Thanks for visiting this blog and taking the time to check up on good ol’ Shaky J. This album, Spaceman Bubble, came to me as an idea in August of 2009. I didn’t really have a clue as to how it would turn out, I didn’t have much material at the time, I just knew that my first album out the gate would be called ‘Spaceman Bubble’. I’ll admit that I didn’t even take it too seriously at that moment, I was busy recording and playing with other acts and I couldn’t imagine taking the time to do this, it was just a novel idea. That idea never left me for a moment. It took root in the back of my head and started to grow, slowly but surely. Things like song titles started forming in my head, I began visualizing art work, fonts and of course, the raw nature of inspiration started playing melodies of songs to be. In the winter of 2011, after years of recording pet projects on my own, it dawned on me that Spaceman Bubble was very close to being a reality. In the following months, I took time away from the scene to finally take this album seriously and put the time in to make it happen. Even though there are songs on the album recorded from as long as six years ago, none of them were ready to be released as part of the album. The months leading up to the release were spent listening and recording. I didn’t want to change the nature of any of the songs that were recorded from years past as I believe in capturing and preserving musical moments as they are. With that said, a lot of the tracks were incomplete and needed overdubs to compliment what was already recorded. Easier said than done, especially since there were parts that I felt I could have recorded better (20/20 hindsight at work here) but then the feel and genuine inspiration of that moment would be lost. I will honestly say that every note on Spaceman Bubble came from unadulterated inspiration, nothing was contrived. This is why it took so many years for me to have all the material to release, I waited till I only felt truly inspired to record before I did so, I didn’t want anything to sound forced or dry. Sure, there are parts I would like to change, ‘mistakes’ I overlooked but then again, I don’t believe in the sound of perfection. Not to get too off topic here, but I’ve always believed that older tunes have enjoyed so much longevity on the airwaves and public opinion because they all have that human feel, the little nuances that a player gives a track, the subtle inconsistencies that keep it interesting to the mind. Modern music, for better or worse, is autotuned, quantized and edited to a fault. Every beat and note of every bar is perfect, right on every time. I believe this monotony bores the brain hence modern music doesn’t have the same staying power over the years as compared to previous generations. I’m not bashing other genres, music is music, but maybe it’s best to leave some of those imperfections in, it gives the music character. Again, easier said than done. No piece of art is ever ‘finished’, you simply decide to stop working on it which is the case with Spaceman Bubble. It became apparent to me after a while that I would work on these tunes to a fault, caught up in a whirlwind of brainstorming, indecision, overexposure to the material and a touch of self-consciousness. That’s when I told myself, it doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to have the ‘feel’, genuine ‘feel’. The day that I felt that I mixed and mastered the tracks to the best of my ability and that I couldn’t possibly do anything more to convey the ‘feel’ of the record was May 14th, 2012. I burnt my master disc and took it downtown for manufacturing. You would think one would be relieved to finally let go. Nope, I was a nervous wreck that day, telling myself, ‘that’s it, no more changing the mixes, hope I didn’t fudge it up’. Truthfully, I was just neck deep in the music and had to give my ears a few days rest from it to be objective about the whole thing. I did just that, woke up one morning, put the tunes on and enjoyed listening to my first record. It’s still challenging not to listen with an over-analytical ear at times, but then every artist will tell you they are their own worst critic. With that said, there is very little I would change on this record, these are songs that I hear in my head and now you can hear them too. I sincerely hope you, the listener, enjoy them and get a good laugh at how goofy I can be. Laughing and dancing make life better, I wish I could do it ten times more often than I do now and I hope this record gives you at least one genuine moment of laughing and dancing, that would mean the world to me.Track NotesCough SyrupI unfortunately have a weak immune system and catch every cold out there. No one wants to fudge up the stage show by breaking out in coughing fits hence my familiarity with all kinds of cough medicine. I’m being honest here, I hate the stuff ,it makes me dizzy and gives me the shits BUT I rather deal with that then not get called for a gig because last time 1000 people heard me cough uncontrollably at 110db. Every time I take a swig of cough syrup, this is the song that plays in my head. Weird, I know, but it really does. I was so familiar with it that it took only three hours to record and mix the song.Spaceman BubbleI love space. I can’t even begin to imagine what could be out there and no, I’m not an alien conspiracy theorist. I daydream a lot and sometimes imagine what it would be like travelling through space in one of those 1950’s type spaceships with my guitar, my unmentionables and some reggae tapes. I get lost pretty easy just going downtown so I don’t think I d ever make it back to Earth which is why my mission would be to spread reggae music across the galaxy. Zombie SkaThe idea for this track is two-fold. First off, I wanted to show how closely related jazz and original ska is. They both have walking bass, a shuffle in the beat and lots of improvisation. The final interpretation may be different but the ingredients are very similar. That’s why I did a jazz intro into a ska beat. Now, what does this have to do with Zombies? Simple, the walk of the bass in the ska section of the song reminds me of a zombie walking. Why? Because I just got Netflix and caught up on every zombie movie in the last 10 years. That’s why there is no improvising in the ska section of Zombie Ska, zombies don’t improvise, they just walk around and eat people.Proper Toned UpI know what you’re thinking; this has to do with something about getting high. Nope. Uh-uh. Incorrecto. Erroneous. You are wrong.Rasclawt MascotIn Jamaica, at least when I was growing up, being called a mascot was an insult. It is because the mascot looks like he is part of the team, dressing up in team colors and fanfare, but can’t play with the team and can’t play the game. At the end of the day, they are on the sidelines making fools of themselves. There are many people like that in all walks of life, especially in entertainment. They dress and act like they make things happen but are really there just making fools of themselves and of others around them. This song is me just venting some of the frustrations I’ve had over the years dealing with phony people dressing in team colors trying to convince me they know how the game works while simultaneously derailing all the hard work I have done. This is the first song I ever recorded my voice to, I was that pissed off at the time. I just grabbed the mic and vented. Why is there a shout out to Shabba Ranks in the tune then? Why not? Who doesn’t like Shabba Ranks?StratoskankingThe title of this track is a play on words; my favorite guitars, Fender ‘Stratocaster’, and the role of the guitar in reggae which is ‘Skanking’. I did this track with Henderson ‘Love I’ King whom I highly regard as a reggae keyboardist and producer. He contributed all the keyboard parts and laid down a simple yet lovely solo mid tune. As for the rest of the track, the drums went through several takes before I ended up using the one that is presently there. However, all the lead guitar was done in one take, I just got a good moment in the studio and had the good fortune to be able to record itGet DancingThis song was a real spur of the moment type thing. I’ve been working with Sunray Grennan for a number of years and eventually will complete an EP with him. This was to be one of the tracks on the EP. When it came to record vox, Sunray didn’t really find anything in his book that quite fit the riddim. That evening, my daughter came home from dance lessons and Sunray was asking my daughter about her lessons and which type of dancing she liked best. That conversation turned into an idea which turned into the recording session for Get Dancing. There was a total of almost 8 minutes of Sunray spontaneously DJ’ing off the top of his head. I whittled it down to a radio-friendly 3.5 minutes which was difficult because I liked all of it. Sunray and I have clicked as musicians from the day we first met, which was live on stage, and there will be many more projects coming from me and him in the future. By the way, did you know that Sunray is the son of Winston Grennan, the man who invented the one-drop beat? Seriously, google it.Family VibesThis is the song I hear in my head when I think about my family.Phil It UpThis song is dedicated to the memory of my dad, Philip Ewart Forrest. He died on the day my first single was released. I’m pretty sure it’s not related. On a serious note, my dad was a cool guy, he was genuinely funny, had a lot of interesting things to talk about, a helluva handyman and always well informed. Originally, I wanted to use some of my dad’s one-liners he was known for in the track but then again I didn’t want to make an offensive record so I just recorded the hook and let the guitar do the talking. He was always a fan of the older reggae and the blues so I tried to put all those elements in this track, traditional sounding reggae one-drop with a touch of bluesy guitar. For AriaI recorded this when my first child, Aria, was born. Yes, my other children inspire me but you never repeat that one time moment when you newly become a father. The 3.5 minute solo was done in one take, it couldn’t be any other way.Dready WalmartThis track has nothing to do with Rastafari which I have a lot of respect for. This track is dedicated to those who water down Rastafari by dressing and posing like them and adhering to nothing of the essence of what Rastafari is. Those guys, in Jamaica, we refer to as ‘dreads’. I am not a Rasta and couldn’t tell you if I was, you don’t choose Rastafari, Rastafari chooses you. With that said, I have had many encounters working in Reggae with the dreads, using Rastafari to promote themselves and their music with not an ounce of understanding of what it is nor a care to do so. Outside of Jamaica, many people associate Reggae music with Rastafari, some exclusively associate it. I can only guess that their logic is, “I want to be a reggae singer/musician so now I have to be a Rasta’. Nothing could be further from the truth but try telling them that. Most of them have never been to Kingston and see for themselves how diverse the scene is, they are working off of assumptions and stereotypes. And to top it all off, they give themselves these grandiose stage names, ‘King This’ or ‘King That’, ‘Queen of This’ or ‘Don of everything’. You want to give yourself a name that everyone will recognize? Try ‘Walmart’ or ‘Bestbuy’, everyone knows what that is.BrienzThis track is dedicated to the time I spent in a little tourist town know as Brienz in Switzerland. We stayed there for three days after playing the Montreux Jazz festival. The place was so offbeat and strange along with its denizens that when I came back from the tour, I recorded this song in a moment of inspiration thinking of my time there. It is the only track on the album that is close to being called a dub track in Jamaica. The intention was not to dub it, but it has many elements of dub in it regardless, the tune really just came together on its own. I recorded it in 2009 and between then and now I must have remixed it at least half a dozen times. I did not re-visit the mix for this album, what you’re hearing is where I left it at sometime in 2010 when I stopped working on it. It is one of those tracks I could spend forever mixing, trying to delve into all the intricacies of what I recorded just as my mind was trying to understand all the intricacies of Brienz. The super-small bathrooms, lack of elevators, diarreah-inducing cheese and $7.50 french fries.Ab InitioThis is Latin for ‘from the beginning’. Ten years ago, I produced my first ever full length album in collaboration with a Toronto-rapper-turned-mayoral-candidate James ‘Awd’ Difiore. Fresh out of engineering school, this was a real trial by fire project. I wrote all the music and he did the lyrics and voicing. One of the tracks from the album, ‘Nothing Like a Dream’ used one of the first progressions I ever wrote for myself when I was about 16. In doing Spaceman Bubble, I really wanted to include this track on the album but a rap song would not fit the theme of this project so what I did was re-record a completely different rendition of it, a blend of the very first chord progression I ever came up with and the reggae style I currently produce sans lyrics, strictly instrumental. This is the only song on the album that was recorded for the album and not part of my collection of projects past that were tweaked for the record. I couldn’t get over the fact that calling the song anything with ‘beginning’ in the title sounded too cheesy and pretentious so I looked up what it would be in Latin and used that. Why latin? A choice quote from the prolific Oscar Gamble “They don’t think it be like it is but it do”.Zoning (Outtake)This is just an outtake, something that is rarely released in this day and age. I almost didn’t include it because when you first hear it, it can be a little overwhelming as it is a very busy track. But, the more you listen, the more you will see that there is actually a method to all that madness. This track is just the sound of me jamming, with myself ! Everything is one take, no edits, I used automation in the mix to help clean it up but I was really focused on leaving everything as is. This gives you, the listener, the chance to hear what I really play like without all the polish and pizzazz of today’s production techniques. Just me playing away to my hearts content. I have been accused of being a ‘jammer’ many times over the years, even though I have been playing with much more discipline for the longest while. Pro sessions tend to force that on you or you won’t get the repeat business. Now, I enjoy playing in the pocket and just the right amount to compliment the song I’m working on, I’ve let go of trying to prove myself, the benefit of experience. However, it wouldn’t be right in my eyes to release my first solo without any of the jammer chaos some have enjoyed and others have loathed. What can I say, it’s in my nature. So, there you have it, a jam, an outtake, some sort of proof that there really are little gremlins in my head telling me what to do. Thanks for reading,Shane ‘Shaky J’