Sideways From A Paper Bag – Song and a Chat

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:03 — 22.0MB)

Episode #202: Sideways From A Paper Bag (Song starts at 3:55)

On this episode I’m going to take you back in time, with a demo recorded in the year 2000.

Quite a bizarre title, isn’t it. Something I’ve noticed on this podcast is that as lyricist, if I’m not really too sure what to write about, I’ll look around and see what’s happening around me.

My eyes will generally focus on a object and I’ll just go ahead a describe it. This seems to have the effect of grounding the song in something real. And away I go.

In this case I saw a poster sticking out of paper bag, with a face on it. The face seemed to be asking me: “What are you doing? How are your plans going?”

Back in those days, in 1998, when I composed this one (song #450), I was generally a words first, music second sort of a song writer.

My girlfriend (now my wife) and I arrived in Melbourne in 1997, having set out from New Zealand, making a new start. I really wanted a new band, but I didn’t have one yet. I didn’t let that stop me.

Sideways was written specifically for a band – a band that was going to sound something like Crowded House, Neil Finn’s great band.

There’s a line in the song ‘You are what you listen to’. Well, I’ve listened to a lot of Crowded House, loved the songs, loved the production. Check the recordings out if you’re not sure what I’m talking about.

Have a listen to the production ( Mitchell Froom on the 1st 3 albums) and hear great band arrangements, – and Neil Finns brilliant song writing).

Neil’s songwriting and recordings and live performances had a marked effect on me, a youngster – also from NZ – trying to make my way in the world with my music.

In those days, moving across to Melbourne was a rite of passage. (the day my band played at The Espy, an iconic hotel in St Kilda, was a fine day. I’d seen the poster of Split Enz (billed as NZ’s greatest rock n roll band, which I’m not sure they would’ve been too happy about, with their wild stage makeup, costumes, art rock sort of performances) of their first appearance there back in the day.

Anyway, we finally got to play there – and it felt good – we also made the top 10 out of 100 bands in a competition, so we got to play The Espy a few times, in the end.

That band is now called Pete Pascoe and The Patient Hum. We’ve been going a while now, our 3rd album is nearly finished.

At the time of writing Sideways, I’d just been introduced to Ants Reed. He’s the rhythm guitarist in our band today…so even when it feels like things are really happening, …I think they are.

If you put stuff out, maybe consider slowing down a bit and let the universe deliver a response to what your putting out. Because I believe it does.

The lines ‘Trying to do too much soon, you’ll never see tomorrow trying to fly to the moon’ sort of sum it up.

Steady progress is the key, on which I’ve been focussing: doing all I can to progress with my music and art, here in Melbourne, Australia.

See the blog (lyrics, art and more music – 202 posts) : www.petepascoe.wordpress.com

Looking forward to releasing more new music soon…and gigs to that’ll be fun.

I hope you enjoy this episode. It’s all good fun here. Here we go…Sideways From A Paper Bag.. Rollin’ !