MANIFESTO

Despite how things may appear, I’m awfully undeveloped in the more technical aspects of singing. I can do the following things passably well: 1) make up a melody, 2) sing a melody somebody else made up and 3) badly mangle any harmony I come in contact with. Which is why for years I’ve been hoping for two things: either I’d get rich enough to buy something like this, or I’d come across a person who was better than I am (NOT DIFFICULT) at singing harmonies.

As luck would have it, I met such a person in Jason Ayers two years ago, who not only is better than I am (again, NOT DIFFICULT), he’s downright excellent. He seemed to have a natural range that fell somewhere around +7 notes above mine and whenever we sang together things just fell into place. The universe (I) was pleased.

Then he moved to Philadelphia, and I started thinking more seriously about picking up some audio equipment. That thing I linked to up there is a serious piece of machinery with some really crazy features and it might be fun to try it out. But then I met Meredith. Watch (or listen to) this:

Ben and Meredith - Wagon Wheel 3 Part Vocal by seamonsters

She easily outperforms the machine (tagline for a sci-fi movie?). To compare her to that thing would undersell her gift for crafting new and creative harmonic lines that run parallel to the existing melody. She sent me two non-overlapping harmonies within a few weeks of learning Wagon Wheel, and she recorded them both in one evening. Last time I was challenged to learn a new song, it took me, well, too long. Certainly I wasn’t writing new harmonic parts, well, ever.

What’s even more exciting is that Meredith is on board now with the Virtual Band Project idea. This is the fulfillment of a musical vision I’ve been trying to make real since I left Bloomington. I want to create a musical workshop where I can pass around files to share between as many people as would like to contribute. A virtual band, if you will. The recording of that song Front Porch had some element of that, but I’m just now getting the pieces into place to make this all happen. So here’s my hope (however unrealistic) for the future of this enterprise:

- To create and manage a website supporting the goals described herein
- To figure out a way to add drums into the mix
- To get more musicians involved, I’m looking at you, Jason, Jake and Smitty
- To eventually organically create a fully orchestrated and integrated piece of music, whether an original or a unique take on a cover
- To get you (the reader) to listen to it
- To leverage your listening into monetary gain, musical acclaim, and countrywide fame
- To support research that leads to the creation of a fully functional robot that has feelings, which can do my laundry and dishes
- I hate laundry and dishes

So here’s a teaser taste of what’s been going down over the past 24 hours. If you’re a musician, download this (or any other of the songs on here) and add a part. AND GET EXCITED!

Seamonsters - Quiet as a Mouse, Teaser version by seamonsters