We Were Pirates

New Website/New Blog....

2010-03-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

I think I forgot to mention the new website/blog. Oops. Anyway, thanks to me mate John for designing a very cool site. I'm going to go ahead and stop posting blog posts here. So kindly redirect yourselves to http://www.wewerepiratesmusic.com/blog

Cheers!

m

Best & Worst Songs of 2009...

2010-01-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

My apologies for being 9 days late, but I've been going back and forth on the best song of 2009 and in the end, I copped out and declared a tie because I couldn't choose between the two. On the other hand, choosing the worst was not challenging in the least.

BEST:

Animal Collective: "My Girls"

Watch the video HERE

Isn't much that I feel I need
a solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

There isn't much that I feel I need:
a solid soul and the blood I bleed.
But with a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

I don't care for fancy things
Or to take part in a pressured race.
But to provide for them when they ask
I will, with heart, on my father's grave

On my father's grave

I don't mean
To seem like I care about material things,
Like our social status,
I just want
Four walls and adobe slabs
For my girls

AND

David Bazan: "Please, Baby, Please"

Listen HERE

When I woke up the next morning,
You looked right through me
Through your eyes crying,
I could finally see

They said, "please baby please"

When I called you from Atlanta,
You refused to speak
Not three days sober,
Begging for a drink

And I said, "please baby please"

Those two pairs of big blue eyes
Stare me down, watching me fall
But what makes a man realize
That he's about to lose it all?

Sunrise at the county lock-up
Now our baby's twenty-three
She was out late drinking,
Killed a mother of three

She said, "please daddy please"

and now for THE WORST:

The Black Eyed Peas: "I've Gotta Feeling"

This song is easily as bad as the other two are good. And if you're unsold on this being the worst song of 2009 and possibly of all time, please feel free to read the lyrics here.

WWP's "Merry Christmas" Featured on Insomnia Radio...

2009-12-29T18:36:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Insomnia Radio for featuring the Christmas song, "Merry Christmas" on Christmas day!

Rest In Peace, Henry Martin...

2009-12-22T08:23:00.001-08:00

My very good friend Jeffrey's father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday. He will be missed terribly. In a era where a good man is hard to find, he was one of the truly great ones. He dedicated a huge amount of his life to helping others. He is an inspiration to me and many others and will be dearly, dearly missed.

In honor of Henry...

Headlights - Love Song For Buddy from Brad Chmielewski on Vimeo.

New American Apparel WWP T-Shirt!

2009-12-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

New unisex American Apparel WWP "Tree-shirt"!

Thanks to WASU for the nice review....

2009-12-07T19:51:00.001-08:00

Which you can read here. Incidentally, Boone, NC is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life.

Thanksgiving mix....

2009-11-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Lisa and I are heading to Nashville to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends. I felt as though a quick Thanksgiving mix was appropriate:

1. Ben Gibbard: "You Remind Me of Home"

2. Iron and Wine/Calexico: "History of Lovers"

3. Elliott Smith: "Baby Britain"

4. Beach Boys: "Vegetables" (bonus Brian Wilson version from the original Smile sessions here)

5. Sufjan Stevens: "The Lord God Bird" (link to download here)

6. Owen: "A Bird in Hand"

7. Andrew Bird: "Plasticities"

8. Mynabirds: "Numbers Don't Lie" (third track)

9. Cake: "Frank Sinatra"

10. The Clash: "I Fought the Law"

11. The Beatles: "All You Need is Love"

Ok, so here's the chronological theme of the mix.

1. Most people travel for home Thanksgiving (The sunday after Thanksgiving is the most heavily traveled day of the year).

2. When one arrives at home, most right thinking (right as in correct, not politically right) people immediately wish to have a few glasses of wine to lessen the awkwardness of seeing family.

3. I felt that the amount of alcohol some of us consume at family gatherings warranted another booze-themed track.

4. The meal begins and there will be vegetables. Oh yes, there will. Listen to Mr. Wilson's psychotropic ballad to leafy greens and get ready for yams!

5. Yeah, I know the song is about the pileated woodpecker, but how many good turkey-themed songs are there out there? Anyway, as a non-carnivore, I won't be loopy on the tryptophan as many of you will, but turkey is the quintessential Thanksgiving entree. So, since you will be partaking anyway, may I recommend free-range?

6. More bird-related music. And what would Thanksgiving be without football, and while this may be a stretch, I'm not a huge American Football fan, so I decided to go with Kinsella's current project, Owen.

7. Even more bird-related music. While I couldn't tell you exactly what "Plasticities" is about, it's definitely anti-cubicle. And so am I. And on Thanksgiving, you cubicle dwellers will have at least eight paid hours of cubicle-free eating and drinking. So, enjoy it, because Monday is only four days away.

8. Yes, that's right....one final bird-related song. But this one is a bonus because it also relates to family, as Laura from Mynabirds is my cousin and while I won't be seeing her for Thanksgiving, we will be getting together for the next big holiday. Oh and while you're at her site, please listen to all of the songs as they are all excellent....I am quite impressed. (Another personal favorite is "Let the Record Go")

9. Ideally, your meal will end with some sort of delicious baked good. Personally, I'm a pumpkin pie fan myself, but this song is for all you cake lovers.

10. If your family is anything like mine, sooner or later, the discussions will turn to either of the two dreaded family conversations: Politics and Religion. And, if your family is anything like mine, it will nearly come to fisticuffs. And if your family is anything like mine, at least one of them will have purchased Palin's "Going Rogue" and will be touting the wise gems gleaned from the most polarizing political figure since Dan Quayle......yikes. At this point, the fighting will commence. (Extra points if your family's fights are so hardcore that "the law" actually shows up to break it up.)

11. Hopefully by now you've got the fighting out of your system and moved into the next stage of drunkenness and you just want to hug it out and get along. All we need is love, indeed.

Enjoy, my friends....and have a Happy Thanksgiving with safe travels.

Too Early for Christmas Music?

2009-11-24T06:22:00.000-08:00

I think not.

Please to be enjoying some Christmas cheer in the form of this WWP original. Consider it an early Christmas present.

WWP on Shifted Sound Podcast....

2009-11-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Shelby from Shifted Sound for featuring "Settle Down" and "The Three of Us" on the podcast. You can download/listen on their website or here on iTunes. They feature a lot of great new music.

Stephen Wiltshire is amazing.

2009-11-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

thanks to @micahharris via @impossiblecool

WWP Feature/Interview on Towermix.com

2009-11-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

read it here.

Halloween time is a busy time....

2009-10-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

In addition to playing a Halloween Rock n Romp next weekend....on Halloween....I felt like recording a cover of "Thriller" (Listen/Download HERE).

Happy Halloween my friends,

m

We Were Pirates on Local NPR Station, WAMU

2009-08-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Why is there a photo of Kojo Nnamdi in the WAMU studio in this blog post?

Because Gabe and I were very graciously invited by our local NPR station, WAMU (88.5 fm in DC) to come down to the station and record an interview/live performance for Metro Connection.....and.....we kind of both forgot to bring cameras. And since we are both technological cavemen, neither of us even have camera phones. So, this photo of Kojo in the studio will have to do.

Anyway, the whole thing was a blast and host David Furst couldn't have been cooler. He was ill at the time and couldn't make it into the studio, so we got to experience the crazy magic of radio. It went a little something like this:

Mr. F called into the WAMU studio from his home studio to do the interview. With a little help from Andrew the Engineer, the whole thing was completely seamless.

I have been listening to Metro Connection every Friday for a long while and I'm a big fan, so it was great to be able to go be a part of the show.

Highlight? Getting to hear Andrew the Engineer's telephone exchange with legendary Washington DC meteorologist Bob Ryan. Yes....We are nerds.

If you live in DC, tune your dial to 88.5 on Friday at 1pm and listen to Metro Connection. If you're not in DC or you miss it, MC has a podcast you can download here.

We Were Pirates on The Vinyl District's TWITSTOCK!

2009-08-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jon at The Vinyl District for including WWP in TWITSTOCK! Which for the layman, was a feature where he invited guest bloggers to pick 5 songs to post and discuss. I chose to go with an Autumn Driving Mix theme. And my songs were:

1) Simon & Garfunkel - "Baby Driver"

2) Delta Spirit - "Motivation"

3) Yo La Tengo - "Autumn Sweater"

4) Iron & Wine - "Naked As We Came"

5) Emitt Rhodes - "With My Face On The Floor"

Check it out here.

Centralia, PA....

2009-07-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Centralia, PA is the creepiest place I have ever been in my life. I've been wanting to make a trip there for years, but only recently got the chance when Lisa and I were driving back from NY this weekend. Centralia is a ghost town in Pennsylvania about halfway between Scranton and Harrisburg. The story behind the downfall of this town is so unbelievable, I felt like I had to witness the devastation in person.

Centralia was a coal-mining town established in 1866 and doomed to failure less than 100 years later when somebody was burning a bunch of garbage near the entrance to a coal mine, and the fire became so hot that it caught the coal underneath the town on fire. Since then, millions of dollars have been spent to put out the fire, but all attempts have been in vain. In 1981, because the ground started to collapse in random sections and the toxic gasses coming from the coal mines got to be too much, congress voted to relocate the town members and essentially condemned the entire town.

So, they re-routed rt. 61 to make a big circle around the town and bulldozed all of the houses. Since then, everything in the town except a couple of cemeteries on the outskirts has been left un-touched. Over the years, massive cracks have formed in the ground where a constant supply of toxic smoke pours out. There are different theories on the subject, but experts believe the coal vein under Centralia will keep burning for anywhere from 100 to 250 years.

So, Lisa and I decided to check it out to see if it was as bizarre and creepy as it sounded....and it was. In fact, much creepier than I anticipated. I don't think I could adequately describe how uneasy I felt walking down long-abandoned highways with trees growing out of the asphalt right next to cracks which smoke poured from. So, we (mostly Lisa) took a bunch of photos to do the talking for us:

The mountains surrounding Centralia.

Entering the town.

Re-routed section of rt. 61 where we parked.

The only remnant of Centralia as it was is a a little memorial and this old, worn bench.

Walking down the abandoned highway. Let the creepiness begin.

There were a few other people walking around but mostly it
was just rednecks on dirt bikes and ATVs using the
remains of the town as a playground.

The smoke didn't turn out very well, but if you follow our gaze
there was quite a bit of smoke pouring out of this crack.

It's much easier to see here. The smell was awful. Like burning plastic.

Penny the friendly dog was really uneasy the whole time. We
didn't stay that long since the ground was so hot because of
the firesand she just clearly didn't want to be anywhere near
the place.

Don't know if you can tell, but there are a few people at the
bottom of thehill walking up and I wanted a post-apocalyptic
zombie type of shot. Lisa was kind enough to humor me.

Oh and in case you couldn't tell, the graffiti covering
the abandoned highway didn't make the whole scene
any less bizarre.

This was my favorite shot. Mostly because I liked the
stark contrast of standing on the still-smoldering ashes of the
remains of a coal mine with the wind turbines behind. Although
the turbines are creepy in their own right, it was still kind
of comforting to see the sustainable energy source off in the
distance with the devastation of the coal mines in the forefront.

Leaving the town was unsettling as well. Mostly, because we expected the closest towns to be pretty far from Centralia....they are not. The next town over, Mt. Carmel was no more than a few hundred yards from the border of Centralia. The other unsettling thing is that there is a strip mine less than a mile from Centralia. You would think that having destroyed an entire town, the locals would want to try to avoid having the rest of the beautiful mountains surrounding them raped.

I guess that is what I find most disturbing about Centralia. The fact that so few people seem to know about it. It's not like the Three Mile Island accident (which happened only 68 miles from Centralia in Middletown, PA) which is common knowledge. Somehow Coal accidents seem to be covered up a bit better. Like last year when a berm broke in East Tennessee and 525 million gallons of wet coal ash flooded the area completely destroying the local eco-system. The disaster was so massive in scope that scientists still don't fully understand the possible ramifications for people down stream of the accident. And after all of that, very few people I spoke to had even heard about the spill.

That is pretty terrifying that the mainstream media doesn't do more to cover these kinds of eco disasters. This isn't just the kind of thing that people with an environmental conscience should care about. In TN, subsequent water tests have showed elevated levels of lead and thallium which have been directly linked to birth defects and nervous and reproductive system disorders (read more here). That effects everybody.

So, yeah, I am not a big fan of coal as an energy source. And the whole "clean coal" idea really doesn't seem to be much different than using traditional coal burning methods. It kind of seems like a PR move by the coal companies with very little substance that politicians support because the coal companies are extremely generous to their campaigns. And even if they come up with cleaner ways of processing the coal, it still needs to be mined. And unfortunately, that means strip-mining and mountain-top removal mining, which as far as I'm concerned is the most shameful form of environmental rape that occurs in America. There is no excuse for this practice still being used today.

You can check out Centralia on wikipedia. Also, Bill Bryson discusses his trip to Centralia in "A Walk in the Woods."

"Cutting Ties" now on iTunes....

2009-07-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

you can get it here.

CD Release at Black Cat = full success

2009-06-25T06:19:00.001-07:00

Many thank you's to everyone who came out to the show. If you weren't able to pick up a CD at the show, you can grab one here.

Oh and a very big thank you to everyone who ran promotion on the show:

John at Vinyl District, Jeff at The Examiner, Dan at Prince of Petworth, David at NPR WAMU, Kate at The Glorious Hum, Mark from Los Angeles Times, John at Brightest Young Things, Steve at baby you've got a stew going....

Yet another CD release ticket giveaway....

2009-06-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

Many thank yous to Jeff at The Examiner for the feature on the CD Release Show here:

And there is also another ticket giveaway going on here:

Mp3 Version of "Cutting Ties" Up on AMIE STREET

2009-06-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

You can stream the entire album on Amie Street and buy it for only $1.45 (currently). But the way Amie Street works is the price keeps going up, so buy it now before it hits $9.98

New Video..."The Making of 'Settle Down'"

2009-06-21T19:09:00.001-07:00

We Were Pirates - The Making of "Settle Down" from We Were Pirates on Vimeo.

How a certain CD replication company completely screwed me over….

2009-06-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

***UPDATE*** All is well. Discmakers came through in a serious way and over-nighted a new shipment of fixed CD's yesterday. I've got them and they look great. They're available for $10 here. And will be up at iTunes and Amazon soon.

So, bad news. You know that CD Release show that is in three days? Yeah, here’s the thing about that. I won’t have a proper version of the new record, “Cutting Ties,” to sell there. “Why,” you ask? I shall tell you in the form of a tale……

“The Tale of How an Incompetent CD Replication Company Tried to Ruin Christmas for Everybody….”

[Cue: lutes, harpsichord, and lyres]

This is the tale of how an incompetent CD replication company tried to ruin Christmas for everybody and completely screwed over your beloved hero. You see, there once was an album that this good-hearted fellow spent many long, hard days toiling over; taking great care to write and record the most glorious pop songs in all the land. We shall call this honest gent, “Shmike.” It was gravely urgent to Shmike that everything look and sound just right on this album. So Shmike hired the same company to press the CD that had pressed his previous EP. This company…we shall call them, “ShmiscShmakers,” had done a great job on the EP and had earned a great deal of esteem from our fearless hero, Shmike.

So Shmike spent almost two years building a home-studio and recording a new full-length album, called “Cutting Ties.” Shmike then went to ShmiscShmakers.com on his futuristic robot computer-box and surveyed his options for Short Run CD replication. There, Shmike saw an option that would ensure that he would have the CD in merely 5 days, which left him more than a fortnight’s time before the CD Release show. Our charming hero quickly sprang to action! ordering the CD’s on June 8th. Narry 4 days time did pass when on June 12th, Shmike heard a rap at the door. He answered the door, still in his night coat and sleeping cap and whom didst he see, but The “ShmUPS” Man!

“Huzzah!” Shouted Shmike hastily grabbing the package and removing it’s contents with great abandon. For Shmike had been expecting the fruits of his labor….His new CD’s! Shmike was overcome with joy and anticipation when suddenly, “Gasp….what horror!” Yes, Shmike saw a very grave thing when the contents of the package had been revealed. He saw that the background art-work was...the wrong color! Not only that, but rather than the very lovely neutral green background, the background was….PEACH COLORED! “Gasp!”

Now, I know this may sound hard to believe, I myself was shocked. But I was there. I saw it with my own two eyes. I witnessed our brave hero Shmike, who had slayed countless dragons, wrestled innumerable bears, and even done the backstroke back and forth across the English Channel 27 times in one night on a drunken dare, quiver with the gravest disappointment and…..faint….Yes indeed, faint!

When sufficient smelling salts had been brought out and Shmike had awakened, he immediately rang the operator for the vile treacherous ShmiscShmakers. When the tyrants were on the line, Shmike shook his fist and made a great commotion over this wrong-doing. Shmike was told to mail a sample of the hideous CD back to ShmiscShmakers’ evil lair and there they would apply a Witch’s transformation potent and make right their error. Shmike, being the just, understanding hero that he is, deemed this acceptable and sent a sample CD along with the proper proofs of the album-art that had been printed at “Shminkos.” Shmike then shipped the CD 2nd day priority to ShmiscMakers (on his own dime) and waiting patiently by the phone.

Two days later, on June 12th, Shmike rang ShmiscShmakers and when the phone was answered, Shmike was given much attitude by ShmiscShmakers’ normally friendly staff. They were quite suspicious of Shmike and assumed that he had been in the wrong by giving them improper art-files. But Shmike challenged them to go to their own futuristic robot computer-boxes and view the digital proofs and they would see that they had printed the artwork improperly.

Shmike even pointed out to them that he had sprung for the extra $20 “proofing option” that guaranteed that someone from ShmiscShmakers would personally give the CD a thorough quality inspection. Comparing the Digital Proofs to the disc. Clearly this had not been done, considering the background color was completely wrong and the text and images on the back of the CD were very noticeably blurry.

Furthermore, Shmike directed them to view the email they had sent him after the files had been received that said, “Hi, I wanted to drop you a quick note and let you know that our pre-press department has reviewed your order and it passed all of our quality checks. We are inserting it now into our production queue.”

Things were not looking good for the villainous ShmiscShmakers. They had been trapped in their own web of lies! Once they could stand no more of Shmike’s wise and judicious challenging, the scoundrels relented and agreed that they had grievously offended Shmike. They apologized and assured him, nay…promised him! That he would have the properly-printed CD’s in 4 days….on June 19th.

Shmike told them that they were leaving him with no time to promote the album prior to it’s release, and that he would have already had the CD on “ShmeeD Baby” and “ShiTunes,” but that now he would have to wait, but told them that was fine if that was the best that they could do.

Shmike sat down and waited for 4 days straight (always patient and measured). Merely waiting. Finally the day before the CD’s were to arrive, Shmike rang them again and asked if everything was on schedule. He was assured that the production had gone well and that they were about to ship out the proper CD’s. They told Shmike he would receive an email shortly with confirmation….but no email arrived.

On Friday, June 19th, the day the CD’s were to arrive, our hero called again and was dealt another round of retched news. The CD’s had shipped out with 2-Day delivery instead of the over-night delivery he had been promised. Now Shmike would not receive his CD’s on the day he had been guaranteed he would receive them. Shmike went crazy on their asses, but there was nothing to do but wait one more day.

And wait he did. Until this very day arrived, Saturday June 20, 2009. Once again, Shmike was startled by The ShmUPS man and once again he anxiously tore into the packaging….and once again he fainted. For the evil ShmiscShmakers had once again wronged our hero by sending him another batch OF THE EXACT SAME FUCKED UP CD’S!!!!!!!! And what is worse, Discmakers (oops, I mean ShmiscShmakers) is closed on Saturday and won’t open again until Monday and there is no emergency phone line to speak with anyone.

So, Christmas was ruined and everybody died of bubonic plague and swine flu and nobody lived happily ever after for nothing was good or right or pure in the world.

THE END.

What it is SUPPOSED to look like:

What is DOES look like:

So, where does this all leave us? My plan is to just go ahead and start selling the screwed up CD’s for half price because the audio quality is great and the disc itself looks fine and I’m done with Discmakers, so I’m going to have to find another company and upload everything and it’ll be at least another week (a week AFTER the CD Release show) before I can have the proper CD’s in hand. So, if you’d rather wait for the new one….cool. Or if you’d rather spend $5 for a limited edition, WWP collector’s edition of the new record. You can do that too by clicking here to go to the We Were Pirates Store.

And I’ll also have them for sale for $5 at the show on Tuesday as well. I know what you’re all thinking. You’re thinking, “I’d better order 10 of them” because one day these limited edition collector's items will as valuable as the following items:

Thank you to Bored and Beats for the Feature on "Cutting Ties"

2009-06-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you to bored and beats for the feature on WWP's new full-length, LP, "Cutting Ties."

The details aren't all 100% correct ("Cutting Ties" is a full-length not an EP) but regardless, it is very much appreciated.

-m

WWP CD Release Feature and Ticket Giveaway at The Vinyl District...

2009-06-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

The Vinyl District was kind enough to run a feature on WWP for the CD release show a week from today at The Black Cat (6/23) w/ Mittenfields + Vox Pop.

Keep checking in to the site as they will be running a contest to win tickets to the show and copies of the new record, "Cutting Ties."

-m

"Cutting Ties"

2009-06-09T19:17:00.001-07:00

i am finally finished with the record. which is pretty weird. i have done little but work on the studio and then work on music for the past year. it seems strange to be finished....but good... really really good. i sent it off yesterday to get it pressed and should have it back in a few days. it's called "Cutting Ties" and it has 10 brand new tracks.

here's the track list:

1. Keep Talking
2. Settle Down
3. The Three of Us
4. Little Monsters
5. Restless
6. Long Year
7. Rich Girl
8. Cutting Ties
9. Stars
10. Don't Forget

i'm really damn pleased with how everything turned out....especially for the recording budget....which was zero dollars. you can listen to a sample on my myspace page although the quality on the wwp facebook page is much, much better.

you can see the cover above at the top of the post. a thousand thank you's to lisa for the art and shelley for the design. they made it all happen in very short order and it all looks amazing.

as soon as i get them back, i post links for purchase. oh and the cd release show is June 23rd at the Black Cat in DC. we'll be playing with mittenfields and vox pop and it will be an amazing show. we'd love to see you there.

-m

little things...

2009-05-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

dreary rainy days are great days for working on music. when i'm recording i cover all the windows anyway, so i can't tell how shitty it is outside anyway.

i've got the songs mixed, but during the mixing process i noticed a lot of little things i didn't catch during the tracking process so i'm now going back and re-recording a few things and adding tambourine, percussion, harmonies, handclaps, etc... all the little things.

the fellas and i are playing a few shows in the next week and a half. one that i am extremely stoked about. rock n romp asked us back (we played the crafty bastards show last year and it was a blast) again to play a show in silver spring next saturday. debbie lee is a genius for coming up with r n r. she throws indie rock shows and enlists bands that are not necessarily the kind of thing you'd imagine a 4 year old getting into. but the sets are family friendly and the amps are turned down and there is nothing better than playing to a crowd of happy, dancing kids with their parents. really...huge fun. so, i am very much looking forward to this show. details here. Saturday May 9th at McGinty's Pub in Silver Spring with XMC. 1pm - oh and it's a fundraiser for Spring Knolls Cooperative Early Learning Center....so, how can argue with that. $7 for adults, kids get in FREE.

and then we're playing a show the next thursday with the april skies from PA at solly's in adam's morgan. should be a good time. i've listened to their stuff and think they are quite good.
Thursday May 14....8pm....$5 with April Skies + Crimes of Paris

Goings on, and such....

2009-04-11T07:27:00.001-07:00

hello friends. been hard at work on the record and it is nearly complete. tracking is 99.9% done and I have been mixing a lot. like too much....driving me crazy. i'll have the mixing done by next weekend and then i'll go back and re-record a couple of things here and add some small things and then, done. as i promised, i will post something soon. it's been too long since anything new has graced this old page.

thanks for checking in.

-m

getting out of town...

2009-02-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

for a few days. going someplace warm and sunny....bringing lots of books...not bringing my laptop. when i get back it shouldn't take long to finish the record.

do i really like 90's guitar rock that much??

2009-02-03T11:25:00.001-08:00

according to my personalized pandora station i can't get enough beck, radiohead, weezer, pixies, cake, eels, nirvana, pavement, toadies, etc... and yeah, i love those guys....but i guess that while i love pandora and nearly all of the music my station plays, the lack of variety is my biggest complaint. oh and the pandora robot apparantly thinks that my favorite band of all time is the killers....the pandora robot is incorrect.

i tend to float between npr, the current, woxy, and my pandora station. the current and woxy feed my appetite for new music and pandora, apparantly, feeds my appetite for the classics.

recording is going well. playing that show last week threw a wrench in the progress, and i'm about to go out of town for a bit. but i've only got 3 or 4 more songs to track and then i'm home free. then all of the aural damage, the massive beer consumption, the sleepless nights, the ocd perpetuation, the drum sticks, guitar strings, the electric bill, reclusiveness (reclusivity?), etc... will have paid off.

IOTA show = full success....drive home....not so much.

2009-01-29T08:05:00.001-08:00

the iota show with Anchorage and Revival was great. obviously, turnout wasn't great....as the roads were covered with ice....but the people who did come out were top-notch. after watching anchorage play, it bummed me out that it was their last show. i thought they were too damn good to quit playing music. but alas, there is more to life than rock and roll.

anyway, the show was great, but the drive home was not as successful. lisa and shelley were riding home together when they hit a patch of ice, slid off the road, and banged up the car a bit. everyone was fine and there was minimal auto damage all things considered.

thanks again to everyone who came out.

PS: sorry for the lack of photos....lisa forgot her camera.

Possible Last, last, last LAST Minute Show and Album Progress....

2009-01-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

so...we may be playing tuesday with dc band, anchorage. gabe recently started playing bass with them and i really dig their stuff. also, tom hnatow plays pedal steel with them and that guy is phenomenal (he also plays from time to time with my cousin, laura burhenn). but anyway ,at this point, it's up in the air, so i wouldn't really expect it to work out. if it doesn't, we'll get some other shows lined up fairly soon. at the moment, recording is taking up all of my time.

speaking of which....things are going really well with the record. i've already six songs mostly tracked. let's hope the next 4 or 5 songs go as smoothly.

**UPDATE: the show will go on. tuesday. iota. 8pm. $10.

So cold.....so cold....

2009-01-12T18:38:00.000-08:00

i love this studio dearly, but when the temperature drops it is freezing. because it is a converted garage, it has no heat source. i have a space heater going at full blast constantly and it is still incredibly cold. sooner or later i'll upgrade to a window a/c and heat unit but in the meantime my toes are numb and it is only getting colder (the projected low for DC this week on thursday is 15 degrees and friday 13 degrees).

otherwise, things are going surprisingly well. have the better part of four songs done. it's taking me less than half of the time it took me to record "the wolf." having an 8-input interface now is a very good thing. for years i've just had a two channel, which meant that anytime i wanted to start recording another instrument i had to move mics, mic-stands, cables, etc... around and change all of the levels for each instrument. it made recording drums especially nightmarish.

meanwhile i'm trying to stay warm. warm us all, johnny....

boom bam....

2009-01-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

so today was a very good day. ben came by and helped me mic and track drums. i've never been able to get drums to sounds better than half decent, so his expertise was greatly appreciated. the man knows his stuff and the drums ended up sounding phenomenal. in all the years i've been making music and recording it, i've never had anyone act as an "engineer." it was definitely the kind of thing i could get used to. not having to get up and set everything up on my laptop, then hit record and rush over to the drum kit to play the part made things a lot smoother. all hail ben.

six year old boy misses bus, drives his mom's car ten miles to school...

2009-01-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

yeah, i know this is only my second post and it has nothing to do with recording, but i couldn't resist. lisa told me about this story and i kind of didn't believe her. not far from dc, a six year old kid missed the bus, drove 10 miles to school and crashed right before he got there (he wasn't hurt). why? according to the sheriff who interviewed him, "he did not want to miss breakfast and PE."

read the washington post article.here.

New Year.....New Studio.....New Blog......New Album

2009-01-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

as you may or may not have noticed, 2008 has come and gone. it was an odd year for we were pirates as much of the year was spent not working on new music as much as working on a new home studio. the studio is finally finished and i have started working on a new record. there are a bunch of new demos and it'll take a while to track, mix, and master them, but i'm hoping to have it done by this spring/summer.

here are a couple of before and after shots of the new studio. these shots were taken before we moved in and it was tough to be optimistic about the project. fortunately, it all turned out a bit better than i hoped.

before:

after:

i also just created a blog for keeping everyone apprised of the goings-on and such with the new record. i've known far too many people who created a blog; regularly posted for a couple weeks (or days) and then let it sit there collecting dust to really expect that i myself or others will get excited about a new blog....but we'll see how it goes.

http://wewerepirates.blogspot.com

ps - Many thanks to Lisa for taking the photos.