I write to you from the crowds of St. Patrick’s Day, in downtown Lawrence!  Green costumed geeks own this day, bustling down the sidewalks like Irish peacocks, stuck in some kind of catholic trance.  The parade starts in roughly Twenty minutes and the peacocks fight to the teeth for a good spot to view the crazyness.

Me? I sit here sipping coffee waiting for the last minute to go out like a man of the shadows, a rougue of some sorts and steal the best spot before anyone even knows it happened, sticking my camcorder up and capturing the insanity that ensues in its great green glory!  And who would dare get in front of or near a camera man?  If not for the great fear of being captured in that time and moment and plastered on the unfathomable internet for employers to see that you were indeed not sick this day!  Or maybe your camera shy?

That won’t stop the drinkers though.  Their the ones who have been at it all morning, and will continue deep into the night.  No, a good drunk is a good exhibitionist.  They love the attention, and feel that all the great ideas that the alcohol just opened up in their mind, need to be shared with the world!

Well I must head out into the madness.  Dr. Gamage will be in this parade and I must yell weird words to him!  Video coming soon!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

-Griffin

Audience and Crowd Soundboard

This here is a nice little soundboard to generate different sounds such as applause, baby’s crying, orgasms and what not. Mix and match for weird combination’s!

Folks, and ladies and gents!  The Noise Circus has started, and its more like an avalanche…But never-mind that, just concentrate on the bizarre sound fields rotating inside your head for a minute and pray for at least one more guerrilla show!  Thats right folks!  This band may never play again, and if you watch the video, you will know why.  This has me a little upset, because I was feeling like I just got to know these freaks, and now this news.  We will call it the ton of bricks news.  This just may turn 2010 into a dud year.

And now for the weather…

Spring has been launched and is about to hit its target, so get out side with a cool brew, and your favorite fanboy phone of choice and watch/listen to the noise this band Spirals Over Norway has produced!  Its perfect for an intoxicated flight through the end-zone of reality, so do yourself a favor and take the trip!  As a journalist, I have one hell of a job before me.  First of all, who the hell is this super underground “Hipster” band that they keep talking about in this video?  Woodchip?  After doing a google search this is what you come up with:  BULLSHIT!

We will get to the bottom of this people!  Send in your comments if you know who the hell this band is!  I may buy you a beer if you can point me in the right direction.

I got to Spirals HQ right after they finished up session 7 and asked them a few questions, but they were in no mood to discuss the drama, so hopefully when I see them this coming Sunday, I can pour enough liquor down their throats to lubricate their juicy speech glands!  What I did find out is this…

They started the practice off with a jam they now dub “Chewing on Vicodin”.  Its a little bit more up beat than some of their stuff, and dare I say a little poppy even!?!  The vocals are reminiscent of Bauhaus at times, and Talking Heads at others.  Don’t get me wrong though, there is plenty of noise and ambiance to drown out anything sounding even remotely traditional, and it is just a jam.  But I asked Dr. Gamage about any plans on using the jam in the future.  “Well Mr. Sunday, I think that there are some great parts in that song, and after listening to it, I believe we will take some parts of it to sample in a future song…Probably in a loud outdoor amp, at 200 decibels and with as much distortion as we can muster.”, he said.

I then asked Griffnasty what plans the band has for the future.  He replied,”We are working on an album, in between random guerrilla shows…and we really want to make the album into something that is its own, its very own…Not some copy of another bands music, or ideas, but our own.  The band seemed to all agree with this statement as they left their practice space skipping towards the local Mexican restaurant for chips and tequila.

The band as a whole, from my perspective at least, seems to have taken on a  private, and more secretive MO these days.  Who could blame them after their cradle has been rocked so!

Here is the Webisode followed by “Chewing Vicoden”.  Enjoy, and feel free to leave some feedback, or any information you might have on this developing situation!

-Corporate Sunday

Chewin’ Vicodin- Feb 19th, 2010

Machinegun – Guitars

Dr. Gamage – Drums

Griffnasty – Bass/vox/synth

I have been in the lab experimenting with noise and sound lately, and the result is a little bit weird.  I have been introduced to some new music recently (See Mike Patton), and I have felt a little inspired to go off the beaten track and just let the sound do what it wants.  I let it use me, like I am music’s instrument.  I am very obviously not a singer, but I want to be.  So these sessions are sort of the gateway to me trying to find my voice and style and maybe even refine it a bit as well as learn how to incorporate effects and ambiance into music effectively.

The first track is called, Snake Venom.  I used a Boss Dr. Rhythm  for drums and ambient synth.  Then I ran a bass through an effects processor with mild distortion and a very short delay.  The vocals are ran through a Behringer Virtualizer Pro, a pretty awesome effects processor that I just picked up at Richards music shop downtown.  This was actually the toy that inspired this track.  I had to test out my new toy!

-Snake Venom

The drums on the next song were done with the built in drum machine on my br600 digital recorder.  It was a preset song that I used so I could just jam out something short and simple.  Then I just added bass, and synth and some crazy effects and blended them to make an eccentric collage of futuristic sounds.  Perhaps that’s what a digital jungle at night would sound like.  Can’t forget the angst fueled  lyrics!  The vocals were recorded using the BR600’s built in preamp and effects.    Here is the song, Tired of checks.

– Tired of Checks

This last one is more of an angsty little dity, so enjoy it!

It’s Fucked Up

Things to look for soon…The next Spirals Over Norway Webisode, Episode 4, as well as a few jam sessions from the band! Feel free to leave some comments!

-Griff

So, I just used the translator to send a text message to Dr. Gamage, and that’s when  I realized what a weird language cellular textualization is!  I wanted to ask the Doctor if he was still on to chill tonight in the Strategic Planning room, also known as the Captains Lounge.  What came out through the translator blew me off my rocker ten times and then shook the room next to me…the cats may never ever recover!  The translation  read as;

Are you when they have a permacultŭre? Do this closer to Are you thanks dude I thought so!

Its been 10 minutes and no response.  I am unsure weather texting etiquette allows for me to post a follow up message this close to the text’s birth and launch.  Now if this was a blackberry/iphone with undertones of twitter handy work, I could, and should post one zillian messages to keep the real time atmosphere alive, and to update everyone on my friends list what the hell is going on and just what the hell I am doing, or whats on my mind.  But we are poor men, and we use the primitive technology.  We do it fashionably and without regret!

Tonight we are supposed to get together and perhaps work on some bizarre ambiance and static, and delayed screams.  There may or may not be some freestate beer involved.  Time will tell.  We also may start our new podcast on music, and other bizarre things that keep life on Earth a little more interesting than the mainstream would allow otherwise.

I was going to post some experimental music that I have recorded lately, but wordpress will not allow me to upload today, and I am afraid it may be due to the fact that freenet hates me, and freaks out when I look at youtube or listen to a streaming mp3 or try to upload cool sounds to my blog.  So continues the romanticized life of the poor, yet fashionable young man!

Still no response from the doctor…and so I end this post by saying…Dr. Gamage, God Speed!  God Speed Dr Gamage!

-Griffnasty

I could Die Tomorrow

A great blog showcasing great music. Not the typical mainstream music force fed to the grazing sheep, but interesting talented and rare music that comes from outside the box.

Static Noise

Here are some interesting videos for you to watch involving noisy experimental music!  If you live in or around Lawrence Ks, and are into weird music, hit me up!  It would be cool to meet other artists who might be interested in building a community or scene involving noise rock/punk, experimental music, and various other “non-traditional” forms of art.

I have a new song for you to listen to today by the one and only Spirals Over Norway!  Its possibly one of the most evil songs written by the band to date!  It comes just at the right time too, for winters still bringing people down and the sun rarely shines like it did today!  This song has a history with the band and is sort of, for the time being, the bands baby!  Its been in the lab for weeks, having multiple bypass surgery on it.  Shes a real trooper, and obviously has a lot more work to be done on her.  But for now, they are offering you an exclusive listen in on what the hell this secretive band has been doing since you last heard from them!

The sad part of the tale here is, the band has recently lost their midi keyboard!  It was the jewel that kept this song alive… have no fear they are working on procuring one soon, and can still edit patterns containing synth power that is craved from the east coast to the west coast!

Here is the latest from Spirals Over Norway, the coveted song entitled, Come On In…

Spirals Over Norway – Come On In (February 2010)

Machinegun – Guitar/Vox

Dr. Gamage – Drums/Synth/Vox

Griffin – Bass/Vox/Synth Ambiance