Johannes Schult

We made a couple of videos to go along with our new album. Check out “Johnny’s Guitar“, “Relentlessly” and “Lost in Broken Memories“!

The new Manticess album “Relentlessly” is released today! I’m very happy not just about us finally getting the CD out, but mainly about the music Susanne and I managed to produce. We did write all the material and Susanne sang on all tracks (except for the short instrumental “Clouds Are Passing By”). Still, the album would sound much worse if it weren’t for a number of guests and helpers. Just read the album credits and you’ll learn who was involved with what. I’ll be posting some memories, thoughts, and background information, once everyone had a chance to listen to the whole thing properly. Check it out!

This song just happened while I was attempting to write some progressive rock stuff. The ending of the melody was borrowed from an unreleased Manticess song (“Dragonfire”). I might still work on some progressive rock material later today, but for this week’s song I’ll leave you with this somber instrumental piece.

#47 Winter Mood

(music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)

Check out our new Manticess video – it’s a cover version of Joe Lamb’s song “Mr. Tom Furby-The Furby Catcher“.

PS: I’ll be playing at the Kulturnacht at the Kulturladen in Konstanz on Friday 13th, 2012.

Manticess (that’s Susanne and myself) released a new single today! It’s called “God Save the Writer”. Check it out!

You might also want to watch this video in which I talk about the single.

Check out manticess.bandcamp.com! The site contains all music Manticess have released so far. You can listen to all songs online. If you like them, you can download them in the format of your choice – for free! (Just enter 0 when asked to name your price.) If you really like our music, you can pay us! We’d like that. Now tell all your friends!

This little song was originally written for Manticess as a contender for the recent Song Fu challenge ‘write a song with a number as a song title’. We ditched the song, however, and went on to produce “1998”. One of my aims with the 52 project is to improve (or at least to maintain) my playing skills. I figured that most of my faster songs sound better when I force myself to play them faster than I’d imagined them in the first place. The original demo of this particular song here was 20 seconds too long. Maybe it feels a bit hurried now, but hey, another aim is to not bore the listener with seemingly infinite tracks!

Someone who heard the song instantly remarked that the lyrics are clearly about absinthe. Now I have never tasted that green drink and didn’t think of it while writing the song. But hey, now it’s a song about absinthe. And yes, I promise that there will be more impressive lyrics and more elaborate song structures in this series. But you’ve got to allow for a little la-na-na song every now and then.

#2 Seven Green Fairies

Seven green fairies call me on the phone
Seven green fairies won’t leave me alone
Seven green fairies call me every day
Seven green fairies won’t go away
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairies

Seven green fairies are with me in my sleep
Seven green fairies seven days a week
Seven green fairies are with me when I drink
Making me say stupid things
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairies

Seven green fairies are messing with my hair
Seven green fairies pretend they’re not there
Seven green fairies with seven different names
Yet to me they’re all the same
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairies

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

Despite the upcoming soccer mania, there are several promising concerts announced for 2010. I just saw that The Hooters will be playing in my hometown (Waiblingen) on Friday, May 7th. Great news!

I’m also looking forward to produce some of my own music next year. Manticess are going to release a single and I’m currently trying to decide whether or not to promise to put out solo music on a regular basis, probably weekly. I’d welcome the challenge, but I’m also thinking of writing more often. I’ve started two novels, one back in Belgium, and one this November (for NaNoWriMo). I like both outsets, but only the latter seems to be suited for a prediodical release format on this very homepage. I mean, I wouldn’t start publishing parts until I’m almost through, but it might be an alternative to the song-a-week-madness outlined above.

In different news, look what my mom made me for Christmas (with a little help from Carissa’s patterns):

Check out the third round of Masters of Song Fu #5 over at QuickStopEntertainment.com! Manticess contributed a song called “After I Have Gone”. Other artists made songs with different titles. Go check it all out! Also: vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! (Read: you have five votes – use them wisely!)

On Wednesday evening I came up with the little melody that opens “After I Have Gone”. I wrote some lyrics on Thursday, but accidently left the paper with them at work. So when it came to record a demo for Susanne, I had to improvise a bit, because I couldn’t remember all the words. (More than 90% turned out to be ‘correct’, though.) She recorded vocals and some flutes on Friday in a bit of a hurry, because she was going to be away over the weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the flutes as they were the wrong key. They would have added quite some Christmas sparkle! Something like a string quartet had been on our mind for some time now. So I used the opportunity to arrange two violins, one viola, one cello, plus a flute. Digital copies of the original instruments had to suffice. A big thank you goes out to fellow song fuer Caleb Hines, who used his arsenal of virtual instruments and provided us with a wonderful orchestra track. I spent several hours mixing the five tracks (voice, guitar, stereo strings, keyboard bells), which is somewhat ridiculous. Still, I really enjoyed what I heard and I’m extremely content with the result.

The lyrics of the song were inspired by Richard Shindell‘s beautiful ballad “Before You Go”, which is basically God’s last words to his son before sending him to earth. I took up the narrative from Jesus’ point of view, both after he left the Heavens and after he fulfilled his mission. I’m still unhappy with the line “my memory has gone”. I had wanted to describe the way becoming human transforms his memories from heaven. But I also wanted everything to rhyme, so sacrifices were made. Also, the time constraint is at times a blessing, because it teaches you to not get lost in details.

In other news, Manticess will be playing a little gig with JODA this Friday at the university of Konstanz, IBZ II (K5 beneath the Mensa) around 19.30! Be there! We’ll be giving away free cds!

Für die nächsten 24 Tage werde ich diese Seite in einen Adventskalender verwandeln. Es wird täglich Einträge geben, jeweils mit einem Link zu Vampster, wo ich parallel täglich schreibe (i.d.R. CD-Kritiken). Wer noch musikalische Geschenkideen sucht, wird hier vielleicht fündig, da ich noch eine sehr bunte Mischung hier zum Besprechen herumliegen habe (Prog, Punk, Weihnachtliches und eben Heavy Metal).

Aktuell gibt es eine neue Runde im Song Fu-Songwriting-Wettbewerb. Manticess (also Susanne und ich) sind wieder mit dabei, auch wenn die Deadline – und damit die Aufnahme – direkt in die Erkältungszeit fiel. Immerhin hat das Lied (1998) nun einen Charme, wie man ihn von Manticess bislang noch nicht kannte. Ach, was fasele ich: Anhören! (Ja, am besten alle!) Abstimmen! Bitte. Danke.

Wer lieber professionellen Progressive Rock mit schönem Gesang und  einer wirren Konzeptstory mag, sei auf das Album “Realm of Shadows” von Knights Realm (Vampster-Review) hingewiesen.