First off, I want to thank everyone who came out to either the Suffolk Punch on Friday or Cabarrus Brewing on Saturday. Special thanks to the very kind folks over at the Suffolk Punch who helped us move our gear inside when it started raining; not once but twice. But, we had such a great time at both shows and y’all were very supportive. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
I’m not totally sure where this blog is headed but I felt like sitting down and writing today. I just got back from playing basketball and I will tell you that my skin is still getting used to being out in the sun after being mostly holed up for the past year. I was out for like an hour, maybe hour and half and have a light sunburn going on. Crazy. But, that’s kind of how it’s been going the past few years. The white half of me always seems to strike first and I get a little burned the first couple times out. Then, my Native American half kicks in and I start to get fairly dark. Then, I get mad at half of myself for murdering all the ancestors of my other half. Then, half of me gives the other half some blankets and whiskey and says now we’re square while the other half slowly dies off. But, hey, at least once I get my Native tan going it’s hard for me to burn for the rest of summer; swings and roudabouts…
As you can tell, I wasn’t kidding when I said I wasn’t sure where this was headed. I think this is going to turn into one of my random thoughts blog. I can just feel it… Oh, yep… Here it comes… Hold on to your butts…
Random thought #1 - Everlong by the Foo Fighters is fucking amazing (also, the 90’s ruled, Michel Gondry and other stuff…)
My band and I have started playing this 90’s rock medley recently that mashes up a few songs from the Pixies, Weezer and Nirvana. Our drummer put two of them together and it felt like it needed a third. So to find that third song, I went back and listened to a lot of 90’s music; which was a fucking awesome trip down memory lane. There is an unbelievable amount of great music from that decade. Some of my favorite records of all-time are from the 90’s. In no particular order, those are albums like:
OK Computer - Radiohead
Homogenic - Bjork
The Lonesome Crowded West - Modest Mouse
Sixteen Stone - Bush
The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
Automatic for the People - R.E.M.
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
Grace - Jeff Buckley
Aquemini - Outkast
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins
The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips
Bee Thousand - Guided by Voices
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu-Tang Clan
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement
Nevermind - Nirvana
In Utero - Nirvana
MTV Unplugged - Nirvana
OK, so obviously I’m a big Nirvana fan… And those are just off the top of my head. I’m sure I’m missing a bunch. Pearl Jam nearly made the list but none of their studio albums ever made it into heavy rotation for me. Their live bootlegs are just so much better but those mostly came out in the aughts.
Anyways, once we got that together, it was suggested we try to do a Foo song like Everlong. We don’t do many covers because:
A) I have a lot of fucking songs so why waste time on ones people already know?
B) We really only pick ones that make us happy when we play them, which really narrows down the list
It’s really a bonus when we can do one that we really love and that the crowd actually knows. We have a few like that that we break out pretty regularly like Psycho Killer and Sympathy for the Devil. But doing a Foo song intrigued me. Monkey Wrench was one of the first songs I ever taped off the radio.
When I first starting really getting into music, the only radio we had was this cheap little GE or something that had like a 3” speaker but no tape deck or CD player. I remember how excited I was when my mom and stepdad had saved up enough Camel Cash (anyone else remember this marketing gimmick?) to get a Sony CD/cassette/radio boombox. It was like upgrading your Geo Metro to a fucking Toyota Camry. Not a crazy loud/fancy car but a huge upgrade from what you’re used to.
I would sit on the living room floor for hours and just listen to the alternative radio station coming out of Milwaukee (94.7fm, I think it was). It’s where I first heard bands like Bush, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam and so many other bands that would start to shape my musical tastes. But, the aggressiveness mixed with the poppiness of Monkey Wrench by the Foo Fighters hit me differently than most of the others. I remember having the thought of “this has an energy that I don’t hear outside of those Nirvana songs.” Yep. I said that to myself. I was like 10 at the time, little did I know the connection between the bands.
I had a system to making my early tapes. If I heard a song I loved and wanted to dub, I’d note the time and wait until they switched over DJ’s. If during one shift, they played Monkey Wrench in the first ten minutes, I’d get ready as soon as they switched over, knowing it would likely be in the early rotation. It didn’t always play out like that but it often was fairly similar DJ to DJ during peak hours. So, after school one day when I flipped on the radio, I heard Monkey Wrench for the first time. I never tried to record a song on the first time I heard it. I always wanted to just experience a song that first time. I noted the time, it was like the third song of the hour, and waited. And waited. Two hours later, they finally had a DJ shift change and I got the tape deck ready. Sure enough, after a couple of other songs, it came back on. I raced for the record/play buttons and nabbed it. My obsession with music had begun.
Which bring me back (finally) to the random thought topic. The Colour and Shape was one of the first CD’s I ever owned. Everlong was always my favorite song off of it, and that was before I saw the amazing Michel Gondry music video for it. Which, if you haven’t seen it, stop everything in your life and watch this now:
Fun side note, around 2008 or 2009, Michel Gondry did this thing that for like $20 he would do a portrait sketch of any photo you sent in. My girlfriend at the time found out about it and sent in a photo of me. That led to one of my favorite gifts I ever got/things I own. I mean, look at this:
I love that he brought in the oversized hand thing, which is also in the Everlong video. Apparently, it’s a recurring nightmare he has. Anyways, I always loved Everlong, the video made me love it more and love Gondry, and this sketch of me really tied the room together. If you love Gondry, check out The Science of Sleep. It’s one of my favorite movies ever.
Random thought #2 - Memorial Day
First off, I just want to thank any current or former service members who are reading this for your service to our great country. Sure, she has a lot of flaws and can do much better in certain areas (i.e. racism, our broken two-party political system, etc.) but it’s my homeland; literally, I’m half Native American so this probably more my homeland than yours. And if you’d like to give me some of your land as reparations, I’ll gladly take it because as a poor musician I’m not likely to be purchasing land of my own anytime soon. Although, I guess I could just say I’m Manifest Destiny-ing, murder some people and take theirs. That only seems fair. Eye for an eye and all that…
But seriously, I do extend a lot of gratitude towards our men and women in uniform. Someone has to do the hard work for this country and I’m part of the majority who chose not to. Though, this day does always make me think of how close I came to joining the military and being shipped off to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Like most of us, 9/11 changed my outlook of the world. Terrorism was something we heard about in other parts of the world but not here at home. We’ve had our fair share of atrocities like the Tulsa Massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Unabomber, etc. but for some reason we rarely used the T word when those were brought up (we still have this problem today). After hearing something had happened, we gathered in the library at school. We all watched that first tower burn as the second plane hit on live TV. I didn’t have the ability to really process what was happening. Like so many, I just felt numb and sad. I eventually worked my way through the grieving process and got to anger, which is where I stayed for a long time. I wanted to do something. I didn’t want to feel helpless about what had happened. I wanted to join the Army. With my grades (4.0 GPA), I figured I could get into officer’s school or whatever that’s called and hopefully lead some soldiers into battle against this new enemy. The only catch, I wasn’t close to being old enough. I didn’t know what I was going to do after high school anyways and thought that would be a good way to defend my country and save up some money for life on the other side.
Years later, as I was starting to get close enough to join up, it was obvious the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were unwinnable and were turning into long-term occupations. I had friends who were older that had served and they came back with horrific stories, and some with PTSD. Still, I wanted to do something to serve the country. By the time I was finally 18, my growing hatred for George W. and the wars themselves finally persuaded me to opt out. I had an appointment set up with a recruiter, who had come to our high school to sign up 16 and 17 year old students for reminders/appointments when they turned 18. I had signed up, but decided at the last moment to skip it. I think it was probably the right move for me but I was definitely set on joining for a number of years before time wore me down. I’m sure my life would have turned out quite differently had I been a little older and joined up, but I’m not sure it would have been for the better. I do still feel a tinge of guilt about not serving so I have the utmost respect for those who do. It’s such an amazing sacrifice for the enlisted and their families. My hat is off to you. And I literally just took off my Milwaukee Brewers hat even though none of you would know, but I would and I would feel bad if I said it and didn’t do it. You deserve it and I mean that.
Random thought #3 - Thank God for live shows returning…
It has been a long hard year for everyone but due to the hard work of our scientific community we have some amazing vaccines that are finally putting the end in sight for this pandemic. Sure, it might pop back up seasonally like the flu or whatever but I have my Covid antibodies from my bout of Covid last year and my shots from Pfizer so I feel like I’m good to go on this shit. It feels so good to play, interact with people, etc. after spending the past year in my small apartment playing for my by now very annoyed wife and cat (and neighbors who were probably like goddamn it, just go out and play some shows already. We originally thought it was cool a musician lived near us but now we all hate your shit. Just shut the fuck up already…). As much as I hate hauling 300lbs of gear all over the place, I’ve never been happier to do it.
We played back to back shows this weekend for just the second time since the pandemic started (the first time was a month ago) and it was glorious. It was great to be out, to not be worried about possibly getting or giving someone what can be a life-threatening virus and to meet some great new people. I also forgot how tired I can get after multiple 3 hour shows. Part of that is likely due to the Covid as I’m pretty sure I have long-term heart issues because of it. I haven’t been able to workout, play basketball or perform at 100% without feeling some chest pain. Maybe it’s from being a year older, but it sure seems like more than that. Hopefully, it gets better with time.
We’re obviously not back to pre-2020 levels of shows/bookings but it’s so nice to be playing more than like once a month. It’s probably why I’m extra tired today after those shows. I probably went a little too hard as I have all this pent up energy that has been waiting to be released on stage. I did also come away from the shows with a few new bruises in random places which probably confirms the rocked-out-too-hard theory. I love Rock ‘n’ Roll…
Anyways, that’s what I have for you today. I need to go eat some dinner and watch the Brewers game. The bats are finally starting to wake up after losing like 10 in a row despite some stellar starting pitching. That’s the Brewers. Great bats for a few years but mediocre pitching. Now, they have great pitching and the bats have gone cold. Typical. But this past week has finally been a good week so I’m excited to watch tonight. Until next time!