P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (III): Brainpool's anthology of failure

We started to record the world’s longest krautsong & kept working on it for an eternity. We tried a lot of different things, but ended up with just a few instruments. Usually, we don’t edit our music, but this time we let the computer play a part. It is rather dull to sit and look at a screen though…. At first we had the idea that this would be an instrumental. But I think we have abandoned that idea. When it was time to record the vocals, we got stuck and started to talk and listen to other people’s music instead. We will continue to record this week and will probably be able to finish it in the next couple of days. Its fun to work this way: not knowing exactly what you want to do, even if it takes somewhat longer time. If we are lucky, this record will be fantastic. If we’re not lucky, it will just be great. One thing is for sure: it will not sound anything like the rock opera.

Jens Jansson - Junk Musik

After having spent four days in the studio, we are forced to admit that we have failed this time. This is what happened. We started to work with the Kraut-ballet (which we by the way called “The Anthology of Failure” – now isn’t that ironic?). The process was enormously creative. We worked like animals & played instruments we didn’t even know the names of (we couldn’t play them either). The song ended up being nearly ten minutes long. We edited it down to five. When we listened to the result, it stood clear that this was THE WORST SONG EVER RECORDED. After a while, we realised that this actually is the way we get things done. Both “You Are Here” and “Junk” were preceded by a number of grave errors before we found our way into the material. And since we persist in constantly reinventing ourselves, we will just have to accept that this is going to happen now and then. We have saved some clips from the recordings. We will post one of them tomorrow, so you can listen to the rubbish!

David Birde - Junk Musik

Picture by Emelia Olofsson, sydsvenskan.se - November 2005

What happens when a band decides to do a ten minute long kraut-ballet-song? Listen to a clip of Brainpool’s “The Anthology of Failure” and you will know. No, it will not be released. We will add this music to our loops section. Use it – make a kraut ballet of your own! Anyone who decides to make a ten minute kraut ballet has A LOT of guts to start with. It actually sounds like a theme song to a childrens show on tv. And a fun one too! Maybe we could try to pitch it?

Brainpool has got great musicians, great singers, great songs & words and a great producer.
So why is it so much fun to listen to something that didn’t work out, something that normally never would leave the studio? Personally, I would love to hear more failures. There is a common thought that music turns out exactly the way the musicians have in mind. This is seldom – or never – the case. Music goes its own way. Sometimes it goes wrong. Terrible wrong. Deadly wrong. One one man can save it…oh, hang on, this isn’t a movie trailer. But sometimes – or very often– it goes wrong. If people could hear the wrongs a little more often, I think they would understand the right ones better.

Anders Mildner - Junk Musik

There is something beautiful in “wrongs” for sure. The concept of the ballet “The anthology of failure” is partly about that. It’s a big hooray to those who invest their lives in something that in the end turns out to be not such a good idea after all. (Painfully autobiographical, a cynic would comment. :-)) It would be great to hear other bands’ “failures”. On Beatles Anthology, are a few examples of early versions of songs that sound quite ridiculous. Tomorrow Never Knows, for instance.

David Birde - Junk Musik

This is one of the best posts on this blog ever! A true success!!! There are plenty of failures already. “The Anthology of Failure” showed lots of potential…the first 3 bars :-) Well actually I quite like the rythm section!

Magnus Börjeson - Junk Musik