(produced by yours truly)
A new Indigo Girls song, “What We Wanna Be”, is officially released to streaming platforms around the world and I AM SO PUMPED about this!! Mostly, I produce music for myself (I’m not your average producer…) and it was a wonderful experience to be invited to produce “What We Wanna Be” (or WWWB for short).
WWWB was created as part of the Glitter & Doom musical film (more to come later — also, the photo of Amy and Emily above is a still from the film), and below are some fun posts with info and behind the scenes.
FACEBOOK POST >> A kind and informative post about WWWB on the Indigo Girls Facebook page. Amy Ray, Emily Saliers, and I met up at MOXE studio in Nashville in November of 2023 and had a wonderful time laying down the lead parts of the record. More behind-the-scenes from our day in the studio may be coming out later (will update here, if so).
Glitter & Doom as a whole (including WWWB) is a labor of love and independently funded, which means many things, including that turnaround times to create each part of the project were reeaaaally tight, many hats were worn, and blood/sweat/tears (both of joy and frustration, sometimes simultaneously) ranneth-over. And it was worth it.
VOCAL RECORDING WITH AL AND ALEX >> The film itself was shot in Mexico City (CDMX) and this is a clip of the first rehearsal/vocal-recording session with the beautiful Al Cammish and Alex Diaz in Mexico City. By this point, I had finished the lead vocal arranging and most of the music production (in the USA, using the internet to send parts back and forth between the actors and visionary creators behind film — Cory and Tom of SPEAKproductions — so I was could tailor the vocal parts to each actor’s vocal range/tone and fit the vibe Cory and Tom were looking for as well). I can definitely say the harmonies I arranged were challenging to sing and required large jumps and odd intervals. The actors are incredibly talented and it was such a gift to work with them.
WITH AMY ON SET >> Amy Ray came out to CDMX and was a joy to work with. In this clip, Amy is playing the Indigo Girls tune “Prince of Darkness” (written by Emily Saliers. WWWB is written by Amy Ray) and we’re both working to remember how it goes on guitar. I loved getting to work together in this pretend film studio and then later in the real studio in Nashville.
DANCE REHEARSAL >> I’ve always been captivated by dance, especially rhythmic dance that accentuates musical beats (and subdivisions). It straight-up was a dream come true to create music and see beautiful dancers bring it to life with their movements. This is a clip from the rehearsal for “Get Out the Map” where Frankie (wow!) is showing the dancers his choreography. I also love when he shows the sweet woman with the cane what rhythms to tap out. Lastly, anytime you hear Tom shouting “music!”, he’s shouting so I can hear him and start the music playback (I was tucked away, out of sight in another room, helped by my beloved friend and super-hero, Ivan, who also appears in the film… remember, many hats!!)
Updates on Glitter & Doom can be found on instagram @GlitterAndDoomMusical.
I will be back soon with another post once the film is released! Till next time, sending my love.