We’re going to try live streaming as we record Tea with Hungry Lucy tomorrow (Sunday, July 6) at 3:30 PM EST. If you can make it, join us here. Before and after the podcast we’ll be chatting with anyone that is interested.
We’ll be performing the song “Softly” live.
It's hard for me to believe that Hungry Lucy turns 10 years old this month (Nov. 2008). Although our cover of Depeche Mode's "Blue Dress" kicked everything off earlier in 1998, November of that year marked the first time we put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard to create our first original song, "Bound in Blood". I remember getting up one morning and finding that Christa had left the lyrics with a little description of the "sound" for me. It was like a little present. Using that description as "instructions" I began to form the music. And Hungry Lucy was born!
We've sure come a long way since those days. Working in our own little bubbles was the way we both dealt with the very personal work of songwriting back then. The shear distance we've come was reinforced this past weekend when Christa and I (close to giving up completely) threw away several of the songs we had for the next release. Although this seems rash, it was just the catharsis we needed. Within a few hours of this decision, we had sat down together and created what is my current favorite song, "Pulse of the Earth". Gone are the attempts to emulate the artists we love and respect. Frankly, that was the problem with the songs we threw out. It can be tough to trust one's own instincts when you're creating something for which you know people are waiting. Casting all the expectation aside is what it takes, and where Hungry Lucy is headed (once more) as we go into our 11th year as a band. We've never been a normal band. We never will be... and that's OK. We are nothing more than husband and wife, creating the little pieces of art of which we can be proud.
Coinciding with our 10 year anniversary, we recently took a trip down memory lane for the excellent "Music for Midnight" podcast. Austin Beeman (our gracious host) did an excellent job of producing something that provides a lovely audio scrapbook of our past 10 years.
You can subscribe to Music for Midnight or listen directly to the Hungry Lucy - Feature. "In Their Own Words" (MP3 link).
Thank you Austin for shining a light on what we do.
In the absence of our podcast, "Tea with Hungry Lucy", I'll be writing more about the album's progress in the next few days. For those of you that have emailed, TWHL will be back... just not yet! For all the people that have emailed and commented with your supportive patience, we thank you. Something special is brewing and we'll share it with you all very soon!
That is all... as you were.
War-N
Over the past few months I have been wrestling a bit with my creative flow (with regards to music). This is nothing unusual for me. My musical output (and desire) always seems to ebb and flow. It has for many, many years. My usual method of dealing with this is to do something else for a while... to ignore the muse... make her beg for it! Without fail, that musical craving comes back with a vengeance in time. Since I don't make my living solely from music, I have that luxury. For the first time in my life, I'm grateful for not having music as my sole source of income.
The past few months, this cycle feels very different to me. I have fallen prey to the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) that the brain of a creative person likes to dish out from time to time. "Am I all dried up?" "Is it all over now?" Of course, I know this is not the case. It never is. In muddling through all this, however, I think I have finally put my finger on my problem. Yes, it is MY problem... no one else's. As Hungry Lucy, we have been podcasting now for a couple of years. We talk about what we're doing creatively, what we're working on, what to expect next. We're being transparent and inviting people into our process. It's been great for us personally, and for Hungry Lucy, at least while the music is flowing. I think it's back firing on me at the moment though. These days, each week (or lately, each fortnight) I get a little panic in my gut before we record the podcast. "What have I done this week?" "What can I tell people I'm working on?" The podcast, for me, has become a constant reminder that my musical flow is more of a trickle at the moment. I never get to that point of focusing on something else until "the muse" revisits. I equate this (in my warped mind) to a sleep disorder (which I also have) that prevents one from ever getting into the required stage of sleep to fully get what they need from the process. The podcast has become my "creative apnea". As much as we want to share with you all, it cannot come at the expense of the music. I hope you'll agree with me on this. So, as a remedy, we won't be producing Tea with Hungry Lucy for a while. Know that when we do come back, we'll have lots to share. I hope you're still here when we do. Thanks for being here for us as we aim to be for you.
Much love,
Good Lord. It's time for Tea with Hungry Lucy! Episode 122 has Christa and War-N talking about recent work on "The Best Day of Her Life". You can hear the genesis of this song in episode 112 (The Evolution of Pajamas). The duo mention the remaining few copies of Glo (which will not be re-pressed as a double CD). So get your copy soon if you want one!
OPM (other people's media) touches on the talents of Zoe Keating. Check out her Radio Lab special at Radio Lab's website. W&CB also talked about some great 80s videos during this weekend's 80 hours of the 80s on VH-1 Classic. Do you feel as old as I do?
Fab films viewed recently include "The Kite Runner" (and it's www.amazon.com2FThe-Kite-Runner%2Fdp%2FB000VLPV0M%2F&tag=hungrymedia-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">great soundtrack) and "The Darjeeling Limited". Both moving and funny for very different reasons.
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Holy Hell it's hot in here! Where's my watermelon? This episode brings many different topics to the table. One of which is the new Hungry Lucy release, "The Teatime Sessions"!! Get one now for fear of embarrassment! War-N found an interesting article about Introvert vs. Extrovert. Don't be mean to the "innie's"! OPM for both HL members was the disc "Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace" featuring many a talented musician. CB comes out of the fashion closet and embraces the girl within by outwardly browsing through the pages of British Vogue. A long-time love that she's kept hidden for all the wrong reasons. Who knew??
A note of great importance is the Bloodwire show in San Francisco, CA on August 30th at Julie's Supper Club. We truly wish we could be there! I hear they are performing many new tunes. How lovely!!!
Other rants and ramblings within this podcast fully represent the members of Hungry Lucy. We are absolutely responsible for topics mentioned on this podcast. Life is worth nothing if you don't stand up for what you believe in! To hear/see more blog-type postings from each individual member go here for War-N and here for Christa Belle. You may even learn how to make a killer Chocolate Cake!
Until next time... be more expressive!
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By popular demand, we are making "The Teatime Sessions" available via digital music channels. The release is already online at, Amazon MP3 Store, Napster, Rhapsody and Lala. iTunes (Worldwide) and eMusic will follow in the coming weeks (if they aren't already there). The Teatime Sessions is a collection of 9 live recordings made during the Tea with Hungry Lucy podcast over the past year and a half. These are nicely mixed & mastered versions of the original recordings and sound much better than the low quality podcast MP3. TRACKLIST:
all songs by c belle/w harrison except * originally by new order 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
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In episode 120 of Tea with Hungry Lucy, Christa and War-N give us all the juicy details of their recent show with Thoushaltnot at The Dock in Cincinnati. War-N talks about keeping himself to himself, and then feels he's contradicted himself. Christa raises an interesting issue whether it's better to coexist with people of differing views or group together with like-minded people. That got War-N thinking far too hard. What are your thoughts on the matter? Christa also speaks indirectly to Anji Bee of Lovespirals regarding the song "Storm" and a shared experience.
Other People's Music for this week include:
Folks in San Francisco, don't miss Stripmall Architecture @ Cafe du Nord on Aug. 13th
Which song shall we play on the next podcast?
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Christa and War-N return to the airwaves with no video streams to distract them this week. Christa shares the progress of the vegetable garden while War-N stays indoors. The duo talk about their recent trip to Chicago to see Yazoo perform live (War-N so totally blogged about it). CB & W jump into prep mode for the upcoming show at The Dock with ThouShaltNot (July 31st) and also tell us about a special live album they'll be selling at the show? Can't make the show and want one? Tell us about it!
Other mentionables:
Would you pay ten short dollars for nine delicious live songs?
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Not much can really express this podcast other than just listening, so we'll just tell you where to go for the OMP's! CB was in "nod mode" with War-N this week with his picks of Alanis Morrisette and her new album 'Flavors of Entanglement' along with a lovely Amanda Palmer and her new album 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' due out in September. Both great picks from the OPM-Meister War-N!!
Check out all the fun: On our REAL blog »
Well, despite HL's efforts to stream the podcast live, we had technical difficulties outside of our own control. Thusly, the podcast will not have a live video stream for this episode. Sorry :/ It's all Leo Laporte's fault! ;)
But, the duo still had lots to talk about. Work on the new album is chugging along nicely, finally! With no release date a of yet, CB & W are working away on brand new tunes. One of which, 'Just Imagine', was just completed and only needs a good mixing. Who knows how many tracks the new album will have. At this point, it's best to just keep on doing what they're doing! OPM's included for the week were Christa's pick of Frisbee, thanks to Grant and his Three From Leith podcast, and War-N's pick was the new album 'Nine Heavens' by Niyaz which is due out next week. All absolutely great stuff!! CB also chatted about the music store located in Louisville, KY called ear-X-tacy. Frisbee sells his cd's, and vinyl, there directly. If you live near the Louisville area, you should go check it out! Also, you can order from them online here!
Until next time, be nice to others more than you think you should! You don't always know the other side of things.
Toodloo!
Other fine examples of good "brick-n-mortar" indie record stores are:
What song should we perform next time?
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Here's the TWHL theme music, for Jody ;)
Today (Sunday) was spent working on a new song (called "Just Imagine") that started life as "Futurist Space Car". We actually played bit of it on TWHL #102.
I spent today cleaning up the arrangement and we just recorded Christa's final vocals about 30 minutes ago. The song started life as a little drum loop from Matilda (our affectionately named Alesis Micron) and a somber, yet spacey, synth pad. If memory serves correctly, Christa wrote lyrics on the spot for this one and we recorded scratch vocals right away. The lyrics and whole feel of the song speaks of life(?) after we are all gone for this world. Christa's melody is really beautiful in contrast to the cold music bed. With this in mind, I decided that Christa's lone voice should be the only real human element to the song. I added some very mechanically played electric piano... playing only the first and fifth of each chord. I've always liked the way fifths leave enough space in a chord progression for the melody to really dictate the tone. Is it major or minor? There is also a certain sterility to this method of harmonizing that lends itself well to this song. For a nice lift (but not too much) on the chorus I added some very stylistic TR-808 and CR-78 cymbals. Nothing screams early electronics like these percussive sounds. There's a 8 bar break between verse and chorus that needed a little something. So I added a very cold sounding CS-80 synth (well, a virtual version of it). The song ends (quite dramatically I think) with just Christa's voice and the ambient synth pads, so a nice crescendo is needed to build up to this. The crescendo still needs a bit of work. I'm thinking (and Christa agrees) that some strings might fit the bill here. That will add another human element besides the voice I suppose, but what are rules other than things to break? ;)
Sorry if I've been a little too music theory/tech geek in my description here. I just wanted to document what we've been up to today... in the only language I know. All-in-all... a good day of creative work. It's been along time since I've had such a productive and rewarding day, musically. So I wanted to share.
