So Mr. G and I reunited to see KILL BILL yesterday. While I think I liked what I watched, I have to say overall, the film was disappointing. It lacks the cleverness and wit of Tarantino's other work. What I have always liked about his movies was his ability to put a new twist on American pop culture and make it ironic. In fact, that was the framework of his films and I believe the key to his success. However, by using Asian Cinema as his template, he is unable to get you invested in the film. And as some of you may know, I'm a "bit" of a fan of Asian Cinema and let me tell you this, KILL BILL is more of an homage than it is a parody. It's not ironic, it's not clever, and there's really nothing cool about it. The ending blows too. I think if it had been one lone 3-4 hour movie, I could have been satisfied.
Then the rest of the day and evening became quite British and here's why...
1. G, S.O. and I had fish and chips for dinner from A Salt and Battery on Second Ave. This is quite possibly the best fish and chips in the City, though I am somewhat partial to the pub. Poor G had to miss the last crucial minutes of the Yankees so we can meet Matt and Jax and something called Dougie at...
2. The EDDIE IZZARD show. Holy shit is this guy a genius. For years I had no clue about him other than he dressed up like a chick and then one night in London Jared and his wife played me some of Izzard's videos and man is he a blast. Anyhow, this was our first time seeing him live (and matt's 50th time or so), and it was worth the hit. The man has an uncanny ability to seemingly make throaway jokes only to go back to them later and make them funny as hell. During his set he tackled everything from Racisim, cavemen, super heroes, transvestites, the planet mars, dentists, horses, fighting, air flight, did the worst yet funniest Christopher Walken impersonation ever and even made a funny joke about 9/11 (based on the fact that the rest of the world writes their dates with the DAY first and not the month, thus "everyone was wondering WHAT exactly happened on November 9th!). Brilliant. The vibe we left with was so good. I think I was beaming from the laughter!
After a quick pit stop at the Tom aggression Birthday gathering, G and I met up with the Kidd, Ian Broon, and poontang to check out...
3. Saintface. Live. Taking a break from doing their album, the lads put on an entertaining rock show featuring all the ass shaking hits we love. They had a few technical snafus, which is always expected, but this is band which much confidence and energy and the tunes to back it all up. Later, I spoke at length with Peter Saintface about the album and while he told me which rockers are going on the refuses to tell me which ballads are being recorded for fear that I will "pursade" and I am one of the few people who can "sway" him. I am honoured to say the least. Things are looking up for this band and hopefully the album will be in all our grubby hands sooner than later. He and Michael Saintface both asked about HF2 and wheels should be set in motion upon my return from LA.
And now, a lazy day
F
10.10.03
Whats The Score?
In the wake of the recent rythmn section shake ups in Ass Cobra, which I'm sure is going to lead to some nasty shit amongst the MOGpac, Ash and Robin made their return to the Birdcage last night. Ash was hyper, Robin was not, so I knew they were both in the proper frame of mind to work. On the way down to the studio, I played them the new versions of 1956 and TWOBASSESTHIN. Both were met with enthusiasm. Everyone seems pleased with the direction the album is taking, but we all realize there is still work to be done. Oh yeah, and for the 4,000th time, we listened to Ass Cobra's DETROIT, which has supposedly taken 6 months to do.
I was happy to see B's friend Kid Who Looks Like Kid From Witness All Grown Up in town and chilling. He is quite fey yet handsome and I think because of that he pulls in tons of chicks. I was happy to find he had bought some chocolate donuts. He is quite thin and can live on these things. He watched MR SHOW and realized it wasn't that funny after all...
B and I had an agenda for these two and we put it in effect immediately. The first big decision was to cut almost 3/4 out of SOLAR and start from scratch. No one was happy with the song, so instead of talking about it for hours, we decided to just get rid of everything that was problematic and go at it again. Even I, who normally is adamant about keeping things, felt this made sense. I think the crew were a little surprised how agreeable I was. I'm not sure yet what this means for Link's sax parts, which concerns me a bit
Robin has been playing too much guitar lately, so I felt she needed a bass in her hands. I challenged Ash to stop playing guitar like a jazz half ass and to rock out a little bit. B sat in the corner, I think with a guitar, its hard to tell when Bat-Ash needs the lights off everytime we work. Ash and Robin switched back and forth between bass and guitar and the results were awesome. It took a really long time, which is kinda uncharacteristic for us, but it was worth it as we got the necessary parts to work with. Thanks to these two, we have a good verse and a really nice melodic bridge that (and I didn't say this to Ash at the time) sounds like The Cure.
During all this, I sat with a laptop, checking E-Mail, talking to a few folks online and looking bored . In reality, I'm jotting down ideas for arrangements, occasionally a lyrical idea, and listening VERY closely. Sometimes I'll just spring up and say "THAT'S IT!" or "NO NO NO". Anyway, B will have to lay down his stuff (also quite good) and get all this to me before I leave for LA on Tuesday so I can hammer it into shape. After that, we'll figure out where this tune stands, but I think it's in really good shape.
It was late, but I wanted to flesh out EXIST because I just wasn't happy with the bass in the chorus. And you know its serious when it's ME playing the bassline I don't like it. At this point I was kinda tired, but I recall Robin laying down a lot of bass for me to play with. I also think Ash threw down some guitars.
Overall, it was a evening serious success. It wasn't like our usual sessions where the magic happens immediately. This was more about getting deep into the guts of two songs and mining the gold out of them. It's not easy. Robin referred to is as "unproductive", though I countered that it's quality, not quantity, and Hypefactor got some real serious quality out of the kids last night.
My immediate task ahead is to work with the new stuff discussed above and to tweak 1956. I have written some lyrics for the song, which are actually the first for this album and now changes need to be made accordingly. In the meantime, the decision has been made to not write any more for this album until we have the live drums over the tracks. When we have that, we will then make the next round of creative decisions. I am hoping we can spend November getting the drums into shape. Then we will assess what we have and then go from there. I'm not putting any time restraints on this one. I want it perfect.
And perfect it shall be...
F
I was happy to see B's friend Kid Who Looks Like Kid From Witness All Grown Up in town and chilling. He is quite fey yet handsome and I think because of that he pulls in tons of chicks. I was happy to find he had bought some chocolate donuts. He is quite thin and can live on these things. He watched MR SHOW and realized it wasn't that funny after all...
B and I had an agenda for these two and we put it in effect immediately. The first big decision was to cut almost 3/4 out of SOLAR and start from scratch. No one was happy with the song, so instead of talking about it for hours, we decided to just get rid of everything that was problematic and go at it again. Even I, who normally is adamant about keeping things, felt this made sense. I think the crew were a little surprised how agreeable I was. I'm not sure yet what this means for Link's sax parts, which concerns me a bit
Robin has been playing too much guitar lately, so I felt she needed a bass in her hands. I challenged Ash to stop playing guitar like a jazz half ass and to rock out a little bit. B sat in the corner, I think with a guitar, its hard to tell when Bat-Ash needs the lights off everytime we work. Ash and Robin switched back and forth between bass and guitar and the results were awesome. It took a really long time, which is kinda uncharacteristic for us, but it was worth it as we got the necessary parts to work with. Thanks to these two, we have a good verse and a really nice melodic bridge that (and I didn't say this to Ash at the time) sounds like The Cure.
During all this, I sat with a laptop, checking E-Mail, talking to a few folks online and looking bored . In reality, I'm jotting down ideas for arrangements, occasionally a lyrical idea, and listening VERY closely. Sometimes I'll just spring up and say "THAT'S IT!" or "NO NO NO". Anyway, B will have to lay down his stuff (also quite good) and get all this to me before I leave for LA on Tuesday so I can hammer it into shape. After that, we'll figure out where this tune stands, but I think it's in really good shape.
It was late, but I wanted to flesh out EXIST because I just wasn't happy with the bass in the chorus. And you know its serious when it's ME playing the bassline I don't like it. At this point I was kinda tired, but I recall Robin laying down a lot of bass for me to play with. I also think Ash threw down some guitars.
Overall, it was a evening serious success. It wasn't like our usual sessions where the magic happens immediately. This was more about getting deep into the guts of two songs and mining the gold out of them. It's not easy. Robin referred to is as "unproductive", though I countered that it's quality, not quantity, and Hypefactor got some real serious quality out of the kids last night.
My immediate task ahead is to work with the new stuff discussed above and to tweak 1956. I have written some lyrics for the song, which are actually the first for this album and now changes need to be made accordingly. In the meantime, the decision has been made to not write any more for this album until we have the live drums over the tracks. When we have that, we will then make the next round of creative decisions. I am hoping we can spend November getting the drums into shape. Then we will assess what we have and then go from there. I'm not putting any time restraints on this one. I want it perfect.
And perfect it shall be...
F
9.10.03
Where am I?
Hi Ashley:
After an early breakfast this morning with my old pal the famous Martial Arts Cinema historian/Author (who hated KILL BILL by the way), I decided to stroll through Times Square in search of inspiration for my mom's Birthday gift. I hadn't been up there since G, Matt and I spent an evening with Wrestling Superstar Who Used to Be Shinobi. Anyway, I am a die hard New Yorker, to the end hopefully, but there is some weird shit in Times Square. Based on my experience today, I would like to tell you that we live in a world in which:
1. Robert Evans has an animated series about his life (that's actually a plus).
2. Posh Spice shills for hip hop clothing. What the FUCK.
3. Why is my agent/lawyer/advisor spending money for me and my girlfriend to see "A Boy George musical" that is also a "Rosie O'Donnell production". This is BROADWAY? Where are the actors?
4. Jason Patric on Broadway. Nuff said. And no, he's not an actor, he's a method half ass.
5. And to make it worse, he is "acting" opposite Ashley Judd.
6. Bubba Gump Shirmp Company opens on December 6th. I'll be at Sardi's thanks.
This is all I can think of it. It was too much. I hate myself. Anyway, I ended up getting mom tickets to see Hugh Jackman looking crazy disco gay in THE BOY FROM OZ. and yes, I'm going too. Dan Hamill just told me "Moms love singing fags". I would have agreed with this, but Jackman IS Wolverine, so he's tops in my books.
My "celebrity" sighting was Robert Sean Leonard who looks like my relative who married a woman to cover the fact that he loved men. There's nothing wrong with that! Stop it! Gay is OK. Where the hell are the real stars!
Anyway, this sent me packing right into the Virgin Megastore where they expected me to spend 30 bucks on the new John Cale album. Luckily, Amazon UK has it for like 14 bucks. Screw you Branson. I ALMOST bought the new Interpol single cause it's the Arthur Baker remix, but its just two song. Lousy. Luckily I came to my senses and ran home, where I now have to go meet my former student, Edward, who is a nice guy.
Two more remixes have arrived: The first one comes all the way from Japan. SINO, who you can read about in the new Industrial Nation, took an interesting approach to DREAMS TO DEATH and made it a nasty machine dirge. It's very simple, but effective and fits in real nice on the EP. In the meantime, the lads in Cyanotic delivered their remix of THESE MILLION NIGHTS and have taken a drum n bass approach to it. Solid. I'm really happy with it and it gives us something we don't have yet on the record. One thing I have learned from all this is that Tom's vocals remix really well. Remixers love the smooth vocals.
Meanwhile I am working on a remix for a band you all know and love but are curious as to where their new album is. I am just as curious to be honest with you as I thought I would have it by now. Who knows. I'll get back to you on that. Also, I'll report back tonight or tomorrow after we get the crew together at the studio. Lots happening with HF. Till then...
F
After an early breakfast this morning with my old pal the famous Martial Arts Cinema historian/Author (who hated KILL BILL by the way), I decided to stroll through Times Square in search of inspiration for my mom's Birthday gift. I hadn't been up there since G, Matt and I spent an evening with Wrestling Superstar Who Used to Be Shinobi. Anyway, I am a die hard New Yorker, to the end hopefully, but there is some weird shit in Times Square. Based on my experience today, I would like to tell you that we live in a world in which:
1. Robert Evans has an animated series about his life (that's actually a plus).
2. Posh Spice shills for hip hop clothing. What the FUCK.
3. Why is my agent/lawyer/advisor spending money for me and my girlfriend to see "A Boy George musical" that is also a "Rosie O'Donnell production". This is BROADWAY? Where are the actors?
4. Jason Patric on Broadway. Nuff said. And no, he's not an actor, he's a method half ass.
5. And to make it worse, he is "acting" opposite Ashley Judd.
6. Bubba Gump Shirmp Company opens on December 6th. I'll be at Sardi's thanks.
This is all I can think of it. It was too much. I hate myself. Anyway, I ended up getting mom tickets to see Hugh Jackman looking crazy disco gay in THE BOY FROM OZ. and yes, I'm going too. Dan Hamill just told me "Moms love singing fags". I would have agreed with this, but Jackman IS Wolverine, so he's tops in my books.
My "celebrity" sighting was Robert Sean Leonard who looks like my relative who married a woman to cover the fact that he loved men. There's nothing wrong with that! Stop it! Gay is OK. Where the hell are the real stars!
Anyway, this sent me packing right into the Virgin Megastore where they expected me to spend 30 bucks on the new John Cale album. Luckily, Amazon UK has it for like 14 bucks. Screw you Branson. I ALMOST bought the new Interpol single cause it's the Arthur Baker remix, but its just two song. Lousy. Luckily I came to my senses and ran home, where I now have to go meet my former student, Edward, who is a nice guy.
Two more remixes have arrived: The first one comes all the way from Japan. SINO, who you can read about in the new Industrial Nation, took an interesting approach to DREAMS TO DEATH and made it a nasty machine dirge. It's very simple, but effective and fits in real nice on the EP. In the meantime, the lads in Cyanotic delivered their remix of THESE MILLION NIGHTS and have taken a drum n bass approach to it. Solid. I'm really happy with it and it gives us something we don't have yet on the record. One thing I have learned from all this is that Tom's vocals remix really well. Remixers love the smooth vocals.
Meanwhile I am working on a remix for a band you all know and love but are curious as to where their new album is. I am just as curious to be honest with you as I thought I would have it by now. Who knows. I'll get back to you on that. Also, I'll report back tonight or tomorrow after we get the crew together at the studio. Lots happening with HF. Till then...
F
5.10.03
The Plot Thickens...
Despite my being distracted by Dan Hamill's discovery of classic wrestling on channel 70, the vision of the new Hypefactor album became significantly clearer with a whirlwind editing/arranging sessions yesterday at the Birdcage. With this session, two songs, 1956 and TWOBASSES took massive shape and now have the structure and guts they need to become excellent songs. I heard B's new guitar parts for 1956 yesterday and was really happy with them. As usual, there was a lot to listen to, and this actually led to my editing new sections of the song just based on his new guitar parts. This song is a stormer. Meanwhile, he was really into my weird arrangement for TWOBASSES, which is basically two songs now, and I think we are going to treat it as such. the first half is acoustic/electro and the second half is a Stone Roses-esque dance jam. But each part uses elements from the other. I'm REALLY psyched.
If all goes well, we should have the album laid out and ready for live drums in the next few weeks. of course, Ash will come in this week and kill the buzz by wanting tons of stuff changed (I mean this in a good way).
Meanwhile, S.O. and I caught up with Mr. G and we saw SCHOOL OF ROCK featuring the genius that is Jack Black. This movie is hilarious and makes the best use of the Jack Black gimmick, taking it to new heights. What made it even more interesting was watching these kids rock out and they knew how to really play. I'd be curious to see how they cast this movie (something, I'm sure for the DVD). Then we met up with members of poontang and sang Verve and Robbie Williams songs till the wee hours at the original MOG hang out O'Hanolans.
And now the best news of the morning:
Revenge/Monaco album announced
LTM are pleased to announce a deluxe 2xCD reissue of the sole album by Revenge, the electro/hard rock hybrid fronted by New Order bass player Peter Hook between 1989 and 1992. Following the release of Technique in 1989, the four members of New Order spent time apart to pursue other ventures. Always intended as a proper band rather than a solo project, Hook was joined in Revenge by Chris Jones and Dave Hicks, and later by David Potts, who would remain with Hook as part of Monaco five years later. Indeed in some respects Revenge can be seen as a dry run for Monaco, who went on to deliver a top ten album and single in 1997. One True Passion was first released by Factory Records in June 1990 and spawned a trio of singles, 7 Reasons, Pineapple Face and Slave. Given free reign to indulge Hook’s leather-trousered rockist instincts, the OTP material welded hard rock to dance beats, with a lyrical focus on sin and redemption. The artwork was just as contradictory, combining sleek Peter Saville typography with softcore imagery by Suze Randall. The band toured like bastards, and in January 1992 delivered the excellent ep Gun World Porn, which offered a more laid back, intimate feel. Deleted after the messy collapse of Factory in late 1992, One True Passion has now been retooled and reconfigured by Hook and Potts, and comes with a full-length bonus disc of rare remixes and unreleased songs in demo form. Standout tracks include 7 Reasons, Deadbeat, Big Bang, State of Shock, Pineapple Face and Jesus I Love You. All material has been carefully digitally remastered. The set contains over two hours of music, and the booklet includes sleevenotes by Joy Division/New Order biographer Claude Flowers.
I feel it appropros that in the middle of my second CD exploring these very influences that this retrospective is announced. Mega!
F
If all goes well, we should have the album laid out and ready for live drums in the next few weeks. of course, Ash will come in this week and kill the buzz by wanting tons of stuff changed (I mean this in a good way).
Meanwhile, S.O. and I caught up with Mr. G and we saw SCHOOL OF ROCK featuring the genius that is Jack Black. This movie is hilarious and makes the best use of the Jack Black gimmick, taking it to new heights. What made it even more interesting was watching these kids rock out and they knew how to really play. I'd be curious to see how they cast this movie (something, I'm sure for the DVD). Then we met up with members of poontang and sang Verve and Robbie Williams songs till the wee hours at the original MOG hang out O'Hanolans.
And now the best news of the morning:
Revenge/Monaco album announced
LTM are pleased to announce a deluxe 2xCD reissue of the sole album by Revenge, the electro/hard rock hybrid fronted by New Order bass player Peter Hook between 1989 and 1992. Following the release of Technique in 1989, the four members of New Order spent time apart to pursue other ventures. Always intended as a proper band rather than a solo project, Hook was joined in Revenge by Chris Jones and Dave Hicks, and later by David Potts, who would remain with Hook as part of Monaco five years later. Indeed in some respects Revenge can be seen as a dry run for Monaco, who went on to deliver a top ten album and single in 1997. One True Passion was first released by Factory Records in June 1990 and spawned a trio of singles, 7 Reasons, Pineapple Face and Slave. Given free reign to indulge Hook’s leather-trousered rockist instincts, the OTP material welded hard rock to dance beats, with a lyrical focus on sin and redemption. The artwork was just as contradictory, combining sleek Peter Saville typography with softcore imagery by Suze Randall. The band toured like bastards, and in January 1992 delivered the excellent ep Gun World Porn, which offered a more laid back, intimate feel. Deleted after the messy collapse of Factory in late 1992, One True Passion has now been retooled and reconfigured by Hook and Potts, and comes with a full-length bonus disc of rare remixes and unreleased songs in demo form. Standout tracks include 7 Reasons, Deadbeat, Big Bang, State of Shock, Pineapple Face and Jesus I Love You. All material has been carefully digitally remastered. The set contains over two hours of music, and the booklet includes sleevenotes by Joy Division/New Order biographer Claude Flowers.
I feel it appropros that in the middle of my second CD exploring these very influences that this retrospective is announced. Mega!
F
3.10.03
Hailing From Our Nation's Capitol...
In DC for a few days. For the first time since S.O. lived here when we were wee kids in love, I took Amtrack down. However, thanks to some travel experience, was bumped up to first class, which was a delight. The tea was always handy, just like on Continental's first class flights, but the difference here is that a. you can use your cel phone and b. they have outlets for each seat, which for a guy like me who seemingly has become physically grafted to his laptop, is a blessing. This is a far cry from the last time I was on an extended train ride, which was in Mother Russia (see theaggression.com tour diary for details), however, the Russian dining cars are the BEST (right, Matt?).
Therefore, the 2 and a half hours on the Acela Train gave me time to work on the HF2 song TWOBASSES, which I have mentioned previously. It's a tough song with a lot of parts, so the bulk of my time was spent figuring out how to mesh the very fast part with the very slow part. NOT easy, but I made some headway and thus I am looking very forward to my train ride back to NYC (hopefully) this afternoon to get deeper into it. I think, and this is for those in the corp. reading it, I'm going to add little noises and such from the faster part and pepper them throughout the slower part for continuity. I sound like a chef.
Anyhow, I am staying at the Willard in DC. Fancy-ass hotel. Awesome. My lovely S.O. would dig the hell out of this place. But historically significant because it is the bar where Ulysses S. Grant would drink. All the politicians who wanted his ear would hang out in this lobby to wait for him to get him to sign off on things while he was wasted on rye. Hence, the term "lobbyists". How cool is that?! That's your history lesson of the day.
The kids in Cyaontic wrote me to say their remix for the aggression EP should be done today. I'll report on once they send me an MP3.
In the best news of the week, former aggression vocalist turned important screenwriter and his Mrs. have had their long-awaited baby, a girl, who's name, at the moment I don't know how to properly spell, so I will refrain from trying. Needless to say, it's not F.J. Everyone is in good health. The Mom called me and she sounded like she had just come back from shopping, while the Dad sounded like he just did 4 tours of duty in Iraq. Hilarious. Bless! I have no doubt that S.O. is currently shopping for MORE for this new child, as my lovely girilfriend has bought more clothes for this baby than I have in my closet. But hey, kids are awesome. I get my lil cuz's on Sunday!
On the run.
F
Therefore, the 2 and a half hours on the Acela Train gave me time to work on the HF2 song TWOBASSES, which I have mentioned previously. It's a tough song with a lot of parts, so the bulk of my time was spent figuring out how to mesh the very fast part with the very slow part. NOT easy, but I made some headway and thus I am looking very forward to my train ride back to NYC (hopefully) this afternoon to get deeper into it. I think, and this is for those in the corp. reading it, I'm going to add little noises and such from the faster part and pepper them throughout the slower part for continuity. I sound like a chef.
Anyhow, I am staying at the Willard in DC. Fancy-ass hotel. Awesome. My lovely S.O. would dig the hell out of this place. But historically significant because it is the bar where Ulysses S. Grant would drink. All the politicians who wanted his ear would hang out in this lobby to wait for him to get him to sign off on things while he was wasted on rye. Hence, the term "lobbyists". How cool is that?! That's your history lesson of the day.
The kids in Cyaontic wrote me to say their remix for the aggression EP should be done today. I'll report on once they send me an MP3.
In the best news of the week, former aggression vocalist turned important screenwriter and his Mrs. have had their long-awaited baby, a girl, who's name, at the moment I don't know how to properly spell, so I will refrain from trying. Needless to say, it's not F.J. Everyone is in good health. The Mom called me and she sounded like she had just come back from shopping, while the Dad sounded like he just did 4 tours of duty in Iraq. Hilarious. Bless! I have no doubt that S.O. is currently shopping for MORE for this new child, as my lovely girilfriend has bought more clothes for this baby than I have in my closet. But hey, kids are awesome. I get my lil cuz's on Sunday!
On the run.
F