Heylo Bassers, My friend Sal Maida asked me to contribute to Volume 2 of The White Label Promo Preservation Society Vol 2: More Flop Albums You Ought to Know. Sal Maida, Mitchell Cohen & Friends. I am very thrilled and honored that he thought of me for another essay. My essay is on the band, Teardrop Explodes, and their debut album, Kilimanjaro. I would encourage you to buy the book because so many of the essays are really fun, interesting, and are a deep depth of knowledge. It’s truly an oral history by some really great and interesting writers. https://hozacrecords.bandcamp.com/merch/the-white-label-promo-preservation-society-book Here’s my essay, for all you bouncing babies: I’m not sure how it started, but I remember how it ended. On a rooftop in Brooklyn, somewhere in Prospect Heights, and at a party for my roommate’s 25th birthday. We three were sitting on the far edge of the roof looking onto the Brooklyn/Manhattan skyline as the sun set, and the singer was standing, facing us. As the sun lowered the voices rose, and eventually we all were in complete darkness and silence. The line was drawn, and we went with the guitar player. The new incarnation (of almost the same band) continued when I lived in Williamsburg, on Maspeth Avenue right past the White Castle. I’d take the B43 bus to Greenpoint with my bass on my back headed to the guitar player’s apartment. We’d spend hours in his classic one-bedroom on Dupont Street hanging out with his Maine Coon, and coming up with cool guitar and bass parts that would later be formed into songs. We started every...
We did this on a whim literally at the 11th hour since we had to have the video uploaded by midnight on the night of the deadline. We recorded it in our rehearsal studio (the Music Building) on practice amps and without any frills. It’s stripped down, behind a very tiny desk! This song is about people who have all the talent and charm in the world, but they just can’t seem to pull themselves out of a deep, dark hole and shine as brightly as they could. We all know one, we may love one -we may even be one! Beautiful Loser (Waiting for the World to Rescue You) is about having enormous potential but somehow remaining hopelessly stuck as an exquisite victim. #TinyDeskContest See you on the low end! Love,...
I’m honored to have been interviewed by Jason Buice for Hear for the Music podcast. I speak about growing up in Queensbury, my journey with bass and my relationship with music. Some bits you may find really funny! (Although you have to endure my painfully slow talking and my upstate accent ) Let me know what you think! See you on the low end! Love,...
Heylo Bassers, I’m very excited and proud to have been asked by Sal Maida, to write an essay for The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Ought to Know by Sal Maida, Mitchell Cohen & Friends. I chose my essay on the band, Free, and their self-titled album, Free. I would encourage you to buy the book because so many of the essays are really fun, interesting, and are a deep depth of knowledge. It’s truly an oral history by some really great and interesting writers. The foreword is by David Fricke. https://hozacrecords.bandcamp.com/merch/the-white-label-promo-preservation-society-book Here’s my essay, for your pleasure: “You feel the beat a lot like Andy Fraser”, she said. Who’s Andy Fraser, I thought? I went home and looked him up and realized he was the bass player on Free’s “All Right Now.” The following week I went to Los Angeles to attend Bass Player Live and visited Amoeba Music on Sunset Boulevard for the first time. I bought “Tons of Sobs”, “Free”, and “Fire and Water” and when I returned to NYC, I listened and listened and listened to those albums. This was 2012-2013. What I lack in historical knowledge, I surely make up for in curiosity. When I put on “Free” the bass line to “I’ll be Creepin’” shook my memory bank. I said to myself with a tint of shame, “I know this.” The bass is forthright, defined and explicitly sets the tone for the whole album. Andy Fraser was a teenager when he played in Free. He didn’t have to prove his worth in the band, or his talents. He let...
