Clang Quartet EP, Sarah June EP, Goddakk, Remora, Lost Kisses, Bad Contracts

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So I finished writing the press kit for Clang Quartet: Ava, just got to lay that out & bundle everything together & then put it online.  Which I’m sure will take me a lot longer than I think as it always does.  But hopefully in time for the shows Friday & Saturday nights.

I got the approval for the track order & artwork for the Sarah June: Under Black Robes Remix EP.  So I just need to write up the press release & lay that out & bundle & get it up online.

I got in the Goddakk files to run some mastering on.  We’ll see how fast that goes.

Last night I actually practiced for the Remora show.  Sometimes I really think I should never perform songs live as they are a lot less interesting to me than the pieces, but I’m not sure if the audience feels the same way.  Maybe the 50-50 mix I usually give is about right?

I finally finished the first draft for the Lost Kisses about time travel.  As Lost Kisses #11 turned into Ultimate Lost Kisses #11, I’m thinking about numbering this one #21 & keeping ULK as #11-#21 (it’s a ten issue story arc about the woman, each issue depicts a life changing moment in her life more or less in order of a certain logic of events rather than chronology, issue #12 is about her deciding to give her son up for adoption & issue #13 is about a boyfriend from issue #12 & I’m not sure exactly what happens in between, but #20 either ends with her son being saved or committing suicide (the end varies based on how I feel that day)).  Confusing stuff for the reader today, but not in the long haul.

So my son Andrew was having his record coming out on a small label & it’s been in negotiation a few months, but now the release date has been set & everything.  So the label says, “Oh, we forgot to sign a contract!”  They send him a contract asking him to pay them $1400 towards the release for 200!  WTF?  Talk about bait & switch.  Now I can understand a label needing to operate like that on a release they don’t know how well they can sell, but that should be mentioned on day one; not six weeks before the street date.  So who knows what’s going to happen with it.  I told him not to work with them if he was to pay more than $300 for the 200 copies as it doesn’t look like they do much promo either.  At which point, what’s the advantage of them putting out a release?  I don’t know.  I don’t claim that Silber is the best label going or anything, but when I hear stories about other labels I feel better all the time.  Really, I think if Silber was raised to the point where I could guarantee selling 1000-3000 copies of a release I might be willing to say it was the best label going.  But I like to think most label owners would be willing to say that about themselves….

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Returns, Comics, Dreams

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Most of the day was spent on a tedious activities.  Processing returns from some distros.  I really should’ve spent $100 10 years ago to get a system setup by someone who knew what they were doing so my paperwork would be easy.  But instead I’m re-inventing the wheel.  Anyway, both returns I was working on were supposed to be account closing returns, but both ending up owning me about $100 more in stock.  Hopefully they’ll settle up with me, fingers crossed on that one!

I got an email from Jeremy Johnson & he’s re-drawing a few panels for Ultimate Lost Kisses #12.  Hopefully it will be out in time for SPACE (March 19 in Columbus, Ohio).

Speaking of SPACE, this weekend is when I’m supposed to get in the artwork for working on this year’s anthology (I’m the editor).  I’ll let you know when it’s up.

In other comic news, I talked to my son Andrew today (mainly because I wanted to know the physical dimensions of his lap steel for potentially mounting it inside of my Roland Jazz Chorus as a drone thing) & he’s working on a potential mini-comic for Silber.

Also, here’s a video version of Star…

Last Night’s Dreams:
They’ve been classifying everyone in the nation & reorganizing the citizens.  So like-minded people of similar abilities all live in each city.  This way everyone thinks that what they work on is the best thing to work on & there’s no classicism visible.  But I think they are really grouping us together for a genocide.

There’s a series of psych-rock recordings that Tommy Chong was involved with recorded direct to wax in the basement of a Sears when he worked there & they are still there.  I’m trying to find the mall to find the recordings.

Patrick Kain is working as a gardener in Georgia.  He says it conveys what he’s trying to say more than he could with comics.

I’m at a rock show & I’m drunk & there’s a ghost harassing me in the bathroom.  I don’t want to look like a crazy person, so I tell the ghost we should take it outside.  When we go outside he’s invisible & I’m drunk, so he clearly has the edge, but I manage to grab hold of one of his arms & bite a finger off of his hand & he starts crying like a bitch until he completely melts away.

I’m going to Taco Bell for lunch & the drive-thru line is long so I park my car & go inside.  When I come out my car is gone.  I go into a DMV that is in the same little strip mall associated with the Taco Bell & I’m trying to figure out how to call the cops & remember my license plate number & when I say why I’m there it’s clear that the girl behind the counter (who I recognize as a girl from Baltimore I met in Charlotte in 1997) is somehow involved with my car being stolen.  I confront her & she says she’ll get it back & when I go outside with her this guy shows up with a pink Ford Focus saying it’s my car & I’m thinking about killing the girl over the insulting accusation & she’s saying, “Look, I can’t get your car back, this is the best I can do!”  Her arm is turning blue from loosing circulation & the ring around her bicep where I’m clenching my hand that’s holding her is turning black.  It starts to rain.  Wherever this place is, I fucking hate it.

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2 Responses to Returns, Comics, Dreams

  1. Nick Marino says:
    January 21, 2011 at 1:30 am

    I changed my mind last minute and decided to whip up something for the anthology. The comic was easy, but the ad is kind of a pain in my ass!

  2. Brian John Mitchell says:
    January 21, 2011 at 1:51 am

    I’m not bothering to make an ad. People that want to know more will already know what to do. If you want, I’ll try to do something where your ad will have a hyperlink in the PDF version, but that’s a secret. Just you & me & maybe Bob Corby will have hyperlinks….

Sarah June, Clang Quartet, Star, Goddakk, & a Dream

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So it seems like things might be going Silber’s way on the Sarah June front.  She’s a finalist for a contest as “up & coming artist to watch” for the Grammys.  She’s got a brand new interview up at Culturespill.  Then there’s the new video for “Judgment Day.”

In addition I just finished up the first attempt at the artwork for her remix EP, so that is getting really close to ready to come to you as well.

I got an email from Scotty Irving & we’re going to be doing a live Clang Quartet EP soon.  The audio is mixed & mastered, we just need to work up the artwork.

I got a video version for Star #1 from Martin Newman, I’ll post it up pretty soon.  I also got some artwork from Martin for the new Goddakk that I need to work on.

As I mentioned earlier Darren Hayman is doing a song a day for January.  I’m realizing watching the results that I really like the behind the scenes videos more than the songs themselves.  So it makes me think, “Maybe I should do something like this.”  Because in a way it is what the blog is theoretically, but I think videos come across as more fun than a blog.  I was about to try to use Xtranormal to make a video version of this blog entry, but it ends up that’s now a charge service.  Crap.

Last Night’s Dream:
I’m working for some up & coming mobsters.  I’ve been working for them for years.  I’m basically a bartender & sometimes I help with serving food at parties.  There’s this young dumb kid at the party tonight who’s a server.  I like him because he seems like a naive version of me.  Then I overhear one of the mobsters talking about how they are literally going to kill the kid to make an example of him because he has a $50,000 debt to them.  I’m torn if I should worn the kid to help him get away or just mind my own business.

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One Response to Sarah June, Clang Quartet, Star, Goddakk, & a Dream

  1. GoddakkAttack says:
    January 18, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    I knew about the Hayman thing but never got around to actually listening. Til today, maybe i should review it for the Finally çhecking it out blog but watching the videos makes me think somebody should hire him to write songs for Sesame Street. Also…if you haven’t maybe check out his Protons and Neutrons video.

Still Sick, Small Life Form, Dream, XO?

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Kinda more sick now than at the last posting.

Had a Small Life Form show last night & there was some problem with half my pedal board not working (which seems to be an on-again-off-again problem for a year & a half).  Rather than trying to fix it I just went with it half strength for fifteen-twenty minutes & called it a night.  I was playing fifth on a line-up of five bands & while it’s cool to have a bunch of bands play, sometimes I think three bands is how many there should be.  But I will say that the show ending around midnight with five bands was good.  I did live optical feedback with a projection screen & haven’t looked back at the recording of it yet, but I need to check it out as if it’s cool enough to warrant it, I may buy a little projector as I saw some at Amazon for $100.

I have a ton of emails to go through from just sitting around being sick most of the time the past couple of days.

Last Night’s Dream (potential XO plot?)
I’m at a friend’s house that is one of those houses where people are always hanging out to the point you’re not sure who the technical residence are, but she’s the homeowner so I know she’s a resident.  It’s gotten to the point in the night that it’s time to give up the idea to sleep & the only people up are me & my friend & some random guy.  I’m making us all breakfast in the kitchen & I hear them starting to argue.  He’s making some kind of threats about that her parents owe “them” a lot of money & they better come out of hiding.  I grab the guy from behind locking up his arms & slam his face against the wall a few times (& I know how comedic it must seem with the hundred pound & six inch height advantage he has) & say, “Look, if you’ve got a problem with her parents you can take that up with them.  But you can’t go around threatening my loved ones.”  I slam his head against the wall a lot harder & he crumples to the ground.  I tell my friend, “Breakfast is ready.”  She says, “So does this mean I’m one of your ‘loved ones’?”  “Shut the fuck up.”

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2 Responses to Still Sick, Small Life Form, Dream, XO?

  1. goddakkattack says:
    January 16, 2011 at 12:17 am

    i feel like ive lived that dream a few times over the past three years

  2. Brian John Mitchell says:
    January 16, 2011 at 12:29 am

    I know. I didn’t really bother to go to indepth with the details because I might use it for a comic story, but it was super-vivid & I thought it was real for a moment. I don’t understand how I’m this old & still find myself in those type of houses. (Oh, wait, yes I do, it’s called being a touring musician – at least it doesn’t happen in my home town anymore.)

Electronical Failures, Daily Work, Dreams

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

I think I’ve got the flu.  It kinda sucks.  I can’t concentrate on things.

My cell phone broke today (dead screen) I took it apart & got it working again, but I think I need to get my demos off of it before I lose them again like I did on my last phone.  I tried taking my old phone apart to get the songs out again today (a little less worried about breaking it & more considering it a piece of trash than a couple months ago) & man, now I know why people don’t try to use phone bits for homebrew pedals & circuit bending – the circuits are the size of the leg of the circuits I try to make instruments with.

So taking the phone apart made me want to try to  work on one of my malfunctioning optical theremin do-dads.  I plugged it in & it worked fine except one link needing to be soddered.  I was playing with it as the iron heated up & it just stopped working all over again.  WTF?  I need to try to work with it again at some point.  Intermittent things drive me crazy.

So still on the weirdo music electronic slant I tried doing some stuff with my tape violin (which if you saw the couple of Small Life Form shows where I used it, it’s more visually interesting than sonically useful).  I built what is sometimes referred to as a “tape map” by wrapping tape around a jewel case & then I made a thing by wrapping tape around a test tube.  Maybe I need to record on the tape when it’s already mounted or something, but all I can do is get crappy noise (like when someone is scratching a record) out.  I can use it to get some beat oriented things, but only around the quality of tapping a mic to get drum sounds.  Maybe if I saw a video of someone using one properly it would make more sense to me.  I think what I really need is a wide long piece of tape to be able to get anything resembling what I’m sonically after.  I think also the real tape violin stuff was probably using reel-to-real tape heads instead of a walkman & that may make a difference as well.

I’m trying to come up with the title for the Remora album.  I flipped through some books hoping something would jump out at me, but I had no luck.  Then I flipped through some ten year old notebooks & I had no luck there, but I was surprised by the quality of some of the stories & the fact that I couldn’t remember writing most of the stories as a reader, much less a writer.  In fact one of the stories for a moment I thought was written in someone else’s handwriting, but on further analysis was probably just written in a huge rush during a lunchbreak or something.  I used to try to write three or four stories a day.  Just a couple hundred words.  I probably should start doing it again.

Speaking of working every day.  Check out Darren Hayman writing a song every day.

Last Night’s Dream:
There’s some kind of cancerous growth on the top of my right ear (but looking in the mirror I forget which side of the mirror I live in & for a moment I’m sure it’s my left ear).  I don’t have anything else handy so I start hacking away at it with a dull buck knife.  It rips the flesh more than cuts it & it’s bleeding even more than I expected.  It’s bleeding enough I’m light headed, or maybe it’s just painful enough that I’m lightheaded.  I drop the knife in the sink with my ear to clean up later & go to bed.

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3 Responses to Sarah June, Optical Feedback, Rollerball, Remora, Worms

  1. goddakkattack says:
    January 11, 2011 at 9:05 am

    we had our next rekkid mastered for under 500 and it was way better than if james did it and overall better than it sounded without mastering by a long shot the plumerai one that is not the goddakk

  2. Brian John Mitchell says:
    January 11, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    I think I’ve gotten about six or seven records mastered at the $300 price point & while they are better than if nothing had been done at all, I’m not convinced they’re better than since I started mastering stuff myself a few years ago.

    I assumed you’d run your own mastering on the new Goddakk, get me the files in an uncompressed format & I’ll put a little Silber polish on it….

  3. goddakkattack says:
    January 11, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    uhave to research places without price being the criteria most places are willing to cut a reasonable deal

ULK, Azalia Shirts, Electric Bird Noise, recent pet peeves, & more

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Not a lot of work done today.  Mainly catching up on Silber related emails over the past couple of days that got neglected for working on QRD.  So some of the news below is based on that.

I got in the pencil sketches from Jeremy Johnson for Ultimate Lost Kisses #12.  I need to look through them & make suggestions so he can start inking & then that issue will be done after over a year in limbo.

Azalia Snail has some t-shirts she’s printing.  She’s doing them in any requested colors.  I’m still trying to find out a bit of info for how people will be able to order them.  I think it’s a little silly to have her ship them to me for me to re-ship to whoever, so I need to set it up to go directly through her.  It’ll just take a day or two to get that figured out & set-up on the site.

Martin & James Newman (Plumerai) were in town today & I made them listen to some of the new Remora record & the review was something like, “This isn’t just commercial compared to Remora, this is commercial compared to us!”  I still have up the rough mix of the “single” from the new Remora (it’s called “My Brother’s Guns & Knives”) at GimmeSound if you want to hear it.

Working on the liner notes for the Electric Bird Noise ensemble album.  I didn’t even know I was supposed to be writing them until today, but evidently I was emailed about it a week ago.  Got a partial draft done & down to Brian McKenzie.  A little hard to do the liner notes as I’m not sure where I put my copy of the demos of the record to listen to when writing it & I didn’t know the names of the fifty people that appear on the record.

There was an article in the weekly paper where I live about there being too many venues & not enough good bands.  I tend to disagree, but I understand why the writer thinks so.  It’s true that there are bands playing over an over in this little tri-city area where I live, but these venues aren’t reaching out to get any bands other than the ones who are playing on repeat.  I’ve never been contacted to play a show by these venues & I suppose that’s part of why (despite playing two shows in January) I only play about four shows a year in the area.  But the real problem to me is not the number of bands, but that bars are trying to clone each other rather than do their own things & that none of them are trying to be friendly to anyone that can’t stay out drinking until 1 in the morning on a Tuesday.  People have jobs.  People have kids.  High schoolers would love to see live music.  Please, someone, let these people go see bands play instead of just watching TV.

& another thing that I’ve been pissed off about for a week now.  A friend of mine (who’s also a musician & routinely complains about people not buying music) posted on Facebook, “New Mogwai album leaked! Downloading it now!”  WTF?  Doesn’t he realize what he’s doing & that he’s condoning people to not pay his favorite band & that may keep them from being able to do another album or at least limit their fundings of such?  I feel like maybe Mogwai named an album after him, “Come on Die Young.”

I shot some optical feedback videos again, but I didn’t compress these ones or switch out their audio (at least not yet), so they are huge for uploading to YouTube (180 megs).  I’ll post them in the blog when they’re ready I suppose.

I need to do some work on the Sarah June Remix EP.  Kinda let working on it slide a bit & now the time is coming to unleash it.

Speaking of EPs I may be releasing one from Clang Quartet in pretty short order & Evgeny is working on one for Thorn1 as well.

Today’s installment of Silber mini-comics is Worms #2.

Last Night’s Dream:
I’m driving a sporty little red car through some podunk town that the GPS has me driving through the main street of instead of being on the highway.  I crash into a little pole on the sidewalk that is holding up a little overhang on a shop while I’m looking at my GPS.  It’s a Sunday, so there is no one in the town.  The car can still drive, so I just keep going on to wherever the GPS is going to take me.

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New QRD

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So I finished up the new issue of QRD.  14 guitarist interviews with:
Azalia Snail
Alan Sparhawk of Low & Retribution Gospel Choir
Jesse Grey of The Pointless Forest
Michael Seman of Shiny Around The Edges
Robert Brown of Northern Valentine
John Booker of I Was Totally Destroying It
Steven Mitchell of The Heligoats & Ulysses S Grant
Ian McPhedran of Ostrich Tuning
Josef Echter of Draff Krimmy & Apokrypha
Jordan Barger of Arte Povera
Zachary Corsa of Lost Trail
Ed Ricart of Matta Gawa & New Atlantis Collective
Yair Yona
Jeff Schneider of Arab on Radar & Made in Mexico

I did decide to put back in the Google ads in the left column in QRD as I haven’t had much like selling ads.  I do feel like I’m ripping myself off having them in there, but I guess it’s worth getting a few cents instead of zero cents.

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Silber Anniversary Show, QRD, Dream

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

So things are already starting to shape up for the Silber anniversary show. Eight confirmed performers already in the first day. Should be great. Gives me something to look forward to.

I got a return from a distro, which is fine; but half the stock was items they’d already paid for as sold & so it really screws up my paperwork.

I finished proofing the guitarist interviews for the next QRD, I just need to make a cover & lay them out, which of course always takes longer than anticipated.

Last Night’s Dream:
I’m staying at a hotel on the outskirts of town for a comic convention when a snow storm hits.  Immediately after I check out it’s announced that the highway is closed & they’ve already re-rented my room, but they put a gate up so I can’t take my car out to even try to get home.  I wonder how long it would take to walk the 200 miles in the snow….

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QRD, Silber Anniversary Show, Azalia Snail, Small Life Form, Nostalgia Equals Distortion, Worms

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Brian John Mitchell

Got some work done on the next QRD.  Right around half of the interviews proofed for the guitarist side.  So that’s cool.

Doing the proof of the guitarist interviews inspired me to pick up my guitar & just fool around with it for an hour.  I should start doing that more.  Sometimes I remember that a guitar is pretty much my favorite way to combine wood & metal wires.

So I’m putting together a show for the Silber 15 year anniversary.  More news on who will be performing in a few days.  It’s going to be April 2 in Chapel Hill at The Nightlight.  A free show from 7pm – 2am is the tentative plan.

Did some adjustments (noise reduction, fade adjustments, pop removals) to a couple tracks for the Azalia Snail album.  I’m always torn about things like that.  Where does my job as a label owner to help an artist put out the best record they can turn into me just being a jerk?  I am doing it with consent, so I guess it makes it okay; but I still feel like it’s some intrusive major label type of thing at times while at other times I feel like it’s a form of collaboration – both feelings based exclusively on my mood.

So the show I was having with The Pointless Forest next week has shifted around a bit.  Because of schedule conflicts, instead of playing as part of The Pointless Forest, I’ll be playing a Small Life Form gig.

There’s a new review up of Judge Dredd comics at Nostalgia Equals Distortion from Martin Newman.

I just found out about this site Gravatar that you can use so that you have avatars when you comment on WordPress blogs (like this one).  Takes about a minute to sign up.

Today’s installment of Silber mini-comics is Worms #1.

Last Night’s Dream:
A TV special featuring Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys doing a 30 minute set of his songs like “Liquor & Whores” & “Kitties are So Nice” at some MTV Springbreak type of the thing on a beach.

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One Response to QRD, Silber Anniversary Show, Azalia Snail, Small Life Form, Nostalgia Equals Distortion, Worms

  1. GoddakkAttack says:
    January 7, 2011 at 8:41 am

    also up on Finally Checking it out a review of Red Riding movies which were fantastic enough to make me want to read the entire four book series.