More show info!

Well, lookee here, lookie-loos!

Here’s a flyer for our long awaited show this week.  We’ve laced up our orthopedic Chucks, and are prepared to break both hearts and hips with a healthy dose of our patented brand of Dork-Rock.

So, in case you can’t see it, here’s the skinny, Fats!

THIS Friday night! June 10^th, Two-thousand and Eleven!

Grover Kent (holy cow, they haven’t been made into glue yet?!?!)

Thomas Francis Takes his Chances (so take a chance on them, won’t you?)

The Timid Roosevelts! (no sudden movements, please!)

And

Forsaking All Otters (Otterly adorable!)

Cheesquake First Aid Squad on RT 34 North in Old Bridge.

First band (That’s US!) begins PROMPTLY at 7 pm.

Admission is FREE for an evening of very nearly top-notch entertainment worth up to

10 TIMES AS MUCH!!!!!!!!

Oh, in case you don’t have them, there will be copies of our Odds N Sods collection Everything Must Go! and the recently re-released Running Out of Ramones EP.  We also will have our remaining stock of T-Shirts for sale!  Buy two, they’re on sale!

We better see you there!

I almost forgot!

I almost forgot!

Our drummer Jay is playing a solo gig of his own material on Saturday, June 11^th at Buddie’s in Parlin.  It’s free, and hell YES you should go to it.  That's the day after our show in case you forgot...

Privateiron.tumblr.com for more info.

Knocking the rust off...

So yeah, we had our first practice in nearly three years at the venerable MF* studios in New Brunswick last night.  I have to admit, I was nervous going in.  No calluses, about an hour of guitar playing since 2008, and absolutely no goddamned idea how to play certain songs kind of had me all shook up, for lack of a better euphemism. 

As I walked in (late, thanks to the effing GPS that sent me on a shorter route that took much longer by sedingt me through the heart of traffic!) I could hear everyone running through “Killing Time (at the Book Depository)” and I couldn’t help but smile.  When I walked into the actual practice room and saw Mel, Jay and Mark it all felt right, you know?

Miss Bee took some pictures, we played some songs and I didn’t suck too much I think.  Now believe me, I am well aware of the irony of not being able to remember how to play a song called “Old Man Conroy,” considering its subject matter.  That song always gives me trouble and probably always will.  Strange, right?

Jay actually had the three new songs tacked onto the song list and I got a chuckle out of that considering I have never played them on guitar.  Seriously.  That being said, if we can hammer it out at practice next week, we’re going to attempt one.  What the hell, right?

The only bad thing about the evening was the realization that my beloved Gibson All American I is not going to make it much longer.  If you’ve been following us and our adventures for a while you may remember back in 2006 or thereabouts, we played a show at the Rail in Boundbrook and some fucktard knocked my guitar stand over and stepped on the AAI.  I had it repaired but it’s slowly come to the point where the headstock is again coming apart.  It’s sad, and not only because I spent like $150 on it to fix the damned thing. It’s my first “big boy” guitar I bought new and now it has to be retired.  I may try and sell it for parts, because I don’t think you can throw a new neck

on it, at least based on Mel’s initial inspection. 

Alternately, maybe I’ll drop the pickups and the machine heads into my old, decrepit Flying V.  Oooh!  The bridge too!  The V is a Gibson Rip-off so it ought to accept all of this stuff just fine.  I hope!  I’ll have to talk to Mel about that…I’d love to play shows with a ridiculous white Flying V.

Anyhow, we hope to see you all at our show Friday June 10^th! A mere 7 days away!  It’s at the Cheesequake First Aid squad, Rt 34 in Old Bridge, NJ.  We’ll be playing with Thomas Francis Takes His Chances and the Timid Roosevelts.  There’s supposed to be some more bands added as well.  Bands start at 7pm.  Cover will be no more than $5.

Oh in case you’re wondering, yeah my fingers hurt…but it’s a good hurt…

Practice, ahoy! (or Band, Ho!)

Yeah, tomorrow night, believe it or not.  The rest of the band being the well-oiled machine that they are, it won’t be a complete train wreck, but there are a couple Grover Kent tunes that, and I’m not using hyperbole here in the least, I really have no idea how to play anymore.

Yep.

I made a CD of the songs we’re playing and that’s my rehearsal guide.  It astounds me that some people can just pick up an instrument and, years later, bang out a song, while I sit and listen to stuff on Me, Myself & Your Mother with a puzzled expression, looking like a chimp trying to split the atom.

Anyway, the setlist for next Friday’s fun fest will be very Running Out of Ramones-centric (i.e. I’m pretty sure we’re gonna do the whole EP.  Yeah, all 11 minutes of it…) but there will be some older tunes as well.  Although, seeing as the friggin’ EP came out in THE YEAR OF OUR LORD TWO THOUSAND AND BLOODY SIX, one could argue that we’re playing ALL old songs.

You’d be right, considering we actually are working on new material.

Oh, on that note I should make a

GROVER KENT IN-STUDIO UPDATE!

OK, so I recently went over and recorded some of the world’s pitchiest demos at Jay’s so we can record new stuff.  Jay used Punk Rock Magic™ to put my lyrics and rudimentary melody lines to actual real-life music.  We also used YouTube to make sure a part of a song sounds like, but is not exactly like, another song or two.

He recorded some scratch guitar and then drums.  As noted in a previous blog post, when he went back to listen to them, the drum tracks were botched.  This sort of thing is standard when dealing with Grover Kent, so no big whoop.

The drums were re-recorded for two songs last night and the other two will be tonight.  Soon enough guitars and vocals and whatnot. 

We’re doing this batch with ProTools which makes me pretty uneasy.  Now, it may be because I’m not a Pro (ha!) but mainly because it’s different.  As anyone will tell you, I’m not a dude who likes change.  Mind you, I was leery of recording the Running EP at Jay’s as well, and that turned out fantastic, so I’m probably (PROBABLY?) just being a sissy about it.

OK, that’s enough for me right now kids, see you soon!

Damn cables!

Looks like Jay has to rerecord the drums for the new material. Seems there was a faulty
cable thus making the drums alternately VERY LOUD or very quiet.

This means we will likely not have copies of the new single at our show on June 10th. Ah
well, what are you gonna do, right?

What this means is that I have additional time to tweak lyrics and melodies. This is a
good thing I think.

Whether this means we’re not going to be able to be on the comp to help the Japanese
tsunami victims is another story. If we can’t be on it, I’d like to throw “Conspiracy
Theory” on the single maybe. Then again, maybe another comp wants it or it’d be great
on a split single.

LIVE!

OK, So you may have heard a rumor floating about regarding a Grover Kent Live
performance of rock music. I am here to put those rumors to rest.

I will do that by declaring that they are true! Yes indeedy! Almost three years since our
last show, Jay, Mel, Mark and I will once again don the mantle of Lords of Goof Rock
(Aberdeen, NJ Chapter) and play you some of our decidedly silly brand of pop-punk for
you, the masses.

It seems local man about town/scene guy/musician/beloved Hawaiian shirt-wearing
Mofo Scruff is having a show to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of his being made
an “honest man.” He got married, not let out of the joint. So, being I denied a request to
get together last year for his wife’s burfday, I of course said yes to this request.

I have been practicing guitar, being I have not played since, and I kid you not, November
of 2008 (that’d be the release show for Everything Must Go! I mean, if you’re keeping
score.) and I am, to put it mildly, rusty as hell.

Now, as to whether we’re going to debut any of our new stuff at this show let me just
say this: Let’s see how practice goes, shall we? I’d really like to, but we all know where
good intentions go sometimes, right?

Show Info:
Friday June 10th 2011
6pm doors
7pm bands
ALL AGES!

Cheesquake First Aid squad
Rt 34 N
Old Bridge NJ

Featuring:
Grover Kent (HEY! I know those guys!)
The Timid Roosevelts
Thomas Francis Takes his Chances
Plus more TBA!

Admission is looking to be free but if there is a cover it will be no more than $5! A steal,
really, to marvel as we get up there and try not to break a hip!

Grover Kent in the Studio?!?!?!?!?!

Yeah, you read that right!  We're actually hard at work on our first new stuff since the release of Running Out of Ramones in 2006!  Right now it's 4 tracks.  1 for a benefit CD for the victims of the Tsunami and Earthquake in Japan.  The other three are going to be for a BRAND NEW SINGLE!

Yes, you read that right and are not dreaming.  Unless you're naked in algebra class, then maybe you are dreaming.  Then again, I don't know what the hell you kids are up to these days.

Anyway, yeah.  What was I on again about?  Oh yes, new songs!  demos were recorded that you'll never hear (as my voice sounded like I haven't sung since 2008) but we're working to have this done as soon as possible. 

We're planning to release a limited number of copies on CD for those who want a physical totem, but, in an unprecedented display of generosity and not being Luddites about the damned thing, the new single will be available to download for free.

Yes, we're serious.

Pretty soon we'll tell you some song titles.