Sometimes things come to you in the middle of a moment and you're like "that's so weird" but then you're like "but so cool" and then you say "good enough for FAWM" and post it, which I've done here.
This was borne out of a jam in rehearsal a couple of weeks ago and a bunch of mumbling about pop culture references about the ultimate prime-time hero: Columbo.
I looked up a bunch of random stuff about Columbo while going through my mumbles but never really fact-checked anything. So any hardcore fans who would attend what I would imagine to be Columbo-Con are free to correct me and/or write their own ode to the man. I just wanted to release what I had and move on.
Vocals were meant to be temporary, and were recorded in the dead of night with the heater on. If my voice cracked, eh, who cared, because I was going to go back and track it pristinely. But I left the original vocals in because why not let myself be as vulnerable as possible for my hero Peter Falk. And what's a little heater noise?
Funny enough, I started to edit out some of the background noise and it just didn't sound right anymore, so I actually put MORE noise in it.
Then, I need to use all these guitars I have so I used my trusty Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro that I bought at Guitar Center in Asuza/West Covina in the early 2000s. That guitar easily helped me record a hundred songs, and was as trusty a pal as the subject of this song.
I piped that through a rare fuzz pedal called "The Bloody Finger" and put that through a phaser, delay, and reverb. I even rolled the tone down all the way and then only mildly cared about the notes I played to see what noises would come. And they did!
Give me Peter Falk's Columbo
And a martini dry
Thanks to modern streaming
I can watch that shit all night
Before the word "parasocial"
Made its way to the scene
Meeting my favorite stars
Was just a dream, just a dream
His real first name was Frank
But that never was said
Peter's the name of the actor
Who expertly portrayed him
Portrayed him
Introducing me to words like "vintner",
"Any Port in a Storm".
You got the guy who sang "Hurt"
To sing you a "Swan Song"
Complexities of morality
Kept me tuning in
Captivating killers
"Oh, and just one more thing"
One more thing
@elainedimasi Feb 2022
I think the highlight for me is that persistent bass bedrock. Also I think it's very fun to hear raw, first-night vocals and all the noise included. Love the delivery on "one more thing". The pedal/fx stuff at the end is gloriously creepy.
@toms Feb 2022
I really like the fuzz squeals! Also like learning about a fuzz pedal I'd not heard of before! :) Oh, just one more thing - this is awesome.
@nadine Feb 2022
I just had to listen to it because I watched a lot of Columbo. The music is so haunting. These weird guitar slidesamd scratches... I usually hate noises In recordings but the heater is just top notch sounddesign lol.
@zeekle1998 Feb 2022
This is crazy!! That droning pattern and awesome weird distorted guitar.
I’ve seen a few Colombo episodes in my years and I could see him turning around and say, oh just one more thing.
His car was quite iconic too.