Lyrically speaking (or speaking of lyrics...)

Man I’m such a pain in the ass about lyrics. 

“There’s a fine line between Stupid and Clever.”

I believe that, even if it is from a fictional documentary about a then-fictional rock band.  Hence not finishing the lyrics to “I Love You Christina Hendricks” until just before recording them.

My bandmates must want to KILL me sometimes with my metaphorical feet-dragging sometimes.  I just want to make sure I’m not being hackneyed and clichéd, unless I am doing it on purpose.  Sometimes, you want to make the easy rhyme because it’s what the song calls for.  You’re using it to make a point, you know?  Other times, you’re trying to say something important and personal and you will not let it go until you either lock it up ot throw it away and start again.

Here’s a prime example. I met my wife in 1997.  The GK tune “The Story of You and Me” began to take shape, oh somewhere around 2003.  After I had written “Caroline” about the birth of my niece, my wife would continually harass me about why I didn’t write a song for her.  She was light hearted about it but it was taking a while.  That song went through about a dozen revisions before I brought it to Jay in the summer of 2005 and we hammered it out.  Nobody heard any of those old versions, and I kept not even one phrase from them, other then the title which came from the last draft.  I think she heard it for her birthday in 05.  It finally was released in 2006.

Conversely, I wrote “Jimmy’s Little Blue Hatchback” on the way to the Tick Tock Diner after a Comrades show.  I was watching Jimmy (their singer) Tetris all his gear into this impossible looking space in his car and remarked how amazed I was by it when bass player Greg said “You should write a song about it!” to which then-new guitarist Darren said something along the lines of “He can’t write a song about that!”

Greg looked at him like “yeah, that’s what you think!” and I proceeded to write it on the way to the diner, singing it for Darren as he got out of his car in the parking lot when we got there.  That was back when I could write my own music more reliably and not have ALL the songs come out like "Blitzkrieg Bop."  It’s not “Bohemian Rhapsody” or anything, but it’s a good song and didn’t require any further tooling.

I think the last two songs that have sprung full into my mind like that were “I Think She Used to Be a Man” and “Rebound Guy.”

What's our new single called?

So, tomorrow we record vocals for the new single.  I suppose I ought to reveal the title of the title track about now, eh?  All right, here we go!

drum roll please!  The title of our new single is-

“I Love You, Christina Hendricks!”

Yep, an ode to AMC’s saffron-tressed beauty from the hit show Mad Men! 

So, to recap the tracklist for the single is

1)      I Love You, Christina Hendricks

2)      Luxury Sedan

3)      I Don’t Care About You

Now, if we’ve missed the deadline for that Japan benefit comp*, we’ll release “Conspiracy Theory” as a name your own price song with all the proceeds going to the Red Cross.  Don’t worry, we’ll let you know what’s what!

*and I am afraid we have, sadly.

Delays, delays, delays...

People* have asked me, “Hey, Smackey!  What in H-E-Double Hockey-Sticks is taking so long with the new single?” and I have to tell them “Well, you can’t rush quality, can you?”

While that’s a perfectly legitimate response as far as I am concerned, they often say something like “Well, that doesn’t explain your career so far…” and then we start sissy-slap fighting and hair pulling and it’s all gone horribly wrong again.

Anyway, here’s my official statement on what’s taking so damned long:

1)      We’re Grover Kent.  We are second only to the Dickies who are second to, maybe, Boston, in the category of Bands Who Do Not Put Stuff Out Quickly.  Our name in Icelandic translates roughly to “Glacial Sloth.” 

2)      Think of our band activity like Plate Tectonics.  Years of pressure and grinding and hot lava and build-up** then KA-BLAM!  That’s how we work.  Years of nothing then we splooge out an EP and a couple of shows.  Aftershocks may include unreleased tracks.

3)      Seriously?   I have 2 jobs, a wife, a kid and a dog.  Unfortunately for you, dear listener, the band is not my highest priority.  If only me crooning about dopey shit paid well, eh?***

I literally have 1 day off a week, and two nights.  It's not easy to cram in the rock, you know?

In an effort to shut you all up, erm… I mean keep you happy, we’re releasing an updated version of our out of print debut album, with bonus tracks.  One of the bonus tracks has not been released before the rest of them are from the LawnDarts split, which is also out of print.  I just put the disc together, I just need to come up with artwork.

Also coming soon: a way to buy our CDs on the internet!!!!  Holy crow!  Seriously.  Not only that, but there will be a way to buy our music as MP3 files as well.  This will rocket the band into the early 2000s again and we’re very excited.

Our stuff hasn’t been available since Are You Listening Records closed up shop, and well, I am lazy sometimes.****

 *-and I don't just mean people in the band ; )  They have vested interest though, so you know, they can do that.

**- this causes chafing, let me tell you!

***-in case you’re wondering, it really doesn’t!

****-A lot

New single update!

As previously tweeted, it’s time to announce the title of the cover song that’s going to be on our new single.  So here it is:

The song is called “Luxury Sedan” by a band called Holmes.  Holmes is a fantastic band from Northern NJ who I have seen an awful lot of times.  I went to college with their drummer.  They kinda sound like the singer from Cake fronting Black Sabbath if they were signed to Motown.

“Luxury Sedan” is a live favorite, and is available on Holmes’ debut album Get Tight.

99.99% of you won’t know this song.  Lazlo from BlowupRadio.com did, but then again, he’s Lazlo.  He knows these things.

So, yeah the next reveal will be the name of the title track.  I know you’re all squishy in anticipation.

yeah...

We rocked.

Seriously, that was a lot of fun, and we have new buddies, The Timid Roosevelts!  We sold a CD!  We gave away some shirts.

Thanks to Miss Diana for the above pic.  Hope her birthday was great!

Hope Scruff and Susie enjoyed their soiree, we did.

For those of you who missed it, it's too bad.  I don't plan on another "comeback" show, just more shows.

Lastly, you know what's neat?  When you see someone in the crowd from a band you really like and they sing along to your stuff.  That's pretty awesome.

Ah, it’s time to reveal a new song title! Yes indeed.

As you know, we’re feverishly working on some new stuff.  Previously we revealed the name of the track scheduled for the Japan Earthquake relief comp, “Conspiracy Theory.”  I can now reveal the name of the original “b-side” of our new three-song single.

Ready?

You’re sure?

Honest and truly?

All right, then I am very excited to announce the second song title in the batch of four:

“I Don’t Care About You”

No, it’s not the fear song of the same name, it’s a little more lovey-dovey than that.  There’s a small chance we’ll be playing it Friday, too.

Tune in again soon for when we reveal the name of the new cover!  Isn’t the suspense maddening?

Single news

Well, I got the news today that the bass tracks are done on the four new songs and we now are waiting on the huge pain in the ass of ME!

My job is next, and that is to record the vocals.  If you’ll all indulge me I want to woodshed the three originals a little bit more before I commit them to tape (more accurately, to hard drive in this case…) so I can be satisfied with the results.  I know, Mr. Prima Donna Rock Star, Old Man Conroy.  Look, I have been listening to a lot of the old stuff lately and I sing some of it very differently.  I realize, however, that a lot of that comes from playing the stuff live and things that happen when you do so, and there are certain “happy accidents” you just can’t force, you know?

Really, it comes down to this; I’m not playing guitar on these songs mainly due to not playing much guitar lately (uh, the last three years specifically), so as my only contribution will be with my voice, I want it to be at the same level of the pretty ridiculous talent I have involved with the rest of the single.  Anyone who’s seen the Break Evens knows that, like Mazeffect before them, they up my personal game considerably, therefore embiggening all of Grover Kent as a result.

So, to recap-

• We’ve recorded 4 songs, all they need now is lead guitar, and all the vocals.  These will be done soon, I promise.
• Three are originals
• One may or may not be on a comp CD, depending if we missed the deadline or not, but I think we did.
• The cover is from a local NJ band that really is a different style from the usual Grover Kent tomfoolery

I ought to get started on that artwork, oughtn’t I?