Edgy !

Underlings "Edgy" CD finally released ! Sounds pretty dern good. recorded last Summer at Smegma Studio in Portland. On tape ! recorded in 3 days last June and mixed in a couple of a days in August..a bunch of gigs after that and we had the dough to put it out.Release party was April 27 with the Soothesayers and The Lovesores at Luckeys. Both of these bands tore it up. About the Lovesores..GO SEE THIS BAND ! SEE THEM SOON. SEE THEM OFTEN..straight up punk rock n roll. Everybody had a great time that night. Looking forward to more shows like that one.

Underlings gig with Pierced Arrows and Soothesayers tomorrow. Stoked. been listening to alot of Dead Moon in the car lately. straight-up Oregon rock. these folks have been driving these roads for years. keeps me on the ball. ordered a copy of the Ann Arbor Revival Meeting CD from '02. Rules. got Scott Morgan, Deniz Tek, Ron Asheton, and Hiawatha Bailey among others brinigin the house down. I hear Scott Morgan is ill. Hoping he pulls through OK. such a great talent.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

A New Year. I dig it. 2011 was challenging, but good. I think I mighta learned a thing or two..the hard way, of course..I think 2012 is gonna be good. Feeling the creative bug comin' on. I wanna push it.

Headed up to Portland a few weekends ago to record with the Underlings at Smegma Studio. Three days of tracking and I'm pretty dern stoked with the sounds.In a few weeks we're on to the mixin' stage...Drive up was OK until I got a little lost. I'm not big on heights, and getting discombobulated in Portland amongst its many towering bridges can be a pretty big bummer...after a few passes I was pretty much flippin' out. Got on the horn with Bryant and Ed and got straightenend back out. I'm fortunate that these two guys are parents of small children..they're accustomed to talking down hysterical little dudes and getting em back on track. I met up with em shortly thereafter and smooth sailing after that. I'm now familier with some more areas of P-town I've never been in before...we stayed in a place called The Palms. a remnant from the old Hwy 99. we dined in a Tiki bar that was pretty good burger-wise, and had our morning coffee in a place called the Black Cat Cafe. Good bagels...Smegma studio was a complete blast. way, way relaxed. perfect environment for the Underlings machine to do its thing.
Been thinking about punk rock a lot lately. I suppose that's not that unusual...coming up with more questions than answers..and I think thats a good thing.Guess I'm wondering why some of the the various 'scenes' made such quick work of antiquating themselves. A lot of talk about the 'good ol days' from folks that maybe never realized their full rock n roll potential.Like turning the present into the past a little too early..Pretty sure there's plenty of new rock n roll ground to tread, and the old fields can be tilled and turned endlessly......rock on.

Back to the SHACK. This place could use a cleanin. Not much usage...Turned 42 in February. A few more aches and pains than last year, but I still love to blast the Stooges and the Minutemen and play the bass, so all vital signs seem to be OK...The SUN has been coming out for a few minutes here and there, the deer are starting to make brave dashes out into the highway, and the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. It still rains for weeks on end. I guess you could call it Spring..SYSTEM YOU RADIO is back up and running. Hung out over there and listened to some tunes with Eric S. and Dan Jones a couple of weekends ago. Had a great time. Played some new stuff from the new Mike Watt record, and some OFF! plus a whole lot of other good stuff too..UNDERLINGS are still going strong..4 years now ! Wow..we've got plans to record this Summer. Looking forward to that...Over and Out...

Pretty quiet around here...think I may yet find a topic to devote this blog to, as the everyday nonsense has been shifted to the Facebook page. (what a delightfully addictive time-waster!)..
Recently discovered that the local no job havin dingalings have been using my back yard as a shortcut between rural roads..This pisses me off to no end. Caught one of the shitbags the other day and asked him if he'd like me walking around in his yard. Seems like he got my drift...weird lookin dudes. Hope they go away.
Caught a band at a basement party gig the other night. Didnt catch the name. Cool to see that the scrungy basement rock scene still exists. Would love to play one of those gigs...Guess thats the run-down. Think I'll find some music to write about next time.

toons

I was in Jackpot records in Portland a few weeks ago. They were blarin' some spooky garagey kinda stuff. I bought it. Golden Triangle "double jointer"..Its reverby, a little scary..and well, joyous and FUN at times. I dunno..good stuff, Another interesting thing about it is it needs "air" to sound right..Sounded GREAT in the record store..swirlin around amongst the bins and freeky people..It didnt sound all that hot on the car stereo..and I mean that in the GOOD sense..It's atmospheric..thus needing some atmosphere to sound really good..I like how it sounds from across the room at home on a jam-box..Thats my kinda stuff..I got a CD, but I bet the vinyl is super smokin'...also, evidently, there's a scene for this kinda music coming out of brooklyn,NY...my research shows me a bunch of freaky early 20's kids freekin out on some retro lo-fi surf sounds and some mighty dazzling outfits. I cant say I'm real hip to what's new these days, bein a 41 year old rock n' roll factory shmuck, but I try to keep my ear to the (under) ground and it appears to be rumbling right now. Good to hear the youngins playin' instruments and not record players..but hey, thats just me.
Picked up a vinyl copy of LIVE SKULL "Dusted" at House of Records in Eugene. another NY record, but from 1987..pretty much the ancestral roots of the aforementioned music..Dark, atmospheric..pulsing and disturbing. Not a whole lot of joy in these cuts,.They came out of the scene that gave us Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth, and the Swans..Pretty dark..Personally I think its a classic.Thalia Zedek's vocals are freakin' amazing.
Last week I picked up some really good ska and dub reggae stuff. More on that another time. Enjoying supporting my local record stores.