If you have heard some of my earlier Wilfred N & the Grown Men albums, you might have found that there is usually an instrumental song in there. On this instrumental, I sing some quasi-lyrics. It was just my instinct to sing ‘something’ that didn’t necessarily have to mean anything, and to sing it in unison voices – no harmonies. I think it comes from my love of Brazilian music. Sergio Mendes’s Brasil 66 (and 77) were a big influence on me, along with Antonio Carlos Jobim.
The singing came later on “33 Revolutions”. This song was really very quickly put together. I had a notion that I needed an instrumental song for this album, and that the titled should be “33 Revolutions” so that it would connect with the album title, “Passing Through Time”. One night I recorded all the basic parts of the song – the keyboard parts and the main drum feel. It was very rough, and my initial recording was full of flubs and rhythmic blunders. I thought I could fix it up later. Then I called in Jamie Philp to help me flesh the song out further. I asked him to bring along some chunky guitar sounds and, “oh . . . do you still have that electric sitar?” He did have it, and he brought it along to our session the very next day after I threw together the basics. I played the track to Jamie and we just went for it without hesitation. He recorded the chunky guitar parts straight away. Next – move to another track and do some more. Next – it’s electric sitar time, and Jamie tastefully played little bits here and there, leaving lots of room for the song to breathe.
“33 Revolutions” really came together in the editing – what to leave out, what to leave in. To say that the song ‘mixed itself’ would not be quite right. In fact, I think the song just ‘took over’ and became what I had hoped it would be from the start: a feeling of going round and round on a highway of time. 33 Revolutions? Well, that’s how long it has been since Wilfred N & the Grown Men first started recording music. I think it’s 33 1/3, actually. Stimulating times, reflective times – always . . . life is a mystery – and now we have a new surge of energy to blast into the future!



Credits:
You already know this. I sang the vocal parts and played the initial keyboard parts plus some incidental guitar on my Firebird. I later added a couple synth lines (Arp 2600 patch from Arturia). Jamie Philp did all the heavy guitar lifting and brought in the magic of the electric sitar (Rogue). The vocals were recorded next and then were re-sung over a few extra sessions to get them right. About a week later, Clint Frazier came in to play his Simmons drum kit on this song. I kinda sprung it on him – he hadn’t heard the song before and I just got him to ‘react’ to it. I try to go for first takes as much as possible, so I secretly had the record button on while Clint was just finding his way through the song. Before we ‘actually’ started recording, I had already recorded some cool stuff from Clint’s first reactions. That’s a great approach because sometimes you get the best takes when the player just spontaneously responds to what is going on in the song. Don’t overthink! Clint’s instinct was spot on in this song!