Boss 20th Anniversary Comp
Thursday, March 11 2010
Posted by brockp

So on the first day off in 17 during the recently-over Olympic run at BC Place (Ceremonies) I, Instead of sleeping like a sensible person would do, spent a good eight hours in the studio with Johnny Stew and Brian Minato. Jesse was at the helm (thanks Jess) and we plowed kamikaze style through a version of Fountains by The Nils (from their Sell Out Young ep) and Apart (for my forthcoming EP).The impetus for this thing was Aston's (Boss Tuneage) 20th Anniversary Compilation which is due out in a month or two. The theme for the release is bands that have been on the label covering other bands who have been on the label. Since I missed the Nils tribute record that Mag Wheel put out, I wanted to do something that Alex (Soria) wrote.

I have been listening to Alex's various recordings a lot lately, and recommend that you do too, especially if you never got to hear any of those bands when Alex was still around.

Anyway, so Johnny Stew was a hero and Brian had, of course, made a chart the night before.Things went pretty well and it only took a couple of takes to get used to playing fast-ish, get out of stagehand mode, and into drummer mode again. We put a coupe of mics way down the hall and at the bottom of the stairs and then put the Garnet and a 2x12 cab just outside the door, firing down the hall. We tracked the song a tad slower than the Nils version, but it kinda sat right.

Anyway, I've handed those files off to Brian for mixing and overdubbing the harmony vocal Johnny and I failed to pull off, and it will be delivered by the end of this month.

its that time again
Thursday, December 17 2009
Posted by brockp

And by that I do not exactly mean Christmas, although it is certainly that time again as well. I am of course referring to the annual Nasco Christmas Party and the obligatory reassembly of the Ramones cover band.

This year's version features Dirty Kurt of Real McKenzies fame, as well as myself, Tim Hewitt, and the ringleader Zabo (aka Mike Price). Our first of two rehearsals (gig on Monday) was last night and we charged through about 15 Ramones hits, pausing only to tell Kurt a different key, or to um, learn the song with a community listen from the iPhone (thanks Tim).

Those of you who are of the opinion that Ramones songs are easy have obviously never tried this. Of course they ARE easy in a way, but just physically demanding to play properly. You've gotta do all downstrokes on the guitar, none of this uppy-downy strumming allowed (except when absolutely necessary due to torturous pain and cramping). High points of the evening for me were watching Kurt's facial expressions as he approached this point of pain, and getting past them myself.

Kurt has only just recovered completely from breaking his leg onstage in Germany. We asked him how in the world he did that and his response was, "Punk Rock Jump". Only guy I know who not only breaks his tibia onstage, but then finishes the song on his back AND the rest of the set while propped up on a stool. See it for yourself thanks to the wonders of youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upNgY_aMyqc