Hungry Lucy

I’m sitting here in the loft of a log cabin, high atop the Smoky Mountains. It is the night before we travel home from a 3-night “get away” mountains. This is the second time we’ve been to this very structure in the woods, and each time it has resulted in a great unleashing of musical output. Something about the purely natural surroundings and (admittedly) isolation from any distractions, is very conducive to letting the creativity soar.

In the past 2 days I’ve written 5 new pieces, each of which Christa has given the thumbs up. We’ve been working with a slightly new technique lately of approaching each new piece as a story, rather than a song. For each of the Smoky Mountain pieces, for example, Christa sat listening and describing the visuals that came to mind in text. With that description and a musical sketch in place, we can embark together on completing lyrics (if appropriate) and a more polished arrangement. It’s less about making a 3.5 minute pop song, and more about the story of the thing. I’m sure some will end up as 3.5 minute pop songs… some, perhaps not. These visual descriptions may or may not end up in the finished product, but they are great stepping stones to the next part of the journey.

Now, returning to “civilization” and routine, the task of keeping the distractions at bay is upon us. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year to all.

2008 has been an odd year indeed. An entire year passed by and there is little tangible to show for it. We performed just 2 shows and put our weekly podcast, “Tea with Hungry Lucy” on hold. Reflecting, as one does, on the past year, though, so much happened and so many lessons were learned.

Among them, we learned that “good enough” is anything but.
We learned that change is essential for growth.
We learned that transparency can be stressful, especially for introverts.
We learned to experiment without placing expectations on the results.
We learned that simplicity is often the most powerful and appropriate path forward.
We learned that “getting it wrong” is valuable and useful thing to do.
We learned to learn.

I know many of you patiently awaiting a new album. You will get one in 2009, you will also get back “Tea with Hungry Lucy”. We spent much of our time since pausing the podcast working on new songs, gradually easing them towards completion. We came within striking distance of a complete album. Many of these songs were good, but not great. These songs are now filed away somewhere and may or may not ever see the light of day. This took us quite a way back in the whole process, but everything we have ready, is truly some of our best work. This also means we still have quite a way to go. No one but Christa and I have heard these songs, and no one will until the album is complete.

So, with the lessons of 2008 behind us, we move forward. We are both very excited about 2009 and our current frame of mind/heart.

What can you expect from Hungry Lucy in 2009? Expect nothing. Expect everything.

Happy New Year to all.

“… the best way to predict the future is to invent it”
- Alan Kay, Pioneering Computer Scientist

“Following a trend just means you’re always behind”
- Lydia Hutchinson, Editor, Performing Songwriter Magazine

It’s hard for me to believe that Hungry Lucy turns 10 years old this month (Nov. 2008). Although our cover of Depeche Mode’s “Blue Dress” kicked everything off earlier in 1998, November of that year marked the first time we put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard to create our first original song, “Bound in Blood“. I remember getting up one morning and finding that Christa had left the lyrics with a little description of the “sound” for me. It was like a little present. Using that description as “instructions” I began to form the music. And Hungry Lucy was born!

We’ve sure come a long way since those days. Working in our own little bubbles was the way we both dealt with the very personal work of songwriting back then. The shear distance we’ve come was reinforced this past weekend when Christa and I (close to giving up completely) threw away several of the songs we had for the next release. Although this seems rash, it was just the catharsis we needed. Within a few hours of this decision, we had sat down together and created what is my current favorite song, “Pulse of the Earth“. Gone are the attempts to emulate the artists we love and respect. Frankly, that was the problem with the songs we threw out. It can be tough to trust one’s own instincts when you’re creating something for which you know people are waiting. Casting all the expectation aside is what it takes, and where Hungry Lucy is headed (once more) as we go into our 11th year as a band. We’ve never been a normal band. We never will be… and that’s OK. We are nothing more than husband and wife, creating the little pieces of art of which we can be proud.

Coinciding with our 10 year anniversary, we recently took a trip down memory lane for the excellent “Music for Midnight” podcast. Austin Beeman (our gracious host) did an excellent job of producing something that provides a lovely audio scrapbook of our past 10 years.

You can subscribe to Music for Midnight or listen directly to the Hungry Lucy – Feature. “In Their Own Words” (MP3 link).

Thank you Austin for shining a light on what we do!

In the absence of our podcast, “Tea with Hungry Lucy“, I’ll be writing more about the album’s progress in the next few days. For those of you that have emailed, TWHL will be back… just not yet! For all the people that have emailed and commented with your supportive patience, we thank you. Something special is brewing and we’ll share it with you all very soon!

That is all… as you were.

War-N

Reposted from christabelle.com

As most of you know, for those of you who visit my personal site, I am in the band Hungry Lucy. Yes, we’re still around! The band, as it were, consists of myself and my husband, War-N. When we do work together, we work very well together. But, as is the problem with a lot of musicians, we don’t always get to work when we want to. Or, the even more dreaded problem, we’re not inspired to work! But, lately, we have been so inspired to work on music. This all came about by stopping our bi-weekly podcast, Tea with Hungry Lucy, for a spell just to see what came about. Well, something clicked and we’ve been very productive just in the last couple of weeks! This was also due to a computer switch and, in turn, a music software switch as well. We now have our music on a Mac (about bloody time!!) and it’s so much more intuitive. War-N is loving it! So, the lapse in “tea” and a new system has really helped draw out the music. It’s lovely getting to work side by side with War-N again and make the music that we so love!

This has all made me think a lot about dedication to the Muse. I was watching an interview with the great Tori Amos this morning and she said a key statement roughly saying that if you were constantly waiting for the Muse to show up, maybe they didn’t want to perform when you needed them. You have to have the dedication and devotion to THEM. Sometimes one needs to summon the Muse rather than waiting for the Muse to summon them. For more inspiration from the Great Red Goddess, click here and here for the interviews I watched. I’m glad I took the time to sit and listen to her chat about this and that. I always find inspiration in her whether it’s an album or watching one of her live shows.

Another thing that has been bothering me lately is the amount of years that we’ve had between releases. This is the longest amount of time that HL hasn’t put something out to the world. Do people really forget an artist if they don’t put something out for a few years? What is the right amount of time between releases? Do the fans really care about quantity? Quality? These are the thoughts that have stopped us dead in our tracks at times. We’d think “Are we too late? Should we give up?” and the answer always came back “No!”. I was guilty of using a bit of reverse-psychology on War-N time or two. But, it made him realize he didn’t want to stop making music. We just needed some time to gather our thoughts, take some time for our own inner selves and time to re-group.

In taking this time, we discovered that “tea” wasn’t what it was originally intended to be. It became the “War-N and Christa” show and the music fell by the wayside. Tea with Hungry Lucy was becoming a huge chore and felt so forced and empty. The love for the fans is always there. But, when a podcast about music turns to gardening and cooking for topics of the day, it’s time to stop, take a breather and come back with some more, um, what’s the word… MUSIC!! We also discovered that we have no more mystery left in the world of Hungry Lucy. Everyone knows everything about us now and therefore it feels like they have no more drive to want to know more. Ya know? So, we’ll be a bit more absent for a while in order to do what we need to do as musicians.

These thoughts have made me see that without the perspiration of hard work, nothing will get done. It’s ok to think that “if it’s not fun anymore, it’s not worth doing.” But, where will that get you? I can speak about this from personal experience. If you give up because you’re waiting for something, or someone, else to make it happen, it just won’t happen! Without your own devotion to whatever it is, it will sit silent in the corner collecting dust. I, personally, have a lot of projects on my list that I want to do. I am doing half of them and trying to figure out how to go about the other half. I am stubborn, willful and moody. Therefore, I’m best when working on my own. But, there is one exception to this rule and that is with music. Without War-N, Hungry Lucy would not be the great thing that it often can be. I think he is my Muse and I am his. Since neither of us were sending out our summoning waves, neither of us felt inspired. But, now we’ve woken the sleeping Muses and they are singing once again. It’s soft at the moment. But, I feel them starting to find their voices more rapidly now. They are strong, different and amazing. Now, we just need the dedication to make it all happen! We have a plan, we have the music and, best of all, we have each other.

So, if you don’t hear from us for a while, think of it as a good thing. When we do come back, and we will, we’ll have so many new, interesting stories to tell. Plus, we’ll have new music!

Until next time, summon the Muse within you and see what happens!

Much Love,

Christa Belle

Over the past few months I have been wrestling a bit with my creative flow (with regards to music). This is nothing unusual for me. My musical output (and desire) always seems to ebb and flow. It has for many, many years. My usual method of dealing with this is to do something else for a while… to ignore the muse… make her beg for it! Without fail, that musical craving comes back with a vengeance in time. Since I don’t make my living solely from music, I have that luxury. For the first time in my life, I’m grateful for not having music as my sole source of income.

The past few months, this cycle feels very different to me. I have fallen prey to the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) that the brain of a creative person likes to dish out from time to time. “Am I all dried up?” “Is it all over now?” Of course, I know this is not the case. It never is. In muddling through all this, however, I think I have finally put my finger on my problem. Yes, it is MY problem… no one else’s. As Hungry Lucy, we have been podcasting now for a couple of years. We talk about what we’re doing creatively, what we’re working on, what to expect next. We’re being transparent and inviting people into our process. It’s been great for us personally, and for Hungry Lucy, at least while the music is flowing. I think it’s back firing on me at the moment though. These days, each week (or lately, each fortnight) I get a little panic in my gut before we record the podcast. “What have I done this week?” “What can I tell people I’m working on?” The podcast, for me, has become a constant reminder that my musical flow is more of a trickle at the moment. I never get to that point of focusing on something else until “the muse” revisits. I equate this (in my warped mind) to a sleep disorder (which I also have) that prevents one from ever getting into the required stage of sleep to fully get what they need from the process. The podcast has become my “creative apnea”. As much as we want to share with you all, it cannot come at the expense of the music. I hope you’ll agree with me on this. So, as a remedy, we won’t be producing Tea with Hungry Lucy for a while. Know that when we do come back, we’ll have lots to share. I hope you’re still here when we do. Thanks for being here for us as we aim to be for you.

Much love,

War-N
Hungry Lucy

Today (Sunday) was spent working on a new song (called “Just Imagine”) that started life as “Futurist Space Car”. We actually played bit of it on TWHL #102.

I spent today cleaning up the arrangement and we just recorded Christa’s final vocals about 30 minutes ago. The song started life as a little drum loop from Matilda (our affectionately named Alesis Micron) and a somber, yet spacey, synth pad. If memory serves correctly, Christa wrote lyrics on the spot for this one and we recorded scratch vocals right away. The lyrics and whole feel of the song speaks of life(?) after we are all gone for this world. Christa’s melody is really beautiful in contrast to the cold music bed. With this in mind, I decided that Christa’s lone voice should be the only real human element to the song. I added some very mechanically played electric piano… playing only the first and fifth of each chord. I’ve always liked the way fifths leave enough space in a chord progression for the melody to really dictate the tone. Is it major or minor? There is also a certain sterility to this method of harmonizing that lends itself well to this song. For a nice lift (but not too much) on the chorus I added some very stylistic TR-808 and CR-78 cymbals. Nothing screams early electronics like these percussive sounds. There’s a 8 bar break between verse and chorus that needed a little something. So I added a very cold sounding CS-80 synth (well, a virtual version of it). The song ends (quite dramatically I think) with just Christa’s voice and the ambient synth pads, so a nice crescendo is needed to build up to this. The crescendo still needs a bit of work. I’m thinking (and Christa agrees) that some strings might fit the bill here. That will add another human element besides the voice I suppose, but what are rules other than things to break?

Sorry if I’ve been a little too music theory/tech geek in my description here. I just wanted to document what we’ve been up to today… in the only language I know. All-in-all… a good day of creative work. It’s been along time since I’ve had such a productive and rewarding day, musically. So I wanted to share.

Human nature, at least many people’s, is to always suspect that the grass is greener on the other side. We take the parts of our lives that we don’t like and focus on how great life would be if the exact opposite were true. The trouble with that bad habit, is that it never goes away. Life is a compromise. No matter what possessions you have, what job you have or what relationships you have… there will always be a downside. There is a fine line between striving for better and never being happy. It’s easy to recognize what is wrong in our lives, but not always so easy to recognize the wonderful experiences and people in our lives. Find what makes you happy in your life and totally dwell on it… go on… just roll around in it! Take all that energy you spend wishing for something more, and bask in everything great you have going on right now.

It’s working for me… right now… and I aim to keep it that way.

Signed, one moody bastid

In this week’s Tea with Hungry Lucy War-N & Christa share a preview of a new song (working title: Pajamas), likely title “The Best Day of Her Life”. We get to hear the original noisy piano recording, and the newly arranged music. Christa talks about her bad week, that ends with a nice family time on Saturday. Christa also talks about her preference for listening to music she can sing along with. War-N does the opposite, but did enjoy Christa’s effort in singing along with “Golden Boy” by Severed Heads … frightening!

So, tell us…suggestions for the next live podcast performance?

Any Twitter-folk out there? Why not follow War-N’s ramblings? It’s fun. You can point and laugh.

DOWNLOAD the episode #112 MP3
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Severed Heads – “We Have Come to Bless This House” (1985)