Good day all. Here's hoping that your Thanksgivings were leisurely and unencumbered. It's a quiet time up for us in the midcoast, which is a nice break. The only think we can't really give thanks for is our not being able to see more of you fine folks, but plug away at that we shall. And this post wraps up the second Woodpile.
Anyways, both of these songs date back to our days on the north end of Bath, ME, Miss Oonagh and me. "Brand New Bird"? One spring day, the loudest goddarned bird set up shop in a huge, bedraggled oak across the street from us, in our neighbor Madeleine's yard. At the time, I was trying to be a good do-bee and study for that vile veterinary pathology board exam, but that dang thing was making me nuts for a few days with its boring-ass but extremely loud, sing-song "Peter-Peter-Peter" whistling. Turned out that crazy noisemaker was a plain old tufted titmouse. I'd always loved those lil' rats on account of their wide-eyed, crested, cartoon-y look and outgoing ways but I'd never appreciated the lungs on 'em, and things were looking grim for a while... Anyway, a metaphor ensued and I was off to the races! Mules kicking in the stall? Old-timey jug band stylings? Ain't that America!
"Five Days Crawl" is another ode to weeks spent working away from home. And a rockabilly player I am NOT, on rhythm, lead or bass, but I do love the rockabilly music. and by now at least I can fake it a bit. I'd written this as a straight up Elvis-Scotty-Bill rip-off, so such a version is long overdue.
Brand New Bird: https://www.box.com/s/k8395yfyq2w50bn155i6
Five Days Crawl: https://www.box.com/s/771crnuwzzrii6bvn4hh
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
RKBS4 Covers "EP"
Continuing a little pre-Thanksgiving belly-stretching, we follow up the previous post's gut-busting cornucopia with the remaining tasty leftovers from that session. This "EP" gets you the remixed cover material, as follows:
- "A Goodby Rye" (Richard Buckner). Good lord, but what heart-stopping and near-perfect albums comprise Buckner's out-of-the-gate trilogy! "Bloomed" (1995) finds him getting his dusty legs, and "Since"(1998) is a masterpiece, but "Devotion and Doubt"(1997) is the pinnacle. Band, voice, production, lyrics, songs... It all comes together and crushes you.
- "Game of Pricks" (Guided By Voices). From the best-by-far incarnation of Dayton's slop-pop-prog-lo-fi kings. We used to take this one up now and again back in the day with the Dillo band ("Motor Away" as well) but I swear I never knew the chords, which is a shame. Still atoning for past sins, I guess.
- "Save It for Later" (The English Beat). You might not peg me for a Beat fan but, oh my friends, I am one in spades! Someday we'll get back around to again covering their version of "Tears of a Clown" (as the pre-Buttsteak JHU roadshow used to do-- fast, fast, fast!) but in the meantime there's this classic. It's the sort of non-ska, non-political, poppy number that raised some hackles within the Beat at the time but Dave Wakeling (and management) won out and we're all the better for it.
- "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (The Smiths). Yet another fine Smiths tune, and one long-covered by the Buttsteaks. This particular version reflects an effort on the part of Mike and me to rock it up a bit and keep the sappy maundering down to a minimum-- to dial up the Marr, Joyce and Rourke side and tone down Morrisey a tad.
- "From a Buick 6" (Bob Dylan). Tip of the hat to Son Volt, whose rip-roaring encore version of Dylan's "Obviously Five Believers" at Bohager's in Fell's Point back in the day convinced me that we should take a stab at this one.
A Goodbye Rye: https://www.box.com/s/hgbu1olsvgxsub6dcuoj
Game of Pricks: https://www.box.com/s/2z97neyh8gjcaj6qw0fm
Save It for Later: https://www.box.com/s/h6vcazl6n201a7qn85xz
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out:
https://www.box.com/s/bgfjzvf29vppc5daagz8
From A Buick 6: https://www.box.com/s/vyozlol9nl44a3ojauu6
- "A Goodby Rye" (Richard Buckner). Good lord, but what heart-stopping and near-perfect albums comprise Buckner's out-of-the-gate trilogy! "Bloomed" (1995) finds him getting his dusty legs, and "Since"(1998) is a masterpiece, but "Devotion and Doubt"(1997) is the pinnacle. Band, voice, production, lyrics, songs... It all comes together and crushes you.
- "Game of Pricks" (Guided By Voices). From the best-by-far incarnation of Dayton's slop-pop-prog-lo-fi kings. We used to take this one up now and again back in the day with the Dillo band ("Motor Away" as well) but I swear I never knew the chords, which is a shame. Still atoning for past sins, I guess.
- "Save It for Later" (The English Beat). You might not peg me for a Beat fan but, oh my friends, I am one in spades! Someday we'll get back around to again covering their version of "Tears of a Clown" (as the pre-Buttsteak JHU roadshow used to do-- fast, fast, fast!) but in the meantime there's this classic. It's the sort of non-ska, non-political, poppy number that raised some hackles within the Beat at the time but Dave Wakeling (and management) won out and we're all the better for it.
- "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (The Smiths). Yet another fine Smiths tune, and one long-covered by the Buttsteaks. This particular version reflects an effort on the part of Mike and me to rock it up a bit and keep the sappy maundering down to a minimum-- to dial up the Marr, Joyce and Rourke side and tone down Morrisey a tad.
- "From a Buick 6" (Bob Dylan). Tip of the hat to Son Volt, whose rip-roaring encore version of Dylan's "Obviously Five Believers" at Bohager's in Fell's Point back in the day convinced me that we should take a stab at this one.
A Goodbye Rye: https://www.box.com/s/hgbu1olsvgxsub6dcuoj
Game of Pricks: https://www.box.com/s/2z97neyh8gjcaj6qw0fm
Save It for Later: https://www.box.com/s/h6vcazl6n201a7qn85xz
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out:
https://www.box.com/s/bgfjzvf29vppc5daagz8
From A Buick 6: https://www.box.com/s/vyozlol9nl44a3ojauu6
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
RKBS4 Originals "EP"
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
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 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
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Woodpile 2: "Baby, You've Been On My Mind" b/w "Baby's Bringing Kisses"
Baby, baby, baby, BAAAYYYYBEEEH, bay-buh!! That's rock n' roll speak for you. Silly, isn't it? But if you had a nickel for every "baby" cut to vinyl since, oh, I dunno.... since Ike Turner, Jackie Brenston and Co. Cut "Rocket 88" with Sam Philips in '51? To paraphrase the Fab Four, baby, you'd be a rich man. But, baby, it's a great lyrical tool-- a little word that can be deployed in any number of ways, with any number of intentions. Shouted, whispered, lascivious, sincere, whatever you've got. Sincerely lascivious, maybe? Anyways, two variations on the theme follow, in the acoustical format:
The title "Baby you've Been On My Mind" is a blatant Dylan rip-off, and the song isn't far off, either. It supplies the cockeyed, puppydog, corn pone, yelpy/ pleady variant of the rock n' roll "baby". Good lord, but it's a stupid song. Fun as heck to play, though. It started out as a deliberate attempt to dumb down and do things like rhyme "moon" with "June", "true" with "blue" and so on, and to give shout-outs to those delicious Carling's Black Label and Pabst Blue Ribbon beers, which were on heavy rotation at the time. It was even too dumb for the Honcho band of Baltimore back in the waning '90s, which might be saying something. But, next thing you know, the lil' bastard's done grown on me....
"Baby's Bringing Kisses" is more stately number. (Hint: The slow pace and fancy shmancy chords are the tipoff!) It was written on a rickety upright piano in my old apartment in "The Eden of America": Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA, late '99 or so. Despite the trappings, though, the allegiances of the "baby" in question are equally up in the air as in its country cousin above. It's a hard-knock life fer sure...
JK
Baby, You've Been On My Mind: https://www.box.com/s/7a77b7e94f8d60a87d8a
Baby's Bringing Kisses: https://www.box.com/s/6bd14d3a1c254c02996e
Friday, August 17, 2012
Woodpile 2: "Arms of this Town" b/w "Ashley Magee"
Hey Ladies and Gents of Summer! The heat and heaviness of July is behind you (and half of August even), and here come those fine, fine, slanted and golden days of early autumn--- Hot Dang!! Up here, there are still mammoth hornworms to be plucked off the tomatoes, the potatoes are mostly still in the ground, the peaches are coming in and the okra's still going strong, but we're getting there.... At this point, I'll try not to bemoan the growing pile of musical material that I've labeled "Crap I've Got to Do", and just get on to it.
This week we're headed back to fetch some more quality goods from the Woodpile. This is actually a second and separate batch of acoustical numbers, cleverly entitled "Woodpile 2". Working again on re-learning and figuring out how to mic these wooden contraptions, there are some minor technical differences from the first set, but don't kill yourself listening for them. If you notice the presence of the "dobro" (actually a National Reso-phonic Model D square neck/ spider bridge/ single cone resonator guitar), well, good on ya! Gold star!
"Arms of this Town" is another in a long line of Baltimore songs I've written over the years, this one coming after I'd decamped for MA yet again and dating back to '02 or so. Yeah, sure, if you break it down there's probably some Bob Dylan in there, and some Eagles and Tom Petty even, but it's a song that I've come to love on its own melancholy terms. Just now taking a spin of the original, I'm reminded that at some point, I really should do a back-to-back post of the original and prior versions together with these re-dos... We shall see.
"Ashley Magee" is a tad older and bears the name of an actual person whom the song in reality has little or nothing to do with. Sometimes all you need is a fragment on which to hang a song, and in this case it was mysterious and southern enough to get the ball rolling. The original is a '98 vintage or thereabouts, and written whilst staying in the "Kacynski Cabin" behind Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic (where the roses grew by the stairs), commuting weeks on/ off between Annapolis, MD and Somerville, MA. Crazy days, those.
Enjoy all the strumming and plinking and plonking!
JK
Links:
"Arms of this Town": https://www.box.com/s/c0578ee5a5b8b3a9a341
"Ashley Magee": https://www.box.com/s/76a43ef4c8360b65c0e0
This week we're headed back to fetch some more quality goods from the Woodpile. This is actually a second and separate batch of acoustical numbers, cleverly entitled "Woodpile 2". Working again on re-learning and figuring out how to mic these wooden contraptions, there are some minor technical differences from the first set, but don't kill yourself listening for them. If you notice the presence of the "dobro" (actually a National Reso-phonic Model D square neck/ spider bridge/ single cone resonator guitar), well, good on ya! Gold star!
"Arms of this Town" is another in a long line of Baltimore songs I've written over the years, this one coming after I'd decamped for MA yet again and dating back to '02 or so. Yeah, sure, if you break it down there's probably some Bob Dylan in there, and some Eagles and Tom Petty even, but it's a song that I've come to love on its own melancholy terms. Just now taking a spin of the original, I'm reminded that at some point, I really should do a back-to-back post of the original and prior versions together with these re-dos... We shall see.
"Ashley Magee" is a tad older and bears the name of an actual person whom the song in reality has little or nothing to do with. Sometimes all you need is a fragment on which to hang a song, and in this case it was mysterious and southern enough to get the ball rolling. The original is a '98 vintage or thereabouts, and written whilst staying in the "Kacynski Cabin" behind Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic (where the roses grew by the stairs), commuting weeks on/ off between Annapolis, MD and Somerville, MA. Crazy days, those.
Enjoy all the strumming and plinking and plonking!
JK
Links:
"Arms of this Town": https://www.box.com/s/c0578ee5a5b8b3a9a341
"Ashley Magee": https://www.box.com/s/76a43ef4c8360b65c0e0
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