Category: News

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!)

Last Friday I picked Scott up from the airport.  He’s back in Nebraska now, after six months-ish playing music on cruise ships.  His cell number and email are the same, so welcome him home, see his photos, and hear his stories if you can!

I played a bunch of new CDs for him, he played me some South American music, and he heard h&s’ “Snow is a Bear” from XMAS for the first time (weird!).  I had only given him written instructions to record a lesser-known carol in A minor, and anything else he thought might fit my description of the tune (which is where is mini-fantasia on “Ukrainian Bell Carol” came from.  You can hear it during the song’s bridge).

Are you guys ready for another recipe?  I’ll try to post one (or more?!) this weekend.  -h

Update – Thursday, 9:43 AM – The new jams are UP at myspace.com/fiftybearsinafight 

Hey all – just quick – Fifty Bears in a Fight, including Drew, made a five-song practice tape tonight just so we can hear what the hell we’ve been up to. I’m dropping it into ProTools as I type, and will have it up at our myspace this weekend. It’s pretty rough and out of control.

In a few spare minutes, I’ve also started tracking bass and keys for my upcoming There is Something and not nothing. That’s pretty wild, too, I think. I’ll probably have to do an acoustic version, just to prove it’s me.

5*Matt told me that 5*Joel has a gig this weekend playing guitar in the studio for a girl who’s going on America’s Got Talent! or some such show (I have a TV now, but no cable or even bunny ears, just DVDs). So he’s had to learn a bunch of Hannah Montana songs, but he’s getting *paid*! How rad is that?

Speaking of Hannah Montana, I’ve been arguing with my cube-mate at work about whether her music is great art or not. In the process, I’ve come up with a new way to talk about how I think aesthetic value works. Remind me to tell you next week; tonight I’m not feeling well, so I’m going to bed and read “The Golden Compass” while the practice tape continues to play through. -h

See WIRED mag’s article “David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists,” with links to his interview with Thom Yorke.

What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that’s not bad news for music, and it’s certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists…

…So where do artists fit into this changing landscape? We find new options, new models.

Where there was one, now there are six: Six possible music distribution models, ranging from one in which the artist is pretty much hands-off to one where the artist does nearly everything. Not surprisingly, the more involved the artist is, the more he or she can often make per unit sold. The totally DIY model is certainly not for everyone — but that’s the point. Now there’s choice.

Byrne maps out the territory of the post-CD music business, and his six possibilities range from Madonna’s new deal at one end of the spectrum to the fully DIY at the other. All pop (in the broad sense) artists should be thinking consciously about where they’re trying to fit on the spectrum.

~

As I’ve distributed burned copies of XMAS this year, several people have tried to pay me for the discs. “It’s not like that,” I explain with some difficulty. “We give our music away.”

But in the interview with Byrne, Thom Yorke said something that’s nagged my memory since the start of Mr. Furious Records. He’s talking about Radiohead’s recent decision to let people name their own price, including zero, for downloading In Rainbows (my emphasis); “…it was really good. It released us from something. It wasn’t nihilistic, implying that the music’s not worth anything at all. It was the total opposite. And people took it as it was meant. Maybe that’s just people having a little faith in what we’re doing.

I’ve always been concern that the implication of Mr. Furious’ distribution model is that our music is worthless. In a consumerist culture, where price largely determines value, what is free is often understood as something that can’t be sold.

Radiohead (and, to be fair, other artists who pioneered the model in the past couple years) have found a way around this conundrum, creating a model that is both a critique of consumerism (you can choose to have the album for free) and allows for an expression of value in a way that is understandable in the wider culture (you can pay what you want).

So the question is;

Assuming the technical and person-hour obstacles can be overcome, would it be a good idea for MFR to release albums this way?

The Onion AV Club’s Best-of-2007 list is the… best… one I’ve seen around the web. Since I don’t hear *everything* like journalists do, and many of my greatest listens this year have been older stuff I’m getting into (Depeche Mode & Spoon are notable), I feel unqualified to offer a list. I’m sure Cory and I will cobble something together under a header other than “Best of 2007,” though.

I was mildly surprised by the presence of Low’s record in the # 17 slot because it hasn’t been on a lot of other lists. Same with Jesu at # 12, Bloc Party at # 10, and Band of Horses all the way up at # 5. But that’s why I like the AV Club’s list; they seemed to step back and take the year as a whole, seriously considering who made great music this year (as opposed to what has been fashionable (Pfork) or indie-popular (everyone else) in 2007).

The AV Club’s flexible points-based rating system is also a cut above the standard procedure; they explain their methodology in the article.

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Archive.org has been slow this week, making it hard for some folks to download or stream XMAS. We apologize. Archive.org does us a giant kindness – makes MFR possible, really – so please be patient with them!

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In project-news Matt and I rocked with Drew as Fifty Bears in a Fight last night, and that was exciting. You may know Drew from such Lincoln bands as Rent Money Big. We are now seeking a singer with some kind of Big Rock Voice; a howl, growl, bark, or wail. This someone may or may not be influenced by metal or blues music, and may certainly be of any age, gender identity or orientation, cultural background, etc; voice is all that matters to us. Some singers we would have taken if they were available include Lemmy from Motorhead, Ozzy, Dave Grohl, the guy from Ladyfinger (ne)…

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This week I also finished writing a new record called There is Something and not nothing. It’s different, it’s catchy, and Matt will play drums on it. Beyond that, I don’t know what to say yet.

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Scott sent this message from south of the equator.  “These tracks” are his horn and flute parts in “Snow is a Bear.”

Yo h, It’s probably too late, but I checked and I recorded these tracks in the Atlantic at approximately

Lat: 25* 31′ S

Long: 44* 11.70′ W

I repeat…

Lat: 25* 31′ S

Long: 44* 11.70′ W.. wait I guess you don’t have to repeat over e-mail. Hope the holiday season is treating you well. Good to hear from you. Can’t wait to see you. Merry Christmas

sm

XMAS – It will be ready, in one week; same bat-time, same bat-channel. My new original song, “Snow is a Bear,” is nearly mixed and sounding pretty good. It’s nice to hear the sound quality and production improve from 2005. Not that I’m down on that stuff; but I’m happy for concrete evidence I’m not in aesthetic stasis. Cory may also have a new song – TBD.

5*C – I’ve started mastering for a new CD release that will combine our two EPs, and maybe another track or two. The Red EP has been criminally underheard; our own fault. But we aim to correct it in big way. We have also received our original sessions and stem mixes from Westend Studios, and we’ll be experimenting with re-recording some parts of songs (keys/guitars), without any expectations for what the results will be. At the very least, the new disc will bring together the original mixes from Sleepless Nights and Red, and that will be fantastic in itself. Anything more is pure frosting.

The Combine – Two more hours in the lab will knock out mastering on The Combine’s debut, and its banging. The guys are in the planning stages for a CD release. MFR will release an EP from the Combine simultaneously with their album; the EP will contain 2-3 album tracks and 2-3 exclusive songs. We are very excited to add The Combine’s considerable talent, and their status as our first hip-hop artist, to the MFR catalog.

I’m also writing/demo-ing a new record. It might be done before Boots, depending on the Boots cast. I don’t know what band-umbrella it’s going to fall under.

See my recipe for Sweet and Sour Winter Veggie Soup, as promised, below!  Fury gots to eat.