Check out my song on Download.com

[JohnnyCNote]

I just uploaded a song from my band days in San Francisco:

The Iron Tree

The quality isn't the best, but it's listenable. Lemme know what youse think....

[JohnnyCNote]

I was chose for "Editor's Pick":

Last Rites pack a lysergic punch. Mainstays of the early 80’s San Francisco psychedelic scene, they blended ragas, metal and shamanic ranting into a sprawling, mind-altering whole. Last Rites had one foot in the hippie past and one foot in the grave.

That's "one foot in the grave" in the sense of "death metal" (I guess).....

[Capmaster]

I'll have to wait until I'm home to get that.

[JohnnyCNote]

Let me know what you think (only if it's good )....

[Capmaster]

Very nice. I hear influences from Amboy Dukes, Hendrix (of course), and the chord progression reminds me of Iron Butterfly and even reminds me of Humble Pie to some extent. You bring it all together in a believable mix that's unique. Definitely a '60s sound that works.

Good retro sound with no synthesized crap. Nice cut. Nice axe-handling

I'm gonna save that
Thanks John.

[gitreel]

Very cool sound.

[JohnnyCNote]

What amazes me are all of the influences people hear in my music. In truth, the song was inspired more by middle eastern music than anything else, along with Hendrix and Iron Butterfly, of course. In any event, it doesn't bother me.

It was Hendrix that really inspired me to learn the guitar. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how he could get the sounds he did from a guitar. I eventually figured it out, but it took about 7 years before I started to get the hang of it.

Thanks for checking it out! I've put more up there. I wish the quality were a lot better. I've had plans for many years to record decent versions of these songs and put out a CD. Maybe this will give me the jump-start I need. I'm going to change my signature to include a link to a website. Watch for it in a few days.....

[Capmaster]

What would Johnny C-Note do? Why he'd tear off a relentless shred, of course

Good luck with your music, John

[JohnnyCNote]

Wait 'til you hear the others. Did I mention that it was "The Iron Tree" that got us the "scariest band ever" title in a San Francisco music rag? I liked that....

[ViRaL1]

The subdued vocals give it a little Doorsy feel. I also detected a hint of Iron Butterfly. I'd say it's worth a listen.

[JohnnyCNote]

I've definitely listened to a lot of Doors, in fact, I still listen to them from time to time.

I really liked Iron Butterfly's guitar player Erik Brann. As I recall, he started playing violin at a very early age. He was about 17 when Iron Butterfly became popular. I'm not sure what happened to him after that.

I was pretty young in those days, but was heavily influenced by the late 60's psychedelic scene. I always felt that it had ended prematurely and that there was a lot more areas left to explore before it did. I'd hoped that my band would venture on from that point rather than be a retro band.

I was also heavily influenced by Joy Division. You can hear it in other songs.....

[JohnnyCNote]

I forgot to add that there's lots of backwards stuff in the song - all the weird sounds in the background...

Here's the lyrics:

The Iron Tree

©1982, 2004 John C. Lind

Hanging on the Iron Tree
Fat white worms devour me
Drowning in the Sea of Blood
Buried in the poisoned mud

I was taken to the South
Serpents came from my mouth
Dropped in the River of Fire
And I heard the Angels’ Choir

The darkness was dispersed
And I became immersed
In the glare of Seven Suns
Cherubim and Seraphim

I saw the Virgin Mary
She was weeping very bitterly
I asked her why are you weeping?
Why did you come?

And the Holy Virgin said to me
I have come down here to see
The torments suffered by the weak
By those who turned the other cheek

Ten thousand Angels began to sing
A multitude of bells began to ring
The divine procession turned away
And took with them the light of day

[ViRaL1]

I still have trouble spinning the CDs backwards at the right speed.

I used to have an older RCA DVD/DIVX (no not DivX) player that would play CDs backward perfectly, but I haven't come across another that does that. Anyone got any tips?

[JohnnyCNote]

You can convert it to a .wav file and play it backwards. I'm not sure if it will sound like much, but give it a try. I always loved reverse tape. It's really pretty easy to do.

The story I heard was that John Lennon was high on something and put a tape on the wrong way and liked how it sounded. While my source for that story was very unreliable, I wouldn't be surprised if someone got the idea that way.....

[888888]

My Fostex tape four track makes it really easy to do. Interesting song JohnnyCNote.

[JohnnyCNote]

I had a friend with a Fostex, or something similar and we had planned to experiment with it, but never got around to it.

Thanks for checking it out!

[JohnnyCNote]

UPDATE: click the link in my signature and it will take you to the band website, with further links to my songs. I've uploaded more, so keep checking it out....

[offline]

Pretty darn good imo. Love the lyrics to Wages of Sin. Any chance of an upload ?