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November 16

Here are the only two songs from Friday night's show (the final two) that I managed to record...once I noticed that for some reason the pause control was "on" on the boom box.  Well...two are better than none.  Pure punky madness.  (Donate button's just to the north of this entry, by the way.)  And as always, if you can't donate, please turn someone on to BOK.  Next show:  The Blue Nile, Thursday, November 20 @ 9:00 P.M.

Why Won't You?
Bucketful Of Sickness

|November 15

Well, it was a typical Little Grill "crowd"...about 25 people.  I was very nervous.  I realized halfway into the second song that my head was simply not together yet (considering I was debuting the latest BOK one week to the day after my Mom had passed) and that it would've been best to simply give music a rest for a few weeks, but after I butchered the start of "To Dream a New Dream", re-started it and butchered the start again, the band settled into a relatively competent groove.  Some songs we played as well as we've ever done them..."Marzipan Day", "Stanley The Steamer", "Blue Man" being some examples, while one or two others were just this side of disasters.  It also didn't help that we performed right in front of a long radiator type thing that was going full blast and directly under spot lights that must have shot the temperature were we stood into the nineties.  (Of course, after we finished someone turned off the heat and opened the windows.)  I was so hot by the end of the first song that I was literally soaked with perspiration from head to toe.  By the end of the gig I was ready to pass out!

Anyway, the crowd was quite supportive and I thought we did okay for only having practiced 10-12 times.  I had wanted to play a basement show somewhere before heading into a venue, but when I knew that wasn't going to pan out, I realized the second best place to get the kinks out would be the Grill and so last night served its purpose.  Unfortunately, I failed to get any of the performances on tape other than the last two-three songs.  I hope to get the next show in its entirety and I believe we'll be a little more relaxed and ready for Thursday's gig at The Blue Nile.  When I get a chance, I'll post the songs I did get, perhaps Sunday evening.  By the way, the two flyers I've posted were created by FirkinGood.  They do superb work and I'm sure they could handle all the art-oriented work you need for your band for an excellent price...and let's face it, their flyers and art in general is probably better than 99% of the stuff you see around locally.

Jana Burtner took some photos of the show last night.  I'm sure you'll see some of her excellent work from last night on the pictures page in the near future.



November 11

Things will start to get a little more settled on the ol' web page again soon.  I hope to upload some more of the incredibly popular Karl Rove "Schuyler Sessions" on the "Get Music" page again tomorrow or Thursday.  But for today (since this is the "This Is Your Book Of Kills" page) here's a...umm...rather loose recording of "Placebo".  This song always got an exceptional response back in '97-'98 whenever we played it live, which I always thought was a bit strange because it is an odd song.  It's also a lot harder to play than it might sound...deceptively simple as rock critics are so fond of saying.  Anyway...folks like these practice session songs, so here's another!  Hope you enjoy it.  And don't forget...if you're in the Harrisonburg area this Friday night, scoot on over to the Little Grill by 8:30-9:00 and catch us in our first live show EVER!  Bring friends and (if you're old enough) drink lots of beer and scream really loud.  We're gonna be recording the show and the others on boombox, if you recall, and we'll be making them available to BOK fans.

Placebo (practice session - 10.21.2008)

November 7

I am now leaning towards releasing most of the songs I recorded this past summer for the album, This Is Your Book Of Kills.  This will include the four songs I made available for downloads (albeit significantly remixed), two alternate recordings of previously released songs ("The Danger That Can Drive You Home" and "Angels On The Lam) and nine or ten songs no one's ever heard.  I think it makes sense to simply go ahead and put out what I've got and let it stand as what it is...a marker of a point in time when things in my own life changed irrevocably.  There may be some surprises as far as the manner in which I release the songs.

As far as merchandise orders go, I am preoccupied with rather pressing personal matters and will attend to these orders early next week.   Thanks for your patience.

November 4

We practiced for about an hour and a half tonight.  It was difficult to keep my mind on the music, but on the other hand it was good to latch my brain onto something positive for a few moments.  The performances were very energetic.  Look...we've been together a couple months.  We've practiced...what...10-12 times?...I don't know really how often.  We're gonna screw up but what we have is complete genuine-ness, if that's a word.  We're as ordinary a group of guys as you could ever imagine, but we'll put every ounce of our souls into every second of our music.  Honest.

November 3

Another cut from practice.  This is "Caroline" from 10.28.2008.  Share the wealth.  Turn on your friends to Bookofkills.com.

Caroline

October 24

The downloads from practice sessions seem to be quite popular (though I'm surprised since they're pretty lo-fi), so I'll put up a couple of songs from the practice session this past Tuesday.  We didn't have the vocals on the p.a. loud enough, so they don't come through very well on these recordings.  As always, you're free to share anything you download - whether it was something you paid for or something I put up for everyone to have free - with anyone you wish.

Bucketful Of Sickness
Why Won't You?

October 21

We had a really fun, loose practice tonight from which I'll probably upload a couple or three performances in the next day or two.  We did stumble through a few things but that was mainly because we hadn't practiced in two weeks.  We do seem to be coming together as a band in that we're better understanding each other's musical tendencies and learning how to work off them (and live with them.)  Perhaps I should say Mike and George are getting used to my musical eccentricities.  Really, as I've said before, I'm nothing more than a fast-strummin' folk musician with a very loud electric guitar who can't quite fool himself into thinking he can play lead guitar in a rock band.  But maybe that will prove to be one of the charms of the band in that we're just three guys making a racket trying to play some weird, Johnny Cash-simple rock and roll songs.  I'm disappointed only in that I can't seem to make myself practice nearly as much as I should on my own...but we've discussed this problem before, haven't we?

October 18

Pretty itchy to get back to practicing.  We will have perhaps three live gigs coming up in 3-4 weeks and we still have a long way to go. 

I have written and recorded a new song (I haven't decided on a title for it yet) for the Christmas album that the charitable organization, Our Community Place, is creating as a means of raising some funds.  This album is going to feature some really exciting Christmas-oriented music, both original and traditional, by local, regional and national talent. That's about all I can tell you right now.  I will say that when you see the list of contributing artists, this is an album you are going to want to own.

October 14

Mike hurt his hand yesterday (nothing long-term serious, I think), so we won't be practicing this week.  Still no word on the photographs.  I think I'm going to run off a small batch of t-shirts with a picture of yours truly on them and the Book Of Kills logo (in "Onyx" as always) perhaps in time for the Little Grill gig.  If those do okay, I'll do a second batch with George, Mike and me on them. 

"Get Music" should be updated no later than Wednesday evening with at least one free download.

October 7

Tonight's practice was a completely different story from last week's.  Part of whatever difficulties we've had in past practices stemmed, as I've noted previously, from the fact that we're all more or less doing things that are not necessarily our greatest strengths, though I think that makes the band (and playing in the band) a bit more intriguing in that we're all learning new musical roles together and thus the group's performances are fresh (and becoming more and more exciting each week...in spite of my own musical limitations.) 

More problematic, however, was that I was introducing too many songs each week too quickly...again, something I've mentioned previously.  So I've cut the play list down to thirteen songs which we'll work on for the next several weeks.  Focusing on those thirteen songs tonight meant we could run through the cuts we already know pretty well and give most of our attention to those that we don't know so well.  That meant that tonight was primarily about getting more familiar with the arrangements and throwing out ideas to make the songs more the band's and less approximations of old recordings.

I have to say, I was really excited about getting home so that I could listen to the recording of our practice (though truthfully I was mainly interested in watching the presidential debate).  Unfortunately, though I have no idea how, my recorder was set to "line" and not "tape", which meant I ended up with  ninety minutes of hiss and nothing else.  That was really disappointing because we churned out some pretty exciting versions of several songs that I hoped to be able to share with you this evening.  Well...perhaps next week. 

Check the "Get Music" page later this week as I will probably be uploading a few more live cuts from past band performances.  I hope, too, that next week I'll have it together enough to record the current band's practice.

October 1

Anyone who has ever been in a band knows that there are some times when a practice is pretty much a wash out.  And that's what happened to us last evening.  Nobody seemed able to get it together, most of all me.  I can't say that the experience was a waste of time, though.  I have always learned something positive in every practice I've ever participated in. 

I did, for example, realize that I was throwing too many songs at George and Mike session after session.  It has also been difficult trying to balance learning some of the "classic" BOK material such as "Stanley The Steamer" and "I Hang Heavy" along with material I've never, or very rarely, performed live such as "Not Like A Mirror Image" or "Never Be Like You" or "Placebo".  So I decided at practice's end that I'd make a decision on 12-14 songs that we'd go over as often as possible before our first gig so that we'd perhaps have a small foundation upon which to build a wider ranging set later. 

We are moving more steadily towards a bit more of an open-ended attitude towards the songs in that all three of us seem able to expand a song within its framework at a moment's notice.  As we get to know one another ever better (at least in this configuration), I think improvisation will become an ever more important part of the band to a greater degree than any group I've been a part of in the past.  That, of course, puts a lot of pressure on each of us, since we're all three playing roles that we've rarely if ever played in a band before:  George playing bass on every song, Mike playing drums for the first time ever in any band setting and me playing extensive lead guitar, something that I'm not very good at but that I find strangely compelling.

The best thing about last night is that Jana Burtner took a number of photographs, both digital and film, of us in staged settings as well as while we plowed through a few songs.  I'll be looking forward to seeing them all down the road.  I hope to put most of them up on the web page when I get hold of them.  Jana is an excellent photographer, though I'm afraid I wasn't much help to her in setting up the pictures.  Eventually I'd like to do another round of pix in a more relaxed setting with some props.  I've always liked the idea, for instance, of paying homage to great photos of '60 and '90s bands...two eras in time when photography seemed a lot more imaginative, at least as far as musical groups go.

September 22

Okay...the truth is when it comes to making music I am a creature of habit.  I write new songs basically three times of the year:  (rarely) over Christmas break, (relatively rarely) during early spring, and (usually) during the summer.  I tried to come up with something new today and ended up with nothing.  I did, however, finish recording "Who's He Crushing Now?" which is a hoot if nothing else, and adding even more stuff to "Shake My Tree".  It will be quite a fuller, better song when I re-release it next summer on the album.  I believe that currently I have between 12-14 songs in the can.  That means I would like to finish another dozen or more before releasing the final album.  I actually kinda like this idea of sitting on a new record for a while.  It gives me time to tinker with stuff I've already recorded and it will also help me come up with some more new material that will be quite different in tone, I suspect, from the stuff I recorded this summer.  So, assuming I live to see next summer, I am excited about what This Is Your Book Of Kills will ultimately sound like!

September 17

We didn't actually end up doing much in the way of new material last night, though we did start work on "Not Like A Mirror Image" which is a song that I've long wanted to perform live.  Next week I think we'll mainly focus on new material.  We might even throw in a cover for good measure.  Though we've only practiced four times, things are starting to come together.  I'm hoping that we'll be able to practice a couple weekends in the near future since it's not going to be very long before a couple of gigs come calling.  Again, I hope we can play a party or two before we do the Little Grill show on November 14.  Aaron Farrington and Phil St. Ours' band, Panther Burn, will be playing with us along with the redoubtable Buck Gooter and Aaron has promised us a show in Charlottesville this fall.  Here are some songs from practice last night.  Remember, this is a band that has been together four practices...we're rough and we're making mistakes but it's gradually coming together.

Stanley The Steamer (with George on vocals!)
My World Turned To Black
Blue Man (with George on vocals!)

No news as far as the album goes.  However, I have a feeling that I'll be writing and recording a couple more songs over the next two weeks.  I've had several requests from folks asking if they could hear some of the tracks from the album and though I was tempted to let them hear some of the stuff, in the end I think I'll just keep recording and stockpiling songs until I've got 25-30 at which time I'll mix the album the way I hear it in my head and release it.  As I've said on numerous occasions, I don't foresee the album dropping before next summer.  Hey, it's not like the second coming or anything..  Next summer will be here before you know it.

September 9

Had a good, productive practice tonight.  We ran through all the "old stuff" that we'd already learned for the better part of the session, then right at the end of the evening we added "Bucketful Of Sickness" (always one of my very very favorite songs to play live) and "Blue Man" with George doing a great job on lead vocals.  Both songs...uh...rock.  Next week I think I want to throw "Not Like A Mirror Image" and "Thin Moon And Sky" on the grill and see how they cook up.

I need to work on my guitar sound.  I'm not happy with it, to be honest.  I have hooked up my old Crate 100 watt amp to my Fender Deville and that sounds better.  I need to snag a couple new pedals to give myself a little more variety in texture.

September 8

Okay...I went back to the song (I'm tentatively calling "Who's He Crushing Now?") a couple days later and, although it's kind of derivative and definitely weird, I liked it and decided that I'd give it another chance.  I added some bass and some percussion (mainly some children's instruments we bought for our grandson) and a noisy, psychedelic two minute coda and now I'm thinking that the song will end up on the album.  I also went back and added a few bass and guitar additions to and remixed what I was calling an outtake--"Shake My Tree".  Then I added some bass and another vocal to "3 Lunes", so I'm pretty sure that both those songs will end up making the final cut as well in their new form.  "Who's He Crushing Now?" isn't done.  I imagine I'll add even more percussion and some more voices to it before I call it finished.  It looks as though I'll take a pretty low key approach to finishing the album.  It wasn't long ago that I was telling some folks that I was going to write and record two more songs and issue the thing as a nine song e.p. but now I've changed my mind again and I'm thinking once more that the album won't be released till some time next year.

September 5

I tried to write and record a new song yesterday but the inspiration wasn't happening.  I had stumbled across a very obscure Beatle's song called "What's The New Mary Jane?" (an extremely odd experimental thing largely recorded by John in 1968 during the White Album sessions) which I hadn't heard in a long time and thought I'd try to do my own oddball thing, but it ended up being little more than a blatant rip-off of John's song.  Within an hour or so I decided to trash it though I did get a piano/acoustic guitar/vocal done for it.  I sincerely doubt that I'll ever release it.  After that, I got to looking around for some old stuff and found the "Bucketful of Sickness" master and decided to remaster that for the "Weekly Download" and lost interest in writing another song.  However, I now have a small stockpile of lyrics that I will surely recycle in some form or another in the future, so that's a small victory I guess.

September 3

Our second jam...

We worked on two new songs..."She's The One" and "Placebo" (which I say is "new" because we really didn't do much of anything with it last time we got together other than I played the main riff and said we should work on it next practice.)  "Placebo" is actually a pretty tough song with some unusual time signatures and difficult transitions in it so we probably spent more time working on it than anything else.  Some of you long-time BOK fans might recall that this was a song Dave and Brian Buracker largely wrote (I came up with the chorus progression...which I stole from a Pixies song...and kind of re-arranged the cool lyrics that Dave wrote.)  We didn't want to try to simply reproduce the arrangement that band recorded in '97, so we've worked on changing the song around a little to reflect the personality of the current band.

     
"She's The One" is a poppy, sub-two minute, three chord ditty heavily influenced by The Ramones.  We also ran through "Marzipan Day-->Sweet Smoke Jam-->I Hang Heavy" (you can listen to part of this one but it's only the third time we tried out the song so it's a rough performance), "Different", "River of Blood", "To Dream A New Dream", "Caroline", "Stanley The Steamer", "My World Turned To Black" and one or two other things.



I'm not sure what we'll try next time, but I'm thinking about "Thin Moon And Sky" and "Not Like A Mirror Image" and perhaps something off 1989's Bloom Or Die.  As I've noted previously, I want this band repertoire to represent pretty much the whole history of BOK music, at least from 1989 onward.



As you can see from the pictures, it's pretty much serious business every second of practice.  Oh...Billy Brett of Buck Gooter fame has offered us a slot in a potential show this fall at the Little Grill.  We're hoping to play a party or two before then.  I've talked to Casey from Sleepfeeder about possibly doing a gig over in Luray with his band as well.



I've had some inquiries concerning the progress of the new album and all I can tell you right now is that I intend to write and record a new song Thursday if time allows.  As far as a release date goes, I have absolutely no idea.  I'm not in a big hurry to get it out, to be honest.  When I've written and recorded the right number of decent songs, I'll know then that's it's time to put the thing out.  Till then...

You might find the following tracks interesting.  This is an excerpt from tonight's practice while we were piecing together "Placebo".  If you're so inclined, you can be a fly on the wall and hear us working on the beginning of the song.  Keep in mind that you're hearing the song played (literally) for the first time.  Each track runs from around 1:30-3:30 in length.

Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4

August 26

George and I jammed this evening with Mike Hicks (of The Plague Dogs, of course).  We ran through "My World Turned To Black", "Stanley The Steamer" (with George on lead vocals!), "Marzipan Day", "Different", "To Dream A New Dream", "River Of Blood", "Caroline" and (briefly) "Placebo".  Mike has a very dynamic style and hits the drums hard, which I like.  He and George have worked on their own on some of the material, which is quite gratifying to know.  George is adding some really imaginative bass lines; he's a much better bassist than he gives himself credit for being.  Things were a bit rough at times, but it was, after all, the first time Mike had ever played any of the songs.  I thought "Dream", "Marzipan" and "River" probably seemed to click best this practice.  Next practice we'll add two or three new songs to the mix which will bring the song bank up to ten or eleven.  By the time we play a live gig (which I'm thinking might be in the form of a low-pressure party with the Plague Dogs and hopefully another band--maybe Sleepfeeder?--some time in early to mid-October), I hope this band will have upwards of twenty songs under its belt.  As I wrote earlier this week, I'd like to have a number of songs ready to go so that every gig will be unique.  I would like to do a little more in the way of some sound experimentation.  We'll look into that more as everyone gets more comfortable with one another.  I'm also hoping to get some photos next practice; perhaps I'll even record some songs and if anything's tight enough for public consumption, I'll post a track or two here. 

This is an exciting time for me.  I feel as though I can pretty much do whatever songs I want with these guys and they'll be kind enough to accommodate me.  That's quite liberating.  Now it's just up to me to force myself to learn more material that I've never played live before.  As some folks know, I'm rather lazy about learning songs...or I should say it's very difficult for me to sit around by myself and practice.  I prefer playing with the whole band as the way I learn the material, but sometimes there's just no substitute for practicing parts on your own. 

By the way, if you've got any suggestions for songs you'd like to hear the band do live, drop me a line!  Who knows?  We just might add your suggestion to the set list!

As far as the new album goes, sadly I haven't done any work on it since last week.  I am seriously considering writing two more songs and simply turning the thing into a nice little e.p.  I don't know if I have the energy to write 15 or more new songs right now.  I'd really rather focus on the live band for the time being.  I do think I might add one or two of the new songs to the band's repertoire. 
 

August 21

Well, I finished "#14" and decided that it didn't really fit with the other songs, so I'm going to offer it in a day or so as this week's download.  I say I "finished" it, but the truth is I just couldn't bring it to the completed state that I envisioned for it.  Strange considering how much time I actually put into it.  But somehow it seemed to stick out of the pack like the proverbial sore thumb and I decided to jettison it from the final album's line-up.  It's an interesting track because the words are based on a couple of different traditional folk tunes.  I re-arranged and re-wrote a bit, but didn't really add much new to the original lyrics.  I don't know how to read music, so I doubt I was even close to the original melody (and most likely, this being traditional folk music, there was more than one way this song was sung and definitely many different lyrical versions.)  There's another track that I might delete from the line-up as well; that one could end up being next week's weekly download!

August 15

# 14 has gone slowly because once again there've just been other things going on and I haven't been able to devote much time to recording.  I'm starting to think now in terms of a "double album" (that's a term from the vinyl years of rock and roll denoting a two record album) and consequently I'm considering how I want the album to flow from song to song.  Again, once school starts up again and all my psychic energy starts getting drained by 50+ children, I might not have the wherewithal to complete the album.  As I said in the last entry, that could mean the album might be delayed until next summer.  Of course, it's useless to try to predict a completion date at this time anyway.  Anyway, since I am paying attention to the flow of the album, I want to include a greater variety of styles so that each track melts into the next smoothly, unless I want the opposite effect; therefore, I'm working on another largely sample based song (though I created most of the samples myself other than the percussion tracks.)

August 12

#13 is in the can.  It took a few unexpected paths to completion, too.  I like the way the album is turning out.  It's definitely more upbeat than Different, though even less cohesive than that album...I thought Different at times was a little scattered.   Some songs were very jarring within the overall sound/subject matter of the record.  Specifically, "Before This Shithouse Burns" and "So Tired" seemed a little out of place to me.  But part of the "charm" of this record is definitely going to be that it's all over the map stylistically and lyrically.  I know now that I will not finish it by the time I have to head back to school.  I still have the vague notion that I'd like this album to have in the range of 25-30 tracks, but once work starts up I might just lose the inspiration and dedication I need to write and record that many songs.  We'll see when we get to wherever we're getting to.  I am going to start another song today.  Haven't a clue what I'm going to do.  It'll come.

August 8

Finished up track #12 yesterday morning.  It ended up taking off in some unexpected directions, but then again, usually when I record I'm very open to "happy mistakes" which lead me to new ideas that I normally wouldn't think of.  I finished the rhythm track for song #13 a short, fast rocker.  Won't have time to work on it much until perhaps very late Saturday night or very early Sunday morning.

August 6

I just finished track #11 this morning and will most likely complete track #12 late tonight.  I have to write the lyrics to the song, of which the instrumental part is already done.  It's a bit of a departure for me really...the song is nothing but keyboards and a sampled (layered) drum track.  I really feel as though I am on a roll now to the point where I have the old inspiration I always seem to get when I'm on to something good.  I also find myself heading into slightly more experimental territory as the sessions go on. 

August 1

Up to 8 1/2 tracks now and the ''1/2" (which I'm doing entirely with Garageband) will be done by Friday afternoon.  In the last entry, I mentioned that there didn't seem to be any sort of unifying thread running through the songs that would make the final collection of tracks feel like an album, but then in a flash of insight earlier today I realized that I'd known all along what this record was going to be about.  It just took a lot longer for me to get going than it normally does...the title says it all, doesn't it?  This Is Your Book Of Kills.  In my mind at least, that signifies that this is a representation of what BOK is and has been and will be.  So perhaps, God willing, this will become my White Album...that is, a sprawling collection of every kind of style of song I've ever tried my hand at.  Who knows?  We'll find out.  I'm tossing around ideas for how I'll present the thing in the end.  Most likely I will offer it free in mp3 form eventually.  I'm thinking about perhaps just making it one giganto single mp3 file.  I mean, you'd have to really want the thing to take the time to download a 50 minute song, now wouldn't you?  I'm also thinking of coming up with a couple of different cd versions as well.  One will probably feature a short run of ten or twelve unique collage or drawn/painted covers a la Wasp 51! and Different.  Another possibility would be a deluxe enhanced cd with photographs on disc (that's why it's called an "enhanced" cd) as well as a collage or drawn/painted cover and probably an additional song not otherwise available.  It's kind of fun doing stuff like this, to be honest.  Almost as much fun as making the music.

July 30

Since last I wrote something here (this was supposed to be a daily thing, right?), I've been trying to find time to write and record without a whole lot of success.  It just seems as though there's always something else going on...friends or family over, work around the house to be done, etc etc...and for too long this summer I haven't really been able to focus on making music the way I normally have in years past.  Now that school's just around the corner, I suppose I've tried to get my ass in gear and do something, but I don't know how successful I've been.  As I've already noted elsewhere, I did find a couple of early demos of old BOK songs, "The Danger That Can Drive You Home" and "Angels On The Lam" that I liked enough to want to put on the e.p., or l.p., or whatever this album is gonna be.  I've also written and recorded three more songs and am in the process of finishing up a fourth one (probably late tonight.)  So that gives me 7 tracks.  But now I have it in my mind that I'm going to try for at least an even dozen.  Of course, I'll be out of town this whole weekend visiting my brother-in-law in Gloucester, so that's two or three more "lost" days...as far as making music goes, that is.

I've also begun to question whether or not I want to release anymore songs piecemeal as I write and record the record.  I know most people don't listen to albums anymore, but I'm still a child of the album-oriented musical world of the '60s-'90s and I'm now leaning towards not posting anymore songs until I get the whole thing done...whenever that might be.  Besides, I hate the idea that people are listening to new songs through the medium of mp3's...such a squashed sort of sound.  CD's aren't a whole hell of a lot better, but certainly are superior to mp3's.  If I could only mail every couple songs out to folks on a vinyl single!

I usually have a unifying focus of some sort...either a particular sound I want to go for, or a lyrical conceit that holds all the songs together or what have you...but this time the songs all seem quite weird and different from one another.  The last one I wrote, for instance (which I haven't titled yet), is an almost bizarre kind of psychedelic stomp with all kinds of percussion (hand claps, drums, tambourine, boxes, maracas) and very little other instrumentation other than a fuzz bass and some backwards guitar (I'm a sucker for backwards guitar, I tell ya).  The one I'm working on now is a spare, poppy rock and roll number with words based on a few lines I found in a table out in the garage where I'm recording.  The next one (which I've already started working on in my head) is going to be purely sample-based with a very basic arrangement.  I might not even play any instruments on it.

Well...gotta go for a walk.  Talk to you sooner than later.

July 24

Here's a second track from the new album.  I basically finished this one a couple days or three ago but kept picking at the mix and adding and dropping stuff and couldn't get around to uploading it.  I guess I need to get my butt in gear if I'm gonna finish this album (or whatever it's gonna be) in two weeks (which is when school starts back up.)  Can I do it?  Damn...I don't know.

I did "Fade To Fall" with the "drop D" tuning as well (as I did with "And No One's Laughing Anymore").  Pretty unusual for me really since I was never a fan of what I consider a way overused tuning.  But it is an easy way to get some riffs going.  I stole the idea for this riff, by the way, from Nirvana...I forget the song.

Please click on this link to listen to or download the song:  "Fade To Fall"