I held a little Tweet Off because I felt like releasing something today for a download. Something musical.

Mostly because I’ve been thinking of a certain release a lot…hmmmm…

Anyway. Perpetual Motion Machine Gun was one of my favorite Serious Bob album names that never got used. I think Elliott came up with it. So I made this song, and I wanted to call it Perpetual Motion Machine Gun.

Pretty much the end of the story, except that this song was originally slated to appear on The Bright Side of Death, before it ended up on Out Of Insight, Out Of Mind.

To people who have no idea what I’m talking about: you don’t know it, but you’re lucky.

link “Perpetual Motion Machine Gun” by Citizen Nowhere

I started my sonic side project, Citizen Nowhere, in 2003 when I moved from high school in Louisville, CO to New York University in…well, New York.

In Colorado, the time I had spent as Da7e for Serious Bob had gotten me interested in what I could do with ACID Pro 3.0 and multi-track recording both with direct-plugged instruments and my cheap USB mic. I devised a grand plan to release an album each semester under the name Citizen Nowhere.

Moving from Colorado to New York really through me for a loop and not only informed my solo pseudonym but the repeating themes of displacement, loss and introspective confusion.

The first semester of college saw my debut in the form of Book One: Alone In Americaland, which was an obvious title. Most of the songs had been refined in my freshman year dorm room and a series of collaborators found their way onto the release, from Ari Friedman, who would form Quintus that same year to Scarlett Corso [?] who played flute for my tiny USB mic.

Second semester saw me get more comfortable with my surroundings and friends, and lead to Book Two: Pretentious, which - with a couple exceptions - sucked. The exceptions included when I actually decided to make full songs, sometimes with the help of Nate Patterson, of Serious Bob fame.

Book III: Sin Seer followed in the fall of 2004. I did not intend to make another Citizen Nowhere album, but a soul-crushing breakup motivated me to make - gulp - a concept album. This album also saw the introduction of a naked, reclining woman on the cover of albums written mostly about…women.

Book Four: IV was a depressing album mostly motivated by my drug use in late 2004, early 2005. It plays more like a DJ set, with samples and copy written material running rampant. I’m mostly absent in a vocal sense, and while I imagine this is the least fun album to listen to, I actually very much enjoy it. I can still hear the ideas I had that motivated the experiment.

That ended the “Book” series of Citizen Nowhere. Four additional semesters of college passed and no albums came out. Things were certainly worked on, but nothing formed a unified piece.

The fifth Citizen Nowhere album, Valhalla, saw a tiny, blue, naked, reclining woman on the cover. Needless to say, my heart was ripped from my chest once more and music re-surged as the way to deal with it. That wasn’t the only reason. I had also gotten some new toys and continued work on other musical fronts. But, the masturbatory nature of Citizen Nowhere saw me cobble together old instrumental tracks from pre-2003 and entirely new tracks into a fifth effort.

Before the release of Valhalla, I took the iTunes playlist I had made of my favorite tracks off the “Books series” and released it on my blog as Mirrors & Masks, a Citizen Nowhere compilation and the last Citizen Nowhere cover to feature the name Citizen Nowhere prominently displayed. CN was created to document the transition into college and that was pretty much over.

Out Of Insight, Out Of Mind was the title of the sixth Citizen Nowhere album. It was named such because I don’t really know where that album came from. There were just leftovers from Valhalla and other projects that didn’t fit into anything else really, and they did sort of mirror my mind set at the time.

That’s six albums and one compilation since the fall of 2003.

“Probably a bad time to release the seventh album,” I thought. Both because it would be 3 albums in a year and because…how to put this delicately?….

…Out Of Insight, Out Of Mind was very approachable. A lot of the songs had pop sensibility at their base. Valhalla was about a woman and the past and resurrection, so that didn’t need to be accessible. The Solitary Vice (CN7), just isn’t accessible. I made it so I could listen to it (mostly).

Anyway, in the HUUUUUUUUGE ZIP file I’ve uploaded, I’ve included The Solitary Vice (BETA), just in case someone out there has time to download 531.8 MB and really wants a sneak peek at what this new introspective album sounds like. It will be changed.

Otherwise, if anyone but me has ever wanted all the Citizen Nowhere from the past 5 years, now is the time to get it.

I don’t think there is a place for Citizen Nowhere in the second half of 2009, or maybe ever again.

At least until the next life transition.

Click the image to beign your lengthy 531.8MB download of all 8 Citizen Nowhere albums. Should you so dare…

[There's so much I've already written about I'm Going Off Into The Dark Woods To Investigate Alone that I think I'll just leave it up to the official History of Serious Bob to clear up a lot of the time line...]

Jason, Nate and the Exposure! Battle of the Bands

After an unexpected and relatively disproportionate positive response from the 10 people who heard the Serious Bob demo, Da7e, Tai, and Elliott continued to record material after their first show at Monarch High School. They amassed a few songs before Tai and Elliott left Louisville to attend college at UNC (where they would record “Robot Song” and “Everything I Needed To Know I Learned From Serious Bob”). These were what Da7e calls The Cupid Sessions because he was hell-bent of lampooning “the end of love.” A few songs from The Cupid Sessions were transferred to Dark Woods (“The Park in Which Bacon Speaks,” “Kings of Yourkshire,” “Serial Killer,” and “Settle the Score”).
Serious Bob lay dormant as Tai and Elliott went to college while Da7e finished up at Monarch High School. However, before the second semester could end, Tai got a phone call.

Da7e says:

“Ty got a call from Concerts First who asked if his band wanted to play at a Battle Of The Bands at the Ogden Theater. I remember the response was immediately a full-steam-ahead sort of reaction. We had to get Nate and Jason together and teach them a whole bunch of songs in time for this huge gig. Then when we got there we noticed it was all punk and metal bands. That freaked us out a little because we were very obviously not fitting in with the other acts (some of them were really good). Then Ty remembered that he had signed up My Friend Matt, the punk band Nate and himself had been members of - not Serious Bob - for the Battle Of The Bands. So as soon as we all realized that had happened, we went out on stage with the goal just to put on the best possible show we could, and we weren’t in it to win anymore.”

Nate Patterson was a long-time friend of all the members of Serious Bob, and had frequently asked to join the band as a bassist. He was frequently rejected and told that Serious Bob was all-acoustic. Nate later purchased an acoustic bass to help his argument. Nate’s bass skills were never questioned, as he had tried out to be a bassist for the band VOID in 1999 (at the time, Tai was their lead guitarist). Nate and Da7e competed for the open position and though it eventually went to Da7e, Nate kept at the bass. Jason Frantz was the brother of long-time friend/collaborator Jess Frantz, as well as being the drummer for the theatrical metal band Turoke. Both musicians received the call, and the full-lineup of Serious Bob practiced the material for weeks in preparation for the Battle of the Bands.

By what any member will tell you was a stroke of luck. Serious Bob won the Battle of the Bands and was given free recording time at Time Capsule Studios in Denver.

Tai says:

“When we first got on stage we thought we were going to get our asses kicked, but somehow we won. And that was one of our greatest moments. A moment I know I will never forget.”

Da7e says:

“[After we heard we won], it was such a rush. I signed peoples flesh and pants and stuff that I threw out into the crowd. We sat around for while talking to everyone, and then I went to go collect the DAT. The sound guy said we should stick around because we were in the running to win. That floored all of us. The fact that we won still floors all of us. I remember giving everyone big hugs. It was the Ogden show that convinced us that we should keep this thing going. In a way, Serious Bob was really born.”

Time Capsule Sessions

The guys quickly transitioned into their first major studio experience (Tai and Da7e had previously recorded in a studio for VOID’s 3 song demo). It was decided that only a handful of tracks would be given the full studio treatment and – if the song had appeared on the demo previously – a title upgrade. “The FBI Song” became “FBI,” “The Serious Adventures of Sancho” was now “The Mysterious Adventures of Sancho,” “Jesus Was a Jew” became “Jesus Was a Jew (BAC Version).” Some tracks kept their demo names such as “The Love is Gone” and “Robot Song.” However, before the band could return to the studio for full mixing and mastering, Time Capsule deleted their analog reel, leaving the band with only the rough mixes for their album (that’s why Jason’s stick-click can be heard on all Time Capsule tracks).

Recording Dark Woods and The Live Period

Frustrated, but not down, Tai, Da7e, Elliott and Nate pillaged the best songs from The Cupid Sessions and completed I’m Going Off Into The Dark Woods To Investigate Alone in Tai’s basement with Tai acting as the producer.
During this period, Serious Bob played occasional live shows at Battles of Bands, small get-togethers, open-air malls and several open-mic nights at Boulder’s former coffee house Penny Lane. The advantage of working as an “acoustic band” was the ability to play anywhere at any time.

While the album was being mixed, Tai and Da7e were called back up to Greeley to work on a restoration project: making and old house look new enough for Tai and BOBfriend Phil Ruwitch to live in. During this period, another BOBfriend named Alexis Jackson, who has seen Serious Bob at the Exposure! Battle of the Bands, proposed that Serious Bob make the road trip to Montrose, Colorado to play a live show at a local venue she would rent out. Tai and Da7e agreed that if she could get the space, the Bob would come.
Dark Woods was sent out to be duplicated, and Serious Bob loaded all their equipment into Tai’s car and Da7e’s purple van, driving to Montrose to play what would be their last show for several years. BOBfriend Chris Mulford (who had played bass in Da7e’s first band ESEN) came along to mix the sound.

Tai, Elliott and Da7e rejoice in their newest effort.

In Montrose, Serious Bob played to an exclusive crowd, playing a full set of material, giving out signed baby heads and later drinking with the audience, Alexis and BOBfriend Amy.

When the album came back, Serious Bob briefly and foolishly departed from their FREE music philosophy and charged a handful of people money for Dark Woods. That was quickly ended as more and more copies were given away for FREE to people that had supported Serious Bob since its inception.

So there you go, that’s the history, for the most part. Enjoy Serious Bob’s first real effort, and still one of our best: I’m Going Off Into The Dark Woods To Investigate Alone. The ZIP file includes all the tracks, the cover, the tray art AND the insert art for those of you unlucky enough to miss out on the physical release. It was years ago, so I don’t blame you.

Click the cover to begin your download!

Click to download ZIP File

VOID was, for all intensive purposes, the first real band where Tai and I collaborated. To be even weirder in the whole mess-o-incestuous, the lead singer of VOID, Danny Elias, was dating Jess Frantz at the time and Nate Patterson was the only other bass player they auditioned (besides yours truly).

I seem to remember that Johnny Askew (keyboards) and Danny decided VOID was the most poetic word in the English language.

We practiced, we fought, we fought about girlfriends coming to practice. Finally, we scrapped together enough money to get into a recording studio to cut three demo songs.

And those are currently here under the title “An Occasion For Sausage,” since I was eating a summer sausage during the single-day recording session (that’s all we could afford).

I wrote a little about VOID in the past for the “Evolution Of A Song: Sancho” post, which will be re-posted in it’s entirety sooner or later. Until then, let’s look at what I had to say about VOID and “Fallout” the lead-off demo song on An Occasion For Sausage:

download link “Fallout” by VOID off An Occasion For Sausage

I don’t remember how Tai and I both got involved in VOID. I’m pretty sure that Tai was poached from ADIAN, our semi-successful rock band. ADIAN was always more concerned about the lifestyle associated with having a garage band, right down to actually rehearsing in a garage and getting really high before practicing. Tai and JD, the drummer would have minor spats about just how good JD was while high. That’s really what I can remember about ADIAN’s practices.

At some point, ADIAN played a show with one of the many VOID incarnations. VOID was started by Danny Elias and Johnny Askew, two singer/songwriters with certain reputations. We’re talking about a very enclosed world here: Monarch High School and the various bands that were fighting for turf amongst the small student body. Everyone knew everyone else, knew some of their songs and knew who was worthless and who played their instruments well enough.

Long story abbreviated, Tai and I matriculated out of ADIAN and into VOID. It’s unclear how important of a move this was for our musical career as, yes, it was a small world, but I beat Nate in a series of bassist tryouts to secure my spot and at the time, we would tell Danny not to bring his girlfriend to practices, and his girlfriend was Jess Frantz, who I was still unaware of.

VOID buckled down and became as serious as a high school band could be. Where as ADIAN was all about wearing makeup, going to parties and singing songs about fire and cows, VOID practiced at least three times as much and pooled together enough money to record a demo (which you can listen to in its entirety here) and buy a sound-mixing board.

When VOID inevitably broke up, Danny Elias took the mixing board that we were supposed to auction on eBay. The money would be split between Ty, Johnny, Brady (the drummer), Danny and I, but Danny ended up selling the board for coke money.

I haven’t seen Danny since.

The VOID “single,” if there was one, was “Fallout” a proto-metal song that never really kicked into a high enough gear. “Fallout” was written by Tai and Danny, officially, or just Tai if you listen to the guy that didn’t screw us out of hundreds of dollars.

Long story once again abbreviated, Tai kept the masters of the demo sessions and – with the blessing of Johnny – Tai and I took “Fallout” over to Serious Bob.

The two other tracks have brief stories:

“Canon” - Is Canon in D with Elias-written lyrics about punching a hemophiliac cop.
“Stay” - is actually a song, if I didn’t pop the pickups on my Fender Jazz bass as much as I do (”I meant to do that.”)

You can download the whole 3-Song VOID demo, An Occasion For Sausage, by clicking the immaculately designed cover (which I made in a hurry earlier this year).

 
As the Serous Bob Retrospective continues, I present a cleaned-up version of the Serious Bob demo. The ZIP file, accessed by clicking the cover at the bottom of the post includes all 10 original tracks, the black cover, and is the first of the Serious Bob reissue downloads that will eventually form a set of 10 “discs.”

This is disc one. Enjoy!

The official Serious Bob History says this about the demo:

During the final semester of High School, Tai was working on an Independent Project for Mr. DuFresne, the music teacher at Monarch High School. It was a loops-based dance album that preceded his work with Serious Bob. Eventually, Tai brought in Da7e and cellist/DJ Keith Dickerhoffe (who would go on to play the cello on “This Place”) to help with a few tracks. During the process, Tai and Da7e developed simple production skills. Armed with a few simple chord progressions, a few computer programs, a mic, a 1⁄4” to 1/8” adapter, and a mattress up against the bedroom door (for soundproofing), Serious Bob produced the Self-Titled Demo.

The idea to distribute the EP was spurred on by the recent mass sale of fellow Monarch High School band Unsung. Unsung had made their own copies of their demo and sold them to students in the halls for $10, recouping their recording costs. Serious Bob incurred minimal recording costs, and the three members knew that more people would listen to a free CD than buy something from a band they had never heard of. Thus, Serious Bob’s policy of giving away their music for FREE was born.

 
The EP also outlined several other Serious Bob themes that would repeat in the following years. “HAMAS/FBI” was re-focused to be a political statement about privacy (the band also wrongly thought that the HAMAS scare left over from 9/11 would blow over), “A Modest Proposal” is both literary humor and about cannibalism, “This Place” was the first “serious” song written and displayed Da7e’s love of vocal looping, and “The Serious Adventures of Sancho” introduced both El Macho and Sancho the Mariachi/Crime Fighter/King as well as being the first Bob song to follow one story with an arc and dialogue built into the song. The Demo also features the first SB cover to be recorded, “Sweet Home Alabama.” This cover was never meant to exist, but was a sudden improve during a record take that was tacked on to the end of “The Love is Gone.” Tai thought that the “The Love Is Gone” was too serious for a joke band, and asked that Da7e make some sort of humorous apology at the end of the track. Unfortunately for apologies, Elliott happened to be playing “Sweet Home Alabama” in the background. As a result, the Bob has incorporated more songs like “The Love is Gone” over the years. Da7e now explains them as “Pop Parodies” or songs that mirror classic pop structure, but are actually about toast, pie, chili or things besides food.

 
The Demo was recorded before the show at the BBQ, and saw various levels of release. The first version of the Demo can be identified by its CD stamp: cartoons of Da7e, Elliott and Tai with Tai’s phone number as a contact. Later incarnations are missing the phone number.

 
Original cartoons (click to expand):

Click to download the ZIP file!

Here’s the skinny: There are two versions of this album available. The MP3 version, featuring the cartoon me looking over a mob of people as a giant blue hand crushes smokestacks marked with The Gentleman and the moody, green digital smoke-themed AIFF version.

MP3 - smaller ZIP file, ripped CD quality.
AIFF - bigger ZIP file, awesome quality, moodier cover

Got it?

I knew I said I’d get this out by October, and I’m obviously several days late. But, my sixth album of wacky demos went through some changes in the few weeks I spent “mastering” them. Songs were added cut, designs were changed, the end of October loomed.

Oh, and I produced some stuff in there.

The good thing is that, for awhile, Brillhart/Gonzales is going to eat some time so I won’t feel compelled to work on that 45 minute binary-based instrumental album.

Click the images to Download.

In the spirit of new content, this is a big day. The reality is that in these tough economic time, starting a business has put a strain on my finances. I need to monetize my hobbies, or cut out the ones that aren’t worth additional time or monetary investment.

But until then, it’s been nice sharing with most of you.

Elliott shot me a few text messages yesterday about Valhalla, which he seemed to enjoy, though there are volume issues from track to track. I was aware that it might be an issue, but neglected to do anything about it. Just know these things: everything is set to boost its volume by 100% when you load it into iTunes. The insturmental tracks DO NOT need to be increased, but most things with vocals do. It boils down to the difference between Reason’s mastering and GarageBand’s normalizing.

It seems both needlessly authentic and horribly stupid to use GarageBand for vocals, but my laptop can’t run all the programs I use and still take ProTools (Celtex, Adobe Creative Suite, Final Draft, iLife, Swich, Various converters and encoders, CyberDuck, etc.)

None of this matters, except that Valhalla’s release date just happened because Jess and I have been fucking around with recording. I was smoking a cigarette with Jess out back of the Lashly house and said: “I think I’ll release Valhalla today.” Jess laughed, then we came back in and listened to some of the shit we’ve been recording.

Download the full album in MP3 quality by clicking the above image.

Download the full vector piece by CLICKING HERE.

Download the full cover HERE.

Mirrors & Masks covers the first four Citizen Nowhere albums whose purpose was to give me a musical outlet during college that was different than this blog, which strangely has the same years of operation of Citizen Nowhere.

The tracks are in no particular order, though this is the order that I have been listening to them in, followed with a short description of each one and why it was included in the overall mix.

Tracks were EXCLUDED because they sucked, were 7 minutes long or ended up being foolish in one way or another.
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