Out Of The Duff
Out Of The Duff
Cassette
Release Date: 1985
Label: Self-Released
He was driving out West and asked me if I wanted to tag along. He had this great record collection which turned me on to so many songwriters who were new to me, like Randy Newman, John Prine, Graham Parker and others. We were both trying to figure out how to write songs and so we started a duo called “Book Of Changes” and played around Victoria BC at open stages mostly.
When I got back to Ontario he convinced me to give tree planting a try, to make some money and possibly record a demo. Most of the songs were written in and around this time period. The title came from a tree planting phrase. ‘Duff’ was loose soil that you couldn’t plant in and so “Out Of The Duff” meant we had found good earth, so to speak. It was recorded and mixed at a studio in Niagara Falls all in one night. I think we ran off about 500 copies and mostly gave them to friends.
These are some of my earliest songs and there’s loads of over-singing on the cassette as I was in the early stages of finding my way as a vocalist and a songwriter. My favourite song was “Dream Car” which I think has shades of Cat Stevens all over it. Claudio’s song on side two, “The Music Is Gone”, is still one of my favourite songs – RS