Touch Me Darlin

Well we pretty much cut down 75 songs to 34 songs for the new record. Kinda daunting in a way but a good problem to have I suppose. We're gearing up for our shows next week with Against Me! and then we're gonna regroup in the new year to cut down 34 songs to 20 or so, then hopefully hit the studio.

****I just went to get a birthday gift for my Uncle Ron who has spent the last few restoring a 1964 Ford Falcon that was sitting in a barn in Indiana. I found a book called "The Cobra in the Barn". It's about cars that are in barns and get restored. I went ahead and went with that one.****

I stayed up all night recently writing a song called "Pistol". It's really strange but I'm kind of obsessed with it. I listened to it like 100 times. I always enjoy writing something without much thought, just go go go. And then take a step back and really listen to it.

The songs are starting to work together and the best of them are sticking out strong. Total genre annihilation I say. This is everything we love musically, and what we've experienced in life, and what we're excited about in the future all mixed together.

I'm encouraging anyone who reads this to leave comments. It'll encourage me to post more and better, great grammar hammer.

Heading to Jimmy Kimmel Live in a bit to see our boy Joe play tonight! In the rain!

Lights, Accidents, Dance!!

I'm blasting David Bowie's 1983 album Let's Dance in my apartment and there's nothing my neighbors can do about it. They can feel about it all they want but no actions, verbal or physical can stop me at this time. Thanks. Did you know Stevie Ray Vaughn was his guitar player on that record? Brendan Connor told me that, and it was true.

I picked that record up yesterday along with Elvis Costello's Armed Forces, The Waterboys Fisherman's Blues, The Police's Synchronicity and Zenyatta Mondatta, XTC's Black Sea, The Pretenders II, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Long After Dark, and last but not least The Beatles Rubber Soul in mono from the Goodwill for $1.99

So yea that all ruled.

I was in Rite Aid today to get a light bulb for my kitchen light that's been out for a week now and has rendered the room scary and out of commission and a Jon Secada song came on. Now would be a great time dismiss for knowing there's no H in John when it's a Secada. I tell ya what, that shit is depressing. Something about that dreary early 90's radio garbage can send volts of sad right through my system, and in this moment it did. I almost ditched the light bulb and scrammed, but then I thought about how mysterious my kitchen has became and how I didn't eat until 3:30pm today because of this, and I manned it out. Bowie's preventing it from popping into my head at any point. That would be awful.

After I left Rite Aid I saw an elderly Asian man get creamed by a car that ran a red light. Now I saw a motorcycle accident on 101-N a few months back and this was easily worse to witness. But you know what? The son of a bitch got right up, brushed himself off, and assured the driver he was ok and not to worry about it, and continued on his way home. I was shocked. I mean I'm a young and healthy man and if that were me I woulda been involuntarily crying, like in a little kid way where you can't speak and you just keep hiccuping violently. But not this dude. Man, you know you're an awesome human being when you get NAILED by a speeding car at the age of 80 and then basically say with your actions "wow, close one". Asians are amazing, I think they're my favorite people. And elderly people are awesome too. So needless to say this guy is my friend.

However it kinda fucked me up seeing this and it totally botched up all of my motor and decision-making skills. So I immediately went to Burger King and ordered a #7. You know, the "Chicken Fries" one. What the fuck? They were playing motown songs and I thought to myself "why such great music with such awful food, if I had went to some power lunch LA joint to get a salad I'd be listening to Lady GaGa right now". Then I remembered I was in the same lot that has a Starbucks with Magic Johnson on the wall, and I couldn't figure out if I was stumbling upon a shallow conspiracy theory or if I was just mildly racist. Either way I went to Starbucks after and got a creme brulee latte and discovered that it was perhaps both.

Now I'm back home listening to records and playing guitar. I just lost the last of the daylight while I was typing this and now I'm going to go change a ceiling light bulb in the dark. If I fall at least I'll be listening to Rubber Soul in mono.

Kisses,
Danny

I now know two Leroy's

If selling shit on Craigslist was a sport, it would be both wise and accurate to called me Michael Jordan, Pete Rose, or Jim Thorpe. I decided today to huck some various musical items that I simply don't use anymore. One of these items was a little digital 4-track. The gentleman who came and picked it up was named Leroy Radcliffe. Turns out he played in The Modern Lovers, a band I'm quite fond of and listen to their record all the time. He also played for Todd Rundgren, and the Chartbusters to name a few. I gave him a copy of Suffer City and we ended up shooting the shit for a bit. We spoke of our co-admiration for recording on analog tape and Fender Telecasters. He told stories about producing one of the Real Kids records and opening for Jimi Hendrix while I told him about how one of my guitars was in an explosion and how one time i caught a knife that had been thrown at me with my teeth. Had to make up the latter story in an attempt to balance it all out, but at one fine moment we both acknowledged each other as cool guys. He instinctually gave me advice as a young artist, easily reading me and my situation to the best of his experienced ability. Seeing that one of my eyes twinkles with blood shot optimism and the other is trying its best to ignore the grey hairs that keep popping up in my beard and skull. He said to me, "pump out the shit and don't judge it. Don't worry what people are going to think of it". I'm glad this wasn't my long overdue sex talk as I fear that statement taken out of context is brash, scary, and confusing. We promised to keep in touch and it was an honor to meet him. My only regret is that I didn't smoke a joint with him on my roof. I feel like I may have heard the expanded version of Brian Jones teaching him the right way to play some Rolling Stones song story if that had happened. I'm also now proud to announce that I know two Leroy's who both go by Lee and are both awesome. Here's some of their finer work...

Transmission

I need a new transmission in my car, and we're playing these shows with Against Me!...




-Danny

The Lollipop Gang meets Separation Anxiety

My amp is warming up so I thought I'd warm you up.

Fucked up my back at work yesterday. Came home and rested and wrote a new song. Got a good night's rest and woke up and grabbed some grub at the farmer's market. Yum. Headed to Amoeba Records in search of this Tom Petty documentary. No luck so I picked up some vinyl. The Plimsouls, and Julian Casawhatever from the Strokes solo record. As I was leaving my car started fine but wouldn't move when I shifted into reverse. I dicked around calmly as one does when he or she isn't quite ready to deal with this type of weekend goose. Then I called AAA. I was in the garage and the tow guy couldn't get in. He called his co-worker who was in a pickup truck and we pulled all sorts of shenanigans getting it out. He ended up just pulling me out with a big chain and I stayed in the car to steer. It was weird. I was graciously pleased at how both Jose's didn't judge me for needing a lollipop to shift my car out of park. It's been like that for about a year now. Not really sure why. Took it to my mechanic/angel Eddie a while back and he says to me, "I can fix it and it will be expensive, or you can use this little lollipop to unlock the secret snowman button that's hidden in all automobiles in case this type of thing ever happens." Not a direct quote but needless to say I chose the latter. Anyways Jose's got a kick out of it. They almost respected my decision to do this instead of fixing it. By the way they really were both named Jose, I'm not being white. Jose #1 dropped me and my car off at Eddie's and had a delightful series of conversations including how nice it was outside and if it would be worth it to replace my transmission. I hitched a ride with Ronny Perkins and George Applebee back to koreatown.

The baby dog that lives above me squeals a lot and today is no exception. I'm always a little conflicted when it happens. It's always a combination of "I hope that poor thing is ok, should I save him?, and shut the fuck up you stupid little fuck get a life". The 3rd one only peaks in on instinct, dick human emotion. On my way up from throwing in a load of laundry I see this power walker lady who lives upstairs and one door down. She's always telling me things as if she's exposing some kind of scandalous secret where she cups the side of her mouth and whispers things like, "the dryer in the middle never works...ever". She says "oh you have the barking puppy above you" and I say "is he ok?" and she says in a manner as if she were about to tell me its owner beats it with a steak knife, "separation anxiety, it's just separation anxiety. He'll be fine, he'll be fine." So I guess I'm just glad it's ok and not being tortured by Dr. Phil or Gary Glitter or something.

So it's the freakin weekend, and I'm trapped inside with a bum back, no car, and a squealing puppy above me. None of these things would be much of a nuisance if I were dead so I've decided that none of them are. I have ginger ale, I have my guitars, I have a few beers, I have some records, my amps warmed up smack ya butt for me.

Danny

And so it begins

So Joe Sirois is officially our new drummer. Went out for wings last night and sealed the deal. We couldn't be happier about this. We play our first show with him in December and it's a very special one, details to come.

I turned 27 the other day, weird. I got some awesome gifts including; a george foreman grill, a snuggie, 2 books, 3 vinyl records (Tom Petty, ZZ Top, Dead to Me), and a slim jim.

Had our last show with Phill in Boston and it was a blast. Played to 700 people and it was an awesome crowd.

Spending time with friends and family back on the east coast was such a nice reset. We're back in the swing of things and starting to piece together a formal relaunch of the band. This weekend is likely to include a trip to the race track, intense rehearsal, and new band pics with the new lineup!

Joe and I went to see Devo last night. They sounded fucking amazing. They played Freedom of Choice in its entirety and Josh Freeze is a machine. Got a little claustrophobic at the end and had to bail. I was getting the sweats and started seeing things.

I just got the new Dead to Me record today and I can't wait to hear it on my ride home. I decided to listen to the Shods all day today.

Fung Wah Jail Guitar Doors

Went to New York City and had a blast. I Walked around a ton, drank coffee, dominated public transportation, and drank beer. I hopped on the Chinatown buss and headed to Boston. When my Mom picked me up at the Lowell train station AC/DC was playing on the radio. She's awesome. We went out to eat and she noticed my newest tattoo and was a good sport as always. She asked me with a big smile if I was done and so I said yes...for now. She then went on to tell me she's so glad I never got a giant parrot on my arm, "you know like sleeves?...yuck". She cracks me up. A parrot?

Nothing was going on last night so I went to the movies alone and saw "Law Abiding Citizen". It was so bad it was good. So good.

Spent today drinking coffee and relaxing for the first time in a while. This lyric popped into my head and I will most certainly not be using it: "The Doors shoulda had a bassist, Jim was a hack and Ray's a racist". Ha. Fuck The Doors. Ha.

It feels good to be home.

The Daltrey Postpone

So I go to walk into 7-11 and this nice black fella asks me for some change. He's wearing a veteran's hat like my grandfather Pop wore. I give him the 27 cents that are in my pocket and he asks me "are you Irish son?". I stop and think about the question. I look down at myself, a barrel on stilts, red face from drinking every day for the last year, acorn sized penis not making much of an impression in my skin tight pants, green collared golf shirt, impervious to psychoanalysis, and about to walk into 7-11 to buy poison. I answer confidently, "Yes". He responds while pointing to his skull, "when I was younger I had that red hair". As if I had just seen a baby punch a walrus, I say "oh ok". He says, "right on brother". Someday I will attempt to wrap my head around this this all, but for now as my Mom says, "my brain is oatmeal". But I am loaded with falsetto giggles tonight let me tell you.

I think I might have to become one of those people who walks around all the time with a backpack. I need to have a notebook on me at all times. I think of the coolest shit at the weirdest times, and often when I'm incapable of documenting it. I like the idea of always having a backpack with a notebook and a beer in it. We'll see though, those people annoy me.

By the way, this is me in a nutshell...



I found myself enjoying The Who for the first time. Listening to "Who's Next" was like torture and I'm sorry. The whole time all I could think of was Chevy Truck commercials and CSI. Gary Sinise struggling to stay awake line after line, or David Caruso's 163 bathroom breaks a day. But Quadropenia is slaying me. It's great! My whole thing with the Who is that I think Roger Daltrey should have moved up into the mountains at some point, preferably the day before the Who became a band. Pete, Kieth, John=amazing. Roger=cool hair? At Best. Sorry. But there's something romantic about knowing that Pete wrote everything and that he hated Roger too. In that sense I can relate to Roger. I'm kind of a ham at the end of the day. Shoot me.

I'm getting on a plane in about 10 hours. I'm going to New York City to go on an adventure. I'm arriving with a bag and my guitar. I'll french kiss Jay Z if I see him because his new record is so good. Before I have a chance to tell him about the Irish Black guy I met at 7-11, his bodyguard will break my red nose with a paid fist. I will understand.

After New York I'm heading home to Lowell to hug the one's I love and play a final show with Phillip Francis Trudel. I don't know what's going on on Halloween but if I dress up, I'm going as Paddington Bear courtesy of some wardrobe assistance from Jody Jody.

I love you

Leadbelly Zeppelin

Left work last night on a quest for some truth. I went to the record store in hopes to get some Leadbelly records. They had none cause it's a red hot white world, but boy did I clean up on the Anglo front!! I got all of these for 21 bucks!!

The Go-Go's-Beauty and The Beat
The Silencers-Rock n Roll Enforcers
The Who-Who's Next
The Who-Quadrophenia
Squeeze-Cool for Cats



Got in my car and headed to Sonora Recorders in Los Feliz to say hello to Audra Mae and check out some of her newest songs. This studio is amazing. I stood and watched Audra Mae belt out great take after great take. If I could sing like that, I would. Her vocals were going through the same mixer that Stairway to Heaven was recorded on. That's a lot of holy shits. I also got to experience real plate reverb for the first time. They have 2 plates out in this huge metal storage bin out in the parking lot. It sounds unreal. Sonora Recorders, I'm coming to get you.

Also got to meet Ted Hutt who I've been a long time fan of and is in our top 3 choices for a producer on this record. At one point he said "nunny bits" to describe a part in a song. I'm sold.

So Wednesday was no pube in my french fries to say the least. I went home and listened to my new records and continued to plot my revenge on awful music. I think Sonora Recorders is going to enter the equation. I also think it's time for a little haircut and a pair of jeans that don't have crotch holes in them. Jamatane!!!!

Carlton Lift

I was driving to my apartment yesterday to pickup my guitar and was listening to "Got my mind set on you" by George Harrison quite loud with my windows down. I was at a red light and noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. This guy waiting at the bus stop to my left was doing the Carlton Banks dance and pointing and smiling. I realized he was dancing to my stereo and I started dancing back to him, as best I could sitting in a car with a seat belt on. It was an awesome moment in my life. In these times it seems like people aren't good to each other enough. Can't we just dance some times? If you wake up every day jaded and smarter than everyone else, you gotta go find this guy. He was on the corner of Crenshaw and Olympic. He's the Bonnie Brae of this record. Much respect.

Once I got my guitar, shit was on. We went to Satellite and practiced for a few hours. On the way home I accidently fell onto a giant pile of chicken wings at the rustic inn. Going to check out an awesome studio after work that just got a new 16 track 2 inch analog deck. We're really hoping to do this record on tape. Nothing against pro tools or chair lifts or electric tooth brushes, but we want this thing to sound as best as it can.

I'm heading back east in a few days!!!!! Can't wait!!!

Mean Moe and The Sad Outlooks

At some point in life you just become really good at hanging up window blinds. Easily one of the top 10 stupid things to have to do in the world. Well I was hired to do some handy work for some fine folks this weekend and I think it's safe to say that I'm currently the Michael Jordon of hanging blinds. Just wanted to congratulate myself on that.

I got a little 1x12 cab for my Marshall and got reacquainted with her this weekend. Every time I walked into my apartment I could see the little red light on and I would get butterflies like I was Gary Glitter at a middle school dance. Too soon?

Found out that I'm not quite ready to be able to play eruption by Van Halen. I got a burst of encouragement from an old friend to learn it but it's gonna take a while. How cool will that be though?

I think by the end of this week we will be at the 10 song mark. We're planning to have an acoustic practice and a full on practice before Mike and I had back east for a week. We're at around 7/8 right now. At 10 we'll be halfway done writing the record, and after only 3 practices. Not too shabby.

Still searching for the right producer. Considering doing it ourselves as well. Hot dogs.


Danny

Kahlua and Roy on the Rocks

The 3 of us got together last night at Joe's and had ourselves a little acoustic practice. Joe played with kick and snare practice pads and a shaker, i played my Korean Alvarez and Mikey started by playing my half retarded sg bass and then switched to using Joe's 72 jazz bass, much better. He plugged right into one of my funny roland studio monitors. We ordered a pizza with mushrooms, sausage, and black olives on it to fuel up. The ratio of meat to not meat toppings was a wink disappointing. We also each drank a few new castles.

It's been really awesome practicing quietly. Since the age of 12 or so my vocals have been competing with drums and amps and shitty PA systems, and though I think it shaped the way I sing, I often times just push too hard and end up stuck in this one small range. Playing quietly like this is so much better for focusing on what is actually happening in each song. Trimming the fat off these fuckers has never been so easy. It's audio nudity. And we can practice for way longer when we do this too since my voice doesn't blow out.

What was also nice about last night's practice was we printed out lyrics and all had them in front of us while we played. Now the gang vocal stuff can happen on it's own terms and the guys can actually know what the hell I'm singing about before we get in the studio. As the years go on I feel less and less territorial about lyrics and songwriting. This record is going to be written and performed by 3 humans. It is going to be a piece of art. I don't care if nobody hears it. I don't care if nobody likes it. As long as it gets out into the world, the world will be a better place, like when Roy Orbison was still alive. Speaking of which, it occurred to me recently that everyone loves Roy Orbison. It should almost be a law of some kind. I'm not just talking his music, him as a person, as a being, etc.

New rule: If you don't like Roy Orbison in any capacity, fuck off. Simple enough right? I can't believe he was only 52 when he died. I suggest we were all born the day Roy Orbison died! We were all born in 1988! Sweet dreams Roy. You're a sweet heart.

Danny

Gunpowder for your Musket

So busy my friends. Don't know where to start.

Mike and I got together and hashed out some new songs. He has a rad new bass riff that he tracked and I'm gonna mess around with it. Yesterday we practiced for 5 hours straight. It was amazing. After only 2 practices with Joe we're 7 songs deep into the writing process. This shit is on fire.

We played a wedding on Saturday for our dear friends Shana and Jessica. It was at their house in Silverlake and we played in the backyard. I forgot my capo so our good pal Barry stood next to me held down on the fret I needed the capo for. "Barry The Capo". Legendary. The cops came, but they were unable to police us (zing).

I gotta say, my finger tips are all shredded up from playing yesterday. It feels great. Oh and the drummer from the sahara hotnights wrote me a message on facebook saying thank you for my previous post! "It made the blood go there" -DP Morin

Heading to the NYC and then Lowell in about a week. Getting very excited to see friends and family and set it off. It'll be a nice reset to come back and get crackin again. This record is coming. This record is coming. This record is coming.

Oh and guess what they had at the wedding? Chicken wings

I leave you with a lost gem of a band, The Nerves

Oh how I've missed these Sahara Hotnights

Back in Boston about 7 years ago I went to see The Mooney Suzuki play at The Middle East downstairs. One of the opening bands that night was The Sahara Hotnights. They blew Mooney Suzuki off the stage that night and ever since I've considered myself a huge fan. It appears that they've had to deal with gear theft and label bullshit over the years and I think they got lumped in with all the other bands from Sweden. In addition they're sinfully gorgeous. I remember being at their merch booth at the Boston show and the drummer was standing there and I felt like Garth at Stan Mikita's, floating in the air. I've always felt a good deal of anger over them not getting the dues they deserve, in the States at least. If they were ugly dudes they'd be on the cover of Spin every other month.

That being said I just finally downloaded (legally) they're record from 2007 "What if Leaving is a Loving Thing". I had a hard time finding it for a while. To boot it appears that they're quasi in LA right now, 2 of them at least. It seems I missed an acoustic show at the Viper room a few nights, which makes me want to kick a baby cause I probably stayed in that night listening to the Bangles in my underwear staring at the wall. Hopefully they'll do more shows before they leave. Yes this whole post is solely devoted to them and their wonderfulness. Boost!!!

Dear Jay Z, I love you

It's Simple

I completed 3 new demos today for; Hard Time Reading, Mark's Monologue's, and Square One Stomp. Very excited about all 3. They're all completely different from one another. Mark's Monologue's is about the paradise lost documentaries. Hard time reading is about, well... And Square One Stomp is about the last few months.

I went to see the new Michael Moore "documentary". It was great despite the fact that I fell asleep. Looks like he discovered what I discovered when I was 14. Capitalism is evil. What now? He suggests: Democracy. Bravo. Eat a fucking Vegetable Mike. But you are a smart man.

I drank absinthe on my roof the other night while watching the fireworks from the dodgers game. What a great moment in life. Slept like a bag of shit that night.

We're playing a wedding this upcoming weekend for our friend's Shana and Jessica. A lot of random covers have been requested. Hopefully it will get video taped...

I continue to eat chicken wings like a psycho. Out of control. 7-11, Kyochon, Rustic Inn, The Corner, Some British Pub, etc, etc, etc. The problem is: Everyone fucking has them, they're kind of hard to screw up, and they're so fucking tasty! Anyways at least I'm eating.

Getting pumped up about going to New York in a few weeks and then home to Lowell for a last show with Phill. We're opening for Big D and the Kids Table the night before Halloween. Rambo Priests revisited?

Welcome to Wal-Mart, I love you...


Danny

Loren Savitsky RIP

I just found out that Loren Savitsky, DP and Camera Operator for the Police Me video passed away recently in a tragic motorcycle accident. I only knew him for two days but he was definitely the kind of person you don't forget. He made us feel at ease during the whole shoot and had the same sense of humor as us. The whole time Loren was either building a DIY light for a specific shot he wanted, running around making sure anything that needed to get done got done, busting our chops, cracking jokes, and making us feel as unawkward as possible while we had to be on camera. And as I recall he only had 1 slice of pizza after holding a camera for 12 or so hours. He was hustling during those 2 days and clearly had a vision and passion for anything he did. I was shocked to find out that he was only 23 as he was clearly beyond his years when it came to talent, ability, and professionalism. Our condolences go out to his family and friends. Rest in peace brother.

Motorhead for Breakfast (Lost and Found)

Holy shit.

We had our first rehearsal with Joe last night. We immediately started working on new songs. It was amazing. Got through Sammy Satan, Don't Go Radiator, Mary and Bobby, and I Said I'd start a Revolution. "There's something happening here, and it's VERY clear"-Buffalo Cheesefield

After practice we went to Ye Rustic Inn for some beers and wings. We made 18 wings go away big time. Pumped the jukebox with: The Clash, The Ramones, David Bowie, Golden Earring, Blondie, and Joe Walsh?

I'm so stoked I forgot to eat breakfast. I did however listen to Ace of Spades five times in a row. Ya dig?

Words are running around in my head like crazy. They're gonna be napping on paper asap. I gotta go!

These are the Breaks

Of I course I watched Chinatown on Saturday up on a hill outside as the sun went down the night before Roman Polanski was arrested. What an amazing movie! I ate a turkey hod dog and had an ice cream sandwich too. Jesus.

I recorded all weekend. I got 10 tunes done and tracked. There's a 50's vibe on a few that appeared out of nowhere. I'm also trying to make a conscious effort not to hide behind my lyrics like Bambi by layering a million vocal tracks like I usually do. I'm a stone cold sucker for backup gang vocals, and I don't want that to totally go away, but in time you do learn that less is more. Except of course, when it isn't (decent example below).

We're going to have our first rehearsal with Joe tomorrow night. That should be a big fat blast. Him and Mikey are digging the new shit.

I'm trying to decide which guitar I want to bring in to have setup for normal tuning. I figure if I setup my new goofy bass and one of my 3 guitars in standard tuning for writing/recording demos, it'll still leave me with 2 guitars live that are tuned a half step down. And that's how you justify owning 3 guitars my friends.

I went to Chucky Cheese yesterday with the Davis of Powers. It was our friend Aidan's 2nd birthday so we went and ate 50 slices of pizza and played video games for a few hours. It was smashing. The Eagle Rock mall is bizarre as hell. I think my favorite store there is called "Seafood City". I wish I was kidding.

On Friday night I went to see Bon Iver at The Wiltern. Solid show. He/they definitely need a blue gatorade and a BJ. But an awesome show. Followed it up with a trip to the HMS Bounty. Ate more chicken wings. I'm addicted to chicken wings. That's how this record will be remembered. "Danny was just out of control with the wings, they'd be just falling from his guitar case and he always had some shit in his beard."

Danny Calling

Tough choices for tonight. Do I go see Audra Mae at The Vermont? Do I go see The Riverboat Gamblers at The Knitting Factory? Do I stay in and record songs? Perhaps all 3 if I plan wisely? We'll just have to wait and see.

Mikey came over to Gramercy Studios last night and tracked some hot bass licks. He drank Modelo's and I drank Stella's. At one point I cooked up a fancy batch of Kettle Mania and ate the whole bag while sitting in my plaid chair and listening to Mike's sweet grooves. He's making Matt Freeman look like Stephen Hawking with these new tunes. We've always liked "lead bass" type music. Between Crimpshrine, Green Day, Op Ivy, and Rancid, I don't think we'll ever be capable of just thumping in the corner to fill in the low end. We did a little bass swap for the next few days so I can use his nice bass to track some of the other new demos. He took my funny little SG bass. I think he's going to fall in love with it. The guy from the Whigs plays one and that's another badass bass band.

I'm going to see Bon Ivar tomorrow night at The Wiltern. Should be interesting. I think I may be able to relate to him judging by a story that was explained to me.

The weekend is getting close. Drink a beer in my honor. I listened to this on my way to work and it was beautiful:

Fuck you I'm Liberace

I'm exhausted. I'm pounding coffee like a Dunstable cop. I feel like Apollo Creed post Drago/James Brown. But this is what I signed up for. I got a ton done last night. My mind has become completely occupied with this record. I drummed like a caveman and sang like inpatient for 4 hours and it was so fun. The people down at Satellite rehearsal are certified gems. George, I got your back. Much respect.

Stopped by Ye Rustic Inn with Joe first and grabbed some wings and beers to fuel up. We discussed guitars, recording, and real estate. We plotted a little bit about the production of this record. I'm not revealing anything though.

Tracked drums for 5 songs, it was harder than I anticipated. Then I did some vocals for a bunch of songs. Mikey's coming by tonight after work to lay down some thunder. Some boom boom. Some low end. Know what I mean?

I'm listening to the White Album right now and I'm thinking about going to ye rustic inn for lunch. Not to eat but to retrieve my ATM card :) But if I'm there I might as well eat some more wings. Best wings in LA I say!!!

Stay Free, Danny

I am a little acorn

I just booked time at Satellite rehearsal in Silverlake for tonight. It was the cheapest place I could find. Me, headphones,laptop, 2 mics, kick, snare, hi-hats, and a ginger ale. I'm rushing home after work to throw down some scratch guitars and organize my pro tools files then im zipping over there and misplacing my mercy from 9pm-1am. Home and in bed by 2, up at 7 for work. Fuck it. Let's do this.

I'm hoping to track drums for:
Hornet
Record Players in Every Room
I Said I'd start a revolution
Surrender
My Teeth
Who wants breakfast?
Don't go radiator
Square one stomp
Goodbye addy
for all the functioning addicts
hearts beat away
Mary and Bobby
Friendo

Joined/co-founded a gang on Sunday called The Acorns. It consists of myself, Joe, Ginny, and Jamie. Don't fuck with us, thanks so much. English Beat were amazing and i love lobster and beef jerky and other things too. Ended that night at the Rustic Inn over some mild wings and a jukebox full of my money.

I think we're playing a wedding in October. How awesome is that?

By the end of this weekend I should have a rough template of war in my mind. 20 or so songs. I'm so excited. I'm so alive. WINK

Danny

Lobster and The English Beat

Gramercy studios is on fire today! Every 6 seconds I have a new guitar part or lyric. Just walked around the neighborhood listening to some old demos. We have upwards of 70 songs. It's ridiculous.

Played an awesome show last night at The Key Club. The guitar player from Goldfinger/Black President complimented us and said we sounded like an American version of The Jam. I'll take it. I informed him that Mike's bass cab has Goldfinger stenciled on the back of it and that we suspected it was one of their old cabs. Weird.

Speaking of "what a small world" we found out that our current drummer Sean's cousin's boyfriend is our old pal and drummer Craig Proulx from me and Mike's first band Five-0-Five. Kinda trippy shit considering we randomly met Sean out here and didn't know him from back in Lowell.

This week I'm making I serious push to compile 20 or so solid demos. Then I'm going to show them to Joe so he can get crackin on some drums. Then I'm hunting down Ted Hutt ninja style to convince him that he is in fact the Guy Stevens for this London Calling.

Now I'm off to eat lobster and watch The English Beat in Long Beach. That's a fuckin Sunday my friends. Give ya hearts a kiss for me and buy yourselves something nice. Danny

It's on

Aright seriously, I went out every night this week. It was a blast but I gotta whip my ass into shape. I'm going to look for a new gym today and start pretending that health matters, cause it does. If this record is going to be what I want it to be then I can't really fuck around. No margin for error here.

We had our first show with Sean the gravy Burgess last night. He did an awesome job after only 3 practices. Thanks to everyone who came out to the show, you're all beautiful and exquisite and special. Tomorrow night we play the Key Club with Orange. 20 minute set. Whiplash!

I think I'm going to rent out a studio this weekend to track some drums and vocals. I need to start stacking these demos and get them to Joe so he can start cracking on em. Mike and I were thinking of starting a soccer league, but we both hate soccer so I don't think it's gonna happen.

Gratefully yours,
Danny

Let's go crazy／Prince & The Revolution
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These 6 strings can be bullets

Getting back on a stage tonight. I love it. Saturday too, I love it!

Lots of guitar playing and recording going on. I wrote a new song this morning when I woke up, it was partially written in my dream. I was walking down the street in my dream and was humming a melody and holding a bird. Right before I woke up I sang words to go along with the melody. I'm really glad I didn't kill or have sex with the bird in my dream. That would've been awful. I'm so glad I sang it a sweet melody instead. Thanks bird.

These songs are all over the place. There's a batch of Beatles inspired tunes. The Beatles were this great band from Liverpool. They kind of never got their dues. But I really enjoy them. I want to keep the amount of these songs to a minimum. One is about Owen Wilson. One is about Breakfast. One is about lust and love.

I've also been tempted to do a cover song on this record. I'm torn though because we have so many friggin songs and it's hard to get them all out into the world, but I've been obsessed with "Candles in the Rain" by Melanie Safka. It's ridiculous. I have no idea how we will pull it off, but we fucking will.

I gotta say though, it's starting to near being able to envision all these songs running together. It's time to get clever in the sunny weather. Be well. Danny

White Snake Moan

Had a very productive night/day. Found a fancy secret snowman location and played some drums today, did a run to Staples and revamped our merch for our upcoming shows, Worked on songs, filed paperwork, and read an article about Green Day in Guitar World while enjoying a coffee on Larchmont.

I'm writing a song about my grandparents who both passed away last year, 6 weeks apart from each other. It should be a sad thing writing about them but instead it's put me in quite the good mood. It's about when they were alive. It's a happy song, probably the catchiest of the bunch. The first time Mikey and I recorded in a semi-legit studio I was in 8th grade. I went over to visit them with our fresh new cassette tape and played them "Corner Junkie" while enjoying fruit snacks and Ssips iced tea. It started playing and Papa nodded his head as he tried to process what was coming through the speakers. Nanie gave me a big smile and said "That's you!!?". One time Papa asked me to teach him how to play guitar. I was honored. I strung up an old beater that was under my bed and showed him both the C and G chords, respectively. That's all you really need to know to play punk rock. Unfortunately he never started up "Bob and Hooligans", who I was prepared to manage and profit off.

Had a hard boiled egg for breakfast and a freakshow healthy "chicken" salad from the M Cafe for dinner. About to have some Bud Lights for dessert cause I'm classy. Oh and in case you're wondering, I had rock n roll for lunch.

Also, WTF is this?

This one's gonna be short cause I'm in the middle of recording. I've been writing and recording since 4pm and just stopped to eat a burger and now I'm back. I changed the strings on my acoustic. I always forget that I actually like this guitar. I change the strings so rarely that once they get dull the thing just sounds like garbage. Time to sweetly strum.

I picked up some great records today. The Bangles, Hoodoo Gurus, The Mighty Lemon Drops, etc. I went to Amoeba to pick up The Beatles white album on vinyl but it turns out Amoeba is a pussy, no dice.

I walked around Koreatown with a notebook earlier today and it was nice to be active and creative at the same time. Mikey's coming over tomorrow to record some bass and triangle on these new demos.

This is easily the worst post so far. BYE

Danny

Dear Jesus, give me my fucking money back

Last night was no joke. I got home from work and decided it'd be a perfect opportunity to play guitar in my underpants with my windows open. I hope it didn't distract the guy in the building across as he tried to read The Red Badge of Courage. Then I grabbed a few chicken strips from 7/11 and headed out to see Audra Mae play again and she was amazing! Can't wait to hear her new record. She expressed being a fan of "Police Me" and it made me smile. I saw two gay guys beat the shit out of a couple of frat dudes that were acting foul out in the street. How awesome is that? It was the first fight I've seen since moving to LA. If that's not punk rock, what is? And to all the people who have "been to LA" (aka the Sunset Strip and Rodeo Dr) and knock it because they think it's lame, well put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Ended up at Public House after to learn a thing or two about a new castle! Then...Good Morning!!!!!

My car got locked in a public parking valet lot that is owned by a Church. It closed at Midnight. Fucking midnight? On a Thursday night on Vermont? And of course when I got to the locked gate I was then able to read the clear instructions on how not to fuck up, which were not in plain site last night. Fuckers.

So I go up to retrieve my Ford Escort with the pointless spoiler, and I realize I have no money. No problem, ATM machine right across the street. I go to take out cash, no ATM card in my wallet. I had left it with the bartender at Public House. At this point I'm officially starring in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, except I'm passive and sarcastic instead of nebbishy, and I'm notably younger and poorer than Larry David. So next I scoot down to PH and it's closed until 3pm. So I head back to the lot and the booger who works there gets all aggro with me before I even try to get him to give me a break. If I was gay I would've punched his sorry face.

But needless to say I figured it out and gave him a $12 dollar tip anyway. He was so confused. He was so torn between "I'm so sorry" and "Thanks man!" I just very sincerely thanked him for helping me out. We tip people all the time for doing something well. I tipped him for being a dick. He is perfect at being a dick. Cheers bud!

Now I'm gearing up for band practice and sushi tonight. It's the weekend! Let's do this!!! Danny

Oh Ronnie

My friends, I can't stop listening to The Ronettes. What a joy-filling lot of lady gems. I bet Ronnie learned most of Phil Spector's production tricks. She should produce our record. "Roll The Tanks, featuring Ronnie Spector's Wall of Sound". Sure, yea let's do that. I'll have my people contact your people (insert creepy little industry hugs and kisses).

Something about her voice is so appealing. Definitely a female voice that gawky, white, male punk rockers try to channel. If you listen close of course...

I'm excited about going to see the amazing Audra Mae play tonight in Los Feliz at The Vermont at 9pm. I saw her play there last Thursday, so good.

We're practicing tomorrow night and Tuesday night as we gear up for next week's shows. It's going to feel good to jump on a stage again. It's been a few minutes. I want to kick over a mic stand and run into Mike and verbally scold him after for going out of tune as a result. hahhahaha

Lyrics, riffs. Riffs riffs, lyrics. Parts, hysterics, smiles......





2:52


2:04

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

I've decided to bring Cinnamon Toast Crunch back into my life. It's a great idea.

Picked up a new receiver and speakers for my turntable. I christened it with the first Clash record, Thin Lizzy's "Bad Reputation", and a million bullet proof 7 inches including Jon Cougar Concentration Camp, Magnatone, and The Invalids. Nice.

Started working on the completion of some of our newest demos. The day before Phill moved back home he tracked the drums to Texbook Answers, Satan, and Fairfield Transfer. I'm gonna slap some guitar and bass on those fuckers and then find some kind of secret location to track vocals. That's one thing I've got to figure out. I need to find a bunch of random places to track vocals. I can do everything in my apartment except scream my lungs out. I've been considering inventing some kind of giant astronaut helmet thing that has a mic in it. How awesome would that be? I'd call it "It's now or never".

If you know me let me know if you think of any secret snowman locations where I could bring a laptop and mic and scream and not get arrested.

Petty Cash

Dear Labor Day weekend: THANK YOU!!!!

I'm continuing to hash out the 70 or so demos and work on a whole batch of new songs. Here's my list of favorites so far:

Fairfield Transfer
Sammy Satan
Textbook Answers
Hornet
Record players in every room
I said I’d start a revolution
Square One Stomp
Mary and Bobby
Hard time reading
Surrender
You leave each fall
My Teeth
Decent Social Commentary
Who wants breakfast?
For Walter
St. Califa
For all the functioning addicts
Collisito
Sunday Fun
Turncoat Radiator
Mark’s red flag monologues
Pennies

It's a great feeling to have a bunch of songs that you love and then having the "task" or "burden" of having to pick the best one's. And I don't mean external appeal, but just my own taste. I want this record to be a lot of things. I want it to be a genre killer. I want it to be a throwback. I want it to be progressive. I want it to be now. I want it to be wow!

It occurred to me that maybe the reason I'm wanting to call it "Keeping Warm in the Nighttime" is symbolic of the state of the band. When Mikey and I started playing together we would skate in my driveway and listen to 7 inch records a lot. We had a Lookout Records catalog and would just pick random bands and order them. We discovered some of our favorite bands this way, even til this day; Fifteen, Crimpshrine, Pinhead Gunpowder, Operation Ivy, etc. When we played in Five-O-Five we named our first record after a term found in the liner notes of Pinhead's classic "Carry The Banner". They had this glossary of terms coined in the East Bay area. We idolized that record, band, and scene and wanted to pay homage. We named it "Skatin on Uppers" which meant: "Walking on shoes from which heels and soles are worn" and scared our mothers very much, and rightly so.

So now after playing together for 15 or so years, we're back to the beginning. Back to basics. It was initially a scary thing to face, but we both quickly realized it was ultimately something to embrace. So I went ahead and wrote a song called "Square One Stomp" which I hope ends up being track #1 on the album that negates the need for all pharmaceuticals in the future. Where will all the suits and pill pushers work you ask? Well we need people to work our merch booth and help us carry gear into the club of course. Fret not. There's room for everyone. All is not lost.

My weekend came to a beautiful ending last night as Mikey, Joe the Kid, and myself journeyed out to the Key Club to see "Petty Cash" a cover band that only plays Tom Petty and Johnny Cash songs. It was a blast. It turned out to be a few of the guys from H20, another band we grew up on. Is this all really happening? I feel like any minute I'm going to wake up in Biology class in a pool of drool and still be 16, not 26. And it'd be weird cause I weighed about 25 more pounds then, thanks to Bud Light and Dunkin Donuts and endless meals from Jody Jody. Now I'm out in LA eating Duct Tape Soup and creating something I believe in. I would now ask you all to hug the person next to you, even if it's your enemy. Danny

Hotel Figueroa

I had a ridiculous night last night. Went to my friend's birthday party at The Hotel Figueroa in Downtown LA. It was a cool little back patio/pool/bar setup, very low key. As I arrived I walked passed El Hefe from NOFX and did a double take. I was going to say hello and thank him for having us open for them back in February but I kind of felt like a penis doing that. As the night continued I kept seeing vaguely familiar punk rock looking dudes. I ended up running into Joe Sirois from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and it turned out to be some kind of impromptu warped tour party going on. All of a sudden I started noticing Fat Mike, Tim Armstrong, Toby from The Street Dogs, etc. It was pretty awesome. I shot the shit with Joe all night and we talked about how much we both love The Undertones. I was explaining to him how we're writing the next record and how we want it to be the best thing ever and after a certain amount of beers I just flat out asked him if he'd be interested in playing on it. He seemed into the idea. So there's that. HOLY SHIT!! I'm not going to hold him to it, but it's awesome to hear something like that. When Mikey and I started writing songs together in my garage and his attic we would often listen to The Bosstones classic, Question The Answers. We were like 11/12 years old. The idea that he might play on our next record is so damn awesome.

Aside from that I introduced myself to Fat Mike and thanked him for having us open for them back in February. He was very kind and responsive. I guess I was expecting him to give me a wedgie or something (I just googled how to spell wedgie fyi). A great night all in all.

Today I hit up a flea market and scored a copy of Cheap Trick at Budokan on vinyl for $4. Not pissed about it. In fact I'm in my underpants drinking a Bass listening to it. I'm off to a cookout at Rico and Jen's and I'm excited to play drums tomorrow in a secret location!!! I pieced together a mini kit for recording demos. Kick, Snare, floor tom, hi hats, cymbal. That's all you need!!!! Godspeed

Danny

Holy shit this is gonna be amazing!!

It's time that I do this. It's hot as hell. I'm surrounded by guitars and notebooks and records. Wade Boggs is my godfather when I participate in online role playing games. In regular life it's my uncle Bob, who is a gem of a fella. I'm in the dungeons of my mind hashing out songs and lyrics for the next record. I have set myself up in a manner that allows me to record ideas at any particular time. At home I have pro tools setup in my office/closet. In my bedroom/living room I have a cassette 4-track setup. In my car I have a little digital 4-track that run's on AA batteries and has a built in mic on it. And I have a little hand recorder in my pocket at all times like Norm Macdonald used to use to say things like "note to self: sex with blow up doll not as good as advertised". Speaking of which, where the fuck is Norm Macdonald? I miss him as much as I miss Chevy Chase at this point. They need to join a gym together and start playing patty cakes and taking vitamins or something. But back to writing and recording, I've decided to attempt to make the greatest rock n roll album of all time. I want to take it back, way back. People deserve to be musically love tackled. I'm not going to hold other artists or musicians, dead or alive, on a pedestal anymore. They're my peers as far as I'm concerned. I refuse to volunteer being mediocre at what I love because I'm so full of self-doubt that I don't think I can dethrone the kings. It is my duty to make things explode. If it turns out I was not qualified for the job, you can fire me and I'll fuck you out in the street in front of everyone. Just saying.

I started this blog to share my daily experiences of devoting my entire self to making a record. I am tentatively wanting to call the record, "Keeping Warm in the Night Time" which is the name of my favorite Pinhead Gunpowder song. I share it with you to enjoy. Take care of each other. Danny