Colby Campney – Thanks for Asking!

Colby Campney – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: Every artist’s first song is a milestone. But so is the latest song. Describe the first song/album you recorded, and also the latest song/album you recorded; what are the differences?”

Colby Campney: The first song I ever recorded was a song I wrote for a high-school friend that died shortly before she was supposed to be graduating. I was still finding my style, my voice, and learning my instrument. I wrote the song here in NY and played at her funeral, but didn’t record it until a couple years later when I was living in Phoenix. My mother paid for me to take the song into the studio. I basically only had a guitar part and vocals, but the studio owner sat in as a hired gun and added his own parts for piano, bass, and drums. No real editing or mastering. All done in one take and it came out…. embarrassing. I had one more foray in the studio when I tried to record a couple more tracks at a different studio in Phoenix. After a disagreement with the engineer that was trying to be a producer, I left, invested in my own recording gear and education, then started working on my own. These days, the last song I recorded, it was multiple takes for each part, cutting them all up and editing, applying filters, effects, noise reduction, sidechains, compression, mics, mics, and a few more mics, then after weeks of going back and forth over every nuance, I have the final recording of “Fractured.” And yet… still not done, because it is supposed to be a duet. Lol

But from where I started, the process is completely different from my first naive attempts. So much more focus on the details.

RRX: Like songs, every artist has a unique feeling about their first show. What was your first show like? Was it your best show? If not, what was your best show like?”

CC: I started out as a solo acoustic musician, so my first “show” was just being hired at a bar called “Fire and Ice” in Lake George the first year they opened. I had just played an open mic nearby that a friend convinced me to do and I was sitting down with new friends and had my guitar. They asked me to play something and after the first verse of “Lightning Crashes”, the manager stopped me and said “You HAVE to come play here tomorrow.” She booked me on the spot. But I was new. Very new. They tell me I did really well, but I will admit that I was so nervous that I don’t remember much of it. I suppose it didn’t help that my friend Michelle helped me get over my nerves by serving me a medium soda that was half filled with Captain Morgan. I’m sure I had a great time, and after that, I was hooked on performing.

RRX: Love is a big part of music. We’re talking first loves here. Lots of cool stories about first loves and the things we do for those loves. Can you (or, in the case of a band, one member) talk about your first love, especially if you did something cool to express that love? ”

CC: I can say that my first love certainly left a mark. It was brief, but intense enough to shape my songwriting for a few years afterward. The one song in particular was one I hid behind and didn’t want to share the feelings or story for it. So I imagined up an entirely different story to attach to it. It’s actually my mother’s favorite song and she calls it “the stalker song.” LOL It talks about the intense feelings, denial, betrayal, and all the unhealthy thoughts and actions that raced through my head after the breakup. Wanting to feel in control, but ultimately giving in to the darkness inside until I couldn’t see light or life anymore. It is one of my oldest songs and one that I am quite proud of. “Am I” is one of the songs I tried recording in the studio, but couldn’t get aligned with the direction they wanted to go in.

RRX: What was the very first reaction to your music, from the first person to ever hear so much as a practice jam or the demo of your first song?”

CC: I had a notebook full of songs I was writing and I was sitting at the airport with some friends. They had heard me play before, but never my own music. I got up to use the bathroom and left my notebook on the chair. When I got back, one of my friends was reading through it and laughing. He kept making remarks about how stupid the words were. The song was the framework for what became “the Way Home,” after we had all been deployed overseas and away from family. I don’t remember any other reactions to my music before that. It’s probably the biggest factor in me not letting anyone hear my work for a long time afterward. It was personal. It cut very deep.

RRX: The best laid plans of mice and men…” I don’t really know the quote, but I know this one; sh*t happens. When we least expect it, calamity befalls us. Sometimes just comic inconvenience. Please tell us a story about some comic inconvenience that happened to you whilst performing?’

CC: I was playing an acoustic set in Baltimore and there was an incredible band getting ready to play next door. They were blown away by my acoustic cover of “Comedown” from Bush and asked me to sing it for their show. They were killing it. Everything they played was on point. Then came my turn to sing. I sang the first verse and the crowd was eating it up. It was a packed house. Suddenly… I went blank. I had been performing the song for years and pouring my heart out everytime. But now, with a full band and a packed house, I lost it. How could I know a song so well and yet can’t recall the first word of the next verse? I had to slink off stage and let them recover (and they recovered flawlessly) while I found a dark corner to hide in.

RRX: We have to play somewhere, and sometimes those places have more going for them than a stage and a power outlet. What is a memorable place you played, and bonus points if it’s not a well-known place.”

CC: The most memorable place I have ever played would have to be when I stepped up and jammed with a street band in Thailand. They were playing some American songs for the tourists, but they were really not doing the music any favors. During a song (I can’t remember which), their guitarist was really struggling. I got his attention and he invited me to take over because he didn’t know the song well anyways. So I stepped up, started playing, then stepped in front of the mic and took over the singing too. We played a handful of songs, and I ended up making them a good amount of money it tips. It was wild. I think I might have 1 photo somewhere of me playing on the street in Thailand with that band.

 

 

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