insurrection is an art

10:24pm - Nov. 30 2011

2011-11-30T22:44:00.008-06:00

Already knowing where I'm going to sit before the train arrives, I lean against the red pillar two thirds of the way down the platform. When I get on, I take my usual spot next to the window in the middle of the first car. An elderly man with a gulf war vet hat sits across from me. As the train is about to leave, two kids, one with an Eagan high school hoodie run up to the automated ticket machine. After one stumbles with his change to get his ticket the doors close. They hit the button on the door and get on. They spot a transfer left on one of the seats and they grab it. From their reaction to the stamp on the back, I can tell it's still good. Lucky day for him.

The elderly man is trying to open a box of chocolate covered cherries. These where my mom's favorite candy. It's shrink wrapped and he digs in his yellow nails to tear the plastic. He manages to pull out the top tray of five chocolate and begins to pop them in his mouth. One after the other, he holds them for a moment in his teeth between his gums and his lips. Almost as if he is giving a kiss or imitating a monkey. Before reaching the first stop he has devoured all five. Pausing, he notices me, horrified, staring at him.

"Would you like the rest?" he says to me as I'm taken out of my shock. I suddenly have a flash back to being told as a child to never except candy from a stranger. Which always reminds me of the Green Day music video for the song "Warning".

"No thank you." I stutter back at him. I'm always uncomfortable and awkward when people talk to me on the train.

"I don't care for them much," he lies as if to pretend he didn't just stuff his wrinkled face. "They'll just spill in my bag." he says to himself. I Ignore him and go back to looking out the window. I suspect he'll be getting off at the VA, just a few short stops ahead.

At 28th Street a TSA employee on his way to work sits down in the bench in front of me. He's old and smells old. I sink into my seat. His greasy hair is held down by a navy blue hat. Springsteen blasts in his ear buds. He must be hard of hearing. I quietly hold my breath until he gets off at the Lindbergh Terminal.

I'm on my way home from another night of work at the aquarium in the basement of the Mall of America. I take the train for 34 minutes to the Metrodome where my bike is still parked. It used to be I would where headphones on this train to drown out the noise of strangers. Lately, I either sleep or people-watch. Sleeping on the way home has it's downsides. Every now and then I am woken up by either another rider or the transit police. They always think I'm going to miss my stop. Only once have slept all the way into downtown.

The gulf war vet has now been replaced by suburban dude dressed in all black heading into the city. He sports his new black jeans, still pressed from being folded on the shelf, new Nike high-tops and an obnoxiously large watch. He's practically yelling into his cell phone. Makes me want to take out my phone and respond to him like we're having a conversation. We both get off at the edge of downtown.

As I walk onto the platform large snow fakes fall to the ground. Tomorrow is the first day of December and this may be my last ride on my road bike for the season. While wiping the snow off the seat, I check the tires. They're low from the change in temperature today. The batteries in my head light are dead. It must have been blinking all day in my bag. "Great", I pull my red had down on my face so it touches my eye lashes to keep the snow out of my eyes. I pull my keys out and quickly detach my U-lock as the southbound train passes.

I ride swiftly on the street. There are few cars out tonight. The snow is coming at me like a ton of frozen mosquitoes. I need to remember to get goggles this year. Across the stone arch bridge the snow is already beginning to stick to the ground. I peddle faster up the hill and pause only for a moment at the stop light next to Santana's. The last block to my apartment is a one-way street so I take on the sidewalk. The light above my building's door is also out and I fumble in the dark to find my keys. Up the stairs I take my bike to my third floor apartment. When I open the door, my cat sits patiently and gives me a quick wink. Hannah is asleep on the couch. She opens her eyes slightly and smiles as I put my bike away. I am finally home.

9:32pm - Dec. 1

2010-12-01T21:14:00.004-06:00

Finding the space between work, sleep, eat to do the only thing that keeps you going. I was never meant to be kept quite. Never much for partying. My release is different. There's something to be said about the passionate. I will always admire those who do what they love. Someone who can dedicate there life to being happy. I currently have half the hours in my week dedicated to being a mindless slob of a capitalist. And I can justify it just about anyway I find how but it doesn't make me happier. Yes, it's nice to have somewhere warm to sleep. Yes, it's nice not having to check my bank account before I go grocery shopping. It's nice to be able to pay back all that money I borrowed. It's all so Minnesota Nice.

So am I selfish for not being satisfied?

11:47pm - Nov 21

2010-11-21T23:47:00.001-06:00

A new beginning. If ultimately this music is what matters to me in this life. This band was it but the band isn’t good enough. I am not holding back. If this is our project and I’m dedicating 20 hours a week and you can’t spare 2 then fuck it. My 20 hours is down to checking email a few times a week and the 5 hours I spend at the show. The load-in, the load-out, promotion, that’s all part of it. Yeah I stayed out all night, yeah I had to work a 10 hour shift the next day. For what? 15 bucks. The chance to play for a few drunk friends. I’m done with amateurs. If you don’t have what it takes, don’t waste my time.

21 feels too old to start over. At 17, I thought I had it all. I thought people took the word “serious” seriously. I thought you wanted to put “entertainer” under job on your 1040. But the past year has brought us less then 2 steps further. So I bite my lip and count my loses. It’s a shame. I’m trying to move forward. Stop Drop isn’t just a name, it’s the commitment that I won’t stop playing music till I drop dead.

Fri Oct 8, 2010 - Duluth, MN

2010-10-08T12:19:00.002-05:00

Been awhile since I've written anything. Stuck in a rut of work, work, work. Currently I have four part time jobs which has left little time for reflecting and writing. I spent time this past year looking at the movements from the outside. The way most people see it. I have seen how easy it can be to forget about the people and what they think. To become so wrapped up in your ideas that you lose touch with the community. For awhile I lost touch. You can get so lost in meetings and micromanaging and self importance. But in the end all that really matters is the effect you had on the lives of others, and if all you succeeded in doing was putting off others, then you took a step backwards.

I've been standing still for too long. Time to start moving forward again.

1:02pm - Aug 11

2009-08-11T13:03:00.002-05:00

Despite the number of days we have had off on this tour, things have been going pretty well. Our new van hasn't had any incidents *knock on wood*. We've played with some really awesome bands. Our show Saturday night was canceled so we went to see Across the Aisle and spend the day in Manhattan. We played with Across the Aisle the day before in Jersey and were really impressed with their set. We got a photo with them after the show. I spend most of the day trying to find wifi in new york. They only place i found wifi was at starbucks. So I go in, buy my small (wtf is a tall) iced coffee, sit down and pull out my laptop only to find you have to pay another $4 to use the wifi for 2 hours. Whatever, I was able to get got up on my e-mail and talk to some friends back home.

We were tempted to not even come out here at all with three shows falling through a week before we left, but we did and it was definitely worth it. We met a lot of awesome bands in Jersey and got to see our friends in The Waffle Stompers. Touring is one of the best things I've ever done. The only down fall of this tour is that Kate is currently on the train back to Seattle and I wasn't able to be there when she left. I'll be touring out there in October/November to visit but these first couple months without her will be difficult.

I still have to find some studio time to record my solo EP, I'm not sure how much money I want to put into this. It will be an experiment if anything.

11:42pm - May 6

2009-05-06T23:42:00.004-05:00

Ever since I was in my first band in the 6th Grade, I have wanted to play Warped Tour. I decided right then and there that music was my career. But I thought about the music industry a lot differently than I do now. My commitment was never in question, but my attitude and my expectations were. We just had to play that one show for some big league music executive and we had it made. Like for some reason they hung out at youth centers in the suburbs. I didn't get it. I had so much faith in magic.

Then I became an independent music junkie. Trying to pick the brain of every successful independent artist I met. They all had something in common; they all worked hard at their craft and promoting themselves. So it was right about that time that the MySpace phenomenon hit. Finally an easy way to reach hundreds if not thousands of music lovers. Then I realized there is a big difference between networking and spamming. Adding random kids who probably will never have any interest in your band and copy and paste messages spread like the plague. We also would get offers for this or that and things like "I love you band, I work for ...." Really? And you sit around all day on myspace looking for the next big thing?

Would I do that?

No.

I started to think about how I heard about my favorite band and what made them awesome. It was almost always word of mouth. So how do bands get talked about? They tour, they play awesome shows, they do something new. So my senior year of High School, when everyone else was picking out what school to go to for some job they hadn't figured out. I decided to stick with what I knew. We spent nearly a year before we had a complete line up, but it was something, something great.

After a few months of playing shows, I started to realize there is a big problem with the local scene: Over Booking, which leads to bad shows. Who wants to go to a show with 5 people. I don't. How come some bands had huge shows, when band that were just as good, if not better had fewer kids there. The bands with huge shows played less. That was the key. You over book your band and you will start to cut your fan base in half for every show.

Then one day I was showed a website that confirmed all my beliefs about being in an independent band. EarnItYourself.com The EIY philosophy was exactly what I needed to keep going, to work harder. I didn't care that I had lost my job, my apartment, my car, because I got it. There will always be set backs, but as long as you work hard and promote, promote, promote, you can do what you want to do. Nearly 9 years after my I set my goal, I have gotten one set closer. 2 Tone Runts will play on the Kevin Says Stage at Warped Tour this year on August 2nd in Minneapolis, MN.

Never give up.

4:02 pm - Mar 25

2009-03-25T16:02:00.003-05:00

First let me apologize for my last blog and video blogs. They suck, I know, I'm sorry.

The tour was amazing. Everyone we met on the road was awesome. The show in Michigan was insane. We packed a coffee shop and everyone really connected. CIB 800 played an awesome set. They are all very cool guys who know how to put together a great show. I talked to a couple kids who where starting a ska band of their own. Can't wait to see what they got. It was truly awesome to see Kenny and the other kids in front singing along to the songs. After CIB 800, The Waffle Stompers from New Jersey played. Their brand of ska was a site to see. Towards the end of their set a recorded track came on and they broke out into possibly the greatest dance break I have ever seen. It's also featured in the music video for their song "serious." They closed their set with a cover of "Rollin." After their set I talked to Nathan, trombonist, and Ted, guitarist, for a while about everything from all ages venues and vans to future shows together and being an independent band. It was an honor to cross tour paths with them. I'm sure more shows together lie in our futures.

Saturday we played in Bradley, IL, a small suburb about 45 minutes outside of Chicago. It was a young crowd. It looked like most of the kids were 15 and under with their parents there to support their band. Hardly any of the kids their had ever heard of ska much less been to a ska show. We heard a lot of comments like "Trombones!?!?". The Projection put together the show in a local bakery and they did not disappoint. We often take for granted all the great all ages venues in the Twin Cities, but in most other parts of the country they take what they can get. I was impressed at how The Projection was able to turn that place into a venue. I spent a lot of time talking to a kid named Austin after our set. We talked about about the beginning stages of being a band. Little did I know that his band, At Rifts End, was playing that night. Those kids got a lot of heart and put on a great show. They are all 15 but if you were to hear them recorded you would never be able to tell. Their lead singer and the only female in the band rocked hard. Great voice and great energy.

Sunday we played in Madison, WI. We arrived late Saturday night and spent the whole day on State Street. The boys fell in love with Madison. The co-op we played in was huge. Build in the 1920's and taken over by squatters in the 70s. They build a fire in the fireplace before we played. The atmosphere for the show was just right. I saw an unexpected friend who appartently now lives only 6 blocks away from the co-op. It was quite a relaxed show and we played nearly the entire album. Another DIY venue with bass amps as a PA. Laura's brother, Brandon, put together the show and his band, Flowerbaby played a great set. A mix of covers and originals and a special encore of "Sexual Healing."

Around 3am I returned the van to the rental and returned to Connor's for a much needed night of sleep. I can't wait to get back on the road and am very excited by the thought of one day owning a van and traveling non-stop.

5:48am - Mar 20

2009-03-20T04:48:00.002-05:00

Yesterday would have been my Mom's 53rd birthday. If only she could see me now, I wonder what she'd say. The album was released on Wednesday and so far the reaction from friends and family have been great. We just made it to Tony's parents house in Lansing, MI. 11 hours on the road, ready to sleep for a few then head over to Highland for the show today. I think this show will be a lot of fun. We're playing with some great bands. I'm not sure why I thought I could blog right now. I'm pretty much falling asleep. More later. Check the youtube for video blogs.

12:27am - Mar 18

2009-03-18T00:26:00.003-05:00

Sunday night I played my first acoustic show by myself. Youth Against War & Racism had their benefit concert at Eclipse Records in St. Paul. 2 Tone Runts were not able to play, so I was asked if I would do the show solo. I don't think I've ever been that nervous for a show. At 6pm, I took the stage. The venue has no windows and a couple bright lights on the stage. I couldn't see the crowd at all. I started the show with an acoustic version of "Chaotic." By the third song in the set my voice was starting to go. I stumbled over chords, forgot lyrics but made it through. I played a few songs I had written in high school. It was a very personal set. After the show, a couple people said I should keep it up. I'll try anything twice.

The past few days have been non-stop tour prep. We did our first screen print poster. A limited run of 26 and they turned out pretty good. I managed to fix my bass amp. Hopefully I won't blow another fuse on the road. It's looking like we'll be renting a van for the tour. One day we'll own a van. I completely satisfied with the way the album turned out and I can't wait to play the new songs.

12:16pm - Mar 12

2009-03-12T00:16:00.007-05:00

Everything is finally starting to come together. I've been streessed out and anxious all last week or ... month. I picked up the masters today and dropped them off with Noiseland to be duplicated. The album is the most accomplished thing we've done so far. I just finished editing the "Making of" video. I'll be putting up the website this week. The album will be called "On The Front Line"

We still haven't found a replacement van for the tour. We leave in 1 week! Worst case scenario, we go into more debt, rent a van. I also play my first acoustic solo show on Sunday at Eclipse records with some local punk bands. I'm pretty nervous. I'll be playing a lot of my original stuff that no one has ever heard. I'll through in some 2TR tunes as well. I can't wait until we are actually on the road, where I'm truly meant to be.

1:10pm - Mar 2nd

2009-03-02T13:10:00.002-06:00

It's already March! Time is flying by. I met today with Bruce at Magneto Mastering. Everything seems to be right on schedule. We are still having some issues with money and how to distribute the album. We may DIY it again since we can't seem to afford $2 a cd for 500 copies to be made. Since dez E. and I are learning how to screen print we may be able to print the disc artwork on ourselves. We can always get it professionally duplicated later. The guy who does our t-shirts offered to give me some lessons tomorrow after his shop closes.

Personally money is pretty tight. And by tight I mean I still haven't found work and am completely out of money. We talked about all going in together to donate plasma as a band and use the money for the tour. I have been applying for a couple jobs a day. I hate it when they don't even send a reply but then I remember there is probably 200 people applying for that one opening. So I wait patiently and live for the days of free lunch days at the University of Minnesota. Like today, free mini donuts and cotton candy and for the meat eaters: hot dogs.

1:53pm - Feb 26

2009-02-26T13:52:00.002-06:00

The album is almost ready. The mixes are done and the mastering process will start on Monday. If I can manage to get a couple personal loans from friends and family, it will be out before the start of the Can't Stop Won't Stop Tour. I think I find the title of this tour more hilarious then most. The whole Spring Break attitude that college students have is hilarious to me.

I was supposed to be in Mankato right now meeting about the album. Unfortunately we are supposed to get nearly a foot of snow today! So, we decided to postpone the 2 hour drive there until tomorrow. In preparation for the meeting, I read almost the entire text book "Music Law, How to manage your band's business". I don't think I've ever read a book that fast. Andrew loaned it to me Tuesday evening, by Wednesday night I was done. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is managing they're own band.

We did a DIY photo shoot this week. I borrowed some 1930's costumes from Youth Performance Company, where I used to work. We set up some lights and some taped up some white fabric in Nathans basement and we were ready to go. They turned out all right. I posted some unedited ones below.

6:09pm - Feb 10

2009-02-10T18:09:00.004-06:00

We finished tracking for the album on Sunday. We recorded all the vocals at our practice studio to save money. My favorite part was on Sunday when we recorded gang vocals. I sat outside while Tim finished up his vocals. With an acoustic on my lap and lyrics hand written on the back of old show posters I taught the group of 7 a couple choruses. Neighbors stopped and listened to a sound and sight I'm sure they where not used to. When the time came, we circled around a single microphone in the center of the room. I wish all those faces had been in the room when I was recording my vocals. I think I would have been more relaxed.

I was supposed to meet with an independent label on Saturday in Mankato to discuss promotion, touring and releasing the album. Laura and I made a day out of it. We got down their and ordered lunch at a small coffee shop. Then I had an appointment to get a RNC solidarity tattoo that some members of the Mankato Area Activist Collective had already gotten. I called the office of the label before we started. No answer. So afterward I called his cell phone only to find out that he was in Minneapolis. Laura and I then headed back to the cities. We'll see about this label.

12:45am - Feb 1st

2009-02-01T00:46:00.002-06:00

Just got to Tim's after a long day in the studio. We finished basic tracks for the whole album today. I've never accomplished so much in one day. We started at 10am this morning and locked up at 11:30pm. Today was different then yesterday. We were relaxed. Just a group of friends hanging out making music. It was also sunny and warm outside today. Well, warm for January in Minnesota. For our hour lunch break, Tim, Nathan and I ran around in the parking lot and took a short walk. Then I took another walk with my Dad at dinner. He stopped by to check out the studio and we went to Mesa for some awesome pizza.

The entire process of recording is so exciting to me. I like to be involved in every aspect. And for the first time in my life, we're making an album that will sound great. No more basement recordings, tracking one instrument at a time. I agree, there is something magical that happens in the studio.

1:47am - Jan 31

2009-01-31T01:47:00.005-06:00

4pm, Friday
We moved into Sapient Sound. We set up and sound check. I went through 4 different bass amps until finally going direct and deciding to re amp it later. Starting off, I played my music man, but ended up using a vintage Rickenbacker I borrowed for the weekend. I love the way it sounds, melodic, but with a slight edge and kick to it.

We laid down basic tracks for Take It Slow, Rise Up, Let The People Know and Cute Girls in Combat Boots. Cute Girls will probably need to be redone tomorrow. I really enjoy recording and I haven't done a full length album since high school. The stuff I did in high school isn't really worth listening to now.

The studio is ours to use for this weekend and this weekend only. It costs a lot to make and album, so we are tracking most of it in three days. A lot of time was spend in pre-production for this album. We have been more than ready to do this for awhile.

12:41pm - Jan 26

2009-01-26T12:41:00.005-06:00

We have found a studio! We move in Friday at 5pm and I think the place will be perfect for 2 Tone Runts. We also are working on a couple leads for labels to release the album. Our target release date is March 15, which is coming up fast. The release will be followed by a brief Midwest Tour. Starting this Friday, I will again have daily blogs, photos and videos from the sessions.

I've been working with Dez E on the artwork for the album. It's going to be a 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters Strike theme. I took out all of my favorite albums and looked at the artwork, all of them had the same color scheme: red, white and black. Needless to say, that is not the color scheme for this album.

Sometimes when it's this cold in Minnesota, I wonder why anyone would live here. Then I go for a walk and remember why.

3:57 am - Jan 11

2009-01-11T03:56:00.003-06:00

There have been a few set backs with the album. We where supposed to be moving into a brand spankin new studio to start production this week. Because of city code issues with the building, which should have been worked out before they rented out the space, are pushing the opening date of the studio way back. So what do we do now...
We started looking into other studios, which would be way more expensive. One spot was the same studio The Replacements recorded at. We may also record much of the vocals in our practice space. One thing is for sure, we are not going to compromise the quality of the album and we are still hoping to release it right before our march tour.

Some Good Advice for Bands...
DON'T BELIEVE IN MAGIC.
Seriously, this is the best advice I've ever gotten. I wish someone would have told me this in high school. Bands don't form overnight, play the one "magic" show in front of a producer and hundreds of fans and get signed and release gold records the next week. It's about being smart, creative, and working your ass off. I used to think to make it in this business you have to be extremely lucky. I thought a lot about this tonight when I was standing in the freezing cold outside a Streetlight Manifesto and Reel Big Fish concert handing out demos with stickers and a flier for our upcoming show. Sounds like a painstaking task, but it actually turned out to be something I enjoyed. Half of the people responded with, "I've heard of you guys!" Others where surprised by the fact that there is a local scene.

I've leaned to treat every show like it's special. We market each show a little differently and we limit our local shows. It really hurts the scene when one halfway descent band play every friday and saturday night. If every band maxed on one local show a month, more people would be at each show and every show would be a lot more fun. Believe me, If I go to see a band and the only other people there are either related or dating someone in the band, I know I'm going to be bored. If every show is special, everyone wins!

p.s.
Everyone should checkout Tom Gabel's blog on "Chinese Democracy"

3:30pm - Jan. 2

2009-01-02T15:30:00.003-06:00

New Year's Eve in Mankato was interesting to say the least. Everyone was really awesome to us. After we played we were shown around to parties and given a place to sleep. It's good we found somewhere and didn't end up spending the money we had just made on a hotel. The police were going crazy around the time of "last call" at the bars. They where calling all the locals names and being more annoying then helpful. But when are the police ever helpful? We woke up around noon, ate some sandwiches and headed back to Minneapolis. It was a bright new years day. Which reminds me, I still have to make some resolutions and see how I did on last years.

I've been sleeping a lot lately. Somehow, it feels like if I just sleep I won't have to deal with any of my day to day problems. Like when I wake up, I'll have money to pay the rent and then some. Or when I wake up, I won't have to worry about how I'm going to eat today. Maybe when I wake up all the work will be done and I'll nothing but free time. But I wake up and nothing has changed, so I go back to sleep for a couple more hours in hope that next time I wake it will be different. After I do finally get out of bed, I find that there is no longer time to accomplish all of that. The doors have already opened and closed. And it hits me like a ton of bricks. Anxiety and migraines kick in. But I'm hopeful, because when I do work hard, it does pay off. And in the end, as long as I still have my friends, everything will be alright.

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

2008-12-28T02:57:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-17T13:07:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-16T03:07:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-14T23:20:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-12T13:40:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-10T01:26:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-08T23:01:00.005-06:00

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"

2008-12-05T00:04:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-04T15:22:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-30T02:38:00.006-06:00

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

2008-11-28T16:55:00.005-06:00

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.