night cusser

Imagine Earwig

2012-01-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

The Imagination gathers up the material by which the Mind weaves the fabric in which your Future is to be clothed. Imagination is the light by which we can penetrate new worlds of thought and experience. Now let's get dressed.

You picked the songs. Now come and sing along.
We're having a special Valentines day show on Friday, February 10th at Outland in Columbus. We're taking an unscheduled break from writing our new record to do this show, so make sure that you're there. We've been posting the song lyrics over at our Facebook page , so come prepared.
Remember: YOU took this show from your Imagination and made it real.
The Future is NOW.
Picture what you want in your mind and make it real.

Letter to the President

2011-10-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

NO BALLS / NO GLORY

September 26th, 2011
Dear Mr. Obama,

The Silver Baby Cup is a select rural golf invitational held in Southern Ohio on the weekend of October 29th and 30th, 2011. Our attendees represent significant interest and influence in this region as well as nationally and are substantially motivated in grass roots development.

We have been encouraged by the direction of your administration and your well-known and widely recognized sportsmanship. We cordially invite you to come and be a part of this influential gathering.

Let’s play golf.

Most Sincerely,

Lizard McGee

Lizard McGee, R.S.B.C.C.
Reigning Silver Baby Cup Champion

To Heal Yr Guts

2011-10-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

I’ve recently been having some rough transitions with my health. I’ve been very ill and had to stay in the hospital for over a month. I’ll tell you that a hospital can be a lonely place. Not to be overly dramatic, but I could have died. I was on drip fed narcotics the whole time and blanked out or forgot long stretches of my time spent there. My family came to visit me and my son made me an incredibly cool get well card (picture above). While I was there many friends and relatives reached out to me to let me know how much they care about me. The generosity and love of others can be tremendous and I appreciate every friend and every ‘get well’ thought as a gift . It was a desperate time. But going through hell can sometimes be worth it.

Illegal Art

2011-09-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

Do you ever hear words spoken or read signs and interpret them differently than they were intended? I do. A lot. I once saw a bumper sticker on a Volvo and I swear it said “Jesus is my beast fiend.” I’m sure that my misinterpretation was probably better than what the bumper sticker actually said. I often mis-hear song lyrics too. In the early days of REM, Michael Stipe would say that his mumbled, often unintelligible lyrics were purposefully obscured and that the words you think you hear are more meaningful to you than the actual lyrics. He felt that the songs were more powerful this way. I tend to agree with him. When I’m writing something or recording a song, often I mess up but like the mistake better than what I intended to do and decide to keep it that way. I call these mistakes Happy Accidents. I don’t always end up where I intend to go, but often am happier when I end up somewhere unexpected. I believe in intuition, chance and idiot wisdom. It can be very hard to realize at the time but often a mistake is not a mistake. This is also true when seemingly bad things happen to you in life. The picture above is a mug shot from when I was arrested when I was nineteen. The judge assigned to my case decided that she wanted to teach me a lesson. I was convicted and had to serve a very short sentence at the Franklin County Men’s Correctional Facility. Medium security prison is no joke. In my cell at night, I laid awake and listened to the crazy, homicidal stories of my fellow inmates. My short time there helped me to recognize that life is an adventure. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? I think that I learned more about myself from that unwelcome escapade than I did from many other selected employments.

Earwig is a wolf

2011-03-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ronny: And what do you know? Okay, you tell me my life, I'll tell you yours. I'm a wolf? You run to the wolf in me, that don't make you no lamb. You gonna marry my brother? Why you wanna sell your life short? Playin it safe is just about the most dangerous thing a woman like you could do. I mean, you waited for the right man the first time, why didn't you wait for the right man again?

Loretta: Because he didn't come.

Ronny: I'm here.

Loretta: You're late. This is your place.

Ronny: That's right.

Loretta: So, this is where we were going?

Ronny: Yeah

Loretta: You know, We had a deal, you told me if I go to you with the opera than you'd leave me alone foreva, and I came with you! Now I'm gonna marry your brother and you're going to leave me alone forever. Right?! A person can see where they messed in their life and they can change the way they do things and they can even change their luck, so maybe my nature does draw me to you, that don't mean I have to go with it. I can take hold of myself and I can say yes to somethings and no to other things that are going to ruin everything. I can do that. Otherwise, you know, what good is this stupid life that God gave us? I mean, for what? Are you listening to me?!

Ronny: Yeah, everything seems like nothing to me now against that I want you in my bed. I don't care if I burn in hell, I don't care if you burn in hell. The past and the future is a joke to me now, I see that they're nothing. I see they ain't here, the only thing that's here is you, and me.

Loretta: I wanna go home!

Ronny: No!

Loretta: I'm gonna go home.

Ronny: No!

Loretta: I'm freezing to death!

Ronny: Come up stairs! I don't care why you come... No that's not what I mean. Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is. An' I didn't know this either, but love don't make things nice, it ruins everything, it breaks your heart, it makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. Snow flakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us, Not us. We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and Die! I mean the story books are bullshit!! Now I want you to come upstairs with me and GET in my bed!!

Come on? Come on. Come on...

Get yr VOTE on with Earwig

2011-03-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Earwig made the top 10 final bands to play CD101 Day in April in Columbus at the LC. If you don't know, CD101 Day is the annual big blow-out concert hosted by the best Radio Station in the WORLD, CD101. Being the local band on the bill is a fantastic ride and provides a huge boost to whatever local band lands the slot. We should know, Earwig played this concert in 2008. We'd love nothing more than to get that chance again...and YOU can HELP US do it!

This is a BIG deal and we really NEED YOUR HELP. Now that Earwig is in the finals, we need EVERYONE to log into the CD101 Lounge and VOTE for EARWIG.

PLEASE take just a few minutes to do this and it will make a BIG DIFFERENCE for us. We do appreciate it very much.

Remember! You need to vote by this Friday 3/18.
This should take less than 5 minutes and here’s all you need to do.

1. Follow this link
http://www.cd101.com/sections/theLounge/TheLounge.aspx
2. Sign up
If you’re not signed up already, it will ask you to sign up for the CD101 Lounge.
They will ask for your Name, Birthday, City and Zip Code
3. Click on the link that says
Vote for the CD101 Day Local Band!
4. Then, click on Take This Survey
and vote for Earwig! (make sure you click the FINISHED button at the bottom)

Thank you! - Yr pals, Earwig

Ultraman!

2011-01-28T11:32:00.000-08:00

As a kid, I watched a lot of Battle Of The Planets cartoons. I loved it. Sci-fi super heroes with gadgets and cool costumes. I loved the adventures of G-Force vs. Voltar and I always wondered what the hell Keyop was saying. It wasn’t until recently though that I discovered Ultraman and all of it’s awesomeness. Originally a live action Japanese Sci-fi special effects kids show, it was brought to America and dubbed. It features a cool Science Team of heroes that fight big Godzilla style monsters from outer space. I talked to George and Costa recently and it seems that they were hooked on the show when they were younger. Every episode seems to have the same plot, but it doesn’t matter. All we really want to see is the big knock-down drag-out fight at the end between Ultraman and the evil baddie. Guess who always wins? Over the holidays, I found a cheapo DVD collection of the first two seasons and have been really enjoying it. So much so in fact that we're working on some Ultraman themed videos for 2 Earwig songs right now. If we can get the orange jumpsuits and space helmets right, we’ll be all set. Go Science Team Earwig!

Come and see the band

2011-01-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

The Mindfish

Earwig is playing at the Treehouse in Columbus on Friday, January 14th. Get ready for a good time. Young Athens upstarts Mindfish will be opening up the show and Columbus rockers Yellow Light Maybe are playing too. YLM is hard at work recording and getting ready for a spring release. Mindfish released their debut record earlier this year and below is a review of said album along with a review of Earwig's 'Gibson Under Mountain' written by Dean from Mindfish. Familiarize yrself with these songs and get ready to sing along. Also! Congratulations are in order for the two winners of our recent Earwig T-shirt contest. Vic Miller (of Columbus) and Chris Witmer (from Michigan) both knew that my favorite hubcap comes from a Mercury! Enjoy your swank new duds.

Measles Mumps & Rebellion - Mindfish
by Lizard McGee

On Measles, Mumps And Rebellion, the debut full length from Mindfish, singer Dean Tartaglia starts out with a promise that they’re not dead. That fact is never in question over the course of the album’s 13 tracks of whiplash-inducing rock. Right off the bat, the title track sets the stage for emotional damage and pay back. By the second song they let us know that there’s no turning back and we’re already neck deep in this engaging song cycle about love and loss. Each songs leads us further along in a tale about a young man’s search for fame and acceptance as a small town rock star. We can assume that the band writes from experience using deep vocal harmonies backed alternately with organ, sweetly strummed acoustic guitar and freak-fuzz guitar solos to get their point across. Throughout the album, Tartiglia’s voice goes from smooth and sweet to rough and ravaged by a lover’s betrayal. All along the way the band provides sharp backing to whatever mood the lyrics call for, with drummer Steve Warstler throttling his drum kit or laying out completely where needed.

Slowing down with ‘So Tell Me Now Love’, the band delivers a break-up song that details the demise of a relationship against a back drop of delicate reverb-ed piano then dissolves into a harder, distorted ending, dragging you deeper down the well as our hero’s tale continues. We follow the exploits of the singer as he tries to salvage his sanity even as he loses the girl ("You, Beautiful You"). Mindfish uses these 13 tracks to explore a sound that blends observational storytelling with meat-and-potatoes guitar rock and the heady declaration of youthful enthusiasm. The record is delivered in three acts, casting the hero as an underdog in need of therapy. Tartaglia never appologizes for his panic attacks and emotional failings along the way, keeping the proceedings as authentic as a psychiatrist’s notebook. Imagine if the Arctic Monkeys lived in Athens, Ohio...or if Max Bemis from Say Anything couldn’t afford relationship counseling.

Perhaps saving the best for last, the final act begins with “Monkey See Monkey Don’t Even Know” which captures the band at the height of their powers as a tube amp, distortion crunching pop-rock band. Departing briefly from their trademark sound, they put keyboards and dance influenced production to good use on the sing-a-long “Sell You As Art”. These are two of the albums strongest songs. In the end, Measles, Mumps And Rebellion is a fresh and melodic peek into the dysfunctional mind of love starved youth. We follow the narrator as he comes to grips with fame (or lack of it), rejection and loss. Developed as a Pop Rock Opera, it’s these themes of struggle that permeate the album and help it ultimately to succeed. Layered with commanding ruffs and thick bass, the album definitely delivers with anxious anthems for the emotionally mal-adjusted.
album link: http://themindfish.bandcamp.com/album/measles-mumps-and-rebellion

Gibson Under Mountain - Earwig
by Dean Tartaglia

Some artists are just made to last. Ohio’s (Columbus/Athens) Earwig can put their money where their mouth is. Entering almost their third decade as a band, Earwig has put out multiple albums, toured the country and had their music played on national television. And since their debut as a band in 1992, much has changed for the 3 piece 90’s alt rock group, except for the direction they have taken their music by their more than dedicated front man Lizard McGee. Deep in the backwoods of Athens Ohio, Lizard has been transcribing his vivid, connected dreams into fully produced (which seem to be played to him as a recurring TV series), heavy hitting glorious alternative rock tunes often glistening with decades of musical dedication and prowess. In fact, his dreams even preminiscently projected the name of Earwig’s newest album on screen in his mind (literally; he dreamt of a projector portraying the name of their newest album.)
Gibson Under Mountain Starts off with the shimmery guitar driven song “Trees”. Conjuring up mental pictures of the frozen ‘tundra’ of Southern Ohio (for anyone who has every frequented the area in the winter months), “Trees” jettisons the listening into the meat of the album with a bang. The spaced out track “Star Cross’d” and unabashedly alt. rock song “Not About You” set for us the exact tone of what we are getting into. With the drums of George Hondroulis being bashed into your ears on the first few tracks, mixed beautifully with the band, its easy for the listener to recall how the felt when they heard Dave Grohl play for the first time. But don’t make the mistake that Earwig is stubborn about their 90’s roots and out of the Indie Rock loop. With 8 bit keys and keyboard produced and stacked harmonized vocals (“Shiny Morning”), Earwig knows what has occurred in popular and rock music over the past two decades, and they’ve studied it to their advantage.
Some tracks stand out more than others musically, including “Love Sick Cockroach”, with coffee house guitars and Matt Wagner’s big muffed bass (every good album deserves a good bass solo) and the rockin’ pop tune “Glorious and Gloom” with it’s wailing guitars and invitingly overdubbed vocals. Lyrically, the album is not lacking as well. “Wicked” is a better nursery rhyme than the garbage the average toddler sings in nursery school! And it doubles as a poisonous rock tune, as the “spider” McGee has been “bitten by” pumps venom through his heart. The gut wrenching “Last Christmas” brings the listener through a tail of lost love and Christmas cards, culminating with a hard tug on the heart strings of the audience in each chorus as McGee screams, “I’m not crying, I’m spitting up blood!”. But this 11-song piece of art comes to an all too appropriately with by far it’s best track. “Rumplestiltskin” proves to be the best track, and maybe the tour de force to Earwig’s discography. Rooted strongly in the emotions and timbres of the blues (as all excellently crafted rock n’ roll should be) “Rumplestiltskin” makes The Rolling Stones look coy for writing “Sympathy for the Devil”. Crashing ocean waves of guitars, heaving pounding drum explosions, and wailing vocals hold steady as the band shoots their final bullet for the listener to catch. With lyrics conjuring up the devil, harmonized falsetto soulful breakdowns and smearing distorted guitar lines, Earwig proves as a time tested band, that after 18 years, they can still execute damn near perfect rock n’ roll.
These 11 songs show that Earwig is a band of true rock and roll students, historians, and performers. Earwig is not a 90’s revival band; they are a 90’s band. They don’t need to be revived, they have been going strong, alive and well, and continue to do so with Gibson Under Mountain.

Album link: http://earwig.bandcamp.com/

The League of Extraordinary Hub Caps

2010-12-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

When Earwig is on tour we will occasionally get lost. It happens. While trying to locate the club one night near Cleveland, I was having no luck at all. I’m a big believer in synchronicity and intuition. So sometimes, when I’m in a pinch, I just leave it up to the universe to point me in the right direction. Lost and sitting at a random inner-city intersection, I decided to do just that. I wondered, should I turn Left or Right? I asked the universe for a sign. And then I noticed something shiny calling out to me from the parking lot across the street. It was a hub cap, gleaming in the sun. I took that as an omen and went to investigate. As I turned into the lot, I realized it was a gas station and so I decided to go in and just ask for directions. The gal behind the counter knew exactly where the club was and even ended up coming to see the show that night! I picked up the hub cap and brought it along on the rest of the tour for good luck. Ever since then, when I’ve been mulling over decisions or in need of direction, I’ll often see hubcaps on the side of the road that seem to help me resolve my problems or choose what to do. I started picking them up and have amassed quite a cool collection. I just mounted a bunch of my intuition hub caps on my garage to display them. Some of them are pretty cool looking. While we were working on Gibson Under Mountain, I collected a bunch of hub caps on my drives to and from Columbus. I would put them up in the studio in the vocal booth and even kept my favorite, one very special silver hub cap, up over the mixing board while working on the final mixes.

Want to win yr very own Earwig T-shirt? Well, just tell me what make of automobile my favorite hub cap comes from. You can tell from the picture and the image/character on it.
HINT: The hub cap in question is pictured in my last blog post from 2009.
Send the answer in an email to lizard@lizardfamily.com

Songwriting 101

2010-12-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

Earwig is taking it easy this December so we can all re-charge our batteries, visit with our families, eat cookies and all that jazz. I’m using this time to write songs for the next record, which we’ll start working on next year. We’ve got a couple of new songs under our belt already, one of which “I Don’t Want to Go”, is performed live here (LINK). All of the songs on Gibson Under Mountain came to me in dreams. But when I sit down to write in a more conventional way it helps to have lots of inspiration laying around. Right now I’m reading The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra and Tertium Organum by P.D. Ouspensky. Just a couple of books to try and broaden my view of reality and hopefully influence some new hit Earwig songs in the process. In addition to having a guitar, Casio keyboard and hand held tape recorder all on standby, I usually fuel my efforts with a strong batch of coffee when I get up. I like being hyper in the morning.

Getting to Know Earwig

2010-11-23T09:18:00.000-08:00

Earwig recently released their new album ‘Gibson Under Mountain’ to a small but eager fan-base. As the year winds down to a close, there’s a lot brewing at Camp Earwig and early 2011 will bring the release of another new 4 song EP entitled ‘North High Alumni’. If you live in the Columbus, Ohio area, you can look forward to a rare local show at The Treehouse on January 14th, 2011. If yr new to Earwig, or even if yr not, here are a few quick links to bring you up to speed.

YouIndie interview: Lizard discusses the past, present and future of Earwig.
http://www.youindie.com/?p=18035

Donewaiting Review: A track by track breakdown of the new album.
http://tinyurl.com/2a3ok9k

Outroversion: Respected British music blog reviews Earwig’s new album.
http://tinyurl.com/3ajjadv

Story behind Gibson Under Mountain: What’s in a name?
http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2010/04/gibson-digital.html

A Twittered Dream (part 3)

2010-09-27T03:33:00.000-07:00

The search for The Enigma Guitar continued. Along the way I picked up a few key allies and discovered that I was part of something called The Brotherhood of Zero. All of these dreams seemed so poignant and strong when I would first wake up, as the other reality lingered. And they contained some good advice and inspiration and helped me navigate a tough period after the album was complete but I was still struggling with what I was going to do with it. Finally, here's where this wacky dream sequence ended up.

7:43 AM May 12th
My brother/Alucard the assassin took me to see his Master who resides deep in the belly of a boiler room @ PS#111. Says they can help me.
His Master looked an awful lot like Bob Dylan in a Franciscan monk's robe. He had a bunch of really old Holy Books with Fantasy art .
They're both monks in something called The Brotherhood of Zero.

9:55 AM May 27th
Hanging out again last night with Bob Dylan/Master, looking at his old books of Fantasy Art.
He wants me to use the books to help me meditate about the E-guitar.
If I look hard enough, I can see the E-guitar in the background of paintings by Bosch, DaVinci
...and Frank Frazetta. It’s Conan the Barbarian with the E-guitar instead of a sword, serenading a scantily clad fantasy babe.
Bob/Master says that my snake tattoo proves that I am the missing link member of the Brotherhood of Zero.
He says I have the power and sends me off with a “special” pill that will help me meditate on the location of the E-guitar.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010 9:21:47 AM
Played a lot of dream golf last night in Snake Canyon. The balls had tiny little rockets that spit fire when you hit 'em. Then, floating on platforms like Discs of Tron, tried 2 drive golf balls into the spewing oil well a la Top Kill. Seemed like it was working
Bruce Willis showed up in a limo to take me for a ride. He was mega-dirty and his shirt was on fire...I went along anyway. Bruce had Animal from the Muppets in the back of the limo, chained to the seat. Animal is MUCH less cuddly and scarier in person. Bigger too
They offered to have Animal join the band, if I led them to the E-guitar. Wanted me to sign a contract...in blood. Animal was drinking whiskey from the bottle. Keep slurring "Anzimal EAT DRUMS!" Told them 'no thanks', George was animal enough for us.
Had them drop me off at the cross roads in the woods. Used the Sonic Maximizer to fold time-space and get back to the secret hidden fortress

Friday, June 11, 2010 2:24:39 PM
Speaking of Obama. I had some meetings with him about important stuff in my dream last night. Don't worry America, we got this.

Thursday, June 17, 2010 4:04:23 PM
Last night, I was hanging out with Kim Deal. Playing guitar and spitting in a wishing well.
Then we got corresponding tattoos on the soles of our feet. A series of letters & numbers.
She wouldn't tell me what they meant. Said I would find out later. And that it was important. Thanks Kim.
Then Kim & I led a band of feral Vampires in an attack against Evil TMNT and their Joy Division Cobra superiors. We controlled the Vampires by feeding them little pink pills that we kept in our utility belts. They go nuts, it's like Vampire Crack! We were ultimately victorious in our siege against the enemy. When they retreated, they left behind a strange device.
I took it back to the secret fortress to check it out. In my dream.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 10:52:31 AM
Last night, I returned to the secret fortress to find a gift from the Brotherhood of Zero waiting for me on the table in the foyer. Two little blue pills. One says "Truth", one says "Lies". A note from my brother/Alucard assassin says that they'll help guide my meditation
I took the pill labeled "Truth" and drank what was in the bottle.
When I closed my eyes, I was flying, Superman style, above the woods of Southern Ohio.
I was using a joystick from an Atari 2600 to control my flight. I could also see green, digital 'matrix' read out code in my field of vision

Sunday, August 08, 2010 12:49:04 PM
Who was in my dream last night?
Zombies, a Minotaur and Sting. He was a Warlock. Who knew a lot about yoga.

Monday, August 09, 2010 11:23:00 PM
Went flying again last night over the haunted woods of Southern Ohio. There’s faint, tinkle-y music-box music up high above the clouds. It sounds very sweet. Mechanical and sweet.
The sky was black and neon-matrix green. I followed a floating light that guided me south.
I think the “Truth” pill that The Brotherhood gave me is working. The flying light landed on a glowing mound. The ground was swelling and pulsating with green light.
This place looks exactly like the tattoo that Alucard and I share.
This is what Kim Deal and I got tattooed on the soles of our feet.
N 39.02368 and W -83.431303N
It’s where the Enigma guitar is hidden.

Later:
I think I’m turning into a cyborg.
In my dream last night I had all sorts of electrical equipment surgically incorporated into my body.
I’ve got the Sonic Maximizer mounted in my chest. My vision is like a computer’s read-out.
Turns out that strange device the Vampires left behind is a Digital Echo Chamber. It’s now embedded into my forearm. I can use it to make a digital echo or exact copy of anything. Cool.
The sky was filled with giant Borg cubes packed with Evil TMNT troops looking for me.
They were sending out low frequency audio blasts, trying to disrupt reality and locate my hidden fortress.
I dressed in a black and blue spandex rock star outfit. It works like a stealth fighter to diffuse the TMNT’s audio blasts and keep me invisible.
I returned to where the Enigma guitar is buried and used the Sonic Maximizer to shift atom space and phase through the ground and into the main anti-chamber of the burial mound.
The Enigma guitar is there. I used the Digital Echo Chamber to make an echo copy of it.
I took the echo copy back to my hidden fortress and put it with the Magic Mono Mixer.
It’s my job to keep it safe and make sure that Drag King Queen and the Joy Division Cobra Nazis never get their evil hands on it.
I’m looking forward to using The Enigma Guitar, the Zombie Bass and the Magic Mono Mixer to make more music to save the world. Someone needs to bring Harmony to Chaos.

There’s lots of work to be done.

A Twittered Dream (part 2)

2010-09-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

As things progressed with the making and mastering of Earwig's new album 'Gibson Under Mountain', details became intense and my dreams got even stranger. A nightly storyline started to develop centered around my quest to find an item called The Enigma Guitar. I faced down leagues of Evil Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Joy Division Cobra Nazis that were headed up by a mysterious figure called The Drag Queen King. He looked an awful lot like Tim Curry dressed in transexual garb from his Rocky Horror days. Trust me, it all made perfect sense in my dreams.

7:29 AM Feb 23rd
Finally saw the leader of the Joy Division Cobra Nazis. His name is Drag Queen King and he looks like Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show with fishnets/black lipstick...the works.
Snuck into a wolf pack enemy submarine base @ Volcano Island, the bad dudes have the Magic MONO channel strip with Majestic EQ. Can be used to make unstoppable mixes...
...for Good or Evil.
I must retrieve it to use it to mix the new Earwig record. And, um...for the good of all mankind! yeah, that's what I meant.
If dreams are like Avatar, while asleep there/I’m awake here, while asleep here/I’m awake there...then right now I'm taking a nap in an underground submarine base behind some boxes that say "Mega Turtle".
Drag Queen King is seeding the Pacific ocean w/ a powder that turns normal turtles into Evil Teenage Mutant Turtle minions that will try and stop me from finding the E-guitar.
I woke up too soon. I need to get back to sleep so that I can wake up in my dream and get the Magic MONO mixing strip.

4:05 PM Feb 23rd
@jentastic1204 I had more coffee, probably made things worse, made me more spaz. What I really need its the Magic MONO Mixer. Damn you Drag Queen King!

7:26 AM Feb 24th
In my dream, my deceased best friend gave me The Zombie Bass which is an old Fender Jazz bass that he had dipped in the river Styx.
If you play the right sequence of notes, The Zombie Bass has the power to bring inanimate objects to life.
So I used The Zombie Bass to animate a toy figure of Thing/Ben Grimm to be my bodyguard & help me build a secure fortress deep in the woods.
The Thing is now a massive/full-size behemoth and says he wants some "Clobberin' Time!" with the Evil TMNT that are after me now. Oh how he hates those evil turtles.

9:03 AM Feb 24th
I must've screwed up, now it looks like I'm on the run from Evil TMNT and Joy Division Cobra Nazis...in my Dream. They’re searching for the secret fortress. They’re getting close.

8:55 AM Feb 26th
There are wild vampires in the woods surrounding my hidden fortress. A pack of vampires hung out all night, scratching at my windows and clawing at my doors. I fed them garlic popcorn out the window. The loved it!
These Garlic Popcorn Vampires are just harmless woodland creatures in the forest surrounding my hidden fortress. I'm still hiding out.
I have to locate the Magic MONO Mixing board and the Enigma Guitar before the Drag Queen King and his evil Joy Division Cobra Nazis find me. They are closing in.
Young Orsen Welles Kenobi came back and tried to teach me how to tap into my ESP powers using the Zombie Bass. I just can’t seem to do it. It was exhausting...in my Dream.

10:38 AM Mar 22nd
Took some time off from the search for the E-guitar.
I was hired to be the ‘Fantasy Island’ style host for a new reality TV show called Ghouls Vs. Growlers
Famous vintage movie monsters are made 2 live together in a haunted castle in Transylvania. The Ghouls: Mummy, Dracula The Growlers: Werewolf, Creature from the Back Lagoon , Frankenstein
These retired monsters! They're all cranky old geezers that don't get along. I mediate/host & suggested that we bring in Bride of Frankenstein to spend the weekend on the island.
Frankenstein got REALLY jealous & tried 2 strangle Phantom of the Opera when he sang the Bride a song. He's a good organist, can't sing 4 shit. Frank was crying all night, Bride was being a big bitch. From there it devolved quickly into a geezer monster bitch fest. I had to jet.
The Thing and I are heading back to the secret fortress in So. Ohio woods.

12:50 PM Apr 22nd
Last night, a spicy meal kick-started my Enigma Guitar dream sequence again.
When I returned to my hidden fortress from Monster Island, Thing and I were ambushed by a platoon of evil Joy Division Cobra Nazis
My bodyguard fought valiantly but was destroyed and Evil turtles scattered Grimm’s stones/bones in a field
I escaped using a Sonic Maximizer to digitally delete the enemy and their knowledge of my secret location
My Sonic Maximizer is a little black box that can alter the vibrations of yr surrounding reality
Uses: Disrupt dimensional vibrations 2 destroy physical objects and/or adjust reality so that I can walk through walls and other cool stuff
After destroying the Evil Joy Division Cobra Nazis, I collected Grimm’s stones and stored them in the stasis chamber below the fortress.
Spicy food gave me these dreams? Or maybe it's just the new drugs I'm on...

10:01 AM Apr 23rd
Robert Downey Jr. came by and turned my magic orange singing boots into a sweet orange 1970 Chevy Nova.
We went driving down deserted Appalachian dirt roads. Stereo only plays Pixies songs. He quizzed me on Star Wars trivia to engage my E.S.P.
He was wearing a Jedi robe. This is Robert Downey Jr. in full make-up & fake accent from Tropic Thunder. Wanted me to play the Zombie Bass.
We looked up to see ‘The Catholic Mother Ship” cruising low over the countryside.
It's a huge triangular Star Destroyer, but with side rails and masts, like a pirate ship.
Drag Queen King and the Pope stood on the deck, searching the trees. The Pope is his boss? Luckily the secret fortress is invisible.
Back at the fortress, I used the Zombie Bass to see which hanger on Volcano Island the Cobra/Nazis are hiding the magic MONO mixer in.
In a huge hanger, just like in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the magic MONO mixer is in one of those crates. I know which one!
I used my Sonic Maximizer to fold-space and transport myself into the enemy hanger with the MMM.
But the evil Cobra Nazis had a shield up and I got booted to the vast deserts of the planet Dune. I was chased for hours by giant sand worms
Eventually found my lost Sonic Maximizer in the sand and set it to jump vibration-time & bypass the Nazi defense shield at Volcano Island.
I grabbed the magic MONO Mixer and brought it back to the hidden fortress. Those damn Cobra Nazis never knew what hit ‘em.
The MMM is a sweet channel strip that you operate using E.S.P. It has Majestic EQ & magic. I used it to mix 2 Earwig songs.
Trees and Shiny Morning were mixed using the magic MONO mixer and E.S.P. They now have special powers. In my dream...

9:41 AM Apr 28th
Mr T took me 2 the Ohio State fair 2 C a band called Rattlesnake that looked suspiciously like the Arctic Monkeys in Insane Clown Posse make-up
They sucked. But Mr.T (and the audience) loved them...go figure.
Mr. had a new inflatable plastic suit that you blew-up with yr mouth, like a beach ball. He wasn’t wearing his bling. Something was off.
He bought me some cotton candy and kept asking about the E-guitar. He was acting very strange, then I realized, they flipped Mr. T!
Drag Queen King had gotten to him and turned him into a double agent. Damn. So I ditched him and went to ride the Midway rides.
There was a huge jumpy-inflatable kids castle thing in the fairway. The sign said “Champion Ball”. I got a ticket and went in.
There was an awesome team dodge-ball game going on inside. @jfaller1 was there. We were on the same team! She/we kicked much dodgeball ass
Dream dodge-ball is fun. Because sometimes it’s in slo-motion.
Collected my trophy, said my goodbyes and split. Hopped in the magic orange Nova and headed home to the hidden Secret Thought Fortress.
Put the Nova on auto-pilot, hit the invisibility button and listened to the Pixies all the way home.

8:54 AM May 4th
You know those Black Helicopters that the Gov. uses for Secret Missions and Black Ops.? One landed in my yard last night.
It was w/ stocked w/ classified documents like some Night Mission flying Bookmobile w/ Top Secret books on Government Conspiracies & cover-ups
Took me for a ride over downtown D.C. and offered me a briefcase full of cash
They wanted me to tell them what I know about something they call the “Elektra Guitar” project. I had to laugh.
I didn't say shit. They dropped me off with a "warning". But I did snag a cool 'How To' book about Remote Viewing...In My Dream...
I was back at the waterfront, looking for clues. A skinny assassin dressed in a wide brim hat and trench coat got the drop on me.
Looked like that bad-ass Jap Anime vampire hunter Alucard from Hellsing. The government had sent him 2 get me. Reached 4 his switchblade...
...that's when I saw his tattoo. On the inside of his fore arm, a snake swallowing an egg. I've got the same tattoo.
I showed him mine. Turns out, we're brothers. Now he's gonna help me find the E-guitar. In my dream.

To be continued...

A Twittered Dream (part 1)

2010-09-03T03:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve always had vivid dreams. Sometimes more than others, depending on what’s going on in my life and what’s stressing me out. And my dreams often have songs or crazy story-lines in them. In fact, every song on the new Earwig album has it’s start one way or another from one of my dreams.

While working on the new Earwig record, I went a little crazy and my dreams followed suit. As my waking hours were consumed with trying to record and mix the new Earwig songs just right, while asleep, I embarked upon a dream sequence that took my ambitions to their furthest conclusion...I must perfect these songs and mixes to defeat a world wide Evil and bring Harmony to the universe! As the mixing, mastering and production phases of the CD progressed my dreams got more intense. Along the way, they included many odd b-list celebrity cameos from the likes of Neal Patrick Harris, Prince, Mr. T., Michelle Obama, Jack White, Creepy Thin Man, R.E.M. and more. I mini-blogged about the dreams on Earwig’s Twitter feed and have collected them here for yr enjoyment.

2:41 PM Nov 17th, 2009
I've engaged the ire of the Producer. Things are going exactly according to my plans!

6:36 PM Jan 20th , 2010
I will dream of strange rock mixes tonight, of that I am sure. Not About You mix is done. Sounds fab.

10:03 AM Jan 22nd
Thank you Prince, for letting Earwig use yr warehouse rehearsal space & the Revolution's gear 2 practice...in my DREAM! I'm glad we're pals. You let us stay at yr mansion!
Yes! Even after the Apocalypse, Earwig will continue to rock...and need a place to practice.
Oh, and thanks also to the Mad Max/Eskimo war party for raiding my village last night. WTF?
You guys are freaks! Why'd you burn down my hut?

8:17 AM Jan 25th
Spent the night driving around in a top down Jeep with my good pals Mr. T & Michelle Obama.
Scouring the record stores, looking for obscure indie vinyl for Michelle.
We want to find songs and sounds that help solve multiple world-wide crisis.
My dreams keep getting better. Michelle O. is a sweetheart. And Mr. T didn't even recognize her!

10:58 AM Jan 26th
Last night Jack White & I argued about who "created" the 1st guitar riff.
We got into a mean fist fight about it. My mom had to break us up...in my dream.
It's cool though, we made up. After the fight, Jack & I wandered the beautiful Scottish country side and he told me of a "magical guitar" called the Enigma Guitar... in my dream. He said that I must find it.

8:29 AM Jan 27th
I spent the night working undercover in the Future as a secret agent.
I was searching for Evil G.I. Joe/Cobra looking bad guys that carry around huge Rickenbacker bass guitars. They are big, all-black robot/Nazi looking dudes. They play super-slow Joy Division tunes on the bass guitars & melt yr brain. I learned that they can trap U in yr sleep.
Then I found a small keyboard under a flap of skin on the palm of my left hand that can be used to "pre-program" or "re-program" the W.O.R.L.D.
So I re-programmed the W.O.R.L.D. to provide better more effective aid in Haiti and pre-programmed it to stop Global Warming...in my dream.

7:10 AM Jan 28th
Ha! I did wake up after all.
You see @cbusmom I was playing chess, drinking coffee and being lectured to about Physics by the Creepy Thin Man all night...in my dream.
We discussed and debated the Zen of quantum physics. He said to me "You wanna know a secret? Yr never gonna wake up!". He was wrong?...in my dream

10:44 AM Feb 1st
Spent 1/2 the night as Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard. Michelle Obama was Whitney. I had to make sure that the kids got to school safely and shit. Then we went record shopping again.

7:26 AM Feb 2nd
These bright orange combat boots R magic. I found them while record shopping with Michelle O. They can fly & they can also teach me songs that they stole from "that guy in the Pixies"...In my dream.

7:05 AM Feb 4th
Last night, I discovered that Neil Patrick Harris lives inside @madebyamyD 's refrigerator. Open the door, he's there- Dressed as Dr. Horrible. And she says that he's her 'House Boy'
NPH cries and asks me "R U trying to make my dad dance?" His dad, who also lives in Amy’s fridge, is Mel Gibson...and the answer is YES... Mel and I dance...In My Dream
Mel uses Nazi mind-tricks to try and melt my brain. It doesn’t work. I stuff him back in the fridge.
@madebyamyD With dreams like these..it's safer 4 EVERYONE if I'm awake. It was a nice diner party tho' (in my dream) I dig yr new mansion and HUGE fridge with people living in it.

10:33 AM Feb 5th
I escaped from the Klingon gulag on Rura Penthe by digging a tunnel w/ my detached left forearm. The tunnel came out into a Beastie Boys concert in 1986.
While there, I met up w/ Miss America in a wheelchair who could break-dance. And she did. In a wheelchair. My left arm was returned to me in a box. In my dream.

7:42 AM Feb 8th
Saw a great band last night. Luke Skywalker was rockin' out w/ Chewbacca on bass. It was completely awesome! ...In my dream.
Left the Star Wars concert in a jet black land-speeder. I picked up a young Orson Welles @ the Cantina. He was dressed like Ben Kenobi. He said that we must find the Enigma Guitar and he will teach me the way.
Beyond the Dune Sea, still searching for the Enigma Guitar, Orson and I were lured into the caves by beautiful dancing girls.
Beautiful dancing girls who then turned into giant spiders! We captured one, made her small and extracted her poison fang... In my dream.

10:51 AM Feb 9th
Last night, I sat in on 2nd guitar with vintage R.E.M. @ a club gig. We played the hits and encored w/ "Dream Police" by Cheap Trick. They did not know where to find the E-guitar.
Peter Buck told me that I should find the magic MONO mixer to mix the Earwig record.
I left to scour abandoned waterfront warehouses for the magic MONO mixer and a fabled magic talking Picasso painting entitled "The 4th Personality of Jim Morrison".
It’s a talking portrait of bare-chested Jim Morrison in a wedding dress. I found it, but talked all night to the wrong personality, did not locate Enigma Guitar.
But I learned many clues about it's location. There were also cute puppies...In my dream.

11:32 AM Feb 10th
Spent last night splicing in live human organs to fix my van so that I could get back to the studio to mix Earwig songs. Then I had bizarro holiday visits w/dead relatives. Took the night off from detective work and the search for Enigma Guitar.
President Obama was judging a skate-boarding contest. I entered and was catching super high air and flying around making surveillance maps of the area.
Still looking 4 the E-guitar. Obama was very worried I was going to crash land. Said he didn't want me to "make another mess for America".
And there was a flying squirrel who was helping me not get shot down by the Evil Joy Division/Cobra/Nazi dude's bass guitar blasts. They were trying to get me, in my dream.

To be continued...

Baby Snakes

2010-08-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Living in the country is great. I love it. No neighbors, yard golf and loads of wild nature to contend with. I've seen Bambi, tangled with wild boars and coyotes, seen strange lights in the haunted woods. You name it, we've got it. There are aspects to this lifestyle that others might chaff at, but not me. We live in Ohio's largest state forest and one of the many things we have to contend with by being so far away from civilization is that there is no water service out here. We drink delicious spring water and get the rest of the water for household use from rain collection off of our roof into a cistern. You have to watch out because sometimes critters get in the cistern and can cause problems. When I checked it last week, I found... a nest of snakes! This was a situation that needed immediate attention. My daughter graciously climbed down in to the cistern (it's underground) to collect them all. Did I mention that my daughter is FEARLESS & AWESOME?! Seriously, she went down into this dark underground lair, captured 6 snakes by hand and brought them out in a bucket. She rocks. If you look close at the picture, you might be able to see all six snakes.

So, if you need some snake wrangling, give me a call and I'll see if she's available.

Rock Star Moves

2010-08-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Earwig played the CD101 Summerfest/Bacardi party at the Basement. We gave it our all and had a blast. Every time we have a show at the Basement all I can think of is when we played an Abercrombie & Fitch Xmas party there a few years back. I got pretty riled up and started working some “rock out” moves on the last song. I was fist-pumping and making faces. It was then that I noticed a heating duct that runs directly over the stage where I was standing. For some reason thought that it’d be cool to punch the duct with my fist during the solo for Rumplestiltskin. Big mistake. It was not a flimsy heating duct after all. It was solid concrete. I dislocated a knuckle and had to finish the song with a broken hand. All of my cries of pain and the awful faces I made were construed by my band mates and the audience as just more “rocking out”. Yeah. To cap it off, I ended that night with a gash above my left eye that required 6 stitches. Good times.

I guess that sometimes I just don’t know when to quit. But who wants to watch a band that just stands there and plays, right? The picture above is from Lobsterfest in Athens. I actually didn’t hurt myself at that show, but I came close. I’m wearing a brace on my arm because I had recently broken my elbow skateboarding. I had reconstructive surgery and now I have a titanium implant in my left elbow. Bionic elbow. Now that is sort of cool...

If you want to see me possibly destroy myself on stage for the benefit of public amusement, you can come see Earwig this month when we play the big outdoor show at the end party for the Pelotonia ride in Athens. I’ll be making sure that my insurance premiums are paid and up to date.

Gibson Acoustic

2010-06-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

Before we started overdubs and mixing for Gibson Under Mountain, I sat down with the producer, Mike Landolt, and recorded quick acoustic versions of all 11 songs. We just set up one mic and I took one shot at each tune. The idea was to establish a point of reference for each song, a basic template. Then, as we worked on overdubs, I posted one acoustic song each week on this blog along with notes about what we were recording that week and maybe the story behind the song. We’ve collected all 11 acoustic versions, had them mastered by Steve Warstler and are offering them together as a FREE album download in exchange for yr email address to add to our email list. I thought it might be fun to re-visit the blog posts about each song, in case you missed it before.

You can download the full Gibson Under Mountain Acoustic album here for FREE:
http://earwig.bandcamp.com/album/gibson-under-mountain-acoustic

Here are the links to the blog posts for each song:

1. Trees - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-own-private-listening-party.html
2. Star Cross’d - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/09/baby-jesus-gave-me-hubcap.html
3. Not About You - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-have-not-yet-begun-to-sing.html
4. Her Heart - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/10/intuitive-golf-and-broken-hearts.html
5. Lovesong Cockroach - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/10/undecided-decisions.html
6. Sleepyhead - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/10/this-guitars-been-dreaming.html
7. Next Christmas - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-know-what-i-want.html
8. Glorious & Gloom - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/11/let-waiting-begin.html
9. Wicked - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/12/bring-on-dancing-keyboards.html
10. Shiny Morning - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2009/12/last-of-year.html
11. Rumplestiltskin - http://nightcusser.blogspot.com/2010/01/story-of-rumplestiltskin.html

Gibson Digital

2010-05-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

“You’ve come to read my mind. Yes, yr in search of a subtle sign.“
-Trees

www.earwig.bandcamp.com
download/buy/listen to the new album here

You’ve been waiting patiently. We appreciate that. It’s finally here, Gibson Under Mountain, Earwig’s glorious new album. Eleven of yr new favorite songs, we hope. You can officially go and download it now at the above link. The physical CDs, with awesome cover art by Ohio’s own Katie Kempton, will be available from the Earwig website in early June, though the new website is currently under construction and won’t be up for another couple of weeks. In the meantime, please help us spread the word and get this music out to the masses. Anything and everything you can do will help and everyone you mention the album to will secure you a special place in our hearts. Nothing here goes to waste.

track listing for
Gibson Under Mountain
1. Trees
2. Star Cross’d
3. Not About You
4. Her Heart
5. Lovesong Cockroach
6. Sleepyhead
7. Next Christmas
8. Glorious & Gloom
9. Wicked
10. Shiny Morning
11. Rumplestiltskin

About this album: All of these songs came in some form or another from dreams. A melody, a title, a feeling or even a full on song with chords and lyrics. It seems that about half the songs I write come this way. I don’t know why. But when I had a dream (*see below) that told me to name my album Gibson Under Mountain, I decided to pay attention to the advice. And it seemed like a good name for an album full of songs that came from the same place.

* Gibson Under Mountain
“All of the songs on Gibson Under Mountain come from dreams. The album title came in a dream too. In the dream, I’m sitting in the center of a huge movie theater all alone. It’s an older, well kept theater with a balcony, very much like Cinema East. The screen is monstrously tall and wide with velvet curtains hanging on either side. The silence is broken by the familiar sounds of the film starting it’s roll through the projector as the house lights go dark. The film is running, but the screen is blank, no images. As I sit patiently, a white light glows through the movie screen, filling it with large block letters. They read “Name your album GIBSON UNDER MOUNTAIN.” Simple and direct, with no sound or other images, the letters hang on the screen. After a time they dissolve and I can hear the sounds of the film rattling into the take up real as the screen goes blank. Not long after this dream, I started dream-writing most of the songs that would become the new Earwig album.” - Lizard McGee

Porcupine Rust

2010-04-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

People on the internet talk too much. I talk too much. It sucks the mystery out of life. Confusion is healthy. Why do we feel the need to critically dissect and explain everything to death? For some things, it’s not so much that they have no explanation, but rather that they might be better off left unexplained. I think that’s the case with this video. I will mention that it’s 8 minutes long. Enjoy.

Porcupine Rust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lEo3qN5_dg

Short & Funny

2010-03-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

Whoah! See you later February. I guess I missed a whole month. Not because I wasn't working, mind you. I was spending my time in nutty-nutcake land trying to make sense of the final mixes for the Earwig album. Well, it's done now. Don't hate me because my hair is delicious, okay? I'm working on the cover now and should have more news for you soon regarding the album release, the new single 'Trees' etc. Until then, enjoy my latest post with a downloadable song that you can sing-a-long to!

I think my daughter James has a wicked sense of humor. When her alarm clock would go off in the morning, she would always check the time and then go back to sleep for a little while longer. That eventually became a problem and she had to fix it. Her solution? Well, that's a picture of her alarm clock now. Problem solved.

My friend David has a crazy daughter named Emma. She's 8 years old, likes to wear costumes, dance and sing songs with her friends. Last year Emma asked me to write a song specifically for her and her friends to sing. I agreed and then promptly forgot about it. After a few months, I got a call from Emma "Hey Lizard, where's my song?". I told her I'd have it to her by the end of the week. When I asked Emma what she wanted the song to be about, she said that she didn't know. How about rainbows? Did she want a song about a rock and roll choo-choo train? The only direction she would give me is that she wanted it to be "short and funny". When I got off the phone I got right to work on the song. After racking my brain for a few hours and coming up with several lame ideas, I realized that nothing good was coming. Eventually, I asked my daughter's advice. What is short and funny? "That's easy" James said, "tiny clowns!" And you know what, she was totally right. I sat down and wrote this song in the next ten minutes.

Tiny Clowns

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Tiny_Clowns

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

That's Matt Wagner singing back-up and playing the "Jesus Organ". We recorded the song at his place on his casette 4 track. The download includes a version of the song with lyrics and a version without lyrics, so you and yr friends can sing along. Have fun.

Kicking & Screaming / They have miniature ponies in England!

2010-01-29T11:35:00.000-08:00

I’ve posted the last of the acoustic versions of songs from the album. What to do now? I don't know. I’ve realized that I don’t really know anything. Even at this late stage in the game, I’m still guessing. Making it up as I go along. It suits me, though the results are often debatable. My vague plan was to have the album ready by now and use these acoustic versions as a hook to lead-in to the finished product. No such luck. It seems that we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of mixing these songs. My time-line for planned promotions for this record is pretty much out the window at this point. Not that it matters much. I’m probably better off. As soon as I’ve got something solid, I’ll let you know and we’ll go from there. Okay? Keep in mind that I’m very open to suggestions…and donations. I’ve still got a little ways to go before I’ll have all of the funds I need to get this baby born.

Until then, here’s a brand new song to tide you over. It’s an acoustic demo of a song that I wrote a few weeks back and we’ve tried at Earwig practices a few times but with no solid results. This version was recorded by Steve from Mindfish in the studio at Ohio University. We’ll probably give this tune a shot live at our next show. For those of you that live in CBus, we’re playing a big Valentines Day show Saturday, February 13th at The Basement. Earwig is headlining the downstairs stage. The song is called “I Don’t Want To Go” and it’s alternately about being taken during the Rapture and/or not being there for someone you love. Enjoy it.

I Don't Want To Know
http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/master_lizard

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

Now back to my previous rant. Why is everything so hard? Where does inspiration come from? Why can’t I seem to get anything done? I just mean, damn. Did you know that in England they drive on the Right side of the road, eat beans for breakfast and have miniature ponies in the churchyard at Castle Howard? English people still seem to get things done. Awesome inspired things. Shit, I don’t know. Maybe it will all work out. I can’t see that end result from here very clearly. Instead of relying on well laid plans, I continue to let intuition lead my way. Maybe I don’t need to know how it will all end. I’m glad that yr here for me to talk to about it. Maybe I’m just feeling restless. I do know that if I can just keep breathing, life will probably take care of itself.

I feel like a new born baby.

The story of Rumplestiltskin

2010-01-18T07:50:00.000-08:00

Little people are always so special. Think about it. Leprechauns, Munchkins, Hobbits…the list goes on. They’re always working some sort of magic angle. Sometimes they’re devious too. As is the case with one of my favorite Grimm Brothers tales. I’ve been asking around and I’m startled by how many people claim to not know the story of Rumplestiltskin. If you are unfamiliar with him, here’s the wiki-link. For a long time I’ve been drawn to that story in particular. When I wrote this song, I was thinking about how Rumplestiltskin gets a raw deal. In every version of the story, he’s depicted as the bad guy. When, in reality, he’s doing some awesome magic to help out the miller’s daughter in her desperate time of need. She begs for his help, he gives it to her and all he asks for in return is her pretty necklace. And then her ring on the second night he helps her. With nothing left to give him on the third night, she offers him a bargain and agrees to give him her first born child should she marry the King. The little man bides his time and when the day comes for the new Queen to make good on her promise, she balks at giving up the child and he’s even cool enough to give her a game of “guess my name” as a way to possibly get to keep her baby. He gives her three chances to guess his strange-ass name and what does she do…she cheats! The little guy got so pissed that he stomps his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then he grabbed his left foot with both hands and tore himself in two. Bitches, man, I swear. It’s not like he wanted to eat the baby. He just wanted someone to keep him company. I’d imagine that being a freaky little magic hermit can get seriously lonely. So, I wrote this song for Rumplestiltskin because I felt like he needed an advocate, someone to tell the story from his point of view.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/RumplestiltskinMCHacoustic

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

Rumplestiltskin

I have waited such a long time for the promise that you made

You are mine to cradle, you are mine

I have waited such a long time and the Devil knows my name

You are mine to cradle, you are mine

You are mine

I have waited such a long time and the Devil told you that

You are my one time thing, you are mine

I have waited such a long time and the Devil told you that

You are mine to cradle, you are mine

You are mine

My name’s got a potion on it

If you can guess, I’ll tear myself in two

Last of the year

2009-12-29T10:17:00.000-08:00

Waking up on a day like today takes a million years. And I’m still waiting. Begin these hunted moments. Scheduled to start mixing on January 11th … a lifetime away. Sleeping days roll by like water, sounds of Monsters in the hallway. All these things are waiting, kept at bay…

Shiny Morning

Yr never on my side
If winter comes and I can’t keep you warm…
Yr moment has begun, yr shiny morning in the sun

All across the Universe
Forgetting stars, if I could let you run
We’d run ‘til we got caught and sing the songs that we forgot
Let’s sing the songs that we forgot

And I wave as the cars pass by
On this shiny morning
When your moment has begun
It’s been a long time coming on

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/ShinyMorningMCHacoustic

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

Last.

An LFM Christmas Krissingle

2009-12-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

Back in the glory days of LFM we would have a grand Christmas party every year. One year we decided to have the party at Bernie’s and release a cassette known as the LFM Christmas Krissingle. I’ve still got a copy and we listen to it every year during the holidays. And it seems like every year someone is asking about how they can get a copy. I’ve been wanting to post it online and last night, out of the blue, I got a call from my awesome mind-reading webmaster, Allan Foster, to say that he was going to post the songs online. You should read Allan’s blog to see what he has to say about this cassette. http://allanfosterphotography.blogspot.com

The cassette has 4 songs.

Bigfoot - Silent Night
Earwig - Feed the World
Coronado - Mrs. Christmas
Preston Furman - A PF Holiday

We wanted a special one-off release for the Christmas party and about a week or so prior to the show we came up with the idea of a holiday cassette. We put the word out to the LFM family bands to see what they could come up with on such short notice and these 4 songs are the ones that made the deadline. Bigfoot kicks off the affair in rare 4-track form replete with cassette tape mayhem and vari-speed glory. David and Melanie Holm from Bigfoot now play in Total Foxx with Sam Brown. Bigfoot’s drummer, Brad Swiniarski, now runs Horny Records which just helped release the new (and great!) Bush League All Stars record.

I bought the Band Aid single when it was released and I still have the 7”. Earwig used to play this song every Christmas at shows. You may be interested to note that Brad Swiniarski was also the drummer for Earwig for a short time during this period. His stint behind the skins for Earwig included a handful of live shows and 2 recording sessions which yielded this holiday track as well as Anatomical Gift and Two Dragons from the album Perfect Past Tense.

Rich Cefalo, Earwig’s then bassist, during this same period started his string of side bands that would eventually give birth to the great Po-Po Volcano. Coronado also features David and Jason (now the drummer for Grafton) from Preston Furman. Listen closely and you’ll also hear our very own man-about-town Allan Foster playing the paper bag. Allan went on to drum for Po-Po Volcano.

Ahhh, what can be said about Preston Furman? As young musicians they seemed to be just finding their legs, yet making some incredible savant-vibe music in the thick of it all. This song shows off the comedic song-writing skills of the one and only Matt Wagner (Earwig’s now bassist!). If you by chance happened to know the guys in the band, it’s extra funny as they each sing their lines in character.

Enjoy these holiday tunes as a gift to you from the ghosts of Christmas past.

Catch up with Earwig on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earwigtheband

Bring on the dancing keyboards

2009-12-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

As Kermit the Frog would say “Moving right along…”

All of the guitars are finished. That fact is sad and beautiful at the same time, if you understand where I’m coming from. Earwig is a guitar band and the guitars are like the potatoes. Now all we need is the gravy. More sounds! So for this most recent session Landy pulled out the cool keyboards and we made some noise. I added bitchin’ sawtooth-wave hoo-hah to a couple of songs. It worked out well. We passed off a couple of tracks to an “un-named party” to add some bleepity-bloopity and see if we like it. No results there yet. But yesterday we spent the day in the awesome presence of the one and only Thomas Boyer, the man with the magic fingers. Thom is actually the producer that introduced me to Mike Landolt and I’m still working with Thom to finish up recording/mixing the other Earwig EP ‘North High Alumni’. Did I mention Thom is great? He put some pound-along roughhouse piano on Trees, sad Hammond on Her Heart, dirty Rhoads on Lovesong Cockroach and a church organ on Star Cross’d. I’m pleased as punch and can’t wait to start mixing in January now that the tracking is 99% finished.

One song that you won’t hear any keyboards on is Wicked. It’s one of my favorite new songs and strictly a six string affair. You can download the acoustic here

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/WickedMCHacoustic
To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

I’m working hard these days to get all of my ducks in a row for the release of this record. I’d like to offer some sort of pre-sale, but have not figured out exactly how just yet. The new website, the digital release…all kinds of good stuff coming up soon. So stay tuned. Also, I’d like to mention that I’m still in need of a few investors to get this thing totally off the ground. I had a few Super Fans step forward (Thanks Jamie Clark! Thanks Foshy! Thanks Russells!) to kick-in some $$ goodness and help out the cause. They’ll get it back in spades. I’m still looking for a few more to contribute so we’ll have the dough to get this party started right. So if you, or someone you know, might be a candidate to help out, please get in touch with me at lizard@lizardfamily.com and I will fill you in on the small print and see if you too can be a part of Team Earwig! As always, thanks for reading the blog and pass along this song to everyone who’d like to hear it.

Let the waiting begin

2009-11-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

Matt came in last week to sing some songs and slay his fuzz-wah bass solo on Lovesong Cockroach. It was a revelation. Up until now it’s just been a whole lot of “Me” getting spread all over this record. Getting Matt in there proper really helps make it sound like a “band” again. All of the best records have multiple elements contributing to the final mix, be it other band members, songwriters or producers. With Matt kicking in and Landy on board for the long haul, I think we’re heading in the right direction. We made a few rough mixes and upon first listen I was disappointed. I’ve had a bit of time to listen to them and investigate what’s actually there and my current diagnosis is that it all sounds great and this is going to be Earwig’s best record yet.

Live, Matt’s backing vocals are pushed towards the realm of punk-rock. In the studio I can really hear what he’s doing, why he’s doing it and what he’s adding. One song that this effect really stands out on is Glorious & Gloom. On the pre-chorus (‘You think everyone is poison…’), Matt sings a contrasting vocal line that makes this part seem like it’s in a minor key almost. It’s neat and it really works well for the song as a whole. Here’s the live solo acoustic version of Glorious & Gloom for you to memorize.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/GloriousandGloom_MCHacoustic
To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

The sad part, for me, is that with the holidays upon us Mike and I only have 2-3 days to work before the end of the year! This seriously throws off my schedule as far as getting this record done in time for my original release plans. Oh well, anything good is worth waiting for. Or so I’ve heard.

I know what I want

2009-11-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

Staying focused, that’s the key. This stage of working on the record is where darkness and self-doubt start to slyly creep in on me. It’s easy to get lost. We’ve completed a LOT of guitar work and it all sounds undeniably great. But I start to wonder, is it the ‘right kind of great’? This album has been alive in my head for a such long while now and there is some difficulty for me in it actually become animated. It means that I will have to let go of it. That can be a tough thing for me to realize and to accept. In my mind’s eye these songs are awash in greatness, no questions asked. Once I spit them out, that greatness is open to debate. Landy and I have been dealing with this by re-cutting some questionable guitar parts with a different purpose in mind. Approaching a few songs from alternate perspectives to see if there‘s a better fit. A different guitar, a different amp, a different vibe. Sometimes the results are fantastic. Other times it’s hard to tell. Add in the prospect of all of these new options and we’ve created some cold work to sift through. Since Mike (Mike Landolt is the producer and I sometimes call him Mike, sometimes Landy. But I’m talking about the same person.) is a bit newer to these songs he is not as attached to ‘the way they were’ as I am and it’s sometimes easier for him to hear if a new part is working or not. Often I might not be sold on it right away just because it is different from what I’m used to. But I want these songs to break away from what they were and bloom into something new. I know what I want this album to be. It’s how it has to happen.

On the song ‘Next Christmas’, I’ve added in some guitars and a solo that I’ve never played live or even considered for this song before. They’re still settling in. I do like the new solo though, it reminds me of the Cure...just a little bit. You won’t hear any of these new guitar parts on this acoustic demo. Too bad. You’ll just have to wait for the record to be finished like the rest of us (us?!). Regardless, I hope you’ll enjoy this new MP3 of ‘Next Christmas’. Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new songs. I don’t know how many people actually read this blog, but if it’s 2 or 2000, thanks for listening. Yes, I mean you.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/NextChristmas_MCHacoustic
To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

This guitar’s been dreaming

2009-10-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

After recording Mayfeeder, Earwig‘s first album, I listened back to the songs and had a revelation. Every song was about Sleeping, Dreaming or Dying. Since then, I’ve noticed that each Earwig album seems to organically develop a theme that ties the songs together. It may not always be so obvious but, at least for me, it’s there. I mentioned in an earlier post about how all of the songs on the new record have come to me in some shape or form through dreams. The album title came in a dream too. In the dream, I’m sitting in the center of a huge movie theater all alone. It’s an older, well kept theater with a balcony, very much like Cinema East. The screen is monstrously tall and wide with velvet curtains hanging on either side. The silence is broken by the familiar sounds of the film starting it’s roll through the projector as the house lights go dark. The film is running, but the screen is blank, no images. As I sit patiently, a white light glows through the movie screen, filling it with large block letters. They read “Name your album GIBSON UNDER MOUNTAIN.” Simple and direct, with no sound or other images, the letters hang on the screen. After a time they dissolve and I can hear the sounds of the film rattling into the take up real as the screen goes blank. Not long after this dream, I started writing most of the songs that would become the new Earwig album. I can’t say exactly what the title refers to, but it seems to make sense as a title for this album if only because these songs are collected from dreams as well.

An interesting note. I had this same dream once before, almost exactly, as a teenager. The difference is that that time the message on the screen told me “Name your dog PINK LEADER”. Strange, huh? I thought it was pretty odd, but I wrote down the message and carried it around with me for some time. I never did name my dog Pink Leader. But I’ve always remembered that dream and wondered what would have happened if I had taken the advice to heart and followed through. This time around, I’m going to find out.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Sleepyhead_MCHacoustic
To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

This week’s song is Sleepyhead. I actually wrote this song as a teenager and the opening melody and basic story were in a dream I had around the same time as the first movie screen message dream. In this acoustic version I play the opening guitar lick in a sort of choppy, old fashioned way. For the full band version, that lick is much more aggressive and fluid. And louder, of course. And the middle bridge is filled with glorious 12 string guitars that would make Johnny Marr turn green with envy.

Undecided Decisions

2009-10-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

So many decisions to make, so little time. That’s what my life seems like lately. In a good way though, so I don’t mind. It’s just a matter of getting things done. I didn’t post a song last week because my web-guru, Mr. Allan Foster, was out of town on vacation. Good for him. Now that he’s back, here’s this week’s (or last week’s!) song…Lovesong Cockroach.

www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Lovesong_Cockroach_MCHacoustic

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as

and store the file on yr desktop

Generally speaking, I write two types of songs. Forlorn love-songs and ‘Fuck You’ songs. Despite a forlorn lyric or two and even though it has Lovesong in the title, I’d say Lovesong Cockroach has it’s feet planted firmly in the ‘Fuck You Song’ category. It says “I’ll do what I want and I don’t need or want yr approval”. The full band recording is turning out well. I put in a couple of tasty whammy-solo bits and next week we’re going to record Matt’s earth-shattering bass-wah solo. I’m looking forward to that. You should too.

Last week, Landy and I tackled guitars for Rumplestiltskin. As some of you may know, Rumplestiltskin is a very important song for this record, it’s awesomeness is the stuff of legend. It also features a cool/loud guitar riff that demands to be recorded with a high degree of ROCK. All we need are amps that go to 11, right? Well, it turns out that’s harder than it may seem. We selected the most righteous guitar, plugged in through a heinous array of pedal effects, set the amps to stun and let loose the dogs of war. After several hours of sifting through the ensuing rubble, we found nothing satisfying and were left cold and defeated. Beware…high volume guitar noise can kill. Unfortunately, this flawed process continued and the mythical beast that is Rumplestiltskin eluded us for two whole days before Mike realized what the problem was. As usual, I had found a hub-cap on the way into the studio that week. I brought it inside but forgot to tell Landy, so he never hung it up on the vocal booth wall, which is our routine. It was laying unattended to and un-loved by the door begging to be rectified. As soon as Landy hung the metallic talisman up, the tides of battle shifted and the shackles fell loose from our creativity. Victory was ours. When the dust cleared we found a plethora of cool guitar riffs that sounded like anything from Nine Inch Nails to MUSE. Don’t worry, in this context that’s a good thing. Industrial to be sure. We also had some old friends stop by the studio this past week. John B./Fletch stopped by and my pal Jamie Clark dropped in for a visit one evening. It was good to see them.

Intuitive Golf and broken hearts

2009-10-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

I wish you were here. It’s a beautiful day. If we were drinking some tea together and relaxing on my front porch, then maybe I’d be able to directly explain my recent fixation with the dimensionality of space and the fourth form of consciousness – the intuitional. I’m sold on the power of random direction. I don’t necessarily need to know why I should be doing something or making a decision to move forward in a new way, only that I feel some discernable compulsion to go in that direction. There are certain activities that lend themselves well to letting go and tapping into the intuitional muse. For me, one of those activities is golf. I live deep in the heart of nowhere, on the edge of Ohio’s largest state forest. Last year I had the impulse to put in 3 holes of yard golf in my large front yard. It was a good decision. And now a nice Sunday afternoon usually means one thing, 9 holes of yard golf. I’m a terribly untrained golfer, I have no real base of knowledge about how to golf in the traditional sense. When my friend and I play a round on Sundays, it’s a great opportunity for me to let my intuition take over and drive my golf-game decisions. It helps clear my mind and bring into focus other things I’m subconsciously working out. Like recording with Landy. Right now, we’re taking off two weeks from our recording schedule and the golf sessions help me to work out problems and questions about songs, parts and other recording details that have come up for us. When we start again next Monday, I’ll be fresh and full of new ideas. Another way that I’ve been able to access intuition is through dreams. I often wake up and jot down some quick notes on the best bits. I try to let them guide me without spending too much time trying to understand why. While I’m on the subject, I should mention that songs often come to me in dreams. Little bits and pieces of a melody, lyrics, titles, random situations. I don’t always write this way, but a lot of my favorite Earwig songs have come directly out of dreams (Dinosaur Song, Used Kids). The title for the new album came to me in a dream and it’s a collection of songs that also came to me in dreams.

For a time, my family lived on an awesome, secluded 600 acre farm in Pendleton Co., West Virginia. We loved it there and it was hard for us when the time came to leave it all behind. After we moved away, a woman came to me in my dreams. She was dressed a bit like the Swiss Miss lady and sewn to her breast, above where her real heart would be, was a prominent red patch (I was re-reading The Scarlet Letter at the time…). The patch was of a simple red heart, broken down the middle. She came up very close to me and gesturing to her broken heart, she said “I’ve been torn in two.” This week’s acoustic song is ‘Her Heart’.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Her_Heart_MCHacoustic.mp3

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

I Have Not Yet Begun To Sing

2009-09-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of John Paul Jones (the revolutionary naval commander, not the Led Zep bassist), I have not yet begun to sing. There is a serious possibility that I am in love with the sound of my own voice. There's nothing I like better than cranking the band in the headphones and giving my all for a keeper vocal take. And when we're done, I want to go again. Alas, nothing lasts forever. Landy generally shuts me down after 3 full takes, which is a good thing since I'm usually spent at that point and it's basically a case of diminishing returns. I'm starting to respect Mike's instincts in these matters. He knows what he's talking about. Last week, Mike also clued me in to a crucial element that's missing from our session. It seems that on all major important recording sessions, the band and producer work off of a 'Progress Board'. You can see Earwig's very own progress board for the Gibson Under Mountain sessions above. The board has each song listed in graph-style with specially selected magazine photo cut-outs pasted to show what elements of the recording (drums, bass, guitar, vocals, etc.) have been completed. It's encouraging, in a gold star for potty training kind of way. Whatever that means. I like it.

Things are moving right along. We got a lot accomplished this week and I even found a new hub cap! We worked on Star Cross'd, Lovesong Cockroach, Her Heart and Shiny Morning. We'll be taking the next two weeks off and then be back at it in early October. I'll still be posting a new acoustic song each week though. This week's track is Not About You. Enjoy.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Not_About_You_MCHacoustic.mp3

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save as and store the file on yr desktop

Baby Jesus gave me a hubcap

2009-09-18T10:48:00.001-07:00

Over the past year, the Universe has been speaking to me through abandoned hubcaps. Whenever I see one on the road-side I take it as a sign that the Universe is pointing me in the right direction and helping deliver me to awesomeness. I've started collecting these lost hubcaps and covering the side of my out buildings with their tainted glory. On the drive to CBus to begin recording this week, my eye caught something shiny on the side of the freeway. I stopped to collect it and brought it with me to serve as inspiration in the studio. Mike was a bit baffled when I tried to explain the whole idea to him, but he catches on quickly. It didn't take long for him to hang the hubcap up on the wall of the vocal booth to help provide the needed connection with the unknown.

From there, you'll be happy to learn that things got off to a smashing start at the Curry House this week. Recording with Landy is fun and we share an appreciation for many of the same bands and albums. The level of communication is good between us and the brightest moments we've had so far involve us throwing caution to the wind and going off the deep end with some whacked-out sounds and new parts. We started out on Monday/Tuesday doing guitars and vocals for 'Not About You' and 'Wicked'. Both worked out well. Our pal Andy H. was kind enough to bring us over a swell Les Paul, a Stratocaster, a killer VOX amplifier and a handful of cool sounding effects pedals. These provided the inspiration for diverting from our expected path and really experimenting in a few spots. On Wednesday we started tracking guitars for 'Star Cross'd' and everything was super crunchy and great sounding. When we came to the bridge, Mike suggested just throwing some crazy, direct fuzzed-out guitar in there. It wasn't what I had planned, but man...it sounds incredible! It really elevated the part and is taking that song to another level. I hope that these types of sounds and experimentation continue to really shape the feel of this record. If they do, yr in for a real treat. For now, you can enjoy the no-frills, acoustic version of 'Star Cross'd'. But don't get too used to it, the full band version is going to seriously kick yer ass. Here's the link to download the acoustic version.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Star_Crossd_MCHacoustic.mp3

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save page as and store the file on yr desktop.

My Own Private Listening Party

2009-09-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

I’m set to begin the final stages in recording the new Earwig record with producer Mike Landolt . We’ll be tracking overdubs and mixing at his studio, Mike’s Curry House, or MCH, in Columbus. One of the first things we need to do is to bring Mike up to speed and get him familiar with the new songs. So last week I sat down on his couch with a tiny acoustic guitar and played all 11 songs for him. He set up 1 microphone and recorded them direct into the computer. I got one shot at each song and we didn’t fix anything or take too much time really worrying about the sound quality or the mix. I didn’t get all of the lyrics right or sing awesomely in tune (when do I ever?), but we ended up with a decent take of each song. These are no-frills, solid working versions of the new tunes. Listening back to them, I thought that you might like to hear them and that it might be a good way for you to get to know the songs before the album is complete. I'm not going to “officially” release these rough tracks, but I’ve decided to post these acoustic versions on my blog as we work on finishing the album. Consider it something special for those of you that are kind and cool enough to actually come here and read my blog. I’ll post one song a week here and if you collect them all you’ll have a nifty acoustic bootleg of the new Earwig record. So spread the word and feel free to share these MP3s with others.

I’m posting them in the same order as what I think the track listing for the new record will be, but that could change. Who knows? Please feel free to leave comments here and let me know what you think. The first track is ‘Trees’, a song which came to me in a dream.

These Trees turn black in winter

And a sap runs through my veins

All these decisions that I haven’t decided

Are just mistakes that I haven’t made

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Trees_MCHacoustic.mp3

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save page as and store the file on yr desktop.

It's coming! It's in the Trees!

2009-08-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Looking to the upcoming release of the new Earwig album, I’m very interested in ways to grow our audience. It’s a great record and I want everyone to hear it. I have this blog, which I don’t update very often because it’s hard for me to see the effects of it. Previously, I’ve tried to keep the posts more focused and informational. I know that people come here to read it, but I don’t know how that translates into anything tangible for the band. Well, I’m entering in to the final stretch of the recording process and I’m toying with the idea of really busting out more frequent and detailed blogs that let you in on the process. Posting pictures and rough mixes of songs and generally letting you know how it’s coming along. I want to give you a slice of what I’m doing to work the album, release and promote it as well as record it. We’ll see how it goes.

I’m also going to let you in on what the band is doing. This week, that’d be practicing (see the pictures above). We’ve got a show tomorrow (Thursday 8/27) in Columbus at Rumba with Karate Coyote. Earwig plays first, from 10pm-11pm. If you live in town and have not been out to see us in a while, you should come. We’ve got a brand new song we’re going to try out. It’s called “I Don’t Want To Go”. I wrote it last week and just showed it to Matt and George last night. It’s clever, but short. You’ll like it.

AND! I have one last idea...I’d really like to increase our followers on Twitter. So if you have a Twitter account, follow me at www.twitter.com/earwigtheband. Then think of at least 2 of yr friends and suggest that they follow Earwig on Twitter. With yr help, I can increase Earwig’s followers before the album release. Go!

North High Alumni

2009-07-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

I'm working on mixes with our producer Thom Boyer for Earwig's upcoming 4 song EP "North High Alumni". The record will include 'High Street Star', 'New Fight Song', 'Stop Dragging My Heart Around' and 'Love Song Redux'. The first 3 are songs were recorded with Justin Crooks on drums at the same sessions for our upcoming full length album. The last song, 'Love Song Redux' was recorded at our practice space with Earwig's fantastic new drummer George Hondroulis. The title for this EP was the working title for a long time of the full album we're releasing later this year. As work on the new album has progressed, it seemed a few of the older songs no longer fit with the mood of the rest of the record. So we pulled those songs off to make this shorter record and decided to use the working title for this 4 song EP. 'North High Alumni' will be available before the new album and we're working on details for something special with this release. Say tuned. The picture of the cover above is just my rough idea for the design. What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

The Music of Action Sports!

2009-07-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve mentioned a few times on Twitter that we’re working on a new song for a compilation CD that will be out this summer. The compilation CD is a promotional item for a sports marketing company out of Michigan called AGA (Adrenalin Games Alliance). Their aim is to produce quality action sports events in the Midwest and develop a distinct brand and style that also includes music. I’ve been in touch with them and am helping them to develop the music side of what they are doing. I’ve put together a collection of up and coming independent Midwest bands for this initial release on AGA Music. The CD will only be available from the bands involved and as a free give-away at AGA sporting events. I’m having my pal Pat Crawford at Spindle Studios in Columbus do the cover design and I’m having it mastered by Jon Chinn. Doing my best to keep it all local. The list of bands so far includes Earwig, The Hard Lessons, Hot Cha Chas, Javelin, Bookmobile, The Lost Revival, Chief, The Safes, The Silent Years, Mason Proper. There will probably be a few more. This compilation should be available at Earwig shows in August.

Earwig’s Bionic Arm

2009-06-15T05:50:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. It has been a long time. No excuses...but there are reasons that so much time has passed since we last updated this blog. One of the biggest reasons is that I’ve been occupied dealing with an injury. Last fall, I crashed while skateboarding at the Athens skate-park and grandly smashed my elbow. I knew my elbow was messed up and it hurt, but I didn’t have it X-rayed or realize that it was actually broken until January 2009. The Radial head in my left arm was broken and there was a piece of that bone lodged in such a way that I couldn’t fully straighten out my arm. I had also severely damaged the tendon in my elbow. I ended up with an orthopedic specialist in Columbus and had joint replacement surgery in early February. They cut off the damaged end of my radius and fitted me with a titanium replacement. Even cooler than that…they grafted a harvested cadaver tendon onto my old one and attached it to the bone with little screws.

I know what yr all saying. Instant bionic arm. Awesome! Right? Well, yes and no. At least I now have the prospect of being able to recover the full range of motion in my left arm. After the surgery, I was in a cast for several weeks and then I had to wear this radical robo-brace on my arm to restrict my movement and make sure I didn’t re-injure it. As a consequence, I couldn’t type (good-bye blogo-sphere), drive or play guitar for several more weeks. Even now I’m still in physical therapy to get everything working normally again. No complaints from me, I feel lucky that the cadaver tendon hasn’t taken over in a struggle for control of my arm like something out of a cheap zombie slasher flick. I do still have some trouble playing guitar and it’s caused quite a delay in the recording for the new Earwig record. But things are back on track now. Check out these pictures of me rockin’ the robo-brace!

Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue Vol. VII

2009-01-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

8/5/05
TOFURKEY DINGLES
Outside Las Cruces, NM
What a weekle! Where to start? New Orleans is tremendous fun but very dangerous for someone like me. I knew there was a reason I live in a city with no 24 hour bars. We rolled in about 10:00 Sunday night intending to wander around and visit some bars all night, and then get a motel room the next afternoon. The first bar we stepped into, THE ABBEY, was just like home. Just a total dive w/a great jukebox.* J and I were in heaven. We pretty much stayed all night while Liz slept in the van. Our bartender Gillian was a badass. Way out of control. As the sun came up, about 2 hours after we became officially stupid, I overheard the dude on my right talkin' to his friend: "Man, those are some heavy glasses". His friend said: "Well, I have mass." I decided to interrupt. (Backstory: for a couple of years in the late '90s I was in a band in Cols. with my friends LOU POSTER and BETH SHAFFER.** POST went on to form GRAFTON with another bandmate of mine. Stealer! Anyway, our band was named I HAVE MASS.) I don't know why I felt compelled to interrupt - after all, it was such a random comment; it could've meant anything - but I was pretty curious. Long story short, this "friend" is named LLOYD MILLER and he's a Cols. expat with whom we have several mutual enemies and friends and he was indeed referring to my old band and do you guys need a place to stay or at least a run-on sentence? Is this a crazy world or what?

Lloyd is a stand-up guy. If you see him give him a kiss on the cheek. Or if you are a germophobe, give him your ATM card. He deserves it.

Road rule #48: If you leave New Orleans early in a Tuesday morning, don't leave your video camera at Lloyd's house. You will regret it as soon as you realize what you've done. And by "you", I mean "Justin".

Yeah, NOLA is pretty much a tourist trap, no 2 ways about it. But the people there (at the bar, where we were) were friendly. "Where we were" - that's an interesting phrase. Same letters over and over, with no hard consonants. Dig on that, Jack.

Texas is big. I mean, you see that junk on a map, you be like "Damn shit is big!" But you just don't know until you get there. That fucker is HUGE. And it's true. Everything IS bigger in Texas, except me.

When we got to Dallas, we slowly realized that "oh yeah, we're a band on tour!" It seemed like a year ago back in Florida. Here's some fun trivia for the kids: How many people came to see Earwig in Dallas? How many people even came into the bar for a beverage? If you said "more than zero" you need to back up, buddy. Dallas fuckin' sucks. Didn't make a dime. Hell, I feel bad for the bartender, door guy, sound guy for wasting their time. Maybe if there had been a local band on the bill? I mean, I'm no expert. Why didn't we play Austin instead? Yup - you guessed it. Jerks. Tex-Ass.

The weather has been remarkably kind to us so far considering our AC lasted FOR ONE DAY. We've been lucky with the temps. I'll talk about New Mexico*** after I catch a little napsky and kill my pen for being SO SHITTY.
-Matt

P.S. That thing I said about the weather? Too soon. Arizona has changed all that.

*I probably played "Metal Guru" 15 times that night.

**Beth is now known as Eli and he lives in New York City. We are friends on myspace.

***You'll notice that I won't.

Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue Vol. VI

2009-01-14T02:00:00.000-08:00

7/29/05
Earwigay Ourtay Iaryday
TAMPA, FLA
Ever been to St. Augustine, Fla? No? Let me save you the trubba. Ever seen the RIGHT side of the tracks? St. Augustine hasn't. I ain't tryin' to complain, I'm just serving you some facts. That town is no good. Even Jeff Foxworthy would make fun of it. And he's a giant poop-anus. We played last night at the Fusion Grill and Bar. Sound guy was a big Ding Dong Lik-M-Aid. He kept telling Liz to turn down, and when we were done he blasted "Master of Puppets" at ear-splitting levels over the PA as if to say "You should've played real quiet-like because I'M AN ASSHOLE!" There was a lady there, Dina, who really wanted to party with us and I guess we really disappointed her 'cause we had to leave right after our set to drive 3 hours to Tampa. She was acting weird, like maybe she had just gotten into a fight with her husband or something -- real desperate. But sweet. She bought a couple of CD's, so she is worthy of note.

Some people refer to Tampa as "the city by the bay". Does Journey know about this? We are staying at Justin's dad's house. It is my first time meeting him and he's a pretty nice guy (heck, he's J's dad. Ya gotta be an ax-murderer not to raise someone as nice as Justin). Liz and Jr. are going over the atlas and it is dawning on us that we're royally fucked. The distances between the places we are playing are too far to reach in the time we have between gigs. This is a big ol' trainwreck. I would like to meet the person who booked this tour so I could hit this person with a pie. No, a brick. We drive a million miles on no sleep only to play at some podunk-shitstick-"y'all ain't on the bill"-sub-pizza-hut-outhouse-in-the-middle-of-nowhere. And maybe we'll get $20. Like I said, I ain't complaining. I'm just here for the beauty of the ride.

Lizard is obsessed with seeing Alligators while we're here, but all I've seen so far are tiny Lizards, ironically enough. Tomorrow we practice.

More later, honey. -> Me.

Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue Vol. V

2009-01-05T12:40:00.000-08:00

"A FUNK-DEFIED ROBERT PLANT" -DIRECT QUOTE FROM PORKCHOP'S BIO IN ________'S PRESS KIT (HE'S THE BASS PLAYER). FUNNY? NAH.

7/28/05 Between Charlotte and Florida
There is an island off the coast of Virginia named Assawoman. Modest Town is next to it. There is a Dairy Queen in Bland, Va. that totally lives up to its name. There is a band called Drunk Horse that will rattle your testes loose, serve them to you and there will be no second helping but you will want more. Turns out the Melvins/Skynyrd comparison is right on. Their leadey singey guy, Eli, looks a lot like our friend Will Foster. They are good.

Road rule #47: Don't charge your cellular telephone at the club. You WILL forget it. And by "you", I mean "me". This pen is not good for left-handers. Smeary. I will see my phone in ALBBQ,NM when I see our friend Karl.

The last two nights we stayed with our friends Ryan and Brianna and last night we played with Ryan's band, Tonka Kong. They have a song called "The Human Robot". R + B are wonderful people and terrific hosts. I am so exponentially tired after last night's marathon of southern hospitality. It's all a kind of family thing down here, and most people are really eager to please. ------> Fun, Fun, Fun.

We are listening to a christian country radio station. Suddenly, life doesn't seem bad at all. Hey, southern radio sucks, but guess what? We got air conditioning, so feck it.

Somewhere there is a photo of Liz and I sleeping angelic-like in the same bed. Somewhere there are lots of photos. It is so hot down here. It's like the cover of Bebe Le Strange (<-another weblink perhaps?). We may stop at Bojangles' Chicken while we're out here.* I have made some new friends, including the Duchess of York.** She is nice. I look forward to some delicious sweet tee. And a nice nap.
Meet you on the other side-
Open up my mind, I'm Matt

*We didn't.

**Not the actual Duchess of York.

Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue Vol. IV

2008-12-17T12:20:00.000-08:00

TWO REEL DIARRHEA

Tues. night 7/26/05
So I totally got cut off and then we misplaced the book. I only have a few minutes because it it sure is hot 'n muggy here in RALEIGH, NC. Trying so hard to stop this book from falling into the wrong hands has proven to pay off in a very inconvenient way.

So ..... yada yada New York was cool. New Jersey, not so much. If you want details ask me later.*

I'm hung over from last night. A band of mine that is not Earwig** played Lil' Bros. in Columbus, and it was a hi-profile show*** so naturally we all got completely blinkered. Liz and I drove there from Jersey on Sat. night/Sun. morning so's I could have one final practice and snuggle with my lady before a solid month of swapping man-sweat in a minivan. So here I am, stuck in the middle with you-know-who. I think we've definitely decided to get the AC serviced before we go south (<- in more ways than one). Driving down here was like trying to drive a van thru a lake (trust us, it is not easy). The impending heat wave also does not bode well. We are frail men and we have needs. And desires. And right now I desires me some cool air.

We've discovered comedy records are best at keeping us awake and alert on the road, and we've also discovered how funny and educational they can be. So it'll be a lot of DAVID CROSS, LEWIS BLACK, TODD BARRY, MITCH HEDBERG (RIP), and BILL HICKS (also RIP) letting America laugh and letting us into our hearts. Or their hearts? We're playing King's Barcade tonite, with Drunk Horse, who I've heard is real good****. Oh, and ________ is here too. Can you hear 'em? Well I can, and really, isn't that enough? Better get into my Monkey Suit.
Big ups,
Matt

*Don't.

**Lord Hall (RIP)

***We opened for the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It was our first show as Lord Hall.

****They are.

Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue Vol. III

2008-12-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Yarwig Toure Dairy
7/23/05 W. Paterson, New Jersey
Fun times here, sitting on top of ________'s RV. Trying to avoid hearing them, fighting a losing battle. Boy, do they good-god-damn suck to high hett. ->oops. hell has no t's. ______ just can't sing. If only he could sing, they would just be an awful band with terrible songs with an OK singer. But I don't want to talk about those cockheads. I hate 'em. -----------> I digress.

The last few days have been great, a real treat, honest to god. Is "god" capitalized? Am I going to hell? Shit, is "hell" capitalized? It's a place, right? Ah fuck, can I start over?

We rolled into NYC on Thursday and found the BAGGOT inn, a place with a within-inches-of-being-completely-offensive name. Turns out it wasn't so bad. The band before us, an all-female quartet by the name of ...... something ...... was pretty decent, if amateurish. The bass player and the drummer rocked out, so Justin and I were suitably impressed. We played a rocked-out set using the backline and got out of there way too late (i.e. ________'s last song). Boy do they suck-a-luck-a-ding-dong. But we've covered that, I guess. It's funny, from out here I can only hear the drummer and the singer. The humor lies in the fact that those are the 2 most unbearable elements of said cockheads.

So anyway, we were kind of fucked when we left Ohio. We had planned at first on staying with Rich Cefalo, Earwig bassist extraordinaire. He's in Italy. So then we made plans to stay with Charles Palmer, Earwig drummer extralongword. His grandmother died, so he's in Columbus right now. Condolences.

______ just actually said: "Bruce Springsteen's from New Jersey?" Fuckin' Cockface Dick Lickin' Bitch! He said that onstage in Fucking New Jersey! Is this the fucking twilight zone? Fuckin', MLK failed!

Oh hell, where was I? Yeh, so we called our friend Dwight Scott from Delaware's legendary Gentle Dales, with whom the Bygones stayed the last time we went to NYC. Turns out, his roommates are out of town and he's up to not only putting us up, but he's insistent on partying with us RELENTLESSLY. He saved our asses, and then put us right back in jeopardy, god bless his nutty ass. A class act all the way, that Mr. Scott.

So Friday we wake up and try to find this studio in Manhattan. After spending what felt like years lost in Chinatown we decided to give up, as we had to get back to Dwight's to get our stuff. Eager to make our appointment with a TV studio, we rushed back on the subway. If you ever find yourself lost in Chinatown, don't do what we did. Just get the hell out. I don't want to come across as racially insensitive, but Jesus that place stinks. We played a 3 song set for Fearless Music TV, and they treated us real nice. It was hard to leave. Someday in the future, the three of us will be on TV being total nerds.*

Justin's addendum: Then we met the Jersey girls and the rest is history.**

*Fearless Music went belly-up shortly thereafter, and to my knowledge our segment never aired. Oh well.

**I was a little drunk when Justin wrote that in my book and I am a little foggy on what it means. I can tell you that it certainly did not involve any hanky panky whatsoever on my part.

Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue Vol. II

2008-12-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

7/20/05
After 9 central time. O'Hare airport.
Watching 75 people go ape-shit over your band is pretty cool - until you realize they're all paid extras. Then it's sad. Overall, though, it's pretty funny. Also funny is the length we went to to painstakingly make sure no one sported any logos. I can't even have a fucking beaver on my hat, for chrissakes, lest Mr. Beaver Designer sees me on the the Big Tobacco enhanced CD and decides to sue. "Hey, what kind of bass is that? I mean, it looks like a Rickenbacker but there's tape on the headstock. I'm stumped." We kept it legal. Lizard's been the punchline of a joke all day among the people at Leo-Burnett, due to his rambling, 20 minute message last week pertaining to exactly what we need for this performance ("and a RED Telecaster" is actually the punchline). Good times. Retarded, bizarre, and slightly gay good times.
Sure do hate airports. Why is it the most unpleasant places are the ones we are told to get to early? Jerks. That's why.
Love, Matt

Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue, Volume I

2008-11-20T06:10:00.001-08:00

In 2005, Earwig went on a U.S. tour in support of our DVD ‘Year Of The Drag’. I was persuaded to let an outside party do all of the booking for the 5 week tour which took us to OH, IL, NY, NJ, PA, NC, LA, FL, NM, AZ, CA, OR, WA, UT, KS and back to Ohio. That was a BIG mistake. Most of the shows sucked balls and we were stuck sharing the bill on the majority of the dates with another Ohio band that , how shall we say, left something to be desired. It was a learning experience and we did have a lot of fun. All’s well that ends well, I suppose. Prior to the first date of the tour, Earwig flew to Chicago for an awesome corporate gig and recorded in Engine Studios.

We liked it so much that we returned to record most of ‘Center Of The Earth’ there as well. Along the way, Matt kept a tour diary which he posted regularly to our now defunct message board. We though it might be fun to re-visit some of those entries here.

------------------------------------------
During Earwig's summer 2005 tour, I kept a diary in my little Mead composition notebook. Various details were tweaked or omitted altogether, just for my own amusement. Whenever we were at a place with internet, I would post these diary entries on the Earwig message board with added commentary. It was fun: it gave me something to do and entertained literally dozens of people, who also posted their own words of encouragement. It also ensured our families we were still alive, without us actually having to speak to them (I left my phone in North Carolina and had to have it shipped to New Mexico).
Sadly, shortly after our return home the message board was poached to death by hackers (which is not nearly as bad as being hacked to death by poachers, but painful nonetheless). All of the colorful added commentary is lost to the world forever, but the Mead composition book remains in my possession. Here, for the first time in three years, is the first installment of my tour diary. Take a stagger with me down memory lane, won't you?

Earwig Confidential

7/20/05
NON SMOKING ROOM MY ASS

12:20 am central time DOWNTOWN CHICAGO club quarters hotel. Not very breezy for the windy city. So we all got rooms, courtesy evil tobacco LLC. Apparently I've got the best one, here on the 23rd floor - watching, to my right, The Hold Steady on Conan O'Brien (okay, I guess), and to my left, the fucking downtown Chicago skyline. I'll choose the left. Actually, the hold steady sucks. Chicago towers above me and here I am, spitting on the speedy little hotwheels below me. Ridiculous. Magnificent.
My bandmates are presumably asleep. Justin had a long, stinky night yesterday. Lizard's in his room too. Me, I've got a bottle of Jack that I need to find something to do with. Maybe one more drink. How the hell am I going to get half a bottle of JD on the plane tomorrow? Creative thinking. Gonna be a bumpy ride. Street noises in Chitown are surprisingly loud - even 23 stories up. Tomorrow we make the hits at the (rented out) Metro. But I'll be up all night. ->How the hell did I get myself into this? ->And I wonder if I can get myself into this again?

The Silver Baby Cup

2008-11-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here at LFM secret HQ, everything is grand. As I mentioned in the inaugural post for this blog, there’s a golf course in my front yard named ‘Assisi Threepio’. On Halloween weekend we hosted the first ever Assisi Threepio Silver Baby Cup Challenge. Sixteen golfers, thirty spectators, four rounds of elimination golf, a one hundred dollar cash prize and a very nice engraved silver trophy cup. Guests arrived from all over the United States to camp for the weekend. Folks from Maine, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, New Mexico and Arkansas regaled to the sounds of Earwig (with Nick S. on drums!) at the annual Freeman’s Secret Ball costume party bash on Friday night. The band played on a specially built outdoor stage constructed just for the occasion.

Saturday saw it’s share of surprises and upsets with the first four rounds of golfers.

And an outstanding evening of entertainment from our pals the Itinerant Locals and Trapper Haskins.

Sunday was the final round of golf. I actually came in second

(thank-you very much).

The trophy, the large $100 check and the honor to host next year’s tournament went home with Andres Bermudez, otherwise know as the "Madman in the kilt".

Election Blues

2008-09-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

I’m into my second cup of coffee, letting the new record from Gone drag me into a guitar-skronk fueled trance. Ripping metal claws and a pulsating beat are digging holes in my psych. Hammer-on, pull, bend...skronk! I like it. It mirrors the sound my life is making, going full blast in several different directions at the same time. My new position with MoveOn.Org has been taking up a lot of time. But instigating reckless political debate on street corners is important work ...and fun. Skronk! The power outage in Columbus put a crimp in the progress of our album and upcoming DVD documentary. Earwig plays in Cleveland this weekend. Reading “The Tao of Physics” by Capra. Organizing a Midwest tour for Earwig next summer....wait. Time for a slow blues-jam, walking bass-line with an epic slam-dancing drumbeat. How does that work? It just does.

Horror In The Hills

2008-08-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

When we lived at the farm, deep in the hills, Rich Cefalo came to visit with his newly found Super 8 camera in tow. He'd just bought it at the Goodwill store in Columbus and it had one roll of film left in it. That afternoon, we decided to shoot a Low Budget Masterpiece. We built the script around our one obvious prop...a menacing looking dog cage. I grabbed a suitcase, a hat, a suit and tie from the old clothes closet on the farm and we got underway. I play a traveling salesman who has lost his way. We shot each scene consecutively with no second takes. It was all or nothing. It was fall and the trees were beautiful. Aaron Freeman plays the hapless pumpkin farmer and his younger brother Daniel was in charge of lighting. Lighting consisted of a cheap mirror we pulled from the medicine cabinet. Daniel held it in his hands and used it to reflect a small patch of ultra-bright sunlight in my face for every shot. You can see the rectangle of light bounce around as young Daniel moved along with Rich as he filmed each scene. These were the days before steady-cam. Behind the main farm house, there was a lonely outbuilding that, for some unknown reason, was filled with sun-bleached animal skulls. This seemed like the perfect spot to devise the demise of our hero. Corn syrup + pumpkin entrails = a gruesome end. In spite of our shortcomings, the 3 minute epic came out well and we watched it once. The cheap projector (also from Goodwill) ripped the start of the films-strip (that's why it skips badly in the beginning). And so this Super 8 masterpiece sat in an old drawer for several years. Until last week.

I brought it to Matt Parker to archive the footage and figure out some way to use it later on. Matt immediately got excited that it would make a great music video for Earwig. He was right. It might not be obvious from the first viewing, but Matt had a LOT of work to do to make this footage into a good music video. There are so many things that might not work out with timing, no convenient edits, finding the right song etc...But in Matt's hands, Horror In The Hills took on a new life. Originally shot by Rich Cefalo, conceived by Rich, Aaron and Lizard and eventually edited and set to music by Matt Parker. This is Earwig's video for 'Parked'. Enjoy.

One Night in Bangkok

2008-07-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

It’s been quite a stroll down memory lane, compiling videos and photo evidence for the upcoming Earwig Gone Wild – DVD series. I remember the night a strapping collection of lesbians wandered in on Earwig’s gig at Café Bourbon Street. They seemed a bit bored and were probably looking for the bar next door. But they quickly livened up when I called them out and started asking for requests. Soon, three divine young ladies staked out the real estate directly in front of the band. After a few songs, I invited them all up on stage to sing while the boys and I improvised some “slow jams”. Things got a little intense. Two of them started “dirty dancing” and I ended up riding the other one around the bar like a pony. Do they make a saddle for that?

SleepStandingUp

2008-07-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

Tony and Leilah are getting married. They’re going to be very happy, of that much I’m sure. It’s rare to meet two people who are so incredibly nice and as well-matched as those two are. Tony actually went to the same high-school as I did, Whitehall. Although it was after I graduated so I didn‘t meet him then. But he’s been an Earwig fan since back in the golden years of LFM (the 1990’s!). While we were on tour, Earwig even stayed over at their place in Las Cruces, New Mexico. They brought their whole gang of friends out and that show is one of the best tour memories we have. It was an incredible night. After high-school, Earwood joined the military and moved away from Columbus, but it seems like there is no end to his circle of friends. Some of his C-Bus pals who are going to the wedding offered to pay to fly me and the band out to play at Tony & Leilah’s reception. It’s quite an honor to even be asked, but we can’t go. Tony says that SleepStandingUp from Mayfeeder is one of his favorite Earwig songs. So here’s a special rendition of that tune just for the bride & groom. Congratulations.

SleepStandingUp
Autumn falls and here am I, beneath this windshield that’s built to protect me
Swallow it whole, ginger blue sunshine
is all mine
Try to find you and I will, my sympathies run high tonight
the boy with the cool fag haircut, was he the one
made you so sad
It’s all made up, yr an angel in my eyes
you know the truth and I’m a liar
he uses me

It takes a thin young man to say the things a giant can’t
call me yr thin young man
Sometimes I rely on you to tell me how I feel
Severely restricted and gingerly kissed, mouth wide open
like this

The choice I haven’t made could be my big mistake
I’m hearing opera through the door

I know myself, and it wouldn’t be right, to say the least
Sometimes I rely on you to tell me how I feel
Severely restricted and gingerly kissed, mouth wide open

Yr my warm spider web
Yr my suck benefit
Yr my remember dog
Yr mine

* The first time we played the song, Matt’s amp fell over. The second time we played it, I forgot the words. On the third try, we made it all the way through and that’s what you see here. Third attempt, two cameras, one take. Allan Foster filmed us in Matt’s room on Wednesday night and then our pal Matt Parker edited it together the very next day. Thank you very much to those two guys for helping make this happen.

New record preview part two!

2008-06-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

I am a man of my word. Whatever that means. Earwig was on the cover of the Columbus alive today, and I'm as proud as can be (Captain Lizardo may show a respectable #8, But I'm #83, and that is a much higher number). But let's not live in the past. The new Earwig record is almost done and I'm here to show you what side two will look like. Here's a sneak peek:

I am especially proud of that song.
Song Ten:

Track Eleven, This Monkey's Gone To Heaven:

Track 12:

And finally, track thirteen (although, we're not done yet by any means):

Exclusive preview of new Earwig album! Side one!

2008-06-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

We're still tracking, but the songs are taking shape and the record should be finished by the fourth quadrant of the year. So now I present to you all the songs (albeit in skeletal form) from the next Earwig album, "Porcupet Hiccups (Featuring Kittens)"

Track one, this is fun:

Track two, for you:

Track Three, Electric Jubilee:

Track Four, Here's Some More:

Track Five, might as well read "Columbus alive":

Track Six, flick yr bic's:

Track Seven (This is actually just studio chatter between me and Lizard):

Track Eight, (This is just me clowning around in the studjio):

Well, there's side one. Like I said, it's pretty skeletal. I'll put up what we have of side two tomorrow.

Bambi vs. Lizard

2008-05-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

I am a savior to the animals. Or at least I try to be. Although I'm not "exactly" Catholic, my patron Saint is Saint Francis. He was a good friend to the animals and he liked to talk to worms. That makes him pretty cool in my book (yes, I have a book). St. Francis was always down with helping an animal in need. I look to his example and we even have a small sanctuary (on the grounds of our secret compound, deep in the hills of Southern Ohio) that we call St. Francis park. In the picture above, you can see a few of the many St. Francis statues in the background. One day last spring, I was sitting in St. Francis park meditating when I heard Bambi's desperate calls and rescued her from a savage pack of canines. These days I'm mostly dealing with cold blooded creatures. I've recently saved several friendly turtles (Box turtles and Painted turtles, typically. Snapping turtles are very grumpy and can be down-right mean) and a few snakes. I also rescue cats. I have way too many cats, but that's another story altogether.

The song that wouldn't die

2008-05-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

Earwig made a few trips down to The Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH. prior to actually starting work on ‘Center Of The Earth’. The sessions are run by the students and the bands get free recording time in exchange for serving as guinea pigs to their progress. We mostly used the sessions as rehearsals and often never even heard the final mixes. Most of the songs never even saw the light of day. The Workshop keeps the files around on a hard drive though and students can pick from their catalog for their final mix projects before graduating. Recent RW grad. Ralph Miller has posted his mix of Used Kids on his Myspace page . It’s funny because I don’t even remember recording that song there. He did a very good job on this alternate version. This is an early demo of Used Kids and it’s interesting to note the differences from the final album version. Check it out. If you dig it, leave him a comment.

Made by AmyD

2008-05-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

My pal AmyD makes clothes. She designs everything herself and she has an expert eye, keeping her focus on making things stylish yet comfortable. Amy’s heart is in the right place too and she works hard to come up with ideas that re-use materials. You can find her awesome recycled coffee sleeves at Yeah Me Too coffee in Clintonville. She makes beautiful skirts, dresses, scarves, aprons, tops and more. But what she really excels at is business. She’s been a successful manager at the corporate level for a large book-store chain. In the 1990’s she owned and operated her own independent book, comic and zine store in Columbus called 'Joe Books'. These days, she’s turned her attention to her clothing business. She’s just opened her own AmyD shop at Java Central in Westerville and got a nice write-up in The Columbus Alive too. There’s just something about her clothes that appeals to my sharp, independent streak. I know that she doesn’t like the term, but I think “Fashion Maven” describes her well. If the shoe fits, wear it. That’s what I say. And while yr at it, check out AmyD’s Etsy shop and the official AmyD website http://www.madebyamyd.com/ . She’s Earwig’s #1 fashion consultant and even designed the outfit for the actress in our video for She Is A Witness. If you watch the whole thing, AmyD is in the video too...at the end. She gets hit in the head with an Earwig cassette. We had to film that scene about 10 times! What a good sport...

Now Dance!

2008-04-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

New: Used Kids Radiation Room Remix
download it now.

Last year, The Columbus Roller Girls had Earwig play at their title bout at the fairgrounds. It was a fun gig and I ran into my old pal Paul Kavicky at the show. Paul is an audio professional and moderates a forum on live audio over at The WOMB, which is a gathering of minds for forward thinking audio engineers. Since I also work in audio and play in band, Paul asked me to do a web-interview with him there and it ended up being a good time. DJ Peter Carli, who creates professional club remixes and has a show on XM radio, heard Earwig through the WOMB interview and approached me about doing a remix of our song Used Kids. I must say, I think he did a fantastic job. He really took this track and ran with it, coming up with something completely new and different from the original version. You can download the song for free over at The Daily Chorus. It’s getting mentions in a few places online. Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Year of the Used Kids

2008-04-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

I remember being very excited to play CD101 Day at the LC in 2007. Pretty unbelievably, our song “Used Kids” was being played on the radio like crazy. 400 spins in 6 months. You do the math. We got our own dressing room and were generally treated like conquering kings. Earwig got the second to last slot, which was great. The place was packed and the audience was incredible. Despite our nerves, we actually didn’t screw up and played pretty well. It was one of the biggest and best shows we had played up until that point. Then FOX TV called and asked us to come in for an interview and to play the song on their morning show ‘Good Morning Columbus’. We had planned on doing the tune as a full band but, as usual, things went awry and we ended up on-air as an acoustic duo, just me and Matt. It was a happy accident though, since I don’t know if we would have been able to deliver fully functional rock at 7am. I bet the soccer-moms probably liked the stripped down version better anyway . Next, we somehow landed the headlining spot Friday night on the main-stage at Comfest. Despite technical difficulties (with my brain) we did an admirable job and went over well with the massive audience that’s a cross-section of free-music fans and beer lovers from the Midwest. We capped the summer off with another show at the LC, this time outside, and then a short tour (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York) to promote ‘Center Of The Earth’. At the end of October, a week after we got back from the tour, we went into the studio and put down basics for 14 songs that should comprise our next full length album. All in all, it was a fantastic year. You can see clips of Earwig at Comfest, The LC, CD101 Day, FOX TV and several stops on the tour in this new video for ‘Used Kids’, superbly edited by Matt Parker. Enjoy.

*BONUS* Look for the scene where I have Matt in a headlock and then throw him to the ground. We were playing in Cincinnati. I broke a string mid-song and, disposing of my guitar, finished the tune by flailing around the stage like an aerobics instructor on PCP. I guess that I got a little caught up in the moment. Matt, if your out there...I’m sorry.

Foshy Photo

2008-04-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

My pal Allan Foster takes lots of pictures. I don’t think that he’d call himself a photographer, even though he’s very good at it. He’s actually sort of a jack-of-many-trades, being a kick-ass photographer is just his latest hobby. In the past he’s directed, edited and shot music videos, built websites (Earwig’s website!) and played drums in a smart and influential Columbus band (Po-Po Volcano). He also makes some wicked salsa. Allan is a very talented, yet unassuming type of guy who is always happy to pick up yr slack and help out in some way. I’ve got plenty of slack that needs to be tended to, so Allan is pretty much President and C.E.O. of “Team Earwig”. He took some great pictures of Earwig in December at the Lyle Gallery. Lately he’s been getting really into this Strobist group and building his own specialty photo and lighting equipment. It's interesting stuff. He got a new camera last year and his skills have improved greatly. In addition to portraits, he’s been shooting a lot of live bands like Watershed , The Editors and Hot Hot Heat. Columbus bands The Guinea Worms and Necropolis had Allan take their picture for an upcoming piece about the Columbus underground scene for some big British Music Magazine. The picture at the top is a shot Allan took of the Guinea Worms for the Columbus Dispatch. One of Allan’s nicknames is Foshy. Wil Foster from the Guinea Worms is his brother. You should listen to a few of the Guinea Worms/Wil Foster songs. Wil is unique, funny and legally bat-shit crazy.

Phrases people say that never seem to be meant literally

2008-04-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

"Don't go there": Why, is there a monster there? Where is that anyway?
"Talk to the hand": If I tried to do that you'd think I was retarded.
"She's kind of a butterface": I hope she lives in a colder climate, like Norway.
"Cut to the chase": Sorry, I forgot I was showing you a film, you impatient asshole.
"It blew my mind" also, see: "This blows": Yes, that POS fan does indeed blow.
"Level-headed": Yikes.
"Here's a quarter. Call someone who cares": That's a very archaic saying, as we all have cell phones now. Gimme that quarter!
"Would you like some cheese to go with that whine?": Why yes, I would. That is very thoughtful of you.
"I literally (insert past-tense verb)": I believe literally everything you say.
"Get out of town": Can I borrow your car?
"I love you, baby": Thanks, but I'm a baby and therefore can't understand the concept of love. Please keep your privates away from my orifices.
"... was a dead giveaway": I always show up right after the last corpse is given out.
"Bite me": Trust me, do not ask me to do this (I have rabies). Hey, that reminds me.
"Rabid fan": Sure, it creates a breeze, but the foam gets everywhere.
"Soft as a baby's bottom": Here, let me prove it to you. Hey, put your privates away!
"He's real bright": OK, he's an albino.
"He's real sharp": OK, he's a swordfish.
"All things being equal": What? I'll trade you this shiny penny for your yacht.
"I dig it": Another archaic expression. We have landscapers for that.
"I know, right?" Sure, but how do I know you're not bluffing?
"I almost died laughing": Everyone loves a survivor.
"Loose stool": A screwdriver usually does the trick.
"Who let the dogs out?": Follow-up question: do they bite?
"The cat's pajamas": I have learned from experience that cats don't have, nor do they even want, pajamas.
"You have my word": I do, and I think I'll keep it (hint: it rhymes with "witch").
"What's up?" Not to be cocky, but I think it's safe to say it is not the ground.
"You're retarded": So sorry, I'll stop talking to your hand now.

Low Fidelity

2008-04-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

I like the sound of tape hiss. It’s warm and fuzzy. I like it when you fall asleep on the couch watching a movie. And when you wake up, the tv’s gone off and your left with a warm blanket of pixilated static (but not like in Poltergeist, that would be bad). There’s just something comforting about analog artifacts. Sometimes, with music, it helps blend everything together. Make it mushy. Like cake batter before the cake. It works in movies too. I loved how in Grindhouse (the movie by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez) they went to great lengths to make it an authentic tribute to B movies and exploitation thrillers. Right down to all of the fuzzy, out-of-focus camera work and stray hairs on the projector lens. My pal Matt Parker makes movies. He let me watch some cool exploitation style trailers that he tacked onto the front of a short horror movie of his called “Hack”.

I dig all of the after effects, the coming attractions, 70’s movie styling, the funky music and the foley sound work. It all makes me feel like I’m back at the drive-in. This is just stuff Matt does for kicks, he also edits video professionally (www.mattparkerproductions.com). Matt is working on a music video for Earwig. It’s a lot of rough live footage that I collected over the last year cut together to the song Used Kids. Matt has a great eye and he’s a very talented cat. It’s coming out better than I had expected. Some of the footage is well shot, glossy, bright and clean. While some of the other raw video I gave him is pretty low quality. Matt found a theme to tie it all together and used filters and other effects to get the footage to all work well as a video. He sacrificed the quality on the pristine footage to give it all a lo-fi feel. There are a few other neat tricks too. I like it. I’ll post the finished video here as soon as it‘s ready.

I like to write. But staring at a computer screen too long hurts my brain. The internet is digital and harsh. I think that coffee in the morning must be somehow analog. The more coffee I drink, the longer I can stare at the computer screen. They seem to almost cancel each other out.

Yard Golfing

2008-04-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

When the sun comes out on a day like today, after another long winter spent indoors, I get the urge for new occupation. Today that occupation is yard golf. I live deep in the woods of southern Ohio and have no neighbors (excepting dogs, deer, cats, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, chipmunks, beavers, weasels, raccoons, possums, turtles and the occasional wild boar). My yard is a couple of acres and surrounded on all sides by woods. I have never golfed before, but recently bought three used golf clubs from the thrift store for a buck each. I walked the yard to discover the best drive lanes and set three holes with plastic containers that I dug out of the recycle bin. My new yard-golf course is three holes. The first hole is a fairly long drive, with the chicken house and garden serving as hazards. I'd say par 4. I don't have any golf tees and after digging two pretty good sized divets out of my yard with my number one driver (a 9.75 Hogan) I hit a strong drive that sliced hard, just missing my van and hitting my garage. No damage. I chipped onto the "green" with my wedge and sunk the putt for a swell birdie. I was off to a good start. I cut across the yard, length-wise for a bogey on the second hole. So far so good, par for the course. I felt pretty good. That's when it all went bad. I ended up almost beaning one of my favorite St. Francais statues while trying to shoot around the brush pile on the third hole. 4 shots over par in the end. Damn.