We're finally get a lot of work accomplished in the studio for our new CD! Basic tracks have been recorded for 9 songs. Now we can focus on a few overdubs and track edits. The CD will be (probably) called "Precious Piece of Mind" and the individual song titles are:

1. Precious Piece of Mind
2. Getaway
3. Promises
4. I Can Take You
5. From a Million Miles Away
6. Fort Surf
7. FOCO
8. The Hurt Begins at Home
9. AI Theme

Stay tuned for more studio updates!

(November 10, 2008 update) Progress is being made!  If it seems like it's taking forever, that's because it is!

One Two Three
This song has a lot of history. It was written before I met Steve by me and Bill Hitri. Bill was in a band called Pop Poppins in the late eighties/early nineties. We had a band called The Haunted Generation right before that and this is one of our songs from that band. Steve had listened to us do it and liked it enough to work it into the AIT playlist.

It's different in some very good ways from the Haunted Generation tune - there's a guitar break/solo - the old version never had that. Steve did borrow Bill's beat up Ovation accoustic/electric to record it, though. I nicknamed that old guitar "The Standing O". Bill still has it.

The title for the song is inspired by an old Jimmy Cagney movie. The lyrics are about modern life and how it drives you... it'll drive you crazy if you let it.

"The boss man and the pauper / the priest man and the fool / all seem to know my name / and they're crying to be paid" is probably one of my better opening lines.

- Michael

I always had great respect and admiration for the Haunted Generation songs created by Michael and Bill.  Their songs were mostly acoustic and very serious in text and tone.  One Two Three was my favorite HG song and I wanted to somehow record it in an AI kind of way.  We ended up speeding up the tempo quite a bit, as compared to the original HG version of the song.  I felt the song needed to retain it's acoustic nature though, so I used Bill's Ovation to record most of the guitar tracks.  I really enjoyed playing Bill's guitar and he often let me borrow it for days or even weeks at a time.  In return I'd record HG demos for Bill and Michael, utilizing a portable Tascam 4-track cassette recorder.  I'm really glad AI recorded this song...and it's become a favorite among our fans.

- Steve


My Prima Donna
This is a song that I wrote lyrics around the instrumental track I was given. The song had so much energy I decided to lighten things up a bit and wrote about a girl I was dating at the time.

It was a hard song to sing. There's hardly a break for taking a breath and the choruses take a lot of effort. I've never considered myself a great vocalist.

This song would get my vote to be made a video. It has a marching band vibe, I think.

It's a fun song.

- Michael
   
A lot of the early (pre-Michael) demo songs of AI were very influenced by electronics and machines.  Before Michael joined the band, the song that eventually became "My Prima Donna" was known as "Let's Simulate".  The lyrics were pretty silly and influenced by flight simulators used by the military to train fighter pilots.  Needless to say, that made for a very weird song.  The music was a bit slower and much more electronic in nature.  I never thought the song would go anywhere as "Let's Simulate", although the riffs were catchy and fun to play.  When Michael heard the music, he was able to come up with totally new lyrics and melody lines, and the song was reborn as "My Prima Donna."

At the beginning of the drum break in the middle of the song you'll hear a scream performed by Jeff's girlfriend Penny.  We were recording her screams in the living room of my apartment.  Penny was a LOUD screamer and we did several practice takes.  At one point there was a knock on my door.  I opened the door and there stood a policeman!  Someone heard a girl screaming in my apartment so the cops were called in to investigate.  We stood there innocently and assured him we were just recording tracks for songs.  He looked around suspiciously, but was finally convinced and left.  Being in a rock band often leads to run-ins with the law.  :-)

-Steve

Absolution
This song was a poem I had written long before we set to work on the finished product. Steve played me the rough instrumental track and I instantly realized how well the words would fit the music. That's the magic of music. That's what always sustained me through the long hours of practicing and dealing with the frustrations that come with making music.

It's still one of my favorite songs. The lyrics have a Gothic/Catholic thing going and I like the way they are carried by the sleek guitar. Like most of the stuff I had written back then, I'm trying to say something without saying too much or hitting the listener over the head with my point.

The bass riff is a blast - a sort of 007/Peter Gunn movie soundtrack thing going on.

Steve's solo on this song is just right, I've always thought. Restrained, economical - right to the point.

Like I said, it's one of my favorite songs by AIT or any other band for that matter.

- Michael

I think all musicians subconsciously (and sometimes consciously) absorb and incorporate lots of musical influences when creating their own unique sound. The Smiths are a big influence on the sound of Artificial Intelligence.  I came up with the guitar riff for Absolution as a result of that Smiths' influence.  Upon hearing the first demo music I made for Absolution, Jeff was ecstatic.  He was very pleased to hear that I incorporated a bit of Johnny Marr's style into my style of guitar playing.  Jeff's bass line on this song incorporates some influences from The Cure.  And Michael's great vocal lines recall the sound of Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan and The Doors' Jim Morrison.   The result of all these influences sounds like...us.

-Steve

January
More poetry made to music. It's about new beginnings - January is the first month of the year - and I'm more than a little oblique about what I'm saying. Lots of good gothic imagery and cryptic phrases. Perfect New Wave.

The tune is our straight ahead rocker. The lung bursting choruses go perfectly with the scorching guitars and sleek, deadly solos - Steve's at the top of his game. Our techno-dance bassist Jeff actually breaks out the Aqua Net and spandex and lays down a good, solid groove.

 It's one of my sister Judy's favorites. Full volume in the car with her boodle of kiddos and she sings along. Too cool.

One of our reviews on GarageBand labeled the song a missing piece from one of the Brat Pack movies.

I'll take it.

- Michael

This song is fun to play.   My Rush-influenced riffing and Billy Idol-ish drum beats combine with Michael's powerful vocals and thought provoking lyrics to create another AI tune that hopefully tends to make people both dance and headbang.  And, yeah, Jeff really lays down a rock-solid bass groove for this song.  It's always interesting how the three of us, with vastly different musical interests, collaborate on songs.

- Steve

Bittersweet
This song features Scott Schroedl's excellent drumming. Check out Scott's MySpace page:  http://www.myspace.com/scottschroedl 

-Steve

Time Remembers

BIOGRAPHY
The roots of Artificial Intelligence in Texas can be traced to 1986 and a friendship between guitarist Steve Rabeler and keyboardist Tom Scott in Fort Worth, TX. An ad placed in a local record shop led to bassist / keyboardist Jeff Jackson joining the duo. An extensive search for a vocalist followed, with several singers auditioning. These tryouts immediately ended when singer / poet Michael Giaquinto auditioned and sang just a few lines. Giaquinto's vocal qualities ranged from the laid back apathy of English new wave to the strength of sixties vintage Doors. With the core lineup of the band settled, Artificial Intelligence in Texas began frequent songwriting and rehearsal sessions.

The diverse influences of punk, new wave, electronic club/dance music, and progressive rock's muscular guitar work all played surprisingly well with Giaquinto's vocals and created a style that now eerily sounds like a predecessor to contemporary bands such as The Strokes, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand and Interpol. The text and tone of the songs was as varied as the band member's influences: songs about spirituality, the cold war, love, divorce, dreams and even a couple of sly takes on then current eighties culture. Demos for more  than 20 songs were recorded utilizing a 4-track portastudio. Local radio stations began playing the band's music from homemade cassettes being distributed around the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex. At that time the local music in the Dallas area was energized, featuring a wealth of bands that were later to be signed by major labels in the late eighties / early nineties and AIT seemed poised for certain success. Rehearsal sessions with drummer extraordinaire Anthony Jackson ensued as the band prepared to gig at area clubs. The talented and energetic band members also found their services in constant demand with other music projects. Ultimately the harsh reality of late 80's economics forced Rabeler, the band's founder and driving force, to relocate in 1988. The band disbanded.

After more than 15 years apart, a Google search reunited Rabeler (relocated to New Jersey) and Giaquinto (relocated to Colorado) in 2004. New songwriting and recording sessions quickly followed and resulted in the first new Artificial Intelligence in Texas song since the late eighties - "Bittersweet".  In 2005 several more recording sessions ensued at Skylab Studios in Roosevelt, New Jersey, engineered by Dan Skye (former bassist with Bon Jovi).  The band released their long overdue debut album, Time Remembers, in early 2006.

In early 2007, founding member Tom Scott rejoined the band along with new drummer Bill Schmidt.  The band is currently writing new songs, and recording sessions are underway at Skylab Studios.  Artificial Intelligence in Texas plans to release their 2nd CD sometime in 2009.

2 of our fans have brought up a very interesting issue regarding the flag draped over  Arin's (our robot pinup girl cartoon) shoulder in our various graphics.  Basically it's a design accident that no one noticed until the graphics were all complete and published.  Now it will exist forever as a rather difficult and unique trivia question regarding Artificial Intelligence in Texas.  Can anyone else spot "what's wrong with this picture"?  

The second CD.

I've started demos and reviewing song material - it's going to be a different album.

"Promises" is more prayer than song and "Getaway" has such innocence.  The newest material is angry – "Supernazi" and "Money, Dope, Sex and Texas".  Some of the music has a heavier feel to it and the lyrics are very dark.

There's a track that has a real Cult or Guns & Roses feel to it that I'm finalizing lyrics for - about the same girl that Bittersweet is about. I can still write songs about her.

I do the demos at home on my PC. I have a small database of instrumental tracks to write lyrics and melodies for.

There are about eight songs I consider contenders for the CD and about another eight that could be worked once they were finished. There is quite a lot of raw material to draw from. I've even decided to provide some "a capella" stuff to Steve - that's a first.

And the mix of inspiration runs from the stuff that's from our original play list in Fort Worth, Texas to heavy metal and how mean the streets now are. There are songs that have spiritual innocence as well.

I was shocked into abstinence from music for a while after I finished demos for the first new AI songs since the first album. They are very dark and angry songs. I had to take some time to look inside myself and decide which direction, if any at all, I was going to take for the rest of the songs to be written. I draw heavily from my collection of poetry for my lyrics. My life and my writing went through some changes. I had as well - I could see that clearly when the songs were played one after the other. What happens gradually over a period of years springs into stark contrast in the form of poetry / lyrics I had written. Maybe it was just the luck of the draw on how the available poetry fit the instrumental tracks - not that I am becoming an angrier and more cynical person. I just was when I wrote that poetry.

But I did choose them; I wanted to use those words.

Hopefully it will all balance out and have some nice diversity.

One thing that is very different and scary about this CD is that I know now we have a large audience. We have fans from all over the world now that listen to and love our music. I now know that you're out there and you're listening.

-Michael
 

We're pleased to announce that our MySpace friend Sheryl is the official winner of our recent "Name the Bot-Girl Contest!   Sheryl came up with the name "Arin", which is a cool acronym for "Artificial Intelligence".

There were lots of other great contest entries and we'd like to thank everyone who submitted a name for consideration.  We're currently in the studio working on new material and sometime in the next few months we'll email an mp3 preview track from our upcoming new CD to each person who submitted a contest entry. 

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Saturday, November 18, 2006

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We Need Your Help! (what's happening?) Category: Music The Artificial Intelligence in Texas Robot Pinup Girl needs a name…so we're holding a contest to see who can come up with the coolest name for her!  The winning contestant (based on our totally biased and subjective opinion) will receive an autographed copy of our CD "Time Remembers" plus an item of your choice of Official Artificial Intelligence in Texas merchandise!  To enter, post a comment here, or send an email to artificialintelligenceintexas@yahoo.com.  Enter once or enter often!  The contest ends on January 31, 2007.  Thanks and good luck!!

We've posted other songs on a brand new Artificial Intelligence in Texas MySpace page!

Every now and then we'll be using this alternate MySpace page to post more songs, photos, and other surprises you won't find on our main page.    Please check out the new page when you have a chance and let us know your thoughts!

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN TEXAS

On the official Artificial Intelligence in Texas website, you can listen to samples of all the songs from our debut album "Time Remembers".  You can also check out lots of photos and cool links. So come and visit out our brand new new site and please let us know what you think!

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN TEXAS

The name "Artificial Intelligence in Texas" is not political commentary relating to the current president of the United States.  The band was originally called "Artificial Intelligence" in honor of a cheap Casio keyboard that was used to provide some basic electronic rhythms.  The Casio was subsequently replaced by a somewhat more sophisticated Oberheim DMX drum machine, adding some new "Artificial Intelligence" to the band's sound.  When Steve discovered that another band with the name "Artificial Intelligence" already existed, the "in Texas" part of the name was added in honor of the state in which the band formed.  The band is also commonly referred to as "AI" or "AIT".  

PODCASTS
Podcasters are very supportive of independent artist like us. Please help support indie music by listening to some of these great  podcasts that feature AIT's music:
 
Reaching For Lucidity (UK), Bad Dawg Radio (Nebraska), Confessions of a Student (UK), The Switched (Texas), Travelrock (Italy), Tower of Song (Texas), Views From the Cave (Texas), X Pat Radio (Wisconsin), Podcasting.pl (Poland), The Bold Deceiver Show (Pennsylvania), UC Radio (California), Radio Revolution (Sweden), YourSpace Radio (New York), Exposed Radio (South Carolina), The Jersey Toddshow (New Jersey), Audio Pandemic (California), Jersey Jamcast (New Jersey), Radio MLM (Germany), Pizza Babe Goes Global, Jersey Beat (New Jersey), and The Big O (Texas).

For the most current listing of podcasts that feature our songs, click here.

RADIO
Our music has also received airplay on some traditional radio stations like KTCL 93.3 FM, Denver, Colorado and WALF 89.7 FM, Alfred University, New York.