The Evolution of a Song (a.k.a. the Writing Process)

People ask how we write songs, "where does it start?" or "how did you get there?" So in a nutshell, here's how it works about 85% of the time.

1. Brian writes a song and records a demo for me.
2. I write something that could not possibly stand on its own, but when laid over Brian's stuff sounds great. Why??? Because I have always hated it when a band has multiple guitars playing exactly the same thing, and I'm too lazy to learn what Brian wrote.
3. We tweak it, and track it (for example, Hear Me Out)
4. Time goes by, I forget how to play what I wrote, and Brian gets bored with the song how it is.
5. Brian completely redoes the song, save perhaps some lyrics, to the point that it sounds nothing like the original.
   
6. Step 2 is then repeated
7. We over tweak, and record 9 part harmonies
8. We realize we've over done it, and pull out 8 of the 9 harmonies, but realize another instrument would sound great in there (In this case, a mandolin).
9. We have a song that sounds great, but we can't play live as 2 people (updated Hear Me Out).
10. We tweak again and come up with a "live version" that will work (Hear Me Out Live).
    
11. Repeat step 4

This has happened a good number of times (as you can further see by comparing Brian's Bridger post and the EP version).

So what are the typical changes we make???
hmm...I would say my most common suggestion is "speed it up." I'm not saying Brian writes funeral dirges or anything, but if we speed up a song a bit to make it a four-and-a-half minute song instead of a seven minute one, its an improvement.

I'm sure we'll let you all into our minds a little more some day, but this is good for now.