Cutting a CD comes as naturally as cutting grass for North Naples, Fla., resident David Miller, leader of the alternative rock band, One Lucid Dream.
The Pittsburgh transplant, who has worked with bands such as Nine Inch Nails, the Sugar Cubes, KMFDM, and Faith No More, moved to the Oakes Boulevard area a few months ago and opened his own lawn maintenance business. He says the two vocations are quite compatible.
“I treat both like a job. My lawn care business is my day job, and my music is my night job,” he explains. “A lot of songs come to me as I’m working. There’s a saying in the Appalachian Mountains – ‘I sing behind the plow.’ It means to enjoy your work and keep a song in your heart. To me, it seems more pleasant to make the best of it with music.”
Thanks to the Internet and new digital recording technology, Miller’s band is able to cut records despite being scattered across the United States. Bass guitarist Alan DeForest lives in California, while keyboardist Kristen Morris hails from Connecticut and drummer Andrew Wisecarver is from Indiana.
Now, Miller is finding his niche in musical cyberspace and through CD sales from his Once Lucid Dream My Space page, which has garnered thousands of visitors. “Actually, that’s the third time I’ve placed a song on the site, with improvements each time, so it’s been heard more than that,” he says of edits to one of his original pieces, titled, “Song for the Broken.”
Miller says the band’s name was inspired by everyday life experiences.
“The most impactful thing in my music is those fleeting moments when you wish time would stand still,” he says. “Like you’re standing outside under a tree -- that’s what heaven is to me. If we could all have only one lucid dream, everyone would be in heaven.”
Miller has years of experience in music production in Pittsburgh. When digital recording programs became available, he replaced his expensive keyboards with computer software that saves time, space and money associated with his home recording studio.
Writing his own lyrics is an ongoing process for Miller. Throughout his original alternative rock songs, there is an important environmental message. The One Lucid Dream CD case features a photo of windmills on the front and melting arctic ice caps on the back.
“It is what the world is becoming, what it could be and what it was,” he explains. “We want this planet to walk away and live from all of this.”
One of his favorite songs, “Scorched Senses,” takes on a more personal struggle. “It’s not typical of our sound. The lyrics have to do with my internal struggles,” he says.
“I’m my own worst enemy and, like a lot of people, I’ve had problems with anxiety and depression, but I believe in ‘love thy neighbor and love God.’ ”
The band is currently working on a new CD for 2009 that will feature vocals by Morris. The band hopes to perform together in Ft. Lauderdale in January or February, and then go on tour throughout Florida.
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