Lyric Update

This saturday was a very brief session for Black and Blue, but productive nonetheless. I got to the torrance recording studio at about 11:30, and we got straight to work. Not really, but that sounds dramatic.

We practiced a couple of songs, including Armageddon is Here. I had a few new tricks to try out on the drums, most of which worked well. We then went on a lyrics hunt! We thumbed through a number of folders and three ring binders, but with no luck. On the other hand, we did get to go down memory lane on a number of things, including our gigs at the Mudd Hole at Harvey Mudd. Lots of great flyers were found in a folder I turned over to bill for cold storage a while back.

Bill finally found a video of us performing in Ed Zybuls back yard that had a good recording of the song. Though one line was a little hard to hear, i was able to reconstruct the lyrics for the lost third verse of the song. It goes like this:

As night did come, and doom did fall.
Only the four of us to make any noise.
Armageddon, here we come.
We'll welcome armageddon with the banging drums.

Nice.

We did about three takes, two of which were good. The last take was the keeper, as I managed to pull off all the tricks I wanted to hit on the drums. So that was that. Bill was in the booth playing guitar and laying down a scratch vocal. We had time to record the rhythm guitar part as a separate track, this time with some chunky distortion. (Not to be confused with "Muzza Chunka", a band I heard of during my time at Santa Monica College, or SMC) Carl's Jr found it's place in there somehow, this time featuring a guest appearance by lil Will Fischer, whose dinner at Carl's consisted of a pepper. The hot kind. Despite our insistence that the lion in a wall mounted water color print would jump out and eat him if he didn't behave, Will provided the "loose canon" perspective to this buddy cop drama that was unfolding over dinner.

We got back to Bill's, er, I mean the studio, did some goofing around, and then it was time to leave. The evening wrapped by about 4:30, as I had some things to attend to in Orange County. Overall, I'd say it was a productive day, as we locked down two tracks on a new song, and we're still in the month of July. That's important because Armageddon is Augusts song, so we're ahead of schedule.

I've since had some thoughts about the song, upon listening to Bill's mix down. Though the mix was nice, and the added lead guitar part was great, I'm questioning the overall arrangement of the song. it's VERY heavy on refrain, VERY light on verse. There's three verses, and I htink we hit the refrain something like nine times. I hatched the plan of re-tooling the song to include four verses, and maybe drop two or three of the refrains. Two options exist, as i see it. Re-record the song, or just dork around with it in cubase. I'm leaning towards the latter, as I think it's not only feasable, but would be a good exercise. I did some AMAZING things with The Second Time Around in cubase, including moving some performance pieces around, fixing some minor drum hiccups, and the like. I think as long as the song keeps a pretty consistent temp, it should be pretty simple. Of course, I'll need to write lyrics to a new, fourth verse, but seeing as how the band history is steeped in armageddon and post apocalypic vision, I don't imagine coming up short on source material. Might be a good chance to mention our long standing nemesis, Future Bitch, who has yet to appear in any actual were-penguins production. I'm not sure if I want to write a verse that goes on the end of the song, or one that integrates into the existing song. Like in between current verses two and three. I really like the third verse as written, as it's sort of a capper to the narrative. Not sure I want to disturb that. Then again, perhaps the fourth verse can be a look farther into the bleak, dystopian future that the song describes, one inhabited only by bands of musicians who engage in ritualistic combat for the remaining scarce resources. Of course, the song only speaks of two bands "My New Invention", and our evil, mutant counterparts "The Last Band On Earth". Perhaps a third band could be introduced that will bring balance to these opposing forces.

Or perhaps I'm overthinking things.

Anyhow, all'z I'm saying is that it was a good session, we're ahead of schedule, and the next session will probably see us doing a Fischer penned piece named "Bordered in Black", whatever the heck that means. I'm going to head over to classicstickmen.com to see if I can dig up a demo recording of it.

Train/Car Wreck

So you know how when you get an annoying song stuck in your head, the best way to get rid of it is to get it stuck into someone ELSES head???

Well, I'm in need of finding some eager skulls on this one.

A while ago, I was lead to this gem on youtube:


Get Down

Arguably the worst video ever made, complete with the worst song ever recorded. And yet, like a moth to flame, I am drawn. It's just SO DARN AWFUL and weird, that I cannot look away.

So please, follow the link, and help me get this darn song out of my head.

Armageddon is Near

Greetings readers! Since it's my turn at the producer table, I've decided that my next song to be recorded is the Munson penned classic "Armageddon Is Here". I'm quite certain that this song started out as a Stickmen "gag" song, and frankly, it hasn't strayed much farther than that. I always envisioned it as a "metal" song, which will make for a break from what the BNB team has produced to date.

The problem is that I've forgotten some of the lyrics. Surprise. Here's what I've got so far:

Armageddon is here. You'd better go to church and pray.
Armageddon is here. The world is gonna end today.

The world collapsed around three AM.
The ground split apart in a blinding flash.
First the rumbling burst my ears.
And then the silence left me all alone.

Armageddon is here. You'd better go to church and pray.
Armageddon is here. The world is gonna end today.

We wandered the wasteland for day after day.
Looking for a place not to be afraid.
Ran into the last band on earth.
The the troubles began all again.

Armageddon is here. You'd better go to church and pray.
Armageddon is here. The world is gonna end today.

Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
We'll welcome armageddon with the banging drums

Drum solo

Armageddon is here. You'd better go to church and pray.
Armageddon is here. The world is gonna end today.


(key switch)
Armageddon is here. You'd better go to church and pray.
Armageddon is here. The world is gonna end today.



So you can see that I'm missing the first three lines of the last verse. If you have any ideas, or have a recording of this song handy, please mail them in. I'll be doing my own research, but I think it's up to Bill.

Second Time Around, On The Road

The blog has been a little dead lately, what with Bill out of town and all. But he's back, and with a vengeance.

Long story short: this weekend we finished "Second Time Around" and "On The Road". or is it "The Second Time Around" and "(On The) Road"???? Not sure.

Details: out of the frickin' park. I don't know what else to say. I'm stunned at how wonderfully STA turned out. It's just amazing. I had no idea Black and Blue was even capable of such a fine artifact. I've been firing off a stream of complimentary emails to bill all night long on the amazing work he did both in performing and mixing and producing. Just nuts. Nuts.

Like the doctor.

Here's some pics.