A cover of the Joy Division song.
Scrap Metal
I upload music to under the alias 'Extar'. The music is primarily heavy metal, but I like trying my hand at other things now and again. I record my music in my bedroom with an old PC and a bunch of sub-standard equipment.
Story behind the song
I chose to do this song because I thought it would be fairly straightforward to record (it was) so I'd be able to get it all done in one session. I also quite like the original a lot, which always helps.
This was another showcase for some new equipment. The guitars were produced with the help of a Line 6 Pod 2.0, which I thought was pretty good indeed. So for example the heavier guitars were 'recorded' on a Marshall JCM800 and a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier both through 4x12's... Yeah, it's not cheating at all, is it?
The vocals were recorded using a Shure SM57 which was a considerable upgrade over the cheap Yamaha effort from Lidl I was using previously. Bono uses an SM57, and in reference to that I backmasked over the outro a clip of me singing 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)'.
The bass used my Boss ODB-3 overdrive pedal which I don't think I've used on an 'Extar' recording yet. I used it on the Attitude recording on the Two Headed Dogs website.
I finally had a go at using the MIDI cables I got last year or whenever it was. So I tried to use Korg's MIDI programme to set up the Micro Korg. Trouble is I'm hopelessly rubbish at fiddling around with things on the synthesiser and can't get it to do what I want. The closest I could get to something I wanted to use was the rather useless bits of static at the beginning and end of the song. I did the Hammer Horror bit on the Micro Korg right at the end.
The guitars were tuned to D in this. How interesting?
The drum track was produced using 'beat slicing' or whatever it's called in Fruity Loops. Martin lent me a couple of CDs with 'samples' on that he had no use for and had never opened. I expected to find a load of individual drum hits and what not to use in samplers to build up beats. Instead, the CD contained a load of 4-bar sequences which weren't as immediately useful for myself. So I put it through Fruity Loops and because I had no idea what I was doing it tried to find individual beats out of a 4-bar sample and largely failed. However, the sounds it had produced ended up sounding super industrial strength, so I went along with it and threw together the drum track which sounds like a NIN left-over.
I had a sore throat when I was recording this so it was fortunate that the vocals came out sounding largely how I wanted them to be. For future reference, Ian Curtis vocals work with a sore throat.
I stole the thumbnail from Deviant Art again. Sorry about that.
Lyrics
Confusion in her eyes that says it all.
She's lost control.
And she's clinging to the nearest passer by,
She's lost control.
And she gave away the secrets of her past,
And said I've lost control again,
And a voice that told her when and where to act,
She said I've lost control again.
And she turned around and took me by the hand
And said I've lost control again.
And how I'll never know just why or understand
She said I've lost control again.
And she screamed out kicking on her side
And said I've lost control again.
And seized up on the floor, I thought she'd die.
She said I've lost control.
She's lost control again.
She's lost control.
She's lost control again.
She's lost control.
I could live a little better with the myths and the lies,
When the darkness broke in, I just broke down and cried.
I could live a little in a wider line,
When the change is gone, when the urge is gone,
To lose control. When here we come.
Well I had to phone her friend to state my case,
And say she's lost control again.
And she showed up all the errors and mistakes,
And said I've lost control again.
But she expressed herself in many different ways,
Until she lost control again.
And walked upon the edge of no escape,
And laughed I've lost control.
She's lost control again.
She's lost control.
She's lost control again.
She's lost control.
