Seven 9s and 10s

Yellow Plants - FMGreen

Track:
Yellow Plants

Artist:
FMGreen

Album:
Victory!

19 plays

FMGreen - Yellow Plants

Sometimes I listen to my own music at high volume and I pump my fists in the air and smile broadly.

I really like how all of Victory! turned out, and I especially love how the tone of this song changes at the 1:20 mark… and then again at 2:07, when we make you tilt your head like a confused dog… and then again at 3:00…

Anyway. As with all FMGreen, it sounds better the louder you play it.

(I can’t thank our friend Brian Aloisio enough for the work he did engineering this album.)

“Ed Koch / used to be the mayor / of New York City / of New York City / but now he does the People’s Court / the People’s Court / the People’s Court.”

-FMGreen, Destiny’s Toy.

A refrain from one of our oldest songs (~1997).

RIP, Ed.

I decided the best tribute I could offer Jim Marshall would be to go down to the basement in my rock and roll sweater and my poorly fitting rock and roll pants and my SUPER ROCK AND ROLL SLIPPERS and plug my Les Paul straight into my Marshall half-stack and play some rock and fucking roll.

So here’s me playing Go! from FMGreen’s 3-2-1 Go! EP.

Volume at 5… turned up to 11 at the end just to make sure the residents of the neighboring county could hear me clearly.

(Side note… the mic on the iPhone is impressively resilient. The SPL meter in front of me was registering 120+dB the entire time.)

Yellow Plants - FMGreen

Track:
Yellow Plants

Artist:
FMGreen

Album:
Victory!

60 plays

FMGreen - Yellow Plants

4:01 for April 1st

When was the last time you heard any of the following used in a song?

Press play and you’ll soon be able to answer the question “When was the last time you heard all of the above used simultaneously in one song?”

Why haven’t you bought a copy of Victory! yet?

mrsbadcrumble:

Internet, if ever anyone has deserved to go viral, it’s these guys. Please listen to this. It’s two middle-aged guys in a pizza parlor in Utah, BLOWING TOTO OUT OF THE WATER. Seriously, I grew up in the 80s and I have a visceral hatred for the song “Africa.” A minute into this acoustic version and I had honest to God chills. The singer’s voice is incredible, but even the harmonies are perfect. There’s no bleeding; it stays true throughout. 

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go listen to everything they’ve ever done.

I was skeptical, but it’s true: these guys are good and the lead vocalist does a great job with a crazy set of lyrics. My only criticism is that, to my ears, it sounds a bit flat - not in terms of pitch, but in terms of energy. They’re doing a great job of playing the song, but they’re just playing it.

(Also, not to burst any bubbles, but I’m fairly certain that there is some serious auto-tuning being done to their vocals. Granted, they obviously have great voices to begin with, but these pitches are too perfect. It’s especially noticeable when they are harmonizing - I can hear the effect kicking in. T-Pain would be proud of the effort, but disappointed that they didn’t just turn all the knobs up to 10.)

But honestly, that’s a tough song to pull off. FMGreen did a mostly hysterical version for a friend’s bachelor party last August. I’ll see if I can find video.

(via mrsbadcrumble-deactivated201301)

T.S.T.R. Too - FMGreen

Track:
T.S.T.R. Too

Artist:
FMGreen

Album:
Victory!

10 plays

FMGreen - T.S.T.R. Too

My alarm clock is set to play WBER in the mornings. This morning it went off and one of my songs was playing for, as far as I know, the first time ever on the radio.

Timing is everything.

I’m happy that of all the songs they could’ve chosen on Victory! they selected this 6 minute and 49 second epic. It probably the most well written song on the album; a true full-band collaboration.

That’s a pretty good way to start my day.

Nadine - FMGreen

Track:
Nadine

Artist:
FMGreen

Album:
Yellow #5

20 plays

fmgreen:

FMGreen - Nadine

10 years ago today we recorded this song.

“next we attempted nadine a couple more times to no avail.  finally, on the 11th full take of nadine, we nailed it.  the one break before the solo that had been screwing up every previous take came out perfect and no one made any mistakes that were worth redoing the whole song for.”

-Steve’s Yellow #5 recording log - September 3, 2001

I can’t believe it took us 11 takes to get this simple song done right, but that’s what happens when a young band enters a professional studio for the first time and tracks their songs live to ADAT. Overdubs and punch-ins become a last resort and if any one aspect of the song lacks the necessary feeling, the entire take is scrapped and you try it again.

I can tell you the exact night I first met Nadine: May 15, 2001. I was MCing a party at a local record store to celebrate the release of weezer’s green album that night. It was the first and only time I can say I’ve ever had a “love at first sight” kind of experience. I wrote this song just a few days later after we’d hung out for the first time. I’d probably listened to the green album 25 times over the course of those few days and clearly this song was inspired by the mood of that album.

All the stars seemed to be aligning for me, but unfortunately she never felt the same way. Flash forward exactly 10 years - Nadine’s wedding took place on May 14, 2011. They’re an infinitely better couple than she and I ever would have been and I offer my full congratulations to both of them.

Moral of the story: writing a song for a girl you really like rarely works out in your favor romantically, but at least sometimes you’ll still end up with a pretty good song.

High-res fmgreen: FMGreen Fun Fact: The analog MCI console at GFI - through which we recorded our debut album (Yellow #5) - was the same console through which Metallica recorded their seminal debut album Kill ‘Em All in 1983. I don’t mean it was the same model, I mean it was the exact console they used. “We spent six weeks up in Rochester, New York, recording the album at the Music America Studio. The actual studio is in the basement of this huge old colonial-type of club house. Up on the second floor there’s this huge ballroom which is perfect for getting a good drum sound. The only problem is the place is fucking haunted, so I had to have someone else up there the whole time I was recording. My cymbals would start spinning, you know shit like that. It was scary, but I would love to record there again.” — Lars, August 1983, Metallica: In Their Own Words (via) We like to think they were just warming it up for us.

fmgreen:

FMGreen Fun Fact:

The analog MCI console at GFI - through which we recorded our debut album (Yellow #5) - was the same console through which Metallica recorded their seminal debut album Kill ‘Em All in 1983.

I don’t mean it was the same model, I mean it was the exact console they used.

“We spent six weeks up in Rochester, New York, recording the album at the Music America Studio. The actual studio is in the basement of this huge old colonial-type of club house. Up on the second floor there’s this huge ballroom which is perfect for getting a good drum sound. The only problem is the place is fucking haunted, so I had to have someone else up there the whole time I was recording. My cymbals would start spinning, you know shit like that. It was scary, but I would love to record there again.”

— Lars, August 1983, Metallica: In Their Own Words
 (via)

We like to think they were just warming it up for us.