Interview: Paul Vasey

Indie singer songwriter, Paul Vasey (Wicked Deeds) gives an amazing insight into how his song, 'Scarlet please' came to be.

Dive a little deeper...

I tried to be creative when choosing the title. I did a little reading around auras and discovered that the colour red denotes a positive energy. I concluded that this is the colour that many would choose to represent how they would wish to feel, hence a request to the universe for “Scarlet Please.”

The song is about someone who feels overwhelmed by a life event. I didn’t want to give away the person’s identity so he/she became “Mr Jones” or “Suzy.” Both characters are usually optimistic people as is the real person who inspired this song.

Like the introduction of the character “Mr Jones.” He invites me to think about a character from a Beatles Song; someone who might make an appearance on the set of “Penny Lane”for example. Something has happened in his life that has literally broken his heart. Despite being an upbeat resourceful ’kinda’ guy he doesn’t have the ability to fix the situation that he finds himself in. “Mr Jones walks out into the street. He observes his surroundings and looks to the sky above his head. He doesn’t appreciate the beauty around him. Why would he? “his heart is dead.”

It’s exactly the same for “suzy.” She longs to talk to her partner about her adult son who she hasn’t seen for some time, yet Suzy is reluctant to communicate to her partner, how she misses her son as she fears her partner is tired of hearing about her feelings which are having such an impact on her mood and possibly, her relationship with her partner.

Both characters are usually “upbeat”, “grounded” and “happy” but find themselves to be devastated with the private events that have unfolded in their lives. They believe that their request to the universe for such events, will change their auras to the colour red, “Scarlett” or “Crimson” as it is a vibrant positive colour. They wish to be as far away from their pain as possible.

They regard the colour red to be “healing”, “determined”, the colour of “perfection” and it will need to be so as “icy winds have gripped and won’t let go.”

The Writing process:

It was first written on acoustic guitar and is built upon a 6/8 rhythm. Both music and lyrics were written hand in hand, That’s how I write the majority of songs. I always strive to weave a strong element of melody into the song, during the writing process. If I can manage this at the early writing stage then I’m confident that production will further enhance that feeling providing I am mindful to not go overboard. There are so many options available to producers but songwriting is the most important element. Everything else must play a supporting role. The writing part took approximately 2 hours and it can often be less. The production took about 5 hours (it can often be more.) There’s a strange alchemy that defines the length of the writing process but there’s also a strong element of song craft. There might be a beautiful adjective that I feel belongs at the end of a line but that leaves me searching for a suitable rhyme in the next line. This can often take up a little time as was the case with the rhyme “gal” and ‘morale”

“Scarlet please for an upbeat kind of gal.

Instinctively she’s happy, though he’s broken her morale.”

I wanted to use the term “gal” which is different and hardly, if ever used. Why not use it again for this song? I’m all for reintroducing words if I think they bring something different to the party. After consideration I settled on “morale” as we associate it with the theme of mood.

I had a major headache trying to settle with a suitable drum pattern but eventually opted for some taps on the body of the acoustic guitar to find a rhythmic feel that I was comfortable with. From there, I started to experiment, building the drum track which, isn’t really complicated. I introduced hi-hats for the “Suzy’ section and it became a different colour (no pun intended) from the guitar body taps which were revisited again for the second chorus.

Bass drum further colours the rhythm track for the section “Scarlett when the chips are down”. Finally a fuller kit is introduced for the section beginning “Crimson red, healing so determined”. The drums/percussion helped the track to build. Piano becomes more prominent and at times, percussive before finally the introduction of a second electric guitar.

I was so lazy about adding backing vocals though I really should have done so. Before adding the backwards guitar which I feel really helped the song to soar, I clumsily muted the bass guitar in the mix and forgot to reintroduce it. Unfortunately I got a little excited about the mix which was finally beginning to work. Hopefully I can send the bass guitar version to Robbie for the members of the forum to hear.

Equipment used: Faith Venus acoustic, Revelation Bass, Fender telecaster electric, Addictive Keys Studio Grand Piano, Rode NT1000 Microphone, Apple Mac computer, Scarlet 2i2 audio interface, Rocket Powered Monitors, Logic Pro X.

My favourite section of the song is the closing verse where all elements come together: drums, bass, acoustic rhythm and two pianos, guitar, vocal and backwards sunburst electric. There’s also the insistence that despite the request for the deepest Crimson Red aura, “Icy winds have gripped and won’t let go.”

What would I change about the song next time?

A top notch producer would be nice. I feel I’m probably approaching a level of songwriting and production where I won’t make further improvements. I’m happy with my level of writing and producing although there is still so much to learn, especially about production and being a better musician. Time doesn’t allow for those improvements when you’re juggling the demands of a busy life. I guess I could rearrange the song to make this all about a big chorus and provide more commercial appeal but I also like the charm that is evident in allowing a song to breathe and dictate its own arrangement in a very natural manner. I’d love to include backing vocals, especially female. It would be wonderful to write a full album for or with a female vocalist. Someone who would share in the enthusiasm of the projects which are dear to my heart.

I loved The Autumn Hour live performance (there’s a lovely rendition of “I’m A Believer” )which doesn’t deviate too much from the original and why should it. It’s an exceptional example of good writing. Theirs is a lovely live presentation that makes me want to perform all over again as I once did on a regular basis. I love to hear songs that are created on a single acoustic guitar before being developed with all of the studio toys that are now so readily available to most of us.

I’ve found MBM to be most welcoming. I dialled into the first listening party from France whilst I was holidaying in The Loire Valley. I accessed the event via my mobile phone. The sound quality wasn’t therefore great. I’m looking forward to attending when I’m at my studio. My first submission “Anxiety” was an exercise in speed writing and involved piano and vocal only. I intend to address this with songs that are more representative of my writing and recording style. “Scarlett Please’ is one such song. I enjoy writing to a brief as it means songs are born which otherwise wouldn’t have come into existence

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