Groundwire
Music by Marcelo
After the end of The Spinning Jennys and in possession of Mr. Honn’s 4-track, I felt like it was up to me to keep Rock and Roll alive; to continue carrying the Rock and Roll torch. My first attempts at writing music were very simple and bland. There was a lot of Grunge influence in its form and composition. The recording technique itself was very primal. Armed with a crap microphone and my sister’s cheap keyboard, my first recordings left a lot to be desired. Hearing them now, however, no matter how cringe-worthy they might be, there was soul behind it.
Thematically though… well… there was nothing… just an out-pour of feeling of frustration and inadequacy and a sequence of broken hearts. I guess that might have been the typical teenage feelings at the time? Or was it just me? I don’t know. There was also a sequence of stupid song titles that, at the time, I thought sounded cool.
Groundwire.
Yeah. One word.
This was a song about a girl (of course) who I had a crush on (of course). Over time though, she morphed from cool grunge girl to synthetic electronic music rave girl. And that annoyed me.
When I first met her, she was in 7th grade. I was in 8th. She loved Panthera, Metallica and other heavy metal bands. For a while she dated the drummer of Blank, the heavy metal band from the ‘95 Battle of The Bands. But after that, she dated a guy from 11th grade who had a very big impact on her. He was nuts, though. Everyone who knew him well swears he was a great friend who always had your back. Maybe that was true. But all I saw were the drugs. A lot of drugs.
One day, after missing classes for almost a week, we got news that his body had washed up on shore of Paranoá Lake. He had been dead for days and apparently there were knife wounds to his abdomen. The reigning theory was that he owed money to drug dealers and suffered the consequences. His body was thrown off the bridge and washed up on the shore a couple of days later.
The school was in mourning for what felt like ages. I didn’t go to his funeral, as I was not really friends with him. I never liked him. His drug habit really bothered me; scared me.
After a while things got back to its more regular groove. But what kind of trauma does that cause to a teenage girl? She was never the same after that. Sure, times were changing. In the post-Nirvana age, Rock and Roll was on its way out. The late 90’s was a time of electronic music, and raves were the place to be. All nightclubs were ditching rock music. Our favorite spot, Tequila Rock, closed. Gilberto Salomão was never the same.
The era of the DJ was upon us and I hated it. All that soulless, synthetic electronic music meant nothing to me. As a matter of fact, it baffled me. How can anyone even enjoy music that has no meaning? no soul? no art? Spinning discs at different speeds to match a beat and fading back and forth between them was, in my mind at the time, pathetic.
Groundwire came from that disappointment and frustration. Music now sucked. Cool people were not cool anymore. I didn't want to have anything to do with them and them with me. Plus a little sprinkle of self pity to spice it up.
The first recording of Groundwire was just an overlay of a few acoustic guitar tracks and a few vocals tracks with some delay effects on it. The idea was just to get the song our of my head. This must have been late 96 or early 97.
The next step was to try to get a more rock feel with bass and drums. I don’t play drums, nor did I have a bass at that time, so I borrowed my sister’s keyboard. It was a cheap Casio keyboard that was more of a toy than anything serious. She had got it as a present when she decided to learn to play piano. She took a few lessons but it must have lasted for only a couple of months. Then it just sat there, unused. So I borrowed it.
There were some simple beats there to use, but nothing really any good. But it was enough to give me a feel of rock music. So eventually I recorded Groundwire again, this time with synth bass and one of the pre-programed rock beats on that keyboard.
Here’s that second version of Groundwire.
And like George Lucas before me, a great artist is never satisfied and I recoded it again, trying another version of the sounds. This was to be my definitive version. There was an extra little guitar part that I added at the end there. This was an homage to The Misconceptions, as at the end of a song of theirs, Phil had strummed that bit and then faded out. I thought it was cool and totally ripped it. I believe this version was still recorded in Brasilia, sometime in mid to late 1997.
After moving to Rio, I managed to get a computer with a sound card, which eventually substituted my 4-track. As I learned to use it to record music, sometimes I didn't have a new song to record, so I recorded old songs. Groundwire was one of the few songs to get redone. This time I had a beat sequencer and I programed the drums beat by beat with real drum samples. I had a bass I had borrowed and was set to go. This was recorded in 2001. Here’s the last (but maybe not final) recording of Groundwire.
Groundwire by Marcelo Hosannah My disease is so relaxing It grows inside, it's still trespassing my mind is filled and still is harassing The way you walk is so pathetic The way you talk is so hysteric The way you dress is so synthetic Why don't you get a life and leave me alone Why don't you get a life and leave me alone You were contrived as my projection Projection witch turned into rejection There's no way out but one more injection So why don't you get a life and leave me alone Why don't you get a life and leave me alone My disease is so relaxing It grows inside, it's still harassing There's no way out but one more injection So why don't you get a life and leave me alone Why don't you get a life and leave me alone