Board Member's Musical Projects

[Mighty Jack]

I spoke with Mr. Atari about making a thread here for talk about music made by members of this forum many months ago and just never got to it. Now that I can't sleep and started gabbing in another thread about a song/recording's I was working on, I thought now might be the time to actually do this.

This can be a catch all for anything, tell us about your tours, what your working on, share links to vids or mp3, ask advice, whatever. Lets talk about the music you make.

[NardDog]

I'll put some on here maybe in a month or so once I can figure how to record stuff on the computer...yeah this sounds cool!

[Mighty Jack]

So a few questions to get the ball rolling.

What are you creating now?
Home recordings made on a 16 track Fostex - I'm in my drug phase. Not doing them... just the last 3 songs have drug themes' I've also been donning head bands, tie dye shirts and took to wearing round, blue tinted glasses while I record them

Any projects/tours in the making?
I might start giving out freebie CD of these rough demos. It depends on the mechanics/time involved in burning them. No tours (Graveyard shifts have killed that)

Who are your influences?
Loads of Beatles, with a dash of Dylan

Do you also get so tangled up when your working on something that you don't sleep?
Because I just woke up after only getting 4 hrs of sleep and the first thing in my head was something I want to work on. I finally gave up trying to get back to sleep, only I'm too punchy to make anything decent

Living or dead. Who would you most want to collaborate with?
John Lennon

How many songs have you written?
More than I can number if I count all the little snippets on tape that are floating out there, and the many I wish I could forget I've written. It could be near 1,000 by now. Maybe a 3rd of that are actually good, with a 3rd of that being stuff I'm proud of

How many CDs have you recorded?
I have a CD -that I never let anyone hear- an EP that I recorded in Nashville. About 4 of unfinished studio projects (with "Delirium" being the most frustrating from that list. Still struggling with the funds) and a couple of home made demos

Ever get a song on the radio?
In Nashville, the song "Monster" from the "Not A Viable Commercial Product" EP played on a few stations. The first time I heard it was pure magic. I felt just like they did in the movie "That Thing You Do"

Have you ever quoted MST3K in a song?
I don't think I ever did a riff. But "Delirium" has a song titled "The Beginning of the End" and in the track titled "Penny's From Another Planet", I quote the 'pretty mind' line from "Girl in Gold Boots"

Do you have a website to share?
Myspace is all I have now. I let the website die when I stopped touring

[NardDog]

What are you creating now?
I haven't written a song in a year or two now.

Any projects/tours in the making?
Not unless you count figuring how to record stuff on the computer...which might intrigue me enough into writing again.

Who are your influences?
I'll put it to you this way...when I started seriously playing a musical intrument I was 14 and it was the bass. I got a Rush songbook and a Metallica songbook and picked up the monthly guitar magazines and learned the songs I liked that they had tab for. Then at 16 I picked up an acoustic guitar and a Beatles songbook that is pretty much how I learned to play the guitar. I flirted with it when I was 9 but it was when I was 16 after I had success on the bass that I felt confident enough to try to play the guitar again. Everything else I've heard has influenced me in some way from that point on...even stuff I hate if only to avoid playing like that.

Do you also get so tangled up when your working on something that you don't sleep?
When music was more primary focus in life definitely...in fact I always seemed to get inspired to write and record in the middle of the night...now not so much...I mean every once in a while a song will toy with me and I won't let it rest until I've at least figured out the bare bones of the song...I learn by ear but I can read music at a 1st graders pace...I also have no problem reading TAB and chord diagrams.


Living or dead. Who would you most want to collaborate with?
Tough question...there is no one specific person I could narrow it down to..I mean Lennon/McCartney would be great...but so would Thom Yorke/Jonny Greenwood(Radiohead)...and so on

How many songs have you written?
100s but I'm probably only completely proud of 20 or so

How many CDs have you recorded?
Well when I did this it was cassettes and I had two solo recorded on a 8-track not that high tech but that didn't stop me from having the gall to sell them for $5 a pop not that I was exactly rolling in the dough from them. I also recorded stuff with the 2 bands I was in high school but we never mixed it down from the respective 4-tracks also various short lived bands I was in that only existed in theory basically they pot smoking parties that involved musician who jammed around and someone pushed record

Ever get a song on the radio?
No

Have you ever quoted MST3K in a song?
No but I did write a song called Marcia about Marcia Brady(before that movie came out and it became cool in a kitsch way to like the Brady Bunch)

Do you have a website to share?
I'm not that good at computer stuff

[Mighty Jack]

I hope you do one day manage to download some of your material, I’d love to hear it.

I bought a 16 track Fostex with CD burner using the money President Bush sent us…. Garage Band would have probably produced more professional results but I didn’t have a computer at the time. I record my tracks, burn a CD, then take it to a computer and rip it to an MP3 and from there I can download it to Myspace or wherever. It has worked out well.

I went with Fostex over Boss, because while Boss is much more durable (they can take a direct hit from a meteor and still be usable) you need to be a rocket scientist to figure them out. Fostex is good for dummies (and it still had a high learning curve)


And I thought we could use this thread to share links and info. I got this from Sivers over at CD Baby – Twitter

It’s another means to network and might be something someone can use. If I was actively touring I might sign up… but as it stands I doubt I’d ever read all those text messages I’d receive.

[quinnmartin]

I'm not involved in any musical projects right now, but my last band did record a CD that I'm somewhat proud of. We broke up a couple of months ago, but our myspace page is still up.

www.myspace.com/travesties

or

cdbaby.com/cd/travesties

It's also up on iTunes if for some reason you really dig the tracks on myspace. Of them, I wrote "Sway", "Nothing", & "Ask Me in the Morning", and my wife is the female voice you hear. We did it all analog on an early 80's 24-track machine. Except for "Nothing", which was done on an 8-track machine. Drums, bass, and most of the guitars were all recorded live, but we ended up letting our pop instincts take over and did a lot of overdubbing.

I've never quoted MST in a song, that I know of at least.

Main influences are the Beatles, various alt-country artists (Whiskeytown, Wilco, & Josh Rouse esp.), and 70's soft rock (I can't seem to write a song without at least one major-7 chord).

And back in 2005 we got a song played on the local college radio station, but it wasn't one of my songs. But I at least played guitar on a song that got played on the radio. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear it.

[Mighty Jack]

Those were outstanding QM, I listened to the tracks you wrote and really enjoyed them.

[quinnmartin]

Dec 5, 2008 12:40:14 GMT -5 Mighty Jack said:

Those were outstanding QM, I listened to the tracks you wrote and really enjoyed them.

Thanks, man! Always nice to hear good things about your stuff from a fellow musician.

[Mighty Jack]

This is my current side project. The rough and raw Fostex tracks. I’ve kept it separate from my usual gig because I didn’t want my family to hear these lyrics. They can be a bit dark, especially track #4 (which makes me say "Gah! Nope, that's not for mom or pops"). But if anyone is curious…
My Pretty Mind

[NardDog]

Good stuff QM!!! I especially like Nothing

And Tony I couldn't get everything to play but what I heard I liked The Hat I Bought You was my favorite...again good stuff!!!

Also This Clown's Parade definitely reminded me of Dylan meets Beatles circa 64-65

My previously recorded stuff is similar very effects laden(don't know how I could post that but...)
Hopefully I'll be able to post some type of mp3 link of some of my stuff this Christmas break(it'll probably be just voice and acoustic guitar)