Attica! Attica!

Since everyone’s New Year’s resolution #1 was to video chat with me, I’m doing a live video chat!  How about that?  You can bang out #1 in the first week of the new year.  Then you can move on to #2 (video chatting with Tobey Maguire about Spiderman 2).  If you want to join the fun on Wednesday, just go here around 9 PM EST.  We’ll probably keep it going for an hour or so.  You can make a quick Yowie account to get in on the video fun, or enter questions through regular old chat as a guest.  See you there!

- Aaron

I just started volunteering for an organization called Music Is Revolution.  They give mini-grants to public school teachers who want to incorporate music into their curriculum with field trips or projects within the classroom.  It was started by Michael Davis (the bass player from MC5) and his wife, Angela.  I met with them last week and agreed to be the organization’s teacher liaison.  I’m excited to take on this project and extend my focus beyond my own music and the punk scene.  If you’re looking to make a holiday or end-of-year donation, please consider sending Music Is Revolution a few bucks.

Thanks!
- Aaron

donthangoutinfrontofthehouse:

Volume 2 has arrived!  This sequel to Please Don’t Hang Out In Front Of The House, Vol. 1, features songs about house shows that were written independent of this project.  Some of these songs were submitted, and others were solicited in order to round out this volume until it became the awesome 25-song monster that it is.  This comp is louder than its predecessor, and it explores a somewhat broader spectrum of ideas relating to house shows, since these songs were not written specifically to celebrate house shows.  Despite these differences, it shares one important similarity with Volume 1: it’s really good!  Click the Vol. 2 download button in the upper right of this page to download it.

Here’s some thoughts while you’re waiting for the download to finish:

1) I recommend that you listen to this comp on shuffle.

2) The awesome artwork comes from a show flyer made by Justin Myer.  It’s obviously awesome.  The image was recommended to me by another participant in this project.  Much like most of the songs on Volume 2, the artwork debuted elsewhere, but gets a worthy rebirth in this new context.  Thanks, Justin!

3) I have to give one more set of shout-outs to some crucial behind-the-scenes mega-buddy/helpers. 

- Once again, Matt Gauck, the man behind the Volume 1 cover art and author of the zine Next Stop Adventure, brought it big time with the liner notes layout.  I hope you’ll take a peek at them (in the download folder) and dig deeper into the lyrics of these songs.  Thanks to Matt for throwing it all together in just one night.  With only one day’s notice.  AGAIN.  He’s the best.

- Likewise, Bill Henderson of Azimuth Mastering and the bands Annelids, Kill Wealthy Dowager, and Helcaraxe mastered the songs on this volume for free.  Since this project was an organizational nightmare, he had to master this in five or six different batches.  He mastered every batch in less than 24 hours.  AGAIN.  He’s the best.

- Dave Frenson of the record label Black Numbers and the band Banquets did all the back end web stuff for the compilation download.  He endured near-daily text messages and e-mails from me.  AGAIN.  And he still got everything working last night after I had changed the release date a zillion times.  He’s the best.

- Oscar Albis Rodriguez of the band Ghost Robot Ninja Bear made sure that this project happened.  Without him, I never would have started it, I never would have continued it, and I never would have finished it.  He’s the best.

Thanks so much for checking out the blog and the comp.  A lot of us have worked really hard on this, and we appreciate your time and enthusiasm for this project.  You’re the best.

- Aaron

donthangoutinfrontofthehouse:

Volume 1 of the Please Don’t Hang Out In Front Of The House musical compilation is here!  Yay!  This first volume features all the songs written as a direct response to the artistic challenge I issued one month ago.  All you have to do to get it is click the Vol. 1 download button in the upper right of this page. 

While you’re waiting for it to download, I have four things to tell you.

1)  The absolute hero of the past few days has been a young man from Portland named Matt Gauck.  He is the artist who drew the totally excellent cover art for Volume 1 that you see above.  He also stayed up absurdly late two nights ago crafting the layout for the liner notes.  When you unzip the download folder, you will find the audio files, along with Matt’s cover art and the liner notes.  Even if you don’t read the liner notes, I urge you to open them up and see his zine-influenced layout style.  It’s just awesome.  You should probably read them anyways, since there’s some great explanations from the musicians about their songs and their respective hasty recording processes.  And then you should go to Matt’s website and check out the rest of his art.  Thanks, Matt, for making this comp look so damn good!

2) I recommend that you listen to this comp on shuffle.

3) Have you ever been to an improv comedy show?  A really good one?  It’s a great time.  Sometimes, it’s funnier than a quality pre-written sketch comedy show.  Even though the jokes are generally better in the sketch comedy show, the improv format benefits from the audience’s understanding of context.  A joke is funnier when, in the back of your head, you marvel, “She just made that up!” 

A month ago, none of these songs existed in the form that you hear them on this comp.  In fact, most of these songs were written and recorded within two weeks.  (Full disclosure: I’m the only one who took a full month to get his song done.)  Two weeks might sound like a reasonable amount of time to write and record a song, but remember that they only had a couple weeks from the day they heard about the challenge.  So these musicians made time to write and record these songs during a two week period for which they undoubtedly had plenty of other plans.  I guess what I’m saying is that this comp is like a really good improv comedy show.  It is enjoyable and worthwhile, and if you keep in mind how quickly these musicians produced this content, you will quite possibly enjoy it even more. 

4) The last item is a request: if you enjoy the comp, or if you have been enjoying the blog, please share it with someone who doesn’t know about it.  Just send the link to your cool nephew or mention it to your co-worker who talks about music sometimes.  We worked hard on this comp, and we want it to be heard by anyone who might be interested.

And with that, I sign off for weekend because it’s time to for me to take a little break.  Stories and photos will return on Monday, and Volume 2 of the comp (featuring pre-released songs about house shows) will drop soon after. 

Thanks so much for your interest and your support.  You have made the stressful days and the late nights worthwhile. 

- Aaron

Yup, that’s me on Halloween, playing the Fest.  Tom took this lovely photo of me in my costume.  (Fun fact: other than the occasional Halloween, I haven’t worn jeans in 17 years.)  I’d love to tell you all about it, and perhaps I will in a couple weeks.  I’ve been trying to get around to writing about it, but something big (and awesome) has gotten in the way.

If you haven’t heard about the Please Don’t Hang Out In Front Of The House compilation, you should read the previous post.  Then you should go to the new blog and start checking it out daily!  I’m spending all my time on it (even time I don’t have!), and it’s coming together really well.  The music will be downloadable starting next week, but the stories, pictures and artwork are being released day by day on the blog.  Get there!

- Aaron

PS Oh yeah, no shows planned at the moment.  I cracked a rib or something.  Oh, Fest.

This is what a house show looks like.  Marathon’s last show in New Brunswick.  Photo by Ed Adams.

(UPDATED SUBMISSION GUIDELINES BELOW!)

Okay, first read this ridiculousness.

Basements (and houses) are the best places to play shows. They’re the best because they are ours; we create and determine the environment without mediation from corporate parasites. Red Bull energy drink is host…ing a contest where bands apply to be considered for a “real” basement show as a “tribute to the legendary New Brunswick, New Jersey underground music scene.” I cannot think of a more insincere way to pay tribute to a scene than through guerilla marketing like this, which subverts the essential freedom that basement shows represent. The reason basement shows are so legendary is because of the explicit absence of influences like corporate sponsors and A&R reps. We play basement shows to share the best of ourselves without interference from those who would try to profit off us.

In celebration and sincere tribute to basement shows EVERYWHERE, and to the promoters who offer their homes for the music and the scene, I propose an artistic challenge. I don’t want to sit here quietly while a global energy drink company attempts to infiltrate our space. I propose this challenge to those of you who, like me, want to respond in some creative way.

The challenge: write a song or tell a story that is your personal tribute to basement/house shows. The song/story can take any direction you want. For songs, please include a few sentences about the song. For stories, please give it a title and indicate how you want to be credited. We will master the songs for a digital-only free download comp and collect the stories as a blog. We are also accepting photos, drawings, comics, etc. All submissions should be sent to aaron@atticaattica.org. DEADLINE FOR STORIES/PHOTOS: 5 PM EST, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26. DEADLINE FOR SONGS: 5 PM EST, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2. We want to get this out as soon as possible. Time is short, but that’s part of the fun!

That’s not a lot of time, but part of the challenge is about urgency. If you don’t feel urgently about this, that’s fine. But if you do, find an afternoon in the next two weeks to write and record something, no matter the sound quality. If you’re not a musician, tell your story in writing or record it. Our songs and our stories are the evidence of our legacy. I would hate to think that anyone in the future would go to a house show thinking that there were always corporate logos hanging from the ceiling.

If you want to tap into this via Facebook, here’s the event page.

hilaryjcorts:

Aaron Scott/Attica! Attica! at the Jake Stults benefit show. Party Xpo, Brooklyn.

© 2010 Hilary J. Corts

That about sums it up.