Month: February 2008

I guess we’re not SUPER new, since we’ve been practicing since last fall, but we’ve only played a few shows. Here are the vitals:Members: Cory Kibler (guitar, vocals, songwriting), James Tucci (bass, songwriting), Sarah Rosenau (keys, background vocals), and Brock Beckman (drums).

James and I have been in like 4 bands together including The Sleepover (if you count Axeface). Sarah is classically trained, and she also plays with Lincoln Americana heroes Loup River Band & Street Choir as well as a folk group called Blood & Ready. Brock Beckman is by far the most experienced member, having been in Lincoln bands since the 80’s (including Rascal Basket, World Record Players, The Sissies, Wide, and most recently Strawberry Burns!!!).

Sounds like: Well, we’re not hard dance-metal-punk-rock like Robot Creep Closer, and we’re not as “indie” as Shacker… but we’re somewhere in between. I mean, we’re pop rock, but we also have elements of folk and grunge.

As always, James and I are influenced by Superdrag, Nada Surf, The Pixies and Weezer, but there are new influences in the music including Wilco and The Hold Steady. When I was younger and in bands, I was always really hesitant to border on anything I might consider “Americana”, and I was always a little afraid of being too earnest. It’s easy to write cool-sounding songs that are ironic or cynical or sarcastic, but it’s really hard to write a good pop-rock song with earnest lyrics, because there’s a danger of being cheesy. Now, I see this as one of my challenges; I want to write sincere, earnest songs without sounding lame.

Where you can see/hear us: We don’t have any shows in Lincoln scheduled for the future, although I am sure we’ll have one scheduled soon. We are playing in Omaha sometime in May, and along with various Lincoln shows, we hope to make it to places like KC, Denver and Chicago sometime relatively soon. Also, right now Howie is mastering our 4 song EP, tentatively titled, “When Bands Have Attractive And/Or Cool-Looking Members, People Care More Than They Would Otherwise, All Things Being Equal.” Soon, we’ll have the four songs up on myspace so folks can stream them, and we’ll have a physical copy for sale in the next couple of months. We’re also putting up the smash single from the EP (ha!) up on MFR called “Built For It.”

So, I hope you can meet us soon in some form or another, and we hope you enjoy it!

Cory Alan

mis*sion

-noun

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mission

16. an assigned or self-imposed duty or task; calling; vocation.

17. a sending or being sent for some duty or purpose.

18. those sent.

in*sti*tu*tion

-noun

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/institution

1. an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or program, esp. one of a public, educational, or charitable character: This college is the best institution of its kind.

With time, I’ve come to appreciate mission statements. Both of my employers have excellent ones (though one is unofficial, it’s widely used – much more real within our community than the one on the books!). A mission statement provides identity, and direction; it says who we are and where we’re going.

The mission of Mr. Furious Records, a community of artists with roots in Crete, NE, is to facilitate the creation of excellent sound recordings and to curate and distribute the recordings in ways that enhance the community’s creativity and integrity. (v 1.0)

I left out that we’re a “netlabel.” A netlabel is a type of distribution model; we are currently using that model, but the model is not what we are.

We are not an organization. We organize, but our core identity is not institutional; it is communal. If the community goes away, MFR is gone as well. There is no content to MFR; it is an empty scaffolding, carefully conceived, that exists to support artists’ content. As artists identify needs or concerns, the community may respond, but MFR does not push content out to artists that does not speak to a previously discerned call within the community.

We are a mission. We are not any of the means we may use to fulfill our mission.

Friends – I’m drawing up a tracklist for a compilation of my best songs, and I’m asking for your help. Out of all my stuff, can we write a list of 10-12 songs that make me come off as an OK songwriter?

My thoughts at this point in the process are below, and I’ve already included some stuff I anticpate you would pick (“The Picture Song,” “New Slow Sea”) that I might not have on my own. But what am I missing? What is essential?

This list may end up being a limited-run physical CD release with artwork and everything that I’d sell as a fundraiser to help me take kids to Mexico in June to build a house. Or, it may just be the list I burn for new friends. Either way, help me figure it out.

I also need help with the title, which I’d like to be a phrase taken from a song’s lyrics. (The song doesn’t necessarily have to be included on the comp.)

TITLES:

“You Couldn’t Know Whose Fire It Was”

“No Need To Be Fair”

“A Minor Change in a Major Key”

“It’s Good to See You Home”

“The Weight You Carry In Your Voice”

“Try and Leave and it Kills You”

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Songs of -h

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SONGS:

Snow is a Bear (XMAS)

New Slow Sea (Sally Ride, It’s A Trap)

Coast & Plains (Furious Instance)

J. Cougar Mellensong (echoes, Be A Ska Rat EP)

The Picture Song (Tonight the Lone Wolf Rides… Alone)

A Come-On / Relieved (Sally Ride, …Alive!)

Set You Ablaze (Murder in the Nebraska Territories)

Open Columns (echoes, nickel EP)

Back in the Fire (Sally Ride, It’s A Trap)

Tired Chords -live (howie&scott, Summer’s End)

new acoustic track? – 5*C? / I’m Coming Home (Shacker, Knowing Her > Best…)

The Last Song (Sally Ride, …Alive!)