Week 10 – ‘Tiny Chemicals’

by Frank Hamilton

Week 10.  Double figures.  If you round it down slightly I’m 1/5 of the way through this whole shebang – and I’m actually quite enjoying it.

Routine is like an old friend.  We lost touch for a few years but I’m pleased to say he’s slowly worming his way back into my life.  His friend Spanner keeps getting thrown into the works every now and again but most of the time we’re able to keep the peace and move forward together.

The house isn’t always tidy but the temporary Hungarian housemate (still here!) helps with the cleaning and every Friday we open the front door – allowing you lot to take your shoes off, come inside and check out this weeks offering.

‘Tiny Chemicals’ was written a few days ago with a nice chap from Essex called Robbie Jay – who has all but conquered youtube (check out the week 9 podcast where we had a chat).  He came over and we threw some ideas around before sitting down to write a song.

The Blurb:

Week 9 was a bit of a bleak week and I’d just about drawn a line under it when Robbie arrived.  After a coffee and some football banter (he’s an Arsenal fan – fresh perspective on the word bleak) we sat down with a guitar and a piano and talked about what we wanted to write.

A few sub-standard ideas later I thought back to the night before when I’d been up until 3am jotting ideas down.  I’d managed to write 3 half decent choruses (admittedly with the same chord progression) in the space of an hour – and one of them positioned itself in the forefront of my mind.

I played it to Robbie and we wrestled with it for a few minutes before deciding to ditch everything apart the concept and one of the lyrics.  Four hours and lots of caffeine later we were something approaching happy and put a rough demo down.

I ignored it for 24 hours (standard procedure when time’s on my side) and then set about re-doing my vocals and adding extra guitars before I realised it would be a great song for week 10.  Last week I was moping around in my living room thinking about moving on.  This weeks it’s happening – with conviction.

There’s also a bit of a sub-plot going on – an ex girlfriend who was (and may still be) a bit of an alcoholic.  Bless her.

Favourite Lyric:

I quite like the chorus but I think the 2nd verse is my favourite.

“My head might be turning over
This bed might be colder than before
My sun won’t shine but there’s no thunder
It’s not raining anymore
It’s not raining anymore”

Unfortunately making the decision to walk away is the easiest part.  Once reality sinks in the temptation to backtrack is always there.  It’s about having the presence of mind to know that your head and your bed aren’t as important as the weather.  They’ll get clearer/warmer when it’s sunny outside.