Sorry about the pun in the title... I couldn't resist....
Recently, I was asked to join an indie band. As music, especially indie, is a passion of mine I jumped at the chance. They needed a keyboardist to add a little extra to the songs whether it be covers or originals. Having little experience with keyboards and being more familiar with the guitar, I was a little weary to say the least, but was assured that the parts would be small and easy to do. I’ve got to admit, I love it. I’ve been fast at learning the parts and have put my own stamp on things.
As I’ve been self-teaching myself the basics and melodies, I’ve delved into indie music history to find songs to cover or learn from. I’ve noticed that a well timed piano solo or powerful organ throughout the song can improve the song.
Here’s a few gems which I’ve found / rediscovered or are important to me which include piano / organ / synth. Enjoy.
· You Overdid it Doll – The Courteeners
The Courteeners broke onto the indie scene with a powerhouse of indie songs with rough sounding guitar riffs and voice to match. In recent, years however, Liam Fray and co have included piano in most of their songs, which has given The Courteeners an overall new cleaner, well polished sound, whilst keeping true to their roots. This song is one of my fave songs from their 2010 Falcon album.
The Only One I know – The Charlatans
One of my all time fave indie classics featuring a strong Hammond organ sound which accompanies the vocal harmony perfectly. The slightly haunting echo of the vocals, along with the organ create a great vibe to the song that set it aside from others at the time. This was their second single which gave them their first taste at the top ten section of the charts. Here’s a fact I’ve just found out: the song contains lines from The Byrds song “Everybody’s Been Burned”
· Step on – Happy Mondays
Another all time favourite of mine. Enough said there. The song speaks for itself. Great piano intro with a great guitar riff all the way through.
· Mountains – Biffy Clyro
Mountains is Biffys biggest hit to date, featuring some interesting piano playing at the beginning and a solo half way through. I like this song as its continuing proof the piano does go well side by side with heavy rock sounding guitars. They incorporate pianos into many of their hits and always surprise me with their diversity.
· Saturn 5 – Inspiral Carpets
This lively much loved indie classic has a prominent fast organ sound all the way through together with really good harmonies which Inspiral Carpets excelled at doing in many of their songs.
· AKA What a Life - Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Noel’s most recent solo outing features this dancy number. The upbeat piano along with the drums makes it different from what you’d expect from Noel’s past stuff, which with being a big Oasis fan was a bit apprehensive about, but after listening to it proper, found it to be one of the best on the solo album.
· Dreaming of you – The Coral
This well known hit from The Coral has a bright organ sound all the way through which goes well with the great guitar and vocals. Surprisingly, Skelly who wrote the song hates it, saying that it is the worst of all the songs he wrote admitting to stealing two chords from the Alton Towers ad. Still, its one of my favourites from The Coral.
· Cash Machine – Hard Fi
Hard Fi strike a note with me because they mix synth with rock guitar and vocals very well. At the moment Hard Fi are a big inspiration because of their easy synth sound being easy to replicate in our songs and set me off in the right direction if I wanted to learn more.
Hard Fi strike a note with me because they mix synth with rock guitar and vocals very well. At the moment Hard Fi are a big inspiration because of their easy synth sound being easy to replicate in our songs and set me off in the right direction if I wanted to learn more.
