Heaven Knows You Couldn't Care Less

Tonight we decided to let our shimmering, frosted-tipped hair down, went with the old, comfy sweat pants instead of the flash new Seven jeans and became the very thing we have always despised. That's right, tonight we were a cover band. Albeit, only for 3 songs, all of which were Smiths/Morrissey ones. It was a benefit for an animal shelter in our hometown. We spent the week learning and rehearsing songs that we didn't write (though I really wish I had written "Panic" and/or "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want").
This is very much new ground for us. Many bands have a cover or two they occasionally whip out. Our humble band, however, has only played 3 covers in 5 years as a band, and that was at a friends wedding where the bride and groom requested certain songs. Nic and I have written so many songs over the years that it seems silly to learn another bands songs when we should be learning a new one of ours.
Either way, this week was a bit different for us, but in a good way. Personally, I spent the week in Smiths/Morrissey overload. In addition to rehearsing 3 of their songs everyday, I read a nearly 400 page Smiths biography, purchased quite a few Morrissey albums I've never had, and spent hours listening to them. You'd think I'd be a bit sick of Morrissey's romantic whine by now, and you'd be kind of right. However I better get over that quick as there are about 9 CD's coming in the mail next week. (I truly love getting things in the old snail mail. Fuck an email.)
In other news, we've started work on a new release. Tentatively it'll be a mini-album, about 8 or 9 songs. Hopefully we'll end up recording 15-20 and have several songs as bonus tracks for those who've signed our email list or some other exclusive, super secret fan only release.
As far as the new material goes, we couldn't be more excited. We're working in Derek's basement studio. Being the master and maker of wonderful recordings, Derek is pulling double duty, playing and engineering. I hope he knows what he's getting himself into! You can kiss your coffee supply goodbye right now! We'll be video taping a lot of the recording process and hopefully putting up on the web for you to check out our progress.
The first song we've been working on is one of Nic's. It's very much a departure from our album, but still keeping with our previous work melodically. I hope we can get it out before summer's in full swing because if there was any justice in the world it'd be the summer jam of '09. Breezy, that's all I can say right now. I hope your interest is piqued.

In random news, a nice fan from Tokyo sent us an email with this picture:



Apparently it's from a display at the Tower Records in the fashionable Shibuya section of Tokyo. I was surprised because a)I don't think our record is out officially in Japan and b)That's not our album artwork, it's the cover for the promotional copy of our record. Oh well, it's pretty sweet either way. Maybe we'll be one of those bands that's only big in Japan and unknown in the States. We'll take what we can get at this point. Maybe we'll just tour Nippon and leave those of you back home in the US to fight over who's way gnarlier, Trapt or Shinedown.
On second thought, nah, we've gotta fight the good fight in our home country. We're not giving up, not by a long stretch. I just know that the average kid in the US can do better than Nickelback, Seether or Saliva. There's another road to take, I swear. A road that isn't the soundtrack for a teenage rapist. Actually there's lots of roads to take, who am I kidding. I just wish modern rock radio didn't sound like the future line-up for the Three River's Ribs and Wings fest (where I once saw 3 Doors Down, remember them? I do. "If I go crazy will you still call me superman" or maybe that's a morrissey lyric. I dunno, my brain's fried.)
I'm rambling. That means it's time to shut it down before I do any further damage. Just you watch, next week we'll get asked to be the main support on Hinder's summer tour, then they'll read this and retract their offer. Damn it, I knew I should've kept my mouth shut.
Later,
Mark