It's up!

Here is my shot at the top...

NPR = Now Pete Radio

For those of you who have not heard the news, yesterday I was contacted by Robin Hilton from All Songs Considered on NPR. They are featuring artists from this years RPM Challenge in the month of April, and I was chosen to be the first! I tried not to sound like a total idiot in my interview, so it will be fun to see what they end up using. I'll give you all more details as they become available.

It's Away!

The Eagle has taken off. The black pig flies at midnight. Err... my album is officially off to RPM headquarters. I recorded the title track last night and hastily threw it on as a bonus track. The funny thing is that the last track is an early Beach Boys pastiche number. I've had a cold all week, and had to record this suprememly vocal-heavy song with my sinuses not cooperating. It's apparent that something is going on with my voice for only one part of the song. It's this over-the-top cheesy spoken word part hehe. Very dramatic in my cold voice! All in all, I got 11 tracks done with a running time of 36:11. Now back to my former life...

It's finished!

Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the center ring!



I've finished the album, and here is the cover. It has been an insane month, but ten tracks were finished. I would have loved to do more (and I just may sneak one more on,) but the challenge is over. I'm pressing up a super limited run of these, which will be signed and numbered (steady boy... keep that ego in check) for distribution to friends and family. May I also add that the RPM community is fantastic. I've learned tons from their forums. Every participant that I came into contact with was amazingly constructive and friendly. I cannot wait to hear some of the other albums that were completed.

In other news, Curtains For You will be playing on the 8th of March at Sunset up in Ballard. We will also be headlining the Tractor on the 27th. If you are on the fence about which show to go to, head to the Tractor, as we would love to have a huge turnout for that show. It's been a while since a Tractor gig, and this time it will be more that Matt, Nick, and I bashing away at guitar, accordion, and ukulele. God, that was a weird show. Do-be-do, progress is continuing on our next record. We are rehearsing to just go in and record the record in a couple of days in the studio. Not that there won't be monstrous over-dubs, but not as many as last time. This record will be louder, faster, and more raucous than the last. Here is a track-list (not in order) as of last night:

Dead World
Licorice Skies
Roadtrip to Disaster
Red Red Rose
Catacombs
Small Change
The Clanging of the Masses
An as-of-yet untitled slinky pop number by Matt (Everly Bros. vs. Buddy Holly vs. Kodachrome by Paul Simon) on which I get to play bass!
Dumb Angel
Just Like That, She's Gone
An untitled song by Matt that sounds like Surf's Up by the Beach Boys

Other contenders:

Longest Day
Too Late In The Game (I think that's the title?!)
Caspar & Evelyn
Hester & Alison

It's gonna be vastly different than the last record, and will better represent what we do on stage these days. If you want a preview, there are some of these tracks up on our myspace page , which we recorded live on KEXP. Other than that, my version of Roadtrip to Disaster, Dumb Angel and Just Like That, She's Gone are on my RPM page.

Sorry I have not posted in a while, I promise that now that Feb. is over, I will be more frequent with my rambles.

RPM Update

Well, things are going swell in recording land. I've got 6-7 tracks down (depending on how I count one song that is a medley of two really.) I set up a new myspace page for the songs. It can be found here . It feels great to be recording again. I am anxious to hear what others are doing for this challenge.

In other news, this caught my interest. I am a sucker for the X-Men, and any cartoon involving them is pretty fun. This one looks like a cross between Evolution (for looks) the movies (for some plot details), and the old '90s one (for comic-accuracy). It really looks as if the characters designed for Evolution have aged. I always liked the design for Evolution, but hated that is was basically Saved by the Bell with my favorite comic book heroes. Let's hope that it turns out differently this time. It looks great so far, and I am anxious now. Look, someone just talked about somethign remotely fanboyish online and was not negative about it! WHOA!!!

RPM Revvin' up

Well, tomorrow starts the RPM Challenge 2008. For those of you who do not know what the challenge is all about, it is a call for artists to record an album of at least 10 songs or 35 minutes in the month of February. It's not a contest (as if it were, no one would seriously limit their work to one month,) instead it is more of a way to get songwriters/bands off of their duffs. My buddy, Patrick, turned me on to this whole thing. He's stuck in the umpteenth year of recording a triple album, and this is his way to clear that log-jam. For me, it comes down to learning how to write/record at home with the baby. There's no way that I will have a huge amount of time to do this, but I'll make my best go of it. The thing that most intrigues me about this challenge is that people from all over the world are doing it for so many good reasons. Aside from the aforementioned "get off your duff " stuff, people have some pretty compelling reasons to put music first for one month of the year. I'll keep you posted...

In other news, yesterday was Melissa's birthday, and we headed out to see Juno up in Ballard. The actress that played Juno looked familiar, and it did not hit me why until I filled up my mug at work. The mug has all sorts of comic book pictures on it, including Kitty Pryde from the X-Men, which solved the mystery, as she played Kitty in the X3 movie. Anyway, back to the movie - we both laughed when the guy next to us made some weird growly sort of noise. He also kept belching loudly the whole time. Gotta love going to the movies! Anywho, we both really enjoyed it. Afterward, we headed to a little place called Hazlewood on Market street. As advertised, it was impossible to find, but once we found it, it was pretty cozy.