Recordings Archives - Page 5 of 5

RANCID – "Let's Go"

One of the great punk records of the 90’s, RANCID’s 2nd LP is the one that really announced them to the world. It was an exciting time with GREEN DAY and RANCID blowing up out of the east bay scene, and suddenly punk rock was a mainstream genre. When I co-wrote “Name” with Tim Armstrong, all the big labels wanted to sign them. Coming from the Lookout Records school of DIY glory, they weren’t terribly interested in becoming sanitized pop stars. So instead of watering things down, they stayed on Epitaph Records and kept getting MORE punk!

"HOBO," the cleverly titled CD by HOBO

Recorded with my fellow UPTONES Ben Eastwood and Paul Jackson in 1992 with Tom Pope on drums and Matthew King Kaufman producing, this is an eclectic set of songs we created while touring as HOBO. “Sky High” has a funky syncopated bass/guitar line in the verse and a hard-rock/power-pop chorus. “Fish In A Tree” and “Gearing Up For A Breakdown” also don’t fit squarely in any one genre. “She’s A Mystery,” one of my favorite Paul Jackson songs, is probably the most “pop” thing on the album. Some wild stuff on this one. Available from iTunes Store.

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RANCID – RANCID LP

One day in the early 90’s, Tim Armstrong knocks on my door and asks if they can cover “Get Out Of My Way” (which I wrote with UPTONES singer Erik Rader), in their new punk rock band. “Sure, go for it!” I answer, “of course!” We then write another song called “Outta My Mind” and a few months later he brings me their debut CD with both songs on it, and they’re off and running.

T.V. Guns, Block Off The Streets To Shoot..

This song is about guns, media, and idiocy. It’s from the UpTones’ “East Bay Orbits” alnum, you can get it at iTunes or Amazon, or stream it in various streaming places. Here are the lyrics. My bandmates all really came through on this track, and patiently put up with about 100 re-writes before it felt ready. In the end, I’m happy with how it came out. I wish the subject matter never even existed, but, as the song goes, “It’s always on.”

Stiff Richards by Stiff Richards

This was recorded in about 3 days at Sharkbite in Oakland. One of the standout tracks for me is “Fell In And Out Of Art” by Paul Jackson. Typical of Paul’s compositions, the individual parts don’t make complete sense when played solo, but when they’re all played together, they create a moving tapestry of chords and melody and mayhem. It was fun playing guitar on that song, and the whole album. I sang lead on a few tracks as well, including our cover of the Nervebreakers’ “My Girlfriend Is A Rock.”

Available in all the digital places.

The Fashion Slaves "GO INSANE" EP

This 4-song studio recording is the latest from The FASHION SLAVES. The band name was originally inspired by the song “Suffer For Fashion” which I co-wrote with young singer Emily Jayne. Recorded “live in the studio” old school style at East Bay Recorders, produced by Matthew King Kaufman and Michael Rosen. Eric Knight on bass and Pete D’Amato on drums, with Emily on rhythm guitar myself on lead, made for a pretty monstrous little combo. We played a bunch of shows and made a couple of CD’s in two years or so and then we went insane. This EP tells the story.

Available at iTunes and all the other digital gizmos.

The UPTONES – K.U.S.A. 6 song EP from 1984

Making this record was a wild experience. There was no producer, or more accurately, there were at least 11! Each of nine band-mates, plus the recording engineer, plus our manager. That’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and we were all very opinionated and strong-willed. We booked “lock-out” time at a recording studio – an archaic practice from when mixing boards were not computers, and you had to leave the faders and everything right where they were between sessions in order to save your work. Being 17 to 19-year-olds at the time, we just wouldn’t go home. I have no idea how many hours we spent in there, but it was lunacy. The cover art, same deal. We all had a say in it. Hence the strange, obscured image collage, which ends up reflecting the recording well. Long out of print, K.U.S.A. was on 415 Records, and you may be able to find one on eBay or something if you’re curious. If it ever gets released digitally, I’ll plop a link to it here. It’s a very uneven work, full of amazing moments, and some moments too where I just scratch my head and go “what were we thinking?!” My takeaway as a musician, songwriter, etc. was this: I MUCH prefer to work with a producer, but this kind of chaos can produce some unique and beautiful things as well. This post is too long and I’m totally oversharing. Oh well. Hope you enjoy it if you do have it. I played a massive guitar solo on Outside The Inn! I like that part. We also re-recorded Out To Sea for this, and it’s dreadful. Listen to the version on East Bay Orbits instead, that’s the original. Can you tell I’m a little neurotic about this record? I’ma shut up now.