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