Why? Sounded fun!

“Wharfless“:

“The Ghost Of Swan Island“:

“Haffa Stache“:

Progress reports: The Pugs album Real Nights is almost done. Ky only has a couple more songs to do and then it’s mostly just down to mixing! I don’t know what is happening as far as an actual CD release, but it will most likely be available online first in any case.

I’ve also started working on an ambient album, in the style of dudes like Brian Eno and Steve Roach. I’ve always liked that stuff, and it’s so fun to make because it’s the exact opposite of a pop album—no melody, no real rhythm, completely impressionistic. I’ve never really made a serious attempt at making anything to actually release though, so I’m doing LOTS of demos and experiments to see what works and what doesn’t. That album won’t take long to make though. I sense it’ll be out before summer.

Now for the fun stuff:

A clip from the UK TV show Skins featuring “Wharfless“:

“Wharfless” in its entirety, to make searching for and hearing the song easier than having to listen to samples on online stores:

And finally, “Space Elevator” live from last week’s solo show at the White Eagle. Video taken by Ken Scott Euker!

Upcoming Pugs show: January 3 at the White Eagle with Tiger House. They’re doing a residency there that month on Mondays and they invited us to play. It will be our first show since freaking August! But we’ve been super productive in that time; we recorded an album. Ky is still working on his overdubs, but it is 90% done! I hope to have it out by spring or so.

It has been said that Twitter is the death of many websites and blogs. I update that thing all the time, but so not this much better-equipped website (yet, do I need a “fail manatee”?). Adding posts longer than 160 characters is hard!

Today, Nick Delffs came over and we recorded the final two overdubs for the next Shaky Hands album (tentatively titled—last I heard anyway—Realms Out Of Reach). It involved vocoder, possibly the last thing anyone would expect to hear in a Shaky Hands song, yet it works perfectly (it IS in the background, not part of some Daft Punkian dance break). And apart from Rafter adding those two overdubs down in San Diego, all the mixing is done too. Now we just gotta release the thing!

I should also mention that I’m going to be playing bass in The Shaky Hands exclusively now that Mayhaw has left. There will be a couple other new people added to the fold as well, but Nick will still be playing drums! That has really worked out well, so there is no reason to change that.

The past month myself, Mayhaw and Ky have been tracking a set of 14 songs for the Alex Arrowsmith & His Pugs album (tentatively titled Real Nights). Like always, I’m engineering/producing/mixing/bluhbluh everything myself but this time with My Pugs in our comfy practice space at Ky’s house in SE Pertland. It is a major departure from all my previous albums, because everything is based around a real band tracking live with no click tracks and no tomfoolery. No ballyhoo. Of course there will be added production, but it all revolves around the basic three-piece takes and it sounds RAD. That should be coming out earlyish 2011. After that, I’ll probably do another Modernity Leave-style album recorded on my four-track. And then another Pugs album. And then the ten-year anniversary reissue of A Bunch Of Songs in November 2012 (with new art by Joe Keatinge!).

We have no Pugs shows coming up at the moment. We wanted to have as few distractions for recording as we could, since we can only get together once or twice a week and if we were playing shows, those would have to be devoted to practicing for a show instead of recording. Also, Mayhaw wants to take a bit of a break from live shows (kind of going back to him leaving the Shakies). But hopefully Ky and I can threaten him inappropriately or something to get him to play some more shows once the album is done.

Also, I play with my friend Nate Birkholz in an on-again-off-again band called Redcoat Turncoat. We recorded an album a year ago (I freaking got to play a real Wurlitzer electric piano) and it just came out last week! We played a release show at Slabtown and it ruled. Lots and lots of funs. Listen and buy!

Today I recorded a cover of R.E.M.’s “Fall On Me” to test out some new software. I love that song. I wish I had Stipey’s voice (or even Mike Mills’)!

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Okay, it’s been a while. But in the world of Alex Arrowsmith and His Pugs, there really hasn’t been much going on besides a few shows and learning new songs for the next album. I’ve also been super busy with The Shaky Hands. In fact, we just played a heroic show at Burgerville last night. And since the last time I updated, we’ve mostly finished the next Shaky Hands album.

But! Having said that, here is some actual content. Videos from the Pugs set at the Banana Stand on June 26:

Hey! I’m in The Shaky Hands now! Jake Morris left their drum throne a couple months ago, so with the lineup in flux anyway, they decided to bring on a jack-of-all-trades of sorts. I’m playing mostly keyboards, but also guitar on some songs. I’ll probably get to rock the floor tom at some point too. Basically, whatever is needed for a given song. The possumbilities are endless.

Here’s the story the Willamette Week music blog posted today about the line-up change with some quotes from my bandmate (three times over!) Mayhaw Hoons.

I’m completely excited. I’ve loved The Shaky Hands ever since Mondo Hollywood first played with them at the Shakies’ second ever show in Jeff’s basement in February 2004. I’ve wanted to be in the band for almost as long. Nick Delffs is the best songwriter in town (at the very least), and I feel superchuffed to be able to contribute to them songs both past and future.

Be sure to catch our shows coming up! We’re playing a house show this Saturday at an undisclosed (but not if you try to find it) location, and then June 12 at the Doug Fir. I’m freaking READY.

Okay, so it’s been a bit. What. Huh? What now. Well put this in your bubble wand: Alex Arrowsmith and His Pugs are playing at The Know (NE 20th & Alberta in Portland) on June 11! Also on the bill is Tiger House and Yellowstar. It’s gonna rule. Get all your friends and family out to picket it! Get us on the news! I want Jeff Gianola to see me play!

Also, I set up a Band Camp page. Go nuts. Download my songs for free.

And last but definitely not worst! Today I wrote a song based on a kind of inside joke for the podcast by Jorge Garcia (Hurley from Lost) and his podcast partner/girlfriend Beth. It’s about how Jack always manages to talk about dural sacs on Lost, which Jorge and Beth were talking about on their most recent installment. They offhandedly said, “someone should write a song about that.” So I took them up on that challenge. It’s called “Dural Sac Jack.” Yes, the whole thing is way way dorky. But you know, I can never resist dorky. I heard the podcast this afternoon and finished the song by dinner (which was enchiladas…hell yes?!). I emailed it to them, and Beth was super rad enough to post about it on their Facebook! Eeeek! Awesome! Thanks guys! Seems from the comments that other people liked it too. This is the kind of thing that only super insane Lost fans like myself probably give a crap about, but it was lots of fun, and it made my day just the same!

Here are the lyrics, in case I garbled the words a bit:

Jack wants to open up my back
And get his hands in me, fixing up my dural sac
No one else has got the same knack
Watch him count to five
Working magic on my sac

Jack wants to open up my back
And put his hands inside me, fixing up my dural sac
Jack always pines for a spine
He’s always working magic
Fixing up my dural sac