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Posts Tagged ‘Dane Hill’

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Trimper Rides, Ocean City, Maryland

“President Elect”
“Trimpers (Beach)”
“Dead”
“House of Satan”
“Until I Die (Rum Blues)”
“Laundry”
“Fuck City”
“Michael in the War”
“Trimpers (Ocean)”

This was the first session we had with this many people since Le Carnival des Autres.  In other words, this was our first slide back into our beloved full on electro rockin’ sound.  Samuel didn’t make it to this one, but Michelle Sanders joined us for an amped up version of “Until I Die (Rum Blues)”.

There are a couple of jams, “President Elect” and “Fuck City.”  The latter being the looser and more amusing.  There are also a couple different versions of “Trimpers” here.  Both incorporating synth bass, but two very different styles.  Also, note the new song, “Laundry.”  I began writing that one about [some chick] but wasn’t able to finish it until it became applicable to [a different chick].  I think it has a Talking Heads feel to it.

Katie Collins – omnichord, ukulele
Megan Driscoll –  flute, tambourine, vocals
Dane Hill – drums, bass, vocals
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, keys, beats, vocals
Michelle Sanders – vocals

Click to download the tracks:

“Untitled as Yet”
“Undershots”
“Kiss Me On My Dick (For New Years)”
“8.16”
“Blue”
“Moo Year” (Wesley Wyrick solo set)

So we decided to have a very last minute, quietish but open New Years session. I was really really sick and also got drunk. I stayed awake and played music as long as I could stand to. Wes Wyrick [American Panda, Soulbot, Star Mountain] joined us with his sound as well. Eventually the night culminated into a viewing of Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers.

“Untitled as Yet” – I know I’m playing drums on this one and it’s totally way different than any way we’ve played it before. I think Dane and Wes are both on guitar maybe? I don’t know. I can’t pick this apart. It’s really bad ass though.

“Undershots” – This is a pretty full on Never Sorry / Wes Wyrick collaborative track. Possibly my favorite among these all. There’s something foreign and playful to it. Wes is definitely on his electronics for this one.

“Kiss Me on My Dick (For New Years)” – I had no idea about this song until we were playing it. Apparently, though, it had some preliminary attention focused on it by Rachel and Dane. So I presume they wrote it, and I can say with certainty that they introduced it to me. In any case, this was what we were all doing when we crossed into 2011. Notice it’s only got false countdowns. This was intentional.

“8.16″ – This is apparently me solo. We weren’t running through our normal set up. We were all plugged into a single board, which was plugged into the recording board, plugged into a receiver, which was carrying the music to speakers upstairs. So when I played this shit through that set up, it came out like this. All jitter water or something.  Normally this is the song called “Sarabeth.”

“Blue” – I guess we couldn’t resist the old standard. Good job on it, really.

“Moo Year” – This is Wes Wyrick’s 23 minute continuous set from that night. He called it something else initially, but I forget what it was. Then I saw him somewhere recently and he said he wanted to call it “Moo Year.” So cool. It is.

Katie Collins – omnichord
Megan Driscoll –  flute, tambourine
Dane Hill – guitar, bass, vocals
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, words, beats, keys, drums
Wesley Wyrick – electronics, beats, guitar perhaps

Click to download the tracks:

“Trimpers”
“New Beginnings”
“Blue”
“Dead”
“House of Satan”
“Michael in the War”
“Automobile” (NWA / Parliament)
“Until I Die (Rum Blues)”
“Afraid of the Ghost”
“Cute Little Echo”

Though used to our full on assault you may be, we’re meddling in acoustic music at the moment.  Primarily, this is in preparation for Le Carnival Des Autres, as we will be giving some kind of stripped down performance at the event.  We actually played an Easter  “show” we didn’t advertise.  We used the same arrangement as on this session.  The amplification of acoustic music felt unnatural.

This session was recorded without any electric amplification (aside from the built in speaker on the omnichord), and that is also how we intend to perform at Le Carnival Des Autres.

So we have Samuel Williams back with us on the banjo.  Doing an excellent job, as this is the first time he had played many of these songs.  I’m not going to break down each song as I usually do because – what can I say?  It’s acoustic music.  Period.  I would, however, like to point out “Until I Die (Rum Blues).”  The girl singing is Michelle Sanders (aka Lulu Skidoo) and these are her lyrics.  Myself and Megan Driscoll worked out the music with her.  This was the first session that it was introduced to everyone else.  We hammered it out over and over again,  but I think this is the most solid recorded version.

Katie Collins – omnichord, ukulele, vocals
Megan Driscoll –  flute, harmonica, tambourine, vocals
Dane Hill – guitar, vocals
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, vocals
Samuel Williams – banjo, vocals
Michelle Sanders – vocals

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“Everyone In”
“Michael in the War”
“Trimpers”

After the Pilot Light show, we reconvened the following Wednesday and went right to work on new material…which is actually old material to me.  Only these three made it to the surface.

“Everyone In” – This was just another standard Never Sorry warm up jam.

“Michael in the War” – Okay.  Last summer a storm put my power out just before dusk.  I decided to record a session, by myself, on a battery operated sound recorder.  I played acoustic guitar and sang, making it up as it went.  This song came out of that session.

“Trimpers” – I wrote this song before I really knew how to write songs, back around 9th grade or so.  Trimper’s is a real place in Ocean City, Maryland.  It’s apparently been open since 1893.  Anyway, the song ends rather abruptly due to a beer spill.  And no…it was not extra light.

Katie Collins – omnichord
Megan Driscoll –  flute, vocals
Dane Hill – bass, drums
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, keys, vocals

So apparently The Goddess of Awesome came to our show at the Pilot Light on March 25th.  She wrote up a pretty cut and dry review of the show.

Click here to go there.

That picture is linked from her blog.  It’s pretty good except for how misshapen my head appears.

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photo by Tara Williams

“Monkey Waltz”
“Afraid of the Ghost”
“Blue”
“Anemone” (Brian Jonestown Massacre)
“Dead”
“House of Satan”
“Single Politician”
“Cute Little Echo”
“Tender” (Blur)
“Reading Rainbow” (Horelick, Kleinman & Weir)

Sorry it took a minute, but this is the rehearsal session from two days before our show at the Pilot Light.  This is almost exactly as we played and what we said but for a small edit before “Tender” due to things said and done that I’m best not to repeat, lest I would not have removed them in the first place.  It was actually a really enjoyable moment, but a name was said in a context best left private.

Anyway.  Holly Denman was hanging out at that night’s session.  She’s the Holly referenced in the inbetween talk.  Remy is my dog.  Also, Dane didn’t actually eat any LSD.  I was trying to be funny…or something.

There are a few aural differences between this rehearsal and the live set.  They are as follows:

1. You can hear the flute.

2. Samuel Williams is not playing at the rehearsal, though he did join us on banjo for the “Reading Rainbow” finale.

3. At the rehearsal, we took Reading Rainbow into the weird Ghostbusters tease at the end.  It was considered for the show, but ultimately not used.

4. At the show, I used a much more organic guitar sound on “House of Satan.”

5. The ghost (played by Jonny Andrews) played beam theramin at the show, but not on the recording unfortunately.

Katie Collins – omnichord
Megan Driscoll –  flute, vocals, harmonica, tambourine
Dane Hill – bass, drums
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, keys
Nathan Brown – keys, electronics

photo by Tara Williams

Jer Cole did a pretty good preview of our show at The Pilot Light tonight.  It’s printed in the Knoxville News Sentinel today, but you can also read it online.

Consider this article the teaser for our feature presentation downtown tonight!

Check it out.

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“Dead (As Disco)”
“Afraid of the Ghost”
“Faux Elephant”
“Stand By Me” (Ben E. King)
“Dead (As a German Military Rock Band)”
“Anemone” (Brian Jonestown Massacre)
“Reading Rainbow” (Horelick, Kleinman & Weir)

This session is called Busted Shit because that’s what it is.  It’s all over the place.  A disheveled mess of sound.   It’s also the first session that Nathan Brown sat in on as part of Never Sorry.  He only played on two of the songs:  “Afraid of the Ghost” and “Reading Rainbow.”  They were the longest documented versions of each so far.

I really wanted to post up just one more session before the show.  This is one of four recorded in the past several weeks, but the other three pretty much are the show (in a few variations, of course).  So this, being the earliest of the four, was all I could spare without much ruining the show we have planned.  Here’s a hint, though:  we’re not playing “Stand By Me.”

“Dead” – Two versions on this one.  A minimalist, dance oriented one (maybe dance the way goths dance, though).  As for the other one, I really think “German Military Rock Band” really kind of speaks for itself.  I’m playing synth bass on the first and fuzzed out bass guitar on the second.  That’s Katie on the keys in the second one.

“Afraid of the Ghost” – The first take of the first song Nathan sat in on with keys and electronics.  It slops around a long and winding road.  The longest version of this old favorite for sure.

“Faux Elephant” – Dane was bugging out on some synthetic sitar.  That’s Katie on the drums.  Everyone else assuming their usuals.

“Stand By Me” – This was just one of those “sure…let’s do it on a whim” kinda songs.  Obviously it had been in our mutual music echospheres for a few weeks.  Yet every time I hear any version except the original, I can’t help but think to myself, “meh.”  Our version is no different in these regards.  Whatever though.  Someone out there might enjoy it.  I don’t think I really care about ever playing this song again unless we rock it out really bad and rough.

“Anemone” – We began with another version initially.  I was playing drums.  Dane on guitar.  Katie on bass.  It was really chill until I stuck in a drum part that kind of threw some of us off.  So when we stepped back from it, I sped up the part that was messing us up and played it over and over and over again.  And that version is this version.  It’s super raw and bouncy.

“Reading Rainbow” – Another version with Nathan.  This one meanders into some insanity at the end.  I considered chopping it into two parts:  “Reading Rainbow” and “Reading Rainbow (Reprise).”  But hey.  I didn’t.  So suffer out the slop of the first part because the slop of the last part is well worth it.

Katie Collins – omnichord, ukulele, drums, bass
Megan Driscoll –  flute, vocals, harmonica, tambourine
Dane Hill – bass, drums, guitar
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, keys, bass, drums
Nathan Brown – keys, electronics

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