Things have been looking pretty gritty on the entrepreneurial front the past week or so. Old green responsibilities are once again rearing their ugly heads and the man has finally caught up to what I've been trying to do. Unfortunately, mixing the ideal of having patients with mild depression can get you into a bit of a pickle here and there. Patients requires hope, hope requires time and buying time requires...well, money. Realistically, I need to get back on this horse and keep going at it.
The theme of the day and my life, seems to be finishing. I am very good at starting things as you may have gathered. About ten years ago, I started Brick Corps (pronounce like Marine Corps, not like the dead bodies). This was the vision of youth. Sound experiments that included dumpster diving, large playground-like collage making, Jack Daniels and some good, old fashioned breaking stuff.
If it sounds chaotic, it was...if it sounds strange, it was. I was the leader without assuming a true title which eventually led to sabotage, copy and regret. What is it anyway? Performance Art? Music? Noise? Dangerous? Maybe.
Nobody took it that seriously except when we were doing it, planning to do it, or listening to it afterwards at 3AM all in a daze. People liked to watch us and with the proper leadership, it could have been pretty grand. Some choreography like Blue Man Group or Stomp was tried, but it was never supposed to get that messy, I mean...organized. The true sense of it was that people got together and cherished a moment of spontaneity which could never occur again. The chair would never be the same after the legs were snapped off and used as drumsticks, the hammer would never hit quite right on that metal baseboard and the wind could never distort the cheap found microphone attached to my awesome Technics by Panasonic 2 channel Dolby solid state recorder in the same wonderful fashion. All I can say is, mess with tape.
To the point please? Well, I have all of the tapes, I digitally archived them and put two albums out over the last few years. I trademarked the name and logo, gave props to the "royal tribunal" which were the first two guys to go along with my crazy idea. Sorry, no money yet guys.
Turns out, this has been happening for years, in some form or another, I had been making Musique Concrete since I was 13 and picked it up heavy thanks to Collin Fitzgerald in high school.It really got me good grades my first time around in college at SUNY Purchase for Studio Composition. The profs loved it and I collected all of the tape machines I could find, gobbling up noise everywhere. There was always a split in my head between conventional band status, gigging (rock star) and actual production. It wasn't until now that I understand what the word prolific meant. I still jump all over when trying to decide on making conventional (rock) music and just all out insanity. Really I need to do both. With so many people out there with different tastes, you never know who will be listening when you create something both scary and beautiful.
So, after a long awaited hiatus, I am releasing The Apocalypse Session. It is just now on MP3 but I would love to put it on vinyl though Cd's will be ready in a few weeks. This is probably not going to please all of you all at once. Arguably the best one, I have several more which I will unleash on the world with no regard. The people who were apart of it don't care anymore and it's still MY ugly loud baby anyway. Thank you everyone for participating and thanks for all the philosophical talks over the years on what it should and shouldn't be which amounted to nothing. At least I can say that these tapes, those moments were not in vain and are not just sitting in my basement collecting dust. All of my effort and coordination should have accounted for something, no matter how disgusting or harmful.
If you are interested in other really crazy stuff, check out
The Books
Survival Research Laboratories
Nocturnal Emissions
Tom Waits
If you every want someone to buy a houseboat, park it in the middle of a field, sell tickets, dismantle everything in a music ish fashion and destroy all evidence, I am your guy. I will bring big friends and a dunk tank.
- DISCLAIMER- If you really dislike someone and want them to stop bumping their loud car stereo, give them a copy of The Apocalypse Session, tell them to crank it to the max. Also, the albums do not have warnings, but you probably shouldn't drive or operate heavy machinery while listening.
