How Deftones' My Own Summer (Shove It) Builds Pressure

[00:00:00]Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to steal a song where we talk about the greatest songs of all time and where we extract one stealable technique from those because stealing is the highest form of flattery. My name is Sweden Eisen. I am a song creator, author and head of holistic songwriting where we teach you the ins and outs to see the source code of all great music, of all great songwriting and production. Today we're talking about My Own Summer by Defton, one of my favorite songs of all time. I know the song so well I barely had to listen to it because I could basically do it all from my head. I love the song.

[00:00:30]Let's talk about it. First of all, the writers on this are the band. Stephan Carpenter on guitars, Chi-C Chang on bass, rest in peace, Cunningham on drums and Chin Moreno on vocals. Producers on this are Terry Date, longtime collaborator. When I started studying music, a lot of songs started to get a little bit boring to me when I became more of a musicians musician. You know what I mean? I I never grew tired of this song. And I think the reason for it is that it plays so well with tension.

[00:00:54]And it does so very differently in the way we would traditionally talk about tension. We talk about functional tension, you know, and uh you know, the five resolves to one or whatever, you know, the old classical stuff that we we always talk about. Here we have more of a suspense going on. So it is an everpresent tension and the tension is never really released. Anyway, let's get into it. Here is my own summer.

[00:01:17][music] >> [music] >> Okay, immediately a couple of things to me stand out about this. First of all, we've got a great drum sound here. I mean, I love the kick and snare sound, but obviously that high hat to me is really the standout. It's such a pingy bell-like high hat, the ting ting ting, and that to me gives so much character to the song. This one of the things I used to love about Old School Deft Tones is that every single one of their songs had its unique signature and had a lot of personality when it came to the sounds. It's something we're not seeing that much anymore in the new records, which is a little bit unfortunate. I still very much like uh Private Music, by the way, but which is their latest record, but uh that's something I really used to love about their music. Every song had its own stamp. As far as the arrangement goes, we're hearing just drums and guitar, which creates a really nice gap between the two instruments.

[00:02:16]Usually, those two instruments must be connected by a bass. Leaving a gap creates a sense of unease. And it's this unease that we're going to keep coming back to over and over again throughout this video that I think marks the backbone of why the song works so well.

[00:02:31]It's taking out elements that we would expect and not quite giving us what we need from the track. And it's kind of what pushes us forward. We keep listening because we want to hear that gap filled chordwise. We get that riffa which already is interesting because it hits a noniatonic note.

[00:02:53]Right? We're in C sharp minor and it hits a B sharp. So a leading tone the major 7 of that key. It is resolved but it is still a really interesting cool note.

[00:03:06]The rest of this entirely dietonic, but it adds a little bit of tension in there. Let's continue.

[00:03:12][music] [music] Another standout about this is the sound of Chino's vocals here, but also I love what he's singing. Like his melodic choices I to me are really interesting.

[00:03:34]I mean, look at these two notes that he's hitting. He's hitting an F double sharp. So, it's the sharp four in the key where he goes, "Hey, hey, you." Now, here it is resolved correctly. But notice how later when he returns to that note when it's over.

[00:03:49]Even there it is not resolved, right? We don't get the the the G sharp right after that. So, we're staying on that note. It's just leaving us with this really uncomfortable feeling in our stomachs.

[00:04:01][music] [music] [music] So, this is our first high energy section. It is kind of an interlude in the song. Let's take a look at the production here. So, we just heard the intro with just drums and guitar. Then, we had the verse with vocals and bass coming in. And now we're in the interlude section with that open high hat. And we have a power chords riff now. So, we used to have a single note riff going.

[00:04:34]And now we have a power chord riff much lower than that.

[00:04:42]So what used to be 1 2 major 7 1 is now 1 to five to flat 6 to four.

[00:04:52]Right? So it is much lower than you would expect. It's not the same riff.

[00:04:56]It's very similar in shape but it is not the same riff. Now if we take a look at this riff up until here it is entirely dietonic. And then we hit that last one which is an E sharp meaning we hear a major third in the key which is quite unusual right we would expect to hear the note E in C# minor but here that's the note that creates all of that suspense remember how in the verse it was that major 7 now here it is that major third again both are noniatonic notes and in the verse it got properly resolved up to the one here this major third does not get resolved so it sounds a little bit tenser than what we had in the verse. I also love the fact that the drums are playing the hits. They're playing.

[00:05:43]So, they have that little moment of suspense where everything hovers and then we drop back down for the next one.

[00:05:49]Super cool moment that I love. We're going to continue with a verse continued, which is the same as verse one, except we don't have a bass now.

[00:05:57]And the bass is going to come in in the second half of that verse continued.

[00:06:01]>> [music] >> guide me [music] to shelter up through [music] the two.

[00:06:16][music] It's the six.

[00:06:21][music] Sorry for cutting you off there, but let's talk about the lyrics here a little bit because I This is a a metal band that has some decent lyrics. So many of the bands that I used to listen to back in the day, I really can't listen to anymore cuz their lyrics are so [ __ ] A lot of the songs from the '9s and early 2000s, atrocious lyrics, especially in grunge and and metal and rock and the kind of genres that I used to listen to, this I can still listen to because the lyrics are quite interesting. It doesn't feel like language that we've heard a million times before. And that's something that Chino is pretty good at. Finding images, finding imagery or finding lines that still feel a little fresh. There's no line in this that feels entirely like I've heard it before cuz I'm through when the two hits the six and it's summer. I don't know what two hits the six means. And I don't know if Chino knows. I know he's said before in interviews that he's very much a melody first and then lyrics come in later type of writer. I don't necessarily think that he knows what that means. It sounds very cool though. Sounds very intentional. I wouldn't say it's the perfect lyric, but I think it's also not bad. It's got its own voice. Defton are very consistent with their lyrical tone.

[00:07:37]Even if the songs aren't nec not necessarily about something, they do create a kind of vibe with their imagery that I really like. Before we move on with the song, let's talk quickly about these other lines because my favorite line in this clearly I think everybody's favorite line is I think God is moving its tongue. Or maybe it's his tongue.

[00:07:56]I'm not quite sure. It's a little hard to understand. This is in the in the post chorus of the song. I think God is moving its tongue. What a great line. It makes it feel like I'm listening to some kind of puzzle. like I am not quite queued in on like it's a secret language that I'm trying to understand and I'm trying to parse what is it that he's actually saying, what does he actually mean with these lyrics? Even if you don't know what you're writing about, you can create that sense if you use interesting language like this. Creating that sense in the listener that they're the ones missing out instead of just them feeling stupid because nothing makes sense.

[00:08:34]>> [music] [music] >> In terms of arrangement, this is exactly the same as the interlude we'd heard before, except this time we have the shouting on top of everything, of course, and we got that call and response between Chino and Chi on bass, which which adds a lot of excitement to the mix. Now, as we move into the post chorus, the I think God is moving its tongue part, I want you to pay attention to how this is a six bar section.

[00:09:07]Usually in music, we have four or eight bar sections, sometimes 16 bar sections.

[00:09:11]Six bars is quite unusual. So, do listen out for that. The drums exchange their open high hat for a crash. We get chords that feel more legato, so it's less hectic than what we heard in the verses and interludes. Let's take a listen.

[00:09:27][music] I think I [music] [music] there's no crowd.

[00:09:43][music] It's a six bar section and I think it works really well. Of course, it then ends with a two bar ring out where Chino delivers the line, My Own Summer, which technically brings up the second half to eight bars, but it definitely feels like two times six bars. Other than that, what is happening? We've changed from the chorus, which really hectic riff to more legato chords, just straight up eighth notes. I mean, the the chorus was also eighth notes, but now here it's just one chord. One chord for four bars, right, for a very long time. So, here's what the guitars are doing during this part. We have four bars of essentially the six chord of A5. It's a power chord before we move back into a riff that essentially centers around one. Here's here's the chords that we're hearing in this entire song. Basically, in the verses, it's pretty much 66 42. That's what the bass tells us. And it's a little bit what the notes in the riff tell us. In the chorus, it's basically 6 six and then major 6. That's when that when that major third hits, right?

[00:10:52]That's what turns our six into a major 6. And now in this post course, again, it's a six bar section. We get 4 4 6 6. But the fours have an added 11. If you take a closer look at this notation here, we see the notes A, E, A, D sharp, which is again the sharp 11 of that chord. Now, that is a note that is dietonic. It's a note that appears on the four, right? It's the Lydian scale.

[00:11:20]But nonetheless, it is very interesting to hear that on a power chord. Power chords are not usually the chords where we add those tense notes on top. Deaf notes do that all the time, but most people don't. Why? Because those notes tend to create a lot of harmonic tension. Power chords, whenever you distort a guitar, everything just kind of starts to sound really messy and all added notes added just a ton of harmonic distortion. But here, it is used again to create that feeling of suspense.

[00:11:49]Something's not quite right with this.

[00:11:51]There are two things that are doing that actually. Or maybe three. First of all, it's six bars instead of eight. So, it's kind of throwing you off balance there.

[00:11:58]Then it's four bars of the same chord.

[00:12:01]It really feels like the chord should be changing after two bars, not four or maybe even after one bar, especially after after we had so many chords with a ba, right? Every note was essentially a new chord. Now, we have four bars of just one chord. So, that creates a lot of tension. And then of course it's that note D sharp. So now we're going to move into verse two which works the same as verse one except we don't have a guitar.

[00:12:26]So now it's drums, bass, and vocals only. I love that setting. I love that especially for a second verse. Love using that myself even though it's technically moving a step down. In terms of energy from the first verse, I love the intimacy that that creates. And it's a double length section. Then we move into another chorus which is the same as course one, but it is double length. So it's a lot longer. It's that shove it shove it section. Then we're going to hear another post chorus which again is the same as post chorus one. And then we're going to loop over the ending of that post chorus. Thea we're going to hear that three times rather than just once and then a ring out. So let's take a listen to that.

[00:13:05][music] >> A divise a savior [music] try.

[00:13:21]>> Notice that really beautiful interplay between bass and vocals. And we have some some really nice like little sound effects like going on in the background.

[00:13:29]they're really making up for for the the space that we have. Um really really beautifully done.

[00:13:39][music] >> Also [music] some lovely delays and little effects on the drums here to to enunciate the silence here. This is, you know, producing silence is one of the most important things you have to learn as a producer is whenever there's a gap in the melody, fill that silence with some kind of sound design and some kind of ear candy. That's super super fun and super well done here.

[00:14:04][music] [music] >> I also want to talk about the way that this chorus comes in. There's not really a lot of setup for it. It really kind of comes out of nowhere. And it is very shocking the way that it comes in.

[00:14:21]There's no drum fill. There's no, you know, filter building up to it. There's nothing in terms of that. It just bam, here it is with the vocals screaming directly on the one. So, it is very much used for shock value. And in this case, I think it works because we I mean, first of all, it is already a very unsettling song using all the techniques that we've talked about already. But what I think is so well done here is that it now breaks with that tension with that burst of energy. I think the whole song was under a lot of pressure already. And when that comes out, it feels like such a release while at the same time of course creating a lot of tension, a lot of new tension um itself, you know, with that really weird riff and the drum is not playing the entire way through. Let's continue listening.

[00:15:09][music] >> [music] >> again. Double L. [music] [music] [music] And let's talk about this melody a little bit more because I think it's another really great one from Chino. So look at what note is being hit here on think.

[00:15:48]Right, we have that D sharp in there which is the same note we hear in the guitar. Remember that's what the guitar is playing. So Chino is hitting that sharp 11 as well which shows that he's listening to what the guitar is doing and also that he likes to play with that tension. What I love about this is normally when you have a D# where does it want to go? A lot of other musicians might have done something more in terms of I think God is moving right. So they would have resolved the sharp four up to a five or what everybody would have expected here I think would have been to move up to the five. I think God is moving but instead hitting that sharp four creates so much more tension and is so much more interesting. So great musical choice here and it's one of the things that keeps me coming back to this track is still trying to figure out why. You know, it's it's so interesting where I'm like that note is is such an interesting strange choice. And again, it's a it's a reason why I keep listening to this and I still can find something in it probably like 20 years after I've heard this for the first time. Now, as we move into the second half of the post chorus, notice how it's going to use that Again, in the first postc course, that's where it ended, but now we're going to hear that three times before we go into a ring out. So, again, it plays with our expectations. We thought we were going to get one thing. We're just kind of settling into an expectation, and now it pulls that away from us again and pushes it further, and we don't know when that riff is going to stop. Again, another form of creating suspense.

[00:17:25][music] >> [music] [music] >> So, it's four times actually, not even just three, it's four times that we hear that. And now uh here comes the final chorus which is very much the same as the other two choruses except in the second half the guitar switch to a single note playing and it's still playing the riff of the chorus. So it's not going to the riff of the verse. It is still playing the riff of the chorus but now with single notes which gives it a more aggressive and a really interesting vibe. I can't really say what it is but I really like it. I really like what that's doing. I've used that myself in songs. Probably my most deaf tone song I've ever written would be Kano Heads the Virus. So that's my artist name, Kano Head, like Volcano Head with without the V without the volume. Although there is certainly a lot of volume in my music, but a song called The Virus does that uh prominently as well in its riff. And I I think I've stolen it from this song here probably. Another thing I want you to pay attention to is how it leads into its final chorus. One of my favorite things in this is something I have also stolen multiple times is the high hat pedal going like that little moment on the four one 2 3 bum and then all hell breaks loose. I love that because every time deaf tones play this song live after that post chorus rings out everybody's already applauding. Everybody thinks the song is over and then there's this little moment of no it's not. Bam. Here's the final chorus. I love that. It's again such a fake out again creating tension. You think you're you're safe, but then no, here comes another one out of nowhere.

[00:19:16]Listen to this.

[00:19:21][music] >> [music] >> It's a nice interplay between single note picking and chords actually because it's going and then it goes into a power chord. So, it's really cool. It sounds a little more technical and again creates tension. I can't quite say why that is.

[00:19:46]I don't really have the words for it.

[00:19:48]I'm not sure why it creates that tension. Again, probably it is because we expect to hear the full chords.

[00:19:54]That's what we've heard all the time.

[00:19:56]And now that's being taken away from us.

[00:19:58]And to remind us of the fact that we have been taken that this has been taken from us, we're reminded with that, you know, full cord for a brief moment. What we call a sting in the addiction formula, right? When you when you create imply tension, you're removing something from the listener. You're taking something away from them and you're kind of poking them. You're stinging them, right? Every once in a while, you want to give it to them just enough so they remember that it's missing and then you take it away again. That's what creates the suspense and that's what makes this song so incredibly powerful in my opinion. A couple more things about this that I think are really special is the tempo of this is so slow. It's it drags way too much. Like I have this thing whenever I return to a project that my songs tend to be too slow as well. So I usually, you know, drag up the tempo a couple of BPM every time I start a session and usually that does the song better. But here, I think it really works in the song's favor. Again, it's dragging. It's just and it never feels like it's quite where it needs to be. It never feels quite fast enough. And when you're moving to it, it feels like you have to hold back a little bit. I love that about it. Again, it creates a tension using tempo as a way to create suspense. Also, this is basically a song with just one riff in slightly different versions. If we look at that guitar riff here, we have that for the verses and then for the chorus. Again, very similar riffs. It almost feels like we're hearing the same riff. The way that it makes sure that this doesn't get boring is that those riffs are slightly different and the postcourse of course breaks up with that monotony by throwing in a monotony of its own with four bars of the same chord. It's also, I think, why there's an extra peak in the middle of verse one in this section right here at the beginning, the that interlude is because otherwise we would have had a lot of that same riff over and over again. And that interlude kind of breaks with that. It also shows us that this is a high energy song and that's how it's supposed to be perceived. If the entire first verse would have been low energy and that that interlute wouldn't exist, we might kind of mislabel this song as being more low energy than it actually is. And this wants to be a high energy rock song. There's so many things we could have talked about in the song that I didn't even get to. Like the ghost notes on the drums are so good. I love the snare placement of the of the drums, especially in that postc course. There's so many good things in this. But if I had to bring it down to just one technique that I think is stealable from this, it would be the technique that I have actually literally stolen from this, which is the single note transfer.

[00:22:35]A variation technique where a riff that normally uses power chords is stripped down to just the root notes, preserving the rhythm and contour while creating a lighter, more focused sound. And again, here it's used to create suspense by taking it away from you and coupling it or mixing it with the full chord sound.

[00:22:54]It creates a kind of suspense of taking something from you that you didn't know you were missing. That's it for this episode. If you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas, let us know at steal this [email protected].

[00:23:05]That's steal the song, all one word at holistic-ong songwriting.com. Next week, we're not going to talk about a piece of music. We are going to talk about AI actually. So, it's going to be more of a monologue type situation here instead of an analysis. But, I have a lot of thoughts about using artificial intelligence. I've used it a lot myself.

[00:23:21]Not in music at all. At all, I don't think. No, I don't think I've used AI ever to make music. And I don't think I want to. Anyway, we'll we'll talk about that next week. Should be an interesting talking point. Until then, take care and stay fattyish.

[00:23:38][music] >> [music]