Numbers and Push the Button- First two originals

Community Recordings Originals (Not Covers)
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Hi Everyone,

This might be a little long-winded, so I apologize in advance :laughing: Fresh off of OM22 where we performed these live, I thought I’d do a dedicated post to my band’s (DyeV pronounced “dive”) first two original songs for those that may be interested :grin:

As I mentioned in the OM, when I first started my guitar journey I had absolutely zero interest in writing my own material. In fact, I was probably actively against it :laughing: Dan has been writing his own songs for as long as I have known him, but I think I just thought that I would never come up with anything that I liked. My mind was changed when Dan bought me some studio time to record a song back in January. I just didn’t want to go into the studio to record someone else’s song. I figured we’d give it shot and see how it went and go from there. Now we have two full songs and are working on 2+ others.

These videos are from our last pre-OM22 rehearsal. The video was recorded from Zoom so we could see how it would look to an audience, but the audio is from Reaper, so the sound quality is better. Lyrics are also below for those that are interested.

Here is a (hopefully somewhat) brief summary of how both these songs came to be. If you’re just here for the music, feel free to skip ahead :wink:

Numbers: This song was based on a demo that Dan was working on that he called “Murder Case”. He was trying to write something for me that I would be willing to play as a lot of his original material was more of a folksy style and not a fit for the band. I am also a crazy true crime fanatic, so he figured I would like the concept :laughing: We ended up taking the bones of the song he started, tweaked the concept slightly, re-wrote the lyrics and added in additional elements with the other band mates till you get what you have here.

Push the Button: I think I am a little extra proud of this one, as it was really the first song that I wrote on my own. As some of you may have heard if you stuck around in the after OM22 chat, this song literally came into my head out of nowhere one day. When it was obvious that it wasn’t going to leave me alone, I picked up my guitar and fleshed it out on my own while Dan was out running errands. I spent the evening working on the lyrics. We brought it to the band at the next rehearsal where we all worked on it till we got the final version here.

Numbers Lyrics

Tell me where you were
Late last Friday night
Said you were fast asleep
But something’s not quite right

I’m dusting for prints
I’ll survey the scene
Is that blood on your shirt sleeve?
You might fool them, but you don’t fool me

I’m not working through a
Twisted charade
My only goal is to put
A string of numbers
Under your name

I can see right through the
Tricks that you play
Only makes me more determined
To see those numbers
Under your name

Canvas the neighborhood
Pam said something felt off
Truck’s backed in at 2:00am
Thinking you’re clever, but your game’s gone soft

Her enemies and friends
All connected by string
Gonna follow this red line
From chaos comes focus, so here’s the thing…

Won’t
Won’t go to sleep
Coffee for days
Am I ok?
I’m more than ok

Push the Button Lyrics

You let your guard down
They crawl around in your head
They whisper to you in bed
You’re going under
There was a time
When you could think for yourself
And now that’s wasted

Follow the leader
The smile’s no longer there
Conspiracy’s in your stare
Your words are hollow
Hit like daggers
Drive em deeper in
But I won’t feel it

Sirens in the distance scream a warning for you
Now I know what I’ve gotta do

Break glass
Push the button
Gonna stick it to them, it won’t be for nothing

Break glass
Push the button
Let me at em, now’s my time to stand for something

Break glass
Push the button
gonna stick it to them, it won’t be for nothing

Break glass
Push the button

Say they’re just like you
They eat from platinum spoons
Gonna make you howl at the moon
For entertainment
I’m waiting it out
Watching the clock tick down
To the explosion

One day you’ll find out
That you’re no longer of use
They’ll give you every excuse
Just wait and you’ll see
You say that I’ve gone insane
Won’t check the box by his name
Now or ever

Pieces falling into place
More than ever before
Now we know what we’re fighting for

We’re gonna give them something
We’re gonna stop at nothing
You’ve gotta stand for something
Won’t obey, won’t obey

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That was brilliant and congratulations on your first original songs Jennifer (and Dan and gang).

I think, push the button, just took it for me of the two but that is how to rock it.

Who are your other three band member, Jennifer?

Kudos on the performance. :clap: :clap:

Is that based on a true story? :wink:

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Jen, whilst listening to these I’ve been down a YouTube rabbit hole of female punk-era singers, trying to figure out who it is your voice reminds me of, without success really. The nearest I could say was “not totally dissimilar to Joan Jett” but that wasn’t it, however you would for sure fit into any of those early 90’s Riot Grrrl bands! Congratulations on your songwriting prowess, I’m jealous because I can’t write a lyric to save my life!

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I heard this yesterday in open mic and both songs are amazing. Definitely something I would listen to on my way to work. That hook in push the button was superb - change of pace, rhythm, pauses, change in voice - it works so well! Really well done guys!
P.s. You need to send your lovely neighbours my way. :smiley:

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Hey Jenn & Dan and the Dyve collective!!
Congratulations to you and everyone for a couple of original true bangers. Distinctive and so, so you!!
Loved the construction of both songs, having the full band live makes such an amazing difference. You need to take those slippers to stage :wink:

Bravo and a huge congratulations again! :heart: :guitar: :fire: :clap: :clap:

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I also enjoyed listening to your two songs at the community Open Mic on Saturday. I like both of them a lot.

So great that you went for writing your own songs. Which of them are you going to record in the studio? Bother of them? Or even all four? :grinning:

And all joking aside: Dyev belongs to the stage :metal:

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Great stuff Dyev. Interesting back story to your originals Jenn. You and Dan clearly have a songwriting talent. Punk is not really my thing but I enjoyed the energy in your OM performance the other night (and here too). With a bit of polishing, you guys could make it on stage.
Well done all of you.

Just a thought. From a performance point of view, perhaps your keyboard player could face the other way so she’s facing into the band rather than the wall. That way you’ll be more of a unit.

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Congrats Jen, Dan and the band. A couple of great originals. I liked the energy they both had, a real punk feel.

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Hi Jen,

Nice energy :sunglasses: :clap: :clap: :clap: :sunglasses:… And I haven’t looked at the OM yet, but I agree with the rest of Gordon’s words
Greetings

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Love both of these! The sound, lyrics and energy!
It takes me back to the 90s punk/grunge days :metal: :sunglasses:

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You rock! :metal:

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Thank you for the praise Stefan :grin:

The Keyboard player is my daughter, Arelly. She met Yohanna (bass player) through school. Yohanna’s dad Greg is the other guitar player. We met him when both girls were at our house and Greg came over to pick up Yohanna and saw our music room :guitar: We essentially have a two family band :+1:

Kind of :laughing: :laughing: We wanted to leave the song a little open for interpretation so the listener could decide what the story was. I did throw in a few subtle references to some notorious cases in the US that other true crime obsessed people could pick up on :wink:

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Thank you Ian! Joan Jett is the comparison I get most often since almost everyone is familiar with her. I’m not mad at it! :wink: in fact, Dan will sometimes joke that he is married to Joan Jett. When we initially started writing songs, I explained to my band mates the kind of sound I was thinking we should go for. I basically said I was aiming for The Hives meets 90s Veruca Salt meets The Runaways/Joan Jett. We were definitely going for a 90s garage band type feel and I think we got there :grin:

I think you definitely can! It’s funny because I did a lot of creative writing/poetry when I was in high school and I kind of gave it up in adulthood. But I can definitely tell that the experience of doing it when I was younger is influencing my current lyric writing and the style is very similar to what I would write when I was a teenager

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Thank you Boris! Every time someone tells us that they would listen to us on the radio it makes me smile :blush: Huge compliment! And yes, I am thankful for the combo of a very well insulated house and tolerant neighbors :laughing: Our neighbor across the street loves metal and also plays guitar, so he is very encouraging. We also try to be considerate and limit our full band practice to Friday evenings or weekends and do not play any later than 9:00pm.

Thank you Mark! We have been working hard to cultivate what we want to sound like and I’m glad that it is coming through :grin:

Thank you for the kind words Nicole! I am having an incredibly hard time deciding what to record :laughing: :laughing: The band has said that it is ultimately my choice and they will leave it up to me. I know the girls would probably prefer Numbers, but there are some dynamics with the guitars in Push the Button that could really benefit from a professional mix. None of us are really good at sound mixing :laughing: and we could really use a good sound engineer at some point. We also have the option of buying more studio time and recording a full album, so it’s a really hard call! We are going to schedule our tour of the studio soon, so I may make up my mind once I’ve been there :wink:

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Good point! I hadn’t considered that. I think everyone would laugh watching us trying to fit everyone on screen :laughing: Even still, poor Dan gets a bit cut off. Even though it doesn’t look like it, everyone is kind of smushed together and I’m always afraid I’m going to bump Yohanna (Bass) with my guitar.

@roger_holland @jkahn @Alexeyd Thank you all so much!! As I mentioned in the after show thread it was a bit nerve wracking putting our originals out there, and I’m so happy that people are enjoying them :grin:

Perfect! That’s what we are going for :grin: Thank you so much!

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Congratulations on the originals, its something I do not seem to be able to do. Plenty of energy in the band. Are there plans to play live outside the OM?

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We are working towards doing that. We have been talking about the best type of gigs to do. There is a big festival in that takes place in our town over the summer where several bands usually play and that may be a good fit for us if we can get in. We also have talked about literally opening up our garage and playing for like a block party or something similar. We don’t want to play bars as the girls are both only teenagers and I just don’t want to go that route. If we can build up a local following here, we may find ourselves with more options :grin:

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Hey Jen! (and the other 4 members of DyeV) just wanted to say how much fun it was listening on Saturday’s OM to these wonderful originals. Don’t have much to add to what’s already been said above except to say that you should keep following those instincts, working your instruments and HAVING FUN!! Looking forward to the next “release” of DyeV originals!! :smile:

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There is a big, famous (metal) festival in Finland, which always reserves spots for newcomer bands that volunteered doing some tasks at the festival the previous year. Meaning… a band volunteered 2023 and will get a chance to play on stage in 2024 etc .
In most of the cases these bands don’t have a big following yet, but are making some of their first steps to play in front of a bigger audience.

I can imagine that something similar might exist in the US? If so, maybe that could also be an idea? :slightly_smiling_face:

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What worked and rocked in the OM setting works and rocks here as well, Jenn! :metal: :fire: :metal:

Both of your songs are so full of energy and a long missed rock sound. It’s so great you decided to follow that path and write your own songs: Turns out, you and Dan both have a gift with that and your band seems to harmonize so great in putting it all together. The result is a record-ready finished tune I would buy in a heart beat. What stood out to me listening now was the keys work on Numbers by your daughter (if I recall correctly?), so well done with those staccato hits. :+1:

I’m really looking forward to more from DyeV, it’s just great stuff! Thanks for sharing it with us. :slight_smile:

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