I am the bass and keyboard player for Front Page Rogue. I also manage the backline for the band. Enya and I met a few years ago on the local Open Mic circuit. She has recorded in my studio on several occasions. We both left our previous bands over the Winter of 2024 and formed Front Page Rogue in March 2025. We did check with ChatGPT to see if Gen Xers work well with Gen Zs musically and the computer said "yes"!

Enya writes the words and music for most of our songs which I then arrange. Go to our Bandcamp account for the songs going into our upcoming EP. We are self-contained as a writing unit from the moment pen touches paper in a journal to the mastered song being distributed around the online platforms. We could write, record, and rehearse any time we want (when life doesn't intrude). It relieves us of a massive headache many bands face.

The creative process can be quite chaotic since new things rarely arise from order. However once songs are manifested into reality, we have workflows that get us through the sometimes boring drudge to a finished product - the 95% discipline rule. The 5% of chaos is followed by 95% persistent graft. I have not seen it stated very often but the secret to good songwriting is to be prolific. Creatives have to write a large number of mediocre songs to get to the good ones. I find it fascinating how often I hear bands say we really like Song A but the fans go mad for Song B. You just cannot predict which songs are going to resonate and which aren't.

In my producer role, I take lyrics, a topline melody and a chord progression and meld them to a vibe. It is the vibe and melody that provides the hook. It is an utter joy to have the audience sing your lyrics back to you but the hook has to come first and then they get to know the words. It would be much easier to arrange songs if we brought the lyrics, topline, chord progression and vibe all together in the same session but we rarely have that luxury. I get most of Enya's songs as a vocal and piano accompaniment recorded as an mp3 file and posted to the band's WhatsApp feed.

Gigging is everything. We have a couple of covers sets which we do not need to rehearse for because we are experienced musicians. We rehearse the originals and then try them out sprinkled among the covers. The great thing about covers is that we get to choose to play some of the best songs every written which is a musical education in itself. I often hear songwriters talk about trying to find that unusual chord progression which will elevate their song. My response is always "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac.

What are the components of a good song? Well there is the vibe comprising drum, bass and the texture (guitars, strings and synths) - this essentially dictates the genre. There should be a topline melody which can be shared between vocals and instruments. And finally there is great storytelling. I would be missing things off if I didn't mention riffing and repetition but that is another story.

Of course if I can arrange other people's songs, I can probably do my own as well. My output is on the Alyzzsen bandcamp account. Enya will take some of these and make them her own if she feels they suit her style and voice. My producer site is ZZThe Red.