Electric Lecture - The Story of a Song Episode # 16

In this episode we get started on a new song. The Electric Lecture Theme Song! We set out to make this track different from others we’ve done. Starting with a very fast and rough acoustic guitar track (something to play to), Greg takes that home and adds some electric guitar (a distinct sounding Silvertone). Already the song is taking on a quality that we love.

After adding drums we start talking about vocals and whether or not to even add any. This being the theme song for our podcast and our band in general, we held onto the possibility of it being an instrumental. We discuss adding some background vocals or maybe singing a melody with no lyrics. We quickly come up with an idea for the background vocals and once we start recording them, some other melodies develop and we find ourselves writing lyrics.

“Maybe we could convince people that... guitar is cool again” Bronson jokes. We talk a lot during this part of the process about our topic. We think of metaphors and share stories that are somewhat related. This helps us develop some groundwork for what our song will be about.

Greg mentions hanging out with Jeff Gray (previous collaborator and part of the Electric Lecture team) and asked him what he thinks we should name the song. Jeff suggested using the word “architecture” when talking about the song. Like “architecture of a song”, and almost immediately the lyrics for our chorus come, “Architecture of an Electric Lecture.” We come up with our melody and how to fit the lyrics in and move right onto our verse. “I’ll be your teacher, a sonic architect, put it together moving brick by brick.”

In talking a little more about lyrics and how sometimes changing “me” to “us”, or “you” to “they” can make a line feel more appropriate for the song. “Us” and can be more unified and empowering while “me” or “you” can be more personal and impactful in that way. Before finishing this episode, we record the vocals for the second verse we just finished writing and move through them pretty quickly.

This ends episode #16 of The Electric Lecture Podcast. Thank you for listening and remember to reach out to us if you have any comments, suggestions, and/or questions. We would love to hear from you!