A Chorus.fm Forum Tribute To Summer

Another one under the belt!

@Jason Tate thank you for posting, and even more for including the link directly to the thread so others can join! You the real MVP

 

Thanks for posting this, @Jason Tate!

This compilation turned out really great! Here are my thoughts on each track (that I am copying over from the forum) :

1. @trevorshmevor - Intro (New Found Glory)
I thought this was the best opener for the comp. The beach sounds are great, and then the song just kicks in and rips your face off in a short and sweet kinda way. Such a good song too! I'm glad NFG made it onto this comp. An NFG comp would be fun to do one day...

2. @snaps - You Belong With Me (Taylor Swift)
One of my favorite T-Sweezy songs, and you guys did great with it! I love the bouncy energy on it.

3. @Things So Impossible & @DashboardProfessional - You're So Last Summer (Taking Back Sunday)
This was a really cool cover! I like how you guys handled the vocals, and I think this song works great as an acoustic song. Talented family right here!

4. @elemenohpe - Smooth (Santana & Rob Thomas)
When you said you were going to do this song, it kinda caught me off guard. It's not a song that I'd expect anyone here to do, but you nailed it! I know you said that you felt like you added too many bongos and stuff, but I thought it was perfect. It's crazy that you learned how to play the song from a video game, haha. Maybe I need to do that so I can learn how to play lead guitar better.

5. bradsonemanband - Ocean Avenue (Yellowcard)
So originally, I was going to do a full band cover of "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit. I had all of the music recorded, but couldn't ever find time to do vocals until the due date, but when I tried to do them, my voice just wasn't working out for it. So I scrapped it, and started dinking around on my acoustic guitar to see if I could come up with anything for a different song. "Ocean Avenue" just kind of popped out immediately. I played through it once or twice and then hit record. I'm kinda bummed I wasn't able to finish my Lit cover, but I hope I did this one enough justice to make up for it.

6. @trevorshmevor - We Are Never Getting Back Together (Taylor Swift)
This is my favorite track on here! I have listened to it like 5 times already, haha. You killed it. Everything about it is rad! And the name drop to our Chorus comps made me smile like a dork.

7. @Craig Manning - Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)
Your voice! Gahhhh! To be honest, I don't know this song, but I got lost listening to your voice. I've told you that a million times already though so I'll stop gushing now, haha.

8. @InfiniteArms - Blood Red Summer (Coheed and Cambria)
I'll echo how the unintentional surfy vibe works great for this song. Sounds awesome!

9. @phillyfradet - Under The Boardwalk (The Drifters)
I always forget about this song and how good it is! You did it justice. I was bopping and singing along with it, and even after it was finished. The Drifters are so great. I'd love to do an Oldies compilation one day.

10. bradsonemanband - Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones)
I did this song on the due date too. It came completely out of nowhere. I had a few shots of whiskey, was playing my guitar, and then decided to record a quick cover of it. I programmed the bass and drums while my friends and girlfriend were all watching Game of Thrones. I was sitting behind them with my headphones on, programming away! And then I went in my room after the show was over to record the vocals (which I don't like at all) but I didn't have time to really make them great. I'll probably re-record the vocals eventually. Haha, but either way, this was fun to play.

11. @Benjamin Lee - Off To The Races (Lana Del Rey)
I don't know Lana, but I really liked your cover! I like how dark it sounds. Did you play it in a low tuning? It sounds so dark and heavy. It's awesome.

12. @TedSchmosby - Warmth Of The Sun (Dashboard Confessional)
Ahhh good ol' Dashboard! This was a great summer acoustic song to cover. And like others have said, you've got the Chris Carrabba vocal to do it justice.

13. bradsonemanband - Sasha (Turnover)
I recorded this in one take on THIS recorder. I thought it would be kinda cool to record a track that way because I've never really used this tape recorder before. I didn't use any effects afterwards other than volume adjustment. So that's why the sound quality is kinda funky and you can hear the actual tape sounds and stuff. I'll probably record more covers like this here and there because I think I like the sound it captures.

14. @therookielot - Video Games (Lana Del Rey)
Once again, I don't know Lana at all, but I am starting to think I need to give her a shot because I like both of the Lana covers on here. Very cool cover! I like how you let the vocals be the main focus of the song by keeping the guitar kinda low in the background.

15. @elemenohpe - Stay Out (Hit The Lights)
This is one of my favorite HTL songs and I wanted it to be the last track on here because it kinda book ends the whole compilation. Starts off with that fast NFG song and then ends with the fast HTL song, with all sorts of different sounds and moods in between. This was a really fun cover and it made me realize that I haven't listened to this band in a REALLY long time. It's time to blow the dust off of it and give it another whirl because this is the perfect time to do so.

 

My thoughts on each track can be found in the forum thread, but I'll just leave the inspiration for my own tracks here, also copied from the forum thread:

1. Intro - So like I said, this was a very impromptu cover haha. Had no plans to do it until like 20 minutes before I started. Really didn't touch up on much of it past the initial takes. Wanted to keep with the punk and get the most "live" feeling possible! Since this was recorded less than 24 hours before everything was due, really didn't have time to get friends over for the gang vocals, so I decided to get creative with the beginning by have the actual track play like its a vinyl or something. The whole beach thing was pretty random, idk, I was very drunk hahaha. Anyway, NFG was my favorite band growing up all the way until about 2007 or 2008. Catalyst came out at the end of my freshman year of high school, literally about a week from the start of summer break. My mom took my to Target immediately when she got home and I bought a copy and two others for friends. Man, I just loved that band so much haha. Like every record prior, I played that thing until it couldn't play anymore. So anyway, it seemed like a good and quick way to pay homage to the band that changed my life in a way that not many have, and set the tone for my first high school summer with this song


6. We Are Never Getting Back Together - aside from the other song I did for this, this might be the quickest I've ever completely arranged and recorded a song by myself. I messed around with ideas for so fucking long haha, I can't count the number of songs I tried out with all of my fingers combined. I was actually about to drop out of this comp entirely until I was listening to Red at work the other day and it hit me that this song was the perfect choice for me. Summer vibes, song that most everyone would know, and also allows for a lot of interpretation of any kind. Had a blast recording it. There were a couple of things I wanted to add in that I didn't really have time for, but the beauty of having a time limit is learning to become happy with what you created, knowing that it's the best your could've done at that point

 

I'm so glad that you finally had that moment of inspiration, didn't drop out of the comp, and got this song done! Like I said, it's my favorite one on the whole thing! It's so much fun and so well done. #killedit

 

@Benjamin Lee that was actually the Lana song that sold me on her. Your version was awesome. Great job

 

I think I covered it because you said it would be really hard to cover. (Might be thinking of someone else) haha Thank you! I had a lot of fun with it. :)

 

Haha no I saw that post tho and I was stoked that you accepted the challenge because I wanted to do a Lana cover too just was hesitant. So if anything you motivated me.

Creating music feels like I'm high without drugs..except a couple

 

I'm glad you did Video Games, I liked your version a lot. Good analogy there. Hahaha

 

I didn't realize all this music was going on right under my nose. I'm totally hopping in on that thread, this is so cool

 

By far my favorite comp you guys have released so far. Loved them all, especially that acoustic cover of Sasha. Fucking love that song. Awesome job Brad!

 

Aww thank you! I love that song too

 

Dang it. Totally missed the ball on this one. Great job everyone!