Nov 12, 04 09:21 AM
The Tube Lug.
Fantastic drumming made the day.
Eric Fawcett came over and ROCKED THE CORPOREAL PLANE. He did a track on "Looking at the World," and a cover tune that I will not reveal the title of just as yet. What a good guy.
We talked about the beard he wore when he played SNL with N.E.R.D. He regrets it. Dan and I strongly objected to his regret: "But you looked like a skater Levon Helm!" I exclaimed.
We tried a bunch of snares, which all had groovy names I can't recall. One of them was "the Tube Lug," so named after its tuning or tightening mechanism. We didn't end up using it--we found a nicer snare--but I do regret not being able to say, Great snare sound on "Looking," huh? That's THE TUBE LUG.
He complimented me for Soul Coughing and it made me anxious and weird. I don't do well with compliments. Particularly about something so long in the past that I feel so little connection with it (although I spose I do feel a very vital connection with a few of the songs, the ones I wrote alone in my room, and the moments and cirumstances in which I wrote them), I feel as if it were a different man doing that music.
I have such a complex about Soul Coughing, such a need to be on par with that work, and to be a vital artist--I feel that I've stayed away from the major-recording world for so long, it's really an advantage, those that instantly turn up with a début after their band disbands are short-changing themselves by overloading the public--and it took me so long, such intense soul-wracking work, to write these tunes--four years!--that I've come up with a compelling batch; there's intricate, subtle threads between the songs, and I'm just now beginning to understand just what it was I was writing about. This record, as I love records to be, is a really cohesive piece, a recording that kind of has its own world, if you know what I mean. A set of sonic rules and circumstances, a conjured bubble of mutual identity. But anyway, Eric knows only Soul Coughing, and when he praised it I became weirdly introverted, I feel like I was odd and antisocial with him. I feel badly about that, as I was so moved by his performances on my songs.
OK. And now I type an astonishing sentence. That sentence is: "I was in downtown Minneapolis, and I bumped into the Pixies." I was in downtown Minneapolis and I bumped into the Pixies! I met Charles/Frank/Francis about a year ago when we both guested with TMBG. A good dude. And Kelley Deal was there (just travelling with them, they're apparently doing a documentary and she's on the crew). I met her with Michael Azerrad a bunch of years ago, she didn't remember, and when I said, I met you with Michael Azerrad a bunch of years ago, she said, "Me? Kelley?" Yes, you, not Kim. Ha. I have a close friend who's a twin, that was a poignant insight into twin-dynamics.
We sort through vocals--a swamp of takes--make up a comp--and hopefully do some serious tracking on our Mystery Cover today. See you on the other side.
Posted by Mike at November 12, 2004 9:21 AM
