“Kenny R.” in California writes…
Brian-
It has now been one day short of a month since you last updated the road journal’s new “Tumblr” page, and that can mean just one thing. You have quit the band after a heated debate with Ryan over what you thought was Bruce Willis’ worst performance on screen. I don’t want to get into the argument or studio in-fighting, but if I had to guess, I would say that you went with “Last Man Standing,” and Ryan took “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” Both valid opinions, but unfortunately, you are both wrong. The film is of course, “Hudson Hawk.” (Though the case can be made for both “The Sixth Sense,” AND “Hart’s War.”)
It’s so cool that someone was checking our website because they wanted an update. My bad. I think it’s been all downhill for Bruce since “Moonlighting” but that’s not what we’ve been arguing about. We’ve been arguing because while recording the second batch of songs at a studio in NY last week, someone slobbered all over my snare drum right before a really important take…
I know what you’re thinking. I know what Kenny R is going to write about next. Oh no, the new direction of the studio journal and the band in general is to make corny jokes about their kids and post adorable photos of them holding instruments.
All I can say is this… wait until you see the lyrics, Kenny R. You wouldn’t think a band could rip off “Cat’s in the Cradle” in so many unique ways. In the end, I forgave Ryan for drooling on my snare drum because his daughter Leo is so damn cute.
At this point, the drums on the record are all recorded, and it’s my job to sit on the couch, listen while the flaws slowly sink in, and then figure out the perfect moment to go fix them on the computer. One of the things I’m most proud of so far on this record is that I used these old crappy old 12 inch hi hats I once bought on the road on like, more than half the songs. They sound like someone throwing a toaster oven in a metal trash can when you play them next to your ear, or next to Leo’s ear, but somehow they sounded like sweet creamy butter in the mics.
I didn’t pay ten dollars for them, I think I paid $200. But someone, once, paid ten dollars for them, or at least wrote $10 in permanent magic marker on the underside of them. They sound best on Jesus & Mary, which is a kind-of-reggae song we wrote with the hi hat chugging through all the verses. I know, reggae. I know. We try to write one reggae song every album and then it never even makes it to the studio because it sounds like reggae. This one’s actually getting recorded and might end up on the album. Probably because it’s not really that reggae. It’s reggae in a clashy way.
Also, after many experiments with “rocking,” and many failed experiments with “rocking” (see: The New Underground, circa 2006), we are making an album with little-to-no rocking on it. It’s energetic and up tempo like never before, this record, but there are no songs you’d want to put up devil horns with three fingers while listening to. There is one song, working title: Ry Plays Guitar where you might put up a half skull or something, but he’s rocking on an acoustic and it rocks in a more slackery indie way. That one is tentatively titled as such a) because we need to write the lyrics for it and b) because it’s the one song that Ryan plays guitar on.
We’re breaking for the holidays now, but before we split up, we tried out a vocal on Hebrew Joe, which is one of my favorite numbers. It’s this soft graceful Nick Drake-y song we wrote where Joe was singing gibberish in a Russian accent during its conception. Lots of “chuh’s” and “shne’s” and stuff. It’s kind of silly but kind of awesome, and we’ve had conversations about whether to put English words on it, but always thought that it would sound weird with real lyrics because it was conceived in a real moment, an inspired moment, and it just strangely works with foreign gibberish lyrics.
Well, we recorded the gibberish vocal, listened to it, and everyone unanimously decided it sounded ridiculous. Producer DK said “I think you’re ruining a great song.” He was right. Ryan had a set of lyrics he was working on about that girl who fell in a well and those sounded much better. Stay tuned.
6 months ago
