Building a Girl Group Song: "Tides" and "Catch and Release"

There has been a Rocktopus revival in my thoughts lately with a show coming up on May 24th with good friends and one of my favorite bands The Pharmacy. Typically in my creative ways, Rocktopus is on the back burner and I stir it occasionally to keep it from stagnating. It kind of blows my mind that it actually exists, Rocktopus and the Scallywags. It started out as a one Octopus band and now boast 12 members, all of which I give credit for the Rocktopus to be alive - as, if it weren't for folks to say, "I want to be a part of that" and me saying "Really?* do you realize what you have to do? Dress? Act? In front of people? Have you even heard these songs?"- then I don't think it would keep going on. But it's great! It's amazing! I am met with more support for Rocktopus than anything else I have ever done. People from all over the world contact me, I have never made any attempt to reach out besides touring. To think, that what started as a silly joke to fill some time on a show on short notice - writing 6 songs in 4 days - and now the potential of such sounds, like a mile wide canvas with colors never seen brought by the best artists to help make a...a.... something - however silly it is. It blows my mind that I am a part of that, that I have friends to help me realize this, that it works, that it gets booked, and press, and smiles, and applause. I'll get into that later- I want to talk about the Sirens and more Pacifically a song I am writing for them.
The Sexy Sirens have added a great dimension to the arrangements of these songs. These 3 girls in particular are incredibly talented. I sit down with my guitar and find myself singing into my recording machine in 3 and 4 part harmony with girl voices so I can articulate my thoughts to them...they pick it up instantly, always eager to do what I clumsily and half confidently say, or they come up with great ideas that I overlook. I want to make a few songs just for them. And since my the genre reflects direct influences (see: unknowingly ripping off) of 50's and early 60's pop rock n roll, I wanted to build the perfect girl group songs.
Now I use the word "build" because I think of girl group songs being incredibly complex, not in terms of chords or progression or difficulty, but complex in layers. It might be easy for someone who writes songs to write any old song, but I think that one should adopt this mindset of "building" when you want to produce a song that requires several working systems to make a simple rock sound in a girl group genre. I think of Phil Spector and what he innovated, what he called the "Wall of Sound." I asked Adam what he thought and he returned with one word "tides." I asked what J-man thought while fishing with him and he came up with a hook instantly, "Well I guess that's what he calls catch and release." I thought about this and made some notes that I'd like to share from my real journal. (My journal that no one sees except when I leave it at Lindsay's house and she reads it and wonders why I'm so crazy and gets mad at me for thinking like I do, and sad at me for not saying stuff that I really feel.) Notes of what I need to consider in this process.

Ingredients to building a girl group song brainstorm
-Begins with "be my baby" drum- bass bass bass snare x2
-Lyrics: "remember, walking in the sand, walking hand and hand" incorporate into song - something about footprints fading by tides like a symbolic form of an expression of love, nothing stays, everything changes, set pace with this lyric.
-Call and response, call and response
-variations on ballad chord structure (1, 6 minor, 4, 5) C,Am,F,G - variations with diminished chords, mixing order of ballad structure, riffs in and out of hooks or bridge, or riffs as hooks, key changes in 3rd part of song.
-lack of personally singing can enable focus on syncopated guitar rhythms.
-rhythm in vocals + heavy percussion. Focus on syllables and pattern of backing vocals delivery, mortar in sound wall!
-Vocal trails, backing and leads following each other to keep it tied together, vocal trails, and trailing vocals
-"Tides" perfect symbolism of the ultimate feminine force, brought by full moon - don't get carried away! stay vague, keep it relate-able yet personal - tides wash away, tides rise and fall, tides can't be stopped, tides represent change as well.
-"catch and release" what the fuck?, he charmed me, he loved me, he looked deep into my eyes, he made me laugh, he made me something special, and then he left with out a trace, he left for what reason? another girl? no reason? why won't he call? sitting here racking my brain trying to figure out why he isn't calling and i just found out he's at the drive in with some tall brunette and she is wearing his jacket. what the fuck? -draw on personal experience, the nice guy struggle, the battle against dudes like him, why did he get that girl in the first place? he's a dick. she's crying and I'm pining...paint a picture in your head of him and write.
-lyrics, channel phil spector yet sensitive to feminism, and evolution of this thought. What does a typical girl group song say to folks? What do I want to say to folks? Combine. Classic girl group lyrics tell the following: "He's a bad boy type, and I love him for that. He's a bad boy type, and I hate him for that. He loved me and left me for another girl and I happened to witness it. or the classic: girl was wrong but you can't blame her because she is a woman ala "Train to kansas city." set it up for the girl to be the loved character and pull the rug out from the listener in the final verse.

-percussion is so important. Hand claps, individual drum parts/fills that should be left for the only sound that you hear, ala "do ron ron" and snare fills and late crashes in chorus.

-it important to first write the song in a soul slow ballad form, then build and build and build and bring it up to a rocking pace. Build with these techniques and NOT tempo to add what it is that makes the song rock. Build this song with the band and NOT alone. get input, but keep mind clear of what sound you want. steer away from individuality and focus on the wall of sound and group aspects of the song. remember that this song is only produced as a holistic sound and not an instrument or voice.

-that clicker sound thing, what is that? spoons?
-choreography LAMF
-oh, the fishy puns, don't forget

I have a few rough copies of these songs, half ass written- and usually on this blog I share that kind of stuff. But I want to keep this away from ears for now so I can see how it develops on its own. Also, not that it is a pity bait, but I am in a stage where I wonder if I ever wrote a good song. I've been losing confidence as of late, I've had some serious doubts about my songs after I learned how to play Roy Orbison songs in particular - well, not that I have stopped writing songs, it's just that I get a bit more embarrassed to think that I could actually create a quality song that I'd like to share. I won't get into that either, it's just a stage I'm sure (hope), and that is contradictory to this blog's welfare. So maybe someday I'll start posting my baby songs again, if I can ever write a good song for once. I'll use this as an opportunity to change my own mind with this girl group song project ahead. I'm really excited about it. Hope to see you on MAY 24th for the debut of these songs and the reality of that brainstorm.

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*really folks, I don't care if you can play an instrument or not. If you want to be in you are in. There is only one qualification, that you represent your aquatic client in the most professional kayfabe way.