The Musical Schizo

So we (meaning Roman Holiday) played a house party this past weekend. It was uneven musically, but fun. Part of the reason we had some issues was related to having to keep the volume down ridiculously low so it wouldn’t carry far enough for the neighbors to call the police. It didn’t work. The cops eventually shut us down a little after 11pm.

I was going to give the Dean ML bass its debut, but it didn’t pan out.

It was pretty fun, though, and showed us what we need to work on. The hosts were awesome, even if one of the meat dishes they made for the party smelled like poop to me. I have a weird sense of smell, though.

This coming weekend we’re playing at a fraternity party at Texas A&M. It should be interesting, since these guys have a specific idea of what stuff they want to hear.

I’m going to try and work out a Nine Inch Nails tune (“Closer”) for this weekend, but I’m a little scared about it because I need to know exactly where to come in or it’ll be a fustercluck…I’m also going to have my 80s hair metal ballads at the ready for the schmaltz factor. Apparently they want the girls to have a good time, which is pretty much our raison d’etre.

Problem? I don’t know exactly what 20-year-old girls think is cool, but I’m fairly certain it isn’t on our song list. We’ll see.

It will be interesting. I’m looking forward to the three of us piling into Ned’s truck, though. That will be cool.

So I went to Centro Chitarra’s Labor Day blowout sale.

And I bought some crap.

Two Dean guitars, in fact.

One, a Vendetta – a solidbody electric that is as light as a Parker Fly (no lie)
Two, an ML Bass – think Dimebag Darrell, only a bass. (think of the Chat Stew on The Soup) “So metal…”

Total damage? $138 for BOTH guitars.

How are they? They ROCK.

Take a listen to “Dean Blues” (imaginative title, eh?):
Stream it
Download it

Blues in A – how original…I had to finally do one, though; I live in Austin.

Though I do admit, I can play forever in the 12-bar format. I guess that’s true of most guitarists worth their salt. Vendetta on guitar, ML on bass, Processed Drumkit 217 on the skins. My hands did it all.

Peace to all!

And I have to say, things, musically, are looking pretty damn good.

Roman Holiday is getting some really good private parties and our foot in the door at some really respectable venues. We’re about to enter “the land of the backing track” soon, so we’ll see how that goes. It’ll definitely fill out our sound.

Tonight Ned (RH guitarist) and I are heading over to check out another good Austin cover band called “Sprung”. A guy I work with is their drummer.

I restrung and cleaned up my old #1 guitar, “Grandpa” (a 1990 Fender H.M. Strat Ultra), leaving the locking part of the locking nut off.

I think I’m going to modify it and put an Earvana nut or something like that on it. Maybe just graphite. I’m definitely going to have a luthier/tech do it, though, because I really want the guitar to be as awesome as it once was, only without the annoyance that is a stripped locking nut. Or, the more likely scenario: I’ll do nothing and just enjoy it for what it is.

Anyway, no new songs since last post, but I do want to write some soon. Maybe I can gank a few free hours this holiday weekend and write and record a song.

We shall see… 🙂

So I moved the family piano into the studio, because our house just isn’t big enough to have it out in the den (it really makes the room small).

Then I set up the mic and recorded some stuff just for fun. Here’s a sample.

I also recorded some covers with just me and an acoustic guitar for fun. I was constantly being interrupted by the kids, and I forgot some words here and there (not to mention missed a few notes), but I think these show you that a good song is a good song regardless of how fleshed-out the arrangement is:
Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
Sunday Morning (Maroon5)

I like goofing around when I can. I encourage you to do the same!

I’m into the “tion”s these days.

Aggravation – as in, I get aggravated when I’m not feeling like the machine is churning behind me musically, especially when I’m giving a LOT like I was at the Light Bar last Saturday night.

Frustration – from having a complete night of clusterfucks.

Dehydration – having nothing to do with alcohol, but purely based on too much heat – no matter how much water I drank, I still felt like diarrhea the next day.

Remuneration – or more accurately, not much remuneration for all our troubles.

Destination – or perhaps…

Vacation – as in, it’s time for me to have one, and it’s good that the band has a break so we can get our crap together.

Circumnavigation – feeling like you’ve circled the “globe of emotions” in the course of one show.

Creation – I wrote part of a song…but just part, but it was still new and creative.

Isolation – I need some sometimes. I get really short and snippy if I don’t get it.

Recreation – taking the kids for a swim Saturday was actually quite awesome.

Violation – talking about other band members on here isn’t kosher with “band code”, but I was really frustrated by their performances Saturday night – I love ’em to death, truly, but I felt like I needed to get Casey angry so she’d actually hit the drums with some power (it just seemed really weak up on stage – I hope it was more “together” out front), and I wanted to get Ned some replacement nerves, because apparently the ones connecting his brain and hands (and his thinking and memory) weren’t working all that well Saturday night.

Conflagration – could be something that happens from my brash honesty on here.

Migration – moving to a new drummer will make things a lot different for this band, which isn’t a bad thing.

Satisfaction – that I used “tion” more than anyone probably should.

Salutations!

This was sent in response to a Roman Holiday e-mail list post by Ned:
“The other band that has rocked my world is Roman Holiday (http://www.romanholidayband.com/). They stepped in when The Recliners had to cancel out on a reception I was hosting for a conference last week. Roman Holiday is a three piece with one of the most amazing bass players I’ve seen on stage in a long time. He plays like John Taylor and sings like… well, whoeverthehell he wants to. They do AC/DC, The Beastie Boys, Smash Mouth, The Ramones… well the song list is on the web site. AND they’ll be adding Duran Duran soon! Woot! They are playing on Saturday at 10pm at The Light Bar, which is located across the street from the Frost Bank Building at 4th and Congress. Their regular drummer had to drop out due to work but the sit in (a chic drummer and she’s hot!) is really great and if they hadn’t told me I would not have known they hadn’t rehearsed.”

…and that was a show with barely any rehearsal, played with Casey, who had barely picked up sticks in five months.

Comments like these just remind me of the reality that no matter how much you think you suck, someone probably thinks you’re awesome. Thanks to the folks who came out to Stubb’s, and especially the hosts of the party for reminding me of that by sending these wonderful comments along.

I’ve been on a huge Jason Falkner kick these past few days, soaking up just about everything he put out – Presents Author Unknown, Can You Still Feel?, Bliss Descending, and even his guitar work in Jellyfish. The dude is just supremely talented, and completely overlooked except by songwriting musos like me.

His music almost sounds like prog-pop, in the sense that it uses very dense, complicated arrangements of guitar and voice. It’s just weird enough to not sound completely mainstream, but everything is a hook. It’s kind of like XTC, only an American version, with all the instruments performed by one guy (he plays everything on his albums).

I encourage everyone who reads this to go to your nearest record store or used CD store, and grab any of his records you can find. OR if you’re a Napster or Rhapsody member (the unlimited kind) check him out on there.

He has a new album out, but it’s still unavailable in the states except as an import from Japan. They get all the good stuff, including bonus tracks on almost all releases that aren’t available on the American versions.

Why is America so consistently denied the best in power pop?

In a world that actually judges its art based on merit rather than fashion, Jason Falkner would be a superstar.

So, here’s to you, Jason…I hope you’re able to shed those sideman shoes and get the recognition that befits a talent as great as yours.

Wednesday and Thursday were good in Roman Holiday-land.

Wednesday night, we auditioned a great drummer (Rob). Thursday he decided to join the band. YAY!

Wednesday night, we played with Casey (who we love). Thursday, we did it again at Stubb’s. It was great.

We’re going to take our time finding a fourth member of the band.

I think we’ll be pretty stellar as a trio (and we’ll make more money).

Rock!

So we played The Light Bar. It was relatively fun, but load in and load out sucked.

I saw a dude I work with there. It was funny seeing him out of context. It was funnier seeing him singing along to the songs I was singing. The staff at the Light Bar was great – especially Jennifer. It’s a cool place, and probably a really fun “hang” if you aren’t working (as in, playing music in the heat and humidity on the roof).

It was probably our last gig with Mike, which is sad. We’ve got a gig Thursday evening at Stubb’s to play for two hours for a private function. It should be cool – especially since Casey’s going to play with us (Casey was the drummer in Roman Holiday up until February).

It’s an uncertain future, though. We want to have good people who can also play to add to our little family, and so far, the guys we’ve auditioned have been good people, but none have been all that right for the band (either from their perspective or ours).

We’ve got another audition on Wednesday, and then we’ll rehearse with Casey for Thursday’s gig. It should be an adventure of sorts, since I haven’t played with Casey in months. I’m looking forward to it, though. The drummer we’re auditioning seems to be quite excellent from the stuff he’s recorded. We’ll see if he wants to play with us.

Well, off to do some more work…

I was listening to some XTC yesterday (a great and highly underrated group) and reading an interview with principal songwriter and lead singer Andy Partridge, and something he said struck me as interesting.

If you want to become a better songwriter, you should pick apart your favorite songs and analyze why they work, structurally. Eventually, you’ll come upon formulas that will help you express what you want in your own writing.

I realize that this isn’t something I’ve ever done consciously, but I’ve always done because that’s just the way I am – I pick things apart to better understand them as a whole.

I think that’s why when I listen to even the first songs I ever wrote they had good structure – distinct musical themes, good bridges between sections, the strongest hooks in the chorus, etc.

I guess it’s just the way I always thought songs should work, and so when I started writing, that’s how they came out. I even plot out rhyme schemes sometimes.

I wish I could have the same discipline with my technique. Then I’d be able to execute the songs a whole lot better.

Guitar World magazine just published Steve Vai’s 1990 workout again, which I’m going to accept as a sign that it’s time for me to really get into practicing guitar again and getting my fretboard memorization together. I want to shred. I’m tired of being a half-assed guitar player. I have all the relative and perfect pitch lessons (the David L. Burge stuff), and I want to work on those, too, especially the relative pitch lessons, because not only do they teach you great relative pitch, it’s a rigorous theory curriculum as well.

So in concert with the discipline I’ve always had as a songwriter, it’s time to achieve it as an instrumentalist.

After I tackle all that stuff (especially the fretboard memorization), I’ll work on reading music again.