2004-2012 Archived Blog Posts
<-- OLDER POSTS | NEWER POSTS -->
20 Apr 2012
Greetings. OK: I am frankly bored by the internet at this point. [2013 comment: Gee! Grouchy or what!] Keeping up with Facebook, Twitter, emails, etc etc as well as cell phone text messages, is consuming far too much of my time. "Connectedness" can be a very bad drug. Creating and maintaining (and hand-coding) a personal website seemed pretty fun and exciting once, too. Now it is a chore. I just want to make records.... so that's what I've been doing. Therefore the only part of this website I've been updating regularly is the production discography. A few people have offered to redesign this website (for free, even!) but I really hated their designs so it has stayed the same. Anyway... just so you know, I'm still here, and working my ass off in the studio, as ever. In fact, I'm having a kind of extraordinary year...
31 Dec 2010
Hmmm... a strange year, in many ways. Updated the discography to reflect the 17 records I produced that were released this year. Most of the online action is happening for me right now at facebook and twitter:
Jack on Facebook
Jack on Twitter
Meanwhile... MySpace has gotten so bloated and slow that I can only imagine they must be actively TRYING to get everyone to leave the site. My site is still there but I visit it as rarely as possible; life is just too short.
5 Feb 2010
OK, 2009 was an interesting year... sessions for 3 Inches of Blood, Skeleton Witch, All Time High, the Sex Zombies, the original Sonics, the Groundhogs... well, look at the discography 'cuz I can't remember 'em all. And now: I'm actually ON TOUR with my band Kandi Coded. Our album "Fell For The Gift" was released by Volcom Entertainment a few days ago, and is now available worldwide via iTunes and also as a combined LP/CD,
by mailorder from Volcomdirectly from me. The vinyl LP is pretty swell, it's glass-clear vinyl and has a full-color printed inner sleeve. Jamie Lynn painted the cover. Keith Marlowe took the pics. And of course I busted ass to make it one of the hugest-sounding records I've ever recorded/played on!
Here's the band web action:
Kandi Coded on iTunes... listen and leave a review!
Kandi Coded on Facebook... blowing up!
Kandi Coded on Twitter ... follow our mad adventures as we tour and gig!
Kandi Coded on Myspace... easiest place to hear the new tunes! Some videos too.
Kandi Coded original website... finally updated! Links and gig info.
Of course, I haven't stopped producing. Right after this tour ends, I'll be finishing the new Witchburn album, and spending a month in the studio with Valient Thorr! Stay tuned...
2 May 2009
Hmmm... there's reasons why no updates here anymore. It's not because there's nothing going on! I'm busier than I've been in years and years. So much so, that mucking around with HTML code has just been low on the totem pole. (Endino.com is hard-coded by hand... no Dreamweaver for me, although this "News" page started via Claris Home Page many eons ago!)
Being in TWO bands (Kandi Coded, who tour a lot, and Slippage, who fortunately don't) AND being caretaker of Soundhouse Recording... still working as a fulltime record producer... couple hours a day just on email... plus trying to have a Life... it all puts 'website maintenance' pretty far down the list.
This looks like a Blog, but it never really was, because I was never interested in policing people's responses to it. Last thing I need is more people poking at me. The one part of this site I still regularly update is the Discography section, with new stuff being added all the time, and the Archive/Articles section. Not that I'm too swift with the newsletters either these days, but they do happen at least yearly (LOL!) and there is in fact a big tech article I'm working on right now, about the best way to transfer old stuff off of cassettes (with a nod to Mike Ziegler, whose life I apparently changed with this info). The FAQs get twiddled with sometimes too.
But... here's the deal... the action seems to be happening on the social-networking sites these days, and keeping THOSE sites updated (personal sites, PLUS the sites for my two bands) is taking up a lot of my Web time. Myspace was the opening salvo... now I gotta maintain a Facebook page (FB really annoys me, BTW) plus an Orkut page (Never heard of it? Google owns it. It's the biggest one in Brazil) and also a LinkedIn page (little action there, fortunately)... there might be others I'm forgetting... and the latest is Twitter. I like Twitter because, instead of waiting for months until I have enough for several pages of news and ranting and then blowing it out as a newsletter to my 600 or so opt-in subscribers (and I have no mailing list software, don't even ask me about my whole routine to do this, it's a huge pain), with Twitter I can just toss off 140-character micro-blasts that are absolutely current. Twitter removes the procrastination element. And even then, I don't have anything worthwhile to say to people more than a few times a week... but that's way better than you're getting from this website. And Myspace has about as much of a Blog as I need, really.
It's become obvious to me that Endino-dot-com and the band dot-coms are really best-suited for the things that don't fit on those other sites. The discography, articles, FAQs, links section, and (when live) the "garage sale" section (no time to sell stuff right now, sorry about that) are good examples, and I will probably focus on those in the future, so don't forget about this site; it's for depth, really. Current news, new photos, and streaming audio files are best found on the MySpace site. Other photos can be found on Facebook, including a shit-ton of OTHER people's photos of me that are tagged! And Twitter, again, is like a micro-newsletter. Orkut, I'm not sure what to do with it, but the Brazilians sure like it at least.
So, here's some links; this where the real action is for me these days. Come and join me on one of these sites!
Jack on Facebook ... lots of pix, some additional tagged pix, some blog-ish aspects.
Jack on Myspace ... actual blog, some pix, band gigs, and music.
Jack on Twitter ... a semi-regular micro-newsletter.
Kandi Coded on Myspace... with current pix, gigs, music, and now even a video.
Kandi Coded on Facebook ... more pix, and a zillion tagged pix!
Kandi Coded original Dot-com website
Slippage on Myspace ... with pix and music.
Slippage website ... dowload our entire album here for free.
Soundhouse, the studio I hang out at the most.
Recordingstudiosearch.com, my database of Northwest US studios.
As for Jack on Orkut.com ... you can't get there unless you're a member, but I am user "Jack Endino OFFICIAL".
Is that enough? Now you can see why Endino.com is lagging a bit...
22 May 2008
Sorry no updates. Been working almost nonstop since Xmas, and somewhere in there got the flu and also a bad cold two other times. Been a tough winter here in Seattle, and we even had snow in April which pissed everyone off big time. In January, Kandi Coded was flown to Germany by the Dragon Co. to play one gig at the ISPO Trade Show in Munich, then back to Las Vegas and finally Jackson Hole, Wyoming for two other shows... all raged. Skin Yard's former singer Ben McMillan sadly passed away from kidney failure, and we had a big memorial show and celebration of his life which was pretty emotional, a lot of old friends turned out for it. I'll refer you here to the Newsletter I sent out... see "Articles" above. Then spent a month at Soundhouse Recording with Valient Thorr, who are on Volcom's label. The record, to be titled "Immortalizer", is mighty indeed. More recently, working with Seattle's Space Cretins, there's a Coloffs record in progress, finished the Insurgence record at last, did a record for All Time High in 5 days, mastered the Al Milman Sect "Stitches In My Head" 30 Year Anniversary reissue from a bunch of dodgy cassettes and old DAT tapes, and there was also 24 Hour Church Of Beer from Canada. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone here. The Upwell record, "Sell The Sky" is out, and is amazing. The Black Halos' "We Are Not Alone" is finally out in Canada, and should be issued in the US shortly; it is my fourth disc for the band, and a good one. And just a couple days ago, finished a new record for Toxic Holocaust, "An Overdose of Death" which will be released by Relapse in September. Donny from Zeke plays drums on it... so you know it rages!
9 Oct 2007
Shit, that was something. Spent most of September out on the Volcom tour, rockin' the guitar for Kandi Coded. 13 shows altogether, and I actually had a damn good time. Who'd a thunk I would dare to go on tour again? Our tour-mates were the bands Valient Thorr, Riverboat Gamblers and Totimoshi. (Dates are in the 17 Aug entry below.) Some good fun was had, and it was a delight to get my guitar chops back. Came back with a cold of course, which I'm just getting over, right on time to go back to work mixing the new Kultur Shock live record, also mixing a studio record for Italy's Me For Rent, mixing Brazilian surf band The Dead Rocks, and then some Upwell tracking in November. A new Insurgence record is in progress also. And... Slippage, the band in which I play drums, is playing a gig this saturday Oct 13th at the Comet tavern in Seattle... opening for Oswald Effect, Upwell, and headliners From The North, the band which includes Shawn Smith (Brad, Pigeonhead) and Kevin Wood (Malfunkshun, Fire Ants, Devilhead).
1 Sept 2007
Just finished some tracking for a new Flipper studio album... plus, they just played the Funhouse in Seattle last night, with Krist on bass, and totally raged. I recorded the whole show, multitrack! More later. Now I'm OUTTA HERE on tour with Kandi Coded... gigs below... should have occasional access to email and to myspace.com/jackendino... LATER!
17 Aug 2007
The band in which I now play lead guitar, Kandi Coded, is going on the Volcom Tour! Here's the dates:
Sep 4- Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
Sep 5- St. Louis, MO @ Creepy Crawl
Sep 6- Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room
Sep 7- Lawrence, KS @ The Jackpot Saloon
Sep 8- Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Sep 9- Casper, WY @ Eagle Lodge
Sep 10- Off
Sep 11- Salt Lake City, UT @ Club Avalon
Sep 12- Boise, ID @ Bourbon Street Saloon
Sep 13- Spokane, WA @ Bourbon Street Saloon
Sep 14- Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Sep 15- Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
Sep 16- Bend, OR @ The Domino RoomHigh On Fire's "Death Is This Communion" (produced by yrs truly) is out Sept 18th... same day that I think maybe the Melvins are playing in Seattle.
And here's my Aug 2007 EQ Magazine interview. They let me rant at length.
30 July 2007
Lots going on, almost too much. Playing in two bands, working in the studio. I just sent out Newsletter 12.1. More news than I can reasonably summarize here.
Recent clients included High On Fire, Boss Martians, Black Halos, Jodi Hates The World, Left Hand Army, Jeff Dahl, Hell On Heels, Going South, Dragstrip Riot, the Touchers (R.I.P. Ben)... see discography. (Sorry if I left anyone out.)
29 Dec 2006
What a year. As you can see, I haven't updated this site much lately, except for the discography, which just passed the 300 mark! I took July and August OFF this year, which was the smartest thing I've done in years. As a result of some thinking during my time off I'm now playing in TWO bands as well as keeping a full studio schedule... just not so MANIACALLY full. More details later. And MYSPACE came along and started sucking up my time... so I'll just refer you over to myspace.com/jackendino for another view of my recent activities, and if you want to hear a couple tracks from my recent album, that's the place for it. I will spend tomorrow night at a Zeke show, and New Years Eve at a Melvins show... thus I shall welcome 2007 with a profound weekend of Rock.
Drive safely.
10 May 2006
I just won some kind of Lifetime Achievement Award from a reader's poll in the Seattle Weekly (local Village Voice affiliate I believe)! Here's a link:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/music/0619/winners.phpApparently, I am Synonymous With Grunge. Um... Well, that's still pretty nice of 'em, guess I should thank everyone who voted! I've been in the studio so much that I didn't realize this was going on...
13 Apr 2006
Still no significant breaks in the workload. Just spent 15 solid days making another record for Winnebago Deal, who flew here from the UK. Nick Oliveri did some guest vocals on a few tracks. This one will be released on Fierce Panda Records in the UK, and it is even better than the last one... better songs, yet even more brutal, noisy and violent! Whee! Coming up: Finishing Keynote Speaker's second disc, more tracking for The Boss Martians, new discs for the Grannies, Les Hell On Heels, Thunderfist, The DTs, Kandi Coded, Wad, The Insurgence, Mercury Four, Dirty Power, and probably some others I'm forgetting (sorry!).
I will be doing some kind of "Master Producer's Workshop" as part of New Music West in Vancouver BC on Sunday April 30th, basically just doing an educational show-and-tell I think. The Vancouver Film School is co-sponsoring it. And I will be at the Tape Op Conference in Tucson, AZ this June!
And I will take July "off" it it kills me... you've been warned.
26 Feb 2006
Apologies for not updating the site significantly since October. Been in the studio too much. Also, moving (in December) kind of dislocated my life... still trying to find stuff in the sea of boxes, and make myself "at home" in a new house and neighborhood. More soon.
6 Dec 2005
Ouch... too much stuff. That's what I've got. I just moved to a new house a few days ago. It took me the second half of November to do it. Moving: I don't recommend it. Right before that, I spent a fun week with The Atomic Bitchwax tracking an EP... and right before that, I did a little tour up the west coast US with Dirty Power as my (volunteer) backing band, and the mighty Grannies opening. More later.... I'm about to head to Aberdeen, WA for the first time (ever!) to mix a record for a band called Jed. I am expecting an interesting cultural experience. I sense another newsletter coming up soon...
7 Oct 2005
I'm home in Seattle after two months in Brazil... and I'm already in the studio with Zamarro, who are here from Switzerland with me for two weeks! No rest for the wicked.
But... Permanent Fatal Error is OUT NOW, and you can buy it from my Garage Sale page, or from CDBaby.com. Read more at Myspace.com/jackendino. The publicity blitz has just begun!
22 Sept 2005
The countdown begins... three days left to finish the 5.1 mixes for the Titãs DVD here in Brazil. Things are going well. I'm not sure I'm entirely "convinced" about 5.1 as a format though... more on that in a coming newsletter, I promise.
Last night, I was in the studio mixing, and the band were out doing PR work to prepare for the coming CD release. Did I mention that we mastered the CD two weeks ago, and it will be in the stores here in 4 days? People here wonder what the hell takes record companies so long to release records in the US. I wonder too. I mixed the first single for this record at the beginning of this month and it is already all over Brazilian radio... I already have another "hit" with Titãs, and I'm still mixing the rest of the record! This place rocks!
Anyway, I was in Estudios Mega in Sao Paulo, taking a break from the mixing so I could watch "my boys" on TV. The band was being interviewed "live" on MTV Brazil, talking about the upcoming record, and then the DVD topic came up. They were talking about the fact that they were working with me for the fifth time. Then they mentioned on TV that I was actually finishing the DVD mixes at that very moment... and then the whole band said "Hi Jack!" and waved at me from the TV set!
I about fell on the studio floor laughing...
12 Sept 2005
I'm still in Brazil... the Titãs "MTV Live" CD/DVD is going to be killer; too bad no one outside Brazil will ever hear it. More about this later. I am doing my first ever 5.1 mixes. Back in Seattle in two weeks.
My new CD "Permanent Fatal Error" exists RIGHT NOW! Sluggo at Wondertaker records just got them back from the plant. Promo copies are just starting to go out. The worldwide publicity blitz has just begun. While the official "release date" isn't until late October, you can buy it right now at CDBaby.com, who make it very, very easy, even if you are buying from another country. Go check it out, the site is very easy to use, and you can hear a couple of the tracks and be the first one on your block (or in your country) to own it! You, too, can be part of my street team... ;-)
3 Aug 2005
I'm in Brazil... at a hotel on a beach in Rio De Janeiro. Hmmm, could be worse.
Since I don't have access to the NWLINK SMTP servers from here to send out a newsletter (they wisely don't allow relaying), I've decided to throw my kind and loyal (and patient) subscribers a bone with an UNUSED, UNSENT rant that I wrote in April 2004... let's call it Newsletter 9.1, "Part 2". I chickened out at the time, as it is admittedly kind of toxic. Now it seems all too crystal clear. It's online at the archived articles section. More later, I gotta work (no, really!)...
23 July 2005
Crazy times... looks like another trip to Brazil to work with Titãs, my fifth record for the band! Leaving in 3 days... and going crazy trying to tie up a lot of loose ends before I go, as I will be gone most of the summer. Just finished mastering recent projects for Suzy Cornell, Zeke, the Milman-Brignall Enigma, Gruff Mummies, Chad Channing (some cool solo stuff), Beautiful Mothers, The Mentors (yes!), I forget who else (uh, sorry!!!). Compiling a Holy Terror Box Set for European release... Also, finishing and getting ready to send off the masters for my solo record, "Permanent Fatal Error" to Wondertaker Records in SF, who will release it in the fall. Stay tuned! Amazingly enough, I am pretty satisfied with it... it is the record I needed to make.
I will be updating this site by laptop from my hotel room in Rio... (waahh!)
8 June 2005
Today I got copies of the new Accüsed disc in the mail, "Oh Martha!" Now, this is some really old school thrash, or splatter rock, as the band calls it. Their first new record in many years. See discography!
28 May 2005
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Space Cretins (see my discography).
I really, really am going to take a vacation in June.
Upwell has a show tonight (May 28th) at Seattle's Central Tavern, with Key Note Speaker and Sgt. Major, featuring Kurt Bloch and Jim Sangster. I will be bassing.
20 May 2005
I've been working way too much in the studio, and am looking forward to a vacation... eventually. I really hope. In the meantime, great records in the works for The Beautiful Mothers, Jodi Hates The World, Dog Bone Sanctuary, Suzy Cornell, Aly Young, Jerel, and finished an EP with the band I'm playing bass for, Upwell, (and we have a live gig in Seattle this very evening). And finally some genuine, big progress on my "next" solo record... but I've been threatening that for way too long, so no more details until it's %$#@& DONE.
But... what really compelled me to write this update today is some news that has made me really genuinely happy, a surprisingly rare thing. Kurt is dead, Andy Wood is gone (but the Andy movie is finally done! Go to Malfunkshun.com!), John Lennon's killing still bums me out, George is gone too, Hunter T is gone. Most of the Ramones are gone. Half of The Who. Layne. Dimebag is sorely missed. As are my parents, aunts, uncles and one nephew. And there are many others of course. But... and I don't expect 1/1000th of the people reading this to have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about... Van Der Graaf Generator are back after a 27-year silence. There's a new record... I've heard some of it. I got the biggest damned smile listening to it. If there's one single thing that I respect more than anything in an artist, it's defying entropy, defying the passing of time, beating the odds, staying vital. This they have done. I take my hat off to Hammill, Jackson, Banton and Evans... as I prepare my own first record in 12 years for release.
11 Apr 2005
Argh... finally a couple days off! Finished a new Makers record for Kill Rock Stars, their first record of all-new tunes in 3 years (since "Strangest Parade", their last for Sub Pop). This new one (their tenth album!) is a monster. You'll see. "Pet Sounds on a budget" is how I kept jokingly referring to it, only because we spent a lot of time on vocals and harmonies, but actually that's grossly misleading cuz it rocks pretty hard! Tim Maker has returned to the fold, keeping them a two-guitar band. They have another new drummer, this one the best by far... a rock-solid hard-hitter. This alone would have brought them to a new level, but combined with some great new songs, plus guest Johnny Sangster's angelic backing vocal contributions ("Cool! I can just sing, I don't have to produce anything!") and Jason Staczek's brilliant keyboard contributions (he also played on the Sangster-produced "Rock Star God" and the Halos record I just did), the Makers have raised the bar mightily.
I shit you not.
What else? OK, just finished mixing a full album for the Beautiful Mothers, a loud Seattle band (not yet well-known) I think are cool as hell. They actually came here a couple years ago from Chicago and have a kind of Touch and Go vibe. Coriander had to change their name to Key Note Speaker, but the record we did ("Fiction") has come out on their own label and gotten rave reviews from our local DJ John Richards, who has been playing it on his KEXP show. It's a pretty cool disc; like I said before, more of an (old) REM vibe. They have good melodies and playing, which is what I look for (as opposed to attitude and style, which mean squat to me). Star Apple Theory flew in from somewhere-or-other and I mixed their record! Ricardo from Simios flew in from Brazil and I mixed their record, and brushed up on my rusty Portuguese. Seattle's own Plaster (featuring Pete Litwin, formerly of Coffin Break and Softy) brought me an EP to mix and master. Suzy Cornell brought me some stuff to mix, an ongoing thing that we are going to be chipping away at in the coming weeks, mostly stuff recorded for her by her brother Peter Cornell. These Cornells are everywhere around here! (Actually Pete's in NYC now.) Spent a long weekend in Bellingham, WA with old pal Dave Crider (Mono Men, Estrus Records honcho) recording and mixing an entire "covers" record for his rock'n'soul band the DTs, for release in Spain in time for a summer tour. Goodness, they kicked ass. Al Milman (Man-Ka-Zam, "Stitches" et al) and Matt Brignall are threatening to finish their record we've been working on since 2002, and even play a few CD-release shows. Since I played bass on the record, I'm stuck, I gotta do it. They will call the "band" Cowboys In India I was told, but that may have been a joke. They are also totally insane. And I just played another show with Upwell, and it was good.
I hear the long-awaited second Hater album has finally appeared, on Burn Burn Burn Records. Ben Shepherd has been talking about this for years, and it looks like he finally got it together. I don't know many details; guess I'll have to go find it.
Apologies if I forgot anyone. Hope I can take some time off when the weather improves...
21 Feb 2005
...Then we lose Hunter S. Thompson. Death is really starting to piss me off. This is the guy who in 1986 prophetically referred to the Republicans as the "bombs-and-Jesus crowd" (from Generation of Swine ).
18 Feb 2005
The Tsunami Benefit Show... wow. Krist Novoselic was MC, and we had Children of the Revolution (missed 'em, darn), Shawn Smith (just missed him too), Sir Mix-a-Lot (My God! Stomping, raging set!) the Supersuckers (100% dependable rock and roll!), and Seattle rock royalty Heart (who opened with an acoustic song for Layne Staley, followed later by dead-on versions of Zep's Black Dog and Misty Mountain Hop... guess you hadda be there! Damn, the sisters can still sing!) but the night (which raised over 100 grand for Tsunami victims) belonged to Jerry Cantrell, who assembled the Layne-less Alice In Chains for the first time... ever???... with guest singers taking turns doing Layne's parts and all his harmonies with Jerry, dead-on. Guests included the guy from Damage Plan, the guy from Puddle of Mudd, Ann Wilson herself, and at the end of the night Maynard from Tool came out. Everyone nailed it, but especially the Damage Plan guy. First they did an acoustic set which had me turning to people and saying "Wow! They sound really good." Then Heart came out for a very solid, rocking set, and Jerry guested on some of the tunes... then the electric AIC set, which included at least one song from their third album, making me wonder if the tune had EVER been played live before... did AIC ever tour for the third album? I don't know, but the playing was stellar, just dead-on, and they brought the house down by closing with "Rooster" of course, with Maynard and the Damage Plan guy trading verses, and even Ann Wilson checking in near the end. I know it sounds like a potential traffic jam but it was handled superbly. I was truly impressed by the whole thing... and to think I almost didn't go cuz I was feeling too lame. Never thought I'd hear those AIC tunes performed live again. Hadn't seen 'em since the AIC/Screaming Trees/Gruntruck tour, long ago.
Funny note... there was a teleprompter onstage with the monitors, a little tv screen with the words scrolling along as the Alice songs were played... just for all those guest singers, of course!! So nobody missed a single line. I was laughing about it but it actually made perfect sense, as there's probably no way all those guests (who live in how many different places?) could have coordinated extensive practices with the band before the gig.
Backstage, of course, was a crazy Seattle who's-who old-fart fest... I fit right in.
10 Feb 2005
Just finished a new Black Halos album for Century Media, and I can say that the Halos are definitely back! (And in black, of course...) This is no mere "reunion" record, believe me. It's the real deal. The band is possibly better, and has better players, than the "old" band, not to mention a more relaxed and pleasant personal chemistry among the members. I really enjoyed this one, my third for the band and probably the best. Wait for it. Next month, my third Makers album coming up! Other stuff in the schedule book includes Biography of Ferns, Beautiful Mothers, Simios from Brazil, Al Milman (of Man-Kazam), Star Apple Theory, Jodi Hates the World, and a few gigs for the band I am currently playing bass with, Upwell.
3 Jan 2005
New Years Eve, sitting in on bass with Twink The Wonder Kid, I am attacked by a giant Gingerbread Man.
30 Dec 2004
Spent the evening recording a live gig of Jello Biafra and the Melvins here in Seattle. Jello called me to do it, but I don't have the gear, so I punted it to my friend Andy Gregg who actually owns a portable ProTools rig, so he had to do most of the work; my role was essentially supervisory, mic placement, various finicky details. It was pretty cool to see the Melvoids backing Jello on a batch of new tunes they wrote together (new album out NOW on Alternative Tentacles); you couldn't ask for a tighter backing band. They even threw in an updated version of "California Uber Alles", with the lyrics of course customized for Governor Terminator... too easy! A good time was had. Tomorrow night (New Year's Eve) I'm playing one gig as a temp bassist with the mighty Twink The Wonder Kid at the Sunset, Seattle. May you all have a pleasant 2005, and hope you don't get drafted.
30 Nov 2004
Yay! The damn Nirvana box set is finally out, and soon I will perhaps write up my own unofficial Guide To The Box. My discography page has finally been updated to bring its appearance into the late 90s, check it out. Not to be outdone, we also have a new release by the soon-to-deserve-their-own-box-set Twink The Wonder Kid, which I mastered (Sangster and Uno produced). Upcoming: new Zeke single, JP Hansen project, Spazms, Space Cretins, finishing with Coriander, etc.
03 Nov 2004
Four more wars! (Foreign readers: this is sarcasm. At least, I hope so.)
30 Oct 2004
And then we lose John Peel! And the election's coming up... I'm truly worried. Ah well. Tonight: the Free Verse record release show, opening for Big Business and High On Fire at Graceland in Seattle. Free Verse, a female power trio who pretty much defy classification, played most of the new album we recorded this summer, and pretty much slayed. Big Business were likewise brutal; Coady Willis is, as ever, one of my fave drummers. He told me they have an album about to come out, which they did with Phil Ek, who I haven't seen in way too long. And High On Fire (now with Joe Preston on bass) were killer (and, um, loud as shit), and I noted they were using Soldano Amps now... so when I saw Seattle's own Mike Soldano in the crowd I congratulated him on this. Their merch guy told me their new record, recorded with Steve Albini, will be out next year. Yay Steve! And last week, another typically incestuous Seattle show... Insurgence (just finished their EP), Nasty On (one of my fave Vancouver BC bands), Murdock (just finished their EP) and Electric Frankenstein on the same bill. How much rock can a person take?
In a bit of relief, I just spent the past week with a new band called Coriander, who have more of an REM vibe. The music was pop, kinda jangly with very tasteful keys and good melodies. Good players, good songs, lots of space and dynamics in the arrangements... a total pleasure to record.
Just added 8 more records to the discography; there's at least two more in the pipeline before the end of the year, including the new Makers disc on Kill Rock Stars, and the Nirvana Box Set, on which I have seven tracks and am credited as "Project Consultant." I could tell you more, and probably will when I get the OK, but I think the release date is the third week of November, and Nirvana fans will be pleased. But this would seem to be not too smart a time to put my email address up onsite again! Anyone wanting an interview with me about the box should contact Michael Meisel at Silva Artist Management or Karen at World's End Management (both in LA).
Looking at the sheer number of discs added to my production discography, 2004 looks like my most prolific year since the glory days of grunge! As ever, a lot are oddball indies, but these are some of the records I recall the most fondly from the standpoint of artistic satisfaction. Technically, I feel I am at the top of my game right now, and really enjoying what I do. I had a chance to talk about it recently at a local meeting sponsored by the Northwest Chapter of NARAS (the Grammy people), the annual "Northwest Studio Summit", at which I was the keynote speaker! Held at the beautiful Bear Creek Studio, it was a gathering of students, studio owners and noisemongers of all stripes, many of whom I knew, including some I met at the Tape Op convention in Portland a few years ago. Nervewracking, but I had a good time, and nobody left or threw stuff in spite of the fact that they let me go on for a *%$#&* hour! At least I'm not Castro. When it was over they handed me a CDR of my speech, and when I got home I loaded it into ProTools (natch) and took a hard look. I was horrified at the number of times I said "Um...", plus there were a few slow bits, so I, um, shamelessly edited it down to a concise, um, 53 minutes, and am now wondering what to do with it. Um. I've been asked if I will put it online; might do this if I can encode it at a low enough bit rate to make it reasonable sized, or break it into sections.
And... somehow, found time to play some temporary bass with Upwell again, just for a few gigs, as their regular bassist has suddenly become a dad.
15 Sept 2004
Johnny Ramone's gone.... damn. Sorry to hear it. This getting older, it sucks. Eddie V was at his bedside, if reports are true... good on ya, Ed.
6 Sept 2004
This not having to deal with email and the internet is almost too good. Guess I needed a break. Solution coming soon, along with some seriously overdue website overhauls.
The internet seems to be buzzing about the forthcoming (finally... maybe??) Nirvana Box Set. Yeah, maybe it's for real this time. I actually think it might be. I'd tell you what I know about it, but then I'd have to kill you.
6 Aug 2004
Yup, I'm still here. Email is still down... my apologies. As my contact page explains, things just got out of hand. I haven't decided what to do yet, but I am certainly enjoying the extra hours of free time every day NOT dealing with a flood of email, so this may last a while. I know folks are reading my website, and I'm sorry you can't give me direct feedback for now (or order CDs, or subscribe, etc). I'll figure something out shortly. It's great to get the heck away from the internet for a while though, especially during our (too-brief) Seattle summer.
Have somehow managed to do some summer vacationing too... in between working on the new Accüsed record (20 year anniversary!), a record for Portland's Lopez, Seattle bands Buzz Factor, Free Verse, Jodi Hates The World, Murdock and Insurgence, plus Riverred from Aberdeen, WA and a Makers record for Kill Rock Stars. And an EP for SF's Angry Amputees. And a bunch of mastering. Upcoming: more indy rock bands...
15 June 2004
NOTICE: I have just taken my email address off the contact page, and my garage sale site is down for now also. I will not have time to deal with any of this stuff for the next couple months. This includes orders, subscribers, interview requests, whatever. Apologies; I have to do this from time to time when I get too darn busy. Read the contact page for more info on how to get ahold of me. Old email addresses will continue to work for a while yet.
30 May 2004
And a couple more records for the discography... The Harkonen/These Arms Are Snakes split EP "Like A Virgin" arrived from Hydra Head Records. This mad project was conceived by the bands last winter... the two bands would go in the studio with me on consecutive days, each would record two songs, and then they would record some kind of collaborative thing. On the night of the second day we ended up with the two drummers face-to-face with full drum kits in the main recording room of Soundhouse, with both bands' guitarists, one bassist, the other bassist playing some kind of keyboard... just getting them a working headphone mix was a challenge. Various amps were baffled off elsewhere because otherwise the sound in the drum room would have been a muddy disaster. They jammed for a while, worked out some riffs, a verse and chorus and bridge were designated, and then they said "Roll it Jack!". We did two takes and picked take 1. Then the two singers wrote out some words, and each sang a verse and a chorus, followed by both together on the throat-ripping screamed bridge of "THIS IS A HOLIDAY" 'cuz it was Dec 23rd at the time. The four other songs were mixed on the fly right off analog 2 inch (no automation, natch) but this monster collab thing was dumped into ProTools and massaged somewhat, as there were a few (just a few) indecisive moments that had to be patched. (First take, ya know!) The result sounds like freaking Neurosis or something, with the two drummers panned left/right. (Though I did make some Grateful Dead jokes which were not welcomed.) Both bands have a healthy appreciation for pure noise which comes thru nicely on the whole record. For some reason it was decided to call the record "Like A Virgin" which meant, therefore, that the final track had to titled "Touched For The Very First Time," and so it was. It's records like this that remind me how lucky I am to have this career.
The other addition is a new comp CD from a new SF, CA-based label, "Death Rattle & Roll Vol. 1" on Wondertaker Records. It features SF bands Grannies, Motorhome, Black Furies, Dirty Power and Ain't, as well as Holland's Nitwitz (Feat. Tony Slug) and Hydromatics (feat. Tony Slug and Scott Morgan). Also: the Jack Saints, Everything Must Go, Bottles & Skulls, Fleshies, (Angry) Amputees, Midnight Bombers and Reid Paley. Since I've either recorded, mastered or mixed stuff by half the people on the record at some time, and cuz the label guys are old buds of mine, they put two previously-unreleased Endino's Earthworm tunes on the record... I'm hoping this label will be able to release my full, unreleased Earthworm CD later in the year. As an initial statement-of-purpose by this new label, the CD does an excellent job of bringing the Rock. I have copies to sell now for 12 bucks, although I haven't put it on my Garage Sale page yet cuz I'm busy mixing Winnebago Deal's record. Just write me.
Last night the Deal and me got a break from the studio to go see the Seattle debut of new band HOOF featuring Tad himself on guitar/vocals, plus Ben from Camarosmith on guitar/vocals, Tannar Brewer from Lawnmowers on bass, and Josh Sinder (ex-Accused, ex-TAD) back from retirement on drums. They were pretty damn good and with a few more shows under their belts will be killer. Opening was Chad Channing's new band East Of The Equator, who I just finished a record for! Also on the bill were the reformed and now-firing-on-all-cylinders Fitz Of Depression, who slayed, plus Me Infecto (new to me, a very good bass/drums duo) and Manfall, giddily celebrating their offical record release. A pulverizing night of rock.
23 May 2004
Well, that Nirvana-frenzy is over, thank goodness. Got about a hundred very kind responses to my newsletter (thanks everyone, I appreciate it)... plus one hostile one from some Kurt-Was-Murdered psycho pretty much accusing me of "cashing in". Words fail me. Still working nonstop, and now even with a waiting list. (That's what massive currency inflation will do to a national economy... works every election year!) Currently in the studio with a UK band called Winnebago Deal, who rock mightily indeed. Just finished a record for a Seattle band called Going South whose singer is a certain Katy Cornell, sis of Chris, and she has a killer voice, as one might guess! Also a record for AZ band Hell On Heels, which will be released on BOMP!. Other stuff in the pipeline includes recording a new Makers record in June (for Kill Rock Stars), and a new Accused record sometime after. Some of you might have recently seen me on TV, as a prime-time special aired about the story of the GITS and the recent trial of Mia Zapata's killer, and I was interviewed along with former band members. I did not see the broadcast, but an older relative told me, not without humor, that I resembled a homeless person, which perhaps indicates I am spending too much time in the studio. I just added seven more records to the Discography page... ZEKE, Zamarro, Kultur Shock, RC5, Artichoke Project, Optimus Rhyme (local rappers), and even the Toucans Steel Drum Band... more to come as soon as people send me my copies!
Oh yeah, and Zeke played here last night (official record release party) and pretty much blew the roof off the place.
05 Apr 2004
It's ten years since Kurt killed himself, and everyone and their Mom has been asking me for interviews. I finally decided to take matters into my own editor/proofreader hands, and have broken a long silence on this subject by putting some thoughts on Nirvana into my latest newsletter, dated April 4th 2004, which can be found at the Articles & Archives page. Also archived there, as of now, is my Feb 2004 Newsletter, a more chatty one decribing the growth of the Weed file paradigm for online music sales, as well as bands I've been working with, and progress on the Andy Wood movie. Also added five more questions to the FAQ as well as updates to the Discography, Contact and Newsletter Subscribe pages. And I'm working like a dog until mid-June at least.
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