Happy Un-Monday

If you've ever listened to the podcast I make with my friend Brian O'Rourke, you know that I don't read much. Well actually, I do read, but it's mostly for information. I usually prefer my entertainment to be watchable or listenable. But when Brian recently published his first novel, I had to check it out. I'd like to write a long, intelligent review praising it, but I'm no authority (no pun intended) on literature. I will say that I really enjoyed it, and couldn't wait to finish it, no matter how much I was distracted by TV shows, Phillies radio broadcasts, or news involving the producers and cast of the new Star Trek movie.

In The Unearthed, Brian is able to draw up characters who are easy to care about. The suspense is handled skillfully, and some intriguing plot twists keep you guessing right up to last sentence. His description of the action is vividly detailed, but it doesn't sacrifice the swift pace of the storytelling. Given the subject matter, reading it at 2AM with all the lights off was probably a bad idea. I scare easy.

Whoa, hold on, I think I almost tried to write a review there, even though I said I wouldn't. I'll quit while I'm ahead. Buy Brian's book here and you can tell me what you thought instead.

I think books may be trying to convert me to their teachings. Today I visited Barnes & Noble and a book called to me from the shelf. It literally called to me, yes. Then it made me read the first two chapters of itself before it'd let me leave. The Unthinkable is a non-fiction psychology book that analyzes human behavior during disasters, natural and man-made. It's an in-depth exploration of how and why people make certain decisions under extreme stress, and it's a topic that I've always wondered about. That's probably because I freeze at the grocery store when I'm trying to decide between 7-grain or 12-grain bread. How many grains do I need? I don't know!

What I do know is that I need to read.

If you'd also like to read, I say find some books whose titles start with "The Un". They seem to be a good bet.

Happy Monday (it's over!),

- Nick

Whatcha Listenin' Tooooo? (I Ain't Got Much This Week)

Yeah, nothing hugely of note this week. Josh has been busy working pit orchestra gigs, I've been busy looking for a new job, we're between practice spaces for a week or so, so not a ton of breaking news on my part. I thought I'd give a few records I've acquired over the last month that I'm listening to a once over. Who knows, maybe you'll find something you like.

M.I.A.- Kala

I missed the "outing" of M.I.A. a few years back. But on the drive to Coachella from LA last week, this record came up on a friend's iPod a few times and I decided to give it a real listen. I'm really weird about dance music- I do not dance in any fashion and tend to ignore the new genre of "dance-music-for-white-hipsters". But the beats and general production value of this record are really appealing: bits of dub, house, UK club and really unique samples (I'm particular to the Bollywood string samples).

Buraka Som Sistema- Black Diamond
Again with the white-kid dance music. These guys are from Portugal (I worked a lot with Brazilians over the last year, so my taste for things Portugese was awakened), and are just highly energetic and fun. Seeing them do it live also helped my appreciation for them, they were a live electronic band with live drums (two guys, in fact, one on kit and one on percussion), instead of the usual "guy-with sampler-deck" set up you usually see. The percussion definitely made them a dynamic live band as well as a great band on CD.

The Tragically Hip- We Are The Same
I've pretty much bought everything by these guys. Possibly one of the finest rock bands I have ever seen play, and their last couple of records have been outstanding. Produced my Bob Rock (of Metallica fame), this one and the last have a very rich sound and share more in common with their live sound than anything they've done previous. "We Are The Same" explores a little more of the country and Americana side of the band (the last one was straight-up stadium rock), and Gord Downie's lyrics are still as arresting and unique as they were when I first heard "Ahead By A Century" back in 1996. If you like awesome, awesome rock, you need to get anything by this band.

Mastodon- Crack The Skye

Josh and I have been absolutely nuts about this record for the last several weeks. Mastodon gets the label "the metal band for people who don't think they like metal", and it often gets said with a bit of a sneer. What on Earth is wrong with being what I like to call a "gateway band"? If this record gets a bunch of people to explore Mastodon's back catalog, and maybe Neurosis (their singer appears on just about every Mastodon record) and a few others, what the hell is wrong with that? Even James likes this one, and James normally makes faces at just about any metal Josh and I put on in the car. The sneers about Mastodon remind me of the sneers thrown Metallica's way back in the day. The only difference is that Metallica wishes it was/could ever be as good as Mastodon. And now... let the hate mail commence.

Bat for Lashes- Two Suns

My love for artists like Kate Bush, Beth Orton, Bjork, PJ Harvey etc., is nothing short of endless. And I'm really digging Natasha Khan's project, Bat For Lashes. There's something about ornate studio production and soulful vocals that just does it for me. This record is so dense with great arrangements (another one of my major musical turn-ons), it's both highly relaxing and highly energizing. I find myself remarking out loud "Wow, THAT works well!" to my speakers when this record is on.

Next week, I think I'll give my list "Top Musical Crimes Perpetuated In The Name of 'Alternative' In The 90s". It may be a multiple week thing, I can think of A LOT of "crimes".

-Dan

One Hill of a Weekend

I wasn't sure which headline would get a bigger groan, "Happy Monday" (again), or the awful pun I decided on. You tell me.

This weekend I finished the first leg of my Journey to the End of the Philadelphia Metro Area. By that, I mean I'm going to travel to the terminus of each of SEPTA's regional rail lines, and explore its surrounding town. The idea came from my grandparents, who often remind me that if you don't have a lot of money to travel to exotic places, there are plenty of things to see in your own backyard. Luckily, riding to the end of each line is free on the weekends with my Zone 1 trailpass. The first stop was Chestnut Hill, which is the closest station to my Germantown home.

Chestnut Hill has long been a tourist destination for locals and visitors, and is the home to many historic and architecturally significant buildings, as well as a lot of cool shops and restaurants. I decided to investigate a local bookstore/cafe called "Borders". They have a nice collection of books, and the cafe makes a mean strawberry Fruitkula.

After working on my laptop for a while, I took a walk down the famous, cobblestoned Germantown Avenue, stopping to photograph some of the unique local establishments. The weather was perfect, so I was very happy strolling down the hill, taking in the sights, and listening to Denison Witmer's song, "Chestnut Hill". But I soon tired of walking and decided to board one of Chestnut Hill's historic trolleys, which didn't look how I expected, apparently because of this.

It was a fun trip, and I look forward to next time, when I'll visit the other end of the R7 in Trenton, NJ. Anyone know any fun places to visit while I'm there?

- Nick

Sunday Roundup

Pretty slow week here in the big-haired member of the Sobriquets' world... work, sleep, work, sleep, pet the cat,
work some more. No vacation to sunny California for me; just sunny, mid 60 degree Philadelphia. Poor me.

We're all pretty broken up about Harry Kalas; as a transplant to Philadelphia in the last decade, I wasn't raised on the golden tones of Harry K, but he quickly became my stress reducer of choice (especially when paired with a cold beer and a Ryan Howard strike out or two) during the warmer parts of the year. He passed away this week in the booth while preparing for Monday's afternoon game against the Nationals; I suppose it's the broadcaster's equivalent of "dying with ones boots on." Harry has been eulogized in many places by many people more eloquent than I, so I'll just give my thanks that he went out with a World Series win and that a part of Philadelphia's soul is Outta Here.

Ryan Howard, on the other hand, is hitting .341 at the moment, and has played in eleven games. Usually at this time of the year, he's at about .115... this is pleasantly disconcerting. He also apparently legged out a triple today. Wonders may never cease.

Beyond that, I'm just waiting til Dan gets back from LA with the final masters... he tells me it sounds like an early Hip record.

Gonna go get dinner now.

Loves and Kisses,

J

Where I've Been...

Good evening, all. This is my (Dan's) first post as Dan. I play the louder guitar, sing the backing vocals and arrive having eaten.

It's been a very busy weekend for me, and a very important one for The Sobriquets. First, the "me" part.

I'm writing this while sitting in the Hollywood Hills, just outside Los Angeles. The house next door is owned by the blonde cheerleader/superhero from "Heroes" (Hayden something...). This is nice work if you can get it, I assure you of that. While I have no particular love for the West Coast (definitely a Northeasterner by blood, temperament and location), it's been a great few days, and a very needed change of scenery for a bit. I've been out visiting my brother, and attending the first day of Coachella Music and Arts Festival.

This was the main stage, where later I would see Morrissey and Paul McCartney (and hear the strains of We Are Scientists, Franz Ferdinand and a handful of other bands during my wanderings of the grounds). Later on in the evening, I would be towards the front of this stage surrounded by tens of thousands of people, watching a real live Beatle.

I learned a couple of things this weekend: I learned that I really hate outdoor music festivals that I am not personally playing at. It's full of standing, being hot, paying a lot for food, waiting in line just about everything and generally being surrounded by people that I would normally never be anywhere near. I also learned that, the next morning, I will have almost no memory of anything unpleasant about the whole preceding events. I will gush wildly to anyone who will isten about how awesome it was. All these things happened, in that order.

But I did see a lot of great bands. They included: The Hold Steady, Buraka Som Sistema, The Bug, Steve Aoki, Leonard Cohen, Morrissey and Paul McCartney. All these acts were fantastic, and I was glad to have seen them all. I was even more glad to go home and sleep in a bed.

Later, on the way home (which was at about 2 am), we stopped at the dinosaur statues from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure".

Now, onto the other reason I'm in Hollywood. I'm sitting in Hopewell Studios, owned by a good friend, Jake Rodenhouse (that's me on the left and Jake on the right). He has been mastering the new Sobriquets EP (which still does not have a title... more on that in the future). We've been in the control room for a while tonight, and we have finally finished. Let me just say, it sounds absolutely great. And for those fellow geeks who like to follow these kinds of things, our reference tracks for the mastering were from the Tragically Hip's "We Are The Same" and The Decemberists "Hazards of Love". It was mastered with many awesome pieces of equipment, including a vintage Neve console, a DBX Compressor/Limiter and a URei Parametric Equalizer.

As a personal plug, this guy is a freakin' genius and has a sweet studio. If you are ever in the LA area and want to record in a relaxed but professional environment, look Hopewell up.

Anyway, with the mastered record in the bag, we are ready to move onto the process of getting pressed, deciding on album art, all that fun stuff. More on that as it happens. These are definitely the best sounding Sobriquets' recordings yet, so you do not want to miss out.

- Dan

Why I Love Heavy Metal (or, "Turn Off That Damn Racket, Josh")

There's always one guy in every band who listens to all sorts of heavy metal. In this band, it's me (mostly). Dan is also into the metal (but not always), and Nick seems to listen to anything. The only person I have to appease is James. Due to being raised on The Beatles and other lyric-and-melody-based pop/rock, he doesn't have the patience for it. He'll put up with my noise, but only to a certain point. Consequently, we've reached an agreement wherein I am allowed to listen to metal in the car only AFTER shows. Since I'm almost always the one driving back home at 2 AM, I need something to keep me awake, and that something is loud and terrifying.

I enjoy listening to music that would render most men blind and impotent. For some reason, I gravitated towards this particular style in my teens. My mom didn't really listen to music when I was a kid, so I had to figure things out for myself. The turning point for me was hearing Disturbed on the radio when I was about 14. It was just so heavy (at the time) that I immediately went and bought the record. I also discovered through my online friends (back when instant messaging was used for meeting new people, and not getting sodomized by middle-aged men) the magic of Metallica. I think it's a bit strange that I went for this music, as I don't recall being an angry teenager, although I did sport dreadlocks and an eyebrow ring in high school.

The National Guitar Workshop (at which I taught for 4 years) was a big influence as well. I attended as a student for 2 years before getting a job there, and I spent most of my time hanging out with the metal kids. They introduced me to Dream Theater and Rage Against The Machine (okay, not really metal, but still awesome), and gave me my first taste of death metal. At the time, I really couldn't handle it. The guttural vocals prevalent in the style put me off. It wasn't until very recently that I was able to stomach it. It's not about the lyrics, since you can't understand half of them anyway. It's about the energy, the power, the sheer brutality of the music. To me, this is the point of all metal. It makes you want to bang your head, jump around, wear tight leather pants, and occasionally sacrifice children and farm animals to your chosen pagan god.

Even though I'm not in a band that plays this kind of music, I still listen to it constantly. I'm listening to Shadows Fall as I write this. And I'm sure it creeps into the bass lines I write for our songs. It's certainly the reason that I have two distortion pedals in my arsenal.

In closing, here are 18 metal bands you should listen to (it started at 5, but I couldn't stop), and an album from each to get you started. Rock on.

1. Mastodon, Crack The Skye (a current favorite of myself and Dan)
2. In Flames, Reroute To Remain (the album that brought me to melodic death metal)
3. Slayer, Reign In Blood
4. Children of Bodom, Hate Crew Deathroll
5. The Devin Townsend Band, Accelerated Evolution
6. Fear Factory, Demanufacture
7. Tool, AEnima
8. Lamb Of God, As The Palaces Burn
9. Meshuggah, Chaosphere
10. Rammstein, Mutter (German dance-metal)
11. Pantera, Vulgar Display Of Power
12. Nevermore, Dead Heart, In A Dead World
13. Skindred, Roots Rock Riot (Welsh reggae-metal)
14. Necrophagist, Epitaph (the best band you will ever hear)
15. Spiral Architect, A Sceptic's Universe (this will mess you up)
    
16. Testament, First Strike Still Deadly
17. Living Colour, Vivid (the only all-black metal band I know of)
18. 3 Inches Of Blood, Advance And Vanquish
    

Happy Monday (Tuesday Edition)

I missed my day. But it's OK, because I was busy being happy. I spent the Easter weekend with my family, and Monday and Tuesday at my grandparents house. There was no internet there, as you can imagine in a town called Mountain Top. But it's a favorite town of mine, for that reason. It's a great place to get away, spend time outdoors, and think. And of course, enjoy the kind of hospitality only your family can provide.

My grandfather, "Bud", and my grandmother, "Renie", have lived in their small mountain farmhouse for as long as most of my family can remember. My grandfather drove Greyhound busses and tractor trailers, and my grandmother took care of children - her own, and the kids she served lunch to in the local school cafeteria. They also babysat my little sister and me quite often in our youth; I have lots of great memories of running around their numerous wooded acres, grassy fields, and pond banks.

For as many weekends I spent there, I've eaten just as many pots of my grandmother's famous chicken soup. I've also been given lots of advice and support to go along with that soup. (Insert Chicken Soup for the Soul joke here, if you like.) They've always encouraged me to do what makes me happy, and as they know, playing music is one of those things. I can't tell you how many performances they've videotaped, or how many practice sessions they've had to endure. But it's a lot.

Bud and Renie have called my cell phone on occasion during practice with the Sobriquets, and the band likes to kid me about it. But they'll soon realize the extent to which my grandparents will go to show that they care. I recently asked to borrow their conversion van for part of our summer tour, and my grandfather offered to drive it himself.

So, I'm happy on Monday once again. And well-rested from more than a few breaths of fresh air.

- Nick (drums)

Sad Bastard Sunday Roundup

Hi. It's James. I sing and play the quiet guitar in the Sobriquets. This is a picture of me in college, playing a loud guitar and dressing like a homeless person (though I should mention that I'm wearing the same shirt right now). Also, that's my friend Mark playing the keys.

I'll be doing Sunday updates (usually earlier in the day), as well as other days if the mood strikes. I shall attempt to minimize my p0litical ranting.

Last Friday (Good Friday, for those of you who keep track of such things), we went off to Harrisburg to play at the Local Beat, one of our favorite new venues. In addition to being a really beautiful little gallery, they make hella good food, and usually give us some. I had sea scallops wrapped in bacon that were so good, they warranted a remote updating of my Facebook status.

We were joined by Eli Charleston playing us songs of a forgotten age, and the Heyvan Band singing some good acoustic country... we played loud rock and roll. We just don't know any better. Pictures soon. Also pictures from our trip to Cape May for the Singer Songwriter Festival soon.

Went to a party... had some drinks... now thinking about sleeping... tune in tomorrow for more of Nick being incongruously sunny.

Loves,

J(ames)

Hump Day (sorry, had to do it)

So this is Josh's day. I make the low rumble-y sound in the band. I also post my thoughts on Wednesdays. Not my thoughts about Wednesday as a day, but thoughts that happen to occur to me while it happens to be Wednesday. Although I may talk about Wednesday as an entity as well. Got it? Good.

Wednesdays are currently my favorite day. Why? I have nothing to do. I'm currently working on a Master of Music in Jazz Studies at the University of the Arts here in Philadelphia, and I have Wednesdays off. It's pretty sweet. I get to take care of all the "life" stuff, like laundry and dishes. It's also nice to have a mini-weekend in the middle of the week, especially considering that I don't always get a real weekend. Lately I've had a lot of shows (Sobriquets or otherwise).

Speaking of shows, if you're interested in seeing me do stuff other than rock out, I'll be playing bass at the Merriam Theater on Broad & Spruce for the world premiere of "Does Your House Have Lions?", a UArts interscholastic collaboration of epic proportions. It's a large performance piece based on an autobiographical book of poetry by Sonia Sanchez, with music by Philadelphia composer Evan Solot, as well as acting and dance. The dates are as follows:

• Friday, April 17 - 7 PM
• Saturday, April 18th - 7 PM
• Sunday, April 19th - 2 PM

See you next Wednesday.

Josh

Happy Monday?

Hi everyone, this is Nick.
I hit stuff for The Sobriquets. I'll be posting here every Monday. Since no one really likes Mondays, I'll do my best to post something to cheer you up. What makes you happy? Let us know in the comments section and I'll look for some tiny pieces of happiness and bring them to you via Songs De Guerre.

Tonight's happiness is about us, The Sobriquets. We just had a meeting about plans for our summer tour, and it looks like we'll be playing a lot of shows, probably even one near you. So keep checking our site and this blog for updates on where you can see us. We'll also be releasing our first record with the full band lineup this summer. And since I was able to contribute to making this one, I am a very happy man. We're really excited for everyone to hear it.

Stay tuned for additional weekly posts from the unique perspective of each Sobriquet. Thanks for reading, and we look forward to your comments and feedback about the blog and the band.

Oh, and above is a picture of the first time I played the drums.
Do I look happy? I think I may have been a little uncomfortable in those overalls.