Demo set June 2025

https://bulldogeyes.bandcamp.com/album/june-demos

These are four demos I wrote for a new project with a friend. I made one demo a few years ago on my release “324” also known as “comp3” under the name “statue." He didn’t like that one so I decided to go the total opposite direction musically. You can listen to that unofficial first demo here. This is actually the track that broke the Spotify algorithm and had me singled out by the "algorithm" as a "bot assisted stream fraud" lol yeah fucking right you fucks.

https://bulldogeyes.bandcamp.com/track/statue

Our concept for this EP is like a kind of grim Cranberries/Sundays. I also listened to a ton of Parliament-Funkadelic, Elliott Smith and The Smiths while I wrote these. I spent a long time (more than a year, really) building, practicing and placing these odd or more complex chord voicings. These first two songs I’ve been practicing and rewriting since 2023.

I know I have a very recognizable musical style from composition to performance to production style. My goal for this project was to use chord voicings on guitar that I usually wouldn’t use or progressions that are unlike the progressions I’d usually use, or write/block songs in ways I “usually” wouldn’t. This was how I intended to kinda create a "new band" and open my style up for influence from another musician.. which is something I usually don’t have to do since I’m a “one man band.”

This demo set involves my most detailed “fake drumset” concept I’ve ever completed. I’ve been using the same live drumroom samples since 2016. I actually made a record right after “seeya” that I deleted without a single trace using that older drumset. What you hear me use for “new u” is that old group of live drum recording chops layered with old snare samples I recorded and remastered myself.

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For these demos, I found a new group of drumroom recordings online. I used samples of every set piece (except the snare) taken from the overhead mic feed to emulate/create this kind of gritty oldschool sound. I wanted to bite late Motown and feed that concept a kind of Jungle/DnB influence in order to create a more authentic folk-rock and roll experience that is new or futuristic without losing the core of “tradition.”

So I wanted to create a drumset that sounds like its being played in a garage when it’s actually a bunch of REAL samples in a REAL room edited down to be used as a mathematic feed to generate a simulated stereo space where every note is mapped very meticulously. My concept here is that this kind of "grind of opposites" will create a new and unrecognizable energy for the recordings.

First, I had to take the original samples and run what I call a “premastering” stage. I have to cut out each individual drumstroke from a longer recording to create my sample bits. Then I fade-in/fade-out each individual sample so that they can have the least clicky, most natural feel to their articulation/transient and release. This process also lessens (or makes less conspicuous) mic hiss/line noise. This also gives me a cleaner reverb sound/feel, with the unnecessarily meticulous in/out edits acting as a kind of gate processor.

Then, I save these samples in numbered order from highest velocity to lowest velocity. I use the FL “channel rack” to list these drumstrokes from strongest to weakest and divide the set piece into sections. I link each differen set piece to a different mixer track. Now, I clean them up, make them feel more enjoyable or listenable and stylish, and boost them just a bit.

Finally, I’ll print them so that I can start the “fake drumset” setup over with cleaned up samples that have just a little more stylistic energy and volume. I completed this process using the samples I borrowed from the live drummer/recording artist/aundio engineer and new snare samples I recorded at home.

I set up my old SM57 knockoff mic like an overhead and recorded different drumstroke styles (rimshots, clicks, hits, ghost notes, heavy rolls, soft rolls, etc.) in order to use the energy from the room to create/generate the atmosphere or “room” that not only the drums are happening in but the other instruments in the mix as well. I use reverb and stereo imaging processors to "generate" or "simulate" this space where the "band" is playing.

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I setup my chair and microphone in the closet (lol) (sorry lol) to record the acoustic guitar. I recorded all four songs in one long session after practicing these songs nonstop for months. In my years of experience, getting a good take is about muscle memory and energy. Trying to remember will diminish the emotional energy in a performance. Memorizing the piece and playing it from memory i believe (or in my experience, at least) allows you to bring more genuine attitude and realism and grit to the performance. I moved the mic just a bit for each song to change the feel. Some songs need the chords to punch harder with more sub energy and other songs can do without since the strumming is more complex and the focus should be brought to the kind of partial arpeggio I intend to create with my playing style.

This is also the first time in a long time that I recorded the bass guitar direct-to-input rather than using a microphone to record the performance. I still used my pedal setup (ZOOMg2.1u nerd pedal and Marshall ED-1 compressor) but had to alter the processing style to fit my imagined concept. I much prefer the sound of the pedal setup through an amp into the mic into to the interface but the kids and traffic where I live are just too loud PLUS I needed to leave space for Ben to play leads on electric guitar. I try to leave that space by using a technique that just naturally has less high end energy. This way the lead guitar can more easily sit on top or cut right through.

I was really embarrassed actually when Ben told me he didn’t like the first demo I made him SO.. I really dedicated a huge amount of time and energy to these. I genuinely think they’re the best recordings I’ve created to date. My intent is to use them as a kind of stylistic practice for the next bulldog eyes thing I’m working on.

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I wanna thank everyone for listening and for reading. I’m going through a lot right now after my seizure episode at the start of July so I just want people to keep me in their thoughts, share my music with people you think might enjoy it and to donate or buy merch. I’m shipping a ton of orders out really soon.

To people waiting for their merch pieces I wanna thank you for your support and patience. If anyone wants to reach out and update their address please feel free!

I wish I had more to say about these songs but I truly don’t. I believe that their intensity speaks for itself. I hope people enjoy and I can’t wait to release more. Thanks again.