This Week:

 

Tony Vecchi - Friend, Substitute bass player for The Bynars Summer 09 Tour, Funny Guy

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Are you excited to tour with the Bynars?
Yes. Although it does pain me to leave my brethren in Close Friends for 2 weeks this summer. I have told them this is not so much a "tour" for me as it is a "spirit quest."  Yes I am excited to play bass with The Bynars and certainly to add my hirsute qualities to the band's denuded appearance, but behind my eyes, if you look close enough, you'll see an eagle soaring. That eagle is the spirit of my missing uncle Patrick. He is the one I am searching for.

Eating food is great, but have you ever thought about eating air?
I've taken a few gulps on a bet or two, but really, I try to stay away from it. The winde from mine arse is quite virulent enough without any additional intake from the other recepitcle... if you catch my drift.

Jnco jeans come back in style.  What do you do?
Get myself 2 wallet chains. One for my velcro wallet and the other for my koosh ball. Then I'd put on a snap bracelet and go on family vacation to bermuda and come back with braids and beads in my hair.

What did you do this morning?
I woke up from a dream where I was shooting a zombie in the face with a laser gun. I was singing the words, "help meee! help meee!" over and over again like in a musical. Then I took a shower before my roomate did to avoid the thick layer of filth she manages to leave in there each morning. Afterwards I prepared a fine breakfast of oatmeal with raisins and walnuts and a cup of chilled Godiva chocolate coffee. You see... what I do is brew up some coffee a day or two beforehand, but I always make too much! I leave the rest in the fridge for myself like a special treat that I forget about!

Is Close Friends a 4-headed demon entity or are they an actual band?
Jeff, Thom, and Kevin are actually attached to my flank and are viciously flailing behind me at this moment guarding the gates to Baal's throne. We take shifts to check gmail and facebook as there is only room for 3 demon heads in the dark lord's antechamber. With 4 in there it just gets too crowded and we start knocking things down, like the time one of Thom's horns knocked over a chalice of pure lava.

Did that last question have poor grammar?
It was written very well.

Our practice space floor is coated with a 5" layer of peanut butter.  What do you do?
Get out my slide and start playing "Whipping Post" by The Allman Brothers Band. I would then put some on Tony's upper lip and watch him try to lick it off through the hole in his teeth. [ed. note, Tony (not to be cofused with Tony Vecchi, author of this hilarious piece) is the supervisor/"security" guy at our practice space in Brighton, MA. He's... a character... I imagine he became the way he did through years of rock - and by rock I mean crack cocaine]

"You Are Not Alone" written by R. Kelly was Michael Jackson's last #1 single.  Thoughts.
Michael Jackson was one of the greatest artists of our time and surely he knew when to pillage the work of a lesser man.

Thumb tacks or push pins?
Push pins. Thumb tacks always seem so sinsiter to me since they rarely come in all the wonderful colors a push pin does. Also they are very small and could be hiding anywhere, like in a napkin.

What's your favorite Bynars song that you've learned?
I really enjoy playing "Sunshine" and I hope I can sing some backup vocals on it. I've also taken the time to expand my bass solo on "We Started a Band" into a 4 minute interprative dance piece symbolizing the plight of young men in the modern world. It's pretty much going to be like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11usUPlrF1c&feature=related. I hope you don't mind.

Please check out Tony's bands TonyBear and Close Friends - they are both excellent.

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This concludes the Know Your Bynar series. It's been fun, but now we have to go on tour.  We'll be blogging a lot and doing the twitter thing a lot to keep you all in the loop.  Follow us here, and check back in this very blog section for updates.  There will be pictures.  There will be camping.  There will be farts.  Who knows what other kinds of whacky Bynars adventures there will be!  See you on "The Road."

This Week:

 

Matt Jatkola - Guitar/Vocals, composer of such memorable songs as "Oysters on My Brain" and "Weird Hippy Song"

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You accidentally ate an ant.  What do you do?
I close my eyes and imagine its journey through my body like an episode of the Magic School Bus.
 
If you could make one thing real that isn’t, what would it be?
What kind of question is that?!  You mean like Pinocchio?  I think I would make feelings real.  Like... if I could make Love and Hate into physical, tangible forms, such as apples and cucumbers… that would be cool.  I wonder what Despair would be?  Cranberry Sauce perhaps?
 
What is your favorite Bynars song of the moment?
Uhhh... A song called "Get Down" or "How Do You Know When You're Down?"  --- (haven't decided on the title yet) --- That's my fave right now.  We haven’t worked on it as a band yet, but they’ve all heard the demo and we plan to soon.  I enjoy that one a lot.
 
What are you most excited about on the Bynars tour?
Hanging out in Chicago, The show we’re playing in Philadelphia with awesome bands, Eating pizza, Getting frustrated with my tour mates, Camping, the prospect of Alien Abduction, and having fun!

What's the deal?
I'm not sure, but it might have something to do with the year 2012.

Who is your favorite Boston band?
Past – The Lot Six
Present - Big Bear
Future - H.H.
 
Would you rather: smell really good 6 days a week and stink really bad for 1 day, or smell "just a little weird" all the time?
That's really hard.  I think I'd like to stink really bad for 1 day a week.
 
Home Depot or Lowe's?
I've never been to Lowe's actually... but I don't really like Home Depot because it’s so hard to find what you need in there.  So I'll just say Lowe's.
 
What are your thoughts on the new E.P. being released soon from the Bynars?
Well... I think it's gonna be excellent.  We’ve done a huge chunk of tracking… just about done the whole thing now.  We’re trying to get it done before we go on tour so we can sit on the mixes for a while and think before releasing it.  I think we’re aiming for a Sept/early Oct release.  I'm not sure what it will be called yet.  We've been calling it "E.P. #3" but I like the idea of calling it “Party All Nite” after the song of the same name that will hopefully make the cut.  I really wanted this to be our “Songs For Johnny” E.P. as it’s been a concept I’ve had in my head since we set out to record, but I don’t think this is the one… not enough songs about Johnny yet…  This one does have the most solid songs so far though.  We’ve really settled in as a band now, especially with Mike our drummer and it really shows.  The sounds are different and exciting, and we actually mic'ed my guitar this time rather than playing directly into a computer as we’ve done on the past E.P.’s (hey! it sounded good!).  I'm anticipating way cooler sounds, a big change in the feel of the songs, a lushness of synth sounds I can only dream of right now, but mostly an improvement on everything we've done so far.  I'm psyched!  And my friend Vanessa said she'd do the artwork for it - double psyched!

Do you ever wonder what else is out there?
Constantly.

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Check back next week for the final installment of Know Your Bynar

This Week:
 
 
 
Ben Mettey - Lead Synthesist of the Bynars, very good instrument cable wrapper

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Who's your favorite Boston band?
This is a double answer. As far as old bands go, I think my favorite Boston band would be The Cars. I guess that comes through in our music a bit, but I also like them more than Aerosmith or Boston. I listen to Greg Hawkes' keyboard parts and they make me sweat a little. For new bands, I think I'd have to go with Mittens. Even though they broke up, they were one of my favorite bands to see live! So much fun and such great energy. And the songwriting was great too! I mean, I could go off and name more...Karate, Jonathan Richman...ehhh. I'm done with this question.

Do you like super glue?
No. Not even a little. I go straight for the gorilla glue.

 
What song are you most excited about on the next Bynars record?
Definitely "Timezone", because of the ending parts...I've got so many ideas for it, non-synthesized ideas and synthesized. I just want it to sound as interesting as possible! I think "Party All Night" is a close second, just because it will be awesome to hear a full band version of the song with everything on it. (Including Matt's newly obtained vocoder)

You are on top of a mountain, what do you say?
"Daaaaaaad, when can we go hooooooome?"

Elvis Costello, friend or foe?
Elvis Costello from 1977-1982 = good friend.
Elvis Costello from 1982-present = foe. Except for the things that he's done with Burt Bacharach and Alan Toussaint. I like those. albums.
 
How low can you go?
Not very. Look at me!
 
Do you think Dole is a good name for a food company?
Yeah, man! They dole out the fruits that go into my mouth! What else do they make besides bananas? I feel like I haven't had much else. Wait...do they make canned fruit? I think I might have had their canned pineapple rings...
 
It is the year 1999.  What do you do to stop George Lucas from releasing episodes 1-3?
Crack him in the head with a rusty shovel, as he's saying, "Don't you wanna see Darth Vader as a kid?"
 
Are you pumped for Bynars tour?
Absolutely. I'm excited to tour the world...and elsewhere. I'm trying to predict which tour stop I'm going to totally flip out and break something. It's not something I do often, but sometimes I just get this feeling... I hope I don't get egged. When we were on tour with Lights, I got egged while waiting for AAA to come get Matt's keys out of his car in Philly, I just sorta laughed. The ride home sucked though! It was a very sticky journey.
 
Why should we give you this job?
This is the hardest question in a job interview. One time I told them, ' i don't really want to work here, I just need money very badly'. I got the job, and then quit a few months later. The hotel industry is a cruel bitch!

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Check back next week for another installment of Know Your Bynar

This Week:

 


Mike Champ - drummer and iPhone chess app authority

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Is your mind completely open and free?
Not even close.  I am in high need of daily meditation.  Still working out the schedule.
 
Apples or Oranges?
This is tough.  Uuugh, apples.
 
Favorite Bynars song of the moment?
"I'm so Glad"

Do you feel?
Oh, I feel.
 
How is recording for Bynars EP #3 going?
It's off to a good start.  We'll have to edit out my heavy breathing on the softer numbers, but that's okay.
 
It's 2am.  IHOP is closed for renovations.  What do you do?
Break in.
 
What are your thoughts on going on tour with the Bynars?
Whenever I talk about it I wet my pants out of excitement.  So I'm just going to keep this brief and say that I'm looking forward to it.  Shit.
 
Are you good at Jenga?
Never played, but I think I could wing it.
 
What band do you really like that the Bynars have played with?
Close Friends.  I've got a soft spot in my heart for out-there guitar solos.
 
How was your Chemistry class?
Chemistry was good.  I went a lot of crazy places, you know?  But it's hard.  Hard to leave it all behind.  You just gotta keep your dick up.  That's what my older brother used to say: "Mike, keep your chin up."  That's always important.  What?

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Check back next week for another installment of Know Your Bynar