Breeders Tribute Progress

I've now completed and posted 66 songs.

Last weekend I put down drums parts for "Overglazed,"  "900," "Lord of the Thighs," "German Studies," "Regalame Esta Noche,"  and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun."  I admit that, as I get into the weeds I am more prone to cut and paste parts than to try for perfect performances.

After those are done, that leaves just "Mountain Battles,"  "The Last Time,"  "Chances Are,"  "Climbing The Sun," "Collage," "Wicked Little Town: Hedwig Version," "I can't help it if I'm still in love with you," and "Buffy Theme." These are pretty deep cuts.

I'm either out of town or busy most weekends this summer, so things are probably going to slow down a bit until October. I took a moment this weekend, while working on the drums for the last of the main tunes, to reflect on the accomplishment to date. I know that no one else notices or cares (or maybe people noticed and just thought the whole thing was utter shit) but it is quite a body of work. Certainly it will be finished before I hit the two year mark...perhaps in a year and a half time...which is pretty quick.

SVFD, 5/2/2015, Red Zone

Opened for Gin, Chocolate, and Bottle Rockets and VO5 for a GRC fundraiser.

Played pretty well. Feel like I'm starting to lock in better with NS, but maybe that's just cause I played guitar with her for three days straight last weekend.

I like the lead pedal that CT gave me, but it seems really finicky. Sometimes the boost is mild and sometimes over-whelming (the latter at this gig). Not sure how to correct that.

I also am still fucking up the solo on Point. It doesn't seem to matter how much I practice it. I think I have a block.

Setlist:
Rascal
Thigh High
Sergio
Spiderwebs
Point
Dandelions
Lost Again
Superman
Wallet
I Don't Love You
Somewhere in Betwn

More on Breeders Gear

I've been coveting  cheap gold top Les Pauls with open pickups over the last few months (like Kim's). I almost bought one in Indiana at the start of the year, but it sold before I could get to it. There's one available, a red quilt top classic (like Kelley's), available at my local GC for $299 right now. I'm basically waiting to see how much my car repairs are going to be (mechanic is mere blocks away from the guitar) before I go look at it (and maybe hoping it will sell before I touch it). I was trying to figure out how close it looks to Kelley's and stumbled across these excellent circa 2008 pedal photos by "dietspritezero."

At first I was just looking at the photos and didn't notice who's account it was. Then I saw and was like...right. Of course. I have a long history of bumping into "dietspritezero" online. She's the person who taught me (via youtube video) how to play Debaser. I think we chatted briefly about the fan-only Music Box Pixies show once on a forum too. It's fun to cross paths with the same super fans from time to time. 

UPDATE:

Found some good pics of the red les by searching under Cheryl instead of Kelley (photo in Kim's basement by Glass, natch):

And the one for sale, a "classic":

It isn't an exact match. Kelley's doesn't look like it is a quilt top and it has old-style tuners, but in my price range it might be close enough ($299 for this Epi. It's a discontinued model so no comparable price new).

For comparison, here's the gold Epi Traditional Pro I've been eyeing (they run ~$450 new or ~$350 used):

and Kim's below (she has one black and one white pickup as opposed to the zebra, but I kind of like the zebra. I suspect the pickups on Kim's have been changed out from stock):

In the end I think any gold top or red les that I can get for under $350 that has uncovered pickups will fit the bill so long as it isn't one of the super shitty models (100, studio, junior, etc). I know that newer models allow you to split the coils in all kinds of weird ways, but I really don't think I'd use that function.

And, as I find myself less than 20 songs away from finishing the tribute project (and unlikely to ever play the tribute project out live) this is all basically a waste of money anyway.

CJ, 4/4/2015 at Lazy Oaf

Played on the night UW went to NCAA finals at a sports bar. That was probably a mis-step. Anyway, still had a blast with friend-bands Cats on Leashes, Hello Dmitri, and The Creeps, in spite of low attendance, odd interactions with drunken audience members, rushed setup, and having to cut tunes for time. CT's first gig with the Marshall JCM800 rig. I used the equalizer pedal he gave me to punch in my bass mini-solo on Gigantic and it worked well.

Setlist:
Bone Machine
Wave of Mutilation (fast)
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Dig for Fire (cut for time)
Here Comes Your Man
Where is my mind?
Nimrod's Son
Gigantic
Debaser
Hey
Gouge Away
Vamos (cut for time)

Breeders Tribute Progress Report

53

I'm just gonna take a moment to ponder that number.

[pause]

I have kind of a list-making/task-checking-off personality. It gives me pleasure to finish things.  When the project is a very large one, the final "finished" payoff can take a long-ass time. And the truth is, by the time that I get there I've often discounted the goal and moved on to something else entirely.

But let's just point out here that, over about the last 10 months and one week (4/29/2014 to 3/8/2015) I have learned all the parts and recorded them for 53 Breeders songs. That's about 45 weeks...or 1.2 songs per week on average (though they really were done more in clumped batches than steadily). Along the way I've learned how to play power chords. And about guitar effects. And about slide guitar. And picked up a violin that I barely knew how to play and made sounds with it. And mostly nailed down many drum parts that I never thought I'd get. And almost, ALMOST, figured out barre chords and have begun to be able to play them mostly right. And I've noticed a TON of things about the songs that I never noticed before. And grew to like many of them way more than I used to.

I've accomplished all of this in my "spare" time.

It is kind of mind blowing.

Done:
All of Pod (except the Beatles tune, fuck that Beatles tune)
Half of Safari
All of Last Splash
All of Title TK
About one quarter of Mountain Battles
One quarter of Fate to Fatal
Almost half of Pacer

I'm considerably into the weeds now. Most of the remaining tunes have no tab or chords anywhere to be found. Many of them I don't care that much for, making my motivation mostly about complete-ism...but that's what I thought a dozen songs ago and I've really enjoyed doing those. So we'll see where it goes.

Started learning "Dedicated" last night. It was a hoot.

SVFD Feb 26 Freq

With SS and the Mood Manual.

We kicked ass. I don't know why because we haven't been rehearsing much. Low attendance, but energy was high. Performances excellent.

Setlist:
Rascal
Thigh High
Sergio
Spiderwebs
Point
Dandelions
Lost Again
Superman
Wallet
I Don't Love You
I Will Survive

TD Freq Feb 6

I totally forgot to post about this show. No one was there. The energy was low. Our bass player was being a bitch (he quit the band a few days later). I forget what the setlist was. I played terribly for no particular reason. Let us never talk of this thing again.