2:55am - Dec. 28 "Day Man"

After we played, it felt like I was transported into an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." I'll show you what I mean.


I'm in a bar full of dreamers. The microphone is sticky and smells of stale beer. There are no doors on the bathrooms. It's a cold, icy night and the few people who actually came out sip on their pints and offer up friendly applause. They have big amps, flashy outfits, and cute drunk melodies. It's business by day, but at night they live out their rock star fantasies. And for what it's worth, they pour out their souls. Everyone needs a release.

1:07pm - Dec. 17

Biking in the snow is no joke.

Tried to put this up last night but it didn't work. So here it is from youtube.

3:08 am - Dec. 16

We're gonna need a montage...

We finished all the recording for the demo of the new album. I have to say, while working on a tight schedule was tough, it was a great thing for us. We've gotten so much tighter. Tomorrow we're going to sit down and listen to all the songs and discuss them. The newer songs still need a little more work before we go into the studio with them, but we should have time.

When listening to some of the play back tonight, it all started to come together. For the first time, it sounded like an album. The songs started to flow, to relate. We have a style. The lyrics tell a story of revolution. My excitement for this album is growing.

Two more days until Tony leaves for MI.

11:20pm - Dec. 14th

I came back from practice today exhausted, dehydrated, and I had a headache, but we got a lot done. We were able to lay down 2 new songs. One of the new songs is called "Chaotic." I had written it a couple weeks ago and had almost forgotten about it until I pulled it out today. Harsh memories came with this song about a friend of mine in high school who developed a drug addiction. I recalled one night when he should up at my house drunk and disoriented. We had found out he had also taken some pills that had been passed out at a party he was at. We did all we could to keep him awake and stop him from passing out. We thought he would die. His parents had completely given up on him. He disappeared my senior year, not sure where he ended up. It was almost painful playing the song again. One of the many reasons why I don't drink.

I'm going in early again tomorrow to lay down the last song for the album. It's going to be acoustic. Maybe add some bongos or other hand drums. It's called "The Internationalist." Hopefully we won't get snowed in here. It's coming down pretty hard. And it is ONE DEGREE FAHRENHEIT outside!

I've been 2 weeks now out of work. I'm running rather low on funds and it affects almost everything I do. Luckily, I've had great support from friends, but it's not easy. I find I'm a lot more tense and I have a lot less patience. I'm been looking for work and have had interviews and filled out applications, but it's hard to be motivated to get a job when all I want to do right now is be myself, a musician. Not to mention this system screws over the poor and working class time and time again. For example, I had to renew my car insurance yesterday. I currently don't have enough money to pay for it in full, so I have to make monthly payments. This means that it will now cost $160 more than if I had been able to pay it in full yesterday. Instead of there being some progressive way to figure the cost of your insurance bases off your income, you get charged for being poor. And in Minnesota, you can't drive a car with out car insurance.

But on the bright side, the movie about Che is finally coming out.

3:08 am - Dec. 12

We took yesterday off. I went to my weekly pottery class that I take with Laura and my Dad. I made a giant mug that I use to drink large quantities of chai tea. It works much better then a regular sized mug. As my dad said "8oz of anything is never enough." So that has kept me more then caffeinated the last 2 days. Yesterday was the last class. I'm sad it's over, it was a good excuse to see my Dad every week.

Be sure to watch Connor in the video from today. We worked on "Be Free", "We Say", and "Send it Out". Pretty straight forward songs. We now have Friday and Saturday off! I'm going to take some time to edit some more of the footage. There's nothing like making music with your friends.

1:27 am - Dec. 10

I got to the rehearsal studio early today to redo the bass I had laid down yesterday. It came out really distorted, so I played with the levels a little bit and I think it sounds better. I played the guys the song I had written last night, they seemed to like it. Nathan suggested it being acoustic. We'll have to try both, and see what we like better. We were having some trouble with the song "the blockade." When we play it live, it naturally slows down and speeds up, but playing with a metronome, trying to get it all to one tempo was quite difficult. After working with that for over an hour, we decided to record the verse and the chorus at different tempos. We're starting to become a really tight band.

I saw they announced who was going to be on warped tour this week. Some awesome bands like: Anti-Flag, Bad Religion, Big D and the Kids Table. I guess they are only doing one Main Stage this year. It they do the Kevin Says stage again, I think we'll apply to play. One can always dream.

I walked from my apartment to and from the rehearsal studio. It was 5pm when I left, but it was just as dark as when I was walking back around 11:30pm. Listening to Catch 22's album Permanent Revolution, I thought a lot about the life of Trotsky. I think that album, though different then most of Catch 22, is really extraordinary. The horn parts are especially amazing. It's nice to know that bands with the same politics can make it in this country, although, I'm not sure many of their fans even know what the album is about, or understand the context.

11:01pm - Dec. 8

We started Pre-Production today for the album! We're recording all the songs in our practice studio before Tony goes back to MI on the 18th. It's a tight schedule, with most of the guys dealing with finales and group projects, but I'm confidante we will get this done. Tony, Lee, Nathan and I spent a couple hours yesterday setting up to record the ruff draft. We're recording it all on a Mac, I'm still getting used to Logic. The bass was getting really distorted, I'm going to bring my bass head over tomorrow and see it that will sound better then the pre-amp we've been using. We recorded instruments for "let the people know", "cute girls in combat boots" and "who is who". We set up Nathan with a metronome and headphones. It seemed to work fine with all of us following him. Besides our EP, this is the first time he's had to play with the metronome in headphones. It's a good thing to do and it really keeps us tight.

Andrew said he would come by on Sunday to see how things are going. They signed the lease on the studio and construction will start sometime next week. I've got my tool box and I'm ready to build.

Lunch with my cousin Lindsey went great today. She gave me free pizza and tickets to her rollergirls game on Wednesday. I also found out that she knows Dave, who is going to master the album. She say's he's a really cool guy. I still haven't met him, but i'm looking forward to it.

12:04am - Dec. 5 "extra note"

I took some video footage with my macbook pro tonight at practice. The sound quality kind of sucks but you can get an idea of what we've been working on and what the new stuff will sound like. We spent most of the night on this song. Some of the other footage I will use to make part one of the "making of the album" youtube series. Sorry for the awkward back shot. I wrote this song leading up to the RNC in St. Paul. Where every day we were on the front line, oppressed by cops in full riot gear. I have no sympathy for the police, I only hope that one day they will join us and help fight the corruption and this rough regime that controls our country. Billions are spent on bailouts for the wealthy, unjust wars, military recruitment, and the prison complex, while millions of children go without health care, schools crumble, and we continue to pollute the planet. Mean while, presidents get away with murder.

Another song vomited out of me today. It sounds really good on my acoustic, not sure if it is meant for the electric sound. It's mostly open chords. I admire anyone who can go up on stage alone, just them and an acoustic and still entertain a crowd.

3:22pm - Dec. 4

The past couple days have been very repetitive: get up, work on music, eat, get dressed, go to rehearsal. It's been up at 12noon, asleep at 4am. I've become addicted to caffeine again. Not a cheap addiction either. I woke up this morning with a pounding headache, I also haven't been sleeping very well lately. I've had very vivid dreams, mostly replaying things that already happened or playing out the future or band practice. I think my room has been too warm while i sleep. The thermostat is set to 67 degrees but it's in the hallway and most of the heaters are in the bed rooms. So I wake up and it's almost 80 degrees in my room. I continue to set the thermostat lower and night, but my roommates always turn it up.

Last night, Lee and I worked for a while on a new song while Laura and Kahlil sat and listened. I think the song sounds a little anthemish, but I really like the way Lee sings the lyrics I wrote. I'm hoping to start posting some video footage taken with my computer soon.

When I can't write, I tend to do other odd band things. Thinking through every aspect, every little detail. I drew up a stage plot using photoshop. I think through all this band has to accomplish this year. I think we need to tour more. It's really hard to make money doing it and it's hard for Nathan, Tim, Connor, and Tony to take off from school, but I think it's what we need. I'm worried about this part-time job I applied for at UPS. What will they say if I tell them I need a month off this summer? Ever since I started my first band in the 6th Grade, I've dreamed of having a band that can sustain itself as well as its members. If we took the floaties off and everyone dove in together, do you think we could swim? The reason I didn't continue on to college after high school was not that I wasn't smart enough, it was because I knew I couldn't have a job, go to school and dedicate myself to music. There just isn't enough hours in the day and I only have so much energy. But when does a musician decide that other non-music related jobs are too much, when do we make the leap? It's it possible to be successful with out ever having to jump?

New Album, no sleep. 2:39am 11.30.08

I spent most of yesterday in bed with my acoustic working on new music. I recorded 3 or 4 ideas for new songs, not sure if any of them will work out. I'm really want the songs on the album to have some sort of progression, so most what i have been doing is focusing on songs that can fill in the holes. We have another pre-production practice tomorrow night and I'll see what the other guys think of the songs. Lee also said he had a reggae song he is working on, but he may have another tech rehearsal tomorrow for a production of "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown" at YPC, which I am sound designing. It opens next week.

11am this morning I was deep in a dream, band practice, lee wasn't there, I was about start playing a new song when..."misirlou" started playing. That's my ring for the director of the show. Asking if I was coming in today and if I knew where lee was. "Yes, I'm coming in, no I don't know where lee is. see you soon" click. I got dressed, through some cables and 2 cans of mountain dew in my back pack and hopped on my bike and headed over there. My car is still smashed in from the last show at the Triple Rock so I try not to use it as much as possible. I felt like I was going crazy at the theatre. I kept having flashes to my dreams the night before then I would come out of it, feeling slightly nauseous and I would completely forget what I was doing. I realized that it was now almost 4pm and all I had all day was a can of pop. Calling it a day, I headed home to make myself a tofurkey sandwich.

Then sat with my guitar until about 10pm. Nothing. Then off to eat dinner and watch scrubs with Dezee. I did, however, find another possible artist for the album. I sent him an e-mail for a quote, well see.

I also read today that a Wal-Mart employee in New York was trampled to death by hordes of shoppers on Black Friday. I think Dan said it best in his article, "the tragic death of Jimmy Damour is at least in part the product of the current political economy of world capitalism, in which U.S. consumer spending has been the lifeblood of the entire world economy."

"Yet it is also a product of the value system created by capitalism. The capitalist system encourages values such as greed, selfishness, and competition. Corporations are forced to compete against one another in an endless quest to maximize profits for their shareholders, or else face bankruptcy. This forces them to slash wages and benefits, lay off workers, speed up work, squeeze their suppliers, and ignore the environmental impacts of production. It forces nations, representing the interests of these corporations, into wars for oil and to secure markets for their goods."

New Album Journal

I decided to start a blog to keep track of the making of 2 Tone Runts new album. Mostly so I can learn from the experience, and look back at what I liked and didn't like. I've tried keeping journals before. They never really lasted. Mostly filled with lyrics and poetry, hopefully this will be better.

We had our first meeting last week with our engineer, Andrew. He's really cool and we've known him for awhile. He works for Radio K and is in local punk band The Supersmashers. He's got a lot of great ideas for the album. We're trying to figure out which studio to use to record. Our practice space is a fully functional digital studio, but it's small and cramped and the acoustics are far from perfect. Andrew is building his own studio which he has designed to have great drum acoustics. It should be ready to go by the first of the year. We may use both studios. I hoping to help him build the studio. I could learn a lot.

We will be starting pre-production this week! Picking out the songs we want and setting tempos and laying down rough recordings. We need to finish that before Tony goes back to Michigan for the holidays. I feel pretty confident about the songs we have picked out, they've done really well live, but it's the new songs I'm worried about. It's extremely important to me to have an album that can be listened to all the way through, no filler. I hate albums where I have to skip from song to song to find the ones I actully like.

As far as releasing the album goes, we talked to Andrew about releasing it on vinyl and download card initially and then releasing it on cd. There's a guy in Minneapolis who presses red vinyl, not that it's important, but it would be awesome. We're also trying to figure out how much money we can spend on this album. I would like to do everything for less then $1500. But who knows? I definitely don't want money to get in the way of quality. This album should be something that can be listened to in 5, 10 years and still be enjoyed, not saying to myself "oh, we were so young and stupid." The EP, which was recorded by an engeneering class for free, doesn't reflect how we sound at all. I'm dissapointed in how that turned out. I may end up producing the album, but Tom, the bassist of Umbrella Bed, has offered. He definitely is an extraordinary bassist, but the last Umbrella Bed album, which he produced, was stuck in the past. It was very reverby and didn't sound raw and organic like the 2 Tone Runts sound live. I want to capture that on the album.

We're trying to find an artist for the cover. Tony has a friend that might do it. I saw some of her work and I wasn't terribly impressed, but well give her a try. With such a political album, the cover should reflect that. I'm planing on learning screen prining over the holidays with my friend Dezee, it would we a lot of fun to screen print the cover on. Combining radical politics with art is necessary to help fuel the movement. We still don't have a title for the album. I'm going to keep brainstorming.