summer inside, in spencer

we join our heros in the middle of their greatest battle yet, the recording studio. waging war with schedules, shitty takes, and ill-fated equipment has left the young heros, well pretty fucking pale for the most part. 

ok so before go on, lets talk about what happened since february. 

the studio we recorded at was great. the people we worked with were amazing and i for one (fuck, it's been long ass time. my name is warren by the way, thanks for reading) learned so much. we got a great sounding version of my author out of it. so march has a couple shows and so does april and we start getting a little bored playing in dives and for shows that seems kinda thrown together, so we stop playing shows in the area unless its gonna be with a band we really like or it pays. about the same time, we are talking with the producer who did that demo of my author thats posted west-north-west of this and the investor who fronted the money for the session about coming back. well they want us to record four more songs and get a nice little EP under our belts. we agree and start recording again down there sometime in may. a couple weekends go by at this studio (can't be quitting our day jobs just yet) and i get a call from the investor who by now is acting as our label manager and business partner (more on that later) and we talk about some of the other tunes I had written and showed him and the producer at a meeting prior to arranging any studio dates and he wants to just go ahead and do a full album. to most bands, this is a dream come true , but somehow the words, "we don't have that much material prepared" was translated into, "sure, see ya saturday". 

were now in june and getting the drums our of the way at a making-sure-this-is-the-take-you-really-want pace and if i remember correctly, the drums get finished right before i get married. (the real funny story was on the honeymoon) the day before my new wife and i are supposed to come back from our beach/mountain vacation, the guys say that no one can make it to the studio and that we've essentially lost a weekend. i simply cannot stand for this and my loving and understanding wife recommends i go the studio to get something done. (it's really not hard to know when you've found the one)

more weeks of recording go by and guitars are started, then bass, then back to guitar, then some vocals, then guitar again, and we notice that there is one song that sounds weird. one track was recorded with me, kenny, and ryan in a room together without a click track and without any cuts. it was going to be our way of saying, "yeah we can play, suck it" and it turns out we cant. this brings us to august 1st sometime 'round midnight and preparing to surprise the the producer with my band to redo an entire song rather than just show up for a relaxing day of vocals (and my weekly dose of self-loathing).

we had one show this summer. it met both of our criteria in that we played with two great bands and we got paid. not bad for a group of scoundrels in raleigh, nc.

so if it remember correctly (for a second time tonight), i try to give a slightly humorous history and catch you up our past events and then give the plans for the near future. 

hoping to have this album done by august 17th. that's about it, get this fucking album done. it's not that i don't like recording or that i'm ungrateful, i'm simply ready for the next step. i went into this thinking it would take at most, two months, and it's like it'll be around four but i guess thats the way she fucking goes. im trying to be a total douche on the internet and let everyone know that we're here and still alive and we've started looking for shows again. so far the search has gone unfruitful but i'm pretty confident we'll find a gig or two in september and definitely be going strong again by autumn.

as always, check out the reverbnation, the facebook, and our youtube account. we have a hilarious video that anyone in a band will totally click with.

hope you guys dig it. 

later.

Still Stammering

I writing this on my phone so it's gonna be a shorter one. So it's been about a month since I posted last and I figure it was time to put something up. So the band is doing really well at the moment. We are writing material, we have shows booked and were going out and promoting them, we're recording and mixing things on our own and got an invitation to go to a studio and record for free, and we're having fun. We can talk business and get on each other's nerves about music and what we are doing but at the end of the day, we can get a beer together and make obscene jokes. Our first February date is this Friday, the 7th and it's with some really good bands.

The studio were going to be recording in is supposedly pretty legit. A connection sent him our music and he offered us recording time. We do have to drive all the way out to Spencer, NC, but t should be fun at the very least. Between the shows and recording, February is booked nicely  be march is looking about the same. April is a month we are setting aside for ourselves to set up a really dope show playing with bands that we want to play with.

Well that's the update for Stammerings.

Four months later...

So it's been four months. A lot has changed.

A new drummer has joined our group. An old friend to Me and Dillon, Ryan Masecar is on board and man have things changed. A great drummer, he also has a great ear for music and there are four people contributing to the band and creating a new sound. That first week in October that we played together really tough though. Hearing him on drums made me realize all the work I had to do on my instruments and I think the other guys felt some pressure. We play a show a couple weeks later and everything goes pretty well. I had just gotten a new cab and new strat so I was feeling like a real MF walking in. Dillon just got a Vox too and he was using his 2x12 cab with it and we were nice and loud. Shit goes well and we have another show in November and its pretty good one. My gear craps out on me but I fix in the middle of the song. The guys hold it together so everything is fine but it still sucks.

Once school got out for me and Kenny, we starting recording practicing more and recording. Four songs engineered and mixed by Ryan and they sound great (I guess a audio degree will do that).
Last night we had our last show of the year and it was the best one by far. Our songs were tight, our sound was brutal, and we put on a great show.The only hiccup was that was no drum rug. Anyone who has ever dealt with this situation knows how much a pain it can be and it really was. It was something no one thought about and luckily one of the other bands had a piece of carpet that we used but it wasn't enough. The best part of the night was that we sold almost all of out CDs! Granted they were hand made and we were only asking for donations, or even just to take em...but regardless, we got rid of 15 EPs and made 11 bucks. OK so we went hungry, but none the less, we met a lot of great people, got some free shit from the other bands, and got offered another show with the same production company. A successful night indeed.

So we have another show on the 3rd and hopefully we get on the bill for that other one on the 16th. Plans to record another 4 songs are in the works and we are getting out social networking together. Well its not 5 yet but fuck it, its new years eve. Hurrray Beer!

Folk musica

First off I would like to apologize for the excessive ranting in this post. Digression takes over pretty quick when you have burning thoughts.

Most people are aware that there is yet another folk music revival going on. Like all music there is some shitty stuff, a lot of background music, and a few great acts. Two very inspiring acts to me are good friends of mine, Emily Pate of Embers End, and Autumn Brand of Saints Apollo. Both groups are stupid talented and getting some well deserved attention. We don't see eye-to-eye on some things in the music world but I think it's safe to say that centrally, the three of us are creating music that we believe conveys our thoughts and emotions in the most natural way we know.

I am skeptical of any young artist creating music that sounds like it belongs at a decade that is possibly older than theirs parents but then I have to look in the mirror and realize that I'm doing the same thing. The only difference is that I yell and scream and make my amp blow up. Creating music in any genre can be boiled down to a single moment where a note comes into existence. Down the road in Chapel Hill, NC, people are doing their best to follow those notes and as my ears age, they're digging new types of music. This folk thing has been a love hate relationship (to say the least) for years now and sadly, I'm feeling it.

Dillon and I tried putting together a folk duo and sadly again, it was worked pretty well. It wasn't our greatest venture but definitely not the worst. Both on vocals and guitar but he used a hi-hat and I had a kick drum. We had a nice little sound and put it together very quick. After a while, I know I started to fade away from it but we always play those tunes when get together. There is something about this genre.

There is something to the simplicity that inside of art created through a more oral (or aural) tradition than music that is written down. Obviously, people have taken those musics into the avant-garde but there is a spirit that remains and it escapes traditional language.

It can only be preformed.

Folk music is kin to Jazz and these musics have been beaten and bled over the years. Don't loose track of the greats in any genre. Folk, Jazz, Classical, and Pop music are filled with shit and nothing is sacred.

There are people who still creating great music in this particular genre. That one being Folk music still, and I encourage the average listener to challenge them self to listen to music that is unusual or bizarre. If any musicians see this, do your job. Open your ears to groups you never heard and listen closer to music with long Roman numerals.

Good music should create a conversations that last years. American Folk music is part of a centuries long conversation filled with poets, scholars, sailor mouths, and criminals.

Let's protect it.

Go check out Emily and Embers End and Autumn in Saints Apollo and check out my band and some our music.

Stammerings

Briliant Weeks will have a Dumb Shit Day

So this week has been filled with new music. I've written a few tunes, revamped some old songs, and started a recording project. Kenny brought us one of his tunes that he's been working on and that's where the fun begins.

So one night when us boys got together, Kenny started playing some real groovy riff on bass and it immediately catches my ear. I ask him to show it to me and we start playing it and it's just got a great feel to it and I can already hear a melody behind it. So I ask him if we can use it in the group and the next thing I know I've a rough acoustic version of in my inbox. A few days later Dillon joins us. He missed the previous get together due to the day job so now he gets to throw in his two cents. Everything starts out fine. For those of you who are involved with music or have been to a friends band practice, you know that some days are better than others. This particular day was not going to be ours.

So we start going over the changes and working out transitions and things of that nature we start adding in the lyrics. What I thought was the verse riff turns out to be part of the intro, the chorus was all fucked up on my end, and after that, it growing increasingly evident that I had no idea what was going on. Dillon was just as bad as me. He was calling verses bridges and choruses green and between the two of us and our shovels of disillusion, rehearsal seemed more like a stay in an asylum. Dillon is talking about rearranging the tune and he's singing the different parts to us and we're just sitting there like what in the fuck is going on. Kenny is doing his best to keep us from going under and the whole time this shit is going on, Darious is behind the kit just looking at us like what in the fuck is going on. At some point, we decide on the "Coheed song structure" (ABABCBC) and try the shit out. Some how, it fucking worked and we all just look at each other like what in the fuck is going on. I check the time to see how many more songs we can do and it's five to closing.

Shut that shit down and get the fuck out my house!

I guess it could've been worse. No one's amp blew up, no broken drum heads, no coughing up blood. It wasn't particularly productive but we had fun and no one ended up in the fetal position.

The next night, my dude Kevin comes over. He brings some shitty booze and we get a good kind of drunk going on and at 4am Eastern we gave birth a bouncing baby electronic song.

It was also Dillon's 21st the other night. Another good kind of drunk going on.

Well I guess that's that.

Now shut up and listen to our shit

Stammerings

It's been a while

Hello again internets and interwebs of all types. So it's a been a while since I wrote anything but I've got some good shit to talk about. It's been so long I had to actually look back at what the last things I wrote were. So since I last decided the world needed to hear about my life me and the guys had booked our first together, did a live recording session with video, and got invited back to a place to play.

Ok so the show.

Honestly, it went great. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun and the guys did amazing. I'd be lying if I said it went off without a hitch but they were too few, too insignificant, and too far between to care. Our opening act Embers End were amazing also. I have heard Emily Pate sing before and I've loved her voice since the first time I heard it but that night she had harmonies from a bright male vocalist and they blended really well in my opinion. They had a nice crowd and after their last song I got the guys together and we basically hit our first note within 5 minutes of them getting off stage. Basically not letting people leave. I think that most people were shocked with our sound since the group before hand was two people and an acoustic guitar and we charge in with this drums and bass and distorted and guitars and that shit we love. Our set seemed way too short but we did play for an hour and aside from a handful of people, everyone stayed. When we put the guitars down and took a breath, we noticed a pile of something of the ground near one the PAs. The bartender told us that during our first song, a piece of the ceiling broke off and crashed right in front of Dillon (my guitarist) and some people in the audience. I quickly apologized for rocking too hard and with an "all good" we continued talking about music. We got a really good crowd response and people seemed to really dig the sound we had going on so hopefully we can get back into Chapel Hill sometime soon. Good times.

So the coffee shop in Holly Spring, NC that I played at, SiP, has been letting come back every week. It's been really cool and a great way for me to keep playing out. Only for tips but they don't let me go thirsty so I'm happy with the gig. The owners are great and even one week when I had to cancel a few hours before the gig, they were supper supportive and let me come back the next week. Friday seems to be my day. I go with my jazz guitar and pedal board and just go for a couple hours. I've got some new music this week and I'm excited to play it out for the first time. The best part about the gig is that I can call up one of my friends and just say "bring your instrument to here" and were playing. Instant gratification at it's finest.

Unfortunately, we have not been back to the studio since our first session but we do have plans to go this up coming week. No new shows have been booked yet either which definitely sucks but I guess you just gotta keep looking around. We do have the audio from the live session and I'll be putting that up on our Reverbnation.

Stammerings
Our Facebook

Fuck Yeah/Fuck No

So I'm a fan of profanity and I just gotta say,

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YEAH!

So I finally booked a goddamn show. This is the first time I've ever booked a show at a legitimate venue and I gotta say, I'm feelin' like I got a big cock. Now It's not like we're playing Carnegie Hall or anything but it's a place that people call a venue. Not a bar, not a restaurant, a real fucking venue.

Local 506 is the location of Stammerings debut into the world. I'm happy to be sharing the stage with a good friend Emily Pate and her band Ember's End.

Load in- 7:30
Doors- 8:30
Ember's End- 9:00
Stammerings- 10:00

Our first show is going to be a full hour set and I'm exciting/scared/nervous/shittingmypants/bigcock/happy all at the same time.

Saturday January 7th, 2012 was the last time I played with a band using my material. Returning to the rock scene will be such a trip. My band is awesome, they've turned my chords and melodies into something great, and we are ready for Tuesday July 9th, 2013.

That was some of the good shit going on. Now for the Fuck No.

There's two sides to every coin and being in a band is no different. June 24th, a Monday; Darious and Warren are booked for an early morning show at a coffee house. 7-fucking-am till 9am. I don't know why I wanted to do this but I fucking did. It was fun but what would've made it better is if my fucking drummer had made it out. Motherfucker was sleeping and I can't say I blame him to be honest. No big deal, it wasn't paying and honestly, drums at 7am might not have been the best thing.

The 25th
The next day we have rehearsal at 7:30 and then our first video/live audio shooting at a real studio with a fully functional stage and live sound starting at 10:00. It was dope as hell. Unfortunately, I was fucking up beyond belief. Forgetting lyrics, fucking up chord progressions, and getting shitty sound were just a few of my countless mistakes. I was very proud of my band however. They killed it and made me want to keep going (awwwwwww). At 11:45 and after singing for about 3 hours, my vocal cords just quit on me. I just couldn't even hold a note. Dillon, who when getting this band started was the challenging part of the process, kept pushing me and putting that fire under my ass to keep going. Our...producer...engineer...friend who works at the place, "B Rich" hooked us up with the next night and I felt a lot better about packing up and coming back with a fresh start. Me and Dillon hang out till about 3:30am that night at a Waffle House in Cary across from the Cook Out and when I get home I just want to keep practicing.

The 26th
The day that Theodore Roosevelt's wife died he wrote a large black "X" in his dairy. Now it would be a little dramatic if said that is how I felt but honestly I felt crushed. I get a text from Darious saying he can't make the recording session or the night gig at the coffee shop the next night. I call him back and tell to get his shit together and call me back. I don't hear from him until I text him back around 9pm and he says he still can't make anything. Later on we talk about the shit that went down and he actually said some things that made me think and showed me his good character and commend him for being a loyal dude. However, I still believe that you can't leave your dudes out to dry and a band has to become something that you at least think about when planning your week. Either way, I think we're cool now and I'm still happy to be playing with him.

The 27th
The day of the gig at Sip, the coffee house in Holly Springs that lets us make noise. I get a drummer to sign on to a gig with no pay for an undetermined amount of time and I already had a guitarist signed on but the shit wasn't over yet. I end up being 45 minutes late for a mixing session for the live recording we did earlier in the week because I was power washing (what in the fuck?!) and also miss the only rehearsal that me and band were going to have before the show because of how fucked my schedule got. Starting at 5, it took about an hour to get levels right and get used to playing with each other. Oh yeah, the guitarist had never played with the drummer, and I had never played with the guitarist. Me and John (the drummer)  have played together before but not in a very long time, long enough that when we were trying to remember when the last time we even jammed together we just looked blankly at each other. From 6pm to 9pm we rocked that place. We found our groove and we killing these tunes and people were really digging us. We almost couldn't take a break because people would be asking us to get back and play. While preforming, we had people dancing, taking video or pictures (idk which), clapping along, and best of all the people listening seemed to really love the live music and I felt like I was starting to be part of something bigger than myself.

The 28th
By Friday, I got a break from the craziness. I chilled with one of my old friends, jammed around, and listened to some Jazz. Four MFs Playin' Tunes is one of my favorite albums right now. Went over the fiancé's house for some home made chicken pot pie, another all time favorite of mine, and then back to my dude Chris' house for some brews and "Donuts". Harpoon IPA for me and Lonerider Shotgun Betty for him.

Good fucking times.

So the business side of the music is far from prefect and honestly I do hate it but it's something every musician has to do and I have to play catch up. I know it's a little crazy but I feel like I am on limited amount of time but fuck dude, I'm only 22.

So what's going on with this up coming week...well we're having practice again this week and then going to the studio on Wednesday only. Lesson learned with that shit and will not be soon forgotten. We got asked back to Sip so I gotta figure what I'm doing this week for that shit. Hopefully gonna get another show in the works while working on what's going to really happen for the one we got coming up.

Fuck dude, I don't know how people can be happy not moving.

Stammerings
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