Stevenson Road

2011 Update

2011-06-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

I seriously doubt anyone comes here anymore, but, since if I ever do blog again, it'll be here, I figured I'd drop an update on that ass. Here's the shortlist of what's happened over the last 8 months:

-Keith is busy trying to repopulate the earth, as Sarah is preggers again.
-We haven't played music together in months.
-Personally, I've fallen in love. It's a girl I met at work. She's awesome.
-I also (very recently) changed jobs, so here's to new beginnings.
-I attended SXSW again this year. This time around, I volunteered on the transportation crew in order to get a free badge. It was fun, but I doubt I'll do it again next year. Too tiring, considering all the other things clamoring for my time and energy.
-Between feeble attempts at staying physically active (volleyball and running), my girlfriend, work, doing Big Brothers Big Sisters, and my gargantuan social network of family and friends and their various births, weddings, deaths, and holidays, I'm busy as balls. I still pick up the guitar several times per week, but the songwriting, band practice, recording, piano playing, etc. have come to a screeching halt. I don't see any end to the hiatus in sight.
-It's only been 6 months, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to marry this girl.

Ok, that's enough for now. Hope you're doing well. Thanks for reading.

Fall 2010 Update

2010-10-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Looks like it's been 5 months since I last posted. Wow; as my dad says, "time just evaporates".

So, to give you an update on what (Keith and) I have been up to over the summer and early fall...not much. Well, not much as a band. Keith's wife is due with little Levi any day now, so that's kind of a big deal. Plus he's got his day job. I've still got my day job as well. I'm still single. I spend my weeknights running (Mon/Wed), playing volleyball (Tue), and going to the movies (Th), so I'm kind of in a routine. I'd say "rut", but I really enjoy all those things. That's one of the main reasons I never really envisioned the band or my musicianship ever becoming more than a casual hobby; I enjoy doing too many things. Plus, I'm lazy and I lack talent. As far as music goes, there really isn't anything to report. Keith and I rarely play, usually once every other month or so when we've been hanging out and get one too many beers in us.

I did get a new guitar, a 1974 Alvarez Yairi 5046 acoustic. Rhett Miller plays an 1970s Alvarez, so after seeing his guitar in a YouTube vid, I looked on ebay and found this one for $100. It isn't the same model/quality as the one he plays, but it is one of the best purchases I've ever made. It sounds GREAT. It stays in tune, has great action, and wonderful tone. It sounds better than the Gibson I recklessly spent $2,000 on (*shutter*).

I also started working more frequently on a solo acoustic set. I've got 4 songs that I really really like, 4 more songs that I would feel comfortable including in a set, roughly 20 more songs that are finished (but I don't really like all that much), and 100s of unfinished songs. I wrote what I feel is the best song I've ever penned about 2 months ago. It's a sad, slow ballad about heartbreak (surprised?). I've played it for 1/2 a dozen different people and they all really liked it. It's called "How You Done Me". I'm really proud of it (in case you couldn't tell). I like it so much, I'm worried I've unknowingly plagiarized it and just can't remember where I stole the melody from. The people I've played it for tell me it reminds them of Ryan Bingham. I would put that song and "Gettin' Busy" up against anything. But writing 1 quality song every 5 years isn't all that great a pace.

After I wrote that song, I put an ad on Craigslist to record a few acoustic songs. Of course I got inundated with replies, so now it's just a matter of sorting through them and choosing who to use. That, and mustering up the courage to do it. Frankly, I'm just not very secure in my talent level. I KNOW my guitar playing is amatuer. While I think I can carry a tune, I still shudder every time I hear my recorded voice. So, on the one hand, I want to record with someone who isn't badass/experienced because it would make me less insecure, but on the other hand, I don't see the point in using anyone but the best, because the only way it's worthwhile is if I get the professional results I can be proud of. So, it's a conundrum. That's one of the things that's least fun about being perpetually single; you don't have anyone encouraging you all the time.

Anyway, maybe I'll get the courage to get the acoustic songs recorded, maybe I won't. At this point, I'm done making predictions about what I will and won't do. I'm too busy enjoying daily life to worry about stuff like that.

Now that summer's over, my weekends have changed from being consumed by Port O'Connor to being consumed by college football. Normally, that's awesome, but this year it's been kind of a bummer (one of the main, but not only, reasons for this is that my beloved Longhorns have 3 losses). I'm ready for the cold weather and the holidays. I often think that because springtime is the one season in which I have ample free time (what with Summer = POC, Fall = Football, and Winter = Holidays), that would be the best time to devote to hobbies (music being one of them). We'll see. There's an endless list of shit I need to do to my house. I want to purchase another investment property. I need to find a better job (or start grad school). I want to train harder for the Cap 10k. Come spring, all of those things will be competing with my epic laziness in the battle for my free time.

Finally, the Old 97s have a new album out. It is very good. "State of Texas" is a song I wish I could've written. "Every Night is Friday Night" is great. "The Magician" is also very catchy. It's nowhere near as good as their 1st 5 studio albums, but it's better than Drag It Up and about as good as Blame It On Gravity.

Well, I guess that's enough for now. Hope this finds y'all well, thanks for reading.

Long time no post

2010-05-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Just figured I give a quick update since it's been so long since I've posted.

Keith and I have taken a sort of involuntary hiatus; we haven't practiced since March. Between Keith's wife getting pregnant, my grandmother getting sick and subsequently passing away, and my getting certified to teach, there just hasn't been time. Priorities.

Not sure where we'll go from here; I don't anticipate Keith having an abundance of free time once his bambino (Levi if boy, Gwyneth if girl) arrives, and starting my teaching career is much more important to me than music.

One thing I have done recently is start trying to organize all the songs I've written, decide which ones I want to flush out and which ones get left behind in case I ever finally put together a solo acoustic setlist. I know I've mentioned this before, but I've written over 50 songs. There's probably only 4 or 5 that I'm proud enough of to want to play in front of people, so I may start trying to write some new songs just for me.

I'm bummed that I haven't progressed further with the expensive recording gear I bought, but it's not going anywhere.

I've also been playing the piano quite a bit. I've gotten to the point now that I can play any song I know on guitar on the piano, so it's been fun banging out piano versions of Old 97's songs when I come home drunk.

Ok, hope this finds you well. Much Love!!!

SXSW

2010-03-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

Warning: This is going to be a long post. Sorry.

My buddy Derrick hooked me up with a free South-By-Southwest (SXSW) wristband. I'd never done this interactive gaming/film/music festival properly before, and neither had he, so we decided to go balls out. Boy, did we.

First, a little bit about how Southby works. Basically, a shitload of entertainment industry folks and their fans swarm Austin for 2 weeks each March. The 1st weekend is the interactive portion, where computer folk show off new innovations. The rest of the 1st week is the film festival. From my perspective the film portion has lost a little bit of it's luster because the main dudes responsible for Austin's film scene (Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, and Mike Judge) have kind of faded out in the last couple of years. Another reason I think the film festival isn't what it once was is because I think people realize that it will never overtake Sundance or Cannes as the premier film festival in the US/World, so you're almost never going to get the heaviest hitters to attend. Anyway, I didn't attend any of the 1st week (and never have before), but I heard the highlights were that Bill Murray was in town and that McLovin' had a film he premiered.

The 2nd week of SXSW is the music festival. There are literally hundreds (thousands?) of bands/venues during this time. TONS of bands get their big break at SXSW, and it's a significant milestone for any up-and-coming band to book a gig there. Hanson, Semisonic, Toadies, Collective Soul, and Beck are just a few of the artists I know of that got a big break during SXSW. Anyway, Derrick had a girlfriend who was a grizzled SX veteran, and she kind of gave him some pointers on how to maximize the fun. A bunch of companies (Miller Lite, Red Bull, Levi's, Taco Bell among many others) sponsor day parties where all you have to do is have a wristband (only a few thousand are sold, another few thousand are given to industry people and volunteers) and RSVP, and you get free booze and food all day. It's pretty sweet. We RSVP'ed for both the Taco Bell and Levi's parties, but ended up only attending the Taco Bell one. It was called "The Pure Volume Lounge". Anyway, after picking up my wristband on Tuesday night (and forgoing the opportunity to see Jakob Dylan due to the line and my fatigue), I took off of work Wed-Fri and did it right. Here's a day-by-day account of my experience. edit: I've placed songs from many of the acts I saw in the upper right hand corner of this blog. I'd be interested in what you think of them.

Wednesday

I went over to Derrick's apartment, dropped off my car and we got a cab downtown. It dropped us off near the Levi's party, which I had read had free Budweiser. The line was brutal, so we continued to the Taco Bell party, which was at the old Coppertank bar. The line there was brutal, but I lucked into getting to cut to the front because my name started with 'S'; I sweet talked the girl into letting me pick up D's too. We were in. We got inside around 4pm and immediately started downing free beer (the featured free booze was Miller Lite and Sweet Tea Vodka, and Sweet Tea Vodka is horrible). We had kind of flipped through the SXSW pamphlet and picked out which bands we both wanted to see. We had settled on Nas/Damian Marley for Wednesday night, Stone Temple Pilots for Thursday, Muse for Friday. No one playing on Saturday seemed all the worthwhile. So we stayed at the free beer place for 4 hours, in which time we saw 4 bands; here's a review of each:

Miniature Tigers: This was an alt-rock band who (to me) sounded like Modest Mouse, only not quite as good. Not offensive, just nothing worth writing home about.

Choir of Young Believers: This was a noise pop band from Amsterdam. Lots of like, moaning and keyboards. It wasn't bad, and I would probably rate them higher than Miniature Tigers, but still nothing spectacular. Instead of a bass player they had this hot blond with nice cans playing a cello who looked like my brother's HS girlfriend. The lead singer looked EXACTLY like Oates from Hall & Oates.

Meiko: A pop folk chick like Lisa Loeb, only saccharin. She didn't have a very good set; she had to start 2 songs over because her capo was misplaced and it was throwing her band off. Her lyrics were pretty trite. IMO, to be what she was trying to be have one of 3 qualities: a smoking hot body and face, really really skilled songwriting, or a fantastic singing voice. She was attractive, but not hot, and her voice was just above average. Tough break.

Drink Up Buttercup: I'm a sucker for high energy bands whose music is easy on the ears, and this band had it. They were far better than any of the previous 3 bands I'd seen thus far. They were good, and had some gimmicks that surprisingly worked, like banging on trashcans and shit. I really liked them. Their lead singer was this slightly overweight southern-homeless looking dude with a severely chipped front tooth. I can totally see that end up being how they get described if they get popular ("You know, that band with the dude with the chipped tooth"). Nobody has chipped teeth anymore.

So, Nas went on at Emo's at 11, so we left Coppertank about 8 (being about 8 beers deep each). Luckily, the line for folks with wristbands was short, so we only waited about 10 minutes to get in. (This is a good time to mention that without a wristband, you're pretty much screwed if you are trying to see any big name act.) Emo's has 2 stages (actually 3, but one was temporary and across the street), so we went back and forth between the 2. We saw 5 acts. Here's the review:

The Strange Boys: Going into SXSW, I hoped to just personally discover one band that I would REALLY REALLY like and start following. This is that band. First, we walked in, and the place was jam-ass packed, so you were like "wtf? why are all these people in here?". After listening and watching for less than 5 minutes, I'd made up my mind that these were some bad mf'ers. They have a kind of Bright Eyes/Weary Boys sound to them. They had this innocent looking chick playing a saxophone, which they used sort of how you hear a harmonica used. It was sweet. They were playing really really tight, they all had great stage presence. They were money. Their recordings do not do them justice.

Year Long Disaster: I don't really remember anything about this band; I do know they played harder edged rock. This was right after Strange Boys, so all I was doing was raving about them and reminding myself to quit drinking so fast now that beers had gone from free to $5 each. This is a good time to mention that, while I did get a free wristband (which I think has a face value of like $160), SXSW was f'n EXPENSIVE. I spent well over $300 over the 4 days I was there, even though I didn't have to pay any covers and drank free beer the first half of each day. Getting a buzz was cheap, but getting wasted enough to force a hangover of Leaving Los Vegas proportions was expensive.

Mariachi El Bronx: So, evidently there's this legendary punk band called The Bronx. Well, they decided to stop playing punk and form a mariachi band. Weird, I know. It was weird, and it kind of sucked. This fat, bald, rough-looking dude all tatted up dressed up in a full-blown mariachi gear singing spanish love songs in a raspy heavy metal 10,000 cigarette voice. To each their own, I guess.

The Dillinger Escape Plan: Let me start by saying that heavy metal/scream rock is NOT my thing. Next to techno, it's my least favorite kind of music. That said, these dudes were f'n AWESOME. They were completely, utterly, totally f'n insane. 3 different band members were, at one point or another, hanging from the rafters above the stage or jumping off of 10 ft high speaker stacks into an unsuspecting crowd. At one point, both me and Derrick were pretty sure we saw a dude die. The guitarist hung upside down from 15' above the crowd, and just dropped. Head first. Like I said, it was crazy. I was worried. Listen to the song I have linked. That's what it was like.

Nas with Damian Marley: I'd been wanting to attend a hip-hop show for a long time, and this was a good one. The only other proper hiphop show I'd ever been to was a Jurassic 5 concert about 8 years ago. Both these guys were really good, and I was pleased with how Damian Marley incorporated his pops' music without overdoing it. Hip hop shows are hard to describe; they're just a different animal all together. One thing is, I DEFINITELY put them in a higher class than DJ shows, which I'll get to later.

We left Emo's after the Nas show and headed over to Dirty Dog pub, where a band called Black and White Years was scheduled to play at 1am. I was pretty drunk by this point. I was surprised that there wasn't a line for this show, even though it was 1am on a Wednesday. B&W Yrs have a pretty big hit on the radio right now, a song called "Power to Change" (listen at right). It's a really good song, but overall, this band wasn't my cup of tea. First of all, they just kind of looked like posuers. (Now's a good time to mention the inordinate amount of posuers in Austin during SXSW. It's like nobody goes out without putting on skinny jeans, danish shoes, and a sportcoat over a graphic tee. It pissed me off and was hard not to call people out. Being in a band doesn't make you cool. Being cool makes you cool. You're not cool.) Anyway, the lead singer looked too much like a mustache-having caricature of Jason Biggs for me to like them. And their lead guitarist was a flaming homo and kept looking at people (including me) all creepy. But they did do a good job on their hit.

After the bar closed at 2, we were so drunk and exhausted we decided to just head home instead of going back to the Taco Bell party (where they serve free beer until 4am). We had to walk like 3 miles before a cab picked us up.

Thursday

.Surprisingly, I didn't feel very hungover when I woke up at 11am Thursday morning, I guess because I had wisely been mixing in water and coca cola for the 2nd half of the previous night. I met Derrick at his place at 3, waited an hour for a cab, and got downtown around 4:30. We had planned to go back to the Taco Bell place, but realized when we got there that there was no free booze due to Thursday being "All-Ages" day. So, our plan became to grab a couple of beers somewhere, see Citizen Cope at the Driskill at 7, then head over to Austin Music Hall at 8 to get in line to (hopefully) see Stone Temple Pilots.

We ended up at Logan's because it was next to the Driskill, had a couple of 3 beers. We headed over to the Driskill 45 minutes before the Citizen Cope show to find a line which gave us no hope of getting in, so we just decided to head over to the Austin Music Hall to see what was what over there. By this time we had met up with my friend Smitty.

When we got to Austin Music Hall we unexpectedly found that there was almost no line for wristbands to get into STP, so we went across the street to this tiny bar and had a 3 beers. This pathetic kid was playing in there. To me, he looked EXACTLY like Chris Kattan from his "Azrael" SNL skit. After he was done, he came up to us and tried to give us a cd, saying he sounded "EXACTLY like an early pink floyd". No you don't.

After that we went into AMH. We saw 2 bands open for STP. They were both fairly unmemorable, but for the sake of being thorough, they were The Color Turning and TAB The Band. Both sounded late 90's rock style to me, although TAB The Band was more my style.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: the Stone Temple Pilots concert on March 18th, 2010 was the best concert I've ever been to. A lot of things have to come together to make a great concert, and they all did for me this night. First, I was with 2 of my best friends in the world, and they are guys I tend to always have fun around. Second, my buzz was peaking right as STP took the stage. Finally, STP just put on an amazing show.

Going in, I knew I liked STP's music, I just had no idea how much. As they played hit after hit after hit, all the memories of shooting baskets in my driveway in high school with my older brother while Core jammed on the Sony boombox came rushing back. I realized that Core now firmly holds a spot in my "Top 5 albums in terms of total listens in my formative years" list, right behind August and Everything After, Imagine, Madman Across The Water, and Recovering the Satellites. And STP played EVERY SINGLE SONG I had wanted to hear, despite the fact that the whole reason they were playing was because they are promoting a new album. It was the 1st time I've ever been "that dude" at a concert. You know, the one who looks like he's having a 90 minute orgasm, thrashing around in an otherwise still crowd and singing every lyric at the top of his lungs. I got lost in it. It was truly awesome. Of course, being the grizzled veterans that they are, they played flawlessly tight. And Scott Weiland was MUCH cooler than I expected. I expected this jaded asshole drudging his way through the show, but he totally kicked ass. He did a lot of Mick Jagger strutting, but he did it well. There's tons of video of the show up on YouTube if you're interested. Even the light show and trippy video sequence, something I usually abhor, totally added to the experience. Adding the cherry was Roger Krieger, the lead guitarist from The Doors, coming out during the encore to play Roadhouse Blues. Like I said, it was the best concert I've ever been to. Afterward, in a complete daze, we went for a celebratory beer at La Zona Rosa. We all 3 totally agreed that we had just gotten our collective faces melted off. I headed home with a permagrin.

Friday

.I woke up Friday morning knowing there was no way that the previous 2 days could be topped. D and I cabbed it downtown and headed into the Taco Bell party around 5. More free beer. To my surprise, a band called The Honey Brothers was setting up right when we walked in. This was special because the drummer for this band is none other than Adrian Grenier, star of Entourage and #4 on my "Top 5 Dudes I want to Be" list behind Tom Brady, Rhett Miller, and Adam Duritz. It was cool because there were only like 50 people in the whole place. The band was pretty much meh (although they were at least easy on the ears), but that didn't matter to me because I was too busy observing Vinny Chase's stage presence and overall demeanor. It was weird, because he kind of came across as awkward and shy. It was obvious that most of the people there were there to check him out, and he and his bandmates knew this, so the onus was kind of on him to make all the rock talk, but you could tell it wasn't something he felt comfortable doing. At one point he was like "Uh, what's up south-by? So, who likes to ride bikes?" Then nothing. After the show, he was really gracious about sticking around and taking pictures and whatnot. He struck me as pretty down-t0-earth.

The highlight of Friday was supposed to be seeing Muse at Stubb's. It was a "surprise" show; I put "surprise" in quotations because everyone knew about it. I say everyone because I saw them already in line when we got to Stubb's 4 hours before Muse was supposed to play. I tried to do an impression of my best friend and just walk in, but I got stopped all 3 times. I tried throug the front gate with the "just avoid eye contact and walk straight" move, but a fat turd volunteer stopped me just before paydirt. I tried the "act like a member of the help" move by going in the roadie entrance, but Spicoli was there to thwart. Finally, I tried the "act like you belong" move through the VIP entrance, which was inside the restaurant, and it worked. The bad thing is, I had to go back out and get my 2 buddies. When we got back, this fat bouncer dude was there.

Anyway, we left Stubb's and decided to check out a hiphop lineup at The Scoot Inn, featuring B-Real from Cypress Hill. As you can imagine, marijuana was absolutely RAMPANT. A contact high was a given. This young Brooklyn-based MC named Ruste Juxx offered me a joint outside of the portopotty, which I thought was pretty nice, considering my friends and I were 3 of the about 12 honkies in the whole place, which was filled with about 1,500 people. This place was crazy, and definitely a brand new experience for me. I'm glad I went. I did, however, end up in Deebo's pigeon coop, sweating like a slave. We ended up leaving pretty early, and only saw 1 1/2 acts, this rap group called Kidz in the Hall, and a part of Ruste Juxx. I was EXHAUSTED and vowed not to go out on Saturday.

Saturday

We got a late start on Saturday, since it was my 4th straight day of binge drinking. We didn't get downtown until around 8. We started off at this shitty bar called Friends watching this terrible band called Coma and Algers. They were horrible. Hard rock. Next we headed down to MoMo's, one of my favorite bars, to try (again) to check out Citizen Cope. This time we got in. We watched this girl from Wimberley whose name escapes me and left before Citizen Cope went on, because Smitty hates Americana. I have to say that I absolutely love MoMo's. It's in my top 5 small venues f'sho.

After MoMo's we went to the Red Bull party, which was being held in a parking lot on the corner of 4th and Colorado. There were several DJs playing. Now for my rant on DJs. With the advent of digital music, the "art" aspect of DJing has been reduced to choosing the music. Nobody uses analog turntables anymore, so there's no technical skill involved. The computer matches the tempos up for you. So, where's the art in playing CD's? I don't know, who am I to judge, I just don't "get" it.

Which brings me to The Crystal Method. We stayed at the Red Bull party for only about an hour, mostly because it was below 40 degrees outside. We headed over to La Zona Rosa to see Crystal Method. I've always kind of found that, no matter what kind of music, there are reasons that artists gain popularity. So, even when I go see "name" acts whose recorded music I don't care for, I tend to see the value of their performance. Not The Crystal Method. It was the weakest thing I've ever seen. It was one dude and a laptop. That's it. I'm not even going to say anything more about it.

After that, we went to a bar and got shitfaced with a group of girls from my hometown. We all ended up at Smitty's apartment and didn't go to bed until after sunup. So that made 4 days/nights in a row of insane amounts of toxins being ingested into my feeble body. Hence my 101 degree fever today.

So that was my SXSW experience. I'm really, really, glad I went, and if I'm offered a free wristband, I'd do it again. Not sure I'd want to take off of work for 3 days to stand in lines (which is what the folks without wristbands do). But overall, a VERY memorable experience.

Slow goin'

2010-03-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a short update. I've got a shitload of irons in the fire right now, so recording is going really slow. Between my big boy job, getting certified to be a teacher, and various social committments, there hasn't been much time for the studio. And when there has been, it's been spent dicking off on the piano. So, today is really the first day in several weeks I've fucked with Pro Tools.

Keith and I missed a few weeks because both of us just had other shit going on, so we haven't made any progress on recording "Tyler".

I ended up deciding to record "Walkaways" instead of "Question". The main reason is that Walkaways is in standard tuning, while Question is in the Old 97s preferred tuning, which has every string tuned down one step. I didn't feel like messing with that. Plus, I think Adam Duritz's voice is better than Rhett Miller's. So I imported the song on Pro Tools and looped it like 10 times. Then I created tracks for the vocals and guitar. I must've sang the thing 50 times. I had a hard time figuring out how far away to stand from the mic. It's hard to simultaneously concentrate on singing and making sure the track isn't clipping out. So, I still don't have a take I'm totally comfortable with. The guitar has had the same problems. I've still got a long way to go. So anyway, there you are.

Music is Math

2010-02-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

So this dude came over and helped me get my Pro Tools set up working. It took him about 3 hours, but it got done. Turns out all I really needed to do was download an update from Digidesign (that would've been nice to f'n know) and not piggyback my hard drives. Anyway, so far so good. One thing I learned is that USB 2.0 is as fast as FireWire.

On Wednesday after he got it working, I stayed in the studio and watched the 3 hour instructional video that came with the software. It's amazing. I'd had virtually no experience with MIDI before. Basically, technology has advanced to the point that digital instruments are almost indistinguishable from real ones. With a MIDI keyboard (another $150), I have access to over 10,000 different instruments, amps, etc., all of whose sample rates are so high that the average person wouldn't be able to tell the difference between me playing through a MIDI keyboard or playing the real thing. Amazing. Basically, it felt like when Neo realizes he can pwn the matrix and he just starts seeing 1's and 0's. That's all music is, 1's and 0's. Frequencies.

So yesterday, Keith came over. I decided the best way to learn to record was to record a cover first. That way, we're working toward something in which we know what the end result should sound like. I also decided we should be doing 2 covers simultaneously, one "rock" song that includes all the basic rock instruments (guitars, drums, vox, bass), and one solo acoustic song. That way I'd have something to work on when Keith wasn't around. Keith agreed that "Tyler" by Toadies was a good choice. It's a fairly basic song, we already know how to play it, and it doesn't include a lot of layers and effects. Plus it's a cool song. In my alone time (which I have an abundance of), I'll record "Question" by Rhett Miller. It was a toss up between that and "Walkaways" by Counting Crows. Anyway, the plan is to record until we have exact replicas of those songs. By doing that, we should learn the basic controls of the interface and a lot of the standard tricks in adding effects, editing and mixing. (I have learned that recording is broken down into 3 phases: recording, editing, and mixing.) The thing I'm probably most excited about it mastering recording vocals so that they sound badass. Which is nothing like how they sound coming directly out of my mouth.

Yesterday was a learning process. I had trouble configuring the Inputs and Outputs (I/O) to get the (@#&*$&@)$*(&er to recognize the mics. But eventually, we were able to record 4 simultaneous drum tracks. When deciding how best to place the mics, I stumbled upon this pretty f'n cool site: http://www.wikirecording.org/Guide_to_Recording_Drums . We only had 4 mic stands (even though we have 7 studio-quality mics), so we decided to go with the "Led Zeppelin" (Glyn Johns' technique) setup except with an extra mic at the back of the room. Keith listened to the song on my iPhone and played along. Because it had taken us roughly 2 hours to get everything set up, we only did one take, so we'll have to tackle it again this weekend or next week to get a keeper take. After Keith left I stayed in the studio for another 2 hours and messed around with the editing window. It really is amazing. Stretching, cutting, changing...it's like the audio is Play-dough. And that part of it was WAY more user-friendly than I expected, especially after the debacle of getting it all working in the first place.

Anyway, the good thing now is that we can leave the 3 mics we have where they are and everything will be set up whenever Keith comes over from now on. We still have 3 mics and one stand (which includes the 2 highest quality vocal/amp/acoustic instrument mics) that we can move around freely, which is all I need to record on my own. I'd still like to add another mic stand so we can direct mic the snare and have 2 overhead mics to catch the toms and cymbals (with the 4th mic inside the bass drum), but even as it is, with some minor adjustments it would more than suffice. I was also really pleasantly surprised with the mic quality and the lack of buzz and hum. Pretty stoked about that. The only thing keeping us from recording a professional quality demo is time, energy, and knowledge.

Chunk from Goonies...

2010-02-15T06:40:00.001-08:00

knows more about computers than I do.

So I spent roughly $2,500 on recording equipment 2 weeks ago. The bulk of it arrived last week. The main components are a Digidesign Digi 003 Rack Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) featuring Pro Tools LE 8, a Hewlett Packard Pavilion PC with 22" 1080p HD monitor running Windows 7, 2 TB external firewire hard drives, and a Behringer EURORACK UB1202 Mixer.

So, on Friday, I got home early and started getting it all set up. I powered up the computer and installed the monitor driver, the USB wireless network adaptor, and both hard drives. I was now ready to install the Digidesign stuff (or so I thought). Insert install disk. Half an hour later, find out you needed to install QuickTime in order to do anything. System Restore. Install Quick Time. Re-insert PT install disk. Half an hour later, BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). System Recovery. Install monitor driver, USB wireless network adaptor, hard drives, and Quick Time. Look online to find possible solutions to problem. Actual Digidesign site worthless. Find message board that looks somewhat helpful but is poorly organized. Get pissed that you've spent $2500 on something and no one helps you get it working. Partition external firewire hard drive; realize you are in over your head. Insert install disk; BSOD with different error message. System Recovery. Install monitor driver, USB wireless network adaptor, hard drives, and Quick Time. Look online to find possible solutions to problem. Actual Digidesign site worthless. Find message board that looks somewhat helpful but is poorly organized. Get even more pissed that you've spent $2500 on something and no one helps you get it working. Futile attempt to switch firewire port to "Lecacy Mode". It is now Sunday at 9pm. Pick up hammer. Realize you are acting like Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction when he finds out she forgot the watch. Put ad on Craigslist offering to pay someone to set this shit up for you. Go to bed angry.

So that's where this is at. I've got 2 promising emails from people who seem to have the skills to help me. What's another couple of hundred dollars?

Children Get Older...

2010-01-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

So I turned 30 on Saturday. Birthdays, like New Years, are a natural time of reflection, so I pretty much spend every January on the philisophical tip. Real quick, a band update: Keith and I are still practicing pretty much every week. I have the $ for all the recording equipment we need and plan on making a purchase in the next 2 weeks. Then hopefully we can record over the next few months and have a record of our efforts. You all will be kept in the loop during this process.

Here's a thought I had: American generations are defined by the attitudes of their upper middle class. Poor people and rich people pretty much act the same from one gen to the next. But from decade to decade, the middle class is what changes and leaves their mark. The 50's kids were defined by their #'s (Baby Boomers), the 60's (The Hippies) by their drug use, the 70's (Disco) by their music, 80's (The Yuppies) by their ambition, the 90's (Generation X) by their lack thereof. I feel like my generation (which falls somewhere between Gen Y and whatever comes next) is defined by their unrealistic expectations of adult life. We went to college, got out, and realized that life from that point forward was nothing like we expected, in a bad way.

Advice from a dude who just turned 30, or things I would tell my 18 year old son if I had one:
-Putting yourself in the right situation is the most important factor in success. Set yourself up to succeed and the road will be much easier.
-Make good grades. Most likely, what you'll sacrifice to do so is just excess, whether it be excess laziness, partying, or work.
-Always give yourself something to look forward to.
-On women: if you find a good girl, marry her and treat her right. The older you get, the fewer there are. On the other hand, always know that the right girl is out there waiting for you to find her; don't let her down by settling with the wrong one. Never EVER get back together with a girl more than once. And don't waste time stewing over the ones that didn't work out. Move on quickly; don't ruminate.
-Learn how to save money. Debt can be crippling.
-Take risks. As much as you can, take your fear of failure out of the decision making process.
-Every time you type or upload something, go ahead and assume that everyone in the world is going to see it.
-Never ever ever be afraid to ask for help. You'll be surprised how much you can get just by asking for it.
-Give more than you take. You'll feel better that way.
-Never cheat on a girlfriend or spouse; it's just not worth it.
-Don't let positive things go unsaid. You never know how much other people appreciate it, and giving sincere compliments is an easy win win.
-Form good diet and exercise habits early.
-Don't buy a house unless you're absolutely certain you're going to be living there for at least 10 years.
-Anytime you are truly enjoying life, take a moment and let it burn into your memory so you can always know those times exist.
-Stay in touch with people from your past; the relationships you've maintained the longest are the ones that bear the most fruit.
-Try not to worry so much.

2010

2010-01-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I hate New Year's Eve. It never ends well for me. This year's New Year's Eve featured a 101 degree fever, an at-fault car accident (2nd one in less than a month), paying a $60 cover to get into a bar surrounded by douchebags, and being in bed by 11 pm.

I've figured out that I love to anticipate shit. So today I made a spreadsheet of what my weekends and weekdays look like for the entire calendar year. Here's the breakdown:

10 weekends will be spent in Port O'Connor.
10 weekends wlll be spent attending or revolve around watching a UT Football game.
5 weekends will be spent attending or revolve around watching a UT Basketball game.
5 weekends will be spent on Lake Austin or Lake Travis.
5 weekends will be spent as holidays (my birthday, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's) around family (most likely in Victoria).
5 weekends will be spent working on my house.
5 weekends will be spent travelling (counting annual trip to Dallas, which doesn't count against 10 weekends of UT Football).
5 weekends will be spent attending Astros or Express baseball games.
2 weekends will be spent going back to Victoria to visit family.

I realize that it's impossible to plan out an entire year's worth of weekends like this, but I'd bet if you had a record of how last year went for me, it wouldn't look much different.

Between March and October, Mondays will be spent in my volleyball league. Thursdays (all year) are for music/band practice. By summer I expect to enroll in either an MBA program or an alternative Teacher Certification program, which will take up my Tuesday and Wednesdays.

I made a New Year's resolution to change my diet this year. I'm giving up all fried foods and sweets. It has not been easy this 1st week. I love chocolate. And Chic-Fil-A Chicken Sandwiches and Waffle Fries. But it's only been 10 days since I've implemented the restrictions and I've lost 2 lbs. I was amazed at how low most ideal weights are. I'm 5ft 9.5 in and I figured I was a good weight at 165. Not so. My range is from 125 to 170, but my ideal weight is about 150. It's amazing how once you start adding pounds, they come so quickly and unnoticeably.

I love anticipating shit. Life's more fun when you have something to look forward to.

Hope 2010 rocks y'all's socks.

Running Blog from 311 Concert

2009-12-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

I went to see 311 with a few friends. The ticket was free. I hate 311. The opening band, State Radio, was actually pretty good. I had tried to keep an open mind about 311, but once they came on and I looked around at the smattering of tools, turds, douches, skanks, and wannabes in attendance, I knew there was no hope of me enjoying myself. So, I got out my iPhone and kept a running diary of my random thoughts during the show.

If all the turds go missing I know who stole them.

Elevendouche with state radiohotts.

I didn't know Allan sang in 311.

I've literally died and gone to hell.

Nice vocal effects, frampton.

Tiny Mexican douche on the non-contributor tip.

Sir, I hate you...over and over again.

Is this a play? Because it sure isn't music.

I seriously need to change my life.

You guys make me want to gouge my ears.

Nice wristbands, calidouche.

These $4.50 beers are the least shitty thing here.

Cool, I know this song...and I hate it.

Can I ask for my money back even if I didn't buy the ticket?

I've never wished cerebral palsey on someone, but I'm about to.

Quick, get drunk before we realize what's become of us!

Is he actually pretending to play guitar??!

'Come original'?! WTF.

One of these dudes' dads better be a record executive.

Now i know how jihads start. Middle easterners equate us with 311.

Acnedouche with grubbyhotts.

Did that dude bring his 6 yr olds here? I'm calling CPS.

Late 90s douche with naivetehotts.

I saw a cover band once at bennigans that made me want to kill myself. They were better than 311.

Hating aside, I do respect the gaggle of whores just offstage.

Poor lead guitarist. He can actually play. he must be on heroin. It's the only way he could do this. Like how they kidnap those Croatian whores and feed them heroin and send them to Dubai.

Am I really Smelling old spice?

Scentidouche with stupidity hotts.

There's always that one old ass dude dancing like a motherfucker but you wonder if he's even aware where he is or if he just didn't survive the 60s. I'd rather be him.

Librarianhotts with beerguzzlebag.

Ok. I admit it, their drummer is badass.

A member of your band is named dj esse Martinez. That's really all that needs to be said.

Laker jerseydouche with tinyhotts.

Bathroomdouche with skittishhotts.

A lot of people are here just because that dude is Mexican. A lot.

If I hooked up with a hot chick here, I'd do her. Then murder her. For liking 311 and all.

Jerzdouchenbass knows scales. Good for him.

You know how Beavis and butthead felt about gwar? I feel the opposite about 311.

I wish it were 2012 so these turds would get covered in molten lava.

I may evict my roommate based only on the fact that he reminds me of the lead singer of 311.

How can so many beautiful women like such a horrible horrible thing?

Badtastenhotts with luckendouche.

This guy bumped into me. He goes 'sorry'. I go 'do you like this band'? He's all 'hell yeah'! I go 'let's fight'.

Cowardouche with disappearing hotts.

A new holocaust? This is as good a place as any.

Asparagus eatendouche with stinkygoldenshowerhotts.

A dude with downs syndrome is having the time of his life. It's the first time I've ever thought someone with downs needed to be punished.

Militantdouche with luckyformepacafisthotts.

If gary Coleman had a bad dream, the soundtrack would be 311.

I have no idea what that means.

Alternahotts with whatthefuckendouche.

Band Practice 12/4/09

2009-12-07T17:35:00.000-08:00

Despite my misgivings, here's some audio from Friday's practice.

The first clip is of the first 8 minutes of practice, which featured "Waste My Time", the 1st song we ever wrote, followed by "Tyler", a Toadies cover requested by Sarah. The clip ends with me flowing Tyler into "Where is my mind", a Pixies cover Keith and I really like. Before you listen, please know I realize a few things: I can't sing, my guitar is out of tune (this is because the strings are incredibly old, not because I don't know how to tune my guitar), and the vocals and bass notes are muffled because the iPhone mic was pointed away from the instruments (this is part of the reason the drums sound pretty dang good imo).

The 2nd clip is from the 2nd half of practice, which lasted about an hour. The iPhone only lets me email 8 minutes of audio at a time, which is plenty. This clip starts with "Not Too Late", an original, followed by the first part of "Colleen", another original. For this 2nd clip, we turned the mic towards the instruments, which is why the vocals sound clearer, but during louder parts it blares or 'clips' out.

I think posting the audio from practice will help us get better. So far I've learned 2 things from this exercise: I need to pay more attention to detail (tuning, notes, vocal changes, etc.), and I need to get out of the bad habit of making up lyrics as I go along. (i.e. on Not Too Late, a song we've been playing for over a year, I still change the lyrics everytime. I've got finalized lyrics written down, I'm just too lazy to remember them and practice the song as written. The same thing happened with "Colleen"; luckily in this instance most of them are unintelligible because of the audio quality.)

Again, this was all recorded on a cell phone mic. It took me less than 10 minutes to get these files emailed, converted, and posted. Everything is so amazing.

November 2009 Update

2009-11-20T11:18:00.001-08:00

re-edit: So I figured out out to email the m4a from my phone, convert it to mp3, and post it here via Badongo. That's awesome because it means if we ever record something cool at practice, I can post it here on the blog. My drunken songs were too cringe-inducing to make public, but I will try to get something decent the next time Keith and I practice.

edit: Keith came over and we practiced last night; I took some pictures of the studio with my iPhone. Then I went out and got drunk. I got back home around midnight and went to the studio and played piano for like 2 hours. I realized my iPhone has a podcast feature and I used it to record a few songs I played on the piano. They sound terrible, but I'm so fascinated by the technology that I may post them here anyway.

Well, I figured it's been a long time since I've posted anything, so here goes. The reason for the lack of posts is valid; absolutely nothing has been happening with the band. We haven't even practiced in like 3 weeks (due to my encounter with Swine Flu). Keith may come over tonight to knock some of the rust off. There just hasn't been a lot of motivation to play.

The band (and music in general), just like most things in life, comes in waves. Re-reading old posts, you can tell that Keith and I get after it for a little while, then sort of take a break, then get after it again. This is usually precipitated by some sort of breakthrough (i.e. getting new equipment, getting a gig, recording, etc.). That's why I've always thought the key to making it as a rock band is a steady gig. If you can count on playing somewhere on a weekly (or even monthly) basis, then there's always something on the horizon. Otherwise, you're just drinking beer at your house and there just happens to be guitars and drums there. Any musical group performs 2 basic functions: recording and gigging. So that should be the goal: record and gig. Both of those things, especially when you're just starting out, take a lot of time, energy, and perhaps most importantly, money (at least recording does). Between our jobs and social calender, the band is a distant 3rd, and there's no way it's going to move forward under that pretense.

This isn't to complain; I still love jamming with Keith, and if it never goes any further than that, it's still a really fun, relaxing hobby. That said, the goal for 2010 is simple: gig and record.

Rhett Miller concert review, I bought a piano and I play the drums

2009-10-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

So Friday night I didn't have much to do. My roommate was going downtown for a buddy's 30th birthday, but other than that, most of my friends were staying in (due to the weather I guess). I was in a bit of a weird mood, so I decided to get on Pollstar and see if there was any good live music playing. Lo and behold, my own idol Rhett Miller was playing a solo show at Antone's. I hurriedly got dressed and hauled ass downtown.

Going to concerts by yourself is a lot like going to the movies by yourself. For someone like me, it makes me feel like a loser, even though it probably shouldn't. I mean, watching a concert (or a movie) is not really all that social of a thing. Your attention is fixed somewhere else. Anyway, my experience Friday was marred by the fact that I was by myself.

I'd guess I've seen Rhett Miller in concert a dozen times, so I know a lot about his style. Anytime I go to a rock show, I tend to fixate on the front man, and this is especially true with Rhett and the Old 97s. Up to now, it's been hard for me to figure out why I like him so much. I mean, he's not all that techinically sophisticated of a guitarist (he only plays rhythm), he doesn't have a classicly trained voice, and his songs are very simple. But at this show I realized that is exactly WHY I like him so much. He gives someone like me (who isn't technically sound on his instrument, sings out of tune, and writes simple songs) hope. He's mostly "it" factor, and I don't see that as a bad thing. His good looks and the way he works the crowd are more important to his success than his sense of melody and rhythm. On top of that, his lyrics are very catchy. He's had exactly the level of success I'd want (successful enough to draw a crowd and earn a living, but not so famous he can't have a life with some semblance of normalcy--although he did marry a supermodel, so his life probably doesn't have much normalcy). He's exactly who I try to emulate, whether I'm in my room by myself, practicing with Keith, or playing in front of a group of people.

Here are some things I noticed:

-he makes a LOT of eye contact with people of the audience.
-he mostly uses his 1/2 Townsend windmill strum deal on an open G chord
-most of his songs use the same 5 or 6 chords; he employs a capo to get songs in different keys
-I watched him before the show in the VIP lounge, and I've had a short introduction to him before at an earlier gig, and he genuinely seems like a nice person
-I had a short conversation with Salim Nourallah, who produced the most recent Old 97s record. I went up and introduced myself and told him thank you for writing this article. Turns out, he didn't write it, the lead sound engineer Rip Rowen did. He corrected me, but was very gracious about the whole thing. That article has been an excellent resource for me since I've been trying to gather recording equipment and learn the processes.
-Even though I was by myself, I still enjoyed the show; that said, I REALLY wished I'd had a pretty girl with me.

On a side note, remember when I posted a few weeks back about 2 songs I wrote? Well, I realized that one of them ("This is My Life Without You") was just me unconsciously copying one of Rhett's new songs ("Haphazardly"--it's linked at the top right of this page so you can hear it). I must've heard it at the last Old 97s show I went to, forgotten it, then somehow twisted the chorus when it came back up while I was f'n around on the guitar. I suspect that happens a lot, and not just with me. I've read several interviews with Kevin Griffin (from Better Than Ezra) and one of the things I like about him is how candid he is about his songs' influence. He's not ashamed to admit 'ripping off' a melody from someone else. You could probably take every song I've ever written and find a song that songs exactly like it that I heard somewhere before.

So over the last few weeks I've taken to the drums. I think this stemmed from Keith and I getting a little bored with the same ol' thing when we practice. Also, we both think it would be a cool gimmick if we switched instruments in the middle of a set. Not to mention Keith is a badass on the guitar. I've progressed to being able to keep a beat, albeit with no fills or complicated switches. Friday night after I got home, I was HAMMERED. So my roommate, his buddy and I went into my studio and I hopped on the drums. I don't remember it all that much, but apparently we played a LONG time. Like, non-stop for like 3 hours. I have painful blisters on every. single. one. of my fingers. On both hands. I don't aspire to be Dave Grohl, but I do think it would be cool to be able to jump on a drumset and keep up.

Finally, I bought a piano yesterday. It's an antique (1800s I think) Wurlitzer upright. I got it for $175. All the keys/pedals play and it has all the original (albeit yellowed) ivory. 3 of the keys stick intermittently. I hope to have this repaired when I have it tuned after it's moved (happening today).

A lot of my favorite songs are piano based. I grew up listening to a lot of Elton John and The Beatles, Billy Joel, etc. I don't aspire to be concert style, but just like with the drums, I think it'd be pretty f'n pimp to be able hop on a piano and bang out a tune or be able to write piano based simple chord songs. Plus, chicks dig dudes who can play piano.

Pearl Jam Rocks

2009-10-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

I went to the Austin City Limits Festival last night. I originally had a 3 day pass, but sold it so I could go down to Victoria for my cousin's birthday party. Well, this girl I have a crush on was there and wanted me to meet her, so I made a few calls to see if I could get a ticket for Sunday. Turns out a girl I used to work with had a ticket, but it wouldn't be available until like 5pm. So, I got in right as Jack White's latest project, Dead Weather, was playing. Jack White is hard. During the set he played all 4 rock instruments (drums mostly, but also played guitar, bass, and sang). The band was good, but they had a chick sing all the songs Jack White didn't sing. I'm not much for chick rock singers. After they were done, Pearl Jam took the stage. They ROCKED. I've always liked Pearl Jam, but wouldn't have put them in my top 5 bands. They're there now. Eddie Vedder is hard. Their set was perfect. They played Daughter, Elderly Woman, Even Flow, Oceans, and several others. Their encore started off with Evolution, then they brought out Ben Harper for a song. Then Perry Ferrell (the fruit from Jane's Addiction who basically invented the modern music festival by starting Lollapalooza) came out and sang a Jane's Addiction song with them (Mountain? I'm not a JA fan.) Then they closed the show with Alive (top 5 guitar solos on any song ever) and Keep On Rocking In the Free World. It ruled. They were so awesome I didn't even care that the girl I was with wasn't interested in me (at least until after the show).

It's amazing; every time I see a badass concert, it makes me want to lock myself in my studio for like 5 years.

I sold my Jeep

2009-09-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

I sold my Jeep last week. Sweet. The list of things I want to do with the money is extensive. One of the things on the list is to buy recording gear. This ranks #1 in "want to do", but dead last in "should do". My patio needs a new roof. My emergency fund is at about 50% of where I want it to be. I need to get rid of my roommates. I need to landscape my yard. My car needs body work. *sigh*

Keith and I didn't practice last week, but I did play a lot of guitar by myself. I have all the songs I've written (or started writing) saved on my computer. I went back and played a lot of them. Some of them are songs I wrote almost ten years ago. It's interesting to see how my style has changed. It's also weird how many songs I've written. There are over 50 songs saved. I'm half convinced that I should go into full on hone mode and not write anything new, just work on polishing what's already there. Didn't Bob Dylan say something like nobody should ever write anything new?

Bored At Work

2009-08-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

I wrote 2 songs last week. In hindsight, they're pretty bipolar. The first one was called "This is My Life Without You", which is about what happens every time I end a relationship, which is to seek distraction in all the wrong things (draw your own conclusions). It sort of sounds like Jack Johnson's melancholy acoustic stuff, but I think it would sound best as just a piano/vocals deal. Who knows if I'll ever take it that far. The 2nd song was a complete 180 from the 1st one. It's an upbeat pop tune called "You Are A Miracle" (I don't like that title, but that's essentially the chorus so it is named that by default). It basically breaks down the statistics of what it takes for two people to end up together. I really like it. I think it's the 2nd best upbeat song I've ever written, next to "Getting Busy", which is along the same emotional thread.

Other than that, not too much going on. Keith and I probably won't practice this week, since we're heading down to POC on Thursday to go fishing, but we're sure to pick it back up next week. Still waiting until I sell one of my automobiles before I can buy recording gear. Incidentally, I've got several peices of extra gear for sale if you know someone who would be interested:

-Brand New In Box Electron Blue Standard Mexican Fender Telecaster (with gig bag)- $350
-Unknown brand 1970s 15 watt bass/PA combo with 15" speaker- $50
-Trace Elliot 200W 2 X 10" guitar amp- $150

I'd like to be able to trade these for either an upright piano or a Sennheiser 421 microphone. Maybe Craigslist can come through for me.

Also, I've added a LaLa embed on the sidebar, so each post I'll probably link a new song. This one's is "Scotty Doesn't Know"; it always makes me laugh, especially if you've seen EuroTrip, where Matt Damon does this song at the graduation party. Enjoy.

USAIN BOLT IS A BAD MOTHERFUCKER

2009-08-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

100 meters in 9.58 seconds. That is all.

Long Overdue Updates Accompanied by Random Opinions and Observations

2009-08-07T10:29:00.001-07:00

So, I'm bored at work and figured I'd waste some time blogging.

Stevenson Road Status Update
So not much has been going on with the band. We got offered a gig at a bar in Livingston, but I don't know if we're going to take it. Livingston is a long way away and I doubt anyone we know would be willing to travel that far to see us. The bar has more of a Texas Country vibe, so I don't know how many fans we could convert, even if a lot of people did show up. I would like to do some solo stuff there if possible (more on that later).

Keith and I have been practicing about once every other week, so we're still alive. Just no gigs or records lined up. The current (ever changing and rightshifting) plan is to get recording gear once I'm able to sell my Jeep and have a quality demo by the end of the year.

Last practice we wrote a new song that I'd really like to finish out. It's kind of like a Vines/Killers song. Hard barre chords in successions with lots of starts and stops and an open chord chorus. We'll see what comes of it.

The last two practices my roommate Derrick has come out and plugged in the bass. He's never played before so it's slow going, but it is nice to hear a much fuller sound.

Solo Career?
I really enjoy playing with Keith. He's awesome. But like a lot of people doing something creative that they care about, I'm sort of a control freak. I like the songs that we've written together, but they're definitely not songs I sit around in my room playing over and over again. Our music is rock. My aspirations have always leaned more to the singer-songwriter style. So I've been thinking a lot about writing a set of songs that I could go play on my own, just me and my geetar. Not only would this let me play the music and write the songs that I really have always wanted to write and sound like, it would let me try and go get gigs and record without having to clear the logistics with anyone else. The bottom line is I want to be Rhett Miller and unfortunately the band is more Seven Mary Three than Old 97s.

Counting Crows
I went to see the Counting Crows on Monday. It was weak. This was the 4th time I've seen them, and each time was progressively worse. I do believe they have gotten the last of my money. In 1994, there wasn't a person in the world I idolized more than Adam Duritz. And while he still has my respect for banging both Jennifer Aniston AND Courteney Cox, he's kind of a tool. He has worn fake dreads for 15 years. He is a dick to his fans. And he's very self-important. Anyway, the show was at Austin Music Hall and they did this bunk format where they came out at the beginning with the 'opener' (Augustana) and played all at once and then the 2 bands sort of traded 3 song sets a few times. Weak. I didn't pay $40 to see f'n Augustana (not that they were horrible, the were actually quite good, but they weren't what I paid to see). I paid $40 to see Counting Crows; not only that, I paid $40 with the understanding that I would see Counting Crows play their hits, as I expect to hear them. So, I was really disappointed in the format and set list. I mean, so I saw the lead singer of Augustana sing "Omaha"? Weak.

Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, and Willie
On Tuesday I went to see the 3 above at Dell Diamond with my older brother llogg.

I'd seen Willie once before so I pretty much knew what to expect. He's good, but a lot of time his voice isn't timed with the music. And the main thing I love about Willie is his crooning. I think he's just too old to croon because his voice didn't have that wavering desperation or carry out the long notes on Crazy or Blue Eyes Crying. But he did have a good energy and put on a pretty good show. It was bloody hot too, so you gotta give his old ass props for hanging tough. He didn't play 2 of my favorites (Red Headed Stranger and Pancho and Lefty), but he did have a pretty good set list overall. I give him a B.

I didn't expect much from Mellencamp. My parents like his stuff, so I'd heard a lot of his catalog, but going in there weren't any songs (except Jack and Diane) that I was thinking would be awesome to hear. Well, he was really, REALLY good. Great energy, good set list, the whole package. He did probably the best a capella I've ever heard (not saying much, but still, it was badass) on a song I can't remember right now. He rocked. I give him an A (more on why he didn't get an A+ later).

Bob Dylan's first song had me thinking he'd be better off dead. He vocals were completely unintelligible and had ZERO melody. I had sort of known what to expect and went in thinking it would be pretty bad, but the way he sang Rainy Day Women to open his set was ridiculous. He got a lot better as the show went forward, but he only played 4 songs that I knew, 2 of which came in the encore. He didn't utter a single word between songs. Not one (I still haven't decided whether or not this is cool). Strictly business. He came out for the encore and started with Like A Rolling Stone, one of my favorite songs ever, but it was disappointing because to me the thing that makes that song so awesome is how he wails on the line "how does it feeeeeeeelllllll". Well, needless to say, there was no wailing. I mean, the dude is over 70 years old, so I guess my expectations were too high. He closed the show with All Along the Watchtower, which totally rocked. Charlie Sexton shredded. I think that song was so awesome because it's not the type that is dominated by the vocals. Since Hendrix redid it everyone sees it more as a guitar song. Dylan would have gotten an F had it not been for at least attempting Rolling Stone (up to a C) and kicking ass on Watchtower, so he ends up with a B.

I truly thought that when Dylan left for the first time that all 3 of them (Willie, Cougar, and Dylan) would come out for the encore. I mean, imagine the three of them trading verses on Pancho and Lefty, Jack and Diane, and Like a Rolling Stone. How fucking AWESOME would that have been?! That would have made for an excellent (A+) show. Either way I had a really good time if for no other reason than I got to hang out with just my brother for 3 hours, and he's fucking hilarious. And, I got to see all those guys before they're dead. Bonus.

Short Side Rant: Musicians not playing their hits sucks and it's bullshit. I fully understand that you get sick and tired of playing the same song thousands and thousands of times. I get that. But that's what everyone is there for. If you don't want to play Jack and Diane, don't play big shows. Don't trick people. Give them what they paid for.

Well, that's enough for now. Have a great weekend.

Fear and Loathing in Ft. Lauderdale

2009-07-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

So I called the guy who sold the car, flew out to Ft. Lauderdale, picked up the car, and drove 23 straight hrs back to Texas.

Fear and Loathing in Fort Lauderdale

2009-06-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

"We were somewhere over Miramar, when the Citalopram withdrawal began to take hold..."

Backstory:

My jeep starting being hard to start and began choking out at low rpms about a month ago. The problem got progressively worse until 2 weeks ago when it took me over 1/2 an hour just to get it started. I asked my dad, brother, and uncle what they thought the problem was, and since they all agreed that the symptoms were pretty general, I decided to take it into the dealership to get a sure diagnosis. They told me it was the timing chain, and quoted me $900 to replace it. I called my mechanic, who is an awesome guy who I've used several times before and he quoted me $300 for the timing chain. The dealership charged me $100 for the diagnosis and I took it back to my house. My mechanic bought the parts and came over. I was standing behind him when he took the cover off of the timing chain and even I could tell immediately that there was nothing wrong with it. Fuckingcocksuckingdicklickingshiteatingcuntass dealership motherfuckers lied to me and stole $100.

Over the next few weeks, my mechanic came over every day and worked in 100+ degree heat trying to figure out what the problem was. In the meantime, I'm without wheels, relying on the gf for rides to and from work and pretty much f'ed if I wanted to go anywhere else.

The jeep has 150k miles on it, so I knew the time was coming to get a new car anyway. I'd been looking on craigslist, cars.com, and the like. Last week, I saw a Hyundai Azera on cars.com. I'd never even heard of that model before, but it looked cool, so I started doing research. The more I learned, the better the deal looked. I called on it, then test drove it 2 thursdays ago. I liked it. I knew it was a good deal. I told the dealer I'd think about it over the weekend (just to not buy on impules and make sure it was "meant to be"). I decided on Saturday morning that I was for sure going to buy it. I called him first thing monday morning. Of course, he had sold it about 8pm sunday night. Fuckingcocksuckingdicklickingshiteating powers that be fucked me and stole my new car.

So here I am, no leads on any good deals, no clue as to what's wrong with my jeep and how long it will take to fix and how much it will cost.

I don't know why, but for some reason I snapped. There was a lot of other stressful shit in my life to go along with this situation, so maybe that had something to do with it. Regardless, I proceeded to go on ebay and bid on 37 cars. At one point I was the leader in $76,000 worth of auctions. I wasn't even really looking at what I was bidding on. It was ridiculous. This was on Wednesday during the day at work.

That night I got home and monitored the auctions while watching UT get spanked by LSU in the college world series. In the end, I ended up getting outbid on all but one automobile: a 2006 Hyundai Elantra GT in Miramar, FL with 50,000 miles on it. I had won it for $5000.

To Be Continued...

Stock Picks

2009-06-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

1. Ivanhoe Energy (IVAN) - I'm heavily invested in this beaten down oil small cap. Their schtick is that they have technology which makes refining heavy (dirty) oil cheap. They have deals in place in Ecuador, Canada, China, and Iraq. Most of the oil in the world cannot be used right now because it is too heavy. If this company has the answer to that problem, hello retirement for Jakey. Warning: don't gamble with $ you can't afford to lose.

2. Qwest Communications (Q) - They've been beaton down over the last 10 years because of their 2001 corporate fraud scandal, but they are paying a ridiculous 8% dividend and are one of the only companies keeping AT&T from an antitrust suit.

3. General Electric (GE) - The financial crisis beat them down, but the stock price took a much worse dive than it deserved. They are one of the most stable companies in the world. They're not going anywhere.

4. Duke Energy (DUK) - Doing a lot to be out front on the alternative energy tip while simultaneously profiting from carbon energy. Pays a steady, spectacular 6% dividend.

5. AT&T (T) - Their financials are very healthy and they pay a high dividend (6.8%).

Grain of salt. Don't ask me why after a 2 month blogging hiatus I decided to post this. No news on the music tip.

All I want to do is drink beer and smoke cigarettes...

2009-05-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I worked in Iraq for 19 months, from October 2005 through May 2007. I saved $150,000 while I was there. I thought that by making the short term sacrifice of spending a year and a half working 84 hour workweeks in a war zone thousands of miles away from home I'd grant myself freedom from the rat race forever. I was wrong. Or was I?

"I got a cousin, he's broke, don't do shit." -Lawrence from Office Space

I filled up with gas today at a station near Rundberg and I35. This intersection is pretty much the heart of the Austin ghetto now that downtown east Austin has been cleaned up. Anyway, while I was filling up, a crackhead approached me and asked me for money. I've had a particularly rough week at work, and today was the worst day yet, so I was in no mood for his schtick. I exploded on him. I won't give details on what I told him but I will say that I was yelling, and ended up chasing him after he ran away.

I got off track.

When I first got back in the US in June of 2007, I got a job at Hula Hut working 3 shifts per week. For the six months that followed, I was happy for the only extended period of time in my adult life. I didn't work weekends. I never had to get up early. I had plenty of money to buy beer.

I don't have expensive tastes. I drive a Jeep Wrangler with over 150,000 miles. I take pride in buying my clothes from WalMart and Target. I'm cool with drinking Keystone Light and Bud Ice. I live in a modest home. So why can't I live my current lifestyle while only working 3 days per week at a restaurant? Is this too much to ask?

In my office, I have a spreadsheet with a formula that refreshes every time you press enter. It calculates the amount of time, to the second, until my (average) life span runs out. So, I literally sit in my cube and watch myself die.

I don't know what the point of this post is, other than to vent on the depression tip. But the question remains: would I be happier as a vagrant?

Ask and Ye Shall Be Brutalized

2009-04-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Not much (at all) has been happening with the band, and I was pretty determined not to let this blog turn into drivel about my personal life.

So anyway, I see a wave of creativity forming in the near future, so hopefully there'll be some action round here soon.

As soon as I get my tax refund (should be in the next couple of weeks), I'm going to pull the trigger on the rest of the recording gear I want. My goal after that is to record one song per week, be it a polished song with Keith or a 'scratchpad' type deal by myself.

But I need help. Does anyone know how I could take an Mp3 file and load it somewhere, paste the html and have it up on this site? I can't seem to find out how to make that happen. What I'd like to be able to do is record a song at home, convert the file to Mp3, then load it on this blog for y'all to critique. Anybody have any insight into how to do this (easily and for free)?

Keith and I haven't practiced in a couple of weeks. We've both just been really busy. May not happen this week either as I'm going to see Rhett Miller at Shady Grove tonight (our usual practice night), and I have a pretty busy weekend. Hopefully we can get together sometime this weekend and jam. I'm becoming more open to the idea of adding people to the band, if for no other reason than for motivation to practice and/or gig more frequently.

Anyway, thanks for reading, check back soon for new audio (hopefully)!

The Big Mo

2009-03-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

No motivation to blog.

Will update when something happens. Could be soon, could be never.

Thanks for reading.

That's My Dog(us Balbay)

2009-02-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Band: We had our usual practice on Thursday. We spent a good amount of time jamming without drums (Keith on bass, me on guitar). It was really nice.

The Studio: Can I have $3000?

Miscellany: Went to the Texas-OU basketball game on Saturday. It was awesome. Our team is very very inconsistent, but bloody fun to watch. I've been hatin on Balbay and Abrams all year, but they were the $ in that game. Balbay's range ends well before the free throw line, but he must have a 40" vert and is an excellent passer and defender. Abrams shoots way too much and should in no way be our main offensive weapon, but he has the quickest release I've ever seen and when he gets hot, look out. That said, UT will lose in the 2nd round of the tourney this year.

The coolest thing about the game was that my seat was directly behind the main ESPN cameras (half-court, 1st row of upper deck). It was neat seeing all the things that go into the broadcast. There were 3 cameras, and each operator had a headset where they were getting directions from the production team and a cheat sheet with all the players pics and notes. Some of the notes were like "people to show during downtime: Colt McCoy, Blake Griffin's parents, Mack Brown and Duane Akina". How did they know Colt and Mack were going to be there? I had a moment of awesome during the game; once, when the camera directly in front of me was live (there was a light telling you when each camera was the one on TV, plus you'd see the cameraman perk up and get all careful)...anyway, once, when the camera directly in front of me was live, he was panning the band. I leaned forward (pretty much right in his ear), and go "More chicky, less bandy." He then panned over to the pom girls. I felt badass.

3 Piece Brutality?

2009-02-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

Band: Keith invited a bassist to join the band. Supposedly he's a cool guy. His last band was Christian Rock. I'm anxious about this for many reasons, the biggest being that I'm not exactly stoked about dividing my creative input by another factor, I'm not excited about another personality in the mix, and I ain't thrilled about having my technical deficiencies exposed even further. *Sigh*. Oh well, we'll roll on and see what happens. No word from Hanover's about a future gig.

Studio: I found a sweet glass top desk at Big Lot's for a hunerd bucks. There is VERY little left to do in the studio. Anticipate being ready to self-record in the next 30 days.

Miscellany: Not much going down on the rant tip. Work sucks.

Ten Feet Tall

2009-02-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that I don't think it's very good, I'm putting this song on here for a few reasons:

1. I'm tired of promising something and not having anything for anyone to listen to.
2. I want to give y'all some reference to what I've been blogging about for the last few weeks.
3. I want feedback.

Download the track here (got tired of it autoplaying whenever anyone looks at the blog):

http://www.audiostreet.net//artist.aspx?artistid=61310

So, as I said before, I'm not all that pleased with the way the 4 songs we recorded turned out. I knew it wasn't going to be professional quality, so I was hoping for something just good enough to send out to the people who book shows at bars in order to secure some gigs.

There a couple of good things about this song. First, I really like the way the guitar sounds. To me, it's a perfect cross between Old 97's "Jagged" and the main guitar on the Counting Crows 2nd albums. Second, I like the way the drums sound. They were miced correctly with quality equipment. They get soloed at the right times and Keith did a great job. Kenny did a really good job mixing the instruments.

My main problems are with the vocals. They ruin the song. For one, it sounds like the same effects as are used for Down Here Together; they're too tinny and clanging sounding to me. Also, I didn't get to record until I got the perfect take because we were rushing. Maybe my voice just sucks so bad the only way to make it bearable is to pile on those fx. That is certainly plausible.

The worst thing about it is the background vocals. I think Kenny went for a sort of punk, off-key equal volume chorus thing. I wanted the background vocals a lot further in the background and more synched in and subdued. He deleted the harmony background I sang, which was good because it sucked, but I would like to go back and take the time to do it right.

Considering how much time he spent (a few days), he did a great job, but all in all, I think we should re-do this and couple of other songs before we pound the pavement trying to get gigs.

What an awesome day

2009-02-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

Seems like I've gotten into a rhythm with this blog thing; first a blurb about the band, then the studio, then I post about whatever it is I feel like talking about. So, here goes:

The Band:

I recorded vocals for the demo on Thursday. I re-did "How Do You Like Me Now" and "Ten Feet Tall". Keith had re-recorded the drums and went over my guitar a couple of weeks ago and also added a bass guitar track using my Danelectro Longhorn with the PA as an amp. I'm not all that excited about how it turned out, but no matter what, I think we'll try and use it to get some gigs. Once the studio is done I'm definitely going to try and re-do it all ourselves, because, simply put, I'm not proud of what I've heard so far.

Kenny added the same effects on my voice to all 4 songs (a ton of reverb and some sort of chorus that makes it sound pretty tinny). It sounds pretty good for all the choruses, but in slower, more mellow parts, it doesn't fit. He did let me record an echo track and some background harmonies and staggered choruses on Ten Feet Tall.

Anyway, he's going to give us his finalized 4 song mix on Thursday, so if nothing else I'll post at least a clip up here so you can hear what I've been babbling aboot.

The Studio:

I built a stage to get Keith's drums off the ground, and while it doesn't do a $&%^$&#&%*ing thing for soundproofing, it looks sweet and adds some good storage underneath. I also received the 6 Star Wars movie posters I plan to hang on the walls. I've gotta get off my ass and go get the filing cabinets I need to hold the remaining gear I have to buy to get completely ready to record.

Miscellany:

If you lived in Austin, how f'n AWESOME was Sunday? It was one of the best days I've had in months. I woke up next to a beautiful girl, went home and had a good breakfast, then went up to Reagan High School and played touch football for a couple of hours. It was absolutely GEORGEOUS outside (upper 60s, slight breeze, sunshine). After that, I went and had an awesome sushi lunch at Maki. Then I went to Home Depot and bought some stuff for my yard (some fruit trees and Rosemary bushes). I got home and planted it all, then cracked a beer just as the Super Bowl started. I sat out on my patio and watched the first half, then, after a great enchilada plate at La Palapa, went over to a friend's for the 2nd half. I got home at like 10 and crashed out. What a day. Hope yours was the same.

Out of boredom and unwarranted sense of obligation

2009-01-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

So, Keith (and Sarah) have been sick all weekend; here's hoping they get to feeling better.

I installed an 18" stage in the studio to get Keith's drums off the ground.

My oldest brother turned me on to the Dilbert Blog ( http://dilbert.com/blog ). Scott Adams has a unique way of looking at things (reminds me of Freakonomics). I've been reading it daily and it caused me to have a pretty long daydream about the direction of the entertainment industry, and in particular the way the music industry is changing.

Geoff Emerick (the guy who recorded the Beatles, whose book I recently finished) said a lot of interesting things about how music has changed since the dawn of digital technology. The one thing he said that stood out most was that basically, the music industry has become flooded with mediocre product. Because, for around $2500, anyone can get ahold of the equipment necessary to make a record, tons of people who otherwise would never have recorded music have been able to record and market their songs virtually the same way as anyone with a record deal. (Emerick's main complaint about this was that there will never be another Beatles because the record labels are forced to get immediate returns on their investments, which prevents them from developing promising acts over multiple albums. These days, if a band doesn't blow up on their first major release, they're tossed aside for the next big thing.)

Think about this: after I get off work today, I can go home, go into my studio, and record an acoustic song. Within a couple of hours, I can edit out the silences and mistakes, add various vocal effects and have a finished "product". It would take me about 30 seconds to compress that to an MP3 file and have it posted on the internet, where anyone in the world can access it instantly for free. This is great for mediocre choades like me, but bad for lower tier professionals and REALLY bad for the major labels.

Music is, at it's core, simple math. There are a finite combination of notes and tones that you can put together to make music. When you filter it down to the combination of notes and sounds that the average person would find appealling, you get down to a pretty limited set. When you filter that down to the very few instruments that people are used to hearing, and into the genre that the paying public wants to hear, and you're talking a VERY small package of ways you box up music and sell it.

If you had a giant database of every hit song ever written, and had them broken down into what chord progressions they were made up of, I bet you could take any new song that hits the radio, plug it into the database, and get multiple songs that have the exact same combination of basic melody and rhythm. What I'm getting at is that there are no new songs. Music, and rock music in particular, is a mature industry. You're not going to make improvements on the existing products. All you're going to do is re-package the stuff that's already out there and do a better job of selling it. (This is one reason I've always been so infatuated with vocal quality--the human voice is, imo, the only popular instrument in modern music that is incredibly unique to the person playing it.)

Anyway, these are mainly just a serious of fairly obvious and exhausted observations. But one thing I've taken from them is that I think that in the future, the demand dollars allocated to the music industry will continue to gravitate toward concerts and away from recordings. I think what you'll see because of this is an increase of middle-tier acts and a decrease in the number of bands doing world and national tours. It's just too expensive for the labels to promote these bands nationally to sell out medium sized venues like Stubb's, when a guy like Bob Schneider, with virtually no advertising expenses, can sell out that place once a month for eternity.

On Various Topics

2009-01-19T10:48:00.001-08:00

The Band: Kenny is gonna come over this Thursday and we're supposed to re-record the vocals for the 4 demo tracks.

The Studio: I put up the trim and some guitar wall mounts yesterday. Tomorrow I'm going to install a stage in the back of the room to get Keith's drumset off the ground so it's not so loud outside. I'm in the process of acquiring filing cabinets to store mics, cables, etc. and to make a desk for the recording console.

Miscellany: Every day I go to work, there's a bum on the corner of Braker and 35. Not the same one, but there's always one there. I made a vow after I got back from Iraq that I would give food or money to every homeless person I saw. Well, they finally broke me. I just can't do it anymore. I've always tried to sympathize with homeless people because I look back on my own life and think that there were a few crucial moments where if things had gone just a little differently, I'd be right where they are. I'm a very lazy person; quite possibly the laziest in Travis County, which puts me in the running for laziest worldwide. I often wonder what a bum's life is like. Sometimes I daydream about being a bum; wandering from town to town, getting in adventures, no responsibilities...the ultimate "living in the moment". I'm pretty sure that's not really how it is.

Somewhere I read that like 85% of bums are either severely mentally ill, addicted to drugs, or both. The remaining 15% are the folks who totally opted out of society. Those are the bums whose lives I romanticize. But this weekend, I think I lived just like they live, except I was inside instead of outside. I slept 15 hours on Saturday and another 13 on Sunday. Not only did I not leave my house, I wasn't even standing up for more than 2 hours between Saturday and Sunday. I would imagine bums lives are pretty routine. You sleep, eat, and find ways to entertain yourself. I would bet a typical Austin bum sleeps an average of 12 hours per day. For the 12 hours they're awake, their time is spent eating, begging, or entertaining themselves. Some might argue that bums spend a lot of time travelling, but those aren't bums; those are called hobos. I don't know what the point of this is. Maybe it's just to get it off my chest that I daydream about being a homeless person.

I'm reading a book I got for christmas about Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer for the Beatles. It's awesome. First of all, I love biographies. Second, I love music. Third, I'm starting to get really interested in the art of recording. I'm far from a voracious reader, so a book really has to be down my alley for me to finish it, much less devour 300 pages in less than 2 days.

I've read a biography of the Beatles before. I've sort of ignored the Beatles for a long time, for various reasons. First, they were way before my time. Second, my parents didn't listen to a lot of Beatles while I was growing up. They had the Imagine soundtrack, which features 20 excellent Beatles' selections, but other than that, they weren't big fans. Lastly, the Beatles were just too big for my tastes. I was always kind of scared I'd get into the Beatles really heavy and realize that most of my favorite bands are just copycats.

Anyway, this guy Geoff Emerick did a pretty good job of describing what it was like recording the Beatles. He also does a very good job explaining many of the common recording processes and terms so that anybody can understand them. Many of the methods he used are totally obsolete now due to digital technology, but the art of capturing and mixing sound hasn't changed. The book's not perfect; he is totally on his own and Paul McCartney's nuts, and really dogs pretty much everyone else. Personally, here are my thoughts on the Beatles: Paul McCartney was the true musical genius behind them, but Lennon was crucial because he provided balance. Harrison was a decent musician, but nowhere near the songwriter the other two were. That being said, "Here Comes the Sun" ranks in my top 10 Beatles songs. Ringo is a humongous douche and from all acounts was not as nice or easygoing as he fashioned his image to be. Generally, John Lennon, as much as I love him, was overrated and McCartney was underrated--at least in terms of contribution to the Beatles' quality of music. Yoko Ono did not break up the Beatles; being way too big for too long broke them up. It's only a matter of time before a machine running at that velocity breaks down. Now, that being said, I'm pretty sure Yoko Ono was a crazy voodoo style bitch. No one could survive being that famous for that long--shit, look at Michael Jackson, and divide that by 4, and that's what happened to the Beatles. The same things destroyed them that end many a good thing: drugs, women, and money (basically, greed).

Anyway, there are some things I've taken from this book that I plan to use once I start recording. First, I've decided that I only need one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar, and one amp. Having a signature sound is not only cool, but cheap. Second, pretty much every song I record, I'd like to have some kind of vocal harmony. This is constantly mentioned in the book as one of the things that set the Beatles apart.

I had a laundry list of non-Stevenson Road related topics I was going to blog about today, but it looks like this post is already starting to drag on, so we'll save those for another time.

Thanks for reading, have a great week.

--Jake

Same ol'

2009-01-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

Howdy.

So, Keith and Kenny re-recorded the guitar and drums for the 4 songs we are going to have on the demo. This Thursday I'm going to do the vocals. The goal is to have a 4 song demo ready by the end of the month and start pounding the downtown Austin pavement trying to acquire gigs.

Also, the studio now has a mini-fridge, so we have cold beer on the ready at all times.

I'm essentially 3 items away from having the necessary gear to start recording myself: a Sennheiser 421 microphone ($379), a DigiDesign 003 recording interface with ProTools LE ($1300), and a mid-range desktop computer ($500). I can sell some of my extra gear to buy the mic and CPU, but the interface is gonna be a big expenditure. Once I have it, I'd like to add a feature to the weekly blog post where I put up audio of our practice or a song we wrote.

Hope all is well. See yens.

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009 everybody. With the holidays being so busy and not much going on with the band, I haven't posted in awhile. I should be back to posting every Monday now.

We got our unmastered 4 track demo back from the guy who recorded us last week. I think we recorded 6 songs total, and I can't remember which ones they were. The tracks we got back were Down Here Together, Waste My Time, Ten Feet Tall, and How Do You Like Me Now. I'll probably post one of the songs next Monday.

I'm not all that happy with how they turned out. On the one hand, I shouldn't expect much since we were getting this all for free, but on the other, I was really hoping for a demo that I felt comfortable giving out. This isn't that. Unless I win the lottery, I think the way for us to go is to record it ourselves.

Other than that, not much is going on. Keith and I practiced last week and tried out a couple of new songs that sound promising. Until we have a good demo, we're pretty much stuck in neutral.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Thanks for reading. Take care.

Bret's Birthday Bash Review and How Being In A Band is Like Being Married

2008-12-15T11:06:00.001-08:00

Still shaking off my hangover from this weekend, but here's a recap of how our 2nd gig ever went.

My girlfriend, 2 of our married friends, and I loaded up her car with all the gear and drove down to Victoria Friday after work. We spent Friday night in Victoria and drove down to POC around noon on Saturday. At about 2, we went over to the yacht that Bret works on to get a tour. I had seen it before, but it is kick ass. $1.5 million can get you one nice boat. At about 3, I cracked my 1st beer. We chilled there for a couple of hours, then went to Josie's for lunch. We were feeling ready for a nap after 5 beers and a greasy mexican plate, so we went over to my brother's bayhouse and slept for about an hour. At about 7, I met Keith and Sarah over at Josie's and we started unloading and setting up.

Admittedly, I had a pretty good buzz before the gig even started. I kept drinking beers while we set up and after we were done, people (including my married couple friends and their bottles of Jaeger and Herradura) started showing up. By the time we were ready to play at about 10:30, I had drank 3 shots of Jaeger and about 8 beers. In retrospect, this was more than was wise.

From the time Bret had asked me if we would play this gig, I had developed a very strong sense that playing our music in front of people whose list of favorite bands consists of Pat Green, Stoney LaRue, and Cross Canadian Ragweed was not going to go over well. My feeling was that this was a birthday party, not a rock show. I thought the best idea was to play mostly songs that were either funny or covers, and save the bulk of our set for another time. At a hurried practice on Thursday, I brought this up to Keith. He disagreed.

Being in a band is kind of like being married. All the decisions have to be discussed, and compromises have to be made by everybody in order for things to move forward. That's why Behind The Music episodes are so Soap Opera-esque. One of the fundamental differences between Keith and I is how we view "what the band is all about". For my part, I'm an entertainer. I've never really considered myself a "musician" and I probably never will. I don't play guitar and sing to make music that is technically sound. I play guitar, write songs, and perform them for the sole purpose of entertaining people. As long as the crowd is happy, I'm happy. Keith was raised with music. He is leaps and bounds and head and shoulders ahead of me and WAY better than me when it comes to playing instruments. The music really matters to him. Being out of tune or stopping in the middle of a song or missing notes bothers him a great deal; those things don't really get to me as much. On the other hand, if the crowd is not into it or is grimacing, cringing, and/or booing, it really, really gets to me. Keith takes it in stride. Neither of our approaches is wrong, they're just different. In fact, if they're managed correctly, they can be complementary.

Long story short, Keith was adamant about playing our songs regardless of how the crowd reacted. I was adamant about playing to what I thought were the crowds tastes. In the end, our set list was a compromise that I don't think either of us were totally comfortable with.

We started off with "Waste My Time", which I thought would be good because it has a funny chorus ("don't talk to me unless you're going to sleep with me"). It felt good starting out. The only bad things about it was that I had decided to use my acoustic guitar instead of playing my Telecaster like I usually do. This was a mistake because the acoustic is harder to play. It sounds better and stays in tune WAY better, but it is harder to fret than the Tele. This affected the performance--I kept missing notes and just messing up overall. Even still, I thought the song sounded okay. We finished it up and things looked like they were going to be alright.

Next we played Tyler, which I thought would be good because it's a cover of a hit by Toadies, so it was something people had heard before. For me, this is where things started to derail. For one thing, I was pretty hammered. For another, I started noticing people moving towards the door, and the people who were watching were either looking on with a cringing grimace or moving further away from us. People I talked to later disagreed that these social cues meant we sucked. They rationalized that people were going outside to smoke. They said people were moving away from the stage because it was loud and there were people dancing. They said people weren't grimacing or cringing at all. Regardless, my confidence was shot by time I screamed my last "I will be with her tonight".

Our 3rd song was a bit of a rebound. I think both Keith and I and anyone who has seen us will agree that "Down Here Together" is our best song. Right before we started playing it, I switched to my Telecaster. This was smart. The bad thing was that we put new strings on it before the show and somehow they got put on backwards. This caused the B string to constantly come up off the bridge and slip into the G string's slot. It REALLY bothered me and caused me to F up a lot. Despite that, I thought Down Here Together sounded REALLY good and I got the same vibe from the crowd.

Once we started on our 4th song, I totally lost my mojo. First, I could tell that people wanted us to play something they could dance to. "Down Here Together" had reeled them in a bit, and we needed something to get them moving. "Gave It Away" is not something you can dance to unless you count running into each other in a moshpit as dancing. Second, I just didn't feel like screaming any more. One or 2 songs like that are cool, but I don't like being that aggressive for a whole show. Third, I was really, really drunk. Fourth, my guitar was badly out of tune. Fifth, I was REALLY, REALLY drunk. I don't remember exactly what happened, but we didn't finish the song. I'm almost positive that this was all my fault. I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted to spare the crowd from having to endure the misery of my shouting over an out-of-tune overcranked amp and Keith's smashing drums. I totally blew it. The #1 rule of being in a band is YOU NEVER EVER EVER STOP PLAYING IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONG. Ever. I don't care what happens, you NEVER do that. Forget the words? Make something up. Forget the chords? Play whatever comes out. Crowd throwing tomatoes? Make ketchup. I completely choffed; I'm ashamed. Oh well, lesson learned.

By now, I was certain of 3 things: 1.) I was way too drunk. 2.) The crowd wasn't liking us. 3.) Keith was pissed at me for douching that song. I asked Keith what he wanted to play and he said 10 Feet Tall. I started it off and it just never came together. I don't know whether or not we even finished the song, but either way, in my mind it was an unmitigated disaster.

I was ready to just quit. I felt like a total douchebag. In a last stab at redemption, I started playing "Have a Good Time". The chorus of the song is "Don't worry, baby, we gettin' fucked up tonight". It was sure to be a winner. Things went well, and the crowd was getting back into it, but just as they were, Bret had an announcement to make, so he grabbed the mic and we were done for.

I immediately we to the table and took 2 more shots of Jaegermeister. A couple of Bret's friends who had been biding their time for the stage immediately jumped up and took over. They started off with "Gin and Juice" by the Gourds and that song by Cross Canadian Ragweed that goes "Them boys from Oklahoma roll their joints all wrong...". Of course, the crowd freaking ate it up. The worst part was that Keith, who had sworn not to play cheesy covers or to play for the other people who took the stage, rocked the drums the whole time. Uggh.

A long time and a lot of alcohol went by. Just after midnight, Keith and I decided to take another crack at it, mostly because Bret wanted to hear a song I wrote called "Gettin' Busy". We started off with "How Do You Like Me Now". It went ok. Then, Brittanie came up and asked me to play a song I wrote called "Not Too Late". It's one of these alt-rock ballads in the mold of Dashboard Confessional or Linkin Park. I don't know whether or not it was pure alcohol, but we sounded AWESOME. It felt like the crowd was totally into it.

The bar did last call, so I busted into "Gettin' Busy" with all the drunken fervor I could muster. It's a fun, catchy song about doing the hibbity-dibbity, so of course the crowd loved it. We finished up, drunkely loaded our crap into the car, and headed back to bayhouse to get even more wasted.

Good things:

-"Not Too Late" was awesome. I have found a new love for this song.
-Eloisa, one of the owners of Josie's (who is a REALLY cool chica), apparently loved us and told me "I had such a blast, you guys rock! Y'all definitely have to come back!" I'm pretty sure she was drunk.
-There were a table of cool guys from San Antonio that didn't know Bret at all, and I think they liked us.
-Two different girls came up to me at the party and told me we were awesome and reminded them of Toadies. I'm pretty sure they were drunk.
-According to my brother Chris, "Down Here Together" is a hit. I'm pretty sure he was drunk.

Bad things:

-I did the ultimate no-no and stopped playing in the middle of a song. Twice. I deserve for Keith to use my face in place of his snare.
-I got a really bad vibe from the crowd for most of the show.
-I inadvertently gave away $300 worth of band t-shirts. The box was sitting out next to our gear, and apparently that means "Hey, these are free! Take them even though you hated the band and would never support them in any way!"
-No telling where Stevenson Road goes from here. I wouldn't be surprised if Keith never wanted to play with me again; I deserve no better. I think if we recorded a few tracks professionally, we could start gigging here in Austin and pick up some momentum. Until we have something to show folks, I don't know what more we can do. I really think we have some great songs and are polished enough to put on a good show in the right scenario.

Boy, I HATE Cross Canadian Ragweed.

Thanks for reading, hope y'all have a good week and a Merry Christmas. Much Love.

Gear

2008-12-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

Not much happening bandwise this week. I had my 10 year high school reunion this week. It was a lot of fun. I talked to my good friend Lyn, and he told me Schroeder was a no-go. Oh well, maybe next year.

Keith and I are still playing Bret's birthday this weekend. Should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you all there at Josie's in POC.

I bought a PA to use for the gig this weekend. I had seen a decent set up in a Guitar Center Xmas mailout that I wanted to take a look at. The guy in the live sound department was extremely helpful. The setup I looked at first was $300, and was comprised of an 80 watt 4 channel mixer and 2 12" detached speakers. The guy asked me questions about how I would be using it and then recommended what essentially is a powered speaker. It's a 15" woofer with a 4" high end speaker powered by a built in 200 watt amp with 4 adjustable inputs. It cost $200. Basically, by saving $100, I got a much more powerful amp that can still take 4 inputs and EQ them. What I lost was the option to have sterio sound on 2 speakers that are not attached to the amp. Because likely the only time I will ever use this is when we play gigs at PA-less venues, all I'll ever be miking is my vocals. In the rare instance that we need to mic the drums and guitar as well, I can still do it, it will just all come out of one speaker. Totally worth it.

I'm slowly trying to accumulate all the equipment I will ever need for my music hobby. Here's a list of all the crap I have:

Electron Blue Standard Fender Telecaster (Made in Mexico)- I don't think I'll ever need a nicer electric guitar than this. I played the (more expensive) American made version and couldn't tell the difference. I know the Tele is my guitar of choice. I wouldn't mind adding a Gibson SG to play as well, but for my purposes and unless music becomes more than just a hobby, the Tele works fine.

Gibson CJ165 Acoustic/Electric- I know I'll never own a nicer acoustic than this one. I bought this on a sort of whim at Guitar Center about a year ago. It cost over $2000. There are definitely more expensive guitars available, but I played many Martins, Gibsons, Taylors, and Takamines before settling on this one. I knew once I got back from overseas I would buy a nice acoustic guitar that would last my lifetime. I knew I wanted it to be a dark stain and I knew I didn't want it to have a pick guard. I'll know I'm satisfied with my guitar ability when I've played so much I wear a hole where the pick guard should be. This guitar is extremely well made and the action is perfect. The tone, especially when it has new strings, is beautiful. I'll own this guitar for the rest of my life and the only thing I think I could add as far as acoustic guitars go would be a cheap Spanish style nylon string and a deep toned 12 string.

I also own a Fender Standard Mandolin; it was given to me as a college graduation gift from my brothers. I know how to play The Gourds version of "Gin and Juice" and a poorly done version of Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried"; I'm deeply ashamed at how long I've owned it without mastering it at the most elementary level. I also own a Jay Turser brand Resonator guitar. It's basically a stratocaster-style body with a banjo-style tone. It looks like a guitar with a pie tin in the middle. I got it for like $80 at a pawn shop, mostly because I just thought it looked cool. I have 2 Hohner harmonicas that I can't play worth a crap. One in the key of C and one in G. I like to bust them out every once in awhile and blow into them while I play a song in the key of the harmonica. It makes me feel like Bob Dylan. I play my guitars through either an old British brand solid-state amp whose name escapes me or a small 8" Marshall practice amp. Eventually I want to get rid of them and buy a Vox AC15 tube amp. I've also been looking at acquiring an upright piano. There are always at least a half dozen of them available on Craigslist for under $300. Many times there are people giving them away just so they can get them out of their homes. If I learned how to play piano, my head would probably explode with awesomeness.

Besides the various mics and whatnot that I need for recording, that's all I would ever need to tote to whatever gig we'll ever get. My desire for musical equipment is kind of like how some dudes get with cars; I could walk into any large music store and easily drop several hundred thousand dollars and still not be completely satisfied. I'm not wealthy and I don't plan on ever being so, but if I ever do by some miracle become rich, I would own many, many guitars, amps, and the like.

That's enough blathering for now. Have a great week. See y'all in POC.

Studio Construction, 3rd Gig Ever (maybe-kinda), yada, yada, yada

2008-12-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. Mine was GREAT. Nothing like family, food, and football.

So, I came into some good luck last weekend. While driving home from Whataburger, I spotted a roll of almostbrandnew carpet in a dumpster. Coincidentally, and luckily, Keith was driving by right as I stopped, so he helped me fish it out and haul it to my house.

Last night I glued the tack stripping and laid the padding in order to install carpet on the studio floor. Brittanie helped me haul the gigantic piece of carpet in and (kinda) unfold it. It looks to be more than large enough and in near perfect condition. This is awesome as it saved me about $400 since I don't have to buy it new. I hope to be finished cutting, placing, and stretching the carpet as well as putting in trim by Thursday so that we can practice before playing in POC this weekend. There's no doubt that munching carpet is much more fun than installing it.

All that's left after that is putting in carpet on the ceiling, putting in molding, and furnishing the studio with a desk, futon, small fridge, cabinets, guitar racks, etc. Then I'll throw down a couple grand for the gear (ProTools interface ($1400), Sennheiser 421 mics ($400ea), a Vox AC15 tube amp ($800), Fostex monitor speakers ($400), a PC with a flat panel monitor ($600), a mixer ($400), a Fender P-Bass ($400), an upright piano (free on CL), an Ampeg B-15 Fliptop Bass Amp ($800), and a Manley ELOP ($2000)). So, there's still a lot to do, but I'm excited to get it all done.

------

Yesterday I got a text from a friend of mine whose parents-in-law own Schroeder Dance Hall asking if I wanted to play there over the Christmas holiday. I am waiting to hear which dates they have open, but I think it'd be a great time. So, there's a chance of a solo acoustic gig in the next month or so. Stay tuned, and if it goes down, I expect all your asses there to drink beer in the saloon with me.

That's all I got for now. Hope to see all y'all in POC this Saturday!

2nd Gig Ever

2008-11-24T11:38:00.001-08:00

So Bret pretty much guaranteed that we will play at Josie's Cantina in Port O'Connor on December 13th. It's B$'s B-Day. Come if you can; there will be plenty of beer, music, and Haweses.

I want to play a different set than we played at Hanover's, mostly because the atmosphere will be totally different. Hanover's was a large venue, and the crowd was made up of strangers. It was more of a concert atmosphere. This gig will be a small venue (they don't even have a PA) filled with people who know me and are used to hearing me play Old 97s covers and improv comedy tunes. Bret said he thinks we should plan on playing for about an hour, then his (future) brother-in-law will play a set of solo Texas Country, then Bret wants to have open mic. So, an hour gives us time for 10-12 songs. I've yet to clear it with Keith, but this is what I'm thinking our set list should look like:

1. Waste My Time (start things off with an original but funny song)
2. Ten Feet Tall (another original, one of our YouTube songs so anyone who watched those will recognize it)
3. Tyler (a Toadies cover that I think we do a good job of covering, a song most people will recognize)
4. Down Here Together (imho our best song)
5. Gettin' Busy (a funny song I wrote; I will play this solo acoustic while Keith takes a pee and/or downs beer--Bret's favorite song of mine, so I know he will want to hear it)
6. How Do You Like Me Now
7. Have A Beer With Me (a new alt-countryish song I wrote that will sooth all my family members who by this point are scoffing and wondering when I starting worshipping Satan)
8. Mission To Mars (Keith's favorite song, another YouTube one that some people may recognize)
9. here I will play an off-the-cuff made up song to make everyone laugh and think I'm cool
10. Have A Good Time (our 'funnest' song; the hook is "Don't worry, baby, we gettin fucked up tonight")

Then if there's time we can play some of our other songs or covers.

Hopefully Keith will go for it, because if we play our standard set, I don't think people will like us or have fun. The folks who show up aren't there for a Stevenson Road show, they're there to celebrate Bret's b-day, get f'ed up, and have a good ol' time.

Ok, hope to see y'all there. Have a good Thanksgiving. Peace.

(more) Recording

2008-11-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry (Matt) the post is a day late. I promise to post every Monday as long as the band is together.

Anyway, this one will be short; my day job is killing me.

So Kenny came over on Thursday and we laid down tracks for "Short Wheel Base", "How Do You Like Me Now", and "Ten Feet Tall". Next Thursday we will record "Have a Good Time" and "Mission to Mars" and then re-record tracks for any of the songs we need to fix. So, when it's all said and done, in a few weeks (8 or so I imagine), we should have a dem0 EP that looks like this:

1. Ten Feet Tall
2. Waste My Time
3. Down Here Together
4. Short Wheel Base
5. How Do You Like Me Now
6. Have a Good Time
7. Mission to Mars

We got a sneak preview of the work Kenny has done on Waste My Time and Down Here Together. I was really pleased with what he had done on Down Here Together. My voice has never sounded so good on a recording. Ever. He added a ton of reverb to make my high pitched whine have this fuller, further away sound. LIke I said, I was pleased. I think the track would sound really, really good if we were able to add bass, lead, and background vocals tracks. Kenny still had a lot of work to do on Waste My Time.

I'm getting really motivated to go into debt and finish the studio so that I can work on these thigns myself. We'll see.

Ok, hope you're having a good week. Thanks for reading. Take care.

Lyrics

2008-11-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Not much has happened with the band this week. Keith and I had our normal practice on Thursday. There's a good chance we have booked our 2nd gig. It will be at Josie's Cantina in Port O'Connor, TX on December 13th for B$'s Birthday Bash. If it is confirmed, that's what next monday's post will be about.

The hardest, most self-doubt-inducing part of being in a band is writing lyrics. Not only is it the most unique part of songwriting, which makes it the most memorable, it's also very personal. Lately, as Keith and I have been writing new songs, I've found that there are basically 3 ways songs get written:

1.) The music comes first. You start with a series of notes or chords, find the melody, then you play it. Generally this is how Keith and I write songs as a band. I'll start playing some chords on the guitar during practice, then Keith will start the drums. Eventually, we'll piece together a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, break, chorus, end, and there's the lyricless song. Almost every time during the course of all that, a chorus line, or "hook" will form. Whenever I play a chorus over and over again, I find that the same words sort of repeatedly pop up on instinct. The hard part is writing verse lyrics based only on a melody and hook. You have to invent what the song is about, but you're confined to the music you've already written. This is the main reason half a dozen of our most frequently played songs don't have finished lyrics. An example of a song Keith and I wrote this way would be "Waste My Time". I started off playing the G-B-C chord progression, and shortly thereafter we had our verse, chorus, verse, chorus, break, chorus deal written. During that time, the line "Don't waste my time!" had formed at the end of the break as a sort of hook. I decided that the song should be about how all these shallow douchebag 6th street posuers think. Anyway, here's what ended up coming out of it:

Verse
Don't know why you're looking at me
'Cause I'm not that kind of guy
Don't know why you're smiling at me
'Cause I'm not that kind of guy (I roll hard)

Verse
You know I've got feelings too
I just ain't got none for you
Don't know why you're looking at me
'Cause I'm not that kind of guy
Wait till I've had a few more beers
Then maybe we'll see
Don't know why your smiling at me
'Cause I'm not that kind of guy (I ROLL HARD)

Break
Don't talk to me unless you're going to sleep with me
Don't talk to me unless you're going to sleep with me
DON"T WASTE MY TIME

Pretty simple stuff, but it works. It was a lighthearted melody, so it called for a lighthearted topic. I think "Don't talk to me unless you're going to sleep with me", since it comes during a break where the vocals are pretty isolated, is a memorable line that a lot of people will think is funny or identify with.

2.) The hook comes first. Sometimes, I'll spontaneously come up with a chorus line. If I have a chorus in my head, I can pick out the chords. Then, I basically progress just like if the music came first. It ends up the same, with the most difficult part being writing the verse lyrics, except it's a little easier since I started off with a hook, which instead of being some nonsense generated out of a hum during a chorus, it came first, meaning it most likely gives a decent topic for the song and the verse lyrics. A song we wrote this way was "Down Here Together". I actually wrote the hook for this song while I was in Iraq. It started off as just this:

You will cry into your pillow for me
You will sleep with someone else to get over me
But it won't work
Sweetheart we are down here together

Once I played it for Keith, we flushed it out. The topic was already there. This is how it ended up:

Verse
Ain't this a sweet thing baby
That we been in
Ain't this a sweet thing baby
That we been in
But now you're leaving
And I am believing
That you mean it this time
You moved in with that man
Some crazy Mexican
But that's not how it's gonna end

Chorus
I will go back to where the boys go
You will go back to where them little girls go
You will cry into your pillow for me
You will sleep with someone else to get over me
But it won't work
Sweetheart we are down here together
Sweetheart we are down here together
Sweetheart we are down here together
Sweetheart we are down here together

Verse
You think you beat me darling
Don't you girl?
You think you won sweet angel
But you didn't
Just 'cause you're seeing
That I'm grieving
And I've been crying myself to sleep
You think you've got the upper hand
But babydoll you don't understand
That that ain't how it's gonna be

Chorus

Break

Chorus

I'm proud of those lyrics because they flow, they tell a story (sort of), you can tell exactly what the songs about, and they have a catchy chorus. I'm happy with the way it works even though there are a lot of words. I really like the lines "You will cry into your pillow for me" and "You will sleep with someone else to get over me but it won't work" because I think it's something a lot of people have felt in the throws of a nasty breakup.

3.) The lyrics come first. I've only written 2 songs this way in my whole life. Both were written for girls who busted me up. This is basically like you write a poem and then try to find a way to fit music to it. This can be the most rewarding, because the only times I've done this were with lyrics that were very personal, and (at least to me) very well written. A song I wrote this way is "Short Wheel Base", which I wrote for my ex-girlfriend. She broke up with me before I ever got a chance to play it for her. Oh well. This is the poem the song came from:

"So here I am
Letting you in
I swore I'd never talk like this again
But I'm defenseless
When I'm in front of you
I'm not good with words but baby here it goes

I'm sorry that I freaked out
I always mess up somehow
But I'm still around
There's no such thing as perfect
But I believe you're worth it
So I'm trying to hang on
This ride has been a wild one

Your neck
Small of your back
And the tomboy scars all about your knees
Your collarbone
All of you
Showed me that love happens more than once"

All of that was written before I even picked up my guitar. I wrote a melody to it. In this case, we just left it as a guitar and vocals only song. I added a repeat of the middle part as a chorus and that was that. Short and sweet, but heartfelt and personal.

I like most of my songs to be much more Rhett Miller than Adam Duritz, meaning I like to use a lot of similies and metaphors but keep it kind of grounded. I like knowing what a song is about. As much as I love the Counting Crows' songs, they tend to be too much symbolism for my blood. They almost never tell a story or talk about specific feelings. Old 97s' lyrics do exactly that. Gems like "If my heart was a car, you would have wrecked it a long time ago" and "someday somebody's gonna ask you, a question that you should say yes to, just once in your life" don't leave themselves open to much interpretation. What does "coffee black and egg white" mean? (Taken from CC's "Colorblind".) Now that I really think about it, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's a topic thing. I'd rather write songs about drinking and heartbreak than loneliness and soulsearching.

Regardless, writing lyrics is certainly a skill I've yet to master. I only have about 4 songs that are completely finished that I am actually proud of. It's just so hard to make it all come together. But when you can get a song that has a catchy chorus line, a nice verbal flow, it hits all the beats correctly, and it just "works", it's a good feeling.

Thanks for reading. Start makin' yo' plans to be in POC on the 13th!

Recording

2008-11-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

The bass player for the punk band we played with in our first gig went to this expensive recording school called Full Sail. He offered to record us, so on thursday he brought some of his gear over and we laid down tracks for 3 songs (Waste My Time, Mission To Mars, and Down Here Together).

Recording music is a very tedious (and many times expensive) process. You're making something that's permanent, so there's a strong desire to make it perfect. It is VERY difficult to get through an entire song without messing up at least once. The slightest hint of missed timing, a missed note, a buzzed fret, or an awkwardly hit drum can ruin an entire 5 minute take.

I've read a lot about recording online. There is a very good article about the Old 97's recording their latest album here: http://www.prorec.com/Articles/tabid/109/EntryId/288/Point-to-Point-4-The-Old-97s-Blame-it-on-Gravity.aspx . I also have a moderate amount of experience recording my own songs on my pc using a shitty mic and CakeWalk Guitar Tracks recording software. When it comes to recording a band, there are several ways to go about it. You can try and record the whole thing "live", where everybody plays their mic'ed instrument together, or you can record one track at a time. Both have their positives and negatives, but I think the one track at a time method is used most often. That's how we recorded on thursday. Kenny (the guy who recorded us) mic'ed up Keith's drums first. Keith played along with my unplugged (hence silent) guitar. After Keith recorded all three songs, Kenny took down those mics and put them on my amp. I chose to play through my practice amp, a 6" Marshall, because it (in my opinion) has a better clean tone than my larger gig amp. When you record, volume and effects in an amp are many times not used, because those things are much more easily added later in editing on the computer. So the most important thing in a recording amp is the sound of the clean channel on a low volume. Anyway, I had headphones on, listening to Keith's drum track, and laid down my guitar track. This was hard for several reasons. First, I'm not a very good guitar player. Second, many of our songs start with the guitar first without any drums, making it EXTREMELY difficult to catch Keith's first tap in perfect rythm. The way I combatted this was to look at the computer monitor to see the track display, which would show when the burst in volume of Keith's drums was coming up. A better and much smarter method would have been to have Keith play a tap beat from the beginning and delete it later, but we're not smart. Lesson learned.

After I finished laying down the guitar we scrapped Mission To Mars because the timing was so bad (not to mention the lyrics are not yet polished). So I laid down vocals for Waste My Time and Down Here Together. Thus, the chorus of the 1st song my band ever recorded is this:

"Don't talk to me unless you're going to sleep with me."

I'm a regular Bill Shakespeare.

Anyway, the vocals went way better than I thought. I, like pretty much everybody else, cringe when I hear my recorded voice. I always think I sound nasally, pre-pubescent, and over-emotional. But Kenny had a really nice vocal mic, and I had one of my better "voice days", so it wasn't as bad as I had expected.

I LOVE singing. I wish I had more range and control, because if I could sing for a living it would be a dream come true. I mean I LOVE it. I'm always singing. I just cringe when I hear it played back to me.

So we took about 3 hours and came away with 2 1/2 songs. This is fast work. I was disappointed that Kenny wanted to record that fast, as I would have much rather set the goal at recording one song and getting 3 perfect tracks than recording 3 songs filled with fuck-ups. That said, I don't know what kind of magic Kenny can work in editing, because every time I caught an imperfection, his standard response was "no worries, I'll fix that in the mix down". He was great to record with, and seemed to really know what he was doing.

Anyway, in 2 weeks we'll get a mix back from him. If it sounds worth a crap I'll post it on here, YouTube, and/or the myspace page/band website. I'm really hoping it turns out good so we can use it to book more gigs.

One decision that was made was to just record guitars, drums, and lead vocals. We didn't add any bass, effects, keys, backup vocals, or anything. On the one hand this is good, since it means when we play live, it will sound just like the record. On the other hand, we may not end up with a full sound, and I think Keith and I would both agree that when we hear the songs in our heads, they have all those other elements. That said, we can always go back and add them in later.

This experience really made me want to finish the studio. I think I'd really enjoy recording and would be good at it. If I had my own setup, I'd never forget a song, and I'd be able to take the time to record it to my standards. My current personal economy prevents me from doing that in the near future.

Ok, that's all I have to say for now. Hope this finds you well. Thanks for reading. Peace.

First. Gig. Ever.

2008-10-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

Keith works with this dude named Greg, who is in a punk band (their name escapes me; all I can remember is that they have a song called "Death To Midgets"). This guy came to see us practice two times, and offered us a chance to play with them at an upcoming gig. It was a charity event for St. Jude's Hospital, which was cool. Even cooler was that it was at a bar called Hanover's in Pflugerville. With the recent death of The Backyard (damn shame), Hanover's outside venue is the 2nd largest outdoor venue in the area. The place has great character. The outside is set up with a large deck, then a large area with picnic tables, then the stage, then behind that there are some volleyball courts.

Keith and Sarah came over to my house at about 10am. We were supposed to go on at 1. We loaded up all our gear and headed over there. No one was there when we got there; the bar had just opened. We left our stuff in the car and drank a beer(s) and watched some football. Keith and I both have a tendency to drink to excess. The only other time we played together in front of any sort of crowd was when my older brother asked us to play his 10 year HS reunion. We were WASTED, and things ended poorly. So I was kind of worried about either or both of us getting too hammered. On the other hand, I needed a buzz to take the edge off. Anyway, by the time the other bands showed up, I had drank about 4 beers. I imagine Keith had about the same. I had the perfect buzz. It was decided (since it was our first gig) that our band would go on first. We put our gear on the stage and plugged it all in. I looked out from the stage. I felt good. There were about 8 people there who were there to see us, plus about a group of about 15 people who were members of the other bands. There were probably a dozen people up on the wooden deck outside the bar. There were probably another dozen or so near the outdoor entrance who were cooking meat for the charity. There were 3 teams worth of volleyball players. So all total, there were 50-75 people watching. Not bad for a 1st gig. Sure, only 8 of them were there to see us, but still.

Anyway, the guy whose PA it was let us do a check to make sure you could hear everything, and we were ready to start. Most times when you play, there is a guy who mixes the mics for your drums, guitar, vocals, etc. to make sure that everything sounds right. Since we didn't have that, we were going purely by what we could hear on stage. Drums sound A LOT louder when you are up close to them than when you are out in a crowd. So does a 200W guitar amp. Your voice, however, does not. The vocals coming through the monitor (to my ears) sounded like they were the same volume as my guitar and Keith's drums. Not so. If you've watched any of our YouTube vids, you can tell that my voice overpowers the guitar and the drums were practically inaudible. Not a good thing. I believe I can carry a tune, but Pavarotti I'm not. I have the type of voice that you hope can get lost in between cymbals and clanging chords.

(ir)Regardless, the set went well. Keith and I were in good sync. No obvious missed notes or changes. I broke a string during the second song, so I had to switch to my backup guitar, which wasn't a big deal until I broke ANOTHER string on our 7th song, which meant I had to play our last 3 songs with no G string. (HAHAHAHAHAHAH "G string", HAHAHAHAH!!!!!).
During our most "rocking" song, these dudes who were in the band playing after us came and danced/moshed around in the pit in front of the stage, so that was really cool. Their drummer came and put some money in the tip jar. They were "scream" rock, which ain't my cup of tea, but they were polished and they seemed like really really cool guys. Especially the drummer. (They were called "Liquid Revolution"; they're living in Austin while they're recording, but they live full time in Colorado. Check them out if you like bands like Korn and Tool.)

When we got to our last song ("Mission To Mars"), I completely forgot how to play it. I remembered the chords, but I had no idea what the beat was. I played through the chords like 4 times and still couldn't get it. Keith was giving me a "dude wtf" look, so I knew something was wrong. I walked over to him and he started the beat on his drums, and I got it together. We finished the set, I thanked the bar and the crowd, and we got our gear and we were done.

It felt great. Everyone who watched liked us, I'm pretty sure. I did notice that the chorus line from "Waste My Time" ('...don't talk to me unless you're going to sleep with me...') got a big laugh. I considered the gig a rousing success compared to what I was expecting. The venue, crowd size, and overall setup were all better than I thought they were going to be. Our musical performance, though not perfect, was not bad. Stage presence, something I rarely think or worry about, was decent I think. Not too much rock talk, but just enough to show a little personality. Like I said, it felt like a great first gig.

Other random thoughts about it:

Something I hadn't expected was the comraderie(sp?) of the other musicians. You could sort of feel this "we're all in this together, none of us are worth a crap and this is a tiny crowd in an unpaid gig, but we all love playing music and entertaining people so let's support each other" vibe. It was nice.
Playing outside is completely awesome. My wet dream gig would be playing a main stage at ACLfest just as the sun sets. I could die a VERY, VERY happy man if that ever happened.
I badly wanted to have an acoustic guitar and play an Old 97s cover or two. The venue just called for it. I think those in the crowd who were unaffiliated would have enjoyed it much more than our hard 2 piece, the Colorado scream rock, the "Death to Midgets" punk, or the Pat Green wannabe who closed.
I made it a point to go around and thank everybody who was responsible for allowing us to play. Sometimes I think bands 'make it' or are able to book gigs more on the fact that they are nice people rather than talented musicians.
Advantage of being in a 2 piece: short setup time. I HATE being at a rock show and waiting for like 45 minutes while some tool tunes and retunes and moves drums and blah blah blah. The drummer for the last band took like an hour to setup and sound check his drums. Weak. Keith and I were set up and ready to rock in less than 10 minutes.
I'm still trying to decide where the best places for Keith and I to book would be. I think Emo's inside would be good. Maggie Mae's downstairs on a midweek night would be nice. I think we're too hard for Stubb's, Nutty Brown and the like, but too soft for Red Eyed Fly and the metal bars.

Anyway, thanks for reading. See ya soon.

-Jake

Welcome to Stevenson Road!

2008-10-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

So, welcome, everyone, to the official weblog of the rock band Stevenson Road. For those of you who got here by accident, Stevenson Road is a 2 piece rock band made up of Jake Stevenson (guitar, vocals, beer) and Keith Alstrom (drums, beer). Their name comes from the street they both grew up on, which not coincidentally is also Jake's surname. Their common musical influences include bands like Toadies, Counting Crows, Coldplay, and the Pixies.

Jake will most likely be the main person posting here, although Keith will be given full access and encouragement to post as well. So, unless otherwise stated, anytime you see the word "I", that means Jake. This blog may stray from time to time, but mostly it's going to be about what's happening with the band.

How we got to this point

Keith and I have known each other for 25 years. His family moved to my street when I was 3, I think. We lived out in the country, in a neighborhood made up of a single street (the aforementioned Stevenson Road), so Keith and his brothers and my brothers and I spent a lot of time playing together growing up.

Keith's dad is musically inclined, so Keith and his brothers grew up learning piano and guitar. Throughout junior high and high school Keith and his older brother Chris played in various garage/patio bands. I know they played at least two gigs under the name "Fetish". I was at one of them. It was in Port O'Connor for 4th of July, and they opened for the local cover band on the beach. They played awesome. Little Chris wore sunglasses at night as they did a rockin' version of The Troggs' "Wild Thing".

No one in my family could play instruments growing up. Both of my parents can carry a tune, but neither of them can play an instrument. Both of my brothers picked up the guitar sometime in college. My parents saw I was musically inclined, and offered me guitar lessons, but I balked (wasn't 'manly' enough for me--*sigh*). I got a guitar for the Christmas of my junior year in high school. I went through the typical learning process of practicing chords alone in my bedroom after school, and pretty soon I could play a lot of popular songs. The first song I learned was "Closing Time" by Semisonic. The first song I learned to play and sing at the same time was "Goodnight Elizabeth" by Counting Crows. During college I got good enough to start singing and playing at family get togethers. Playing Gin and Juice by the Gourds always got a good laugh.

Fast forward several years to 2007. Keith and his wife Sarah had recently moved back to Austin (more specifically Round Rock) from a 2 year hiatus in Colorado. I had just moved back home after a year and a half in Iraq. I moved in with them while I was househunting. They let me crash with them, rent free, for 3 months. During this time, Keith and I picked up one of our favorite pasttimes--pipe dreaming about being rockstars. Keith had been talking about picking up the drums, so as a thank-you for letting me stay with them, I bought him a $300 Gammon Percussion drumset. When it arrived, we decided to jam the next day. Keith had his drum rig and practice amps set up in their upstairs loft. I brought my $150 Takamine acoustic/electric, plugged it into a 8" amp Keith had, and started off on this G-B-C riff I'd liked forever. After 3 or 4 bars, Keith kicked in a beat. Our first song, "Waste My Time", was created. Stevenson Road was born.

We started practicing every Thursday night. That was in September of last year. I think we've missed one week since. Practice is awesome. It's the highlight of my week. We play covers we both like. We drink beer. We write new songs, and polish old ones. We drink more beer.

We've settled into a routine of playing a 10 song original set. Then we may play some covers, try to write something new, re-practice ones we screwed up, or call it a day (if there's good sports on TV). I bought a house with a detached garage, which I've started remodeling into a studio. It's far from finished, but makes a great practice space.

A couple of weeks ago, we had our first gig, at Hanover's in pflugerville. It was awesome and one of the funnest days of my life. After playing together for a year, we finally had a gig!

So anyway, that pretty much catches y'all up on what's happened up to now. We're practicing, longing to record, and trying to get more gigs. I figured a blog was a good way to keep track of what we're doing. I wouldn't say we have "fans" yet, but we do have people who may be interested what we're up to. So that's what the blog is about.

Thanks for reading. See ya next time.