The Living Rockumentary

While Ken is in the Pacific Northwest, the rest of SFTD continues on. Last night we had a nice practice in which we went over the songs that we would play at this Friday's secret show at a Connecticut junior high school. We also messed around with a band version of Player Piano that includes no piano. I think it could be good.

Does anybody out there know that song? It's from my Big Plans for Underachievers album which is pretty much unavailable. But, we also used it for Humbert's The Great White Lunchroom which is available on Rub Wrongways Records.



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I wrote it during my stint as a music / recording student. I can kind of remember the recording process in which my friend Doug MacDougald (now a big time professional body builder) helped me. We recorded it in the tiny reel-to-reel 8-Track studio, which was about the size of a closet and a half. The piano that we used was in a practice room on the other side of the building. We attached a lot of microphone cables end to end to cover the distance and then ran them out the door and down the hallway and then up some stairs and then down another hallway and into the practice room, which was just a little bit bigger than the slightly abused grand piano inside of it.

I think we used two microphones on the piano and I wore headphones so Doug could tell me when he was recording. I am pretty sure we just did the one take. Later, I added my vocals and I remember Doug was surprise that it wasn't just an instrumental piece.

This was back in the days when I used to be a pianist. Nowadays, I can't play for more than three minutes without my hands aching like crazy. But, the upside is that I am becoming a much better guitarist.

But wait a minute! "Who is Humbert?" you might be asking yourself. Well, Humbert was a band that I joined when I first moved out to this area. I replaced their temporary bassist Frank Padellero (King Radio) and joined Ari Vais (the Pelicans), our own Tony Westcott, and Paul Pelis (King Radio). Humbert was a pretty crazy band, with three singers/songwriters leading the way. It was louder and way more cacophonic than School for the Dead but had some similarities in the songwriting approach. Tony, is the real guy to talk to about the history of the band since he was there from the very beginning, long before I joined up.

A little while after the album above, Paul left the band and our very own Brian hopped on board. So, you see, Tony, Brian and I have a bit of history playing together. Anyway, that's a brief overview of Humbert. Those of you that aren't familiar with Tony's writing, can find some gems on there like Packy Run, Insulation, Mouth to Mouth, I Wouldn't Know, Northampton, and Sycophant and if you are not familiar with Ari Vais or the Pelicans make sure you check out Strangel, Greyhound, Alone In Your Victorian, The Freezer, and Feverish and Friendly. Brilliant songs all of them.