I swear, there is NOT a better party on Halloween

Tomorrow is Halloween. You might already know this.

If you went to the Skylark Cafe's (NadaMucho's!?!??) "Come As You Aren't" show/battle of the bands last year, you know that it's a show not to be missed this year. There was crowd fist pumping, there was dancing, there was overwhelming merriment. If you didn't see the battle for the Golden Cowbell last year (which is really a contest of bribery and over-the-top showmanship), tomorrow is your chance to witness one of the most awesome musical spectacles contemporary Seattle has to offer.

A roster of some of the best local bands you could ever have the good fortune to drink beers with will be covering 15-minutes worth of a famous band. We Wrote the Book On Connectors as The Beastie Boys. The Apple War as Queen. M.Bison as The Kinks. Bone Cave Ballet as Duran Duran. H Is for Hellgate as....

So, last year I thought it would be awesome to collaborate with Another Perfect Crime and live out our collective fantasy to be Sleater-Kinney, and I thought correctly. Observe:

I decided to put on my collaboration pants again this year and I joined forces with the ladies from Hungry Pines and Pam from Danielli and, after about a month and a dozen cover band possibilities, we settled on an obscure band known as Nirvana.

It's going to be rad, people. Yours truly is going to play drums. In public. People tend not to believe that I played all the drums on the first Hellgate album, but I did, and tomorrow I'm spirit-gumming on my best goatee and will be a short, feminine-looking Dave Grohl.

Don't attempt to go to the eight parties at which you said you'd make an appearance. Plant yourself at the Skylark and watch eight bands play for YOU.

Extra points if you dress up as Courtney Love!

Sneak Preview - Blood

Each Monday (okay, I'm late again this week) until our second full-length album Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys is released on December 2nd, I'll be posting a song off the record on our myspace page for you to preview and enjoy and talking a little bit about each song on this here blog.

Week Seven: Blood

Initially, this song was a lot more convoluted and tricky than it ended up being in the end. I got kind of tired of trying to make it more crazy than it needed to be, especially given the heavy lyrics that I had in mind for the song.

The foundation was the first couple of lines which I wrote while I was driving home from Minnesota by myself after our month-long tour had been cut in half by my dad's death. The whole song is basically snapshots from my life in the month after his passing - watching the world go by as mine fell apart. The chorus describes what took place outside of a strip-mall Chinese food restaurant in Dallas the band was eating at when I got a call from my cousin that my dad had been in a motorcycle accident and had bad head injuries. I walked outside alone and kicked and hit things because I knew the outcome wasn't going to be good, but I didn't want to totally lose it in front of the band. A few hours later I was in Minnesota looking at my dad's body.

The following months were insane and indescribably difficult. Most of the song on the album written after April 2007 are about that struggle. It was the first time I had lost someone close to me and the experience turned my view of the world completely upside down.

Recording this song was gut-wrenching for me because I really, really tried to put myself in the place I was at when I wrote each song, even when just recording the instrument tracks. Mark Mercer, our engineer, was really good at encouraging us to record performances and not just the songs. I remember specifically recording the instruments for this song one late night at Avast, conjuring up pieces of the experience, and to my surprise, crying as I played it. It was weird. That's never happened to me before. And then weird turned into frustrating when we had to keep retaking the song because there was a problem with one of the drum fills, but I kept putting myself in "that place" with each take and by the end I was so emotionally drained that I wanted to sleep for days.

The album is dedicated to the memory of my dad and Mark Mercer. Mark tragically died shortly after the album was mixed and, as if it isn't difficult enough to think of losing my dad when I play this song, I also think of Mark because this was the song on the album for which he seemed to care most about capturing the delicacies and nuances.

Blood

Elton John was singing my song
As the traffic worked to pull me along
Someone’s calling again
What now?

It’s not a pretty sight what I am today
My eyes are sweating pain and I’m swearing in vain
It sit straight faced as I write and sign
Checks to pay for the last minutes of your life

I beat my fist against the wall
Blood on the brick
Chips in my bones
I’m going home

I swear sometimes I can hear the crack
Of your head on the road and I get sick
I get mad and I have nightmares
And I really don’t care if anyone cares

So, when Elton John stops singing my song
And the traffic stops pulling me along
I’ll see you again

Sneak Preview - Pretty, Pretty Princess

Each Monday (okay, I'm late this week) until our second full-length album Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys is released on December 2nd, I'll be posting a song off the record on our myspace page for you to preview and enjoy and talking a little bit about each song on this here blog.

Week Six: Pretty, Pretty Princess

PPP was the first song I wrote for the new record and the first song we recorded for the album. Taking that first step to write the first song for a new collection is a little intimidating because it sets the tone for the songs to follow. I'm actually in this very same place now as I'm starting writing for our thrid album. As a result, I spent a lot of time tweaking the arrangement and trying to insert a bunch of twists and turns which makes it a pretty fun song to play.

The inspiration initially came from a friend's relationship (because mine wasn't yet in shambles. I was happy and, really, who wants to listen to happy songs?) but over time I decided that it was mine. It became especially satisfying to yell all the swear words. Although, I have to say that overdubbing vocals and swear words is pretty hilarious. "(music.........) you motherfucking princess! (music.....)"

Pretty, Pretty Princess

Good morning, I love you
And I can surely live without you, girl

Watching her go

There was nothing left to talk about
We had hashed it out
And slashed and smashed ourselves
Until we were like the dust on dust
But with a breeze she was gone
And I was like, “hello, hello?”
Pick up the phone.
Fine, don’t come home

It’s a hex, at best, that I’ll never rest
And I don’t have time for such a pretty, pretty princess

Guess who’s to blame?
Let’s see…it’s me
I’m the repeat offender
Of totally not keeping my shit together
But c’est la vie
And c’est le mort
Because dead is what I’ll be
after you tear my fucking heart apart

It’s a hex, at best, that I’ll never rest
And you can have it all you motherfucking princess

I can’t see the wind, but I know it exists
I knew someday I would be on the other side of the fist

Sneak Peak - Thunderbolt

Each Monday until our second full-length album Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys is released on December 2nd, I'll be posting a song off the record on our myspace page for you to preview and enjoy and talking a little bit about each song on this here blog.

Week Five: Thunderbolt

"Thunderbolt" is kind of a follow-up to last week's song, "Be Prepared To Die Alone." I wrote it after I felt like my relationship, and my post-massive-loss head, had been though the worst of it and things were turning up. I wrote it as a gesture of optimism and it was more or less a plea for my g/f to channel whatever strength she had gained in the previous months, tell me everything would be okay, and take care of for a little bit longer. It ended up being a useless request because we broke up before it was recorded and I don't think she's ever even heard the song. Ahh, the plight of the songwriter....

I wrote this song after writing "Dusk At Devil's Tower," a song I'll blog about in a few weeks. That song draws upon Greek mythology and Native American legends. I carried that interest over with images of Athena because she's a badass and I needed a badass around.

I aimed to get a little jazzier and weirder with the music, although the only really weird part is the soft/loud thing, which really isn't that weird. Of course, a bunch of time was spent with David, Ben and I trying to nail the three-way runs at the end of the song. The hardest part about recording the song was probably the acoustic intro - it's really hard not to shift around because the condenser mics will pick up EVERYTHING.

I think that's all I have to say about this one. It's probably not any one's favorite song on the record, but I care a lot about it because it marked a turning point for me.

Thunderbolt

The labrys split the forehead from which she arrived
All grown up, battle ready and signing a war cry
It's on

From the lance drips the city's affront
Crimson in the light, crimson into the night
Let's go

Broken horse
Thunderbolt
Serpent and a staff
I swear we'll be okay
I'll take care of you

Just look at you, plain clothes and plain faced
The owl was lost, winged fury flew off
No skill and no grace
You're done

One last chance to survive

Your counselor
Your warrior
Your healer
Your champion
I'll take care of you

Your courage
Your craft
Your vision
Your back
I'll take care of you

Sneak Preview - Be Prepared To Die Alone

Each Monday until our second full-length album Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys is released in late-November, I'll be posting a song off the record on our myspace page for you to preview and enjoy and talking a little bit about each song on this here blog.

Week four: Be Prepared To Die Alone

Where do I start with this one? This is possibly the most straight-forward song I've ever written. Usually I write the music for songs first and add lyrics later. I wrote the first half of this song in one shot sitting on my couch in the Capitol Hill apartment I shared with my ex-girlfriend. My dad had died a month earlier and the sadness and shock I had from that event exacerbated the problems we were having in our relationship.

The working title of the song was "Your Shoes" because I was attempting to put myself in my ex's position of dealing with someone who had become extremely emotionally volatile. After I wrote the first verse from what I imagined to be her standpoint, I wrote the second verse explaining my frustration and in the chorus (for lack of a better word) brought the parts together to point out that we were both at odds with each other and both struggling with the relationship. We hadn't broken up yet, but I knew we were well on our way there.

This blog sounds like a diary entry; I suppose that matches the song, though.

I intended for the song to be stowed away in my mellow solo repertoire until I wrote the last half of the song where the rock kicks in. I loved that we did a he said/she said with David singing the second verse. It felt all Fleetwood Mac or something.

Recording the vocals for this song was kind of a trip. This was the first song Mark, our engineer, and I recorded vocals for. Mark lived in an apartment attached to the Avast! studio and on a few occasions, he and I sneaked in late at night after everyone had left so we could record for free (ssssshhh, don't tell Stuart!). Mark was one of those people who could get on a creative roll and stay up all night working on something. I am rarely one of those people, so usually by midnight, my effort to do some ninja recording was done. Anyway, I recorded the vocals for this song two days after the inevitable big, nasty break up so it was no struggle to put every ounce of intention behind each word I sang.

In a hilarious other late-night-ninja recording session, Mark, along with the rest of the Hellgaters, sneaked into Avast! to record all of the guys' background vocals. It was the only time during the recording process where I didn't have to be in charge of anything, so I brought some beers, kicked back, and let the guys do their thing. The lesson I learned: I should never relax on the job. We forgot to record David's dueling vocal line at the end of the song. When Mark and I mixed the song, I realized what had happened, so we had David sing the line and tried to blend it in with the mix. It barely peaks through at the end, which kind of sucks for the recording because it hammered home the idea of arguing, but now that David's not in the band, the line probably won't be there live anymore anyway.

As I started writing this post, I had a conversation about how long I've been holding onto the songs on this album as we've been constantly postponing its release. I'm especially glad to move on from this one.

If you gave me the time I wouldn’t walk into walls
Trying to find a clock that shows me when you’ll arrive
To this I’ll resign all hope for an easy life
And a love that never raises the question if we’ll survive

I can be calm, be strong
But can I be the one to carry on
I can be smart, be bright
I’m not so sure I’ll end up your wife
You can be harsh and your sharp tongue
Will cut me right out of your life

If you gave me the time I wouldn’t be what you want
I thought you loved that I seized the life in night?
To this I’ll confide, in a way, you were right
But on your quest for perfection, be prepared to die alone

I can be calm, be strong
But can I be the one to carry on
I can be smart, be bright
I’m not so sure that this is for life
You can be harsh and I’m done with
Fight after fight, night after night

On your search for everything
Fuck you for giving up on me
Bend and bust these silver rings
A promise to you breaks so easily
We are bigger than
Fight after fight, night after night

(Happy [un] Anniversary, Teresa. You can find perfection. You were right and you did the right thing. Good luck.)