27.10.08

Briefly...

I'm sneaking some more time in so you don't feel ignored. I feel as the year winds down, things are only going to get busier. There's a wedding (for Irene) to plan, an album to finish, comics to write, and a movie coming out. 09 is the year.

But we're still in 08 so let's get to it. Irene's dental surgery, as noted, kept me at home for the first time in ages, which was nice, and gave me a 3 day weekend. 2 of those days saw me back at the studio with B, handling different tracks each day. We ate extremely well as it was the first day EVER of Bozu Brunch and my god, it was amazing. Even the vegan shit was amazing.

B and I are going in between two very different musical modes right now, Saturday, we worked with nothing but synths, revamping the dancier elements of one particular dance track. This got the centerpiece of the album to a level we feel is worthy of the tracks surrounding it. This was difficult, we had to gut quite a bit, but thanks to our hard work and a quick assist from Damien Peka, one of my biggest concerns about the album has been addressed and eliminated. It's a bit drastic but the payoff is finally there.

On Sunday, there was no time to rest as we went back to continue writing the last song for the album. We've been chiseling away, over and over to fill this one last slot on the record. We've tried literally like 3 versions of this song and even tried to replace it with two others, all to no avail. NOW we got it, and why, cause we jammed it out first on guitar and bass and that really got the skeleton for us to build off of. This weekend, we finally got the chorus into shape. We tried several different approaches, but yesterday with B on guitar and me on keyboard (we'd already written the bassline), we just played and played till it clicked. Hypefactor is always strongest when it's just b and I in a room hammering it out. We both felt good and laid temp tracks down so we had something to work off of. Finally, it has the tone and energy I had been hoping for. We've filled in the spaces quite nicely. We have a good dance/rock hybrid going here. I have so many sick ideas for the arrangement. A little more detail on this and maybe I can start focus on singing.

In between these trips to the studio, I have been at home with Irene, just writing or watching movies. FAST TIMES was on the other night and it was sooooo good, still. Quality. I've also snuck in some Lego Batman time. Cam would be impressed with my progress, I'm 84% done. Rock the lego. When I am stuck at home, I often buy shit on the net, but I did rediscover the former Rosetta Stone guys new band, Miserylab, which I dig and Matt should too. if you liked Rosetta Stone, and probably only Matt and I and maybe Mohtashemi did, this might be to your liking.

Today I did press for the movie, which was cool. Just an interview for magazine about writing. I know the writer pretty well, so I am sure it will be good. I'll let you know when that comes out.

Anyway, just a quick peep to keep the dream alive. Not like anyone else blogs here you know!

F

25.10.08

COWBOY NOTHING

24.10.08

Angry Gerry

I think we all have to be realistic now and understand that this blog won't be updated at the often alarming rate it used to be. Time is at a premium these days and for good reasons. I'll try and catch you up but I am sure I have forgotten quite a bit since my last update.

I guess it's no secret now that I've been co-writing The Spirit comics for DC. This will start, I think, in February. So far, We've written 2 and a half issues and they've come out pretty well. Wait till you see who did the covers!! It's like a massive awesome big time artist. 09 will be my comics debut between this and Star Trek, which feature a supporting role from #1 nephew. There's also another potential writing project for next year as well, but that hasn't been greenlit yet. I'm literally on my couch working on the pitch right now. It's not easy, but fun.

Been working on HF quite a bit with B lately. We are also producing tracks for his neighbor, Pete Sparrow, who is an awesome electronic musician from the UK and also a cool guy. So we have been bouncing back and forth, which keeps us fresh and arranging someone elses music is a fun challenge for me. Right now B and I have been in a dance state of mind so that has been helping particular HF tracks. We should be tackling some more this weekend, but significant progress has been made and one song in particular has been through a drastic overhaul. We drafted in my pal Damien, aka Peka, to flesh out a track that wasn't clicking and this has led to some great results. More on that eventually. Meanwhile, as I was racing about the East Coast this weekend, Bob came in and laid the groundwork for some new stuff, which we're all dead excited about. We're slow but we'll get there.

ZOE B came to town with her moms for a week or so, and we had a few play dates. She was awesome as always and there are lots of pix. However, this one is my fave:



I miss her already and I hate her dad for wanting his wife and child back. Fucker.

Last weekend was particularly mental and I think pulled off a minor travel miracle. Check this out:

SATURDAY:
Train from NYC to DC
Arrive DC, get rental car
check in at hotel
Change, get back in car, drive 45 min to burbs
Attend Irene's friend Kat's wedding gathering (they had wisely eloped so this was the celebration)
Stay till midnight or so, drive back to hotel.
Sleep like 4 hrs

SUNDAY:
Return rental car
Quick Breakfast
Grab train, but this time go like 5:45 to Bridgeport, CT
Attend Cousins baby christening
deal with Family
FEAR MY PARENTS NEW GPS. LIFE THREATENING
Home by 10
Pass out.

You can't imagine what a military operation this was. Insane.

Anyway, the rest of the week was the usual chaos, running about to meetings on new projects, comics etc. The total highlight was when Brandt told me that The Juan Mclean was going to do a show at Andrew W.K.'s new club down in our old hood. I was really excited to hear that shit because I missed the Bowery show on Saturday night because of our travels. I had been really looking forward to that, so this was a nice surprise. After grabbing some Bo on Thursday night, B and I went to the gig. The venue is pretty cool, a little weird. B tells me it's an attempt to re-create an 80's dance club, but with 21st century expenses, who the fuck knows how long this place will be here. But it was cool and despite being filled with CBM tourists (which I had to deal with coming home from the studio the night before), the worst, I was psyched. Also helping is that GERRY, the greatest drummer on Earth, who is often discussed here, is in the live band.

Anyhow, they came on and they were awesome as fuck. Its quite possibly the best presentation of I have seen of an electronic based band, mostly because they subscribe to my belief that any electronic band worth it's salt has a human being playing anything that can be played by a human. That's the big difference between this band and the hundreds of craps bands, especially the opening act douche blood, are trying to do. Juan also knows how to write and arrange a song. He knows how to keep it going and his energy is off the charts. As I told B, seeing this band reminded me of when we first saw Saphin in that the live band is so perfect that if any element was different it could possibly suck (which was the case with Saphin). Gerry of course was SICK FUCKING AWESOME! Still the best drummer on the planet, but he seems unusually angry in this band as opposed to when he in Maserati. But no matter, he still owns it.

Here's a pic we stole:



It was easily one of the best gigs I have seen in ages. I have been really into the last album since B first played it for me ages ago and to see them live really took my appreciation to a new level. I am excited for the new album, which sounds like industrial human league, but that might not be a bad thing.

Now I am home, tending to my girl, who had two big teeth pulled out of the back of her mouth. She is in a whole world of owie, but it gives me some time at home to write and chill before getting back into the HF this weekend.

Soon.

F

10.10.08

And here we are...

How is it that the weather is great, the sun is shining, things are good, but I feel like shit? Not mentally. I mean physically. I think something is going around, cause IB is feeling it too. Ugh. Ok, so the latest...

Still can't believe how good the Nick Cave gig was. Wow. I know I keep thinking about it, but it was truly that good. Anyhow, illegally watched the ppv on the computer, thanks to the door kid, with G on IM. So we went from living together watching PPV, to not living together and hanging out watching PPV, and now we do it virtually. I semi hate this but love it at the same time. Anyway, Fernwood Gold has his thoughts on this over at UGO.com should you be interested in his latest wrestling thoughts.

Speaking of virtual, some of my lol moments this week come from Matt Gentile Last Of The Famous International Playboys (tm) texting me from places I have never heard of before in Eastern Europe. He keeps me up to date on his adventures and usually can always find a Depeche Mode fan. I ask him to post photos here, but he mentions something about being out late with "Italian Men", which makes me think there is evidence he is hiding. Who knows!

Lotta cool things happened so far this week. I was lucky enough to check out a special preview of about 25 minutes of WATCHMEN footage, which I thought was amazing. Zach is a cool guy, I like him a lot. He is so unassuming that it's sometimes hard to believe that this nice guy is doing all this intense stuff. But he's an amazing director and I think the movie is going to be great and do the business. And yes, the boss was there and busted my balls when I thanked him for my first paycheck for writing comics ;-)

Speaking of which, 2009 is the year my first comic book/manga writing will be released. I'm not sure the order in which these things will come out, but in the first half of 2009 there will be at least 3 issues of THE SPIRIT (covers by Brian Bolland!) and the long awaited Trek Next Gen story. If all goes well in the next few weeks, there will be more in 09. I do enjoy writing comics, which comes as no surprise I guess.

Last night after getting a haircut from my now happily pregnant stylist Rachel (congrats), B and I grabbed some Pizza and we busted out the thunderbird and the 808. We're cracking the long neglected FINAL song for the HF album, CREATION PHASE, and finally making it happen. We got an early start so we got a good amount of work in. I think we've made big leaps with this week and I'm really excited about some of the basslines I have come up with. I think we have a good foundation now for B to start thinking about guitars. It will be an interesting song. Honestly, we're getting there. Some songs are ready to mix. Next up, the dreaded vocals!!

Muscially, I am enjoying the New Order reissues tremendously. I guess the fanbase, the die hards, are really angry with these because they're not the right versions, or remastered from vinyl, as they lost the original masters, etc. B is bitching, but that's nothing unusual. I don't think I ever owned the first two albums on CD, so it's a treat to get into them. The bonus stuff is cool and the big revelations I had with this was that New Order were never an album band. Their strength was always in singles and b-sides. I'm sorry the die hards are sad, but I'm happy and the rest of you can fuck off I guess ;-)

FORCE UNLEASHED was my favourite videogame this year, but LEGO BATMAN is a close second. This game brings a lot of smiles. I don't know why. While it's cute, it's not dumb. You have to figure things out and it's worth the investment. I actually paid for this game and glad i did. No thanks to Evan ;-)

Today is moms bday. I'll check back with you all later. Here's my baby!



F

6.10.08

Gig Of the Year.



This gig was so powerful, so hilarious, so impressive. It was like going to some kind of southern baptist revival church. Everything that was promised during the brief Terminal 5 appearance earlier this year was delivered in spades. Amazing. The setlist was a perfect selection of songs from the entire Bad Seeds run thus far. The band is sick. Irene I think has a crush on Warren Ellis, which means I will have to grow the beard out.

Also, the several bottles of sake at our massive Korean bbq dinner helped as well. Then the quick drink at Fridays. Afterwards, our large group brought it old school aggression style to the Tempest on 8th ave, which was where we would hang out to avoid the goths when we were playing the Batcave. We kept it real and silly.

Then I woke up and played more Lego Batman, bought the rest of the New Order reissues, and Les Halles'd it. This morning I read about a Depeche Mode tour? No US dates? yet? hmmm?

I also failed to mention that before the Cave gig, I brought it to the BK to check out the tunes and to go with B and Al to the first ever (seriously) Peter Saville book signing. He was very cool and personable and I'm really glad we went. He was very impressed with B owning the JD vinyl box set. "ONLY A THOUSAND OF THOSE" Fun. Then we sat on Brandt's new couch.

I stole this picture from Brooklyn Vegan. btw.

Eventually.

F