Here you will find the a new song "Whatever Happened To You" and a full band version of "Note To Self," previously only available as an acoustic demo. And if you missed out on the limited release of "Love My Way" back a few summers ago, you can find that here as well.
Also here are re-thought, remixed and remastered versions of "You Promised," "Gold Star (Feel Like A Ghost)" and (my personal favorite) "We Had A Good Thing."
Here you'll find Josh Woodward doing backing vocals on "Valentines" and a recently unearthed acoustic cover of Hüsker Dü's "No Reservations" which I originally did waaay back in 2002, newly polished to a 24-bit sheen.
Here also are finalized, no-more-George-Lucas-inserting-extra-dewbacks cuts of "Pushover," "Fall To Earth" and "Dark Corners." (And the cover art is another phone-cam shot, taken when I had longer, more questionable hair.)
You can get both EPs at iTunes right now, and eventually at Amazon. If you prefer exotic formats like FLAC or Ogg Vorbis with Creative Commons licensing, Bandcamp will hook you up.
Demo Club members can knock 20% off the asking price at Bandcamp by using the discount code I emailed out today. If you're already in the Demo Club, you'd already know that, hm?
I hope you enjoy these! More nefarious schemes are in the works.
#1 by Trevor Larkin A local discovery. I was hooked from the very first song. Don't let the cover art scare you off; there's some magic ingredient here that raises this stuff way above typical singer-songwriter fare. Standout track: "Seattle Winter Day." SO good.
Our Own Ghost City by Helen Earth Band. (Helen Earth. Get it?) Tight math-rock stuff from San Diego. Also, nice to hear prog songs that clock in at pop song lengths; no full-album-side pieces here. The single "(We All) Talk With Knives" is killer.
Love It to Life by Jesse Malin & St. Marks Social. This one frustrates me 'cause I'm a big Jesse Malin fan but this just hasn't grown on me yet. I miss the wider range of his first two records, before he started channeling Cheap Trick.
BEHOLD! Today I'm releasing Use Your Words, a free digital EP of instrumental tracks. You can grab it now at Bandcamp.
Awhile back I was digging through files on my older recording computer and came across some instrumental mixes I had been sitting on for so long I'd forgotten about them. I think the idea was to offer them for licensing, but I'm supremely lazy about things that involve making money and/or phone calls.
I've been listening to these on repeat for awhile and it's fascinating (to me, at least) to hear this music without vocals getting in the way. It brings to mind a lot of questions. Why did I put that guitar over there? Why do the drums sound better in this track than that track? Oh hey, I don't even remember recording that tambourine.
Anyway, feel free to use these in your podcasts, videos or what have you. I pulled the cover photo from my phone camera, taken on a particularly crappy day in spring 2009. The days that followed got a whole lot better. Enjoy.
PS: Bandcamp will ask for an email address in exchange for the free download. If you're already a Demo Club member, don't worry, you won't be added twice!
So poor Kyle had to go down to the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend without the full Kirby Krackle lineup due to scheduling conflicts. I hear he's performing solo at their booth at the top of every hour, so if you're at SDCC make sure to swing by and tell 'im his bassist said to request "Up Up Down Down" on pain of face-punching.
Back in May we went to the Phoenix ComiCon as a band, and I've been meaning to post pics. The details are a bit fuzzy, but I do recall blazing temperatures, almost sharing an elevator with Felicia Day -- twice -- close encounters with Wil Wheaton and sci-fi writer John Scalzi, and a hotel lobby just packed with with cosplayers all night every night.
This photo doesn't even come close:
I actually didn't hang around on the tradeshow floor very much. Instead, keyboardist Bryce and I decided to take in some local scenery and scale Camelback Mountain, a huge rock formation outside the city.
What could possibly go wrong?
The scenery was fantastic. I don't think I've ever seen saguaro cactus in the wild. And there were tons of them, and blooming.
Here's Mr. better-shape-than-I-am Bryce at the peak. Smug, healthy jerk.
Back at the 'con, this guy took the Most Dedicated Makeup Job award:
Kyle soundchecking:
They opened the doors a bit early so the early crowd caught us with our musical pants down:
We were one of several acts playing that night, and our opening act was a real doozy: James Marsters, aka Spike, aka Brainiac, aka Capt. John Hart, strumming an acoustic and singing Springsteen-esque original tunes. I heard the VIP seating for this event was pricey. Spike's got fans. Unfortunately this is the best pic I could get:
And that's about all I have. Special thanks to the guys off to stage right jumping up and down screaming every word, that was totally swords. If you saw me there: hi!
Holcombe Waller interview. Really great interview with the Portland OR artist with a lot of chewy ideas that really resonate with me:
"Releasing tracks iteratively feels in line with a modern, Facebook/Twitter-shaped multi-threaded experience of reality.
"Digital rights management tried to forge an economy of scarcity in the digital realm. These schemes all failed. I think in our guts we know that if there is no scarcity, imposing false scarcity is simply wicked.
"People understand the realities of working artists and value being directly involved, and knowing where their money is going. All of these factors contribute to a 'more satisfying' monetary offering than shelving out $15 for some plastic."
not martha — anniversary cake. Megan recounts our California experience on the 10th anniversary of us leaving Ohio. I didn't much care for California livin' either.
I've been using Earlove earplugs ever since Megan bought me a pair a few years back. They are great.
For years I never liked wearing earplugs during rehearsals or shows for the same reason other people don't wear them: the sound gets muffled and it's hard to hear any detail. Sponge earplugs tend to filter out high frequencies so all you hear is bass and mids. Industrial plugs are designed to block as much sound as possible, which was great when I used to work summers at my Dad's packaging plant but not so great for knowing if you're even playing in the right key while standing next to a crash cymbal at ear-level.
These Earlove plugs manage to reduce the overall volume without cutting the highs. I don't really know how they do this. All I know is I don't have to remove them when we talk between songs at rehearsal; I can actually hear conversation with them in. I've taken to wearing them onstage and when I'm in the audience at noisy rock shows. I swear there have been times when the Earlove plugs have helped me hear and comprehend sung vocals that otherwise would've been buried in noise.
I've even taken them to the movies because it seems commonplace to just freakin' BLAST the speaker volume at theaters these days (although that could be just me fast approaching old dude status -- loud movies can get off my lawn.)
And in general, I just feel less exhausted, less wiped out after a super-loud concert. I used to go to bed with ears ringing. No longer.
Earlove is made by Etymotic Research. There are probably even better plugs out there for hi-fi hearing protection, but at ~$10 a pair it's a pretty good value. I recently bought a pair for everyone in Explone. I fully intend to rock out into my golden years and I hope to preserve my cilia well past then.
Kyle Stevens (current Explone guitarist and Kirby Krackle alphageek) has released two digital singles on iTunes, "Matches In The Walls" and "Vouch For Me".
Seattle band Born Anchors are trying to raise funds for a vinyl pressing of their new record. They're using a Kickstarter campaign and only have a few weeks to reach their goal.
Longtime me-supporter and Demo Clubber Joel Canfield composed a wandering Arabic-trance track and is aiming for 1000 downloads. Get it here. Also, he and his wife are selling the car and home and living like a nomads for awhile. Gutsy.
Save You From Yourself alumni Laurie Katherine Carlsson and Jerin Falkner have founded a group with some other local performers called the Sintonia Collective. They sent in an audition tape and won an opportunity to perform with Imogen Heap here in Seattle a few weeks back.
This is pretty great right here: Sintonia with Imogen Heap, performing Heap's song "Earth" a cappella:
And here's the group performing Jerin's song "Charade" during the opening slot:
And in case you missed it in my last post, the new Explone album Dreamers/Lovers is now available on iTunes.
I think that's enough Explone-related stuff for awhile. On deck: more secret songwriting project, Kirby Krackle at the San Diego Comic Con, and a new song or two from yours truly.
This Thursday 6/17 is the big release show for the new Explone album. We're returning to the Crocodile with guests Sirens Sister (ex-Vendetta Red guys) and The Admiral's Club.
Are you local? It would be great to see you there. Here's the Facebook event and here's where to get advance tickets. Come, let us rock you. Rock you, we shall.
Are you not local? You can still help us out by requesting songs from the record at KEXP. (The DJs there seem to be particularly fond of "It's Complicated").
No really, everyone. People who looked at me cross-eyed ten years ago when I tried to explain to them what a "blog" was are now busy "liking" stuff and posting on walls. Friends and family who never bothered with email accounts -- or if they did, only checked for new messages on the weekends, how can you live like that? -- are getting their Farmville on. I used to get in hot water for not returning phone calls. Now I get scolded when I don't reply to a cousin's Wall post.
I'm not complaining. I've been waiting a decade for these folks to get online.
Look Back On This And Laugh is the darker, more electric and more lovelorn of the two.
The acoustic-y companion EP, The Last Thing You Need, contains songs written before I released Save You From Yourself, but didn't include on that record.
I've been using 
This Thursday 6/17 is the big release show for the new Explone album. We're returning to the Crocodile with guests Sirens Sister (ex-Vendetta Red guys) and The Admiral's Club.