RiffTrax

Spider on the Highway: THE DEMO

Added 2019-09-12 22:13:28 +0000 UTC

NOTE: This post was originally published on July 15th, 2019 on Drip

Congratulations, Dear DripTrax people: YOU get the first chance to hear the song I’ve written for our August RiffTrax Live show, The Giant Spider Invasion. What's more, you get to hear the actual Demo Version, in all its raw, unmixed, unmastered, ragged glory. It’s like getting to pre-board on an airplane — heck, it’s BETTER.

The song’s called “Spider On the Highway.” It’s a musical riff on Neil Young, specifically “Harvest”-era Neil Young, an album my family played the grooves off of when I was a lad. It’s about a lonely, unloved giant spider who has no recourse than to devour the people of Northern Wisconsin, then die in a blazing and undoubtedly stinky fire.

I honestly don’t know where the ideas for my songs come from, but for the ones I’ve been writing for our live shows, the same pattern has happened every time. I watch the movie a couple of times, listen to some music, nothing specific, maybe noodle around on my guitar or uke. Soon after, I experience a sleepless night as rhymes and meters arise in my half-awake state, then a melody hits me and I’m up all night, tossing and turning. In the morning the song is pretty much finished in my head, and then I start the task of actually making it.

Often the first idea, or two or three, are really bad and I abandon them, but for this one it struck me straight away: this movie needs a Neil Young song. I’ve always loved Neil, his artistry and slight madness, his attention to the details. And like a lot of what we do at RiffTrax, this song is a bit more than simply a parody, it’s a winking tribute to Old Shakey.

What you’ll hear above is a RiffTrax first: the demo, the first stage that lays down all the bones of the song, which I'll later turn into a finished product. For this, I use an application called Band In A Box, which gives me access to actual instruments being played in hundreds of styles, enough to flesh out a song. The second stage requires messing with each part, recording the vocals, mixing it all down, and then putting on the finishing touches.

For this song I’m getting a lot of help from friends and family. My brother Brian will record the guitar and bass parts, my friend Mark McConville from Superego making a pedal steel track, and I’m hoping to add more surprises before it’s done.

Hopefully you’ll all make it to the RiffTrax Live show ONE MONTH FROM TODAY, on August 15th (with a replay on August 20th), to hear the song in all its finished and polished splendor. You’ll be ready to sing along! In the meantime, enjoy the unrefined silliness of "Spider on the Highway: The Demo."

-kwm