Fritz Doddy

Hi Folks!

My name is Fritz Doddy and welcome to my Soundclick page. You can listen to samples of my debut CD, "The Feelin Of Far", and you can visit my website at www.fritzdoddy.com. If you like trippy Beatles meets psychedelic Brian Wilson, then you should check out my music.

The Feeling of Far started as a therapy project. I had been writing music for TV advertisements and TV networks for about five years, when I longed to get back into long-form writing. I knew that I wanted to take my time, which is quite the opposite of my professional career. Some days at work I need to write 3-4 pieces of music, in disparate styles. I had absorbed so many styles from my commercial work that I couldn't decide which direction I should go. So, having no clear direction, I just started writing on guitar.

After two years of writing and throwing out a bunch of ideas, I settled in on the first batch of songs: Cynical Eye, Amieveliano, Over You and It's Only a Dream. I started production with Cynical Eye. At this point I started to have a feeling for what the project should sound like. I had recently purchased a refurbished Mellotron M400 from Streetly Electronics in Birmingham, England. I was influenced by the Beatles' use of the instrument (think of the flute opening to Strawberry fields) as well as old proggers like Yes and Genesis' use of the instrument. I wanted my album to have Mellotron on it as well. Limited by funds, I had to do a lot by myself. I was fortunate to have friends contribute here and there, which helped to keep it interesting from both a vocal and instrumental standpoint. The sound of the record came about naturally as a result. The only limitations I set were that I didn't work on it when I was tired and I didn't want anyone to contribute unless the music inspired them.

I made a four song Teaser CD about four years ago to give out as Christmas gifts and also just to complete something. I omitted Over You and substituted the title track, The Feeling of Far, instead. Over You was stalled in production because it needed the most work in terms of recording other musicians. Putting the Teaser together made me rethink everything. I enjoyed how the Teaser flowed from one song to the next and I decided that the full length album would do the same. From that point, writing new material and producing it became easier as I used Cynical Eye as my main lyrical and melodic material to reprise. I ended up cross pollinating a lot of material from song to song and eventually reworked the original four songs from the Teaser into the new concept. Songs were written and produced according to the order they would appear on the record. What fun!

I decided not to define the overarching concept of the record as I feel it is up to the listener to decide what that is. I've endeavored to make this record metaphorical in nature. My hope is that this record will mean different things to different people and that the listener can discover something new with each listening.

I'm currently not set up to play live, although I've done A LOT of that in the past. I'm currently trying to pare down a few of the songs to play in an "unplugged" format.

The Beatles, Pet Sounds/Smile era Brian Wison, ELO, Tears for Fears (the trippier stuff)

Digital Performer 4.52, Reason 2.5, Live 4.0, Melltron M400, MiniMoog, Arp 2600, Korg Mono/Poly, Korg MS2000,Gibson Nighthawk, Jerry Jones Bass Six, Martin D-1...