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Post by unoclay on Nov 15, 2006 20:28:20 GMT -5
Plunky Brewster/Old Mad Joseph/Everyone
Few thoughts:
This is working out great. It is magically becoming a first incarnation of a project i've long imagined called "Band By Mail". I think the title is partly self-explanatory, except that my vision is mailing digital files of tracks to one another, then people adding to the track, passing it on to the next person, who would add another piece, ad infinitum, or until it is 'done'.
I personally think it can work on the projected timeline, but i am obviously not playing the instruments, so my input is worth about nothing on that front. You guys are the geniuses that will make it happen for real. My main function will be to get the players to Vermont for the actual session, and then to stand around gawking and making the occasional useless comment. I will also handle the majority of promotion, distribution (this is where i can really shine) and production costs.
I have an item to discuss: I think the first part of the title is great: Banjo Jones and Bare/Bear Bones I think the 2nd part is a bit wordy, and problematic. "The Beginning of the Republicank Revoluno Jones"...the problem is that: the subtitle is longer than the actual title (i dont like that too much) and i think the repetition of "Jones" x2 would bother me forever. If you guys like it fine or veto me, that is kool, no worries. But also imho, its somewhat pretentious, given that we must wait and see if indeed anything is beginning/ending/treading/swinging. I like the phrase on its own, but i might be suggesting that the stand-alone title "Banjo Jones etc" is better...?
Maybe subtitle: "The Beginning"?
I. E.
Banjo Jones and Bear Bones :The Beginning:
ANYway.....
Yeah, sincerely, Squirrley Banjo, i think this will work out fine. I dont think we're gonna get to VT and its gonna be El Perfecto..i think its gonna come out like a raw, awesome jam/album?
Joe, no worries on the timeline whatsoever. You do so much damn work on so many things that you are entitled to get the initiation stuff done whenever it happens, eh? You wring the washcloth until its dry, and then let us know when the bathtub is ready for the other passengers. Incidentally, I told Caleb about the concept, and his stock response was "Wow, sounds cool". I think this meant he's in. Ro9ce calls this kind of thing "the Tao of Caleb", and i have to agree.
As Kelly-hair mentioned above, I think Tom Po is producing something to contribute to the album. It might need some production/modification to fit the theme of the CD..since his venue is hip/hop. Maybe if he sends you some vocals without backing, they can be mixed into some basic jams (i.e. capture some recordings of Joe and Nic jamming, nothing special, then add samples of Tom?) I'll speak to him about it.
Also, i am gonna get Thor to make something up for this album. Thor is a great musician and very creative, so he will be an asset. Plus he plays both items in question, so it will be neat-o. A major collaboration??!!
If any of these concepts dont work for y'all, let me know. Nic, I am in Miami and I met a pediatrician here that reminds me of you. He's from West Virginia but he's got that soulful southern vibe.
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Post by unoclay on Nov 15, 2006 20:36:03 GMT -5
I just finished a singificant portion of a bottle of red wine, then left messages on both Tom Po and Thor's message machines regarding "working on the project". So hopefully this will activate all spheres.
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Post by unoclay on Nov 15, 2006 20:52:51 GMT -5
In terms of theme for the album, i feel like it exists already, i can feel it and see it. I have kind of made the assumption that the title conveyed something of the right concept....
A dark forest. Kind of mossy and hanging trees, pathways through the city. An old man with a kindly face. Straw hat or a big floppy lid. Suspenders? Banjo Jones, here he is, he grins and lives alone, a happy sort, no worries for this sage. Bare Bones: A grinning, non-speaking skeleton. Maybe he speaks, maybe he just gestures. He has not appeared yet. Banjo Jones doesnt know he exists. Banjo Jones might know exists in the back of his head. Banjo Jones might live in the forest in a cabin. He sits at the base of a tree and plays his banjo during the day. His hat is tilted back. He has a pipe and might take a toke between runs of music.
Once upon a time Banjo Jones sees the dancing skeleton materialize out of the corner of his eye. He isnt scared, because he has a notion that Bare Bones isnt a threat, he's a good guy, he's just a no-skin-skeleton from a different dimension. Everyone knows Bear Bones knows Banjo Jones! He knows him out of the corner of his eye.
A tune begins. The bass is Bones, the banjo hestitates, begins, the dance is on in the forest of mossy trees between the dead and living men and spirit.
So, i think the title made it pretty obvious. Just to clarify.
Also, another idea: Joe, how about a 2nd CD (bonus CD!) to accompany the main disc with the raw tracks (such as the recent posts) as a bonus: Free Bonus: Republicank Musings Bunos Disc!! I am also going to talk to Vort and Kellyher about painting 100 small 'special editions' to give away with the initial release.
Ok i promise i am done for the night. I have a flight at 5 AM and nothign to do except sit here and imagine art.
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Post by funny name on Nov 15, 2006 22:29:12 GMT -5
I'll rework the ones youve aproved and work to bring you some more and also think about the A and G jams. yeah, lets have one jam in g, one in a and then maybe even one that goes G A G A. . cool. just some fyi aside, when it comes to the "home key" scenerio that i was talking about with A and G... its sort of either/ or, that would be home. its sort of like, the banjo main tuning is in open G, so if a song is in G there are all these moves you can do especially including open strings and stuff.... and if its in A, i toss a capo on there on the second fret and do all the same kinda stuff... so a song that goes between G and A would be cool, but wouldnt necessarily use the 'home key aspect' when it switched to A midsong. that said, that structure could still be easily accomodated. if a song were to switch keys midsong, from G , going to C or D (key shift) would be more natural to the open tuning than A. again, not that it matters a whole lot, just replying. nic
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Post by unoclay on Nov 15, 2006 22:40:15 GMT -5
Question: cant you 'pick' it like a guitar? Im not saying, "Yo, whats wrong with you, cant you pick it?" Im saying, "Is it not possible to pick the banjo like a guitar, and therefore play whatever note you want?"
I am not playing a banjo right now, as you can see.
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Post by owl master on Nov 16, 2006 10:13:26 GMT -5
"Question: cant you 'pick' it like a guitar? Im not saying, "Yo, whats wrong with you, cant you pick it?" Im saying, "Is it not possible to pick the banjo like a guitar, and therefore play whatever note you want?""
well sure you can pick it like a guitar, and yes you can play any note available on the neck, however, to pick notes in rapid succession (in the way that the synth-banjo is on that recording) requires use of finger picking, which as you can imagine , three picks can make more notes faster than 1 pick held between two fingers. imagine playing a piano with your right hand with just your index, middle and thumb finger... you could do very fast like tapping your fingers on a table 1,2,3 123 123 123 123 123 123 123... this is why banjo playing is able to go so fast. a good banjo player can play accurately up to a speed of 15 notes per second! and the average uptempo bluegrass banjo song is played at 6-10 notes per second.
now you could easily play those notes with just 1 finger or with a flat pick, however it wouldnt roll quickly.
then taking into consideration the layout of a fretboard, you have another constraint, that is, notes that can be played and adjusted to quickly within reach.
you may hear these kinds of speeds from a great finger picking guitar player, playing spanish or classical music, but you wont be hearing it from a flat picker... (i mean, john mcglaughlin is pretty damn fast using hammer ons and pulloffs), but that is a fringe exception. this is because the fingers can flail much faster and more naturally than the wrist at high speeds. not to mention its a 3 to 1 ratio.
nic
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Post by joe on Nov 17, 2006 7:06:32 GMT -5
nic, sounds good, we'll seperate the G and A.
Clay- sounds good, I would keep all the bonus tracks as online features. careful with tom and chris and caleb, they are 18 days late for a visit to vt they promised. as the project expands i want to stay in my niche, demos and final VTrecording session with nic,caleb, josh and you. I just want to be cautious about expanding past that core 5some when the time comes to hit the studio, our time will be short and our budject shorter. I think any extra supplimenatary material will need to be "in" our hands by Jan 11 to make sure we have enough time to incorporate it before our studio date. Lets start looking at the weekend of 1/20 or 1/27 for our recording session date.
**********we could just record at my house with borrowed/rented equipment, but i thought going to an outside studio will help us feel more focussed and professional. What do you think?
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Post by joe on Nov 17, 2006 7:09:44 GMT -5
also i could try to arrange to come down there to record, but i think the adventure of you guys travleing many miles will add excitment to the session...
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Post by joe on Nov 17, 2006 12:52:34 GMT -5
sorry, iwas tired and grumpy this morning so my tone may have been negative. Clay you are the producer here so you are in charge. We would not resent you for this, we would admire you like captain picard. sometimes captain picard has to make descisions and pass them down. he is the captain. you are the captain of this progect. to describe it in a different way, you are like captain kirk. I'm mccoy, nic is spock, caleb is checkov, and josh is scotty in the engine room. Maybe we should switch nic and caleb, caleb's tao is kindof vulcan like...
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Post by chriscank on Nov 17, 2006 17:41:35 GMT -5
just you wait for the VORCAN Bare Bones Abstract Pop-up Insert!
More info to follow soon...
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NatureboyRickFlairs understudy
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Post by NatureboyRickFlairs understudy on Nov 17, 2006 19:26:17 GMT -5
Zwhile we are talking star trek analogies.... we should all be big veiny heads (talosians), entangled in a web of each others more or less real delusions. nic
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Post by joe on Nov 19, 2006 8:15:12 GMT -5
Unless there are objections we’ll scap most of that round, retaining 06 (needs title), something like jam in C>05 Beat jam, and tennatively jail Mama. Lets start experimenting with Jam in G, and Jam in A. Nic can you record a few ideas and post. I recommend this esnips unless you have a better option, they give you a gig of server for free. Also maybe a GAGA or AG AG jam. The album “disentigration” by the cure is 85% jam in A, so we can do as much in a stationary key as we want without worrying about comercial failure. Again those tracks I posted are just the first brainstorms prefirstdrafts, track 06 is Dmaj F#min G#mag than back to D but with a little G# mixed in the D major. I’ll try to record either straight piano, or Bass and banjo versions tonight so you can see what I mean about the latituude we have in straying from the preliminary demos. Clay track 8 4:45, I don’t have a specific panang phrase in mind, the instrumentation (Wah Clavi) is one of my favorites and very common. I very oftenly try to mix up past tunes into the new ones, but this time it was coincidence or unconscious. Obviously the problem with prolific output is a lack of individuality/originality. Eventualy once I’ve got my catalogue figured out and organized I’m going to go through and break the songs up according to similarities. Nic I definitely understand the concerns about long distance and asynchronus jamming. I wish I could come down to work this stuff out in person. I’ll be looking for a window but I’m in the literaly shitty health care industry so I’m kind of stuck here. This is just a start though, after I finish school I’ll be working school teacher hours so we’ll be able to expand on the banjo bear system in person. As far as Naysayer, about 35% of the posters here at the nerd land junior message board have been officialy placed under interdict for being “playa-haters & naysayer’s” regarding the controversial P22 2003 summer us tour. Try to get the bucket of truth going with caleb, he can probably predict note for note what I would play, if you guys can get together we can shift the focus to whatever comes from that colaboratuion. *********************** I went back to the drawing board and tried to reflect on some of my favorite chord sequences. Here are some more, see what you come up with off these, and I'll try to make another round of demos, this time with bass banjo instrumentation. -C Gmin -A - ACD|GDA-AG#C# -DAmin|CDF#G#(singlenotesfastloop)|AminGD I've got one more in mind, I'll descipher it by the time the new demo round is posted, I'll redo that 06 and 05beatc that we kept from the first round, also that ADFC3/4 we didn't demo yet. Again keep the G and A jams in mind. ********** Nic, why don't you check out a few demos I did with caleb and see if you want to keep one of the sequences: econocank.degicank.com/Accoustic22ElectricMg/
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Post by unoclay on Nov 20, 2006 18:45:32 GMT -5
Hey there,
Good recommendation on the Accoustic 22 link. I listen to that one all the time, and this could definitely lead in the correct directions.
I have been busy this weekend with tDS and Red Rocket, sorry for not checking the board. Oh yeah and work has been hell but no excuses.
No worries Joe, i feel ya on the 'fear of too much added people' item. I think the album core/majority WILL be the quar/quintet you outlined. Josh says he has been reading these messages and is good to go. Caleb and I hang out every day and somehow we've barely discussed this stuff, but the bits and pieces of conversation were "sounds good" everytime. I think Caleb will be available for rehearsal if i can get him a CD of some prospective tracks/chords/etc....post em and I'll take care of it...if you have other concepts to run past him I will do it!!
Joe I also owe you a call for the tracks I am thinking of from the Econocank 'Best of' CD. Will be done soon, perhaps tonight. Still at work at 7 PM here....need to eat some breakfast soon
Nic, some of the tracks should definitely (with your input) be 'picking' tracks, and I dont think it needs to be the high-tech kind of picking....i need to play you some of the sounds I am thinking of...plunky, slow, almost dopic sounds of picking note-to-note....if you're cool with it of course. I actually think that a 'dopic picking banjo' is a really great sound, if you're into trying it..not necessary to have lots of speedy dexterity to hit the sound i am imagining, but you are by far the expert in this dept, so I owe you a call as well to demo some ideas.
Sorry i didnt get to talk much on Sat Nic!!! quite a busy night!
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Post by unoclay on Nov 20, 2006 18:47:55 GMT -5
Oh yeah, also, on the "Tom" and "thor" tip....if these guys come through with anything, i have warned them that the use of any tracks/submissions is going to be at the descretion of us, the B&B team. That means if Tom hands us some whack shit, we're going to discard or edit as needed. Joe i am especially thinking of your post-production wizardry for use of some Tom sounds. I.E. weaving it in/out of the background if/where appropriate. Or just put it on the bonus tracks album if nothing else.
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Post by chriscank on Nov 20, 2006 20:36:43 GMT -5
Well Thom Blanks already finished his track...you can use it or not, but as his legal advisor, Thom holds sole ownership of said track and does not agree to any tweaking of said track. That, as they say would be wack...he can just take his music elsewhere if it is not well recieved. I don't see anyone else in DegIcanK going on a Europe tour anytime soon....oh, wait. VORCAN is.
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