I started writing music when I was 12, on a cheap Casio keyboard. The kind you could get at Walmart. I would put my computer mic near the speaker and record my first songs in this old softward called Magix studio. I had to buy it in a store on a CD.
Shortly after that, I got my first guitar, and started writing songs with it. I was always more interested in writing songs than becoming a great instrumentalist. I only cared about instruments to the extent they allowed me to write songs.
By the time I left for college, I reached a goal I had set for myself of writing and recording 100 songs. When I was just starting to write songs, I read a quote along the lines of “You haven’t written your first real song until you’ve written 100.” So I had made 100 my goal. I was proud of myself. It felt like my first big accomplishment.
But then I went to college, and essentially abandoned music. I figured it was over. I went almost two years without thinking about it.
At the time, everyone was listening to electronic music, which was a totally new thing to me. At first I hated it. But over time I warmed up to it. I realized that the programs I had used to record and produce my band in high school could also be used to make electronic music. So I started to have some fun, making fully electronic music on my laptop. It took about a year to get the hang of it.
But I was off to a head start: I had written my first hundred songs, which meant now I could write my first real one.
That first real song became “In a Dream."
MY FIRST 100 SONGS
When I was just starting to write songs, I read a quote along the lines of “You haven’t written your first real song until you’ve written one hundred.” I don’t know who said it, but it stuck with me. I became obsessive about writing and recording. I barely graduated high school because I would skip class to write and record.
By my first semester away at college, I had reached my goal of writing and recording 100 songs. I compiled them by year I had written them, and recorded them all acoustically.
The 100 Songs are available here. They are grouped by age at which I wrote them. They are mostly terrible and there is little they can do today but embarrass me, but there they are.
SONGWRITING OVER EVERYTHING
I played in a band throughout high school, but I was always more interested in writing songs than becoming a great instrumentalist. I only cared about instruments to the extent they allowed me to write songs.
Looking back, I realize that the process of songwriting evolved into the process of design. To me it's the same activity, on one continuum.
OTHER RECORDINGS
In those days, I was very intent on learning to record and produce my band. That's when I learned about all the different software and plugins for producing records, which I later applied to making electronic music.
These are some songs from that period.
MY HIGH SCHOOL BAND
Three quarters of my high school band, originally known as Lucky, then Lankaster.
