Close-up: Rockidle – Relationships

(written by Derek Hagan, Rockidle)

“I wrote some 20 songs in July / August and wanted to get them recorded and out, as soon as I could. Why? Because who knows what happens tomorrow. You can’t take anything for granted. True, I could have waited, over blown a budget on a studio, and have the recording ready in 2021, when there would be a stockpile of 40 more songs, that would never get to see the light of day.

I am not up and coming, am getting older and already grey, so realistically if 20 people listen to the Relationships album, then that’s the first landmark. I go from there, small steps. Like everyone who writes and records music, you have to believe in yourself, and I believe regardless of the fact a handful of people may listen, or recording techniques, good songs, lyrics, melodies, are good songs, lyrics, melodies. You can always polish a good song, but if the songs are…………then……….

In July, I was looking for a backing vocalist to add some class to some songs, and I stumbled across Tania Sheratte by a chance email. I sent her a demo of one of the songs, and after she had spent three hours on it, not only did I realise how fantastic a singer she is, I also felt like she was someone I could trust with the songs, and she came on board to produce.

There seems to be a real hang up in the music industry, about having a perfect sound recording, when life itself, and we as people, are far from perfect. How many recording artists have you heard sound the same live as on a recording? The world is probably flooded with even more recorded music during lockdown than ever. So instead of competing, I thought I’d try something a bit different, to make it feel a bit raw, and record vocals and acoustic singing live from the bedroom with no recording equipment. We’ve had to strip our lives back with lockdown measures during the covid pandemic, and guess have tried to do that with recording my parts of the music.

The title of the album, ‘Relationships’, came about because our whole relationship with our worlds, life, family, friends, people, places, work, travel, authority, all changed this year.

Relationship the songs:
Destiny  – Of which there are 2 in life, 1, tax (though avoidable for the rich), and death. Relationships with our children, we can shape their Destiny to a certain extent, by giving them the advice, support, respect, and teach them values to be decent human beings.  
Put The Brakes On  – Relationship with old father time. Can we just hold on to things just for a little longer? 
Innovators  – Relationship with invention. Alexander Graham Bell / Mark Zuckerberg.
The Working Men and Women’s Blues  – Relationship with employment. 
Jodie  – Relationship with my mother. A tribute to her. 
Way Back When  – Relationships with the ones closest to us.
Daylight  – Relationship about health. The song is about cancer.  
All Lives Matter  – Relationships with each other regardless of race, or colour.  
Bad Hombres  – Relationship with drugs, prescription or otherwise. The longest war, the drug war. Inspired (if that’s the right word to use) by The Narcos series. 
Self-Importance – Relationships with self. Though some have delusions they believe puts them on a pedestal above everyone else.
In Spirit and In Mind  – My relationship with Ireland.”

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The ‘Close-up’ series contains insight provided by artists about their work.