Random Photos from Europe (part 2)

6 Random Things I Was Into This Year

Figured I would do an end of year list like everyone else. This stuff is in no real order, just a list of things I enjoyed at some point this year.

Heima (Sigur Rós DVD)

I'll start with the most recent thing I saw that really blew me away. It's the new DVD that just came out documenting a 2006 tour of Iceland by Sigur Rós. They visit a lot of remote parts of Iceland and setup in very unusual places (indoors and out). There are some quiet intimate acoustic moments mixed in with their full blown stage setup. Anyone who saw them perform at the Atlanta Symphony last time they came through probably remembers the cool screen/lights/shadows setup they had going. It's filmed beautifully and the look of the whole DVD is gorgeous, vivid colors, great editing and superb sound. I highly recommend this. View the trailer here.

Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem

I'm not even a huge LCD fan, but I have to admit that I was compelled to listen to this on repeat constantly throughout the year. It's one of those songs that connects everything perfectly to me, from how it builds musically to the way it unfolds lyrically. It details a break up better than anything I've heard in a while, and at the same time concedes to the fact that life must go on. I would love to hear them do a whole album of this kind of material. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the dancey/party type tracks they do, but this song just connects on a whole other level.

MP3: LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great

I wish that we could talk about it,
But there, that's the problem.
With someone new I could have started,
Too late, for beginnings.
The little things that made me harassed,
Are gone, in a moment.
I miss the way we used to argue,
Locked, in your basement.

I wake up and the phone is ringing,
Surprised, as it's early.
And that should be the perfect warning,
That something's, a problem.
To tell the truth I saw it coming,
The way, you were breathing.
But nothing can prepare you for it,
The voice, on the other, end.

The worst is all the lovely weather,
I'm sad, it's not raining.
The coffee isn't even bitter,
Because, what's the difference?
There's all the work that needs to be done,
It's late, for revision.
There's all the time and all the planning,
And songs, to be finished.

And it keeps coming,
And it keeps coming,
And it keeps coming,
Till the day it stops.

I wish that we could talk about it,
But there, that's the problem.
With someone new I could have started,
Too late, for beginnings.
You're smaller than my wife imagined,
Surprised, you were human.
There shouldn't be this ring of silence,
But what, are the options?

When someone great is gone.

We're safe, for the moment.
Saved, for the moment.

Disclosure: Military and Government Witnesses Reveal the Greatest Secrets in Modern History
I didn't mention this in my post on books the other day because I didn't technically read it on tour, but I did read it this year and found it quite fascinating. This book was actually published in 2001, but I only discovered it recently. Basically, this is the testimony of a bunch of former military, government and corporate types regarding UFOs, extraterrestrials and the alleged cover up of zero point energy technology. I suppose this could fall in the conspiracy theory realm, except that it's all highly credible confirmed ranking officials talking about a lot of this stuff, and even if only half of what's in this book is true it's enough to frighten and disgust. Much of the testimony foreshadows the current deteriorating state of our planet today and suggests that technology derived from extraterrestrial origins, which could provide free clean energy to all parts of the world, has existed for decades. I know this kind of stuff can sound a little out there, but when you have so many credible sources telling virtually identical stories you really start to wonder about the true reality of our situation. There was a press conference held this year by all of these individuals and it even received coverage on CNN. If you are the least bit curious about this type of stuff I highly recommend reading it. If not, it still reads like some of the scariest science fiction out there.

The Boy With The Incredible Brain

Again, here is something older that I just came across this year. It's a documentary that aired on BBC television a while back about a guy named Daniel Tamment. He's an autistic savant who can do incredibly complex mathematical computations, as well as learning foreign languages in a very short amount of time. He can provide answers to decimal points that go even further than a computer or calculator can go. What separates him from most other savants is that he isn't inflicted with many of the autism symptoms that render other savants unable to communicate, making research on them difficult. Tammet can describe in detail what's going on in his mind and the process that takes place as he's forming the numbers. He gained notoriety for a record breaking feat that's documented in the video in which he recited the infinite Pi to 22, 514 decimal points. It took him a little over five hours to recite every single digit and he didn't make one mistake. Over the course of the documentary he travels from the UK to America where he meets up with researches in California to see what they can learn from him. Along the way he stops off in Vegas to test his skills in a casino and visits Salt Lake City to meet with Kim Peek, probably the most well known savant and the inspiration for the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man. A similar documentary about Peek produced by the same BBC channel can be viewed here. All of this is an extremely interesting look into the untapped capabilities of the human mind. Check it out above if you have some time to kill.

The Past is a Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal

This song really came out of left field. I think it's Kevin Barne's finest songwriting achievement. A near twelve minute sprawling confessional from a guy that sounds like he's at his breaking point. A sinister sounding progression that just keeps repeating on top of itself, slowly growing to the point of desperation. It all comes together perfectly and leaves you with the sense that this guy is someone who is truly suffering for his art. I'm very curious to see what direction he goes next.

MP3: Of Montreal - The Past is a Grotesque Animal

The past is a grotesque animal
And in its eyes you see
How completely wrong you can be
How completely wrong you can be

The sun is out, it melts the snow that fell yesterday
Makes you wonder why it bothered

I fell in love with the first cute girl that I met
Who could appreciate Georges Bataille
Standing at a Swedish festival discussing "Story of the Eye"
Discussing "Story of the Eye"

It's so embarrassing to need someone like I do you
How can I explain, I need you here and not here too
How can I explain, I need you here and not here too

I'm flunking out, I'm flunking out, I'm gone, I'm just gone
But at least I author my own disaster
At least I author my own disaster

Performance breakdown and I don't want to hear it
I'm just not available
Things could be different but they're not
Things could be different but they're not

The mousy girl screams, "Violence! Violence!"
The mousy girl screams, "Violence! Violence!"
She gets hysterical because they're both so mean
And it's my favorite scene
But the cruelty's so predictable
It makes you sad on the stage
Though our love project has so much potential
But it's like we weren't made for this world
(Though I wouldn't really want to meet someone who was)

Do I have to scream in your face?
I've been dodging lamps and vegetables
Throw it all in my face, I don't care

Let's just have some fun
Let's tear this shit apart
Let's tear the fucking house apart
Let's tear our fucking bodies apart
But let's just have some fun

Somehow you've red-rovered the gestapo circling my heart
And nothing can defeat you
No death, no ugly world

You've lived so brightly
You've altered everything
I find myself searching for old selves
While speeding forward through the plate glass of maturing cells

I've played the unraveler, the parhelion
But even apocalypse is fleeting
There's no death, no ugly world

Sometimes I wonder if you're mythologizing me like I do you
Mythologizing me like I do you

We want our film to be beautiful, not realistic
Perceive me in the radiance of terror dreams
And you can betray me
You can, you can betray me

But teach me something wonderful
Crown my head, crowd my head
With your lilting effects
Project your fears on to me, I need to view them
See, there's nothing to them
I promise you, there's nothing to them

I'm so touched by your goodness
You make me feel so criminal
How do you keep it together?
I'm all, all unraveled

But you know, no matter where we are
We're always touching by underground wires

I've explored you with the detachment of an analyst
But most nights we've raided the same kingdoms
And none of our secrets are physical
None of our secrets are physical
None of our secrets are physical now

New Moon - Elliott Smith
Although he's been passed away for a number of years now, I still gravitate to his music more than any other artist I can think of. I would say I have gone through moments of even being obsessed. Because of this obsession I've heard most of these unreleased tracks in some form or another, albeit in rough or bad quality. Having them all put together for one release in remixed/remastered quality is quite nice though. He could have easily picked and chosen from this group of songs and released an album as good as some of his best work in my opinion. My favorite stuff from Elliott Smith has always been the stripped down acoustic numbers, which really show off the true genius of his songwriting, and that's exactly what this release is comprised of. The highlight by far is the early version of "Miss Misery", with alternate lyrics. "New Disaster" is also a favorite. It's a genuine emotional outpouring from an artist who definitely left the world far too soon. It's so obvious from his lyrics what a desperate state he always seemed to be in, but he always left a glimmer of hope in his music, even if he didn't leave enough of one for himself.

MP3: Elliott Smith - Miss Misery (Early Version)

MP3: Elliott Smith - New Disaster


There's plenty more stuff I really liked this year, but the list could go on forever, and I really don't feel like typing that much. So this is just a handful of things I was into. I realize it's all pretty random, but that's just the way my brain works.

David Byrne | Wired Magazine

There is a series of great interviews that just went up over on the Wired Magazine website between David Byrne and a number of different music biz people. It's a great read, or listen. There are audio clips scattered throughout the pages of Byrne having conversations with Thom Yorke, Brian Eno, Mac McCaughan (Merge Records) and a bunch of dudes who manage Radiohead. I love actually hearing a discussion between people, as opposed to just reading a transcription of the words. The overall theme of the discussion is the current climate in the music industry and what it's like for emerging artists now as opposed to the past. The people he was able to interview about the subject is what makes this such an interesting read/listen. Check it out:

Part 1: David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars

Part 2: David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music

Back In The Day

The most notable thing missing from the above flyer of a show we played with the Unicorns at the old Echo Lounge back in 2004 is the other band that was on the bill that night, Arcade Fire. They were only a couple weeks into the tour, opening for the Unicorns, and at that point were just another unknown band coming through. They didn't even have an album out yet. During soundcheck they had their whole stage setup sprawled out on the floor of the Echo, motorcycle helmets and all. There were ten plus people in the band at that point and we were all a little bit curious as to what they were all about.

The show was cool. All the bands played well but there was nothing really memorable that stuck with me about the show, other than how crazy looking Arcade Fire were on stage. I remember thinking they looked like a bunch of crazy gypsies or something. After the show all the bands were out back loading equipment and it becomes obvious that the Arcade Fire folks have no where to go and they don't know anyone in the city. At this point it's around 2am or so. Jordan offers them floor space at his brother Preston's house in East Point, where he was living at the time. They graciously excepted and headed there to crash out. I should also point out that the entire band was traveling in one van. I remember thinking how insane that was.

The next day they had an off day on the tour before heading to North Carolina, so they ended up staying another day at Preston's and we had a big cookout that night in his backyard. During the day they had all done laundry, hung around Little Five Points, found a pool to splash around in and gone grocery shopping to get a bunch of food for the cookout. At the time Snowden was practicing in Preston's living room and we were there running through some songs when they all showed back up. One of the Unicorns (not the Islands one, but the other guy) came by for the cookout too and we proceeded to grillout all kinds of good stuff. Arcade Fire were on Merge at that point, but their first album was still about three months away from being released. They gave us a CD-R copy of it before they left. I talked to Win a bunch about Merge. I asked him about Mac, as I was a huge Superchunk fan. He told me he couldn't be happier with the situation they were in. They left the next day and about a month or so later sent a postcard thanking everyone for the hospitality.

The next time they would return to Atlanta it would to be to sold out theaters and each time they've been back through Win has given us a shout out during their show. They were extremely nice when we met them and even though they have since gone on to grace the cover of Time magazine and what not, I still like to think of them as the kind of folks who spent the little money they had at the time to go buy food for everyone, in return for a hardwood floor to sleep on and a place to do some laundry.

Books I Read on Tour

Much of the time spent on tour is in the van. I've tried many different things to help pass the time. NPR, iPod, movies on laptops, PSP, sudoku, scribbling in a journal, etc. Luckily I'm not one of those people that gets sick while reading in a car. I do tend to get tired and doze off though, sometimes mid sentence I'm reading. Here are some books I've read over the past few tours. I tend to lean towards rock biographies while on tour. There have been some good ones lately.

Shakey: Neil Young's Biography
This book is epic. It's a thick paperback that stayed in my backpack while we were touring around with Kings of Leon. The story of Young's journey from a small Canadian town to California to super stardom is the stuff of legends. The amount of detail is exhaustive and you really get a feel for who this guy is. Neil Young gave full approval to the author to write the book and he spoke to all the key people involved in Young's life. As they would all tell their recollection of how events transpired, Neil Young would interject his point of view on whatever topic was being discussed throughout the book. This really helped to get an overall picture of his life.

Excerpt:

I asked Young’s guitar tech Larry Cragg what the hardest tour had been. “All of ’em,” he said. “They’ve all been rough–every one of ’em made workin’ for anybody else real easy. The tours are out of the ordinary, the music, the movies–everything’s out of the ordinary. We do things differently around here. That’s just the way it is.”

Cragg was tinkering with Young’s guitar rig, which sat in a little area to the rear of the stage. A gaggle of amps–a Magnatone, a huge transistorized Baldwin Exterminator, a Fender Reverb unit and the heart of it all: a small, weather-beaten box covered in worn-out tweed, 1959 vintage. “The Deluxe,” muttered amp tech Sal Trentino with awe.

“Neil’s got four hundred and fifty-six identical Deluxes. They sound nothing like this one.” Young runs the amp with oversized tubes, and Cragg has to keep portable fans trained on the back so it doesn’t melt down. “It really is ready to just go up in smoke, and it sounds that way–flat-out, overdriven, ready to self-destruct.”

Young has a personal relationship with electricity. In Europe, where the electrical current is sixty cycles, not fifty, he can pinpoint the fluctuation–by degrees. It dumbfounded Cragg. “He’ll say, ‘Larry, there’s a hundred and seventeen volts coming out of the wall, isn’t there?’ I’ll go measure it, and yeah, sure–he can hear the difference.”

Shakey’s innovations are everywhere. Intent on controlling amp volume from his guitar instead of the amp, Young had a remote device designed called the Whizzer. Guitarists marvel at the stomp box that lies onstage at Young’s feet: a byzantine gang of effects that can be utilized without any degradation to the original signal. Just constructing the box’s angular red wooden housing to Young’s extreme specifications had craftsmen pulling their hair out.


Scar Tissue
I was a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan back around the Mother's Milk era. Personally, I still think that is their best album. I liked Blood Sugar Sex Magik too, but I feel like that is when they began their downward decline musically and artistically. In his autobiography Anthony Kiedis even admits that they have yet to create anything as compelling since. For the most part though, this is the tale of a heroin junkie in Hollywood finally coming clean. Kiedis spills the beans about all his depraved behavior and his childhood growing up in Los Angeles with a father who dealt drugs to actors and other Hollywood movers and shakers. Sonny and Cher were his god parents. Just imagine all the stuff this guy has seen. He pretty much talks about it all in this book.

Excerpt:

I don't want to give the impression that we were monks the whole time we recorded. We'd often invite friends up to the house and have these elaborate dinner parties. One of the people who was around then was the actor River Phoenix. I met River through Ione (Skye), who'd done a film with him. John (Frusciante) and River had jammed at a party that we all attended, and they got close. I don't want to go off on River's trip, because his family is excruciatingly sensitive about it, but since I'd known him, he had drunk heavily and used cocaine heavily, and it was no secret to me or anybody who knew him that he was quite out of control with this stuff and it would be just a matter of time before bad things started to add up. River was around a lot during the writing and recording of our album (Blood Sugar Sex Magik). He was a big supporter of our band, and I even wrote a whole verse about him in 'Give It Away': "There's a river, born to be a giver, keep you warm, won't let you shiver/His heart is never going to wither, come one everybody, time to deliver."


Our Band Could Change Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991
This is a great book profiling many of the seminal bands of the era. The chapters are all broken up into stories about the specific bands and their rise to prominence. Bands featured include Black Flag, Minor Threat, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Fugazi, among others. Michael Azerrad has written for SPIN, Rolling Stone, etc. and profiles the subjects fairly well. There isn't the kind of detail like in the Neil Young biography, but you still get a decent overview of all the bands. The Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers chapters were my two favorite. After reading this book I would love to see a more thorough account of those two. In other words, I'm patiently awaiting Thurston and Gibby's autobiographies.

Excerpt:

They (Butthole Surfers) were eventually reduced to scavenging for cans and bottles so they could turn them in for the nickel deposit. It was quite a come down for (Gibby) Haynes, who was all set to be a successful accountant just a couple years before. One day some prankster ran up and kicked all the bottles out of Hayne's bag. "Gibby and the rest of us were on our knees, scurrying to collect the bottles again," says (Jeffrey) Coffey. "And I looked in Gibby's eyes, and he was about to cry. It was just so pitiful - this big, strong guy like Gibby being reduced to tears because here he was on the streets of New York, groveling for bottles. But good god, we needed those bottles."
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They were all tripping one day when someone jokingly suggested moving to R.E.M.'s home base of Athens, Georgia (which also happened to have been a notorious drug mecca). "We thought it would be a trip to, for no apparent reason other than it seemed funny, move to Athens," says Coffey. "And stalk R.E.M." They wound up a few miles outside of Athens, in tiny Winterville, where they stayed about seven months, working up new material and playing gigs. And stalking R.E.M.


The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
The first live concert that I ever attended was Motley Crue at the old Omni arena here in Atlanta. Guns N' Roses was the opening band. At the time I had no idea I was witnessing glam rock history in the making. I was just a little kid with a bunch of my friends, and my mom chaperoning us all. She loves telling this story. We were literally third row center. At the time I was completely naive to the amount of debauchery involved with these bands. In this autobiography of Motley Crue it's basically all exposed. It's story after story of just complete reckless abandon, as well as the consequences. It goes from band member to band member and back again as they each pen chapters, giving perspectives from all angles.

Excerpt:

I (Nikki Sixx) needed to go out on the scene to escape from my own decay and loneliness. I flipped through my phone book in search of old friends. I called Robbin Crosby, then Slash, because Guns N' Roses were going to open for us in America after the European tour. I picked up Robbin at his house in a silver limo I liked to rent and gave him some blow. On the way to the Franklin Plaza Hotel, where Guns N' Roses were staying because they were all homeless, I threw up all over the limo. I wiped the chunks off on an antique beaver-hair-covered top hat I had bought for Slash and gave it to him at his door along with a bottle of whiskey. Some of the guys in Megadeath were also staying at the hotel, so we all piled into the limo. Robbin scored some junk from his dealer, who wasn't too happy about the conspicuous limo in front of his house, and we did drugs until our minds went blank.
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Something not as gentle as the hand on my head, something rough and impatient, grabbed my foot. And in an instant I shot down through the air, through the roof of the ambulance, and landed with a painful jerk back into my body. I struggled to open my eyes and I saw adrenaline needles - not one, like in Pulp Fiction, but two. One was sticking out of the left flank of my chest, the other was in the right. "No one's gonna die in my fucking ambulance," I heard a man's voice say. Then I passed out.

Random Photos from Europe (part 1)

Atlanta Got Burnt

So, last week we played the big Stomp & Stammer anniversary party. It was a lot of fun. Despite the fact that we hadn't played a show in a while, I think we did ok. Chandler has these drum pads setup now so he can trigger a sampler we have loaded with all kinds of different sound textures. The drummer from Peter Bjorn & John does something very similar. When I first saw what he could do with it in our practice space I became really excited at the thought of how we could expand our live sound using it. It worked like a charm the first time around. The other bands were great that night too. The Selmanaires were really vibing and played a fantastic set. Deerhunter had some equipment issues, but still sounded great I thought. Their whole aesthetic with the lights and presentation is just really tight. Bradford told me backstage this could possibly be one of their final Atlanta shows. I really hope not. Black Lips were awesome as usual. They get doused with so much beer I don't see how they keep from getting electrocuted. Overall it was a great night at a sold out Variety Playhouse... and despite what some people may think of him, you have to hand it to Jeff Clark for putting out a magazine that everyone in the music scene around here picks up and reads on a monthly basis. You either love or hate his brutal honesty, but you still read it regardless. Props to him and Alex from OK Productions

for putting on such a great night of local music.

edit: Some great pics from that night can be found @ Ohmpark

Snowden Tour Video

I posted this video online a few weeks back, but wanted to post it here too. When we got back from the last tour Jordan gave me a bunch of his DV (camcorder) tapes. I went through the ones I didn't have and backed up some stuff to one of my hard drives that has a lot of old stuff from my camcorder on it too. Unfortunately, my camcorder died last year and I've yet to obtain a new one (soon hopefully). I actually have a whole bag full of DV tapes filled with Snowden stuff dating all the way back to the first incarnation of the band. I even have a vhs tape of our very first performance ever at Lenny's (the old location). Much of the footage I would dare not post here for fear of Jordan killing me. Most of it is painfully embarrassing to watch, but there are some gems scattered throughout a lot of it too. At some point I'll actually begin the daunting task of going through all that stuff, but for now I'm more interested in just collecting footage. Corinne also takes a massive amount of photos and video clips with her digital camera when we're on tour. Some of her stuff is in this vid too, but there's a lot more stuff she has that I need to get a hold of at some point. Anyway, I just cut up some of the more lighthearted moments and got a crash course in using iMovie while I was at it. I hope to post more videos after experimenting with video editing a bit more. Enjoy this one for now.

Born in the ATL

Another blog is born unto the internets.

I'm starting this blog mainly to document some of the things I've seen or done while being part of the band Snowden. I'll also ramble aimlessly about other topics from time to time as well. I've had some time on my hands after touring quite extensively the past year and decided that I wanted to have some way of documenting some of my experiences, as well as future adventures. I'm also going to post music, videos, photos and what not too.

Hope I can help you waste some time. Enjoy.

Dave