Well it’s been two months since my last update! Oops! It’s not because there hasn’t been any action, either. I’ve just been forgetting to update. So yeah, I’ve been recording (mostly a new new new song called “A Different Story” and more “Bad Vibrations”) and I played three shows in December, including one last night at the Banana Stand. The Banana Stand show will be mixed by myself soon enough. Tiger House is recording right now so I’ll have to split my recording resources with that project for the next month or so. Mayhaw Hoons and I have been hatching a plan to record a CD of four track recorded songs along with Jeff Lehman’s William Oaktree project. It would be a split CD or something. All new stuff. It’s not set in stone or anything, but I’ve been wanting to do a four track EP anyway so there’ll be something along those lines happening soon regardless.
I suppose that’s it for now. Public Domain Rainbow is coming along and I still have no idea when it will come out. Do you have an idea? If so, tell me about it!
Peoples! Lovers! Dudes! Fiends! I just made a video for a new song called “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Actually, it’s an old song; it was co-written with Mayhaw Hoons from The Shaky Hands back in 1999, who also put in some singing and clapping duties on this recording of it. After years lost in the wilderness, it finally finds a home on my forthcoming album Public Domain Rainbow, which is being released someday by somebody.
Hopefully more videos of new songs will be coming soon!
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New Project: THE SONG. Time to get out the sand box, because I’m going to spend the next while working on only one song. But it’s going to be the best song of…well, 2008 hopefully, but I’ll accept 2002 or even 1997. I’m thinking “Good Vibrations” meets “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” for dinner where “Jesus Of Suburbia” is the sommelier and “Sowing the Seeds of Love” is the overly-jolly restaurant owner. If you can make any sense out of that, you’re probably thinking, “Oh it’s going to be one of THOSE songs.” But no, it’s not going to be “epic,” prog or pretentious at all. It probably won’t even be any longer than 5 minutes tops. The project is more of a method thing than anything, but it should have a cut-up kind of sound like the aforementioned “Good Vibrations” and “Happiness Is A Warm Gun.” I kind of already did that with “McCain Campaign,” but this time it’ll be more developed, as well as being an ACTUAL SONG. I just thought it would be interesting to see what happens when I make one song in the amount of time I’d normally spend writing and recording an album. The end result will be on Public Domain Rainbow, which is otherwise finished now. I started writing THE SONG on August 8 and I’ve come up with a handful of killer melodies so far, so get ready and fearful for THE SONG.
Last Thursday Mayhaw Hoons and I went to the KINK studio and recorded two songs for broadcast at a later date (Sept. 2 and 3 I believe). It’s to promote their new Plug In Portland sampler that I’m on. We recorded “Coldplay Got Eaten By Piranhas” and “Not Salman Rushdie.” Mayhaw’s bassing was exquisite. We were in and out of there so fast that it makes My Aim Is True look like Chinese Democracy. It was a total musical invasion of South Ossetia.
Next Wednesday July 30, I’m going to play on the KPSU program “That Sound.” It’s on @ 9 pm and you can stream it for free from kpsu.org. Host Dave Cusick also releases his shows in podcast form every week, which you can get from thatsoundradio.com. Mayhaw Hoons will also be in tow, providing the necessary “second instrument” in whatever form it might take from song to song. See also: “second vocal cord.”
I haven’t mentioned anything about my new album for a while have I? Well it seems like a while anyway. I’m done recording it, and mostly done mixing it, too. So basically, it’s just about finished. But finishing an album is kind of like that math/physics anomaly where you can never actually touch anything, you can only just get infinitely closer and closer. It seems like every time I’m done, some other thing pops up that needs to be fixed, or remixed, or whatever. I’ll consider it done when I can listen to it and not need to fix anything. Seems like a no-brainer, but it’s harder than it sounds. Even when it’s done, it’ll still probably lay around for a while before I have the money to get it mastered and pressed/printed. Unless you know — or are — a wealthy label that wants to spend YOUR money on such a thing.
Well I just stumbled across this while ruthlessly googling myself: a review of my June show at the Main St. Ale House opening for Jackie Swift! A website called Positively Entertainment wrote about it. Pretty cool — I don’t think I’ve really had a show review yet. Here’s an excerpt:
During his rendition of Missing Briefcase ["Nuke Song" actually --Alex], he laid on the floor still playing his guitar holding it above his chest, while kicking his feet like he was doing the dying cockroach. A couple of his other tunes are Welcome to the Jungle and Shark Shrapnel, equally ludicrous, yet hilarious.
I WISH I could say that “Welcome to the Jungle” was written by me, but unfortunately, it wasn’t (it was actually Piston Tulip or something… don’t remember). But I’m taking the song back. In any case, I thought it was worth mentioning. Click here to read it on your WebTV.
Sorry for the lack of updates lately — I’ve been very busy with moving and serving jojos for The Man. But as usual, I’m not lying dormant; I’m a musical Mt. St. Helens [10 points for regional reference --Ed.]. In album news, I’ve been hatching a few more musical eggs for Missing Briefcase (“Hoes,” “There May Be A Place,” “Waiting While Sleeping,” y mas), and I had Mayhaw Hoons finally record his raps on the new age hip-hop tour de force “Still Pushin.” In fact, I liked his parts so much that I had to re-record all of my own vocals to rise to the occasion. If there’s anything Mayhaw Hoons knows, it’s upping the ante. If there’s anything he knows even more, it’s uppercutting an anteater.
the virus fairy has granted me the worst cold i've had in a while. starting to feel better today though, thanks to the OTC chemical fairy. [alexarrowsmith]
