When I look back to my life as a musician my biggest regret is that I didn’t share enough music. I never used social media when I was a performer, and whenever I shared music it was in the company of others. I shared music privately and never to a wide-open space like the internet. This regret serves as the inspiration for this article series.
From 2010 to 2013 I kept a log of Youtube videos that were notable in some way. During that time I was in a full time performing rock band, and I saved these videos because I was trying to keep a pulse on current music trends. Now I am revising some of that music to talk about in this article series.
What I will attempt to do with these articles is showcase the best music that I saved during that time. I will try to talk about things that give value to musicians and music lovers alike. This is somewhat of a music critique, and If you are curious about how to do one you can read about it here.
On With Disease by HRVRD
I first came across HRVRD in the summer of 2013. When I first heard On With Disease the lyrics took my head off. “Summer came to pass, all I ask is where you were.” It was the summer when I heard it and it felt like they were singing about where I was right then and there.
My band The Day He Quit was breaking up at that time too and it felt like they were singing about us. It felt like they wanted us to continue, on with the disease boys! Sadly HRVRD has since broken up as well. I guess you can’t always go on with the disease.
The Electric Bass
I am a bass player so my attention usually goes right to the bass line. This song has a great bass ostinato during the verse, so I was all in immediately.
For the bass fans, you will notice that the tone is punchy and has a lot of meat to it. It comes from a Fender jazz bass played with a pick through an Ampeg. I bet he has the volume down on the bass, has some compression going, and cranks the amp for some natural distortion. I am kidding! I watched live videos and saw the gear. But if I had to do it, that’s how I would do it. I am not sure if that’s how they did it on the album, but it sure sounds like it.
What I noticed is that the bass is tuned half a step-down. The E string is then dropped down a whole step to get Db Ab Db Gb. The tone you get from this tuning is big and chunky. Lots of bands use this tuning for that reason. For me when I think of Eb tuning I always think of Alice in Chains’s first two albums. They were all done half a step down with many songs in the dropped tuning.
The bass line kinda reminds of something Duff and G n’ R would do. But the bass line does more melodically like how Justin Chancellor works within the scope of Tool songs. It’s a great bass line, and the downtuned punchy bass carries the song.
Chorus Chord Progression
The chorus has a great chord progression. If you pick out the notes it’s E, Gb, then Ab. You could say that it is E, F#, G# but we are in Eb tuning so it is more appropriate to call it in flats. I have a composition degree so I can’t help making that distinction. You can read my about page to check my credentials.
This is a classic major IV, major V, then minor vi diatonic chord progression. Lots of groups use this chord progression and for good reason, it sounds good! Play it backwards in A minor and you get the ending of Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.
CODA
In the end, the song has a killer bass line with gnarly tone, good chord progressions, and emotional lyrics that are catchy.
Get the album through Amazon while you still can, it may go out of print soon.
Keep reading more of the series here.
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