Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I finally got the time to give it a good listen! We are supposed to be slowing down around this time of year, but this year the exact opposite is happening. Whew!

Brian, I enjoyed this version very much. I did find the "jam" at the end to be a very different style from the song body. At first listen, it was almost too different, like it should be a seperate song on it's own.

But then I got to turn up the volume a lot. What a different listen. This is definitely a song that needs to be heard loud. Nice work ICBM.

I am certainly a fan.

...Dean

Thanks Dean,

I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and to provide your thoughts. I agree that the song needs to be cranked. It's only when you play it loud that you begin to really appreciate some of the subtle nuances and the tone of the individual instruments.

To my ears there's nothing like the sound that is generated when you mix a Rick 4003 bass, a Rick 350 guitar on rhythm and a 62 RI Strat to play the lead bits. Together in that combination, they really fill the spaces well and provide good diversification of tone.

Overall I am very happy with this effort. It is a simple song with a simple arrangement and the hook is the message of each verse. Nothing fancy and nothing at all resembling anything too challenging or complcated.

It is what it is. Simple as that.

I have to give a lot of credit for the "sound" to our Rickenbacker instruments. They played a huge part in creating the sound that we wanted for this song. We love our Rickenbackers.

Happy New Year Greetings !!
What exciting ICBM projects are you guys launching for the new year ?? More tracks for the upcoming "Off White Album" or any upcoming live ICBM gigs when Brian arrives in Oz ?? Maybe a little Roof Top concert re-enactment ?
We've sure enjoyed what you guys shared with us so far ....The ICBM fans are waiting.....
Cordially - Rich F.

Hi Rich. Happy New Year greetings to you also!

Brian has some goodies in the melting pot at the moment but he's keeping it all close to his chest.... won't even let fellow band members in on it!!

I'm sure we can arrange one or more gigs when he and his wife are over here..... perhaps I could start looking for suitable roof tops! If I can't find one we may be restricted to garages, lounge rooms and rehearsal studios although having tasted an outdoor gig I must say that I'd love to do it again.

Brian's away on business at present but I'm sure he'll chime in when he's back home.

Hi Rich,

I'm back in my home town for a few days. No rest for the wicked as they say.

Happy New Year from me also. ICBM has a couple of bed tracks in the "can". One in particular is somewhat promising. I have a real shortage of time at the moment so the "Off White Album" project is not getting the attention it deserves.

The last gig I did was a 25 year reunion of my band from the 60's and that was more than a few years ago now. But I am up for anything that the crew from down under want to do in that regard.

As an aside, I did, on a bit of a whim, record a version of "Tears in Heaven" some time before Christmas. It's not really something that I would include on any body of work. I did that recording because I was experimenting with the software I use and I was interested in the sound that I could get out of some of my gear. In particular, I used my 360V64 for the lead part.

So there you have it. It's a bit of a slow process overall.

Hey Brian, I just checked out your site and listened to your tunes cranked in an empty pizza restaurant after hours on a Saturday night while I counted the tills.

Wow! Nice recordings, good songs! You really make the best of the Rics too, nice sound. And Howard rocks! My personal favorite was Newspaper blues---very classy choices in how you played it and produced it.

Thanks for posting this for us all to check out.


-A Fan

Thanks Mark,

I wrote "Newspaper Blues" in 1975. In truth, it was just a filler song for a body of work that was sufficient to fill three successive albums that my band "Pegasus" had planned to release.

I was a fairly prolific songwriter back then. I finally got round to recording that particular song when I recently put together a small recording setup in my house. I attempted to achieve a "live" feel to the song.

Overall, the desired effect was stir emotion in a listener. I hoped that they would feel as if they were there and they could perhaps relate to the story being told.

It was also my first attempt at recording something completely on my own. I have been told by at least one industry professional that it is perhaps a little "over produced".

I want to thank you for taking the time to listen. That means a lot to me. I also want to thank you for your very kind appraisal. That means the world to me as an artist.

If you wish, I would be happy to send you a copy of the "Anthology" version Of "Nothing Ain't Real in appreciation of your very kind review.

Funny to re-read it now (found it by chance, while looking for some other topic).
Memories, memories... so many things have changed since then. Funny that, unlike as usual, these blasts from the past don't make me feel bad, quite the contrary. It'll never be the same as back then, of course, and still i hope there'd be some new works of the duo that was discussed in this thread... how about that?

Hi Sheena,

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I experienced some mixed emotions re-reading this thing again and I was really not going to post a response.

In truth, I felt a little sad seeing this thread resurrected. I am not sure why in fact, but in a kind of a twisted way the thread title virtually says it all...Nothing Ain't Real. There was/is no ICBM band. It seemed like it would be a fun thing to post at the time and there are no more recordings that were done by Howard and myself....sad but true. I really don't have a lot of time these days for recording but I do manage to put the odd song down in a somewhat recognizable format every once in a while, if only for posterity's sake.

Nothing that I really feel like sharing though.

there are no more recordings that were done by Howard and myself....sad but true

Indeed there aren't but I remain ever optimistic! Maybe a little later this year we can get our heads together - literally!! I'll record that Em7add9, A, Cmaj7, A7sus4, A7, Fmaj7 and 'unknown' chord thingie and send it over soon, Brian.

PS.... sent an email to your business address, mate.

That chord progression and lead part that we worked on a bit down at your brother's cottage by the beach, would end up being an instrumental (if we take it to the next level), I think Aitch...............not that there's anything wrong with that!

Let's see what happens. I have a kajillion other things going on right now and I am in non committal mode.

No probs, Brian. I'll send it.... you do what you want with it if and when time permits and you're interested.

Okay, nothing ain't real perhaps, but you two still remain good friends, right? And that looks like a real thing.

That's for sure, Sheena........ it's a living thing!

sowhat wrote:Okay, nothing ain't real perhaps, but you two still remain good friends, right? And that looks like a real thing.

Yes that's true, we are the best of friends and we have this great forum to thank for that. It's too bad that Aitch lives so far away.........

Oh well he's coming here this year and my wife and I are hoping to go back to Oz in 2010. Something to look forward to.