Fall
into me
Feel my weight
Let it overtake your feet
Under me
Where the water is clean
Lo,
sunder me
through the stones
with the river at my feet
Underneath
Where the water is clean
Oh, though it seems
that the currents slake the reeds
Pull the salt right out of the seeds
Let it bloom
Let it bleed
Let it out
Watch me soak into your seams
Underneath
Where the water is clean
Fold into the sound
A shuttered breath in my mouth
And you draw the needle through
Pull my golden thread into you
Ooh, ooh, let the current carry you
Ooh, ooh, wash anew
Ooh, ooh, feel that anchor coming loose
Pull my golden thread into you
Fall
into me
Feel my weight
Let it overtake your feet
Under me
Where the water is clean
Lo,
sunder me
through the stones
with the river at my feet
Underneath
Where the water is clean
Orphan Seeds (8-Track Demo- Lots of mistakes)
Lights out
a face in the crowd
where we drown into the ever
She was gone without a trace
Full sound
betrayed by the ground
whose ties we're like to sever
And she went laughing to the grave
And a sole red oak leads to the pathway
to a lonely clearing in the glade
where a dress--sage green--
worse for the wear but buried beneath
and only the wildflowers know the way
Smoke in my lungs but baby, you taste like--
Imogen
would you run with me?
Let the engine seize and just go?
Baby, Imogen
would you run with me?
We'll let the orphan seeds take us home
Smoke in my lungs, but baby you taste like nothing
Next town
Folded and found
but the solace there was fleeting
screaming static in the clay
Laid out
Brace for the shout
and a tell-tale heart still beating
Only silence where she laid
And a sole red oak leads to a pathway
to a lonely clearing in the glade
where a dress--sage green--
worse for the wear but buried beneath
and only the wildflowers know the way
Smoke in my lungs but baby, you taste like--
Imogen
would you run with me?
Let the engine seize and just go?
Baby, Imogen
would you run with me?
We'll let the orphan seeds take us home
Smoke in my lungs, but baby you taste like nothing
Hello everybody. I'm re-posting Castles here so that it floats to the top of the site. It's a fine song by Jayson Draper that was recorded in my little studio a few years ago. Wish you the best, Jayson. Enjoy.
Castles
xoxo (CW) Alex
Well, nobody was expecting this.
My plan for today's post was to go hit the downtown for another harvest. However, before I could do that, I ran out of light. The new Tomb Raider may or may not have been involved. Nobody really knows.
So I found myself in the dark with no post. I sat down at my kit to practice for a bit and clear my mind. And then Hue came into my brainwaves, clear as a bell. But weird. Well, this was as good as anything. And what's more, I can finally make a nice preset for a brushed snare. So, since I was already at the drums, I started there; recording the whole piece on memory power. (Memory Power Activate!)
A little electric bass, a little electric guitar, a little vocal action, and I was in business. Actually that clocked me until midnight, abouts. Rolled it into the workspace, and sat down for a quick and dirty mix. Recently, the boys and I have gotten into some pretty powerful mastering tools, and they are sweet as candy. But more powerful than the tools, it turns out, is the 300 page book that explains how to use them (This was Dan's Xmas present to me and I love it). One of the most important pieces to the puzzle is the industry-standard signal chain that goes on the master track. So, being the lo-budget, lo-fi fiend that I am, I decided to try the super hi-fi signal chain, but with the run-of-the-mill, stock plugins.
Books, I think you'll agree, are really good things.
Hue
xoxo (CW) Alex
PS: The signal chain is eq, multipresser, post eq, exciter, stereo spread, reverb, adaptive limiter. Keep the change, ya filthy animal. :D
We are the Wolfgang and we are stronger together.
I realize this is a strange way to start a post about an Eastern Shore release, but roll with me for a second. There was a show we played this year where the opener was missing some integral piece of equipment and they just took off like the wind. And we were like, oh. After a beat, everyone was just looking at me, like "Make me a bicycle, clown!" So I did my best. I pointed at a few people from various Wolfgang Family bands, called the audible, got up there, and jammed out a set.
You're expecting me to say it was super groundbreaking and we really impressed everyone, and Morgan Freeman burst through the door with a slow clap. Honestly, it was just a few people I knew and trusted, and we made some weird music on the fly. What's more important is what it wasn't. It wasn't us all standing around waiting for the clock to tick while the house music played. We made a band, out of other bands, and music came out.
We're closing in on a year of Wolfgang and Sons, and it still takes me forever to explain what we do. But, turns out, it's very simple. We look out for each other. That's what we do. No more, no less.
This track is called Lullaby. It happened because, on a Wednesday, I pointed at some musicians (specifically, the members of Eastern Shore: Jayson, Jeff, and Roland). On a Saturday, those musicians showed up at the Blue Room, and everybody did their part. We shared the weight, and the task got lighter. And on a Sunday, I stirred it together with a wooden spoon. I don't know if it's perfect, but we made it, and, well, that's enough for me.
Lullaby.
xoxo (CW) Alex
I think you're allowed to write a song about anything. This song is about a lot of things, and I don't think they're all going to be entirely clear, which is fine. If I have broken international poetry law then, um, good, I guess. But there's one very telling lyric here, and a lot of the song follows its lead.
"My voice is weak."
And it's based on a true story, too. I can't really change that. It's my voice. I have all this fire in my belly about a music career, but I honestly don't sing all that well. Yeah, well, I'm gonna make more with less.
With a conviction like that, I couldn't really roll out a high-production number, so I decided to see how much milage I could get out of a piano and a wine glass. That's not a metaphor: I used the old vinegar/glass trick I learned on Mr. Wizard as a kid to add a little warmth, and let the piano take over from there. It's actually super painful for some reason, so kids, get parental supervision before you break out the stemware and the salad dressing.
Where was I? Recap? Recap. So, to recap, I am allowed to write a song about making more out of the cards I was dealt.
Ink and Pride
xoxo (CW) Alex
Steve, I still have your shaker egg. It's here in sunny Tucson, whenever you're ready to come back and get it. In the mean time, as it is an artifact imbued with great power, I will use it to crank out the hits.
Some complexity can't be built with track surgery. Over the summer, I was introduced to a plugin that listens to the notes you play and automatically generates ambient tones to accompany your track. That's pretty neat, but it almost feels like a challenge. Can your new fangled software generate backing vocals that are a little flat? Because I can do that all day. All day, son!
I don't really care about tools. New tools and old tools are all dandy with me as long as you do something interesting with them. My cohorts are very interesting. Both Dan and Wilson are adept at building frameworks of rules through which they navigate a particular project. Building a subset of limitations and pushing the possibilities of truncated toolsets always seems to yield interesting alchemy. Then again, I guess it makes sense. Game designers; so, everything's a game.
My new game (read: album) mandates that all sounds appearing on the tracks are collected via a single microphone. The first microphone I ever owned, to be exact. Dre dropped it once, and now it has a dent. I'm not mad. What was I- oh! The album. It's called The Gate, because everything has to enter through the same mic. Epic!
This first track is called Little Mason Jar. I intend for it to set the tone for what I'm trying to do; which, I think, is to blend Wagner-style cathedral complexity with Dylan-style folk simplicity. This is a warts-and-all endeavor, so do enjoy the snaps and pops of the recording equipment, the unintentional blue notes, and the tap, tap, tap of my converse sneaker on the hardwood floor.
Little Mason Jar
xoxo (CW) Alex
I've been having this conversation in my head between myself and a bunch of imaginary radio stations about Wishing Well. They keep saying "Yo, Wolfgang, we want to play this album but nineteen minute tracks? Can't do that." And then I say "Well, that's what you get."
But it turns out that there are some human people (Which is to say they are not imaginary radio people) who want to listen to some of those tasty bites in short bursts. So, I'll allow this. But not before using the power of the WORLD WIDE WEB to link to the full album in all it's fullness, for those new fans that don't know what Wishing Well is.
This is what Wishing Well is.
Okay. so there's that. I really want you to listen to this crazy ride all the way through if you have the time. It's a lo-fi tour de force, or whatever. But, since you asked for radio cuts, I suppose you can have 'em. I've been meaning to clean these up for a while, and this was a half decent excuse. Oh, the tracks. Here's a limited selection of some tasty, tasty noms from Wishing Well:
Whiskey and Stones
Bones (The Rhythm)
Oh, Doctor, Doctor
Keep these refrigerated (I'm implying that they're hot).
xoxo (CW) Alex
My Father was the devil
and it's on his horse I ride
My Boots are black and for attacks,
got six guns at my side
And so I ride until I die.
My Mother was an angel
and it's for her heart I'll steal
I'd rob the rich so I could give
a poor man his next meal
And then I ride until I die.
I roam around from town to town
Just drifting with the misfits
When I lay my body down
I pray for no forgiveness
There's a man with a gun and a badge in the street
He's big and he's bad and he's comin' for me
So I draw and I fire from my hip before he sees
You've gotta shoot first, if you wanna be free.
The people call me Dynamite
when lawmen ask my name
I'll light the fuse before I lose,
and I won't feel ashamed
Because I ride until I die.
I roam around from town to town
Just drifting with the misfits
When I lay my body down
I pray for no forgiveness
There's a man with a gun and a badge in the street
He's big and he's bad and he's comin' for me
So I draw and I fire from my hip before he sees
You've gotta shoot first, if you wanna be free.
When I decided to start working on a country song, I finished the basic structure before learning of the modern pop country that is the mainstream these days. Well, I don't care. Here's the Country track.
Vocals, bass, lead guitar/violin to come at a later date.
Please enjoy.
Once upon a time, long long ago - younger me was doing his scatterbrained best to absorb as much musical knowledge and skill as he could when he wrote a song. It was a sappy sentimental thing, full of cliches and immature romance. Naturally, it fell by the wayside. And then one day....
I thought, hey! The music here is still good, it's these sappy lyrics I don't like. What if I stand the sappy on it's head, and re-write the song lyrics into some sort of female empowerment. Well, that was the thought, who knows the results.
Well you can, by clicking on the song "White Knight".
Another cut from the bootleg series I wish I was finished with.
I have this weird quirk in which I don't stay on one thing until it's done, but I work on like twelve things and bounce from thing to thing. Normally this wouldn't effect my postings so much, but the scope of the projects we're undertaking is only growing. This does mean that the Live At The Rialto bootleg is gathering dust unfinished. However, track by track, it will arrive.
In the meantime, relax and get a little closer to the GypsyCampFire.
Alright, so I've been slacking on the site. I know it, you know it, the american people know it. I was way late last week, and now I'm late again. Apologies, apologies all around.
So here's one of the many things I've been up to.
My good friend Zach Singer: Writer, Director, and Producer extraordinaire at 3 and One Half Films (Also on F-book ) dropped by the Red Building studio and after we imbibed enough drinks and what not we took a song Zach had written earlier in the day and then we recorded it. Just because we could. No lead guitars or bass yet (because I'm still a slacker after all), but I thought I'd share the song.
I really find immense value in collaboration. There is something about sharing creative space and working in it until a thing gets created. Combine that with human synergy, and you've got a stew going baby.
Sometimes there's Secrecy, sometimes there is not.
What sort of vague nonsense is that?
I have This track, and let's just say it's from the trash heap of some other Secrecy thing.
I like it. A lot. I like it so much, that I want to share it here with you as the rest of the band might hear it for the first time, without the hyper polished full instrumentation of super synergistic band machinations.
I call it Cuckold's Nocturne or something like that.
From this just strumming and humming state, we'll explore different rythmic options, different harmonies, and if I'm really on the ball, I'll write a through composed melody on the guitar that will guide the ear through the chord changes.
Release early, release often.
And so it concludes, those crazy tracks that aren't quite rock and roll have quietly finished being written, recorded and uploaded.
And with the mystery thing not being my idea nor was it something I remember being aware of as we rolled out the tunes (I use such a qualifier because I may very well have been told several times.... but here we are)...
I won't spoil it. That's on A-Team.
Here's a little slice of southwest-spanish-americana with the rock and roll turned up a few more clicks than the other tracks had. And I don't mean volume.
It's called Gila Cliffs.
So there I was. Sitting on a sweet ten minute track of White Sands - improvised drums, then improvised guitar over top of it. There's my roadmap, I say to myself, as I meticulously plan out and painstakingly record a new, IMPROVED version 2.0 if you will.
Then I stepped back to behold what I had wrought, the glorious results of effort! Performing and re-recording over and over again to achieve such precision as to be anything but crappy. It seemed sweet.
Then I listened to my proof of concept recording again.
Alas. My improved re-record was a pile of steaming crappy.
I worked so much, how could it all be for naught?
Well, I went back to my original track and spent about 12 hours fixing it up here and there, taking out the bits that made me cringe. What follows would have been called
"Bleached Whiter Sands, brought to you by Clorox®!"
but the funding fell through when I went back to the first recording.
So it's still just White Sands
And the moral of the story is, don't suck.
Still can't say much more about the American Archaeology project. You should have noticed by now that we have composed and recorded an LP's worth of classical Spanish-Americana compositions. We'll go ahead and release that as a single entity as soon as we get the go ahead. From the moon men.
So, what do I have for you, today? Well, darlings, I've been busy. These first two go together, and they're the last of the Highlander Sessions. I wanted a high-complexity piece to correspond to a simple piece to reflect the variance of emergent cultural identity throughout the North American sites. Clovis was one of the first cultures in the Americas. Prior to European imperialism, Coronado was one of the last. The transition between these should reflect the diffuse insurgence cultural complexity throughout the 10,000 years of human habitation on the supercontinent. Or, alternatively, they're both nice little ditties.
Clovis
Coronado
Now, this third piece I composed and recorded alone. I have another project coming up involving an old, beat up condenser, and I wanted to see if I could still get a clean signal out of it. I also wanted to experiment with cleaning up the noise floor in post production. So the minute I step up to the mic, the cicadas start going nuts outside. Perfect. If I forget to put Arizona in my music, it finds a way.
Anyway, this track represents the bookending of one project with mindfulness toward the next. Simple, clean, and with an eye toward something much larger in scope; I called this one Palenque.
Palenque
xoxo (CW) Alex
Release early and release often is the motto. In honor of the secrecy, I will not discuss the why behind this track, merely the how. I started with a seed of a riff of a song, and then arbitrarily decided I wanted a ten minute track.
Setting a stopwatch, I set out to conga drum ten minutes of solid ambient beats. I am not a conga drummer. I do not practice, nor do I claim any proficiency. I don't say that to set up some sort of false modesty and a "and listen to how amazing it sounds!", but to impress the pain and swelling one experiences when slapping one's hands into conga drums for ten minutes.
Over top of the drums is a baritone acoustic guitar, an improvised single take. I did it twice, with one of the takes adding background ambiance. Why explain all this?
White Sands is, at this very moment, still just a proof of concept. I want you to hear it grow into a finished track. Release early and release often.
The riddles of the top secret project continue to unwind.
One of my fondest memories of hanging out with my father was the time we snuck into an indian ruin tucked in a secrect local that we found hiking deep in the valley of Canyon de Chelly, Colorado. Equipped with true Wilson style hiking shoes, a.k.a. thong sandals, we scaled the cliff side and explored the ruins. Great times Pops!
Here is an ambient music track named after that area, and also captures the feeling of the mystical intrigue of wandering into an abandoned native american dwelling. Canyon de Chelly
Continuing with sonic adventure and intrigue we have a musical number that embodies the will of safe return home after such travels. Weaving through the mounds of the journey like a snake winds through the grass, sligh and unseen.
Serpent Mound
One more for the Dan & Ron Collaboration series, this here be a track written in an afternoon and singing to the very booze we imbibed: Mississippi Mud's Black and Tan.
You can hear my acoustic strumming just before the verse, and I'm happy to say this is the first tune written on my revamped Baritone Takamine guitar.
Please, enjoy. Or don't. Either way, listen. It may change your life in no way whatsoever.
Anyhow, here it is.
The catalogue of exceptional artifacts shall someday be found by way of chance in the super distant future. Perhaps even found by the same very shards of stardust re-manifested into a more advanced sentient form forged to complete the circle of burial to discovery.
You follow my flow?
I'm saying: Time capsule. <--- Let's make one, then in 2000 years come back to Earth and be the ones to dis-cover it.
Here is some more melodic ambience for your audio sensory pleasure that may be used for the top secret project that involves such a process: Piman
This week we held our final session with The Kid (Connor McCloud) for our top secret project having something to do with American archaeology. The session was prolific, yielding four tracks in the can, all of which I think we can use. The Kid is one of the most unique and eccentric individuals I have ever worked with (and, seriously, I work with The Wolfgang). He can compose on the spot without losing the necessary lyricism or intensity arc that drives a full, polished piece. He has a natural inclination for storytelling with his music: he knows where to hold back and where to bring the noise. He always hits the mark on the first take; there's never a need to try again. And here's where it gets interesting: he can't listen to his own music. Every playback, without fail, he's either still playing, out of the room, or watching youtube videos on his phone. It's bizarre and fascinating; and I think, a window to his genius.
Today's take is in many ways opposite of last week's release. For this track, The Kid was an essential component to the process, but he didn't lay down the performance (he did, however, drop three other tracks, which you will hear later). In the few weeks that we've been working together, I've attempted to adopt elements of his process; namely, the bold decisiveness with which he fearlessly gets it right on the first try. This is born from confidence; and I do have some of that. So, when the pattern came, I marched right into the studio and made it so on the first take.
This piece, entitled Chaco Canyon, is written for two mandolins, and of course, my trusty Dumbek and Steve Cruz's shaker egg that I never gave back (come and get it).
The track: Chaco Canyon
xoxo (CW) Alex
Our work on the top secret project that shall not yet be named continues. With each release, I intend to divulge new clues, which will perhaps unfold the nature of this endeavor, whose proportions may be monumental. Or minuscule. I'll never tell.
You have now noticed that The Kid has joined us for another session (two of three), this time at the Blue Room. Kid wrote both guitar lines to this one, hence the scorching licks. I hung back and played producer, adding a few warm pads to clean up the noise floor, and some tasteful ride cymbal hits. If I did my job, you won't notice my hard work: cleaning up the soundscape, cuts and fades, mastering on the new monitors, etc. New monitors, by the way. It's worth noting that my favorite part of the process for this round was having coffee on the porch with Kid's mom, Irene. Building friendships is, without a doubt, what makes these projects worth the time and energy.
Okay, back to the top secret project. Let's recap what you know: Spanish style guitar-led compositions. Emphasis on collaboration. And I've named each piece after an American archaeological site.
Any guesses?
Track: Kennewick
xoxo (CW) Alex
When queried recently about video presence on the web, I decided to seek out any videos of The Wolfgang that might be floating around out there.
Seems back in 2010 somebody got a camera inside Plush for one of our Awesome live performances. Unbeknownst to me, I uploaded it to youtube.
You can download the video here.
or just watch it here.
Watching this makes me want to write only Gypsy Rock songs from now on.
He is ded.
Offed himself last night because he was too weak to deal with the pressures of being one of the most desired beings on the planet.
It would appear that being so is actually a huge burden most of the time.
The taste of his energy will be a coveted memory by those claiming to be close to him; ha!!! He did his best do be close to everyone to his own foolish demise, but I'm sure he will be soon forgotten. The attention spans of the mundane minds of this world are even more microscopic then their cerebral hemisphere's themselves, so on to the next drug.
You are welcome world. Evil shall soon rien supreme...
Enter Stuart Zeta: Good Kid
Wolfgang and Sons is currently working on a top secret project, which makes it kind of weird that I'm sharing it with the whole world. Regardless, super secret, classified stuff. I can't tell you anything about it. Except the things I'm going to tell you about it.
I'll tell you this: we asked guitarists from all over the place to stop by the studio, ready to drop some acoustic action. Armen Sarrafian, Donovan Stole, and Connor McCloud all came by and dropped the hammer on some top secret, killer tracks. Yeah, we played guitar with the Highlander. What's it to ya'?
Before the Arizona heat drove us all insane, Connor and I sat down to work on a composition I had written, entitled Monteverde. Connor, whom we affectionately call "The Kid" (Bastion reference), has an innate understanding of fretboard logic, an intricate modicum of speed and precision with the instrument, and a resounding knowledge of scales and theory. That being said, I heard him biff Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star today, so there is hope for the rest of us.
Here's our take from the day's work:
Monteverde
xoxo (CW) Alex
Rat Proof Cage!
Found original files, mixed through the new software, uploaded on the site. That is all.
It's ten-o-clock... Have you seen your face? If not: good, because that means you are here on the internet and NOT on Face... We don't speak it's name here...
I digress.
Here is what we like to call a super sexy track, ultra pre-exposed two albums ahead of schedule.
Dan comes to me the other day, and is like: "hey man check this out!!! It's a hard drive full of all this stuff we've been working on for the Moon Lit Lake album." I'm thinking to myself: "just in time my man" ('cuz little did he know I just stared mixing this little track down scheming to make it my this Wednesday's post.)
And here it is: The Road is as Black as the Sky is White
Use that sh!v to keep on keepin
Oh, so we're both posting music collabs this week, eh, Dan? You know what this means, don't you? Outreach. Community building. Other stuff! At this rate, the whole music scene is going to be into the same mojo we're into. Self-publication? Self-production? DIY ethics? Hugging? [/devbanter]
If you haven't noticed, power-pop trio Eastern Shore have been building a following in southern Arizona; producing Beatlemania-like symptoms in some fans. This is partially because of frontman Jayson Draper's silky-smooth, white-chocolate voice, partially because of his complex composition structures and revolutionary lyrics, and mostly because of his hair. Okay, okay: 90% talent, 10% hair (Which is technically the exact opposite of the Wilson ratio). Regardless, they're making waves.
A Producer's Cut is when you've recorded a song, but Jayson wanted to re-record the vocals, but you have a special place in your heart for the original vocals, so you release an early mix on your website. Very technical. Here's my favorite mix of Eastern Shore's landmark composition, Paper Shields:
Paper Shields- Producer's Cut
Lot of jokes tonight. I must be in a mood. I- got a lot of sun today. But in all seriousness: Jayson, Roland, you are innovative, evocative musicians. Your work speaks for itself.
xoxo (CW) Alex
I received a lot of positive feedback the last time I posted some music recorded with myself and Mr. Bridgemon.
Why not share some more?
Open Prayer
Say you are a songwriter; if you're reading this post there's a good chance you're into creative shenanigans and may actually be one, but just in case: Say you are a songwriter.
Say you are a songwriter that has songs written, and you're in quest to land some local gigs while at the same time find some other crazy locals to make some noise with. We here at Wolfgang and Sons are happy to facilitate your needs. You see, we do it all, and we are the best at what we do. We're a gang and welcome others to join our family.
Mr. Jason LeVally is such a songwriter looking to be initiated.
Our Wilson as been playing with LeVally for a couple of years now, and in the past few months has presented Jason's dreams to The Gang to help him realize them.
One weekend the process began at the legendary Hummingbird House, and we recorded a couple of Mr. LeVally's tunes with the help of another crazy cat named James Few.
That action is mixed down and ready to be heard!!! Superstars
So one fine weekend, whilst enjoying scholarly pursuits with a dear friend, I found myself in front of a song needing a singer so desperately. I asked the author of the song what subject he'd envisioned for the lyrics, he replied "Sex, Drugs or Rock N' Roll". Pursuing as a scholar, I immediately thought back to that time in the Odyssey when Odysseus has to 'Boom Goes the Dynamite' Circe in order to free his men. And all were happy when the track was done, as it were done on a whimsy and a day.
Enjoy
Magic was in the air that Sunday. White hot betty bunches of holy rockin' oats were pressed into lock down, but that was just the beginning...
A surprise from out of nowhere appeared before the gang. It was an enchantress with an impressive wooden harp come to delight the world with the sounds of her captivating song!
Torn away by the obligatory pull from the gods of blue collar, one member of the gang fell short of the experience's full effect. Capturing the essence of this enchantress before them was a job for the twins.
Confort was key in creating the space for our guest. "Here's some magic water from the well" presented by the tall dark one. The devices of sonic frequency encapsulation were placed around the room by the shining alpha.
Once the room was set, Alpha Greengaard left, to attend other business, entrusting his fellow kinsman to do what needed to be done in order to help the beautiful ms. McCammond share her gifts with the world.
She began to play her harp, each note rich in potent sound.
She sang her song...
Falling back on the clouds nearby, I, Chris Wilson, was transported instantly, and gracefully to the great garden, that mere words cannot even describe. I was met there lying in the field by my best friend and great lover. The sun warmed us complimented by a cool summer breeze. How fitting. A wonderful window opened for the imagination to all that wish to rejoice in it's splendor.
Listen to her song and know. Track: Nightshade
Thank you Mariah McCammond for the honor of allowing us to record you.
Back to reality: You rock chick!
Find Mariah doin' her thang all around T-Towne (Tucson,AZ) at such venues as The Temple Lounge, and even this weekend at our 4:20 show with us, and In Search of a Word.
Content Type: Single
Artist: Creating the Scene
Original Release: 2013
Notes: Walls is an album-cut from Creating the Scene's upcoming LP, codenamed Monster. At 15, the band's leader Jacob Walters has already begun to tie major concepts and themes into the context of an album as a single entity, rather than a collection of subsequent parts. In this project, the band explores powerful emotions elicited by social banding in youth communities: exclusion, power differentials, and intimidation. In lyric, Walters engages these themes from two perspectives: from the voice of the chagrined casualties of these forces, and through the eyes of those that build such differentials, as illustrated by the personification of an inner villain; a monster growing within. Walls is a powerful attestation of the inner turbulence that builds within our society's youth as they face increasingly virulent social conditions.
Creating the Scene is an indie power-pop trio in Southern Arizona. Their name derives from a popular Nate Ruess lyric; indicative of their genre identity in progressive and baroque pop and a connection to the American Southwest. Their music spans a wide range of stylistic and genre-based characteristics: ranging from upbeat piano-driven numbers to darker, visceral guitar-led pieces. Members of the band switch instruments and roles regularly during live sets, enabling a diverse and eclectic setlist. Their sound fluctuates, borrowing elements from Queen, Crash Kings, Format, and Oasis. Creating the Scene is a member of the Wolfgang Family Band, and records under the Wolfgang and Sons label, implementing DIY ethics and changing the music industry under their own terms. Their LP is currently in recording, due for release in 2013.
Track: Walls
Once upon a time, Gob and Jebus decided they really wanted my guitar to move on down the road. It disappeared one fateful day, and I've found myself looking to replace it on the budget of a musician in suburban Arizona.
So I had a Washburn WI-66 Pro with a pair of Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickups, and I absolutely want to keep using those pickups. I had the Hot Rails neck and bridge (only two spots on the Washburn), and between the two there is a really great range of lows to highs. Clean or distorted I never had a problem punching through. Conclusion, buy more Seymour Duncan's.
What about the guitar to put them in? Unfortunately, Washburn doesn't make the WI-66 Pro anymore. I could pick one up used, but I'm curious as to what tones I could get out of a full set of the three SD Hot Rails. I decided to look into Fender Strat options, and found some varied information.
New Strats come from America, Mexico, and China. Depending on the country of origin, different electronics are used. I've asked some Strat players around Town and read some reviews online, and I get a general idea that once the guitar is adjusted for any (if at all) intonation or neck issues, electronics are the only important difference.
Well, I want to replace those things anyway. A made in china stratocaster is half the price of a made in USA stratocaster. I will be taking the guitar into a local shop to have them do the work, which will probably run a couple hundred dollars. The pickups and new pots and such will be about the same, maybe a little more. I'm going to see if they can put in a seven way switch instead of a five.
The big question is, should I wait and save for an American, or go for the half the price made in China? There's also a made in Mexico for 25% more than the made in China. As a poor consumer, do I do what's best for me, or my country?
A Rogue Mix is when you take a band member's laptop (perhaps when he's out of town), open the project file he's working on, finish it with liberal artistic choices, and release the track while he's still in Las Vegas. This may not sound like an established practice in the music industry. This is because I invented it yesterday. It's Wilson's fault for leaving town sporadically on a Sunday. In any event, the track needed to get done, and I consider an impromptu adventure to be a concession of artistic control. It better be, I hit save in the project file as opposed to save as.
Wilson has, in conversation, shown a fascination with mirrors as vessels to fabric landscapes; realities we build, often to exceedingly intricate degree, for the sake of storytelling. In one such landscape of his ward, barriers between a familiar world and an expressionist dream are constrained to mirrors; and, for each of us, the other side confines an alter ego.
Oh, I like that term. Fabric landscapes. It's a thing, now.
In this mix of Galaxy Eye, I built a bridge to Wilson's landscape through character and verse. I entered his story as his alter self through an old oak mirror. Here is the message I wrote to him from the other side:
"I awoke with a start. My hands were burning; covered in bandages, wet with new blood. In a haze, I rushed to the bedroom mirror. The glass had shattered, but an image was etched into the empty space. A message written in my handwriting. It read 'Sing an anthem for fallen angels.'"
In the mix, I recorded backing vocals to establish a presence as Wilson's image in the mirror. I automated the volume on the backing, pushing forwards and pulling back the alter's presence in the mix in accordance with rising and falling levels of intensity within the arrangement. Becoming a distorted, expressionistic replica of an artist within the constraints of his own fabric landscape was, to say the least, mood altering.
Here's the track: Galaxy Eye
Bullets Over Warsaw
Here's a fiesty track that's going to drop on the next album. A combination of fast tempo and bar chords make for a wrist busting, drummer marathon of cramped fingers and rock and roll. I hope you enjoy.
Once upon a time at a venue called The Rock, The Wolfgang played one of the earliest shows of their career. Well, some vagabond bootlegged it (as is encouraged at a Wolfgang concert) and here is a piece of that history. You can hear the dust. Without further ado, Kid Dynamite.
Content Type: LP
Artist: The Wolfgang
Original Release: 2012
Notes: Wishing Well is part one of a three-part project, codenamed The Sun, the Moon, and the Grotto, exploring the creative phenomena that runs rampant within each member of the gang. The concept enables each of us to have artistic control over an album; to take the lead, as it were. Wishing Well is my contribution to the project. It's about-
The child has been long dead, since the three were children themselves. Images of that forest spin fresh in their minds. They feel responsible. Three voices tumble against the stone walls of the wishing well. Their echoes reverberate through the bones of the living.
“She followed me through the rocks, through the trees, through the stones. She took a drink from a little stream by the road. And I swear, and I swear, and I swear that I knew where she’d gone. And the guilt, and the guilt, and the guilt, how it builds in my throat.”
Three voices relive the tragedy. Three voices, whose remorse, anger, and shame shaped three lives wrought with addiction, aggression, and fear. They each felt responsible. Long after, the echoes of their guilt thresh and fold within the walls of the wishing well.
Tracks:
Part I: Tiger on my Left
Part II: Whiskey and Stones
Part III: Wishing Well
And of course, if you like the music or whatever and you think that giving us money sounds like fun, then pick your poison.
Content Type: LP
Artist: The Wolfgang
Original Release: 2010
Notes: Songs from the Hummingbird House is Wolfgang's first LP, recorded entirely on a 4-track Tascam Portastudio. The album seeks to adhere to a lo-fi aesthetic, pushing simplicity and raw energy over studio sterility.
We recorded these tracks outside, in open air, during our regular Sunday sessions and mixed them ourselves using cheap software. Since the Portastudio only records two tracks at a time, we mixed the drums on a small mixing board before the signal chain. Dan's Takamine acoustic-electric roars through Marshall amp models on his Line 6 Flextone, a line of amplifiers harkening back to the day when the company marketed to surfers. His driving riffs push through the static, eager for the stable drone I was never willing to deliver. The bass is bouncy and dissonant: I can recall the pop of Wilson's thumb against jazz chords on the high fretboard as he turned his head to watch the sun drop below the mesquites. This album is about playing rock and roll music in the southwest while learning how to be a band. It's gritty, it's unpolished, and it's ours. Listen to this on your worst stereo: she'll thank you.
Tracks:
Hue
Sundown
The 910
Back Alley Serenade
Wonderland
Monster
The Letter
Once More
Fortune Cookie
Evil That Men Do
Universal Truth
Okay. So if you're dying to pay for this, here you go. But seriously, we don't care. I actually think we lost the password to collect money on this one.