Yep, you've probably heard some of these songs before. Hopefully you have, as Mikey and I are pretty proud of this batch, which dates back just a couple years. So here's the story....
I was rooting around on the ol' iPod a while ago for a song or two from the RKBS unit, and realized that some tunes had gone missing, probably on account of some computer or iTunes shuffling/ uncluttering binge, or maybe they were melted in the big burndown. Dunno. I reopened the files and tweaked them, but once that horse's snoot was out the barn door, along came the rest of the tunes from those sessions, which I've packaged here into a couple "EPs". In the intervening time since these songs were first recorded and mixed, I've hopefully made some gains in skills, software and/ or hardware, so hopefully these versions are indeed new and improved.
This week's RKBS4 "EP" (that's shorthand for an "extended play" single, you vinyl lovers!) is comprised of the non-cover material. By way of refresher:
- "North Marin" speaks for itself. Man, what a place for a drive!
- "Rock n' Roll Town" is the previously discussed shout-out to East Douglas, MA.
- "Blowing It" is something of a tribute to my fondly recalled Boston sound of the late 80s- early 90s (e.g. Dino Jr, Buffalo Tom, Lemonheads).
- "Wavey" was an off-the-cuff instrumental, done in the usual melancholy vein, that turned into a fun workout for a bunch of relatively new gear I was getting to know at the time (organ, ElectroHarmonix delay, Gretsch 6121 hollowbody with a sweet, smooth vibrato).
- "Tupelo" is just one of my favorite songs ever, written by our old amigo Johnny "Rock" Marsh back in the Dillo band days.
North Marin: https://www.box.com/s/n96uxsuzgca6b14wh3cv
Rock n' Roll Town: https://www.box.com/s/y0qffo6ut0912tcoo886
Blowing It: https://www.box.com/s/lc0v3u6t2s637ewd9omd
Wavey: https://www.box.com/s/v7czl1hfu41xj7yuz1sv
Tupelo: https://www.box.com/s/z2tfe6hgbhh6ugu0y0s8
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Woodpile 2: "Northampton Sun" b/w "Down the Waterline"
Back in '03-'05, at the start of my professorial stint, Miss Oonagh and I spent a 2-year exile from the Pinetree State. Prior to establishing ourselves back at the luxurious Harpswell Estate, we were living in East Douglas, MA, halfway between Providence and Worcester, down in the MA-CT-RI "metro" area. Like a lot of places in the historic Blackstone River Valley, East Douglas is a tiny little town with a couple blocks of commerce, but nothing you'd even want to glorify by calling downtown. It backs up to the "mighty" Mumford River, which is mightily dammed, even there at the headwaters where it's little more than a stream. There was forestry and some granite quarrying back in the day, and ice production in the winter, but things apparently quieted right down when the woolen mill went down in the post-war years.
Anyway, we were living at the edge of the "main drag" of town, on the main floor of an old Victorian, formerly a funeral parlor. The trucks would rumble by and shake the house, and that stretch of road was a popular speed trap so there was no shortage of being awakened by flashing blues seeping into the bedroom at all hours. There was also not a lot to do except cook, play music, quilt, dispose of some wine, and walk the dogs at the State Forest (see the song "Rock n' Roll Town" for all the details). Many weekends that we for some reason stuck around MA instead of taking up our permanent guestroom at the Samsons' up in Brunswick, it was trips out west to Northampton that kept us sane. Heading up the foothills on the west side of Worcester, Massachusetts does get a little wilder and scragglier: the Brookfields and Ware, the storied Quabbin Reservoir and its four sunken towns, the trout-laden Swift River, Belchertown (!) and Hadley and Amherst. We'd stop for a hike at Mt. Holyoke or Mt. Tom, and head over the Connecticut River to kick around Northampton for the rest of the day. Art! Music stores! Vinyl! Restaurants, plus lots of beer! Dirty hippies! Hoo-ray! And now that the Sorkin-Camachos have relocated to lovely Florence, MA, on the NW side of town, "Northampton Sun" has gotten a new lease on life.
Not to slight the B-side, but not having much to say about it either: "Down the Waterline" is a more resigned number, also written during the Exile Years. Definitely to be filed under "Plonky, acoustic, obscure, the usual".
Northampton Sun: https://www.box.com/s/ftib65vzqq5jtfu4xj35
Anyway, we were living at the edge of the "main drag" of town, on the main floor of an old Victorian, formerly a funeral parlor. The trucks would rumble by and shake the house, and that stretch of road was a popular speed trap so there was no shortage of being awakened by flashing blues seeping into the bedroom at all hours. There was also not a lot to do except cook, play music, quilt, dispose of some wine, and walk the dogs at the State Forest (see the song "Rock n' Roll Town" for all the details). Many weekends that we for some reason stuck around MA instead of taking up our permanent guestroom at the Samsons' up in Brunswick, it was trips out west to Northampton that kept us sane. Heading up the foothills on the west side of Worcester, Massachusetts does get a little wilder and scragglier: the Brookfields and Ware, the storied Quabbin Reservoir and its four sunken towns, the trout-laden Swift River, Belchertown (!) and Hadley and Amherst. We'd stop for a hike at Mt. Holyoke or Mt. Tom, and head over the Connecticut River to kick around Northampton for the rest of the day. Art! Music stores! Vinyl! Restaurants, plus lots of beer! Dirty hippies! Hoo-ray! And now that the Sorkin-Camachos have relocated to lovely Florence, MA, on the NW side of town, "Northampton Sun" has gotten a new lease on life.
Not to slight the B-side, but not having much to say about it either: "Down the Waterline" is a more resigned number, also written during the Exile Years. Definitely to be filed under "Plonky, acoustic, obscure, the usual".
Northampton Sun: https://www.box.com/s/ftib65vzqq5jtfu4xj35
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Woodpile 2: "Sally Colgan" b/w "TransAmerican"
Good day gentlefolk! Hoping you are well. Sliding into autumn, work and play conspired yet again to delay the posting here at RKBS Industries, as ever, but behind the scenes we roll on. The long game involves some new RKBS originals but more proximately you'll have seen the last of Woodpile 2, and will have enjoyed some more classic rock from the Stackpole-Keating axis, somewhat less classic rock from Harpswell Hootenanny '12, and long-delayed tunes from the mystery man known only as Beez.... But meanwhile, back at the Woodpile....
Every once in a very long while, the workshop churns out something with a Celtic undertone, and that's the case with "Sally Colgan". It started off as an exercise in writing a typical story song, which in this case was a barely cautionary tale of a young girl heading off to the city. Soon enough, I'd stuck in the quick double-break leading into the chorus, realized that I was treading on middle to late-era Van Morrison turf ("Veedon Fleece" and "Pay the Devil" were on heavy rotation), and went with that, plus a dose of Steve Earle (listening to lots of "The Mountain" back then). For years I'd heard some accordion and bouzouki or tenor banjo on this and was happy to get them in there, even if I did end up laying off the tin whistle.
"TransAmerican" started with a similarly Celtic bent, but was inspired by the other side of the Atlantic. The lyrics came out of the Maine/ New Brunswick border crossings that the Keating-Wacks were doing fairly frequently at the time, and it's about that small, warm, safe feeling you can't help but get in your bones when you get back on home soil, even after being someplace as non-foreign and easy going as Canadia. I have to say that I still hate crossing borders, or at least coming back stateside, 'cause those US Customs and Border Protection folk are serious bad M-ers who scare my pants off, even under the most benign of circumstances. I'm happy to report, though, that St. John, NB has come a way in my estimation since I wrote the song, even if I left the last verse kiss-off just for fun. Musically I was aiming something of a Maritime Province feel and in the re-recording, I really played up the influence of St. Johns, Newfoundland's wonderful roots-rock sing-alongers Great Big Sea, whose stuff (the kitchen party, non-cheesy stuff, that is) is well worth a spin.
Folk it up!
JK
Sally Colgan: https://www.box.com/s/9k5kocpt26cb3er1488g
TransAmerican: https://www.box.com/s/epnkqkks80agmsz23x4a
Every once in a very long while, the workshop churns out something with a Celtic undertone, and that's the case with "Sally Colgan". It started off as an exercise in writing a typical story song, which in this case was a barely cautionary tale of a young girl heading off to the city. Soon enough, I'd stuck in the quick double-break leading into the chorus, realized that I was treading on middle to late-era Van Morrison turf ("Veedon Fleece" and "Pay the Devil" were on heavy rotation), and went with that, plus a dose of Steve Earle (listening to lots of "The Mountain" back then). For years I'd heard some accordion and bouzouki or tenor banjo on this and was happy to get them in there, even if I did end up laying off the tin whistle.
"TransAmerican" started with a similarly Celtic bent, but was inspired by the other side of the Atlantic. The lyrics came out of the Maine/ New Brunswick border crossings that the Keating-Wacks were doing fairly frequently at the time, and it's about that small, warm, safe feeling you can't help but get in your bones when you get back on home soil, even after being someplace as non-foreign and easy going as Canadia. I have to say that I still hate crossing borders, or at least coming back stateside, 'cause those US Customs and Border Protection folk are serious bad M-ers who scare my pants off, even under the most benign of circumstances. I'm happy to report, though, that St. John, NB has come a way in my estimation since I wrote the song, even if I left the last verse kiss-off just for fun. Musically I was aiming something of a Maritime Province feel and in the re-recording, I really played up the influence of St. Johns, Newfoundland's wonderful roots-rock sing-alongers Great Big Sea, whose stuff (the kitchen party, non-cheesy stuff, that is) is well worth a spin.
Folk it up!
JK
Sally Colgan: https://www.box.com/s/9k5kocpt26cb3er1488g
TransAmerican: https://www.box.com/s/epnkqkks80agmsz23x4a
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