Lost Locker Combo demos take two;

I had a rough-ish morning, but then a great afternoon with band-buddy Hallie. From there I ate at a White Castle, and then proceeded to learn a new song, and then record something like five or six or ten songs, some of which we literally hadn't played in years. Oh yeah, and that was from 9-11 PM - I got home at 1 in the morning, had to track down my social security card, finally went to bed, and then went to work "later than usual" at 8:30.

Also, I'm realizing how awesome it's going to be to practice an entire record's worth of songs, and a separate set-plus's worth of songs, plus try to come up with new songs at the same time over the next week. Not to mention I just booked some travel plans, and I'm pretty sure they involve going away/on tour for about a week, leaving New York City at 6 AM to get home to work, go back to the city to practice, home to work, then back to the city to play a show, and then record.

Nice knowing you, everyone!

Lost Locker Combo recording update;

I headed into New York City almost immediately after my first day at a new temp job to see the Anvil documentary for the second time, after which I had a slice of pizza and orange soda (for a serving of fruit) for dinner at 11:30 in Queens, and watched Family Matters reruns. We had plans for practice from noon to three the next afternoon in hopes of recording demos of all the new songs. By the time everyone was there, it was almost two (which ironically, was the number of songs we recorded). Afterward, I went to Astoria Park with my non-instrument playing band mate Stephanie and Michelle, and then went to a show where I ate more pizza. Also, I walked around a lot, and am really exhausted now.

So, now we're trying another practice-for-recordings-sake on Monday.

So I start a new job tomorrow. Temping. At my Mom's office. Considering the last five hundred potential job ideas I had fell through, I'll take it! And what better way to start off by saying that you can't come in on Mondays, as well as that I'll be away not once but twice over the next two months? Because that's how I like to operate.

The class: All about figuring out getting yourself a job that isn't temping at the office your Mom also works at (though I gotta say, I don't think you can beat that commute). So yeah, I'm going to hopefully spend the next year trying to get some shit together, so I'm kinda thinking I'm going to tone down some other stuff, and try to focus. But of course, what better way to do THAT than doing a bunch of fun stuff first?

Which brings me too: My "Retirement" Tour - Part One, the Midwestern Leg. Next month I'll be going out to one of my favorite cities, Minneapolis, hanging out for a few days, and then playing in The Strait A's. I'm pretty sure we're also playing a "local" show (for them, at least), then doing a tour, starting with the Windy City Sound Clash Fest in Chicago (we're playing with a bunch of great bands, including Underground Railroad To Candyland, Banner Pilot, The Sidekicks, Copyrights, I could go on, this isn't even counting the other two days). From there we're coming back to the east coast, playing in Indiana, Pittsburgh(ish), and a "local" (for me, at least) in Brooklyn, at which point I have to leave them, so I can play a punk rock semi-formal with Lost Locker Combo, alongside the Daniel James Gang and International Datelines from Milwaukee. I'm pretty sure I'll be spending those two weeks 1)Eating my body weight in Taco John's, 2) Eating double my body weight in ice cream in Chicago, and 3) Looking for locations from the NBC Must See Thursday lineup.

I've got a few other plans for over the summer, but one step at a time.

Started a new class yesterday. It's all about trying to figure out goals for yourself.

On that note, I have a terrible attitude all the time, so I'm going to do a few fun-ish things over the next two months or so, and then pretty much never do anything ever. Starting with LLC rehearsals, within the next week.

On THAT note, I found a review of the first LLC record online, that said it was clearly a bunch of dudes having a mid-life crisis. I was twenty two while we recorded that (or, at least, the basic tracks with Dirt Bike Adam). Glad to see I've got less than twenty years left, Internet!

I was supposed to start a class today, but it was postponed, meaning I've been up for much longer than normal, dressed "nicely", (read as "wearing a sweater"), and wondering what to do with the rest of the day now. The class itself involves trying to come up with business plans and career strategies and whatnot, which I've been fairly preoccupied with lately.

With that, apparently Pansy Division was featured in Newsweek, which stokes my mental fires of "Is it possible to like, REALLY write about punk rock?", in a format beyond just interviewing my friends and reviewing a handful of records every other month? Admittedly, it's much more complicated than that; First of which, the Pansy Division article not necessarily just being a "punk rock" article as it is about gay rights, not to mention the ongoing internal argument over the ethics of making a buck by writing about (and essentially exposing) the details of a non-mainstream subculture, especially one that I've been fairly invested in over the past decade? I mean, I like to think of myself as the kind of guy who's above charging $25 just to see a rehash of his old band (metaphorically speaking, otherwise I'd be implying I'd ever been a band that could even justify THINKING of doing that), but I'd also like to, you know, not have to live in a box someday (that one's more literal, I think I could get by with a fairly small living space).

Record day two-ish;

Song writing in Queens yesterday afternoon. Found out about quarter to five, in New Jersey. Went to Suffern to see Monsters Vs. Aliens instead, where I was the first person there, by far, until a party of kids showed up, one of whom actually muttered "Ugh, I should've just gotten a venti vanilla creme at Starbucks", as well as "Wall-E was so stupid." Clearly, that kid is stupid.

Came home, and watched SNL while eating a fake-meat corndog. Wondered "When they make fake meat hotdogs, do they use all the gross parts of the vegetables?"

Lost Locker Combo new record day 1-ish:

After getting home/to bed around 3 AM the night before, I dragged myself up just before ten to play Animal Crossing, shower, eat, and then get on the train to head towards Queens. I tried taking a nap, but there were way too many kids, who were way, WAY too loud.

Anyway, I got to Ill Street Studios, where my band mates Jon, Bill and myself came up with two new songs, and finished a song we practiced twice, months ago, and never actually played. From there, we went to get a late lunch, which was paid for with royalties from the first record, came back and went over the new songs, and I got sushi and watched that Metallica movie. Clearly, being a musician is really starting to pay off.

I'd been meaning to do an update over the past few days, but kept putting it off - first because I realized it was April Fool's Day, and from there just because it was practically the stupidest week ever. Stupid (in part) like when you're trying to write a bunch of stuff, but you figure no one will like it anyway, so you end up playing Smash TV for PlayStation until late hours of the night, because you figure "Why not, not like I have anything better to do anyway."

That brings me to: Lost Locker Combo is going to do a new record, roughly speaking, over the course of the next two months-ish (by which I mean, "Lost Locker Combo has it's own crazy ways of doing things, and the last record took something like two years to completely finish and release"). But, I decided I'm going to attempt to "Blog" the whole process. Give people an opportunity to have an insiders look into the glamorous music biz.

THAT brings me to: I was out until 3 AM last night, at my friend's pro-wrestling match/after party. I made a sign at the show that said "WHO FARTED?", and a bunch of kids kept pointing and yelling "I DON'T KNOW!". I think I blew my voice out from heckling, my favorite being when they introduced someone from Brooklyn, and played absolutely no entrance music whatsoever, which was met with "WHAT, ARE YOU QUEUING UP THE VAMPIRE WEEKEND RECORD?", because that's the kind of thing you yell when you're hilarious like me. I also ate a bunch of White Castle, and at a 7-11 around 1:30 (My suggestion: Do NOT get a "Mutant Berry" Slurpee, because by "Mutant" they mean "FUCKING GROSS"). Now I'm getting ready to get on the train, to head to Queens to start on "Record pre-production", by which I mean "We need to finish writing it".

By which I mean "I'm going to be sleeping in the Ill Street Studio all day."

(Hilarious post-notes - apparently spell check changes "Playstation" to "PlayStation", and capitalizes "Slurpee". The internet runs a tight ship.)

Here's something that 1) Makes me think about moving to Chicago even more than I am now, and 2) Makes me realize that every video project I've ever worked on is complete and utter garbage;

Warp Whistle
Uploaded by MatthewDominick