This warm and sunny morning started off with a chance run in on the corner of 17th and Park Avenue with the wonderful Robin, who as I learned in this brief time spent with her, is quite "busy and jangly". Where I'm from, these are good things, but obviously not in certain dim places. I always enjoy my time with my multi-talented bandmate and friend. If I can take one thing from this conversation, which included everything from comparing ipods to discussing school and New Jersey, it is that I wish the aggression a long eternal slumber in the annals (not anals, Dan Hamill), of history. See my previous post regarding "missing being in a band". I'd rather go back to High School, or maybe early college cause there were girls then. Anyhow, in the words of Greg Dulli, actually some French chick he recorded...goodbye motherfucker.
Onward, Ho's.
Then next time I checked email, I received this epic from a fan, who after much praise for the Chemlab album, writes:
"Alright, this was not the original intention to write this message to you, it was because of the Hype Factor EP which is just not leaving the "right-next-to-the-stereo-pile", I'm not even thinking about putting it on the "2nd-next-pile", no f'n way. I'm still caught in the beauty of it. I have told you before, it's true and by the time you might have gotten tired of people telling you such BUT, F.J, it is such a won-der-ful record, simple as that. Also, I recently discovered I never saw the beauty lying in your voice before this effort? I've tried a dozen times to write this sentence without it sounding so damn gay but I failed, can you xqs me? I maybe miss the appropriate words (no native speaker here, sorry) but damn it's such an honest effort, I can onnly presume this was the most personal piece of music / lyrical work you've ever done? By the way, "thieves" (which I'm sure isn't only my favourite on "the distracted lover") made it right into my all-time-favourite-achy-breaky-sour&sweet-luv-tunes-ever". What an amazing, amazing song. Thank you so much, F.J., I msut be getting repetitive, excuse me, but you know, I kinda had to let you know. Again."
Well, if I know the new album will sell ONE copy, here's the dude that will buy it. This letter makes everything we do worth it! And no I haven't grown tired of people telling me that they love DISTRACTED, the problem is, the only person who tells me that is Brandt! ;-)
This could be a good day.
F
27.4.04
26.4.04
PUNISHMENT
My Significant Other, a fine woman, ventured via Chinatown bus (the in thing to do, and extremely cheap) to DC to check out Neubauten. She and her friend Lauren have a Neubauten tradition where they get drunk and check out a few of their gigs. Personally, having seen them perform once before many of you were in nursery school, I think getting drunk and watching them is some form of torture. Not to say I don't appreciate them. As Dan Hamill put it: "It doesnt matter what the tradition is, its just good to have tradition" I, being someone who has never seen Greg Dulli perform while being sober because of "tradition" (with the exception of that one Pigface related incident which you can read here somewhere) cannot argue, especially in light of my recent actions in Brooklyn (see previous entry re: Twilight Singers at Warsaw).
Anyhow this was the first time Irene has gone out of town since she moved in. It's usually me leaving for LA and her staying here, but it was shocking to see how quickly I regressed to being a 15 year old again. When I wasn't working, I was either buying or watching Kung-Fu movies, playing videogames, reading comics, surfing the web (more ebay shit), eating unhealthy, and playing music at indecently loud levels. This was all done in the company of either Evan, G or both.
Though I have to admit, it was fun watching the directors cut of WRATH OF KHAN and reciting the dialogue for G and Ev during the entire movie. However, I missed being an adult!
Ok so then, mostly out of obligation to my non music profession, Evan and I went to check out THE PUNISHER late Friday night. I don't know what I did to piss off God, but making it throught his movie earns me the right to change my second initial to Jesus. Everyone involved with this movie should be shot, especially Travolta (who should fire EVERYONE who works for him NOW for letting him do this piece of crap). Poor Thomas Jane. He's a nice man who was right for the role but was saddled with a script that was seemingly re-written to be as shitty as possible.
Someday, THE PUNISHER will be taught in a classroom (probably by me) about how NOT to make a comic book based movie. Utter shit.
We were saved somewhat the next day when me and my two pals went to check out KILL BILL VOL.2. I don't think it's any secret that I am not a big fan of the first volume. I thought it was predictable, not too clever, and the action was so-so. Overcritical? Yes, of course, as its QT going onto my turf of Asian Cinema. Anyhow, Volume 2 is a very enjoyable film that is tight and fun, character driven and filled with great action. IN particular, the throwdown between Uma (looking better than ever) and Darryl Hannah (looking scary as fuck) was excellent. Also, Vol 2 made perfect use of Gordon Lui and Michael Madsen, which is what I really needed from this movie.
OK, QT, now save Travolta again and go make the Vega Brothers!
Meanwhile, my Ebaying has gone totally overboard. I have won a dozen Jackie Chan photobooks and two stunt crew tshirts. It's very weird that this has all kicked in, though I think it has to do with the fact that JC has just turned 50. FIFTY! I remember being a kid and him approaching 30 and thinking that he was only going to make 3 more movies or something. JC, despite that my girlfriend has to wake up every day and stare at a wall of JC pix and posters, is still the man!
F
Anyhow this was the first time Irene has gone out of town since she moved in. It's usually me leaving for LA and her staying here, but it was shocking to see how quickly I regressed to being a 15 year old again. When I wasn't working, I was either buying or watching Kung-Fu movies, playing videogames, reading comics, surfing the web (more ebay shit), eating unhealthy, and playing music at indecently loud levels. This was all done in the company of either Evan, G or both.
Though I have to admit, it was fun watching the directors cut of WRATH OF KHAN and reciting the dialogue for G and Ev during the entire movie. However, I missed being an adult!
Ok so then, mostly out of obligation to my non music profession, Evan and I went to check out THE PUNISHER late Friday night. I don't know what I did to piss off God, but making it throught his movie earns me the right to change my second initial to Jesus. Everyone involved with this movie should be shot, especially Travolta (who should fire EVERYONE who works for him NOW for letting him do this piece of crap). Poor Thomas Jane. He's a nice man who was right for the role but was saddled with a script that was seemingly re-written to be as shitty as possible.
Someday, THE PUNISHER will be taught in a classroom (probably by me) about how NOT to make a comic book based movie. Utter shit.
We were saved somewhat the next day when me and my two pals went to check out KILL BILL VOL.2. I don't think it's any secret that I am not a big fan of the first volume. I thought it was predictable, not too clever, and the action was so-so. Overcritical? Yes, of course, as its QT going onto my turf of Asian Cinema. Anyhow, Volume 2 is a very enjoyable film that is tight and fun, character driven and filled with great action. IN particular, the throwdown between Uma (looking better than ever) and Darryl Hannah (looking scary as fuck) was excellent. Also, Vol 2 made perfect use of Gordon Lui and Michael Madsen, which is what I really needed from this movie.
OK, QT, now save Travolta again and go make the Vega Brothers!
Meanwhile, my Ebaying has gone totally overboard. I have won a dozen Jackie Chan photobooks and two stunt crew tshirts. It's very weird that this has all kicked in, though I think it has to do with the fact that JC has just turned 50. FIFTY! I remember being a kid and him approaching 30 and thinking that he was only going to make 3 more movies or something. JC, despite that my girlfriend has to wake up every day and stare at a wall of JC pix and posters, is still the man!
F
23.4.04
FOR-LOOOOORN
Again, it what seems like a decade, the main Factor principles of Brandt, Ash, Robin and myself gathered for the first official HF photo session. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this band in its short lifespan has yet to have an official photo. Everything you have seen so far, including the pix in the DISTRACTED sleeve come from other sources (ie. videos or candid shots). Sadly, despite my begging and pleading, Peter Saintface bowed out; most likely to prep rough mixes for me to hear (HINT). Meanwhile, Brandt enlisted his friend Kathie-Rose (forgive me if I've spelled your name wrong) to take said shots. Thank God this nice girl has the patience of a saint to deal with us.
A few days earlier while planning this, Ash had a smart idea to put us to work in the studio as we are all rarely in the same room at the same time. Based on that, Brandt, as usual, smartly did the homework and had everything ready and waiting for us. This evening would also give Robin the opportunity to hear some of her drum work for the first time ("wait, I played on that?"), and for Ash to review his basslines from 2 weeks ago that we all love ("eh, I'm not feeling it").
Though we all agreed on our love for the new bridge in CREATION PHASE and Brandt, in one his "Ideas that F.J. thinks is stupid when he first hears it but is later proven wrong" told us we would have to write a new outro to the song in a different key because that new bridge ended in a different key. I, of course, was like "that's stupid", but thats what I always say. However, then we got it going. As usual, the mandate of pushing these songs forward is proven to be successful as the new outro is awesome and allowed me to get some cool "F.J. bass" in there. The song BLOWS up at the end. I'm loving it.
For every great moment like that, there's some frustration. On another song, SOLAR, we decided to have Robin re-track her chorus basslines against her new drums. This proved tough. What she originally had was a very simple line that I felt drove the song perfectly, but Ash felt there could be more to it in a "dub" sorta way. After Robin's many attempts, Ash took over for awhile, but he couldn't quite crack it either. I think we all liked where he was going, but it just wasn't getting there. Honestly, I think we should go back to the simplicity of the original bassline, but we have to at least explore every angle before committing. We owe these songs, and each other, that much.
During all this, Kathie-Rose, took what seemed like a million photos. She's very sweet, very cool, but I think was upset to learn that Ash, Robin, and I all hate The Pixies. What was interesting was that after 10 years on and off working together, Ash and I didn't realize that we both hated them. I was convinced he loved them and he thought I loved them. EH! BOTH WRONG. This was a big bonding moment, for Ash, Robin and I. We spent a good half hour RAILING on The Pixies. Enjoy the reunion, Brandt!
Anyway, the evening ended late with Kathie-Rose taking more "band" shots. I think she coulda kept going all night taking pix, but my crew was getting cranky so we called it a night. FULL SUCCESS.
During this, I realized the only thing I miss about the aggression was the comraderie of being in "the band" with my friends. However, after hearing tales about certain mates other bands and the drama and high school kiddie shit that goes on within their unit, I was suddently quite happy to just have a "project" that is evolving into a band that will only have people who WANT to make the best possibly music they can.
Music should be the escape FROM the drama of the everyday, right?
In other news, I have regressed to my 15 year old self once again and I'm suddenly buying rare Jackie Chan movie programmes from Japan. These highly collectable books were my teenage obsession, but my collection was far from complete. On a whim, and encouraged by my significant other, I went on Ebay only to find that two places in Japan have unloaded TONS of them. So far I have yet to lose an auction, but I doubt the rent will be on time, especially now that I've found someone selling Jackie Chan stuntcrew Tshirts (I have the ORIGINAL from the early 80's!). I'm in trouble to say the least.
In news beyond everything, in a rare NYC appearance the other night, Bradley J. Fox, fresh from his travels to Paris, Capetown and Bucharest, announced that he and his Wife Dee Dee are expecting their first small Cramp. I feel this child will kick much ass and now I must concede my LA digs to this small baby. My request for bunk beds for the forthcoming infant and I was denied. Luckily, Agent/Manager/Lawyer has an extra bedroom just for me. Irene and I are inching closer to bi-costalness, i think...should know more this summer.
F
A few days earlier while planning this, Ash had a smart idea to put us to work in the studio as we are all rarely in the same room at the same time. Based on that, Brandt, as usual, smartly did the homework and had everything ready and waiting for us. This evening would also give Robin the opportunity to hear some of her drum work for the first time ("wait, I played on that?"), and for Ash to review his basslines from 2 weeks ago that we all love ("eh, I'm not feeling it").
Though we all agreed on our love for the new bridge in CREATION PHASE and Brandt, in one his "Ideas that F.J. thinks is stupid when he first hears it but is later proven wrong" told us we would have to write a new outro to the song in a different key because that new bridge ended in a different key. I, of course, was like "that's stupid", but thats what I always say. However, then we got it going. As usual, the mandate of pushing these songs forward is proven to be successful as the new outro is awesome and allowed me to get some cool "F.J. bass" in there. The song BLOWS up at the end. I'm loving it.
For every great moment like that, there's some frustration. On another song, SOLAR, we decided to have Robin re-track her chorus basslines against her new drums. This proved tough. What she originally had was a very simple line that I felt drove the song perfectly, but Ash felt there could be more to it in a "dub" sorta way. After Robin's many attempts, Ash took over for awhile, but he couldn't quite crack it either. I think we all liked where he was going, but it just wasn't getting there. Honestly, I think we should go back to the simplicity of the original bassline, but we have to at least explore every angle before committing. We owe these songs, and each other, that much.
During all this, Kathie-Rose, took what seemed like a million photos. She's very sweet, very cool, but I think was upset to learn that Ash, Robin, and I all hate The Pixies. What was interesting was that after 10 years on and off working together, Ash and I didn't realize that we both hated them. I was convinced he loved them and he thought I loved them. EH! BOTH WRONG. This was a big bonding moment, for Ash, Robin and I. We spent a good half hour RAILING on The Pixies. Enjoy the reunion, Brandt!
Anyway, the evening ended late with Kathie-Rose taking more "band" shots. I think she coulda kept going all night taking pix, but my crew was getting cranky so we called it a night. FULL SUCCESS.
During this, I realized the only thing I miss about the aggression was the comraderie of being in "the band" with my friends. However, after hearing tales about certain mates other bands and the drama and high school kiddie shit that goes on within their unit, I was suddently quite happy to just have a "project" that is evolving into a band that will only have people who WANT to make the best possibly music they can.
Music should be the escape FROM the drama of the everyday, right?
In other news, I have regressed to my 15 year old self once again and I'm suddenly buying rare Jackie Chan movie programmes from Japan. These highly collectable books were my teenage obsession, but my collection was far from complete. On a whim, and encouraged by my significant other, I went on Ebay only to find that two places in Japan have unloaded TONS of them. So far I have yet to lose an auction, but I doubt the rent will be on time, especially now that I've found someone selling Jackie Chan stuntcrew Tshirts (I have the ORIGINAL from the early 80's!). I'm in trouble to say the least.
In news beyond everything, in a rare NYC appearance the other night, Bradley J. Fox, fresh from his travels to Paris, Capetown and Bucharest, announced that he and his Wife Dee Dee are expecting their first small Cramp. I feel this child will kick much ass and now I must concede my LA digs to this small baby. My request for bunk beds for the forthcoming infant and I was denied. Luckily, Agent/Manager/Lawyer has an extra bedroom just for me. Irene and I are inching closer to bi-costalness, i think...should know more this summer.
F
19.4.04
SAVED
The weather suddenly gets good and things get going here! First off, my laptop is back and to make a long story short, when upgrading to OSX, something went wrong and I wiped out EVERYTHING I have ever done in this laptop. Let's not use words like "backed up" or "saved", ok? Needless to say, thanks to the geniuses at DRIVESAVERS, I have all my erased files and I am significantlly lighter in the wallet. However, now my computer is running super amazing out of control awesome. Though I have no music software at the moment.
However, we have some amazing stuff brewing for this new album. Ash's bass playing is incredible on MORNING AFTER and the bridge we wrote for CREATION PHASE was looped over and over again when I spent my Saturday at the studio.
Before all this, Mr. G, Brandt, and I checked out the face in Brooklyn, just a block away from where my mom grew up. This venue, Southpaw, is the bestfor Saintface.They thrive there. Memo to the guitar player: Dont punch your guitar after the first song unless you have a backup guitar, pally. Just sayin.
Morrissey has often failed me in his solo life. I have yet to enjoy myself at any of his solo gigs that I have been to. His last album was utter shit. Saintface, who I have described as "what Morrissey wishes his solo career was" has my heart in recent years when it comes to music. However, he is always forgiven. I will buy his new album and already spent way too much money on tickets for his gig next month. I have to admit, I'm enjoying the Morrissey comeback. We live in an age where we DO need someone like Morrissey to be, ahem, our frank role model. Reading his intelligent and witty criticisms of our world in the NME this weekend made me smile. However, the SPIN article was terrible. Not because of him, but because SPIN is the worst music magazine pretending to be cool I have ever read. Put Peter Saintface on the cover and maybe I'll by it again.
I think the first photo session for HF2 is this week. Maybe Thursday. I'll keep you posted.
F
However, we have some amazing stuff brewing for this new album. Ash's bass playing is incredible on MORNING AFTER and the bridge we wrote for CREATION PHASE was looped over and over again when I spent my Saturday at the studio.
Before all this, Mr. G, Brandt, and I checked out the face in Brooklyn, just a block away from where my mom grew up. This venue, Southpaw, is the bestfor Saintface.They thrive there. Memo to the guitar player: Dont punch your guitar after the first song unless you have a backup guitar, pally. Just sayin.
Morrissey has often failed me in his solo life. I have yet to enjoy myself at any of his solo gigs that I have been to. His last album was utter shit. Saintface, who I have described as "what Morrissey wishes his solo career was" has my heart in recent years when it comes to music. However, he is always forgiven. I will buy his new album and already spent way too much money on tickets for his gig next month. I have to admit, I'm enjoying the Morrissey comeback. We live in an age where we DO need someone like Morrissey to be, ahem, our frank role model. Reading his intelligent and witty criticisms of our world in the NME this weekend made me smile. However, the SPIN article was terrible. Not because of him, but because SPIN is the worst music magazine pretending to be cool I have ever read. Put Peter Saintface on the cover and maybe I'll by it again.
I think the first photo session for HF2 is this week. Maybe Thursday. I'll keep you posted.
F
12.4.04
Dim Sum, son
Things post-laptop problems are starting to get back to normal a little bit. I still don't have my laptop back, but the initial shock of what I did to it (another time) has worn off. Again, I credit Irene for keeping me sane. However, my IPOD took a dive on Friday, which now makes me feel quite jinxed. This led to some time back at Apple in Soho, but the situation was saved by "the IPod genius". Also, thanks to Brandt, I was able to get 1500 or so songs, including some very rare ones BACK into my Ipod within a few hours. A minor crisis saved. Frustrated, Irene and I spoiled ourselves with an evening at Jules, a wonderful French place on St. Marks.
Post dinner, we spent some brief face to face time with Peter Saintface, who was in good spirits and certainly enjoyable to chat with. He now has his songs for this album and I expect we're going to get some greatness out of him!
The next morning, I was feeling refreshed, so I ran to the studio early to work on more bass and surprisingly, Ash was only an hour and a half late. He had issues with the basslines in MORNING AFTER THE LIFE BEFORE. His belief was that while what I played in the song worked for it, it was more of my typical "hook style" bass playing than it was rythmic. Repeated listenings to the song confirmed this to me. Instead of me doing it myself, I suggested Ash record it as he was the one who pointed it out and obviously had been thinking about it. Also, my other motive, no pun intended, was to get him more invested in the song from the bass side, as he will be the live bassist.
Needless to say, it was interesting to watch him work. I've only jammed with him on songs as opposed to putting him in front of me, as a producer, and having him work out a part. Instead of full sections, he worked the chorus out a few measures at a time; eventually writing one longer piece. It's very mathmatical, very detailed, very technical and very successful. It was totally fascinating. I've worked with the guy for years and he still comes up with new ways to puzzle me. After I left, I believe the two of the laid down the rest of that song.
Then, Ash, Brandt and I reworked the bridge to CREATION PHASE, a section that had been troubling everyone in the group, except me of course. Brandt had a vision for this and even tracked Robin playing some random drums based on what he had heard in his head. When I heard the drums earlier in the week, I dismissed it as being too MARCH OF THE PIGS, but when he edited them into the song and presented a guitar part, it was very obvious that this was more akin to The Who. And this is NOT a bad thing. Ash played bass and I played a quick Hook-style lead over this bridge and we hammered it out in what seemed like 3 minutes. It's awesome. I dream of it. I'm happy. In my old age, I've gotten good at letting my collaborators push the songs a bit to make things better. I've become less stubborn and am going to have a much better album because of it.
Later, while shopping on 5th Avenue with Irene and Dan Hamill, we ran into Robin and her man Damon. It was a birthday, so Happy Birthday to the best bandmate I've ever had! We discussed the real band name for ass cobra, which led to Mr. Hamill making a wisecrack that we will get tons of mileage out of. See you at Golden Unicorn, bitch!
The evening was capped off with a screening of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, which should be huge, but won't be, but was nonetheless enjoyable. The kids in the movie, in particular one of the sidekicks (who Irene has dubbed the new John Cusak), really carried it. And the presence of AJAX from the Warriors, James Remar, never hurts.
I spent Easter immersed in all things Clone Wars. And speaking of Jedi, I ran into the star of my NYU senior thesis film, SUBURBAN JEDI, this morning. HIs name is Kosak, I love him and it was good to see him. He is strong with the force, still, especially if he moves to France. So jealous.
Note to self: Plan vacation!
F
Post dinner, we spent some brief face to face time with Peter Saintface, who was in good spirits and certainly enjoyable to chat with. He now has his songs for this album and I expect we're going to get some greatness out of him!
The next morning, I was feeling refreshed, so I ran to the studio early to work on more bass and surprisingly, Ash was only an hour and a half late. He had issues with the basslines in MORNING AFTER THE LIFE BEFORE. His belief was that while what I played in the song worked for it, it was more of my typical "hook style" bass playing than it was rythmic. Repeated listenings to the song confirmed this to me. Instead of me doing it myself, I suggested Ash record it as he was the one who pointed it out and obviously had been thinking about it. Also, my other motive, no pun intended, was to get him more invested in the song from the bass side, as he will be the live bassist.
Needless to say, it was interesting to watch him work. I've only jammed with him on songs as opposed to putting him in front of me, as a producer, and having him work out a part. Instead of full sections, he worked the chorus out a few measures at a time; eventually writing one longer piece. It's very mathmatical, very detailed, very technical and very successful. It was totally fascinating. I've worked with the guy for years and he still comes up with new ways to puzzle me. After I left, I believe the two of the laid down the rest of that song.
Then, Ash, Brandt and I reworked the bridge to CREATION PHASE, a section that had been troubling everyone in the group, except me of course. Brandt had a vision for this and even tracked Robin playing some random drums based on what he had heard in his head. When I heard the drums earlier in the week, I dismissed it as being too MARCH OF THE PIGS, but when he edited them into the song and presented a guitar part, it was very obvious that this was more akin to The Who. And this is NOT a bad thing. Ash played bass and I played a quick Hook-style lead over this bridge and we hammered it out in what seemed like 3 minutes. It's awesome. I dream of it. I'm happy. In my old age, I've gotten good at letting my collaborators push the songs a bit to make things better. I've become less stubborn and am going to have a much better album because of it.
Later, while shopping on 5th Avenue with Irene and Dan Hamill, we ran into Robin and her man Damon. It was a birthday, so Happy Birthday to the best bandmate I've ever had! We discussed the real band name for ass cobra, which led to Mr. Hamill making a wisecrack that we will get tons of mileage out of. See you at Golden Unicorn, bitch!
The evening was capped off with a screening of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, which should be huge, but won't be, but was nonetheless enjoyable. The kids in the movie, in particular one of the sidekicks (who Irene has dubbed the new John Cusak), really carried it. And the presence of AJAX from the Warriors, James Remar, never hurts.
I spent Easter immersed in all things Clone Wars. And speaking of Jedi, I ran into the star of my NYU senior thesis film, SUBURBAN JEDI, this morning. HIs name is Kosak, I love him and it was good to see him. He is strong with the force, still, especially if he moves to France. So jealous.
Note to self: Plan vacation!
F