Seven 9s and 10s

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.)

High-res GPOYW Last Friday I let someone else use my camera for a little bit and she actually managed to take a picture of me that I don’t hate. Things I learned from that experience: Everyone seems to agree that I’m one of the few people that can wear orange shirts and still look good in the process. I’m good at looking like a DJ when bending over a laptop, even though I mostly hate electronic music. That was probably a good length for my hair and getting it chopped on Monday may have been a mistake. I feel completely naked if I’m not holding my camera while watching a band play. I still look completely goofy in most pictures; often that is intentional.

GPOYW

Last Friday I let someone else use my camera for a little bit and she actually managed to take a picture of me that I don’t hate.

Things I learned from that experience:

  • Everyone seems to agree that I’m one of the few people that can wear orange shirts and still look good in the process.
  • I’m good at looking like a DJ when bending over a laptop, even though I mostly hate electronic music.
  • That was probably a good length for my hair and getting it chopped on Monday may have been a mistake.
  • I feel completely naked if I’m not holding my camera while watching a band play.
  • I still look completely goofy in most pictures; often that is intentional.

We’ve just passed the 10 year anniversary of my senior recital for my bachelors degree in K-12 Music Education.

10 years ago I performed John Cage’s 4’33” on stage in front of my family, friends, peers, and professors. 9 out of 10 of them had no idea what the hell was happening. I’m still proud of this performance.

A few thoughts:

  • My favorite thing about this video is the quiet little voice of my then-3 year old niece. “What is he doing?” It was the only moment where I lost my composure and let out a smile.
  • I wish someone who cared about me back then would’ve told me to cut my hair. I had long hair for a long time. Too long for too long. This was my poofy-curls stage. Also, terrible glasses. Also, fully buttoned-up shirt with no tie?!
  • Muted trumpet for the 2nd Movement = The  best idea I’ve ever had.
  • [Tacet]
The Last Supper / Gethsemane - Jesus Christ Superstar
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Track:
The Last Supper / Gethsemane

Artist:
Jesus Christ Superstar

Album:
40 in 40

Download 281 plays

Jesus Christ Superstar - The Last Supper & Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) (steelopus cover)

Go big or go home?

I originally planned on doing only The Last Supper, but it felt completely empty without Gethsemane, so I did them both. Doing both those songs would’ve been tough enough with my original plans - in which I thought I’d be able to spend a full 7 days working on them. Then my family came to visit for 5 days and so I actually only had 2 days to complete all of this. So much for seeing how much better I could do at a leisurely pace!

Skipping all the piano and orchestra parts meant both songs ended up a bit more “rock and roll” than their various original versions, as I replaced that stuff with some crunchy guitars. I would never pretend to have even 10% as much vocal talent as the great Ian Gillian, or Ted Neeley, or Murray Head, or Carl Anderson. Their performances are legendary and I tried not to imitate them wherever possible, though some of the crazy-high melodies are essential to the production, so I did the best I could do. Go big or go home. With these two, more than any of the previous 40, I surely can’t be accused of not putting myself out there.

So, after two solid days of recording and mixing, I thought I was done. I exported a version and while listening I heard a few things that I wanted to tweak, so I reopened the session and as I got to the end of Gethsemane I noticed that the drums, bass, and guitar tracks had vanished. I have no idea what happened. It may well have been my mistake, though it feels like a technical error. Regardless, the session is mostly lost and we’re left with this original export. It has everything in there and it’s good enough to get my point across - though it’s mixed a little rougher than I’m happy with, but as it’s nearly 3:30am, I’m going to chalk it up as a loss. Jesus might have resurrected, but these lost tracks certainly won’t.

This is the end. Thanks to all of you for joining me on this insane journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Happy Easter.

(41 done. 0 to go.)

Keep It Close To Me - steelopus
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Track:
Keep It Close To Me

Artist:
steelopus

Album:
40 in 40

Download 80 plays

Superdrag - Keep It Close To Me (steelopus cover)

I’m surprised that no one correctly guessed Superdrag as my 40th band*. They’ve been one of my favorite bands since 1995. I’ve traveled to see them play in both NYC and LA (and others for a total of 8 shows). I’ve posted a lot of their music and I wrote a long review of their last release.

When I decided what 40 in 40 would become, I had a very short list of bands to include and Superdrag was at the top of it. The only reason they ended up as the last band is that I just couldn’t settle on a single song. There are literally dozens of tracks that are worthy of my attention (I would’ve had the same problems with both weezer and Pedro The Lion, but I recorded each of those two tracks before I committed to my rule of only one song per band). John Davis is one of my generation’s best rock n roll writers and anyone that didn’t write-off Superdrag as a one-hit wonder has been rewarded with consistently great music.

I slowly narrowed down my choices to five songs that I really loved and felt I could do justice, and ultimately settled on this track because I’ve always felt a really strong connection to how hard it rocks and to it’s lyrics. It felt like a very appropriate way to end this project.

I want rock and roll
but I don’t want to deal with the hassle.
I know what I know
but I don’t want to feel like an asshole.

It’s direct. Suspect. Insects have launched an invasion.
Chosen. Frozen. Poison in my vaccination.
I’m going to figure out what’s mine
and keep it close to me.
It’s supposed to be.

I’ve got rock and roll
and it used to deliver me sweetly
I’m not gullible
but I feel like I’ve lost it completely.

Let’s make the most of it right now.
Let’s make the most of what we’ve got -
God only knows where it came from.
Let’s make the most of it right now.
Why is it hard to imagine
making life worth the distraction from now on? 

I’m going to figure out what’s mine
and keep it close to me.
It’s supposed to be. 

Thank you to everyone that listened, liked, and reblogged over the past 40 days. Your support, both public and private, kept me motivated on the bad days and pushed me to be better on the good days. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I’m drafting up a post with my reflections on the project; look for it sometime this week.

*Nicky guessed it correctly via chat because she gets me.

(40 down. 0 to go.)