutions to make at a time when I wasn’t doing much creatively, but in the past five days, I recorded incredibly rough — no, make that incredibly ROUGH takes of vocals. I got through about 26 songs, and I still have about 19 to go.
In short, I don’t need a New Year’s resolution to spur me to work — I’ve got more than enough. Yes, I could make a resolution to get through that work, but last year, I made one which was immediately sidelined by a pinched nerve. I know the work needs to be done, and no amount of resolving is going to change the fact it’s going to get done.
Rather, I prefer New Year’s resolutions that challenge me to try something new, like when I took singing lessons for a month or learned how to play bass guitar. If I were to make a New Year’s resolution, I would probably start with forming a band.
If the exercise of laying down vocal tracks is any indication, I am not a singer. Even my sister said I need singing lessons. I think these songs need more than my meager voice to do them justice.
And even though I’ve recorded everything with keyboards, most of the songs I’ve written are really geared for live musicians. I just don’t need a singer — I need guitarists and a rhythm section as well.
But I’m not resolving to do form a band in 2008. I have this perception of a band as being a life-turning commitment — once it’s formed, I have to spend a number of years making it work. And like any kind of relationship, it requires time and money. The former, I probably have too much of it. The latter, not so much.
Of course, just because I don’t make a New Year’s resolution to do something doesn’t mean I won’t end up doing it.
An alternative ideas for a New Year’s resolution is to release an actual CD on CD Baby. enigmatics has been in the can for years. All I really need to do is pay the various fees, slap a barcode on the cover art and send CD Baby five copies.
Hmm. Doable.
But I’m not committing to that one either.