We’ve got a a really sweet gig coming up in about a month at the Horseshoe Tavern. It’s going to be pretty great, so clear your schedules and come on down!
June 9th, 2011 - Show starts around 9:00pm.
AnonymousOh, don’t get me started on lazy. I’m so lazy I took lessons on a player piano!
AnonymousOur next show is tomorrow!
May 11th @ Rancho Relaxo
AND
June 9th @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
My turn for a question — Why ya gotta be so anonymous for?
Love,
Capital H
Any pain-killer/endorphin-releaser should do the trick.
CAPITAL H DOES NOT SUPPORT DRUG USE. CAPITAL H SUPPORTS PEANUT BUTTER USE.
AnonymousTONIGHT! April 22, 2011, at the Aspetta Caffe in Kensington Market at Spadina and Dundas. 207 Augusta Avenue. Doors at 9:00PM. Come on out, whoever you are, because all the performers are awesome!
AnonymousIn what sense of the word? I am happy about certain things, less happy about other things. If my happiness were measured in rainfall, there would probably be about 2cm. If my happiness were measured in grains of sand, it would not complete a sand castle. If my happiness were measured in bologna sandwiches, I would wish to be sad… especially if I had to eat the bologna sandwiches. And if it was mac & cheese loaf… don’t even get me started. A Wishful Thinking from the great Sky Blue Sky Sandwich Company would be great, though.
AnonymousBecause we eat lots of fruits and vegetables! Eat your veggies to grow big and strong and talented.
What will it be like after I’m gone? Just like how it was before you were born. When did words become so strong? When the scratch of the night became laughter at dawn.
I’ll watch myself fall asleep, I’ll feel my pulse pump off beat, I’ll have a shell if I can leave and I only have to learn the rhythm that I breathe
Now I can swim in a desert ocean, fly on a cloud made out of locusts, making amends with the medium’s opus, man dies in his sleep to see who will notice
This is how we choose to speak, this is how we choose to speak, slowly form the letters, let them build up in fingers before they boil over, to silence
And that is all I have, to get me past that cloud
I’ll watch myself fall asleep, I’ll feel my pulse pump off beat, I’ll have a shell if I can leave and I only have to learn the rhythm that I breathe
If that is all I have, I won’t be afraid
The crowd parts to carve a path out, fixed on me glow their eyes and mouths, the bellhop takes her hand as if he knows her
But I’ve subscribed to their disguising, they’re already my horizon, they move back when I move closer
Will I have to sit here forever? Am I ever going to find a threshold?
But persistence never fails, there’s glass under my fingernails, how long do I have to keep scratching this window?
I told you who I’d want to see and you put them in front of me, gave them the power to speak, you broke our agreement
“Well, you have gone on long enough, but your questions are thought out, so I’ll answer…
It doesn’t matter what it means if there’s no god in the machine, you’ll live inside your memories and stalk the past, you call it a last request, I just call it nothing left, so push your sentence into clef, the walls might give out
Could there be a secret way?
A door behind the fire place?
Maybe you’ll wake up someday…
That would be too easy
Did you really think that there would be an exit?
Scurry, scramble for the handle, smash the lock but it won’t shatter, there is nothing here for you but a closed door.
No, there is no exit”
There was a boy who could speak in tongues, left alone to follow breadcrumbs, that one day would lead him back to his loved ones, He stopped halfway when directions spun with a woman under the setting sun
She said “your hands have lost their warmth and there is no home in your arms, but inside your fingers, I know that there are pistons, and under that skull is a passive steam engine, but here, you are alone”
Well some take the drink and some take the creek, some take a bullet for someone’s country, and column’s give out on the twenty-fifth mile, but I’d rather twitch and writhe and die inside to spark a smile
And the last one he saw before he left the town was a guard who dryly delivered this warning “to cross here is forbidden but we won’t miss an orphan, but the wilderness will pick you up over its head and break you into”
That day the boy crossed the bridge, Followed by only his shadow, The first one to in 20 years, The last one was his mother
Alone he began to understand that no one is ever, no one is abandoned
But something’s after his relief, The songs that he sings in his sleep like, “I’ve come and gone and you have improved, So here is everything inside me, It’s my little gift to you”
And the wild conspired against him
You drive the hearse and I will embalm him
Siren’s calls draw no attention
I’ll write the march and you build the coffin
You are the shaman and I’m the waiting room, There’s something inside me, That will never, ever get through to you, Something outside, I swear that I can hear, Something that you have not the capacity to feel
You know, its really a language, You know, that exchange of glances, Like when you tell me with your matchstick tongue, My forest is on fire, With a striking lick of the lips, like thats your kind of talk
And the wild conspired against him
I’ll drive the hearse if you can embalm him
Siren’s calls draw no attention
If you write the march then I’ll build the coffin
Like the grass to the soil, the tree to the leaf, one day the roots started, growing into my feet, and the Earth she unnerves me, as she softly speaks, “One day, you’ll be a diamond, forever kept inside of me”
But he saw the forest, and killed for food, If I’ve perfected what I’ve made then I can ruin it too, He learned to fly with locusts and to seal up tombs, He learned how to project an image when reflections just won’t do
And the wild was always fenced in
If you drive the hearse, then I can embalm him
No friendly fire moves that direction
If I write the march then you build the coffin
He told me “I know now, the key to happiness, It’s the awareness that I can make a difference, My words are automatic, they play politics, But it’s been years since I’ve had to think, so I don’t know if I exist, But I’m sure I still can, change what I will be, the wind don’t know which way it blows, but carelessness won’t get you free, If you paid more mind, to the silent scene, You’ll one day know I made a difference, One day, you will see”
And then he took his vow of silence
A couple weekends ago my very talented friend, Jacob, came over and took some photos for us. We needed an ‘official’ band photo, and also we needed something to temporarily sate our narcissistic appetites, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a photo shoot. The reason why we asked Jacob to take the photos is because his photos have a certain old-school aesthetic. And it’s no wonder, he shoots exclusively in film, and with an ancient-looking camera that I’m quite sure is older than he is. His black and white photos especially have a really distinct DIY feel to them, and it’s because he develops them himself in his own darkroom. He took a bunch of pictures of us outside in the backyard of Sam and Zack’s house (oh yeah, they live together and our jam room is in the basement) and in the park next to the house. It was fffffreezing (especially when we were SITTING IN THE EFFING SNOW) but it was also really fun. Jacob took those ones in black and white and he’s working on developing them now. I have a feeling some of them will look pretty spooky. We’re a very spooky crew, after all. After that little adventure we went back inside and took a bunch of photos in the basement, got a bit silly, yada yada yada now we have bunch of awesome photos. Those ones were in color (with a fisheye lens!) and Jacob delivered those ones to us earlier this week. Without further blather, here are some of the best ones.
For more of Jacob Dvoress’ work, check out his flickr.
We’ve changed the name of the band to “The Richard Taylor Experience”
This ain’t no ice-fishin’
It’s not weird if everyone’s into it.
Dare to doubt a Richard - dare to stand alone.
Capital H: your mom wants us to come for dinner.
That’s all, folks! We’re playing this Friday at the Smiling Buddha for the Box -> Sun EP release. Hope to see you there!
Happy trails to you…
People often wonder what songs are ‘about’. Music is an inherently subjective form of expression, and though powerful moods and themes can be and are conveyed through instrumental music alone, words provide a less abstract interpretation of an intended meaning or story, if there is one.
The songs on Box -> Sun were all written in different ways with each contribution being created and added at different times, and so words provided different purposes for each song. For some songs, words were written first with the intention of expressing meaning first and foremost, and then were crafted to fit a melody. For others, the primary purpose of the vocal lines was to complement the music melodically, not to tell any kind of story or send any kind of message to the listener. Having said that, expressing meaning through words is pretty much unavoidable when you’re using, you know… words. Regardless of the way each song was written, each one ended up telling a bit of a story lyrically, so in that respect, here is what the songs are ‘about’:
Effigy:
This song is about someone (let’s call him/her X) who has been dealing with a persistent feeling/thought/behavior that is both seductive and destructive at the same time. It’s gotten to the point where X sees this feeling as an entity unto itself, something manifest, something even akin to a stronger, more dominant person. X has a strange relationship with this person (let’s call it Y). At times Y can make X feel like he/she is totally in control, like X is strongest person in the world… and at other times Y can make X feel like he/she is completely subdued and worthless. X knows that he/she has to destroy Y, but he/she knows that in doing so, he/she will lose that feeling of being important, of being stronger, of being special. This song is the sound of someone fearing the consequences of the impending loss of such a feeling/person.
Fade:
This song is about someone (let’s call him/her X) who is completely disgusted with everything. By his/her own choice, X locks him-/herself in a dark room, his/her only connection to the outside world being through unidirectional media: TV, radio, etc. X has been living like this for years when, one day (night?) all signals suddenly fade away, and X is left in complete darkness, really alone for the first time. X then has two choices: live in complete darkness forever without even the company of television screens and radio waves, or to venture out into the world that forced him into the dark in the first place.
Meaningless:
This song is about someone (let’s call him/her X) who may or may not be crazy. Either way, he/she has been confined to some kind of asylum (whether it is legitimate or not is not really known). Something is telling X to burn the building down. This prospect is accompanied with the knowledge (delusion?) that once this task is completed, X will transcend corporeal reality and rise to a higher level of existence. This prospect torments X until he/she finally escapes and burns the building down. Does X really transcend or does he/she just burn up in the flames? Is there a difference?
I’ve Been Locked in a Box and Shot Into the Sun:
Lyrically, this song is about someone (let’s call him/her X) who, for some reason unbeknownst to him/her, has been trapped in a cardboard box and (you guessed it,) shot into the sun. Rather than giving into blind panic, trying to escape, or accepting his/her fate, X is driving him/herself mad with trying to figure out why this has happened. X comes to the conclusion that this is punishment for something he/she did, though he/she can’t remember what. What X doesn’t want to accept is the option that maybe there really is no reason for this, that the current situation, along with the rest of life, is completely absurd.
An explanation of the writing process behind this song may also be illuminating. Sam: During an extended bout of writer’s block, this (unfinished) song was the only thing that I played for four months (that didn’t make me immediately pissed off and sick). Finishing the song, recording it and finally being able to release it is therefore a really significant thing to me. The song is an attempt to sonically capture the worst experiential aspects of the sensations I hate most in life (that aren’t unbelievable pain): being tickled and the sound/feel of styrofoam.
Well, that’s all for now folks! That’s what the words themselves are meant to mean… take from them what you will, whether that’s everything or nothing at all. Regardless, we hope you enjoy listening to everything.
- H
