Calvin Harris has just scored his 45th Top 10 hit in the UK with his new track, Blessings. With its thumping dance beat and bright vocal performance from Clementine Douglas, it’s a summer-ready anthem – and it’s inspired, in part, by Grateful Dead.

In a new Instagram video, the Scottish DJ explains how Blessings’ foundational riff exists thanks to his obsession with Grateful Dead. Last summer, he hunted down the guitars and bass guitars used by the rock group, and he’s been using them to aid his creative process.

“I became obsessed with the Grateful Dead, and I bought this guitar,” he explains, picking up a Martin D-28. “It was [Jerry Garcia]’s favourite guitar, apparently, for rhythm stuff.”

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In terms of recording, he set up three equally spaced-out mics. “I’ve got the condenser in the middle, and then these two for a nice stereo pair,” he says. “Then I sat in [a] chair, and I recorded!”

He humbly notes that he’s “not the best player, let’s be honest”, and that he “sounds like shit” on guitar, so he instead tends to record “one note at a time”. But he makes up for his lack of guitar skill with energy, re-enacting how he plotted out the song’s rhythm with a “bam, bam, bam!”

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A post shared by Calvin Harris (@calvinharris)

He then digs into the tech side. Drawing up his DAW, Harris shows a “very basic” chain, noting the boosts, highs and smack attack. “Get slapping!” he cries, before hitting play.

The decision to showcase the process behind his new track could be a jab at producer Nick Bracegirdle, who claims that Blessings sounds similar to his 1996 trance track, Offshore.

As Bracegirdle highlights the alleged plagiarism on Logic Pro, he explains: “I am defending my copyright and my intellectual property here guys and I’d like to know what your comments are.”

@nickchicane

Copyright Alert feel free to share the truth & facts laid out here.

♬ original sound – nickchicane

Harris’s response? The DJ wasn’t too pleased. He disproved the claim in a TikTok response, laughingly calling the producer a “stupid bastard”.

In the TikTok, Harris tries to line up the two tracks, pitch-shifting and looping certain parts to find the similarities. “OK, so far I’m not hearing it,” he says as he hunts to find the supposed plagiarism.

Harris even counters Bracegirdle’s claim by pointing out Offshore’s similarities to an even older track. In his opinion, Tangerine Dream’s 1984 track, Love On A Real Train, sounds even more similar to Offshore.

@calvinharris

Response to the people calling me a plagiarist over the last couple of days after that guys video, all the best x

♬ Blessings – Calvin Harris & Clementine Douglas

The post Calvin Harris refutes claims that his new song Blessings plagiarises a particular 1996 trance track: “So far I’m not hearing it” appeared first on MusicTech.