Subtle Hint: The Songs

I loved writing songs. Still do, though now it’s when I pick up my only guitar, a six-string acoustic, and fiddle around. But during the heyday of Subtle Hint and its prior incarnations, I really, really loved writing songs.

They came to me, usually, while practicing, more often than not when jamming to some random radio tune. A cool riff. Something weird, funky, different. Something that stands out to your ear. Then, you marry it to another cool riff, also weird, funky, different, though complementary. It either clicks, or it doesn’t. Then, I’d play it for Steve. Gotta give him credit, he always had a notebook of lyrics handy. I’d play my riffs, he’d sing, things would fit or they wouldn’t, or we’d make them fit. Sometimes he would hum something that I’d translate on the guitar, sometimes I’d tell him what type of melody or lyrics I envisioned over a line of music. And they just fell into place.

During that summer we played all those shows, we had about fifteen songs and a couple of cover tunes on deck. More than enough to do a set list, since most of our sets were kept to a half-hour by the promoter. We’d usually play ten or twelve songs a gig, depending on how hyper we were (we had a tendency to play aggressive, and aggressive playing tends to be fast). The covers I remember playing were AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie” and Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right to Party” but there were a couple more. I think we played other stuff, plus Loose Jams (variously numbered on our rehearsal recordings), but those two covers are the only ones I recall playing live.

Here’s a list of most of the original Subtle Hint canon, in approximate chronological order:

Backstabber. Simplistic bluesy cliché, one of our first efforts. Four beats of an F# riff to four beats of an E riff, all four times for the verse, then some descending chords for the chorus, played four times. Modulate up a fourth for the guitar solo. Lyrics about Steve’s misfortunes in love, a common theme. We played this a lot in the early days, not so much as our set list grew.

Kicked in the Face. Another simplistic ditty, faster than “Backstabber,” but following the same song structure. Instead of a guitar solo after the second and third verses, we put it at the end. Can you guess by the title what Steve’s writing about? Boring in the early days, but got interesting later on: we sped it up ’til our hands hurt playing it so fast, and mixed around the ending so that the chords beneath the solo gave the impression you was runnin’ away down a dead-end alleyway from something big and nasty and turning the corner –

Lonely. Originally Steve titled this “Nobody Like to be Lonely,” to which me and Rich parodied, “Nobody Likes to Have a Sledgehammer Take Off Their Big Toe.” Kinda obvious, so we shortened it. It is basically me playing some ringing arpeggiated chords. Mike adds an emotional fretless bass line and Rich puts some tingling melodic runs here and there. Very moving when played just right.

Will and Won’t Care. My earliest bestest! Originally, me and Steve wrote this somehow along the lines of “The Rover” by Led Zeppelin, but it quickly evolved into something quite different. I’m strumming my Gibson SG clean, a nice chord progression G-D-F-C fairly fast, to a chorus of Amaj7-G-Bbsus2-Csus2. Rich adds some sliding power chords to the verse (a la “Celebration Day” from Zep) and some leads over the chorus. The solo, extended for one of our songs, still gives me shivers. Played with the perfect mix of freneticism and soul, with lots of reverb. Begins and ends with a short vibrato solo over some arpeggiated chords. This tune always ended our sets in the early days.

White Lightning. Another simple early tune that we kept fiddling with to make interesting. Essentially a bouncing A riff with descending arpeggios after the vocal line, to some G-D-F power chords for the solo. That’s it. Initially the middle solo section was played in triplet fashion, going for a “Beck’s Bolero” vibe. But we always messed around with it. Sometimes modulating up or down a step. I even wanted to do the guitar solo from Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” in there for a neat little reference for whoever was paying attention out in the audience. The ending featured, later on, me and Rich playing simple harmonized leads together. Generic lyrics about boy-seeing-girl-on-the-street-for-the-first-time.

Black and Pink. Fast and cool, the hook being Rich playing whammy-d harmonics over my galloping distorted D-C-G riffs. The chorus mixed it up a bit, a little unusual for us by throwing in B-flats, A-flats, and Fs. This song fit perfectly, tempo-wise, with “White Lightning,” so we played ’em both back-to-back live, like Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” and “Living Loving Maid.” What the title means I have no idea. Includes the immortal lines: “… so many fish in the sea, / … / let’s take our poles to the sea.”

Cold Hell. My heaviest favorite. I wrote this in 1986 playing guitar in my room while my brother was playing something by Kiss in his, the wall in between thudding. The song just fell together in about five minutes. Lots of stop gaps in the songs, repetitive notes, power chord choruses. Joe Walsh chugga-chuggas underneath the guitar solo. Later Mike and John would add some forceful backing vocals. Always played near the end of our set; a crowd pleaser, I suppose, as several people said it was our best.

Do You Want Me? A Rich creation. Original a meandering B – A chugga-chugga riff to a E – B – D chorus. Steve singing to that chick who kicked him in the face and stabbed him in the back. But later on, it got real interesting. And by that, I mean we changed it so we played it so fast and so frantic that Steve eventually stopping singing it. It became impossible to sing over; we played it as an instrumental. Awesome.

Money. Mike’s entry. A nice hammer-on pull-off riff based on C to low E, a little off-timed to make it interesting. Hard-strummed power chords for the chorus. He and John would harmonize on vocals. A good change of pace and injected a much-needed dose of fresh energy into our set.

Driving Me Crazy. Another effort from Mike with Steve’s input. Our most “pop-y” song, it was fast, fun, simple A-G-D riffs in varied permutations. Bouncy and full of energy. Most like, say, 1989 commercial heavy metal, I think, something I was never into. But the song was … great! More vocal harmonizing from Mike and John. Good lead work from Rich, and it allowed me to play some chords way up the neck of my Les Paul.

In the Distance. Also a Mike ditty, a fun one, written again with Steve. Generic lost-love lyrics, but playing solely by Mike and myself, Mikey on a six-string acoustic, and me playing a twelve-string acoustic. Very fun to play on stage; John and Mike would harmonize beautifully with Steve, accenting words in the chorus. A bitch with keeping all eighteen strings in tune, especially at a live show, but well-worth it.

Endless Line. A resurrected early effort from Rich. Heavy, hard, and fast. That is, a heavy, hard beat powering some fast guitar riffs. A little bit of pre-1987 Metallica, too, thrown in. Mike and John on backing vocals. Good lyrics from Steve, and the song forced him to stretch a bit. The end completely changes key and tempo, with jazzy fills by Mike on bass, and me and Rich trading solos. Nothing groundbreaking on my behalf, but the first time I play a guitar solo on stage.

There may have been others; I’m humming a simply awe-inspiring monster Rich wrote but I can’t recall it’s name. They’re all good, they’re all copyrighted, they’ve all been recorded on demo tapes.

They were all fun to play.