Not to be outdone

[michrennie]

Well this is just too weird: Bob decides to form a country folk combo right about the same time my surf combo morphs into an Americana band. I'm hoping to make this sort of a rough-and-tumble roadhouse band. The idea is to take rock and country music from various eras and sub-genres and filter it through a Flying Burrito Bros-meets-the-

Comments

[alanpartlow]

Knowing you for as long as I have I've gotta say "It's about damn time!" That's the music you love and frankly can play the shit out of. I totally wish I could join you.

[michrennie]

Yeah, I'm definitely getting that "gee, I'm 42 and if I want to do this I better do it now" feeling. Playing guitar in other peoples' originals bands is fun, but at the end of the day, THOSE songs are covers (to me), too. So why not just play a bunch o' crap I like.

[paleoman]

You don't look a day over 41...and a half.

[alanpartlow]

I will give you The Stitshanes with my blessing if you'll have it.

[michrennie]

Hmm. Let me think on that one. Maybe we all claim to be named "Shane" as part of the deal.

[alanpartlow]

It will grow on you. Pretty soon it will be all you can think about then you'll come running!

Btw, totally unrelated (sort of), but I was wondering if you heard any of that Mudcrutch album?

[alanpartlow]

No, I haven't. I heard one track off it and it sounded solid. Nothing too exciting, but solid. I recorded a four-hour Tom Petty documentary called "Running Down a Dream." I haven't watched all of it yet (did I mention it's four hours long??), but it opens with a concert at the O-Dome. Mike Campbell is playing a guitar with the Gator emblem painted on it.

I had a friend who came up with an interesting litmus test for band names: "you must be able to share it with an attractive woman at a bar without being embarrassed." At first I thought this was silly, but the more I consider it the more it makes sense.

[avuncular_bob]

Synchronicity, dude!

[avuncular_bob]

Hey, I need your advice.

I wanna be careful not to be too campy with this country punk thing I'm doing. There are too many country farce bands out there, and I don't want to contribute to ridiculing a musical form that I actually love.

Do you think it would be too campy to cover some Monkees songs? "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" can be done in that frantic Gordon Gano-esque way. And "Sweet Young Thing" rocks like heck. I could even hear Renee and I doing some Knitters-esque shout-harmonies to "What Am I Doing Hanging 'Round?"

Also, would it be to much of a cliche to cover "Don't Go Back to Rockville"?

[michrennie]

I think it's all in the approach. People will take their cues from you. If you sing "Stepping Stone" with rockin-country sincerity, audiences will pick up on that. That said, I definitely stood clear of "Rockville." Time has made that song sound more like a parody in and of itself, so covering it is sort of a joke on top of a joke. If I do cover an R.E.M. song, it will likely be something like "Begin the Begin," "Camera" or maybe even "What's the Frequency Kenneth."

I'm unfamiliar with "Sweet Young Thing" and "What Am I Doing..."

[avuncular_bob]

> If you sing "Stepping Stone" with rockin-country sincerity...

Kinda what I was thinking. So, for example, I'm being careful not to sing in a faux-Southern accent, tempting though it often is. That just begs people to read what you're doing as a parody.

> I definitely stood clear of "Rockville."

Good advice. I'm thinking "Driver 8" might be a good choice. Is that one too overdone?

> I'm unfamiliar with "Sweet Young Thing" and "What Am I Doing..."

I've recently come to realize that a very high percentage of the Monkees tunes were country songs. I mean, the two actual musicians in the group were Mike Nesmith, a straight-up country guy, and Peter Tork, whose primary instrument was the banjo.

[michrennie]

Driver 8 was always a favorite of frat guys playing acoustic gigs in Gainesville, so I have bad associations with that song. I just think there is less obvious stuff in the R.E.M. catalog, but hell, go with what works. I'm kind of a music snob and particularly fussy when it comes to picking covers.

[pwfenton]

I'd like to suggest you use the name of my bowling team... "The A-Souls"

[michrennie]

Ooo...I like it. And it's better than the name of MY bowling team: the Sticky Pins.