Out Tonight -
Let me set the stage: Byron Bay, Australia - My life back home has just dissolved. I'm losing my fucking mind, meanwhile doing a balancing act trying to keep it together. I was partway through writing a new record that I eventually titled Byron Songs.
Amidst songs influenced by mostly folk music and Americana, there was a fire fueled-pedal-to-the-floor kinda moment. I was pissed off. I got ripped off. One balmy 35 degree afternoon I let it out and this is the result.
The original recording was done on a shitty four track, with every track sounding dirtier and dirtier.
Back in Victoria, when I plugged my white Telecaster into the Twin, I laid into it and realized this one wasn't going to fit with the acoustic songs - but this was part of it. It was written at the same time as Let Me Go, River, Demons and all the rest of them. Tired of trying to find a way for misfit songs to fit into the album, this one's gonna stand alone - just like I did when I wrote it.
This song immediately became part of the band's live show, and we've been playing it at every summer festival and sweaty club ever since. What's different about this one was the studio takes. This is the first time that the live band played on record. This is what we sound like, no more or less. The recording finally came together with the visit of an old friend, my good bro Darrell Smith.
D and I were hanging one night and we got to talking about the album, the stories, the recording - all of it. I played him what I had at the time, and when we got to 'Out Tonight' there was something missing. All the parts were there, but it just didn't have that right spark. He immediately ran my vocals through a tiny little fender tweed amp. The distorted vocal was the right colour for the vibe, it embodied everything I was feeling, everything I was saying. The rest of the tracks just fit perfectly into it. The lesson that night: You have to honor the spirit of the song in the way you paint it.
Listen/Download it here for free: http://www.soundcloud.com/vincevaccaro