One of my favorite pasttimes as most of you know is reviewing music, particularly from indie bands.  Usually I’m right on the money so you may want to sit up and take notice.

The band is called Giftshop and 800 Million is the name of their 4 song EP, it showcases some great writing, performances and punk/pop polish.  The title track is a flat out commercial hit written by guitarist Matt Santoro- a great 80ish axe riff followed by crashing rhythm instruments set the table for Meghan Taylor’s bell-clear vocals.  Taylor creates a unique style - her rock chops recall Christina Amphlett of the Divinyls as well as a brashy Kim Deal/Pink straightforwardness.  She conveys strength and vulnerability which sounds familiar yet original at the same time. 

They follow up with an upbeat march called Boomer.  You have to hand it to bass player/songwriter Damian Eckstein, who is asking the self aggrandizing 60’s generation to take a hard look at what they’ve become with biting lines like "Ta-Ta, farewell, uh oh you have to go" and "Sunny selfishness has found itself a new cloud".  "Peach Girl" is unabashed power punk, "Purchase", a nimble stutter-step pop tune with a cool "uh-huh"  hook.

The production on this record is top notch, particularly for an independent recording, and is about as radio-friendly as it comes. You can find out more at www.giftshopnyc.com.

I've decided to not try to kill myself and have a Christmas album ready for this year.  It's a tough decision for me because I always look at projects for two contradictory stances - if there's a tight deadline, you end up having to rush the process and end up with an inferior product, but if you don't have a deadline, you never seem to get around to doing the project at all.  Also, a tight deadline will place a certain amount of urgency that translates into energy that fuels the final result.  The way I look at it, though, is that this is just too tight a deadline even for me.

The good news is that I have just about finished writing or at least drafting 11 songs ("The Thought That Counts") that I will finish recording eventually, and this project has really helped break a very long songwriting drought that I've been suffering for years.  I'm happy to say that I like every one of these songs, and that with the right amount of time and effort put in will create a great album.  I still need to fix my computer so I can finish recording the demos.  Once that's done, I can find the proper singers and musicians to augment the songs.  Once that's done, I can put together the right kind of release for the album.

Keep ya posted...

 

Rolling right along - I shot down to the Studion about 9:30 last night and got back to demo recording/lyric writing/song arranging.  I'm totally in the groove right now - I took a drum track from the infamous Splat album (the only decent 3/4 beat I could find), sped it up and recorded Wintertime, a neat little jazz thing I came up with.  I actually recorded the rhythm guitar tracks in one take, much to my shock as I was messing it up all last weekend.  Of course, the solo tracks are another story.  The saying goes that there are no wrong notes in Jazz.  Believe me, if you hear the demo in current form, I have disproven that theory.  Still, I was able to complete the lyrics and have most of the basic track other than the bass and the completed solos.  (I'm not even going to attempt piano - that's what Manwaring is for!) 

Taking a break tonight - I have dinner plans with the Mrs, which will certainly be the highlight of the day, without question.

It's raining today, that's usually sad

But I'm not.  Not today.  I wish it would always rain on a day

Like today.  Flowers will grow, oceans will fill

And it makes the day feel different

Than a day so long before.  I think of you, my friend,

As you head into another world, you will forget the connection to this one

But we won't forget our connection to you.  I hope to feel you come back to visit.  I'll know you're there when I feel a vibration under my feet or hear some static in the air.

Or feel a raindrop on my face.

I'm glad it's raining today.  I hope it rains everyday

On a day like today.

Recording continues, and what a great weekend!  I finished writing the lyrics to Jingle and One More Day, then really went to work on All I Got For Xmas - I cleaned up the horns and bass tracks and coaxed my wife to come down and do her first ever lead vocal.  She demanded many drinks (although all we did was consume a couple Hard Mikes - boy do we rock out) and got started.  She totally nailed the lead vocal, employing a kind of Carrie Underwood/ Martina McBride southern twang (even though she's originally from Queens - go figure).  Not only were her vocals completely in key, but very clear, and well interpreted.  We fixed a couple of the lines that were awkward right on the spot, and after about two rehearsals, she pretty much got the track down. 

She was nervous at first, but then got into it and made great adjustments.  She had some trouble with the bridge (which I created in the studio, so she had never heard it before), but only needed about 3 takes to get that as well.  After hearing it back, she was surprised at this southern character that got unleashed, and actually got adventurous enough to add harmony vocals.  We had a little get together the next day, and I shamelessly played the rough mix for everyone.  (Annika hid in the kitchen when I did that...)

Last night, I finished writing the lyrics for both Jingle and One More Day and recorded scratch vocals for both.  Sadly, I'm realizing that my vocalist days are probably coming to an end, as I don't think any of my scratch vocals are any good at all.  The good news is that my songwriting chops seem to have returned after several years of inconsistency, and my producing seems to be peaking as well.  I really like how this album is coming along!

I want to finish recording Jingle, Wintertime and Thanksgiving, then finish (start?) writing Christmas Story and The Thought That Counts.  Onward and upward.

Last week was a good one for the old PCP.  On Wednesday, battling all kinds of illnesses, I relented and stayed home for the day, spending most of it in the backyard.  I took the opportunity to actually call helpdesk and got my recording software working again.  I then took the rest of the week and recorded four new demos, three of which are total keepers and one of which I need to retool.  This brings me to 8 songs for the album that are written, half of which are demoed. 

I'm under an extreme deadline if I have any chance of getting this thing done by holiday time.  The next two weeks will really tell me if I have a shot or not.  I need to write at least two more songs and retooling "TTTC", then figure out how to record it.  My latest thought is that I'll just send the demos out to the musicians I want to work with and record them live in a studio.  Might get better energy and better quality.  Either that, or it's over at my associate's place, which might work as well.  We'll see. 

Scott Frase, Brian Takei and me - creating on the spot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B074paP_qFg

So, I was on vacation last week at the in-law's house (this is what happens when you buy your own house - you have to cut corners...) and I ended up doing a lot of driving all over the tri-state area.  Here's a look at the itinerary:

Sunday - drive to Tom's River (75 miles)

Monday - drive to amusement park (86 miles round trip)

Tuesday - drive to my sister's house (75 miles)

Wednesday - drive to my brother's house (20 miles), then to my Dad's cemetary (Queens) his old house (Brooklyn) back to my brother's house and then back sister's house (who knows at this point), watch my nephew's football practice (where I actually helped out), back into the car and back down to the in-laws - another 75 miles or so.

Thursday - Took Mom-in-Law to dinner, otherwise, not much driving

Friday - LBI - about 40 miles round trip

Saturday - here's where it gets good.  Down 20 miles to beach.  Go out in high tide with glasses on.  Glasses strewn to sea.  No one in group can drive my car (stick shift).  Pack up kids blindly, leave car at beach, wife drives all of us home, we go to barbeque, back 75 miles to home, find extra pair of glasses, which leads to :

Sunday - Take bus (I'm not kidding, folks) 75 miles down, picked up by mother in law, drive to beach (20 miles), get car, drive 75 miles home, pick up older daughter, drive 55 miles to party, head back, get stuck in horrific traffic, finally get home 55 miles later.

Good vacation - I'm quite rested.  Oh, so, at some point during all this driving I decided to write and record a Christmas record.  I have 5 songs so far - (4 Christmas, 1 Thanksgiving).  It's actually coming out pretty good - stay tuned...

 

Last Friday, filmmaker Joe Malone got his high school friends and The Man cohorts Pat, Tom and Luke together in one room to record a commentary track for this infamous piece of work.  No one really knew what to expect as the four of them had not seen each other regularly since 1984.  The reaction to the film was surprisingly positive, and apparently the film wasn't as bad as the four of them remembered it being. 

Probably the main question on everyone's mind is - why are you doing this in the first place?  You made this movie almost 10 years ago, almost no one saw it  and those who did couldn't even follow the story line.  Well, there are many reasons, but I think Joe summed it up best when he recalled a conversation he had with his wife:  "She said, 'so you're going to actually spend money and time to make a special version of a film that no one is going to ever see?'  And I said, yes, absolutely.  It's actually liberating". 

See, that's the point.  Long ago, against everyone's better judgement, we made a feature length guerrilla film with no money, very little experience and a crappy analog camcorder that was obsolete before we even finished shooting.  We shot in places without permission, shot on locations that were extremely dangerous, and made up scenes on the spot.  The funniest part is that compared to what Hollywood puts out today on a regular basis, our little cruddy film actually seems a lot more interesting. 

Well, writing the September 12th album has not gone so well, so I'm putting it aside for a little while until I feel more political.  The good news is that the song bug has bitten me a little bit and I have some new demos recorded.  I've just posted the first one.  It's called "C'est La Vie" and features my long time friend Jeff Gjersoe on guitar, organ and horn programming.  I'm the other one on the track playing guitar, bass, piano and vocals. We managed to record the track without ever being in the same room together - me from my mobile studio and Jeff from his Atlanta home. If you'd like a copy of this and some other demos, let me know.