Today blues-rock guitarist Diana Rein shares with us the story behind the song "Down Down Down," which comes from her latest album "Long Road". Here is the story:
I was in the middle of writing and recording my album Long Road when things all of a sudden came to a stand still because my health was giving me some warning signals. I hadn't been quite right since the birth of my son and after appendix surgery. My whole system seem to be teetering and I was barely holding on with my energy. When I thought about actually performing live one day, I had no idea how that would even be possible.
Everything seemed so insurmountable and overwhelming that wasn't just me playing music in my room. Even that was a challenge on many days. I was being plagued by pain on the left side of my abdomen and before I knew it, I was in the care of doctors who were sending me every which way for tests and opinions. And zero answers. Everyone said I was fine but I was in pain.
All the while, my record was put on hold because not only was my health a question mark, but I decided to get a new amp to use when it came down to recording guitars. I went with a Ceriatone amp that was being made in Malaysia and it was going to take a few months to get delivered.
I wanted to start a song on the album that had a pedal note and that really dug in with some fuzzy tones. Just guitar and vocals. And I wanted it to start with just a guitar so that the listener would be anticipating an older blues man to start singing and all of a sudden they would hear my voice. Give a little switch to perceptions. And then I wanted the rug to be pulled out completely and just have a forward pulling high momentum rest of the song that had melodic guitar anthems in there to really get the listener going.
As I was waiting for test results from an MRI, I remember being so scared that I just wanted to write in order to deal with the waiting period better.
And I just recall an inner strength coming into me that knew that I wanted this song to be a big F U to all the crap I was dealing with that was threatening the beginning of my dream life with music. I wasn't going to let it stop me and I wanted to have a heart to heart talk with "it". So as I do when writing, I sing the melody as I play the guitar and then I just sing gibberish. Some words come out and they stick and some don't. I really allow my subconscious to do its thing. And I worked through my fear with this song. And I visualized myself playing the song live to get me out of feeling overwhelmed. It was a pivotal song to help me work through that period of my life where my health had never been worse and it has been a constant reminder that I am in control and I don't allow the unknown to keep me down. I just keep making music. And I feel that this attitude is what has gotten me better with time and what keeps making me stronger.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!
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