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    early experiences

    Brent Godfrey

    By Don Campau | 27 October 2011

    Singer songwriter, Brent Godfrey released two tapes in the mid-late 1980s of personal, introspective and from-the-heart songs. Finger picked acoustics, lightly strummed electrics, some occasional forays into good time rock and roll, a pleasing high tenor delivery and restrained production created some very honest sounding music. Today, we might call this “americana” but I prefer to just call it authentic home expression.

    Above, from 1986, "Dancer In The Ruins". Below, "High Fashion Baby" from 1987.

    Above, from 1986, “Dancer In The Ruins”. Below, “High Fashion Baby” from 1987.

    I obtained my first personal recording device back in 1984 when I was in the band “Someone Else’s Problem” with Gary Strauss and Doug Cornell. It was a Fostex X-15 4 Track cassette. I would use it to record my song ideas for band rehearsal. Gary and myself dropped out of the band after a short stint to pursue more personal interests. Doug kept the band going with new members. I still got together with Gary and other musical friends
    frequently to play music and write songs.

    I first became aware of the Cassette Culture through the independent
    magazine “Sound Choice”. The first issue of “Sound Choice” was in Jan/Feb
    of 1984. I had always shied away from popular music and sought out obscure independent recordings. For me, independent music just had more raw emotion and soul. I sent away for some of the cassettes advertised in “Sound Choice” and noted that a lot of the artists freely traded tapes in lieu of money. “Sound Choice” would review and list almost anything submitted.

    I loved the idea of sharing my songs with open minded musicians who were constantly striving to expand their horizons. I thus decided to self
    release a cassette of my own songs and trade them with others.

    I released my first cassette in 1986, entitled “Dancer in the Ruins”. The
    songs were crudely recorded on the Fostex X-15 with multiple ping pongs to get enough tracks. I sang and played most of the parts myself with some occasional help from friends on lead guitar and vocals. For me it was all about expressing myself. I was not interested in musical perfection, only in releasing demons, pain, anger, and pledging love to current or hoped for girl friends. Everything was recorded in a spare room at my house. I even drew the cassette covers myself.

    I found the other home tapers to be a real friendly community of musicians with encouraging thoughts and words. One of the people I traded a tape with was Donald Campau, and I thus became aware of the KKUP “No Pigeonholes” radio show. I had songs featured on three of the shows: Series 86 Vol. 11, Vol. 14, and Vol. 17.

    I released another tape recorded on the X-15 in 1987 entitled “High Fashion Baby”. I sang and played everything on this cassette except for some live drums provided by my old band mate, Gary Strauss.

    I took a hiatus from home recording in 1989 – 1990 when I moved to Bangkok, Thailand to work at a joint venture facility that manufactured electric motors. I found a restaurant called “El Gordo’s” in Bangkok that had an open mic. I had brought my acoustic guitar with me to Bangkok and still wrote an occasional song.

    When I moved back to Owosso, Michigan my X-15 had stopped working and I bought a Roland VS-880 Digital Workstation. This provided a much cleaner method of recording than the X-15 and with 8 tracks I no longer had to ping pong and loose sound quality. I started work on another tape to be called “Cut My Heart Out”. My friend John Zawacki played lead guitar parts for me. John is an accomplished singer/song writer and has released a number of self produced cassettes and CD’s in a studio setting.

    I never ended up finishing the “Cut My Heart Out” tape. In 1993, I was
    laid off from my job in Owosso. I found another job in West Michigan and moved to Grand Rapids. I did not have any musical friends in Grand Rapids and lost touch with song writing and home taping. Instead I played a lot of sports and then got married in 1997.

    In the late 2000’s I started to try to get back involved in song writing and
    home recording. I needed to begin to use song writing again for self
    therapy purposes. It is not good to keep your thoughts and emotions
    bottled up. I still have the Roland VS-880. What once seemed so advanced
    in technology now seems rather antique. However, it suits my purposes.

    I discovered a web site entitled SongRamp.com and started a free membership level subscription. The SongRamp community reminds me very much of the old Cassette Culture. My URL at SongRamp . I currently only have 4 songs posted. However, I think I will upgrade my membership this spring to allow more extensive posting.

    I recently became a friend with Donald Campau on Facebook and discovered the “No Pigeonholes” show was still active. I think that will be enough to encourage me to write and record more songs to finish the “Cut My Heart Out” album. This time I will self release it one burn at a time on CDR.

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