Clay Beechy '21-'23
"Clay Beechy" is what most people call me and is highly coincidentally also the name of my musical solo project. This is a collection of songs I released during and directly after college.
Howdy!
Howdy! is the name of my debut album. I wrote the songs in a span of time between March '21 and August '22 but all of the primary tracks were recorded one week in August '22.
Then I had a mental breakdown,
then I mixed the record from October to November and co-mastered it with my old roommate AJ Arguelles in December, just in time for it to release on January 23, 2023
Here are some of my favorites:
Everybody Dies
Everybody Dies was one of the first tracks I wrote
for Howdy! After its completion in August '21, my
roommate urged me to take my time producing it, so I forgot about it for a year. Then in August '22 exactly a year after I first finished the song, I recorded some scratch tracks that would eventually become the outline for the finished recording.
This song serves as my anthem to futility. Instead of pitying the fact that everybody dies, I say we take a hold of it and embrace death, such as to live our lives to the fullest of their capacities.
The song tells the story of 2 men named Jeffrey, born on the same day in 1964, whose lives would ultimately take vastly different paths.
Thus the questions are, to have or not to have? And what exactly does it mean to be rich?
Your Name Again
This lovesick lullaby was inspired by a track called "Fell In Love" by Slaughter, Beach Dog
It explores the line between platonic and romantic love, can you adore someone for their ability to conversate or long for them solely for the peace they make you feel?
Your Name Again is a piece of sound design that I'm very proud of, I knew I didn't want drums in the first verse and that when the drums did come in I wanted them to tear my guts to pieces. So I made sure to make the song soft in almost every way and to really pay attention to my bass frequencies.
The bass that comes in right in the beginning warms you and then the drums hit you like big fat tsunami waves of love. All distortions are intentional.
Just This Once
So when I was writing this, I was working at a comedy theater in Amish country, Ohio.
Awesome job, really loved all the folks I got to connect with there. But almost all the music was geared toward country or classic sensibilities, so I got schooled in classic rock like Elvis, The Eagles, and The Beach Boys. And country mainstays like Hank Williams, Ricky Skaggs, and Johnny Cash. I had to let that pent up country out somehow, so I made...this.
I guess its a bluegrassy, pop-country heartache song. I wanted to represent my roots in that way, I mean, the first song I ever wrote was a country song.
So Just This Once showcases my heart, gives a nod to Jesus The Holy Homie
and lets me play around with group vocals in a songwriting style I wouldn't usually jump to.
HIGH-TESTOSTERONE MUSIC
The only track in Howdy! that doesn't feature my voice in a prominent way, HTM
still has a story to tell through memory, a story about feeling pain as a man and how we often express that through rage.
The song tells you to look at your personal demons and ask yourself what you've learned. The drop of this song is what I consider to be the emotional climax of the album and also features the classic four-note riff from 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' by Pink Floyd
HIGH-TESTOSTERONE-MUSIC was recorded in December of 2021 on an old Behringer preamp with the gain cranked. It was recorded in 3 takes: The chord track including the drop and outro, the 1st half noodle, and a double of the drop. You can tell the gain is heavy by how fuzzy the tone is and how much of the room you can hear.
If you listen closely, you can even hear me breathing while playing the guitar.
Waking Up
Waking Up is a song about 2020. What I experienced in moving to Florida in January, then going back home for quarantine and everything that
would ensue. It recalls George Floyd, the Beirut explosion, media disinformation,
and the US election. It asks questions about power, who really controls what, and what responsibility we have as individuals in shaping the world we live in.
To me, it is the alarm clock of the global awakening taking place all around.
It begs you to wake up now, and to not stop waking up until the work is done.
As a species, we have been asleep.
Now's the time to wake up and get out of bed.
Not A Consideration Given
This was the first song that I really felt like I created art out of. The chords came to me one morning along with the first line and by the end of that day, most of the arrangement of the song was done, then I spent 2 months tweaking things and eventually, it turned into one of my shining stars. This will always be one of my favorite songs
Almost Midnight
2021 was a year of personal growth and self-discovery, and while it was tremendously beautiful, it was also deeply painful. One night in July '21 in the midst of an episode of suicidal ideation, I wrote the first two verses of Almost Midnight, when I woke up in the morning I wrote the end of the song, and by the end of that day, most of the arrangement was done, then I spent 2 months tweaking it, 1 month mastering it, 1 month crying, and 1 month getting ready to promote it's release on Dec. 31 2021
home/Far from Home
twin siblings 'home' and 'Far from Home' were produced and released alongside eachother, but represent distinctly different versions of myself as they were written 2 years apart.
I think they're about a search for something, but I'm not really sure.
