File under PURE AWESOME: the first Explone record, Crooks, is finally available on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores.
I was a fan of this album long before I joined as the bass player. Now you too can be drawn into the massive oceanic guitars of "The Highest Time," just like I was. I must've air-guitared the bass line to that tune a hundred times before I got up the nerve to audition.
Not that it matters now, but a few weeks back I donated a few tunes to Local Voices For Obama, a series of short video interviews with swing-state voters on why they're voting for (now President-Elect) Obama.
I'm not sure when or where they aired, but I just found them all on YouTube and they came out pretty nice. Here's one that uses At The Airport in the background:
The hard drive on my recording computer is nearly full. I didn't think this was possible, but here we are. I recall my first "real" PC came with a 40MB (that's megabyte) hard drive. Surely I'd never need more storage than that, oh ho ho!
These days, 40MB is about the average size of Gravel Road Requiem in WAV format. Also, I have JPGs that are bigger than the Zork trilogy combined.
I am still playing bass with Explone, although we are still firmly in NDA mode after taking most of the summer off, the departure of one drummer and the return of another. We have recorded a few songs. They rock. You'll see.
In the end we did not prevail in the Ourstage competition, but thank you for voting all the same.
In more awesome news, listener Suichi used Holding Back in this Hokkaido motorcycle tour video. Pretty sweet:
(There are also tons more songs on the music and demos pages, don'tcha know.)
It's Thanksgiving month. My thanks to you, for listening and enabling my pseudo-rock star habit with your attention, encouragement and occasional hard-earned dollars. I'm working on another new song for this month, so don't wander too far.
I intended to write a spooky tune for Halloween, but failed utterly. And given the global financial-ocalypse and the upcoming election, there's already plenty to be creeped out about. And also this song has "ghost" in the title so I guess that'll have to do.
Instead of spooky, I bring you angry. I wrote this tune back in February and although I meant it to be a mostly acoustic number, I was heavily under the influence of Bob Mould's latest and convinced that the world could really use more electric guitars going BWA-NA-NA-NA-NA over everything.
(As for the lyrics: open to interpretation. Feel free to superimpose your favorite psychosocial meatgrinder experience.)
As is the new tradition here, the 128k file is free when you log in. You can also get a high-quality 320k file, along with bonus solo acoustic and instrumental versions and artwork in a handy ZIP file for one thin US dollar.
Scott Andrew - Gold Star (Feel Like A Ghost)
[audio:misc/Scott Andrew - Gold Star (Feel Like A Ghost) (128k).mp3]
Buy MP3 bundle for $1 (ZIP file, 320k, includes bonus solo acoustic and instrumental versions)
so you've come to set me straight
an irresistible disaster
so hold me up against the others
maybe we'll both find what we're after
'cause it doesn't take much
it hardly takes anything
to make me feel like a ghost these days
invisible — ethereal —
and just a gold star by my name
so say you want to keep me safe
'cause I want to be someone worth saving
but I'm always leaving one door open
for whenever you get tired of waiting
'cause it doesn't take much
it hardly takes anything
to make me feel like a ghost these days
invisible — ethereal —
and just a gold star by my name
cut away the ropes and skin that
tie us down and hem us in
did you think I'd fall for that again?
and all the things I've ever wanted
were things that needed to be given
another house been doused for burnin'
just blame it on another bad decision
'cause it doesn't take much
it hardly takes anything
to make me feel like a ghost these days
invisible — ethereal —
and just a gold star by my name
it doesn't take much
it hardly takes anything
to make me feel like a ghost these days
invisible — ethereal —
and just a gold star by my name
My pal Jim Santanella, who helped me record Save You From Yourself in his home studio, has released a new album of his own: Cold Rain. Congrats Jim!
The songs on Cold Rain are appropriately dark without being overtly morose, evocative of those bright days in winter that punctuate the endless weeks of drizzle. I sing the harmonies on "Wonder" and "Sketches" and contributed the David Gilmour-sound-alike solo at the tail end of "She." But my favorite track is the sparse closer "Last Show." Do give it a spin.
Here's one of the brighter moments from my CD release show in July: Dennis came out from behind the drum kit to play the conga and sing with Laurie K. and I on Holding Back. It's pretty awesome how the occasional three-part harmonies carry the song along. Definitely a high point of the evening!
Scott Andrew - Holding Back (live at Egan's)
[audio:live/Scott Andrew - Holding Back (live at Egans).mp3]
Unfortunately, most of the live audio I got from the show was not great quality. I've salvaged a few tunes but I'm still working my way through it all.
By the way, there are less than ten free copies of Love My Way left. Grab 'em while you can.
UPDATE: the September contest is over, and Holding Back finished at #5 out over 550 entries, which should hopefully put me in serious contention for that opening act slot. Mission accomplished! Thanks again for your help.
Mongol General: Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women.
As a rule I don't enter song contests or "battle of the bands" anymore, because 1) most of them are outright scams, and 2) I don't like begging people to vote for me. You and I, we have better things to do.
So it's with some squirming trepidation that I refer you to Ourstage.com and my song, Holding Back, which at the time of this writing is #3 out of over 500 entries.
Why am I telling you this? Here's why:
I don't really care about winning the contest. All I care about is keeping Holding Back in the Top 10 or so.
Why? Because I'm in the running for a chance to open for Matt Nathanson when he comes to Seattle in November. They're basically going to look at the top ranked singer-songwriters and pick the most suitable artist for the gig. Being the only Seattle-based guy in the Top 20, I think I have a really good chance.
So yeah, I'm asking for your help. The catch is, Ourstage is righteously, outrageously fair and doesn't allow mob rule. You can't just vote for my song and then skedaddle away. Instead, Ourstage will randomly serve you two songs, and you "judge" the best of the two.
Lucky for you, it's the quarterfinals! Which means there are only 20 songs to vote for. So the chances of Holding Back popping up for you are very very high. But even if it doesn't, it's important that you still judge fairly, the idea being that Democracy In Action will float the best songs to the top.
So here's what you do. Go here, sign up, then go here and start judging songs. It's actually kind of addicting (I've done it a bit myself). If you see Holding Back, vote it up, yay! If not, just keep judging until you're bored, hungry or your boss comes wandering by.
It's become a joke that any cover song I perform will be scooped up by a more famous artist. When Laurie and I were performing as the Walkingbirds, we used to play Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes," which was cool until people started asking if I'd heard of this Jeffrey Gaines fellow, and wow his version of "In Your Eyes" is just awesome, so we must be like total fans or something, right?
Anyway, I'm not sure what the brothers Butler had in mind when they wrote this tune. All I know is it's been stuck in my brain for months, and it's my moral imperative to appall hardcore fans with my baby-soft treatment of the best pop tune of '82, and I must do it before Death Cab For Cutie does.
Why is this a clip? I thought you hated clips.
Yeah, about that. This is a cover song, which means I had to buy a license, and that license only allows downloads, not streams.The license also limits the number of downloads, so at some point the links below will stop working. Sorry, gotta play by the book on this one.
Just like the last tune, the 128k version is free to Demo Clubbers, and the 320k version can be had along with acoustic and instrumental versions for one US dollar.
Scott Andrew - Love My Way
[audio:misc/Scott Andrew - Love My Way (30 sec clip 128k).mp3|no_dl=1]
[mp3:/misc/Scott Andrew - Love My Way (128k).mp3|100]
Buy MP3 bundle for $1 (17MB ZIP file, 320k, includes bonus acoustic and instrumental versions)
Congrats to my internet pal Brad Sucks who released his new album Out Of It today. I'm rocking out to it this very moment. "Bad Sign" alone is worth whatever price you're willing to pay (and you can name your price).
I've taken a lot of inspiration (as well as stolen ideas) from Brad over the past few years and we've had email conversations about the ups and downs of being a DIY musician. I consider him part of my virtual peer/support group, so to see him charging out of the gate with Out Of It makes me wanna cheer and jump around.
File under PURE AWESOME: the first Explone record, Crooks, is finally available on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores.
