Here’s the music video for my song “Let’s Get Bloody”. This was conceived, shot and edited by Jeremy J Quinn (JeremyJQuinn.net) with additional camera by Michele Jaquis. Statues provided by guy selling statues in Hollywood. Thanks Jeremy for putting this together!!

Here are some photos that I took during the video shoot.

Here is my cover version of a track you may remember from the early 1990s from the band Dig. This one was in pretty heavy rotation on MTV’s old “buzz bin” back in the day. I recorded this in a “video song” format—what you see is what you hear, all video captured during the creation of the song (with the exception of the outdoor footage which was taken in my back yard).

I just got an old Apple IIc and wanted to see what kind of music I could make with it. This started as an experiment in what kind of sounds I could make with with old 8-bit technology, and ended up turning into a song. I’m using 8-bit Weapon’s DMS (digital music synthesizer) for all of the sounds you see coming out of the IIc. I recorded this in a “video song” format—what you see is what you hear, all video captured during the creation of the song.

I’ve got a new album coming out but I’m still working on new song ideas! I decided to put together a quick demo of what I was working on. In this video I’m running my Roland Juno-6 into a Strymon TimeLine.

Holy crap lots going on. I’ve been hard at work on a new album. And a lot of stuff goes along with releasing a new album! This means that I have been busy. And tired. And in desperate need of a frosty Newcastle ale.

Recording is done!
- This new album took over a year to put together but it is finally done! *whew*!! I’m really excited about it and can’t wait for you to hear it. It will feature some brand new songs, and some new versions of songs that I had originally posted as demos. The album features two songs from my Collaboration project, including audio samples from a whole bunch of friends around the world.

Album photography
- Last week I worked with photographer Ezra Spurrier and model Aussie Guevara on the new album cover. Shoot went great and now working on putting together the final artwork.

DIY album promo
- My mind has been spinning with all of the ideas that i’ve got to try to promote this album on a limited DIY budget. I don’t know what will work and what won’t work, but I’m going to try a few different things this time around. I might even get organized and write everything down.

Exporting source files for remixes
- I’m also spending a ton of time exporting each individual audio track from this album, for all of the genius remixers out there! Hope to put together a couple remix contests over the coming months.

Music videos!
- Working with a few directors on some music videos for the new album. Been shooting stuff, editing stuff, working on finding locations, hiring dancers… it’s crazy time! Stay tuned…

How the hell will I release this?
- Still trying to figure out how I’m going to release this album. Some have suggested CDs, vinyl, iPhone app, download-only, thumb drive, a custom State Shirt book, even cassettes! I will be offering all of the new songs for free, to be shared, copied, mangled, remixed, used for videos, etc. But there are many of you that have expressed interest in something tangible. Now I gotta decide what that will be!

Here’s a little Let’s Get Bloody intro video.

So I’ll stop talking now. What have you been up to? Have any projects that you’ve been working on?

I’ve known Matt since grade school. During our formative years we were in a number of bands together, some good, some slightly less good. Over the last decade or so, Matt has been moving on up and has been performing his introspective piano songs for the Western Massachusetts music community. He’s gone through a lot, including a two time battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and I’m glad to say that he has had a clean bill of health for some time now.

Matthew (and his band The Documents) had spent the last year or so recording his new album Apheresis. To help finance the recording, he received The Andrea Coller Memorial Award, presented by Andrea Coller’s family members and The SAMFund, an organization that assists cancer survivors with the transition to post-treatment life. Andrea Coller was a fellow Massachusetts musician who lost her battle with cancer in 2008.

Sometimes “short, quiet and sweet—other times building into wall-of-sound Hotel-California-like anthems”, Matt’s songs often recall the serious health issues he has endured. I was lucky enough to have taken a trip back east last summer while they were tracking with Dave Chalfant at his studio in Conway, Massachusetts, and I contributed a few guitar parts. Earlier this year, when Matt asked me to mix and master the album, of course I couldn’t refuse. The songs are just great. I spent quite a few months behind the studio monitors, with many in-progress tracks being sent across from California to Massachusetts to be reviewed via SoundCloud. I was really honored to be a part of this project, and I highly recommend checking out Matt’s music.

::: Click here to listen.

From Matt’s site:

With a trio of instrumentalists called The Documents (Greg Saulmon, Aric Bieganek, and first cousin and longtime collaborator, Steve Biegner), their debut album Apheresis was lovingly recorded in studios, hallways, and living rooms. Dave Chalfant (The Nields) and Ethan Tufts (State Shirt) were at the helm, as well as an incredible cast of guest musicians: Mark Schwaber (Lloyd Cole and the Small Ensemble), Rebekah Dutkiewicz (Oweihops, Northernly), Julia Suriano (Steve Biegner), Matthew Loiacano (Matthew Carefully, Kamikaze Hearts), and Philip Price (Winterpills).

So the artwork concept for my upcoming album is, let’s just say, “not safe for work”.

While I won’t reveal the details of the photo just yet, I will say that it does involve some non-sexual nudity. (It’s not me! Thank you very much.) The photo is intended to spark some discussion, but isn’t intended to be offensive for the sake of being offensive.

Given that I’m an indie artist with no record label, giant legal team, or marketing budget, this photo will pose an interesting “marketing challenge” in terms of how I will be able to promote and distribute this album.

So as I gear up to figure out how I’ll get the word out about my little album, I’ve got a few questions.

Will Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allow me to use the artwork on their sites?
Will Apple allow the album artwork in their iTunes store?
Can I get away without a censored version of the artwork?

It appears as though the answer to all of these questions could be no. But there does appear to be some gray areas here.

Facebook Terms of Use:

“Photos and videos containing nudity… are not allowed on Facebook”

Well, that’s pretty black and white. Not much gray area (or areolas) there. However I did come across the covers of Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy and Jane’s Addiction Nothing’s Shocking on Facebook, both of which feature nudity and were considered quite offensive in their day. But there are a bunch of stories of “offensive” images being removed. Art school sketches and nude paintings have been removed, as well as photos of women who have undergone breast cancer surgery, and photos of women breast feeding. I guess as long as women continue to have boobs, there are going to be people who are offended by them. So I guess I can take my chances here and just see if the album artwork gets flagged.

Twitter Terms of Use:

“Twitter does remove obscene or pornographic images in either user profile pictures or user backgrounds.”

So a bit of a gray area on Twitter. Since my photo won’t be pornographic, it all comes down to how someone decides to define the word “obscene”. Reminds me of how former justice Potter Stewart of the US Supreme Court, when trying to define “what is obscene,” wrote, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced… [but] I know it when I see it.” So I guess I’ll take my chances here as well, and see if the artwork gets yanked.

“We do not regulate content on external (non-Twitter) websites, nor do we regulate Tweets that link to content on external websites, including pornography.”

Well that makes sense. I wonder if anyone actually thought Twitter would try to regulate content on non-Twitter websites?

YouTube Terms of Use:

“Most nudity is not allowed, particularly if it is in a sexual context. Generally if a video is intended to be sexually provocative, it is less likely to be acceptable for YouTube. There are exceptions for some educational, documentary, scientific, and artistic content, but only if that is the sole purpose of the video and it is not gratuitously graphic. For example, a documentary on breast cancer would be appropriate, but posting clips out of context from the documentary might not be.”

Ok, YouTube has the most specific definition here, but still obviously open to interpretation. I’d like to think that my imagery contains solely artistic content, but my guess is someone could flag it as offensive here as well. They do offer a lot of information on how and when videos could become age restricted.

“YouTube staff review flagged videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week to determine whether they violate our Community Guidelines. When they do, we remove them. Sometimes a video doesn’t violate our Community Guidelines, but may not be appropriate for everyone. These videos may be age-restricted.”

Can I assume that the worst case scenario here would be that a video that featured my album artwork could just be age-restricted? I guess that could work.

 iTunes

This one was a tough one to find answers to. I looked all over Apple’s site but couldn’t find any answers here. Apple does allow the album covers of many albums that were deemed offensive in the past… Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy, Jane’s Addition Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual, The Black Crowes Amorica, Roxy Music Country Life. But I wonder if those remain solely due to standing the test of time? When preparing to add State Shirt Let’s Get Bloody to iTunes, will the Apple censorship police come out in full force and ban my little album?

CDBaby

In addition to offering mp3 downloads on my own site, I may likely work with CDBaby to coordinate the digital distribution of my new album. They partner with a bunch of music sites (including iTunes) to distribute music. I couldn’t find anything specific on their website either. I guess I’ll send ‘em an email, but until then I’ll just assume that nudity won’t be a problem!

Overall I’ve learned that there is no hard and fast rule. Most sites rely on users to flag content as offensive or inappropriate. “Offensive” is impossible to define, it’s different for everyone.  I’m interested to see how all of this plays out in the coming weeks! What do you think?

Here is my cover of Slint “Good Morning, Captain” off of their 1991 album Spiderland. I hope you like it. I love this song, and I know my version will never be as good as the original, but I really wanted to cover it. (What you see is what you hear, no lip-synching or instrument-synching).

Here are the lyrics:

“Let me in,” the voice cried softly
From outside the wooden door
Scattered remnants of the ship could be seen in the distance
Blood stained the icy wall of the shore

“I’m the only one left. The storm took them all,”
He managed as he tried to stand
The tears ran down his face
“Please, it’s cold.”

When he woke, there was no trace of the ship
Only the dawn was left behind by the storm
He felt the creaking of the stairs beneath him
That rose, from the sea, to the door

There was a sound at the window then
The captain started, his breath was still
Slowly, he turned

From behind the edge of the windowsill
There appeared the delicate hand of a child
His face was flush and timid
He stared at the captain through frightened eyes

The captain reached for something to hold on to
“Help me,” he whispered, as he rose slowly to his feet
The boy’s face went pale
He recognized the sound

Silently, he pulled down the shade against the shadow
Lost in the doorstep of the empty house

“I’m trying to find my way home.
I’m sorry . . .
And I miss you

I miss you
I’ve grown taller now
I want the police to be notified
I’ll make it up to you
I swear, I’ll make it up to you

I miss you.”

Here’s a little live looping thing I threw together today. All sounds are recorded live (nothing pre-recorded). Using two Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro (EDP) loopers, Strymon TimeLine and Boss DF-2 for my voice, and Line 6 AM4 and Strymon El Capistan for the guitar. Hope you like it.

So I’ve taken a little break from writing new songs and have been spending some time inside my race car. I’m really thankful that I have the opportunity to be able to have this crazy little hobby of driving way too fast. This past Sunday at Buttonwillow Raceway in lovely (not so lovely) Buttonwillow, California, I managed to qualify 8th out of 21 cars! And after a fun filled race complete with some white knuckle lap traffic passes, I managed to bring home my little red Miata in 5th place! Maybe, just maybe there is a chance that I’m not quite as terrible as I used to be. Here’s a video of the highlights:

I wake up and realize that Emma is in the other room and she’s hungry. I put some food in her bowl. I go outside and see all of my plants and shrubs but they’re in my parents’ yard. Some of them have died. The ground is very dry and I know that the plants need water. I look up and see dark storm clouds above, but I know that I can make them go away. I go back inside and try to make the clouds clear away. I go back outside, look up and watch the clouds roll away. I walk into the kitchen, look down and see that I had placed a bowl of Life cereal and milk down for Edison, and realize that he hadn’t come by to eat it. The cereal is soggy. I pick up a piece of soggy Life and eat it.

I recorded this one this past Sunday. This is for anyone that has lost someone close to them.

You will join us
When you’re ready
But please don’t keep me
Waiting forever.

I can see you,
Sometimes when I’m dreaming.

Sometimes When I’m Dreaming – STEAL

No lip-syncing, no instrument-syncing. What you see is what you hear.

So I’m here in the studio, hard at work on my new album. Excited to be working on some new music in the new year. There are cables everywhere. Effects pedals strewn about the floor. Lots of sound emanating from the studio monitors.

And I just noticed, over there in the corner is a box of State Shirt t-shirts. There aren’t many left, but they do need a new home. I’ll be working on a couple new t-shirt designs for 2011, so I guess it’s time to have a fire sale on my existing t-shirt inventory!

By fire sale, I mean free. Get your own green/crazy/cow State Shirt t-shirt. Just fill out the form below and I’ll send you a shirt. There are limited quantities, so if you don’t see the form below it means they’re all gone!

EDIT: Ran out of shirts! I’ll be working on some new designs soon.

i’m about to leave the house (it’s not our house) and start walking into the parking lot towards my car, and I have this annoying guy on my back. I walk out the door with him on my back and finally I’m able to shake him off. It starts raining. I turn around to go back to the house and find that the other door to the house had been left wide open by someone. I walked to the back yard garage area and opened the door, and Emma was locked back there. I gave her a pet and was glad she was there. I realized that Edison must have gotten out of the house. I saw him in the distance, at the bottom of a large hill covered with leaves and trees in the backyard, he was right next to a busy street. I was relieved to see that he hadn’t traveled far, I knew he was smart enough not to stray too far, and smart enough not to run into the street. I called to him and he ran up the hill to me, and I started crying. I was so happy that he was back with me. I went into the house and called my mom to express how angry I was that someone had left the door open. She responded but didn’t make any sense, “I think I was dreaming. It’s not 9pm it’s just before 6am.”

i was standing over Edison, carefully trimming his hair. I made very delicate and deliberate cuts to the fur, mainly around his back and sides. Then I moved to be right in front of him, noticed a few extra pieces of fur but didn’t cut them, and I looked at him and said “you look perfect”

I recently got to borrow an old-school Univox drum machine. It’s strange and unique. Where else can you get volume sliders for Quijada, Guido AND Tambourine. Not only does it have patterns for Mambo, Rumba and Bossanova, but many others including Merinque, Beguine and Habanera. What more could you want?

I felt like making some droning noise so I ran the Univox through my Strymon El Capistan and blueSky reverb pedals. I recently started working with my friends over at Strymon and am really loving what they’ve come up with so far. I’m looking forward to working on some more kick-ass effects with them in the future.

I decided to turn this drum machine effects noise fest into a more involved piece, so I took the original unaltered drum/effects track and added piano, guitar, drums, vocals and some synths. For the video I decided to follow jack conte’s “video song” format, where:
1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

Hope you like it.