Author: Cory

So, Howie (with contributions from friends) started Mr. Furious Records to write, record, and post our music all for free, with no advertisements or profit or anything.  Ironically, both of our for-profit bands (weird!) are playing a show together tomorrow night (Saturday, August 12th, at the Chatterbox in Lincoln.  All ages, 4 bones, 5:30 pm is when it starts). 

Maybe “for profit” is the wrong phrase to use.  Maybe I mean, “we try to break even on the money we spend on making CDs and stuff.”  Although money can be a hassle, if it’s low on your priority list, it’s not too bad.  It is kind of neat to have an actual pressed CD to hand out, although I think even MFR is going to press some in the future MAYBE for free give-away or maybe we give it away if you make a donation to sick penguins, like with the old Shacker/howie&scott CDs. 

You can read about our CD release show here.

Unfortunately, I don’t think they mentioned FIVE STAR CRUSH, FAMOUS CELEBRITIES!  And they called Jesse “Jeffe Hodges.”  Which I happen to think is awesome.

Look for a Furious Instance track on MFR from R,CC!’s record, She Beeps.  And it’s not one you’ve heard before, I bet!  Or maybe, it is!

Have a good Friday!  Hope to see you tomorrow!

Love,

Cory

It’s been a super long time since I wrote one of these bad boys, and whenever that happens I have a million little things that I want to write about, but I’ll see how cohesive I can make this nasty little elf-of-a-blog-post.

The first thing I wanted to briefly comment on was the Echoes mention on Pitchfork.  At first, I was the most stoked because “HOLY SH*T THAT’S HOWIE THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT ON PITCHFORK I BET WE GET GOOGLED!”  And then, I felt the most stoked because of a pride I collectively had for Mr Furious and its mission, because, “Hey! Someone else cares besides us!”  But then, I became finally stoked (and the most stoked) on a part of it I didn’t really see at first, but Howie’s mention of “ripples” in the news update reminded me of it: this mention affirms our interconnectedness quite a bit.  To me, Pitchfork is such a staple in the realm if indie-stardom that seeing a Mr. Furious artist’s name in it just seems unreal; My senior-high class photo might as well be painted on the moon.  But if I can see a mention of Echoes in something on Pitchfork, it’s super-cool proof that the things we think are really far away are actually very close to us, and in fact, we are one in the same. 

TRIPPY, BRO!

This weekend is going to be sickalicious, because I’m heading off to the Bay-Area for sister’s graduation and also garlic appreciation weekend with some friends who live there MIKE AND SHANNON w00t!  Because of that, I am forced to miss out on a HUGE AWESOME CONCERT this weekend in Omaha.  At first it might seem like I’m talking about the FREE Bright Eyes Concert this Saturday, the 17th at Memorial Park, but I’m actually talking about Ladyfinger (new Saddle Creek band, they are metal, they rule) and Ideal Cleaners (That’s not the fact of the matter) at the 49er in Omaha on the same night. 

I can’t see this show, but Matt Wisecarver is doing sound for this show, so eff him for being so attractive and talented!

I just realize that Wisecarver is almost like a weird celebrity ghost on this website, since he was in the Remnants, he recorded some stuff on MFR, and he has an album named after him.

Anyway, the level of connectedness within the MFR community and the level of connectedness (I could use “connection” but guess what? no!) between MFR and the outside world is really showing itself these days.  Just so cool to know that we’re not in a bubble!

Speaking of weird connectedness, one final thing:

Robot, Creep Closer!, Honorable Mention, and 10 O’Clock Scholars at Knickerbocker’s tonight at 9:30!  BE THERE OR BE SOMEWHERE ELSE! 

Oooooh, and R,CC!/5*C in NE on August 12th at the C-Box!  Early show!  More later!

San Francisco, Here I Come!

Love,

CoryAlan                                                                                          

My blogs always seem to be a bunch of crud smooshed together in the semblance of some sort of bigger, more important crud. With that in mind, I’m totally going to make this blog about a theoretical mix CD of MFR songs, and there’s going to be ten songs on the sucker. This is off the top of my head, because if it weren’t, it would take me forever to think of what I’d pick and why. Without further ado, here:

1. Bike, “He Came to Steal Your Children”
2. Sally Ride, “Headbone”
3. D-Rockets, “International Sign for Goodbye”
4. Echoes, “I Don’t Even Know how Right This Sounds”
5. Shacker, “Prove It”
6. Bike, “Eye of the Needle”
7. Echoes, “Open Columns”
8. Beach-Puppy, “Nature vs. Nurture”
9. Shacker, “Fully Okay”
10. Sally Ride, “The Last Song”

Wow, that was tough! And let me make it clear that it does not include awesome furious instances like “Lunch by Yourself” or 12-O’Clock Fence, or the X-Mas EP, or any of that. And also, pretend that there are two secret hidden tracks right before track 1 and after track 10, and those tracks are “As Seen from Side A” and “As Seen from Side B.” Because it would freak people out and really show them what MFR is all about (freaking people out).

Anyway, I’m all sweaty. Who else has a possible MFR mix CD? The only rules are, there has to be 10 songs, they have to be off of official MFR releases (or not; it’s just that too many options freaks ME out), and the track order is of the utmost importance. LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS!

Later, when I think of more crud to say, guess who’s gonna leave a comment explaining that crud? Exactly. My Dad.
Cory

Ever since I’ve been playing live music, I’ve have many different experiences as far as how the show’s been received. I’m sure Howie or Tucci or Nate or Derek or any other MFR artist can tell you the same thing.

Sometimes, there are b-loads of people at shows, and they’re loving it; other times, there are just a few people, most of which are friends who are being supportive.

You’d think that the correlation would run something like this: the better the songs/performance are, the more people show up, and the more people enjoy it. Conversely, if the songs aren’t that great and the performance is sloppy, you’d expect to see a small crowd. But these factors almost have nothing to do with how well a local band draws a crowd.

The key rests almost solely on these factors:

1. The age of your target audience.
2. How upbeat/dance-able your music is, and
3. How many friends you have.

First, let me talk about the target audience. Most music fans would agree that the majority of people who go to shows are usually under the age of 21 (described in this blog as “kids”), because it’s probably the most fun thing they can do on a given Friday or Saturday night. People who are older usually default to bars without live music, because they are old enough to drink, and because they’d rather not pay a cover to have a band drown them out when they’re trying to spit sloppy game.

That being said, the younger kids (remember, under 21) seem to like the rock music. Most show-goers in any city are kids, and most of those kids would rather listen to punk/rock/metal/etc. than folk/classic rock/jam bands/etc. If you’re playing indie-rock or folk rock, chances are your target audience is 21+, but remember, they don’t like going to shows as much as your 16-year-old sister.

Secondly, your music. Even if you have an all-ages show for the kids to come to, you HAVE to make sure you’re fun. It’s okay if the vocals suck, and it’s all right if the musicianship is a little off, but if you can get people in front of the stage, jumping up and down, singing along, and wiggling, then you’ve got them hooked. We all dance to rap songs that we know are stupid. BUT WE’RE DANCING, RIGHT!?

Third: a friend once told me that the most popular type of rock in any local scene is “friend rock.” This, of course, means that your audience will almost solely consist of friends and acquaintences of the band. If you have a lot of friends and you tell them about the show, they’ll probably show up even if you’re terrible, because they’re your friends, and they’re supportive. BUT! If you’ve got all the ingredients down (you do it for the kids, you have fun music, AND you have a decent amount of friends), your friends will show up, tell their friends, and sooner or later, you’ll be playing the Qwest Center (which is huge) with Green Day (who I like and am not making fun of).

Anyway, it’s a strange phenomenon. If you like playing shows for playing show’s sake, it might not matter. But it just reaffirms something that seemed obvious at first but got lost at some point: people want shows to be FUN, and while many can have great fun at a 21+ folk show, EVERYONE can have fun at an all-ages punk-rock show.

Even when I go see my favorite bands live, I have an incredibly short attention span for the sets.  I get tired of standing really easily, my ears get tired of loud music easily (even with earplugs, sometimes), and I more often than not wish the sets would end about 20 minutes earlier than they usually do.  I’ve felt this way while watching Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead, The Faint, Superdrag, and in particular, Built to Spill.

However, once in a while, I see a band perform that doesn’t bore me at all, and actually leaves me wanting more.  Some of the best concerts I’ve ever been to are Jimmy Buffett (my very first concert at 12 years old, and at the time, I was OBSESSED with Jimmy Buffett), The Streets (ultimate dance-party), and now, Spoon/Bright Eyes.

There were two other opening acts; Willy Mason and David Dondero.  I missed Willy Mason because I showed up a little bit late, but I caught most of David Dondero’s set, and it was great- he played beautiful folk songs that were both funny and sweet, and he was accompanied only by a drummer, which added great dynamic.  THEN!  Spoon came on!  WOWOWOWOW

Spoon recently became one of my favorite bands ever, and the fact that they happened to be playing a show with Bright Eyes at one of Omaha’s best venues (The Orpheum) was just awesome.  Plus, I had Orchestra seats, and was four rows back from the stage.  Spoon started off the set with the first track on their newest album, Gimme Fiction, which is the song “The Beast and Dragon Adored.”  People went nuts.  They played at least a few songs off of each of their last three albums, and I knew and sang along to every song.  Their energy was amazing, their performance was immaculate, and Britt Daniel is so very, very cool.  Everyone else was just a little guy compared to him (I believe Britt Daniel is 50 feet tall).

After they were done, I went and got a drink, drank it while in line for the bathroom, and by the time I had finished totally bathrooming, Bright Eyes came on.  The first time I ever say Bright Eyes, it was just Conor, and he played songs off of albums that hadn’t come out yet (Wide Awake and Digital Ash)… while it was a good show, I like to sing along.  The second time I saw Bright Eyes, it was in support of Digital Ash after it had come out, and it was a great show, but out of all Bright Eyes records, it’s my least favorite (even though it’s still really good).  This time, however, he was accompanied by two drummers, a harp, a trumpet, a clarinet, a bassist, a lap pedal guitar, and a keyboardist.  They played songs off of every album, and it was a great mix.  The literal show stopper, though, was the encore: he came back out and sang a few songs, and then for the last, last song, the whole band played “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and To Be Loved).”  It gave me chills.  The song is a big epic of a song with about 50,000 words, but it was amazing, high energy, and I WAS FLIPPING OUT!!!111111111

Anyway, this show was easily in the top three shows I’ve ever seen, if not #1.  Wowie!

So anyway, Nate and I formed our first band, Merona. At first, Merona
consisted of Nate (Bike), Cory (Shacker, BP), Mike Papagni (Sexual
Jedi), Yale Ensminger, and Josh Boys. Yale eventually quit, and Josh
did too, because I don’t think either of them were super interested in
being in a “serious” band- Josh had a billion other obligations, and
Yale just wasn’t feeling it… we recorded two CDs as Merona: “Travels
and Adventures,” which was named after a little diary I wrote lyrics
in, and “If I Could Write This in Fire, I’d Write This in Fire.” For
the second record, we had with us Jesse Gifford (Aegis) who moved to
Ventura from Minneapolis.

Merona was a joke band, kind of- we had songs named dumb stuff like
“Tractor Beam,” “AWAP” (All Women Are Pyscho, ha ha ha ha jay kay), and
“Skelly Bones.” We were really into Primus, Weezer, and The Pixies.
We were also kind of a serious band in the way that we all loved music.
Ironically enough, Mike Papagni had only been playing drums for a few
months when Merona formed and Jesse Gifford got his bass maybe a few
months before joining, and now they’re super talented. Meanwhile, I
listen to Weird Al.

Anyway, I wrote a lot of the songs, but Nate wrote a lot of them too,
and he usually focused on repetitive, beautiful themes (he was super
into Sparklehorse and Spiritualized at the time, and his favorite band
is/was Radiohead). He didn’t sing at the time, so he would write these
pieces and we’d add melodies and words later.

After Merona broke up when I went to college, Nate continued to write
and record his music, coming out with albums like “Johnny Popular Makes
His Mark” and “Have The Terrorists Won?” Meanwhile, I was doing my
thing with Shacker/The Remnants. Sooner or later, Nate thought he’d
buy himself about 1,000 robots so he could force them to make out with
each other and record it…

THE CONCLUSION, PART III, COMING SOON…

When MFR released Nebraska Verses, the MFR audience got a pretty good
taste of the history of MFR and how it related to Crete/Doane
College… but, since the last track on Nebraska Verses, there have
been a few people who have been very important to the identity and
image of MFR.

The first project on MFR to be released that had no involvement from
either Howie or Cory was Bike’s “How Is That Possible?” Bike, or Nate
D., is someone I met during my junior year of high schoo, after I had
moved back to Ventura from Coloradol. I met Nate through a mutual
friend from elementary school, and we quickly became friends. In fact,
the first thing Nate every really said to me was a comment about one of
the bands I had written on my backpack (The Pixies). He was surprised,
because he was the only one he had met so far who liked the Pixies, or
had really even heard of them.

We also used to draw little donkeys and bears on each other’s notebooks!

At this point, I had about two years’ worth of guitar experience under
my belt, and I wasn’t too great. Nate had about a year or so, and he
was already as good as me. He taught me how to play Quake, and I
taught him how to do a barr chord.

After we had gotten to know each other better, we decided we were going
to start a band, which would be the first band for both of us…

TO BE CONTINUED…

This blog is going to be three fold, as cleverly suggested by the title. 

The first musing I have is on the howie&scott (or as I like to call them, Scott Money Big, or S$B) double-disc, signs.comets.  I have listened to the CD plenty of times, and although I know they were seperated into two CDs for a reason, I still listen to them as if they were a whole work (like, I won’t usually listen to just one or the other; usually it’s the two right in a row).  I remember being at Howie’s house, helping him EQ some of his uncle band’s songs, and Howie mentioned something to me about the “signs” disc from signs.comets being, in his opinion, the single most important artistic achievement he has made thus far. 

To Howie, signs is not just a better CD musically- it meant more to him to write, I believe, and from what it looks like, it sounds like he’s poured just about 100% of himself into signs, emotionally.  Not that he didn’t with any other musical effort he’s done, but I know what he means- there are some moments when you write a song, and you can’t believe how accurately it describes how you feel.  It doesn’t happen often for me that I write a song and say, “Holy sh*t- this is EXACTLY how I feel!”  Language and music are tough to manipulate sometimes, but for Howie, it sounds like he was able to do just that for the creation of “signs.”

Final paragraph on signs.comets- I was listening to “comets” a few weeks ago in my car on the way to work, and I had a realization that went against what Howie had said, at least at first, and my realization was this: that “comets” was probably the better record of the two.  I know this probably doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to most people, but it’s a rare occurance when I don’t agree with Howie on which albums are better, especially when it comes to the records we’ve written.  For example, “Prove It” > “Mixed-Up Head.”  But I bet even Scott Stapp could tell that.  Actually, for some reason, I bet he would like “Mixed-Up Head” better.  Anyway, the point is, I believe that there’s a good chance that “comets” is the better record- it’s more accessable without being too accessable, the lyrics and songwriting are wonderful, and it’s cohesive in a way that signs doesn’t accomplish.  But after mentioning this possibility to Howie, and thinking about it afterwards, I came to the conclusion that just because “comets” might be better than “signs” doesn’t mean that “signs” shouldn’t mean more to Howie as the songwriter than “comets.” (as an aside, Howie should feel free and, well, obligated to correct or amend anything I’ve written here). 

Dance Parties-  Sometimes I get bored at my favorite band’s concerts.  I’ve gotten bored while Cursive, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Nada Surf, Ben Kweller, Bright Eyes, and countless other “favorite” bands have played.  Why is that?  Because at a live show, I need something more than just the songs.  I need an atmosphere.  I need energy.  I NEED HEART.  And that’s why, out of all of the concerts I’ve ever been to, stupid punk shows and ESPECIALLY hip-hop shows have been the best.  Even if I don’t know the song, I usually enjoy watching an Honorable Mention song live better than watching some Bright Eyes songs.  The best concert I’ve ever been to was The Streets- it’s the only one that I was never bored at.  In fact, I was PUMPED.  It was awesome.  So much energy, and I was dancing the whole time.  What do you guys think?

Finally, ambition.  Is it wrong to want everyone in the world to hear your song or read your cool, funny Noose article?  Is it wrong to want to consider demo-submitting and/or newsletter advertising to get your name out there?  When we step on stage to perform a show, we are not only silently admitting that we believe our songs are worth listening to- we have taken it upon ourselves to make sure that people DO listen to our songs.  We’re making these songs for more than just ourselves.  Although the songwriter should be the only one truly concerned with his or her own work, it doesn’t really work like that- after all, why would MFR even bother to post our music if we didn’t believe it ought to be heard by others? 

Is ambition in music a bad thing?  I think these questions can all be answered by studying motives.  Some people start bands because they want to “make it big.”  Others start bands because they want to create new, original exciting music.  These two types of people blur in a lot of ways.  I’m perfectly happy to be a part of the MFR community, giving away music, but really (and possibly hypocritically), if Robb Nansel from Saddle Creek called me tomorrow and said “I want to sign Benjamin Axeface,” I’d do it in a heartbeat.  Mostly because I want as many people to hear my music as possible.  Plus, imagine the possibilities- if Benjamin Axeface or any other MFR artist got signed, that opens a door for every other MFR artist as well.  Also, a small part of all of us (no matter how focused on what really matters in music, I believe) would like to spend our days reading and writing music and volunteering and doing things that matter to the world, rather than working crappy 9-5 corporate jobs that don’t do too much for the good of society.  Maybe this sentiment is tainted with an unhealthy kind of ambition, but I can’t lie about how I would act if the opportunity presented itself.  Maybe the difference is in whether being signed or getting big is the main goal or simply a by-product of music.

I know there’s a lot in this blog- please feel free to pick and choose what to comment and/or reply to.  Just some thoughts for a Sunday night.

Cory Alan