[Editor’s Note: In October 2024, Trenton, New Jersey indie rock/roots band The Successful Failures released their 11th studio album, Enemy Sublime. Much of the album was recorded by Matt Weber at Gradwell House Studios in Haddon Heights, NJ – also the site of their session for our Water Tower Sessions series – and mixed by Travis Harrison (Guided By Voices/Built To Spill). Additional recording was done at FDR Studio C in Chesterfield, NJ.
Below, the band’s singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Mick Chorba penned an essay describing how he got into songwriting and why it’s so important to him.]
I think I got into songwriting because I wasn’t good at communicating in any other human-like way. I wrote some songs as a kid that were pretty embarrassing but I loved them all like children, or more like imaginary friends.
I remember a song I wrote after my neighbor died. She taught me how to whistle and her toes had really thick nails. I remember them poking through her sandals when we were sitting on her porch, her teaching me how to whistle. The ambulance came to the house at night, and I saw them carrying her out on a stretcher and then that was it. I wrote this song called “Teenage Years” in my basement on a Casio keyboard. Something about them not lasting forever. I didn’t analyze what I was doing. I was just in survival mode as a teenager, but I guess that song had me thinking about my own mortality. It was a terrible song. Or maybe it was just trite. Part of my problem was that I wasn’t particularly good at any instrument. My singing was weak. I lacked confidence. I just wanted to be in a band in the baddest way. I prayed to be in a band. Serious praying, like I recited the rosary. But the songwriting was different. I did that for me. I was gonna do that whether I got to be in a band or not. I think I started to get better at it.
Now years later I’m still not the best communicator. I write a lot of songs and I’m not always sure why. It sure feels good to finish one. Even if it might not be any good. I guess things don’t really change that much. It was nice to think about my neighbor while writing this little essay. Whistling is just about my favorite thing to do, along with the songwriting.
You can find more about The Successful Failures at their website and follow The Successful Failures on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and listen to them on Bandcamp.
Mick Chorba
Contributor
Mick Chorba is the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in the NJ band The Successful Failures who have just released their eleventh full length album, Enemy Sublime. Mick has written hundreds of songs, often about off-beat topics like vikings, shark-attacks, astronauts, costume parties, classic cars, pimps, and presidents. No topic is too strange, or too common. Mick Chorba is a retired English teacher and also draws on Literature for inspiration when making music. The band is currently working on new songs as part of a series of upcoming releases featuring murder ballads.
