Black Coffee!

A Podcast Performance...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:39:15 GMT

Today I joined Kim Sedlock for her fine "A Red Head Spins The Blues" show on our local low power FM station, WSCA 106.1. T'was fun times! I yapped about all things music, zuzu, kids, influences, and played a bunch of old and new songs. If you'd care to hear it, You can find it archived here:

aredheadspinstheblues.podomatic.com

enjoy!
Jon

JNO & The Working Girls: Furys June residency part 1

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:45:11 GMT

It was time to get the band some dates to play! You can only woodshed so much before you get diminishing returns. Having some dates "in the books" feels good. The band is really starting to gel, and last nights Fury's June residency gig was only the first of four this month. Woot. For real though, there's a nice chemistry in the band. Getting Dave Nebbia behind the kit is just the thing we needed. It's feeling good! It's funny to hear people's reactions to seeing Dave, Geoff and Andrew in the band playing the kind of tunes I write. The guys play in other bands that are very different stylistically. "I never thought I'd hear you playing drums/bass/keys to stuff like this!" they say. Makes sense to us. Thats the thing about having musical cats on board. Real music fans. It helps. The clique-y genre-specific musicians don't get it. Good music is good music. And coming from the different areas of expertise that they do, they're bringing a cool new angle to the material. I'm psyched. By the last wednesday in June we're gonna be killing. Can't wait for yall to hear us! Come hang with us, hmm? Every wednesday for the rest of june at furys in dover, NH. There's no cover, and the bruins win when we play. so, there's that. rock feels good. more coming...

diamonds in the rough...

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:50:00 GMT

am I buggin you? I don't mean to bug ya.

Tuesday, 03 January 2006

New Year's resolutions. Bah. Who keeps those things? Well, this year I've got a good one for you, one that should be easier to keep than the rest.

You should see more live local music in 2006.

Yes, yes, I'm more than a little biased. I play music and write about music for a living. God forbid you're one of those poor souls who has randomly asked me a question about music only to be treated to a well-intentioned filibuster about some aspect of playing, recording or writing about music. Sorry 'bout that. But what can I say, I dig it. You should see more of it.

I was talking with a friend recently who lamented never having seen Ray LaMontagne play in Portland prior to his meteoric rise. She goes to Portland often on business, and now she's a huge fan. "If I had a nickel for every time I saw him listed in Face Magazine...," she said bitterly. That's how it goes though. No one knows him for 29 years, and then boom, nobody can get enough of him. Was his amazing voice any less soulful a month before he was discovered? I don't think so.

It's funny to think of LaMontagne's well dressed, hushed, sold out audience from his November show at The Music Hall climbing down the stairs of Portland's grungy Alehouse back in the day. They probably weren't there, but Ray was. Or if not there, he was playing some other dive. Songs aren't born in a vacuum. They need a place to grow up, like in the little haunts that freckle the Seacoast: The Press Room, The Blue Mermaid, The Brick House, The Stone Church and The Dolphin Striker among many, many others.

The point isn't that you should expect you're seeing the next huge national star when you head out to a local room on a Thursday night, but that Ray L. was Ray L. before you knew about him. He's out there right now in bars and clubs across the country, and not every Ray LaMontagne "makes it." Quite the opposite, in fact.

And if you really think about it, can anyone deny that this work, these songs, helps make up the very fabric of our lives? Taking away songs would be like if you took away the fall foliage, or coming home to the smell of your mother cooking something wonderful, or if a beautiful sunset were cancelled.

Do you know who Mildred and Dr. Patty Hill are? They're the sisters who wrote "Happy Birthday." What would your next birthday be like if you just kind of stood around and looked at the cake and didn't sing that song? It's a simple change, but it would be weird. What if Neil Doherty hadn't suggested I tell the DJ to play "Stairway to Heaven" at the end of that freshman year high school dance? No eight minutes dancing with Jen Jandebeur. What if Randy Newman never wrote a score to "The Natural?" Would you still get goosebumps without that? No, "Duh NUUUUHH NUH-nuh-nuh!" Just a crack of the bat, and you know, cheers from the crowd, I guess. Slow motion as Redford rounds the bases in silence. Hmm.

My passion hasn't completely blinded me. I know I'm an idealist, and there are very few open mics that I can honestly compare to mom's cooking or a sunset. The point is, musical greatness doesn't just happen. It needs to be molded in the trenches of a hundred gigs, in front of real people like you.

Jon Nolan (was!) the contributing music editor for The Wire.

http://www.wirenh.com/music-mainmenu-5/15-music-general/992-am-i-buggin-you-i-dont-mean-to-bug-ya.html

New Jon Nolan Album Track List? (so far!)

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:55:00 GMT

For the five of you who are actually still wondeing when my next record will actually come out, if ever: I have some news which, skepticism aside(!), might bring a smidge of excitement! Recently, my pal Andrew Hodgkins of the late, great As Fast As was visiting from his new home in NYC. He and I spent the better part of three or four days laying down basic tracks for the new album. Yay! My pal and bassist Geoff Taylor and I have been going through the tunes since, and the foundation for the songs is nearly complete. I've gotta tell you, it's an effing relief. One of the benefit's of having taken so long is that I have a whole shit ton of songs to choose from. Recently, a young (and thoroughly kick ass) band called Red Sky Mary came into Milltown, my studio. Taylor and I shared production duties on the album. It's coming along swimmingly! The point is, I found a person who has a similar feel and taste in Taylor, and I asked him to kick me in the arse, er, I mean, co-produce the record with me. I remember a time when I would visit studio's and think "Man, if *I* had a recording studio, I'd record ALL THE TIME!" True, true. I do. I just record other people's music! Ha. The irony. The other bit is - yes, I've been recording my own songs all along, the only problem has been maintaining perspective, and uh, finishing them. That damn internal editor rears his ugly head for sure. Aaaannnnnyway...... Once I've got my guitars and some vocals down, my man Andrew Blowen, keyboard whiz of the sludge rock kings of NH, One Hand Free will come on board for some ivory tickling. He loves to tickle, you know, ivories and stuff. Perv. There's a dry erase board next to the couch at Milltown. On it is a checkerboard, with a list of songs down one side, and a list instruments across the top. Boxes get checked from time to time when something gets done, on, my next record. It's taken this long to get this far, so I'm not gonna rush it. If it rules, it will come out. Until then, nope. My man Geoff Taylor is saving me from myself, as are Andrew Blowen and the excellent rocker Tim McCoy, who is lending "spiritual" guidance, and busting my chops for good measure. I can't wait for you to hear it! Tentatively named songs on the white board so far: 1. Record Shop Girl 2. Fresh Cut Grass 3. Dear Heart 4. Wishing Well 5. Everything Has Changed 6. Things Were Better 7. List of Things 8. Right Over Me 9. Black & Broken Little Heart 10. Feels Right also being considered: pawn shop guitar don't try to love me now four walls I'm sure there are some I've forgotten! But it's a'comin'... EDIT: check the pictures page for some photos of the session!

A Favorite Album?! Sheeeeesh....

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:27:17 GMT

band o' young dudes in the studio. last night the drummer asks, "so, what's yer favorite band? like, do you have a favorite?"

man! i *used* to be able to answer that question! it was a dose of reality that my relationship with music has changed dramatically over the years. i mean, in high school, who you liked DEFINED who you were (or were trying to be), didn't it? The lines were clear. In my twenties, I had more of an idea of who I was, and my true tastes, but I still harbored fear over over other people's opinions - especially as a musician. "No, wait, I can't write a song like that! My "fans" won't understand it!"

Now? Fuck it, man. NO apologies. As a musician and/or recordist, I think this is where it's at. As it relates to recording/writing/performing, I mean, truly, you must be unafraid to launch with reckless abandon into complete-fucking-mess-and-go-fuck-your-"good"-tasteville in order to get to the REAL and honest shit, no? I think so. I am becoming more convinced that in order to acquire taste (as an artist/recordist - whatever) that one has to abandon thought of whether something is "cool" or "in good taste" or not before their shit can really become all it can or wants to be. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of your own internal cool-o-meter, which is likely to A. be out of whack and B. be preventing from enjoying a vaaaast amount of amazing music out there. I can talk about the bands/records that have been incredibly important to me and my own music, or that I find inspiring, but, a favorite....?

I tried to answer the dude. I can't answer the "who's your favorite" question anymore. I just can't. Any attempt to do so, I've realized, for me, is an attempt to shape someone else's opinion of me. There's just too much good music. My new answer is "I like good music,"and that of course is judged by my tastes alone. Some one else's tastes are just as valid, of course. It seemed like a cop out.

"Oh!" I said, "This'll give you an idea." I said. I grabbed my macbook and plugged it in to the monitors.

"I Like this.." elvis, heartbreak hotel (piano under the solo! so good!)

"i like this..." eddie grant, electric avenue (oi! crazy synth-or-ama goodness)

"I like this..." Black Keys, Next Girl (nasty shit)

"I like this.." Bryan Adams, She's Only Happy When She's Dancing (straight up party rocking fun)

"I like this" Mose Allison, My Brain (dry, hilarious, love the "mumbling", piano sound. great tune)

"I like this..." *I play half of Thriller.* (mama-say! mama-sah mooma-coo-sa!)

"I like this..." Slobberbone, lumberlung (brilliant imagery, an immacualte presentation/production. *killing* band)

"I like this..." Tom Petty, won't back down (do i need to explain?)

"I like this...." Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, 40 day dream (great vocal, feel, pop. so good.)

i dunno if the drummer was just confused, but it was an "aha" moment for me.

Also: Bryan Adams' "Reckless", while being incredibly personally enjoyable to me is, tastes aside, I maintain, an example of absolute song-writing, performing, production, arrangement, and mixing excellence. top to bottom. as good as it gets. Yes, I get why people react negatively to it Bryan Adams. The cheesy 90's ballads, the 80's production, and he's not exactly "deep" - but so what!

MJ's "Thriller" too. It's as good as you "they" say it is. Absolute greatness. I still don't like the ballad at the end, but whatevs.

Now, as for bands and/or albums that have *influenced* me the most, or played an important part in my own development?

beatles, dylan, stones, early elvis records...the classics, blah blah blah

more specifically, in no particular order:

U2- "the joshua tree" & "the unforgettable fire"

Uncle Tupelo - "March 16-22" & "Anodyne"

Willie Nelson - "Stardust"

Neil Young - "Zuma" & "After the Goldrush"

Bruce - "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

Wilco - "Being There"

Richard Buckner - "Bloomed"

Whiskeytown - "Strangers Almanac"

Old 97's - "Too Far To Care"

Emmy Lou Harris - "Wrecking Ball"

Steve Earle - "Train A' Comin'" & "I Feel Alright"

Marah - "Let's Cut the Crap & Hook Up Later on Tonight"

The English Beat - "Special Beat Service"

The Police - "The Police" & "Synchronicity"

The Replacements - "Pleased to Meet Me"

General Public -"General Public"

Kenny Rogers - "The Gambler"

Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

and, not to be left out. there's whatever was on my clock radio in middle school and high school, which played music as I went to sleep every night ... standouts: 'jack & diane', 'pyromania', 'Come on Eileen', 'Who Can it Be Now?' & 'Man Down Under', 'Rock the Casbah', 'Africa' (yes, by toto), a shit ton of 80's madonna, sanctuary (the cult), 'i wanna new drug', 'the heart of rock and roll', 'old time rock and roll'......and shit, there are so many more.....

Musicians! Please watch this AMAZING woman!

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:05:00 GMT

Evelyn Glennie has been DEAF(!) since age 12, but what she has to say about LISTENING is soooo important. I found this to be incredibly inspirational AND educational - particularly from about 24:30 on. Just amazing.

Live Music is Dead!?

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:11:10 GMT

I don't really believe it is! But my friend, and musician, eric ott posted a Facebook comment wondering if it was, and it got me thinking. here is my long winded response: my take: yes and no. this is gonna be long, and i'm gonna generalize a bit, btw. i think we musicians (or at least *I*) have been spoiled by playing music in the pre-digital era - an era when there were fewer means of meeting society's needs (say, social needs. needs for connectedness). you didn't google all the band calendars/websites and choose - you just went to town, ran into some friends and eventually found a place to hang. and more bars had music because they wanted to make the experience a better one for their clientelle - or even increase the foot traffic if the band was popular. you didn't get sucked into reading your facebook "news feed", or a thousand on demand movies or TV shows, or some show you DVR'd for some later "free time". at best, you didn't fuck up setting up your VCR and maybe you had one show to watch. but it still wasn't as easy as just flipping on the TV and hitting two buttons. soooo.... people went out. some bands were good, some bands were ok, with a couple "hits", some sounded like Creed. zing! i would argue that most people went for the experience - the whole experience - hanging, drinking, seeing people, and music *happened* to be there, so, we all had a better chance of developing a fan base, to say nothing of more opportunities to play and get better. so, when a band played the stone church - a pure destination gig - we all had a chance to play for more people before that gig, to get better, and develop more of a fan base. the people who got their community "fix" (and had fewer ways to get it) would make a night of it with their friends, and that's what they'd do. now plenty get it thru web surfing, FB, xBox, and IM'ing and texting, and the "draw" is split. notice, we're all HERE INSTEAD OF CHATTING ABOUT IT AT A BAR! :) look at the dying record labels/industry. agents, managers, labels execs are furious they can't maintain their high-on-the-hog way of doing business and profits! they're so pissed that people won't buy their shit! well why should we? mos of it iss sub par, and we only want two or three tracks. they gave us bad product, and more importantly - a bad *experience*. now we have a better option that serves our needs as music listeners. but BEFORE - we HAD to buy it, or get a third generation cassette copy from somebody else. ANNNND, it was a way for all of us to connect with each other, through the common interest in great music - meeting OUR social needs. now we do this online. when is the last time most of us all grabbed a new, highly anticipated record and listened to it in the same room with a few other people who were excited about it, chatting only a little? say zuzu used to do it pretty regularly. obviously I/we are older now, and it's not as easy, but you get the point. the major labels were doing just fine until they weren't - but i'd argue that their doing well had more to do with people settling for a shitty sub par version of what had come before (50's-1980+) and little to do with them (on the whole) providing a great service and experience. cultural inertia. I like to bash on the big bad music industry for being blind and shortsighted as much as the next guy. but i think a lot of what us grey beards consider the dying of passion for (live) music, is actually, people finding better/easier options than "pretty good" music. i fear this might come off as harsh, or jaded, but it actually makes me quite optimistic! what it DOES mean (if i'm right - and who's to say) is that musicians/bands, if they want people to come and become fans - MUST become better at seeing the whole picture. I can jam with friends at my house and be fulfilled. when i ask other people to spend their precious time and money to spend and evening listeneing to me and my band, i have to think about what *their* experience is! are we too loud? do we look like we just got there from the grocery store? how are the songs going over? what would other musicians (whose taste i trust) suggest i do better? It's up to US to be a more compelling option that all the little shiny things out there, and to remember that people WANT to discover new, exciting music. it hasn't lost it's appeal. i just think they removed the "curve" and music is getting it's real grade. wow. that was long. sorry. guess i had some thoughts about it. hugz. j-no

a recording anecdote

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 04:41:23 GMT

i recorded this band a year or two ago. they were/are *awesome*. they played interesting, enjoyable, beautifully crafted music, and they performed it very competently. they set up to do the stuff "live", which means, everybody is mic'd up and performs the song at the same time, as opposed to, say, having the vocal or singer perform on top of an existing recorded performance. i drove home on a high from the sessions. "I'm the MAN, motherf*&^ers!!" I thought. "I'm the KING OF GETTING SOUNDS!" Literally like the. next. day. I set up to record another band. After the session I was driving home singing a different tune "I effing SUCK!," I thought. "I'm KIDDING MYSELF and CAN'T GET SOUNDS!" It was so bad, that after the band left, I hit record, and played some drums - just to listen back. I suck at drums (love drums!), but the sound didn't suck. I'm not trying to beat up on anybody or anything. The point is, and it's often said by other audio recording nerds: "It's the source that matters most." When bands come into Milltown and kick ass, I look good and shit is EASY to make happenin'! Having good tools at my disposal is awesome, as is having some experience making records of my own, and by others. The bestest bit, however, is a killing song performed in a way that makes your spine tingle. as my pal and fellow recordist Scott Craggs once said: "Recording is easy. Writing good songs is hard." Performing them in a heartfelt way (if not competently) is also hard. anyhoo. i was just thinking. i'm awesome at atari baseball, jon

A New Song...

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 03:57:24 GMT

I've got a "Bandcamp" site now. It's yet another site for musicians. It's pretty slick though! Anyhoo, I dropped a new tune on there for you to keep you thinking of me. Be warned, however, it's a sad number. Hope you enjoy... jonnolan.bandcamp.com/

Say ZuZu Road story #328 - "Farm Aid Crashers!"

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:35:31 GMT

one time, when the great say zuzu was on tour, we had a cancelled gig in chicago. how odd. it happened to be the same day as farm aid, which was in oak lawn, IL that year - not too far away. being acquaintences with some of willie nelson's band (a story for another time), we called their bass player, Bee Spears to see if we could get some help getting in (see: backstage). we had lunch with bee the day before the show, and hung out with a bunch of willies crew, including a lightning plug of a man, "tommy the tuner." lots of energy in that one. nice feller. bee introduced us as we stepped onto the crew bus. "tommy, these are my friends, say zuzu." "say zuzu!" tommy exclaimed, "i need some more zuzu swag! i've been putting your stickers up all over the country!" a few months earlier, cliff had passed some along to mickey raphael, willie's harp player. seems tommy the tuner had plastered the oval, red and white "say zuzu" stickers all over willie's road cases and on back stages everywhere, and he wanted more. tommy the tuner. so cool. the stickers are still all over willies road cases, btw. i saw some last year. anyway, bee told us to give him a call on his cell once he was in, and he'd talk to his manager and see what he could scare up. the next day was kinda cold and rainy. we pulled our trusty bus, the bull, into the lot outside the backstage corral where all the "other" tour buses were, and called bee. he was having trouble finding any passes. "you'll have to go to the back gate and try to talk your way in," he said finally, after an hour of trying. undaunted, we donned our best rock duds (you know, to look like we belonged), and walked up to the back gate. there was a skinny guy with a clip board and a garth brook headset microphone thingy. behind him was a giant swollen oak of a man waiting to roid rage all over imposter NH bands trying to get into farm aid without authorization. garth mic looked up as we approached. roy d. rage glared. garth mic: "can i help you?" me: "we're say zuzu." garth mic starts flipping through pages on the clipboard. roy d. rage starts doing push-ups, and nunchuck excercises. we act all rock star-ish and shit. garth mic: "i'm sorry, but, you're not on the list." the amazing say zuzu: *feigned disbelief and offense* and then, when all seemed lost - a voice from the other side of the gate! "we're here to get say zuzu." it was two of willie's crew, black satin "willie nelson & family" tour jackets and all, totally hooking us up. huzzah! we were saved! garth mic waved us through. roy d. rage looked dejected and put his nunchucks and brass knuckles away. i told him to suck it and choked him out. not really. so there we were, on the inside! sort of. where we *really* got into, was a blocked off corral with a beer tent, where all those radio listener backstage pass "winner" folks hang out and yell to stars for autographs, all while missing the entire show. we followed willie's pals outside the corral and stepped onto the band bus. it was, uh, a bit smoky in there. bee was in the back. "you made it!" he said, as he tossed us some passes. "these are all i could scare up." they were the radio listener passes. we were thankful. bee is da man. that said, we knew we weren't gonna be satisfied hanging out in 100 square feet of pavement with drunken fools yelling across metal fencing. so, we just ignored the rules, and started wandering amongst the buses, scoping out the security and determining our chances of infiltrating deeper. james and cliff stopped brian wilson and had a chat with him! i chatted up daniel lanois, and of course, slipped him a copy of our CD "Bull." "What a great album cover!" he said. super nice feller, that guy. a huge influence. Del McCoury, the Hootie drummer, Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman of Phish also got snagged in zuzu chat-up. i talked with trey and fish about the stone church. trey recounted the (locally) legendary story of trey leaping and nailing his head on that low beam over the stage. it's true! weird. all nice guys. some whacked out hippie chick pestered fish about some "secret shows" phish was planning, trying to get an inside tip on where they were. they were clearly not happening. hippie consiracy theorists are annoying. fish was gracious. chick was hiiiiiiigh. the best moment in this particular part o' the day - did i mention it was rainy and cold? - was when cliff and i spotted jeff tweedy. we walked up to jeff and his sweet wife sue miller, did the normal gushing about how much uncle tupelo and wilco kicked ass. then we handed him our CD, "Bull," of course. Tweedy's wife's eyes lit up. "hey! say zuzu! I love you guys! I want to book you at my club! Jeff, you'll love this record." we just about pooped our pants. Sue was co-owner of the now defunct Lounge Ax (RIP), an *awesome* music room in Chicago. we ended up playing there a few months later with Kevin Coyne. did i mention we almost pooped our pants? it couldn't have gone any better. the next hour or two was spent looking for ways to sneak past the next check point into the REAL backstage. cliff and I eventually made it in, hungry and cold, but psyched. "rock duds" don't usually include winter coats. just so's you know, kids. i chatted with jay bennett about their (then) upcoming album, "summerteeth", & cliff and I hung out with tweedy some more while john mellencamp play an awful set (and I LIKE the 'coug! keyboardist rapping on "small town?!" c'mon 'coug. sheesh.) we nodded a hello to the always friendly and smiling willie nelson, got neil youngs autograph(!), shared knowing smiles with willies peeps, who knew we had snuck in. it was, in a word, amazing. the day was long, the rain kept up, and it was getting colder. " man, coffee would be awesome right now," cliff grumbled. just then, the bearded blur himslef, tommy the tuner came racing by. "tommy!" we said "you have to get us to the catering room to get some coffee!" the catering room, you see, was through two check points on the other side of the stage. we hadn't wanted to spoil a good thing by getting bagged by security. "ok, stay close, and hurry!" tommy said, and darted right for the security peeps. "we're with tommy!" we said as they raised their hands. then, we walked across the stage. i waved at the 30,000 people sitting in rainy seats. suckas! tommy sped into the catering room and stopped. "COFFEE!" he yelled. "WHERE"S THE COFFEE!?" Like a movie, the chattering people stopped dead, mid bite, mid story, and twenty hands pointed to a silver urn. there were tables of tasty food were everywhere. "There you go," tommy said, and started to dart out of the room, and back across the stage, where we had no hope of getting through security. "wait! we need to get back across!" we said. "HURRY!" tommy thundered. frantically ciff and i filled the largest cup of sweet, tasty, and thankfully, HOT coffee we could, and glanced longingly at the finger sandwiches and treats we would clearly have no time to enjoy. "LET's GO!!" tommy hollered, and turned to jet back to the musician side of the stage. in mid stride, i grabbed a huge handful of dinner rolls parked right next to the exit. cliff, right behind me, dug his hand into a huge basket of doritos. i caught up to tommy right as he hit the check point and was heading across. cliff fell behind, and got grabbed by security. "I'm GOING ACROSS!" he yelled, and yanked himself free of the security dude's grasp. so funny. cliff, the tough guy rebel. it was the finest coffee, the most delicious dinner roll and the orange-y finger lickingest doritos we had ever consumed. we barked a thank you to tommy who sped off to keep the show rolling. tommy the tuner: women love him, men wanna be him. with "dinner" done, and a good amount of delicious hot awesomeness left, we looked up. neil young was set up to play. we wanted to get closer,of course. we stepped up behind the monitor board off the side of the stage. above it read a sign: "only performers past this point." cliff and i looked at each other. well....WE"RE performers, we thought. so, we stepped around. twenty feet away neil young was playing 'like a hurricane" on a huge pipe organ. i looked to my left, mike gordon. to my right, jon fishman and cliff. just to their right was willie's harmonica man. he smiled at us. "you guys were meant to be here," he said. it was a pretty good cancelled gig. i can't believe you read this whole thing. ps - i love you jon

thoughts on recording and the importance of arrangements...

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:28:40 GMT

i record other folks a lot these days. it's a weird thing to be the guy at the board after making nine(?) records with my Say ZuZu (RIP 2003), and on several others as a guest on others' recordings. i find it fascinating. it's really bringing into focus a lot of lessons that i hope (someday!) to implement myself.

##disclaimer##
this idea won't work for every song/band/genre of course, but it's my opinion that it applies to most music!

anyway, lemme get to the point without rambling first. not that i'm breaking new ground here or anything, but i don't think it can be overstated:

arrangements can make or break a song. sha-ZAAM! rocks melt. hell freezes. that some deep shit right there, yo. but i said it.

good arrangements can make a so-so song enjoyable, and a good one great. bad arrangements won't let good music pay off the way you'd hope, or worse, make you lurch for your iphone to skip to the next tune. what equals a good arrangement is all a matter of taste, of course. that makes it harder to get at sometimes - especially when there is more than one "cook making the broth". nonetheless, if you've got a song that just won't go away, but everytime you play it it doesn't "work" or "feel right," then heck - it might be the arrangement. thats how it goes with me anyway. i'm gonna mull over some more thoughts on this before i get into my own personal taste about approaching a song, but for bands/artists: this might be an interesting exercise...

pick some songs from other artists that you've loved for a long time. i'm talking about old classics, or at leas ones tha you've gone back to and have loved for longer than a month or two. now, chart them out. not necessarily the notes, but the parts. why does each band member play what they play, do you think, and what does it do to the "whole" of the song? how does it contribute to it's awesomeness?!

let's assume the lyrics don't suck. now...

how many times does the drummer *actually* hit the cymbals throughout the whole tune? count the crashes! it might be enlightening. do they play the same part during the verses as the chorus? why/why not? where do they get louder (or more intense?) what makes it more/less intense? more mellow? how does it sound like he/she is hitting the drums, and with what? brushes/sticks/rods/the lead singers head? how do they use the toms? is it just to connect one section of the song to the next with a fill, or do they use them to accentuate certain parts of the song? are they a "hook" too?

does the bass around the whole tune like james jamerson, or settle into a hypnotic pocket? hang with the drums super tightly? play a rhythm against or around the drums? lay out until the chorus? play whole notes? lots of notes?

what about the guitars? are they chugging throughout the whole tune? do they lay low during the verses/chorus? do more guitars come in or out at certain parts?

the singing. the additonal percussion, organ, piano, background vocals etc...

try and imagine what parts of these songs you're listening to - if they changed, or didn't exist, would the structure crumble, or become weakened? why?!

more soon. this might make no ssense yet, i dunno. i'll come back soon.

coffee...
jon

There is no "right" decision....

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 22:00:19 GMT

So I'm just gonna start putting out music. We've got one tune in the can, and almost finished. I'm gonna post it somewhere when it's done. I have PLENTY of tunes to record. I'm guessing I'll try and get an album together tat some point also, but first things first: gettin' something done.

Goal: new tune number one in two/three weeks. That gives me plenty of time to finish overdubs and mix it, I think.

onward!

Jon

one song every other week? two EP's a year? an entire album after a while? you tell me!

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:47:52 GMT

i know i haven't put out an album since like, 1972, but hear me out on this one.... is the album, as a form, mostly kaput from a consumer's standpoint? i think of myself as an album guy, but the truth is, that even when i have, say The Beatles' "Revolver" in the CD player in the car, i skip around. no "eleanor rigby," "here there and everywhere", "for no one" or "love you to". i'll listen to "taxman" once, then "im only sleeping" a couple of times in a row (so good!), then i'll binge on "she said she said" a few times and marvel at ringo's awesome tone and feel. maaaybe i'll give "yellow submarine" and "and your bird can sing" a spin if i'm in the mood, before letting the last four tunes play through (with a triple play of "tomorrow never knows", of course!). point is... it's the frickin' Beatles and im not even sitting through the whole thing. it's not like those other songs are lame. far from it..it's just after hearing them a bunch, i'd rather get to the tunes that still do it for me the most and move on to another record (where i skip through and listen again). i know this is far from anything like market research. ha. but, i can't imagine i'm alone in this kind of music listening behavior. i still like having a collection of songs from an artist, but i dont know if i'd feel the need to buy the tunes i mentioned i leave out on "revolver". sacrilige, i know. sorry. it's just how it is with me. so, what does it have to do with the title of this blog? well, i started an album withe the working girls. so far it's coming along swimmingly! that said, i'm getting tired. emotionally tired. between choosing from the backlog of songs i've gathered since "when the summers lasted long", finding the time to practice, arrange and record the damn thing (all while recording other fine artists), it just feels like it's NEVER GONNA GET DONE. it will, but you get what i'm saying. either way, i'm wondering if it's really what most people want. so whaddya think? yes, all three of you reading this. you. leave aside my whiny self-pitying rambling about how haaaard *sniffle* it iiiisss to make *sob* a....a...RECORD! (/sad violin self pity music). yes, let the jury disregard that shite. how do you REALLY listen to music? would it be better if i just tried to put out three songs every other month? a full record after a year(ish?) (the latest one notwithstanding), or maybe, a song every other week? I dunno. im just thinking here. maybe digital release on bandcamp.com/iTunes and such. Hmm... anyhoo. responses are appreciated.

SIRIUS / XM is cooool.... (hello new music source!)

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 05:22:13 GMT

the nolan fam just got a new car! nothing fancy. just a get there and back rig. it is *new* though, with new car smell and everything. it's a hyundai elantra, in case you were wondering. do you think tom waits drives a hyundai? nevermind. the thing is though, it comes with XM installed! you get three months free, but i haggled and got another year on top of it. i've been so psyched! everytime i get in the car i now im going to hear something cool. EVERY. TIME. this is awesome. i had a CD player in the old car, but my CD's always ended up getting trashed and scratched. i just suck at that kind of thing. the discs that did work, ended up getting played to death, which is fine, but it didn't exactly inspire me when I heard the same stuff over and over. every thre or four months I'd try to remember to switch discs...maybe. soooo, i got a shit ton of the ole radio. news flash: terrestrial radio SUCKS. what a same-y, uninteresting, un-inspiring, kill-myself-if-i-hear-that-song-again experience it is! (mostly). i've only had the new car for a week. lately it's been the "deep tracks", "classic vinyl", "outlaw country" and "first wave" getting played. today i found an all-comedy channel too! excellent. it's cool to hear the "other" songs from older albums by classic artists whose singles have been massacred and overexposed for the last few decades. it feels like putting on an LP and giving the "other" songs a try. it's breath of fresh fucking air, i must say. "outlaw country" features all of the expected alt-country stars, of course, and then some "distant cousins" like tom petty show up now and again. there's even some indie stuff too. i just heard a tune by Chatham County Line the other day. They're one of those bands that i had heard of, and prolly read about in No Depression magazine (RIP), and who had a questionable promo shot (uh, like all of say zuzu's! i'm not trying to beat 'em up). I guess I just sort of asumed they were another alt-country poser band [aside: it's so easy to do that nowadays, isn't it? i think it's the incessant facebook and myspace spamming. i think it's made me cynical. now i think everybody is selling AT me, but i digress} . Turns out I'm the douche. "Out of the Running" came on the XM feed. What a lovely little song! gorgeous harmonies, good lyrics and warm, perfectly combined textures. I cant remember the last time i wanted to buy something i heard on the radio. seriously. ok, i did scoop a couple fast-food style pop tunes from itunes. like, four of 'em in five years. but, THIS i'm gonna buy. cheers fellas, it sounds good. i'm gonna listen to your back catalog and see what other hidden gems i might find. XM! who knew? psyched. Jon

A new backing band!

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:18:13 GMT

Steve Ruhm, my ye olde drummist from Say ZuZu flies private jets for a living. He prolly figured he had a better chance of flying in one if he learned to fly it himself. God knows Say ZuZu was never destined to have one. We woulda been freaked out anyway. Skynyrd and Otis Redding and Buddy Holly kinda ruined that idea for us. Anyhoo, seems he was just about to go nuts unless he started playing music again, even casually. Friday midday became an informal jam with Steve and a few friends. I scooped him up for a band gig I had on the books. It was like ten days out when I asked him. I had forgotten to assemble a band! "Wanna play a gig, Steve?" "Sure! Who's in the band?" "You and me, so far!" The sunday before the gig I was at Milltown, my studio. My studio partner in crime, Josh DiJospeh was mixing some tracks for his own band, One Hand Free. Geoff Taylor, a fine bassist and rock fashion connosieur sat at the back of the control room, next to Andrew Blowen their keyboard playing frontman. "Nolan, I see you've got a gig this saturday," Taylor mentioned. "Yep!" I said. "Band gig or solo gig?" He asked. "Band," I said, as an idea popped into my head. Talyor looked up. "Who's in the band?" I smiled. "What are you doing next Saturday night?" The night before the gig, while practicing the set's tunes with Geoff, I texted Andrew. It was 1am. "Hey dude! Wanna play a gig tomorrow night?" Good suggestion, Geoff. Andrew was in. Saturday night we ambled into Dover's newest watering hole, Fury's Publick House and said our hellos to the friendly dudes from The Molenes, who were headlining. Our set felt great. The band was really listening and interacting with each other beautifully! It wasn't the tightest set ever, but there was something there. I was inspired. We agreed that we would do it again. A week later, Steve called me about another Friday "jam." ""How about we start recording my next record instead?" I asked. Friday night we had three tunes in the can. It's happening, finally.

Studio. Old demos. Heat.

Mon, 03 May 2010 08:14:05 GMT

I'm mixing the new Tim McCoy and The Papercuts record this week! This, my friends, is a good thing, because it comes out in three weeks. Yikes. Mix number one tomorrow. Cross yer fingers.

Also...
Found an old cassette tape(!) full of half finished songs. Got the wheels spinning a bit. I know, I know. I'll believe it when I see it too.

Lastly...
Today was one of those hazy, slightly humid days that we usually only get in June or July. Lucked out and snagged one in May. Awesome.

I'm Hosting an Awards Show...

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:44:04 GMT

specifically, the spotlight awards! the spotlight magazine is the weekly entertainment magazine that comes with the portsmouth herald newspaper. t'will be good times. or, i might freeze up and faint. you should come and cheer me on. or heckle me.

Getting Rid of Stuff is Hard

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:06:08 GMT

Why is it so hard to toss out old ideas? Or say, ten of the thirty tee-shirts I have, even though I wear the my favorite five or six. Or ten of the twenty butter knives we have in the silverware drawer? Do I really need to use that many before I wash some? Moving on and getting rid of the stuff that holds you back, whether it it's physical clutter or an emotional attachment is tough stuff.

I have been subscribing to Bob Lefsetz's newsletter for a few months now. Skip past the political part and get to the music part of his post entitled "The Health Care Bill."

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2010/03/27/the-health-care-bill/

I think I've been kidding myself about physical "product" like CD's and such. The CD's I listen to most are stuffed into a cardboard CD box which sits on the floor of my car and spill out with every sharp turn. Lame. As soon as every new car comes standard with an ipod jack, how many of us are EVER gonna have physical discs, tapes - whatever - in their car. No one.

This makes the idea of trying sell my own music problematic of course. I sell most of my music at shows. What do I sell if not CD's? There are other options of course - like the new download cards that are available through vendors like CD Baby. But it ain't a sexy option really, is it? Whenever the new good idea arrives, it's gonna spell complete and total death for CD's.

Does format matter to you anymore? CD? Vinyl? MP3?

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:50:37 GMT

God willing, I *will* actually get this next batch of tunes out. The delivery medium keeps coming up in conversation. "So, are you gonna put it out on CD Nolan? Just online? Or...?" I have my own preferences I guess. I have no idea what the future holds for the music industry at large, but even if there are only ten of you out there that wanna buy my next "thing," I'd love to hear what form you want it in. Do you just want a CD to put on the shelf so you can load it on your iPod? A "download card"? A vinyl record with free download too? A multi-fold CD package? What do my fans dig?! I have no idea. Please do chime in. It's sunny here in NH, thank god. Jon

Random thought

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:55:00 GMT

a brilliant performance, good sonics, an amazing song...

only one of those pieces, on it's own, will be worth anything a year or two from now.

EDIT:
ok, I'm back. This needs to be said differently. Dunno if I expressed the idea clearly.

Lemme try this....
A good song will always be awesome. Sometimes the depths of it's greatness is revealed fully over time.

A great perfomance always seems to endear me to an artist or a song.

Good sounding stuff matters least to me.

These are helpful things for me to remember when I'm recording my own stuff - but worrying if it sounds "professional" or not. I'm just sayin'.