PHANTOM TIDE is a band created for a one-night gig (March 5th, 2014) at the BUSHWAKKER BREWPUB in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. We (Darren, Whitney, and self) have had several practices to date, getting 31 original songs tight and together for our 90 minute debut at BUSHWAAKERS. And just yesterday, we added a bass player, Ray, to our trio of four.
The name, PHANTOM TIDE, was coined by our friend, Greg, a
high school English teacher. Knowing Darren's
songs were mostly about past loves (PHANTOM) and mine about summer beaches (TIDE), Greg, in a few short minutes, came up with our band name.
AN ECLECTIC FOLK TRIO HAVING A PERVASIVE MARITIME SWAY OF
ORIGINAL SONGS – MIXING THEMES OF LOST LOVES AND OPEN ROADS is the band bio we sent to Grant, manager of BUSHWAKKERS.
He needed such for posters to advertise our performance. This descriptor was mostly determined because
our songs have a strong Canadian East Coast flavor (Darren wails from Cape Breton, and when he
sings his accent is clearly North Atlantic), along with a noted open-road
lyrics (myself having worked for years on survey crews in the Western provinces and North West Territories – meeting different characters in different diners and road houses the whole time).
Darren sings like a saltwater sailor, and his songs really do have a pervasive Maritime sway, not unlike the sway
of a boat at sea.
And I am but a buskeroo, a busker who just happens to fancy himself as a real cowboy (see my profile).
I don’t know Darren’s childhood, but I do know mine, and I
do know why I liked traveling across the west. Whitney, lead vocalist of Phantom Tide, has stated that my songs have the theme of open-roads. If this is true, then it is because of television, 60’s television to be specific. What Whitney said about my songs got me thinking of my favorite televisions shows, shows that I absolutely loved as an impressionable adolescent:
HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL
Richard Boone played Paladin, an aristocratic mercenary, a
gentleman gunfighter so to speak.
Paladin resided at the posh Hotel Carlton in cultural San Francisco, but
in each episode ventured into the lawless western wilderness, as a hard-living,
dressed-in-black, gunslinger.
THE DEPUTY
This western series starred Henry Fonda as Marshal Simon
Fry, and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord.
Clay McCord was an ordinary storekeeper, who with great reluctance,
packed a gun. Clay was an expert gunman,
the only reason Marshal Fry recruited him weekly.
ROUTE 66
Two restless young men, Martin Milner as Tod, and George
Maharas as Buzz, drive the open road (Route 66) in a Chevrolet Corvette
convertible, searching for the meaning of life, while working a variety of menial part-time jobs
on their journey.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
Ben Gazzara starred as lawyer, Paul Bryan, who has only a short time to live. Paul Bryan gives up his law practice and hits
the open road, encountering new people in new situations on an episodic
basis. Ironically, Paul
Bryan eventually becomes a man with little fear of death, with only a fear of
time.
These were my favorite television programs. I’ve not seen any of them for over thirty
years, but the memories of these characters are still very clear in my
mind, influencing the
imaginary characters in my songs, I guess.
Other than the open road themes of a stranger-comes-to-town
(The Deputy, Have Gun Will Travel) and that of Carpe Diem (Route 66, Run For Your Life),
these television characters had other things in common
-- they all were tall, dark, and handsome, save for Paladin who had craggy features and Tod who was blonde-haired.
Upon reflection, these television shows were rather
Aesopian and a startling cathexis, in regard to my future self at that time.
These open-road notions have been to me, amaranthine, sticking
still introspectively in my mind, more so than when I was an agog
adolescent.
My yesteryear longings are showing
up in the songs that I am writing today. Here
are three perfect examples:
GOING SOMEWHERE
D A Em [intro]
Em C Am Em D A Em
Hey hey I'm going, I'm going somewhere I don't know where
Em
C Am Em
I'm not going back, no I'm not going there
D A Em
Never again [X2]
Em C Am Em D A Em
Hey hey I'm going, I'm going somewhere I don't
know where
Em C Am Em
I've been in arms, I've been a soldier in war
D A Em
Never again [X2]
Em C Am Em D A Em
Hey hey I'm going, I'm going somewhere I don't
know where
Em C Am Em
I've been in chains … I've served my time
D A Em
Never again [X2]
[instrumental and humming]
Em C Am Em D A Em
I don't know where
Em C Am Em D A Em
I don't know where
D A Em
Never again [X2]
Em C Am Em D A Em
Hey hey I'm going, I'm going somewhere I don't
know where
Em C Am Em
I've been in love, had my heart broke enough
D A Em
Never again [X2
& FADE]
DEL RAY
[C
Am F G (x3) then C vamp]
[CHORUS] [BASSO PROFUNDO]
C Am F-
G
I
am dreaming we are driving away, away
C Am F-
G
I
am dreaming we are driving away, away
C Am F -
G
I
am dreaming we are driving away, away
C Am F G
C
In
my ’58 Chevrolet Del Ray
VERSE 1
C
Am F G
My
tractor tire do in Brylcream blue
C Am F G
My
cool white shades and my faded jeans
C Am F G
Black
Cat smokes tucked in my t-shirt sleeve
C Am F G
The
top rolled down, just feel the breeze.
[CHORUS]
VERSE
2
C Am F G
We’ll
drive to the beach buy some fries and some shakes
C Am F G
We’ll
stretch out on the sand for that California bake
C Am F G
We’ll
turn up the tunes on my car radio
C Am F G
We’ll
twist under the moonbeams until it’s time to go
[CHORUS]
VERSE
3 [FALSETT0]
C Am F G
I
am back to pumping gas … and dreaming every day
C Am F-
G
I
am dreaming we are driving away, away
C Am F-
G
I
am dreaming we are driving away away
C Am F G
C
In
my ’58 Chevrolet Del Ray
[X
2]
[C
Am F G (x3) then C vamp]
VATICAN
CITY
C
Em F G
Thumbing my way to Vatican City
C Em F G
Going there to search my soul
C
Em F G
Thumbing my way to Vatican City
Em F
To search my soul
Em F
To search my soul
Em F
Search my soul
D7 G
I lost in Monte Carlo.
C Em F G
Monte Carlo, sandcastle beaches
C Em F G
Punto Banco, too many martinis
C
Em F G
Thumbing my way to Vatican City
Em F
Holy See
Em F
Holy See
Em F
The splendor there
D7 G
In St. Peter’s Square
[repeat entire song with a strum and finally a vamped C]
I have always found these themes of Open – Road … Carpe Diem … A Stranger Comes
to Town … to be so, so inviting.
The older I get, the closer I get to Nempnett Thrubwell (see The Book of Liff), to
my will-o-the-wisp dreams of venturing that open-road.
THIS WOULD BE MY FATE …
WHENEVER I GET THE GUMPTION TO GO!
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