(Lee) In early February, Matt sent me an instrumental he was working on which would end up being The Ghost. I was drawn to it’s big sweeping chorus – which at that point had no vocals on it yet. Matt told me he was adopting a new approach to song writing – and really spending a lot of time developing his ideas out fully. By mid-February I had a complete working track complete with guitars, bass and vocals. Working on drums for this song was both exciting and an exercise in patience. I mirrored Matt’s new song writing and did my best to play the song and kit a lot before committing any takes to tape. I probably played for a day or two before I started recording takes. Matt got mp3’s along the way and was very encouraging. I think all said and done I count over 20 different takes to tape. The last 10 started really sounding similar – and that’s when I had found my place in the song. For the first time in any songs we’ve done – I ended up patching together some parts of the best takes into a “Frankenstein” type of track. The drums you hear on this song are that track; a blend of takes #9 and #11. I know I’ve said this before – but I really only follow my instincts and ears when I play the drums – I feel The Ghost represents some of the best drumming I’ve done to date. I love the lyrics and vocals on this song – some of the most moving and easily one of the best chorus’s I’ve heard in our songs.

[UNFOLDING]

Matt: This song has been in my head since I wrote it late last year & I’m very happy to finally release it! Ha! My wife & I were in the middle of packing and moving and I remember feeling a tad overwhelmed. I had this little idea circling in my head one day, so I stopped packing & picked up the acoustic to write this song. I ran through it once or twice, then switched to my Strat & hit record. To me, it sounds very rough around the edges…which I love. I was unsure of my solo at first, but Chris insisted that we keep it. This song has gone through a few mixes & revisions, but the core of the song has remained. I’m really proud of this song & love to play while sitting around the house.

Chris: Another one sent back in November 2011 that got put on the back burner for all of December during the break. Throughout work on this song Matt would tell me that this one was pretty special to him. Before I started working on it he’d said that it was an “album #3 contender.” Real moody song – the vibe dial is turned to 11 on it for sure! Like Red Clouds, drums for this were very difficult for some reason. In past blogs I’ve said how difficult it is keeping time first as a novice drummer, and second when we’re not recording these songs in the same room! I think there were something like 5-6 takes that all sounded horrible – before I took the Meg White approach on the kit and tried using the simplest drum cadence I could do – no fills – not a whole lot of cymbal work. I remember the kick drum was giving me fits. I ended up taking out the blanket & grabbing some newspaper and stuffing the bass drum with it (John Bonham technique for all you R&R buffs). I think I finally got the punchy sound I was looking for. For my guitar parts – I ended up recording two – I was trying to match the moody/vibe of the song. Jumping in on parts and jumping out took some time. Matt did a great job editing what I sent him – which was pretty constant playing throughout the song.

Cluthe (words/music): vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass
Lee: lead guitar, drums

[RED CLOUDS]

Chris: First of a few songs that we started working on after nearly a month off from music. I think Matt recorded this song back in November 2011? So many songs – one loses track of when things are done! Red Clouds is a nice little acoustic ditty with this slamming break down that took me by surprise when I first heard it. The solo he played was equally surprising – Matt has really come into his own with guitar solo’s in the last year or so. Drums were tricky on this because it was acoustic. Lots of takes on this one – lots of back and forth to the mixer trying to find the right tone/sound for this song. I ended up using one wood stick and one brush – a strange combo but I wanted to make sure I didn’t overwhelm the song with the drums. Not an easy thing to do when I usually have no clue what I’m doing behind the kit! Hahaa!! The guitar parts I added came pretty quickly – I wanted something really contrasting to the quiet/acoustic tones of the song. This one didn’t take too long for Matt to mix this once my parts were finished. Great song – could see us playing this live for sure.

Matt: I’d been fiddling around with the main riff/chord progression for awhile, but was never sure what to do with the bridge. I decided to do a rough recording to see what Chris thought. Well, the rough recording stuck! I love his drumming on this song & it’s amazing to hear how much his drumming has evolved since he set up his kit. The solo truly came out of nowhere…and again, I was surprised that Chris wanted to keep it in the final mix. It’s a fun tune that was also written while we were gearing up for our move & the move even crept into these lyrics: “Life more fragile than a box..don’t you know?”

Cluthe (words/music): vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar
Lee: drums, bass, rhythm guitar

We’re really excited to finish these songs & we’re working on the next few songs as I type this. As always, thanks for your support!

Matt & Chris

hi everyone…

when i landed this gig at Dunn Bros, i had a crazy idea to try something different for this show….something that i’d never tried before. as the weeks went on, it felt less & less crazy. so, here i am ready to play songs that i haven’t played in 10+ years. first, a little history.

i love music. i always have & i know that i always will. i have memories of sitting in front of my sister’s mirror when i was a little kid strumming my mom’s acoustic guitar. of, course, i wasn’t playing….merely making noise & driving my family crazy. i would put a cd or tape (yup, i’m showing my age) and act like i was in the band. i think i was 7 or 8 years old at the time.

growing up in our house, there was music everywhere. my dad would shake the walls listening to classical music records, my sisters would listen to 80’s pop, rock and country & my brother was listening to a little bit of everything. so, it’s been with me my whole life.

in high school, i met a guy in art class & we started a band. i sang lead vocals & played drums. my bandmates were much better than i was. it’s a tough thing to sing in a band when you’re 14 or 15. my voice would change mid-song. ha! in any case, we played a handful of shows and had a lot of fun. at this point, i was writing teenage lyrics…but couldn’t write the songs i was hearing in my head b/c i couldn’t play guitar or piano.

when i went to college, i met a guy in my english comp class. we got to talking about music & i found out that he was in a band. he told me that their drummer had an injured wrist & asked if i could fill in for one show & a few practices. i agreed…as long as he taught me guitar. the first lesson, he showed me the 8-10 basic chords & told me to keep practicing. that was all the encouragement i needed.

once i had the chords down, i started writing simple songs (still some of my favorite to write). after a year or so of practicing, i played my first solo acoustic show as the “opener” for a night of karaoke at a local bar.

this timeline show has allowed to me look back & re-learn some of those old songs & i’ve had a lot of fun practicing over the last few weeks. it’s been interesting to go through dozens of old notebooks…reading the old lyrics. it’s hard to believe that i wrote them.

for this show, i will be playing a variety of songs. some from when i started writing/playing, some from my days of singing lead & playing rhythm guitar in End Result, some newer solo songs, and it will conclude with songs that i’ve worked on & recorded with my bandmate in Cluthe/Lee, Chris Lee. i’ve also thrown in a couple of covers here & there that were written by some of my favorite songwriters. my wife will be joining me on stage for a couple of songs & it should be a lot of fun.

i’d like to thank everyone that’s ever told me to keep at it. it’s a trip to look back….but this show has me even more excited about looking forward. see you at the show!

Matt

Details:
Who: Matt Cluthe
When: Saturday, Jan 28 2012
Where: Dunn Bros (Addison)
Address: 3725 Belt Line Rd Addison, TX 75001
Cost: Free!

PS—I Will be bringing a few copies of our Cluthe/Lee albums (“Here We Are” & “Life Can Go”) that will be available for purchase.

—SHE—
(Matt) This is a song that pre-dates my work with End Result & was written shortly after my oldest sister got engaged & a couple of years before I met my wife. I am the youngest of four children & at the time I was the only one that wasn’t engaged/married or in a serious relationship at all. I was thinking about my sister’s engagement and was trying to imagine what that felt like…to know that you want to spend your life with someone, in good times & in bad. I had been in somewhat serious relationships before, but nothing that would have led to marriage. With this in mind, I wrote this song & started playing it at some acoustic shows. When I started working with End Result, I kept it to myself for awhile because it didn’t seem to “fit” our sound. I played it for the band one day at rehearsal. We had a show that weekend & had just run through the setlist during practice & started jamming. I asked if they’d like to hear it & they said yes. We played it live that weekend…and proceeded to play it at every show after that. I didn’t fully understand what this song meant until I met my wife, but now I do.

I randomly asked Chris if we could play it at our show in February of last year & he was game. I love his guitar work on this song! Then, I sent him the rough recording out of the blue & this is a result of that rough recording. I’d like to dedicate this song to my amazing wife, Laurel.

(Chris) She is a song I remember Matt sending me a demo of in 2009 back when he was with End Result. It was an easy song to get hooked on. A straight up love song. It wasn’t until 2011 when we played our first show in Dallas that I’d heard it again & he had proposed adding it to the set list. We ended up playing it again at our second show in Delevan in late summer 2011 – and I think Matt had plans to do a proper recording of the song shortly after that trip. It’s truly a great song – and one I believe would be a big break for him/us if we were doing music as full time careers.

—FRAGILE ONES—
(Chris) I wrote the music for Fragile Ones back in November 2011 after a very intense dream about my Grandfather. In the dream he was singing me this lullaby as a little kid and when I woke I immediately began searching the guitar for the chords/notes. The music he was singing was loud as reality and when I found the chords I got a bit overwhelmed. I ended up calling my parents and telling them about this dream. They said when I was very little he used to sing songs to me. Totally blown away. A memory that I have no memory of – coming up in my dreams. There’s a somber tone to it – and a gentle sway that to me is very lullaby-like. I don’t often write such directly personal/inspired things like this – but it happened, so here you go!

(Matt) This song is one of the simplest songs (and most beautiful, in my opinion) that Chris has ever sent me. He was very clear from the beginning….let’s keep it simple, so just add vocals. When I heard what he’d recorded, I agreed immediately. While Chris was thinking about his Grandfather when he wrote the music, I was thinking about our nephew. He’s a tough little guy that was dealing with some medical issues (he’s doing much better now) and my brother and sister in law were handling it like champs. The idea is that whether we’re big or small, we’re all fragile…and so is life.

Wherever you are – Happy New Year from Cluthe/Lee!

Where to start all ye faithful? Hmmmm… After a much needed break in December, the Cluthe/Lee engine is starting to turn over once more. 2011 was quite a year for Cluthe/Lee. Our second album – two shows and of course lots and lots of new songs. We are both thankful for all events that have come our way since 2009 and we’re looking forward to continuing this collaboration into 2012 with you all!

As I type this up there are some exciting things to look forward to in the coming months. First is Matt’s solo show at Dunn Brothers in Addison, Texas this month. We had originally planned it to be a Cluthe/Lee show – but forces beyond my control made it impossible for me to be there. I can assure you that an evening of Matt playing his extensive song catalog, covers, and who knows what – should not be missed! Matt is tinkering around with some very interesting/fun ideas for his show. I won’t spill the beans in this blog – I’m certain he’ll be in touch with show details.

We are also in the process of gathering up songs for our third LP – process is showing good strength so far. We’re excited to be moving on and getting out this next batch of tunes to you all. I can tell you that it’s the most aggressive/experimental set of songs to date – and I know you all will be happy with it! It’s also the very first truly organic LP we will have put out to date. Meaning it’s all live instrumentation – no drum loops. I’ve been hard at work getting into the art of drumming – and learning how to drum with music written 1000 miles away at that! It’s not an easy feat you guys – but lots of fun!!

There are a number of new instrumentals I’ve completed in December and there up to listen to at www.reverbnation.com/presentlyfalling if you want to hear. There are a number of songs Matt has been working on as well that are going to be worked up in the next month or so. Matt and I continue to evolve as song writers and we’re both very happy with where the band is at here in 2012. There were several projects we spoke of in 2011 that are still very much alive – just trying to figure out how to move forward with them. One of those is our EP “Different Colors” which is all but finished – minus artwork. We hope to have that out digitally when the time comes. You’ll find some very neat alternate takes on songs you know from both our LPs – plus a few surprises. We had mentioned a possible video at some point as well – however that project is a bit further away in reality. We have posted many videos from our show in Wisconsin back in September 2011 over on YouTube that hopefully you’ve seen.

That’s it from here – for now. Thanks for staying with us all this time! We do appreciate it – greatly!

Chris & Matt

Hi everyone!

Matt and I have put wraps on a song I wrote in October called “Don’t Be A Number.” This song was written without much forethought on my part; rare, as I usually am plotting and planning! I broke a string on my acoustic prior to recording the final track, so this recording is void of my high E string! I’m sure there are other strange instances like that which happened in the past. I’ll have to see if I can remember more of them. I know there have been a few drum takes on songs where my foot has itched really bad, and as a result missed a beat but liked the drum take so much it had to stay! Ok, I’m straying off topic here. Focus, focus!

Per usual, Matt and I have something like 8-9 different songs in various stages of completion. I finished up a productive song writing period in October/November, and right now we’re just taking things slowly. Giving the ideas full attention/exploration. Days go by listening to them and seeking direction. The songs we’ve done in the last 6 months have all been about as heavy on the rock n’ roll as we’ve been in a long time. This new batch of 8-9 are all intense, guitar driven songs for sure. Some soft and delicate ones in there too, so all you softies out won’t be disappointed either! Haha!!

Let’s see, what else? Oh, we’re starting to track songs for our third LP! So far Matt and I agree on 12 out of 15 possible songs in play at the moment. This is a good sign. There are a few new ones (and one really old forgotten song) that are making a push for the track list. We’ll see how it all sorts out! Yesterday I re-recorded some drums for a few of the songs on that list. I think I’ve become a bit more comfy on the kit since some of these were completed in 2010. It’s fun to re-explore a song that captured a point of progression. Bringing a bit more experience and confidence to the table. Ok, hmm, what else…Matt has a show booked for Cluthe/Lee at Dunn Bros in Addison, TX on Saturday January 28th at 7pm. That’s outside Dallas for all you non-Texans! We’re excited to be able to play live again, and *knock on wood* that the MetroPlex does not have another ice storm like last year!

We’ve posted some live footage from our Wishlist Foundation/PJ20 gig over on YouTube. If you search my YouTube name “gibytoof” you will find those “Live at Hemingways” videos as well as a bunch from our show at Dunn Bros in February earlier this year. We have some decent pro-video from our Wishlist gig and in the coming months I’ll be compiling it into something to watch. Not sure how it will all turn out, but stay tuned! Our Cluthe/Lee Facebook page is a great way to stay plugged in to what we’re doing as well. Head on over to www.reverbnation.com/presentlyfalling to listen to our new song “Don’t Be A Number.” Enjoy!!

Don’t Be A Number
Lee: Acoustic guitar, Harp, Drums, Bass, Backing Vocals
Cluthe: Lyrics/Vocals, Electric Guitar

Love to you all!!

Chris

Matt here….thought we’d mix up the blog a little bit by having only one of us post about each song. Hope you enjoy them…we definitely had a lot of fun writing, recording & mixing them.

-ONE DAY-
(Chris) One Day is a song that I wrote up after taking our dog for a walk one evening. It’s funny how music comes creeping into my head and in this case I had the main chords nailed down by the time I got home. Matt and I were talking about this song a few days ago and he said he wrote something like it a long time ago and that it was basically the same chord structure! Crazy! The lyrics Matt added are intense. To me it seems like he is singing out about making the most of your life. The lines “you only have one breath, one smile..” have spoken to me as of late.

-CRYING SHAME-
(Matt) This song came together very quickly. It’s a basic chord progression that I just started picking through & a vocal melody quickly formed. The message of this song is to stay true to yourself & change your life if you see it heading down a dark path. It’s good to learn from the past, but you must be aware of how your present actions can affect your future. Chris’ parts are hauntingly beautiful & very subtle. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him play this way before.

hey everyone…

just wanted to write a quick blog about this new song called “Phone Call.” this is a song that i wrote back in July of this year & we kept pushing it back for one reason or another. in the last few weeks, Chris & I have had the chance to go through a bunch of songs (old & new) to decide which ones we should work on next. i suggested that we finish this song again & he took several listens. he definitely surprised me when he said that he didn’t want to add anything to it…because it already sounded like it was done. so, here it is. it’s a moody acoustic song that hold a lot of meaning to me. i’m not going to get into the specifics concerning what it’s about, but i will say that there are times in life when a simple phone call can floor you and shake you to your core. thanks to Chris for pushing me to release this. i’d also like to thank him for our friendship & collaboration because it has allowed me to write songs that are very personal….songs that i used to shy away from.

more new tunes are in the works…
until then, enjoy this tune.

Matt

Phone Call
Cluthe (words/music): vocals, all guitars, shaker, tambourine

Hi all

Real quick here, Matt and I just posted a song we wrote on Monday this week called “Dear Woman.” It’s a big blusey improv that was done as on the spot as two guys living 1k miles apart can be. Here are a few thoughts from Matt.

“this is an improv in every sense of the word. i was recording a lead guitar track for another song & when that was done, i found myself playing these chords with a stop/start rhythm & really liked the way it sounded. so, i decided to record it. while setting up for the recording, i thought it would be fun to try some live improv vocals right then & then while playing the guitar track. no edits, no polish…just a fuzzbox type effect running on both the guitar & vocals. and this is that track…very raw & rough and a very good indication of what we sound like live. i think everything was done in one take for both of us and Chris absolutely nailed his parts down within an hour or 2. who says you can’t capture the live sound from 3 states away?”

Go listen over at www.reverbnation.com/presentlyfalling

Enjoy!!

Chris & Matt