Storm a Comin' was written in about 1983. It's not particularly
auto-biographical, but I was at a crossroads back then in my personal life.
The song, which wound up on my one and only LP Kirk Lorange - No Apostrophe,
was recorded in Sydney Studios 301 with a few of Australia's best musicians:
Greg Lyon on bass, Mark Kennedy on drums, Alan Mansfield on piano and James
Cox on percussion. Fellow Montrealer turned Aussie Wendy Matthews sings
along.
I play all guitars.
You can certainly hear the influence of my favourite band Little Feat --
I've always loved the feels they set up.
The tune starts with a riff that's basically A to F, a kind of unusual
change for this type of music, fun to improvise over as you have to do a bit
more thinking about where you're heading melodically with that F in the key
of A.
The verses use a couple of ear-catchers: rhythmically, there are little
pushes into each descending chord, and harmonically they change each time.
First section drops down from A through F#m, F and E; next one is A, G, F#m,
F; last one is A, F#m E, D.
The chorus is kind of the opposite of the verses. The chords, basically the
same as the verses, have more of an ascending sound to them, going from A
through F, F#m, A/G, G ending up on D.
I play the rhythm Strat with my fingers, as always, with just a bit of
overdrive, through a Twin as I recall. We hired a few amps for the album. I
play the slide in dropped D tuning, as usual.
Alan Mansfield plays a wonderful solo on the grand piano. He's an American
who moved here back then. He had played with and produced Robert Palmer
before the move.
The album was produced by me and engineered by Michael Stavrou, who had also
just moved downunder from AIR Studios in London. Mike is the consummate
perfectionist when it comes to putting sound on tape. It's available from my
site planetalk.thatllteachyou.com
