Neglectful…………

So I’ve been lax on writing shit in this blog but I’ve been busy and lazy all at the same time. My parents came up the day after Thanksgiving and we made turkey and all that shit. Everything was going well until about nine at night when I immediately vomited up everything I ate, which is unusual now that I don’t drink so much anymore. As far as everything else went, I am pleased. Chuck and my dads dog got along quite well, despite Chucks attempt to make Roadie calm the fuck down by biting him. And despite my father’s head cold and my step mothers “quirky” behavior I think they had a good time as well. Also in the news Tobey my former roommate and his girlfriend Ginny moved in a couple days ago due to they’re former roommate being a total dick. Tobey’s life is like one really crappy blues song, as soon as he gets his shit moved in he gets laid off from work. With one more check on the way and some unemployment he should at least be able to cover a month. I don’t know if he’ll find any work anytime soon but his girlfriend is very competent compared to most people her age here in Maine. Hopefully everything will work itself out, it usually does.

As I’m writing this the first snow of the season is falling outside and it reminds me that the ugly scum sucking beast known as Christmas is rearing its ugly head. Every year I get bummed out around Xmas not for the usual reasons, but because I have seen America turn into a consumerist nightmare and Xmas is just the icing on the cake. I should really get my shit together and try to find a way to get out of the sinking ship that we called “America”. BBBBAAAAWWWWW!!!!! listen to the sadness……….

Okay, Fuck all that emo shit. In music news I got a whole bunch of new shit I’m gonna be recording as soon as I can. Including the Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon versions of “Plastic Jesus” and the immortal “Will the Fetus be Aborted?”. I also have a Doors track called “Untrue” that I’m gonna do a polished version of. Plus some Johnny Thunders and New York Dolls songs and much, much more. So, come back soon and hopefully I will be motivated enough to post some new shit.

For now,
Zack

Finger Pickin’ Fool…….

So my Dad finger picks his blues…as for me I strum them like a tank crushing flowers. But as of lately I’ve been trying this finger picking thing (Nothing like finger pain on both hands). So after a week I’ve decided to record some and see how it sounds, so here is a sample: It’s not great but what the hell. Included are 2 versions of the song “Untrue” by the Doors, which is my first attempt at finger picking and singing (So cut me some slack) which is incredibly hard to do. But I found that the more I play the drums the better I get at finger picking, I guess it’s the appendage coordination. These tracks are practice and in no way represent what I’m doing right now I just wanted to crank out another blog post and show you guys what I’m up to. I will probably be way too busy to do any more work on this shit until after my parents leave (I should be cleaning right now).

For now,
Zack

PS: Here’s some more drum practice as well –

The Joy’s of Homeownership

So today was a long day of preparation for my parents arrival. I had to clean up the back room and tear out the old carpet to expose the beautiful hardwood floor underneath. As for what kind of sick twisted depraved asshole would cover an astounding hardwood floor with a white carpet is beyond me, probably a sick rapist with a cleft palette. Here’s some pictures of before I tore it all out and after.

And the Finished Product……

So after much hard work (and more to come) but the outcome is definitely worth it, and it will raise the value of the house. I can’t wait for my parent’s to get here. It’s the first time they’ve ever been here and my step mom thinks I live in the boondocks. Portland isn’t much but it’s still more of a city than the capital. In other news I’ve been working on my finger picking and am gonna record my practice tomorrow and post it. So, stay tuned

For now,
Zack

Drums Zack, Drums……

So much to my neighbors dismay I’ve been playing and recording the drums all day. After yesterday’s debacle (see yesterday’s post) today was as smooth as Kentucky Bourbon. You can listen to all the takes here: There are a lot of fuck-ups and bullshit, but what the hell I’m not a drummer. so take a listen and tell me what you think.

For now,
Zack

A Full Day’s Worth of Failure Supplements in One Little Pill

So today was a day of failure so mediocre that I spent half the time wondering if I was mad. Woke up at 5 and got it in my head that I was gonna record some drums today, so I bust out the old P.A. head and hook it up to the computer. I needed to hook this old jalopy up in order to record with more than one mic, after getting all the shit set up (across the room) I sat down in front of my computer to discover tons and tons of crazy interference with my monitors. I went over to the P.A. to adjust the volume and found it to be really hot. Here is how the first couple of takes went. Take 1 – sounds pretty good, with the microphones adjusted in the right positions I got some pretty good coverage. Take 2 – more distortion on the left channel but still okay. Take 3 – okay….there’s a weird rumbling/ growling noise under the drum track on the left channel…..hmmmmm Take 4 – nothing but a very loud WWHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOEEEEEHHHHEEEEEEEOOOO!!!! noise. Then suddenly, boom….poof…..black smoke the smell of ozone and electricity. It’s dead, there is no saving it………

So I rigged up a secondary mic and recorded some drums. Unfortunately without someone playing the bass I have a really hard time keeping a beat and ended up with some sub par drum tracks. I did a much better job with the drums when I recorded them one at a time with a metronome keeping the beat, probably gonna try doing that way again. Why am I doing this? I have no Idea. I haven’t been able to sit down and write a song for a year or more, the stuff I have written was on the fly and I’m not always happy with how those kind of songs turn out. I think if I just had some more human interaction with people that aren’t dumb I’d have more stuff to write about, but these days there aren’t many people I really wanna be around. But to hell with all this cry baby shit! Listen to me, wah wah wah!!

On a lighter note, my parents will be coming up the day after Thanksgiving and we are frying up a motherfucking turkey!!! If you’ve never had a deep fried turkey then you might as well stuff a rattlesnake up your ass and some scorpions down your throat, cause you don’t deserve to live!! This will be the first time my parents will be coming to the house so this should be interesting.

For now,
Zack

Chugging Right Along…….

So after lots of intense labor I have got all the music I want up here on this blog, right up there above you ready for your perusal. I found tons of shit, like 20 hours of Temple of Funk material. I made sure to post 2 really good instrumental pieces because usually I’m an ego maniac and only post stuff with my beautiful crooning tones. Listening to all the old tracks brought all sorts of weird memories and reminders of good fucking times, when Kronenberg 1664 poured down like rain and you could do what ever you wanted cause tomorrow was another day. What’s next? Who knows, I’m cranking out the acoustic shit as fast as I can but find myself severely sucking in the writing department.

For now,
Zack

Work…….Believe it or Not!

So I’m pouring through hours and hours of old Chocolate Jones and the Temple of Funk masters looking for good shit for the new page I’m making. But the Soundcloud uploader is being a cunt and the work is long and tedious. Gonna make a pretty kick ass list with some stuff most folks haven’t heard before, including some instrumental stuff and weird outtakes. All of it will be available for download so you assholes can stop asking me for CD’s. After this I’m gonna make a page for Funkatronic Werewolf and the Ex-Republicans featuring such great hits as: “Date Rape Steve” and “Free J.R. Mucks”…..so come back often and await the greatness

Zack

What the Fuck? Time to Give this shit a Try…….

So this is my attempt at this media format, anyways I’m trying to post some music in this first post so wish me luck…….more relevant and wordy blogs to come………Here is almost all of my acoustic recordings for now……enjoy