004 by Status Report

I've been digging through my memory for some of my very first rock compositions from 1981-83, incorporating a few licks, riffs, melodic sequences into these four new instrumental tracks. Merging elements of what we played back then as a beginner trio with the styles I play on my own these days (45 years later) feels a bit like time travel.

Some explanations to the early 1980s songs / elements:

1) The inspiration in this case came exclusively from Canned Heat. I didn't hear the ZZ Top song with a similar riff until years later. Our song was called Coalmine Boogie, and at our third gig, someone from the audience spontaneously joined in with the blues harp. People went crazy in that youth center, and this led to our next gig as support act for Aztec Camera in a larger venue.

2) Part of the background chord progression comes from a funk rock song I wrote in 1982.

3) Contains - in a jumbled form - verse and chorus riffs of a song also written in 1982.

4) The recurring funky melody was part of an instrumental called "Stop". Curiously, we played this as a concert intro. Without a warning it started with loud, simultaneous guitar-bass-drum bangs that lifted the previously chatting visitors from the floor or their seats.

The cover image is based on a concert photo of my first band,
The Coalmine Report.

Status Report, an experimental journal that chronologically reflects states of mind in the form of instrumental music

Aumbric was originally conceived as an ambient music project and is on indefinite hiatus.

phonux