First of all, you don t have to stretch to elaborate arrangements or production costs in order to create a demo of your song. It s accepted wisdom that, generally speaking, a decent song will shine through even if it s only recorded with a voice and one instrument such as a piano or guitar. In fact an over-elaborate arrangement or some fancy production trickery may actually hide the qualities in your song, so care is recommended on that front.
Avoid the temptation to make a song too long. Sure, some songs such as Like A Rolling Stone or Bohemian Rhapsody break the three-minute barrier and then some, but they are the exceptions; you really should consider whether you need all those verses. I ve rarely heard a song criticised for being too short.
Although all judges will try to assess the song and not the performance, if you can t deliver a listenable version of your entry then get somebody else to sing or play it. Just because you can write a song doesn t mean that you are automatically the best person to sing it.
When you record the song, do it so that the melody line and the lyrics are clearly audible. While an intro often helps set the mood for a song and eases one into it, an unnecessarily long intro should be avoided. The same applies to long, slow fade-outs.
Other than that you should probably go on your best instincts.
Songs are not something Edbarke Hoe is short of, having eleven of them on his CD demo. Edbarke (real name Barry Kehoe, gettit?) has recorded his demo for his Weird Music label which in itself is quite inappropriate as there s nothing remotely weird about what he does.
Barry has a very fine voice, with touches of Tim Buckley in the upper register and his acoustic guitar playing is more than adequate. So Far Away is a tasty ballad delivered with conviction and passion, although it nearly outstays its welcome. Shadow Lands has a touch of the Luka Blooms about it, but that s no bad thing. Grey Dirty Linen is more of the introspection that went before, and has some moody electric guitar, but with it one begins to get the message that Barry is a one-trick pony, even if he does that trick very well.
Michael Morrissey s songs are more in your face than Kehoe s, bearing the influences of Elvis Costello, Lennon-McCartney and post-Britpop acts on their sleeves. But sometimes the songs, as in the opener Here She Comes Again with its Sweet Jane-ish chord sequence in the middle, end up sounding quite old-fashioned production-wise.
Can t Say I Didn t Warn You has a more contemporary feel about it, with a stinging guitar section; one could even imagine Robbie W lashing into it. Love Is A Vacancy is very old hat indeed, although it s well performed and sung.
Morrissey sure knows his way around a song, can sing, dance and everything, but he needs to check the calendar. The new David Gray he ain t.
From Tuam comes a demo of just one song by Aengus Melia. It s called New Millennium and as you d expect from the title it concerns itself with the time we re in. Unfortunately, as a topic, it s about ten months too late and as song titles go it doesn t quite get the gold medal for originality. Musically it s electric boogie halfway between primal-scream era John Lennon and Ocean Colour Scene. Melia, currently working on his third album (it says here), lets his voice get a little lost in the mix, but the demo proves he has the ingredients, even if needs a more original recipe.
Meanwhile Terry McGuinness, a previous star of this here column, continues on his way towards world domination with a spanking new demo which delivers good, solid rock on three new songs which are spoiled only by his fake Britpop accent.
All of the above writers have a firm grip of the basics of their craft. Whether their demos contain hits of major proportions is another matter, but they show sufficient signs of life to indicate that they should keep at it.
And so should you. Who knows, but that idea you had last night could be just what the Bacardi judges are waiting for.