Paradigm - and Small Talk, the lead single - was the follow up to Lamp of the Cosmic Excess by the Psychedelic Lemons.
A friend of mine said to me, which obviously I loved, it was like going from Sgt. Pepper to the White Album. Another said, "no, no...like going from Sgt. Pepper to Revolver!"
It was the last time in my life that I felt compelled to still make some music, in regard to writing and recording new stuff that is, until I returned to Golden Bay to live in 2021.
I can now envisage that a big band of friends and acquaintances will emerge, or just those interested, with a wrack of backing vocalists for example, congo's and violins indispersed depending on genres.
Small Talk, September Emperor and The Burning would definitely be in the playlist.
Lemons Around the World, 2015. The Doors cafe in Amsterdam, sampling some Morrison Haze!
I also joined an originals band called Kaniere (which is the name of a Lake on the West Coast of NZ's South Island).
The band was the brainchild of Wellington fashion designer, Duncan McLean, who provided all the original compositions. Kaniere and the RD's were heavily entwined, providing an originals based out put for almost 50% of the band.
The drummer was Kim van der Aa, late of Ohope, now Kawerau based. Absolutely tremendous chap!
Small Talk & Paradigm
PARADIGM
Decade number five
and how much have we really learned?
Cupid by surprise,
hit me when my back was turned.
I empty out my heart
so new blood can rush can back in.
The times I feel the pain
leave my emotions pretty thin.
The dead are broking deals
to sort a future for you and me.
Surrealism is
just a blur of reality.
When you cut my mind
a gentle breeze kisses my skin.
Drowning in the light,
paradigms make my head spin.
(c) Carlton McRae, 2017
SMALL TALK
Let’s drink the last of summer wine and talk of things unsaid.
It drops below when night takes hold, the fire is unkept.
There’s fever in the funk house, the full moon in your eyes,
there are no masters in the game, just single-digit highs.
Fame they say is black and vague, sip your burgundy.
I’ll stay sober till I find some city alchemy.
Fortune is a bee sting, the crucible inflames
and every day at noon we play Victorian parlour games.
I’m not a fan of secrets, never knew one to be kept.
I prefer my liquorice shadow down the roads that I have stepped.
I wear my heart out on my sleeve loving you one ten
and I need a shot of courage before I go back again.
I’m sure I won’t forget you on the road to Anaheim.
You can lead my horse to water if you have a lonely dime.
A circle has no edges and the poet's blood gets spilled,
so I can keep you in my arms until my glass gets filled.
(c) Carlton McRae, 2016
SEPTEMBER EMPEROR
Vertigo, skid row.
He casts the first stone, but does so on assumption.
Dogwood, neighbourhood.
The silence of reminiscence is pure sound.
Cerebral, Chimerical.
The brain's reaction to the hastening of the clouds.
Utopia, myopia.
I wake from this dream to find her and her love gone.
Dustbin, social sin.
Prejudice, when everything was in perfect order.
Rusty nail, spring sale.
Eyes weakened by the burning midnight lamp.
Overload, railroad.
A small technique that I picked up in Berlin.
Utopia, myopia.
I wake from this dream to find her and her love gone.
It's a bad dream.
Emperor, September.
Dinner at the country club has all gone cold.
Fractious, actress
dripping patchouli, she drinks her dignity down.
Sideshow, rainbow.
While we jump fences and run free.
Utopia, myopia.
I wake from this dream to find...to find...
Everything gonna work out, work out right.
Everything's gonna be fine.
(c) Carlton McRae-Angela Prosser, 2017
THE BURNING
Should I row across the river?
Trigger finger dead
I look directly in your eyes,
they're taking me to bed.
Busy women talk suspicion,
with a lack of ease.
Anniversary ordination,
get me off my knees.
There's a mystery at the centre,
a lot of it about.
A different breed of indignation,
time to jam it out...
let's jam it out!
(c) Carlton McRae, 2017
The cover of Paradigm, an image I took at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire in 2015. The old castle was also a filming location for part of the Harry Potter movie, The Philosophers Stone.
The Rough Diamonds perform at Rotokotuku on NYE in 2017 and footage from a private party a few weeks later.
From 2015 onward, I joined The Rough Diamonds, a covers band of incredible multi-talent, spearheaded (with no pun intended, well maybe a small one) by Tony Spear, my mate from the California Dreamers.
The RD's generally only played, or were purpose built, for one gig every two years, that being New Years Eve at a place called Rotokotuku in the central North Island of New Zealand.
There was usually one spin off gig associated with any given NYE and RD gigs were always absolutely incredible fun, never a dull moment.
T H E R O U G H D I A M O N D S
The Rough Diamonds on stage at Rotokotuku, NYE 2015.