learning new songs

so we're working on adding some more songs to our set, more songs from the damned cd, that is. jerry ended up getting hella stoned and listening to the cd after our disasterous point arena show and decided it was pretty really good or something, and has been taking the time to learn some of the songs of it. he says he likes hack a lot, which is a good song, i like that one alright, haha. so we're working that one out. we're also working on bitterlust, which it really surprises me that people respond to. i mean, it's such a schizophrenic suite, not really a pop song or anything, it's just this collection of six or seven short bits strung together that after a few years i managed to make work as a recording, at least relatively well. anyway, the guys have learned about half of it, and it sounds fucking amazing. i mean, i'm really shocked at how good it sounds, but it's like this huge psychedelics blue and purple behemoth of color and sound, so yeah. it's always been one that tommi has enjoyed playing, cuz it's so varied, but it sounds so huge now with corey and jerry, so that's pretty cool. we're taking it at a one section per practice learning thing, cuz each part is completely different from the other.

we all decided that we have to rework age of irony. i'm still convinced that it's a great song, but our current arrangement just hasn't been working. basically, corey and i have agreed that we should be playing the same thing, cuz that's boring. so i gotta work out a new guitar part for the verses, and i can hear it in my head, i just need to make the time to work it out. that way corey will be free to play the riff but then also fuck it up in a fittingly fashion. then i want tommi to pursue more of a blast beat type of thing, which is of course influenced from nick's black metal project, but this is the song for it. then i've kinda change the chorus guitar part to almost this reggae sounding riff thing that sounds a bit like the clash for part of it. anyway, i think once we get the arrangement right, corey won't hate it anymore. the song is important to me too, cuz tommi kinda accidently wrote the music, which is a first!

then i got this song that i haven't really introduced to the guys yet, cuz i haven't made the time to finish the words or the synth bass riffs, but it's called the dichotomy, and it's all fucked up. i guess i see it as more of a electro hip-hop type thing, i just have no idea what corey is gonna do on it, or even how it's gonna sound with the four of us. i but i think if i come into it with a clear structure of the words and the riffs, the four of us can work something really good out that will probably be totally unexpected.

anyway, we're playing saturday the 31st at MAGNET in the castro. it's free and it's all ages, so come if you care! then we're playing on june 10th at kimo's with some band from down south called Metroid, and who the hell knows else. and then on the 25th we're at the retox with a instrumental guitar and drum duo from portland and a rock and roll band from berkeley!