THE FINAL “BROKEN CHAIRS” SINGLE: “Be still my Heart”

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Updated: June 14, 2024

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“Be Still My Heart” is out now and is the last song released for “Broken Chairs” our latest EP. 

You can find where to stream it here -> https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/vickyvonvicky/be-still-my-heart

Quote from Michael Wynn:

“I wrote “Be Still My Heart” back in May of 2020, it came very quickly too me, lyrics and all. At the time I felt it was about getting old and maybe regretting what got you where you were in life, now when I read back the lyrics it reminds me of someone who has more than regret, they weren’t being true to themselves or their soul/humanity.  They actually have rediscovered their own happiness and what makes them happy. I really love how the ending just falls apart in this song.”

Lyrics:

Be still my heart
I’ll take you there
Those years apart have left us
Worse for wear

Is this a dream? (we’re living in)
Or a nightmare?
Be still my heart I’ll take you
Now don’t despair

Cold comfort will not bring
You back to me
In spite of all I’ve seen
You wake me from my dreams
You wake me from my dreams

Be still my heart
We’ll take you there
Right from the start I found you
Worse for wear

Is this a dream? (we’re living in)
Or a nightmare?

Cold comfort will not bring
You back to me
In spite of all I’ve seen
You wake me from my dreams
You wake me from my dreams
You wake me from my dreams

Sleepless angels, hurried tracks
Waking babies, heart attacks
Sleeping angels, watch your tracks
Hidden babies, pulls you back

 

Broken Chairs EP is now OUT!!

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Updated: June 14, 2024

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June 14, 2024 – Written by Michael Wynn

Today marks the day we put into the world our “Broken Chairs” EP,  over the last year we have been slowly unveiling each song. Last year it was “Jealousy”, “Not The Man” and “Goodbye My Love”, this year it was “Freak Me Out” a month ago and today we have added the final song of the collection -> “Be Still My Heart”. 

Special thanks to Nixon Boyd as always for the stellar recording/producing and just plain musicality, these songs are way better and elevated because of your work into them!  

Also thank you to the Vicky von Vicky members, current and former (Rolston, Tom, Paul & Chris), for both your encouragement and enthusiasm with these songs.

The songs came together over the course of the first few years of the pandemic, 3 were written in May 2020, literally the day after I was told I was being laid off from my full-time job. The other two were written in the summer of 2022 after some inspiration hit. By fall we had started jamming again, and I presented the songs as demos to the group.  At the time I really wanted to record these songs right away and unfortunately decided that to record them solo.

So in December of 2022, I spent a weekend in Orillia at my cousin Nixon Boyd’s new Studio Simcoe Mechanical. His business partner, Taylor Knox contributed by playing drums, as my usual drummer for my solo stuff, Jake Boyd (also my cousin, lucky me!) couldn’t make it due to scheduling conflicts.

Right from the moment I started recording, I knew I wanted these to be part of an EP, and I had also settled (in my mind) on the title “Broken Chairs”. It wasn’t until after I had recorded them that I realized these actually would be better as Vicky von Vicky songs.  That’s when I was able to convince the group that we should release these songs that way.  Everyone was keen to do just that.

The songs should be played in order, if you have the chance (and time), try it out and you’ll see the short journey we take you on here:

  1. Jealousy
  2. Freak Me Out
  3. Goodbye My Love
  4. Not The Man
  5. Be Still My Heart

Stream it here or where you find your pod… oops you know what I mean! (been listening to too many podcasts lately, LOL) 

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/vickyvonvicky/broken-chairs

 

 

Freak ME OUT

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Updated: May 16, 2024

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Sooo… it has been quite the journey for us over the last year! We have been unveiling singles, playing live and facing some internal challenges. But after all that it feels good to finally get the rest of these songs out to fill your ears.

Today you can hear the first of our last two singles that are part of our upcoming EP entitled “Broken Chairs”.

Listen to “Freak Me Out” on your favourite streaming platform here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/vickyvonvicky/freak-me-out

Originally these songs were conceptually meant to be together and were recorded that way.  Now we are finally putting that vision together as one release.

On June 14th will be the second and final single Be Still My Heart along with the previously released 4 songs that make up Broken Chairs.

At this point there is new music in the works but likely won’t be out until the end of this or next year. 

Live shows may also be coming in the fall (or sooner).  We look forward to all of that and seeing your smiling faces again. FINALLY thank you for listening and making our last year one of the most rewarding for us!

Liner Notes:

Freak Me Out

Words by Michael Wynn

Music by Michael Wynn, Rolston Miller & Tom Nesbitt

Produced, Recorded & Mixed by Nixon Boyd, December 2022/January 2023/April 2024 at Simcoe Mechanical (Orillia) & (Toronto)

Vocals/Backing Vocals/Guitars: Michael Wynn

Synth/Bass: Nixon Boyd

Drums: Taylor Knox

Mastered by Noah Mintz, Lacquer Channel

“Goodbye My Love” Out Now!

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Updated: November 16, 2023

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Toronto indie-rockers Vicky von Vicky are back with “Goodbye My Love,” their third release of 2023. The track’s rock-heavy chord progressions and upbeat tempo are the perfect foil to tender, heartsick lyrics that serve as an ode to a lover already on their way out the door. Perfect for fans of Pixies, The Velvet Underground, or REM, the band’s sound is a nostalgic blend of classic rock and late 20th century pop — with a unique, irresistible modern twist.

First formed from the ashes of Kingston group Trains of Winter in the late 1990s, the four-piece released two albums before going on hiatus in 2001. Nearly two decades later, in 2019, Vicky von Vicky made their long-anticipated return to the Toronto music scene, carving out their own niche with a distinct style that draws inspiration from a variety of genres, including punk, grunge, soul, and hip-hop. It’s an approach that works and is largely tied together by the strong storytelling characteristic of their whip-smart lyricism.

“Back in May of 2020, I lost my full-time job to cuts that were Covid related,” Wynn explains. “Shortly over the next couple of days I wrote four or so songs. ‘Goodbye My Love’ was one of them. I go back to the Springsteen style of song-writing here, where you develop characters and a story, largely fictional, that is partially drawn from personal experiences. I usually like to put some sort of twist on it too, like the Pixies would. And for myself, somewhat ironically, when it comes to writing ‘happy-pop’ songs I tend to go the ‘breakup song’ route.”

Wynn knew ‘Goodbye My Love’ was something special, so he presented it, along with the other songs he’d penned, to the rest of the band. The group was blown away and set out to record it, enlisting Nixon Boyd of Hollerado fame to produce the tracks. They soon laid down most of the recordings, working primarily at Nixon’s new Simcoe Mechanical studio in Orillia, before putting finishing touches on vocals and guitars at Nixon’s Toronto-based Banquet Sound space.

The finished song is Vicky von Vicky to the core — the track is catchy, intimate, and addictive, ultimately driven home by rich vocals and a hook that will be stuck in your head for days. “Goodbye My Love” is a must-listen for fans of alternative music, proving that this band is one of Toronto’s rising stars.

Stream it on your favourite streaming service here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/vickyvonvicky/goodbye-my-love

On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4RrdljyvSzbFkL4VfNWoyc?si=87997f4ba4eb4648

On Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/goodbye-my-love-single/1712437834

On Amazon: https://music.amazon.ca/albums/B0CLTBF3D5?marketplaceId=ART4WZ8MWBX2Y&musicTerritory=CA&ref=dm_sh_Od9MkQXoui0Ag1nZd37LVvi8m

On Bandcamp: https://vickyvonvicky.bandcamp.com/track/goodbye-my-love

 

The Evolution of “Not The Man”

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Updated: September 30, 2023

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Hey all, Mike here, writing a song is a process, sometimes things come right away, and sometimes they don’t. I thought to illustrate I would present the journey I took to get “Not the Man” completed.

Remember at the beginning I am (or we) songwriters are searching for something interesting, most of the time things AREN’T interesting. There is a lot of waste. But among the waste you may find a gem. And it’s exciting and rewarding to work this stuff out, it’s problem solving done in a different way.

I have been looking back at my voice memos etc. and trying to pinpoint when I first conceived “Not The Man” to tracing it through it’s evolution to an actual song. I have ALOT of voice memos with song ideas, and every once in awhile I go through them, at first I thought this song began in August of 2022, but in retrospect it seems the very first voice memo I have was back on May 24th 2022.

May 24, 2022 file: “New Recording 154 im not the man – good” ***
Here it is:

You can see that it has a ways to go, I have a few different chord changes and song ideas in here, I am just trying to feel it out, and seeing if I get anything by improvising, etc. You can see that some of these chord changes weren’t pursued, but I think it’s safe to say I am happy that I recorded this and most importantly revisit it a couple of months later.

August 15, 2022 (my daughter’s birthday)  file: “Not the man pt1 early urly urly chorus” ***
I must have gone through all of these voice memos in August (2022) because I revisited this and the next file I found chronologically was this:

Still working through the chorus, and chords, some more ideas that didn’t stick, just trying to get a verse here I think. I must have generally thought there was something here to explore.

August 23, 2022   file: “Not the man pr 2 reealy early”

This is me trying to workout the verse melody I think, I believe I woke up in the night and just sang into my phone, haha, not very coherent but I was able to decipher a verse melody out of this!

August 23, 2022   file “Not the man pt 3 early burly” ***

This is now becoming more like the verse. Not quite there, but still improvising /working it out.  It has the higher register part, which was key for the verse.

August 24, 2022  file: “Not the man pt 4 first w chord mod”

I felt the 3 chords were just a bit too repetitive, so I came up with this change, even though it didn’t all stick it got me to take the song where I needed to.  And the verse here is almost getting to its end state.

August 25, 2022   file: “Not the man pt 5 early ideas”

Still more of the same as the last one, but trying to work out the chord modification and vocal melody.  Again it didn’t all stick.

September 9, 2022   file: “Not the man – pt 6 chorus/bridge idea”

Working out the bridge, just really improvising both vocally and musically.  I like that I brought the chord modification into the bridge as well, it really fits. ***

September 19, 2022   file: “Not the man pt 7 bridge 1”

Still more work on the bridge, getting there, but not quite.

September 20, 2022  file: “Not the man pt 8 bridge – almost final”

More bridge work (hee hee), I don’t think I finalized it (the bridge) until later, and possibly finally worked it out with Nixon (Boyd).

October 25, 2022  First Demo – file: “I am Not the Man 2022-10-25 10:00AM”

This was a good demo, a demo doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should have all the important elements you will bringing into a song, it should give the producer a good idea about structure and melody and even instrumentation, sometimes though that can go all out the window.

So this demo is basically me adding instruments/vocals to programmed drums and jamming on guitar, lyrics are almost there, structure isn’t quite right yet as you can hear.  And there was one more additional chord change that hadn’t been put in yet, you’ll hear it in the next demo, it’s the part that goes G – > F# -> Bmin -> A (hold) in the second verse.  That A chord was a suggestion from Nixon and it is almost the last piece of the puzzle.

November 10, 2022  New Structure Demo (after discussion with Nixon Boyd) file: “I am Not the Man New STRUCTURE 2022-11-10-8:18”

Ya this one is almost exactly what we recorded, lyrics may have been slightly changed but the new outro vocals really lift the song.  And as you have heard on the finished song the live drums really make a difference and give everything the feel it needs, along with the polished vocals and running bass lines.

Feb.8, 2023 Final Mixed Version Here is the final version (after mastering, and in video format)…

 

Latest single “Not the man” out Now!!

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Posted: August 16, 2023

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Our latest single “Not The Man” is out today, you can find it on all streaming platforms, find it here:

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/vickyvonvicky/not-the-man

“Not The Man” began it’s journey exactly 1 year ago today, I was looking back on voice memos to figure out when I started writing this song and found it on a memo dated Aug. 16, 2022. So it’s just a coincidence that it’s being released exactly a year later.

Lyrically I was inspired last summer to write the song, “Not The Man,” in the voice of someone who is looking for purpose, and some sort of legacy in their life. 

This is a straight ahead rock song, with an indie-folk feel. It’s got the Vicky von Vicky sound, though it’s a nice contrast from some of our recent releases.

Enjoy!

-Michael Wynn

Song Credits:

Words by Michael Wynn

Music by Michael Wynn, Paul Pasanen, Rolston Miller & Thomas Nesbitt

Produced, Recorded & Mixed by Nixon Boyd (Banquet Sound/Simcoe Mechanical)

Mastered by Noah Mintz, the Lacquer Channel

“Jealousy” single Out Now!

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Updated: June 22, 2023

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Our latest single is “Jealousy” and it is out now on all streaming platforms!  

Play it over and over again, add it to your playlists, just give it some love ok? 

Streaming platforms:   https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/vickyvonvicky/jealousy

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/album/2Ooj7dPhrpOzDeXQgs405l?si=OnXILudLTSyo7bwgj2g6ug

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/jealousy-single/1688670977

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOiG97Gg3IA

– – – – – – 

Written by Michael Wynn, Rolston Miller, Paul Pasanen & Tom Nesbitt

Recorded in December 2022 by Nixon Boyd at Simcoe Mechanical (Orillia) and January 2023 at Banquet Sound Studio (Toronto)

Guitars/Vox: Michael Wynn

Features: Guest Bass – Nixon Boyd, Guest Drums – Taylor Knox (Taylor Knox Music)

Mixed by Nixon Boyd

Mastered by Noah Mintz, Lacquer Channel

#newmusic #indierock #newrelease #torontomusic #torontolivemusic #geezerrock #rock #indie #toronto #guitarmusic