How's Everyone? "The problem with quotations on the internet is that the sources are hard to verify" - Abraham Lincoln
2010-03-23
HEY! Hey. How ya been? Some people have been wondring whats going on with MV of late...especially my mother :)
Just laying low. Waiting for something interesting to come our way. Have A LOT going on at the moment personally so not actively persuing gigs or anything since to take on anything right now really requires lotsa time that I just really dont have.
If something real cool was to come our way though I would see if the guys wanted to do and then make a go of it. Until that time or until things slow down a bit for me I am just kinda letting MV coast.
It still exists and at any moment it could be all over the place again. Just doesnt seem like the right time to force things on it. Anyway just wanted to come out of the woodwork for a moment and say hello and let everyone know what's up and that I am alive :)
When we do something BELIEVE ME I will let you know...AHMV :)
2010-02-07
THANK YOU! THX TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT TO THE STARLAND BALLROOM LAST NITE. HAD A GREAT TIME! WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU ALL!
2010-02-06
SHOW DEFINITELY ON TONITE The show @ Starland Ballroom is definitely still on for tonight.
2010-01-25
... Real good rehearsal last nite. I was sick as hell but sweated it out nonetheless.
Really looking forward to the Sebastian Bach show. Feel like we havent played live in years.
Please let us know if you need tix. $20 and still time to get them in the mail to you.
That's all :) Have a good week :)
2009-12-31
HEY!!! Happy New Year!!!
2009-12-23
Merry Christmas! Just wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone...
The band has been enjoying a bit of a break but plans on resuming all things MEAN VENUS
after the holidays...Gotta get ready for the Sebastian Bach show on Feb 6th which we want to promote
as much as possible...We have tickets if you need em so just shoot us an email...Hope you all have a great holiday!
2009-12-09
From the Depths of Nowhere Hey all...well as you can see from the distance between the dates in blog postings: I havent been the best
blogger :) Was kinda burnt out after the past 6 months of show (rehearsal, promo, etc) Starting to feel
the urge again to concentrate on next stage of the band all though I am kinda holding off until the holidays have passed. Just wanted
to give you a little heads up and let you know that there is still hope for anyone who is a fan of what we do.
Real nice to know we have the Sebastian Bach show coming up on Feb 6th, 2010...kinda in the back of my mind
that we have such a swell gig coming soon :) I picked up some tickets for it yesterday...
please get em from us if you want em and dont make me track ya down cuz i just aint got it in me lol...
we have em for 20 and will be 25 at the door...paypal link is in an earlier blog post below...
Also wanted to say thanks to all the people who sent me such nice birthday msgs yesterday...was really overwhelmed how many people came outta the woodowrk to
say Happy Birthday...made me feel good...and thanks to my family for the great parties and presents and all...
love you guys endlessly...looking forward to more time spent with family and friends over Christmas and New Years...
hang in there everybody and have a great holiday...be good ;)
MEAN VENUS on WRAT FM HEY!!! Just got a msg from Steve Hook at 95.9 FM WRAT ...
He said he digs new album and played us last nite...
Gonna play more tonite and tomorrow nite as well...Make sure and check it out!!!
Also @ wrat.com. Thx Steve!!!
2009-10-12
Starland on Friday and Going Forward Starland Friday night was pretty unbelievable. What a crowd. Thank you so much to everyone who came out and
a double thanks to all of you who pitched in and helped us take care of all the things that needed to be done from filming and photographing to seeling merch, etc.
Really had an amazing time. Wanna thank everybody at the venue to for treating us
cool and for such professionalism.
Have two things in mind for the next month or so:
1) Finally getting the CRAZY ASS video finished. Shooting this Sunday 2-6 @ Aarius and
need as many beautiful women as possible for this. Please spread the word and contact us with any prospects who might be interested.
2) CD release is @ the Saint in Asbury Park on November 6th. Really wanna pack the place and have everyone there that has
been involved in helping the band reach the level we are currently at.
Really glad we can do a smaller show--a less expensive show--to hopefully give back a little
and show our gratitude for all you guys have done helping the band. Really does mean the world to us.
Contact us for more details!
2009-10-09
Thx Rockeyez.com Hey rockeyes.com was at the show last nite and got some great pix from what i hear...here's one:
Gonna be getting lots more pics and they are going to do an album and i believe a show review too so stay tuned and we will letcha know when the stuff is online!
2009-10-09
Last Nite w/ STEEL PANTHER What an insane nite! Great crowd. Actually had to turn people away at the door.
Gotta love that! (Well unless you were one who was turned away...lol).
I really gotta commend the band: They really came through and were just so brought their A game.
Thx brothahs...pleasure playing with you guys! Gotta thank STEEL PANTHER (the coolest dudes), the venue and their amazingly friendly and down-to-earth staff, ExcessDB, and everybody who came out and made us feel so comfortable...
Rowdy crowd but really just overwhelmingly flattering...appreciate all the kind words...
Cant wait to see pics and video of this one...really felt like we were on fire...
Definitely will post once it is in my hands. Met so many cool people last nite...Really: thank you all so much for
getting so into the music! Warms my heart :)
TONITE: STARLAND BALLROOM w/ UFO...get there early...when doors open...
Thought I would be decimated today after really leaving everything up on the stage last nite but
feel energized and ready to go!!! Hopefully i will still feel that way tonite lol...
Looking forward to hanging with everyone who can make it out tonite...email me if you aint got tix yet and we
will get them in your hands prior to paying more at the box office...AHMV!
2009-10-05
Festival Yesterday HEY!!! Thank you everyone for coming out yesterday.
Mom and George and Jer as always--who really go above and beyond
in helping me with all the many necessities of the day:
from setting up the banner to watching the merch...filming...so on and on and on...
Dont know what I'd do without you guys...and thx so much for getting the new album out to press and radio and etc!!!
My sis Jenny came out after I begged her a few days and brought my niece...
really knew this would be a great photo op being it was in the daytime and
with having enough stage room for the banner and all...hadnt used it like in a year!!!
My dad and his wife Diana got out
to see the band too and brought my daughter Lily who just has the best time at these sort of events...so it was a great family day...
Really a good turnout for a great cause and the thing really went off well...lotta work went into making it happen by the organizers and they really did a great job especially for never having done anything like this before...
Great weather and just great people...everyone I met was complimentary and cool...
We debuted BEYOND ME...opened the set with it and it was a bit risky having only ever played it as a band at rehearsal the preceding nite...
It had some warts but I think we managed to pull it off...GREAT set openeer...just punch right in the nose...
As I secured Lily in her car seat at the end of the evening she looked me dead in the eye and sang:
"I dont know, I dont know which way I should go
I dont know, I dont know which way I should go"
It was HILARIOUS. Had no idea she knew the lyrix...Such a great kid...good pitch too for a four year old lol...
Chigger just told me that we are mentioned on the WDHA radio commercial for the STEEL PANTHER show on Thursday...pretty cool...where was I?
Also finally met Lindsay Klein from WDHA...she has played us so many times...was great to thank her personality...she is the coolest...
Totally got side tracked writing this blog so it might be scattered...i apologize...totally lost my train of thought...
anyway yeah really had a blast...the band kict ass as usual...gave 110 percent as always...and want to thank everyone involved...looked like a success...hopefully they made some dough...
really looking forward to Thursday nite @ Mexicali with STEEL PANTHER and then Friday nite with UFO...Thank God we have the weekend to recuperate lol...
Let me know if you are coming out!
2009-10-02
JAM FOR JANICE THIS SUNDAY Well make sure and come out to Lurker Park in East Hanover on Sunday for the Jam for Janice...
Get there 2ish...gonna be very family oriented (until we play lol)...gonna have stuff for kids to do and all...
Our set is a little later but make sure you come and hang out and make a day of it...
Got great line-up for a great cause and everyone involved seems to be really cool thus far...
Led Zep and Def Lep cover bands and lotsa original music...Email us if you need more info...AHMV
2009-10-01
This just in... MEAN VENUS & STEEL PANTHER @ MEXICALI Thursday Oct 8th...pretty sure it's sold out...I NEED TIX!!!
2009-10-01
Dingbatz Pix MV's good friend Fran posted some cool pix of the Dingbatz show the other nite on MySpace...
Might have to "befriend" her to see...not sure...gonna get me a cd of pix next Friday...try this link...maybe it work for you...maybe it no do: CLICK HERE!
2009-09-30
Catching Up (Part One) Well. Just thought it was time for a mental cleansing. Been so much going on since beginning of summer....
feel like I havent had a chance to process any of it...just continual forward momentum and scurrying to keep up
with rehearsal-promotion-ticket sales-performance over and over and over...oh yeah
and recording, (poorly) promoting, and manufacturing a record in there somewhere too.
Havent really gotten CRAZY ASS out to radio and press yet...Just got cover letter to accompany it together and
hope to have dozens of this thing flying all over the world in the next coupla weeks.
Havent seen any kind of iTunes statement or anything yet...the third party company I use to get the thing digitally distributed
CHARGES extra to show you the statement in a timely manner!!! WTF??? Really dig em otherwise but that is a scumbag move...
only a coupla bux but I aint paying it based on principle...like the fuckers aint getting enough on each sale already...
they arent promoting it or anything...they just send it out to all the various sites who sell mp3s...
Tunecore: Just man up and be decent ok? Anyway forgive me for being tangential (I love that word!)...Quite a few of you have
let me know that you have bought it digitally and i REALLY thank you. Nice to hear you like the stuff
after such a difficult journey in making it a reality: From my brain to you wrapped in cellophane. It's hard being a record company and
I fear I am doing a shit job of getting the word out. Just not enough dollars and hours in the day.
I do the best I can and rely on the hope that someday this stuff will take on a life of its own and that word-of-mouth will carry it to some new
amazing heights...I am really proud of the music. They are starting to sound like songs to me lol...
Very hard to hear yourself recorded...Hard not to listen to each hi-hat hit or buried background vocal...
Impossible for me to hear it the way you do since I am so inextricably tied to every sound that makes up the whole...
as time goes on and after repeated listens I am starting to hear it as a whole and the more that happens the more I dig it.
Things that used to bother me (only slightly) are now finding their right place deep in the mix where someone un-affiliating with the recording process would most likely never even notice.
People talked me out of including NEW WORLD and I am glad I took the advice cuz the thing really kix ass from start to finish now.
I like NEw WORLD a lot but it was definitely killing an otherwise very consistent flow...
CRAZY ASS--the title track--got a re-master from the initial single release...beefier now...guitars thicker...loved the initial mastering but Sean kicked it up when he mastered the rest of the album...
there are therefor two versions on iTunes...i hafta remove one...ugh...Track 2--NEXT TIME AROUND (or what we affectionately call THE PUNK ROCK TUNE amongst the band) came out awesome...tight and slick...
Track 3--VIVID--is definitely a favorite of mine...feel like we captured something real there...Track 4--ARE YOU FEELING IT?--came out great too and was originally sposed to close out the album...
I like ending the album with a question like we did on PCP with WOULDNT IT BE GOOD? but I hate the thought of burying the tune and people
who get the cd dont get that far before moving on to the next cd...want it to be heard and so placed it fourth...
Track 5--BEYOND ME--came out great...first five tracks just kind of pummel you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...i love that...originally was going to have TAKE ME AWAY fourth but it didnt honestly come out as good as I had hoped...
really thought it would be one of the top 3 best tunes on the album...it did come out good ebough to do it justice and now it is an incredible 8th song on an album...
ya know what I mean? It has Fender Rhoads piano all over it...subtley though...just an interesting tambre that Sean recommended I toy with...
so nice he had that frickin monstrosity sitting in his live room...was a hard call for trax 6 and 7 (CHANGE YOUR MIND & SHARE YOUR SOUL)...they coulda been ordered either way as I believe they are a toss up as far as how good or bad they are...think it's a matter of personal preference...
CHANGE YOUR MIND just sounded a little better coming outta BEYOND ME...Shoulda really had another song with BODY in the title and then woulda had MIND, BODY and SOUL...how cool would that've been? lol...
SHARE YOUR SOUL exceeds my expectations in places and is beneath them in some places...Just really comes down to time and money...someday when we are filthy rich we can take the time on all this music and really do it all up perfect...
for now shit is what it is and based on the amount of time and dough that went into this i am extraordinarily happy with the results...
Discussed Track 8...finally we have HEAVENS ROSE GARDEN...that one came out beyond expectations too...the intro dives into the verse so sweetly...like hang gliding into the Grand Canyon or something...me and my bro came up with that analogy coming home from Dingbatz the other nite as we listened to it.
The album ends so peacefully as it fades out...Cant wait to hear it in a year when the minutia of recording has faded from my brain...kinda how i hear PCP now...just as music...
The gigs have been amazing the past few months...really awesome and BIG audiences (at least from our perspective)...RAINBOW, RATT, EXTREME, 2 nites with STRYPER and UFO on Oct 9th...
cant really ask for more as far as high profile gigs...each one has been an awesome experience and memory...have met so many awesome people
and have really kicked some amazing ass I must say...gotta give it up for my boys in the band...we really have an awesome chemistry...we feed off one another and really give every ounce of energy we have in our battered and broken bodies...
and thx so much to everyone who has plopped down their hard earned dough for cds and merch and what-not...really helps to keep the machine rolling...Also wanna thank everyone for all the press in the past coupla months...
I used to really go out and try and drum it up and ironically the moment I stop
"making" press happen it happens all on its own...that is a helluva better way to get the word out lol...
um...I will finish this up later ok?
2009-09-30
MEAN VENUS Returning to STARLAND BALLROOM Oct. 9th Finally a central NJ show!!!
Friday October 9th @ the STARLAND BALLROOM w/ UFO.
Tickets are less expensive through us so get 'em now:
New Friend...YEAH!!! Just got a great email...made my day:
"awesome show at the croc-rock!!!! what's up J?
my wife and i attended the stryper show sunday night
and we saw you guys in concert for the first time!!
you guys fuckin' rock!! i immediately purchased "crazy ass american" on itunes the next day
and i am also in the process of purchasing "pcp" as well.
i was listening to crazy ass american tonight in my car,
i listened to the cd twice!!!
i am writing to let you guys know that you're awesome, keep up the good work,
and keep on rockin'!!! god bless...if you got time "J", drop me an e-mail!!! thanks again
"
Thx Carl!!! Gladya dig what we do!
2009-09-21
Great shows this weekend!!! Thank you all!!! Thank you all so much for coming out to the shows this weekend...Was great to see everyone as always!!!
2009-09-18
PHYSICAL COPIES OF THE NEW ALBUM ARE HERE!!! I GOT THE NEW RECORD IN MY HANDS RIGHT NOW!!!!!! YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOOKS SO GREAT AND SOUNDS SO GREAT...thank you to everyone who made it possible and for all the support...such a good feeling having boxes and boxes of this album...
Two real big gigs for us this weekend to start getting it in people's hands...two or three awesome articles about us this week...
myspace plays on the new tunes really incrementing at a mind blowing pace...and we have ads in the Aquarian and Steppin' Out coming out in a week or so...AD LOOKS GREAT TOO BY THE WAY...
thx for getting that all together Chig!!! Real psyched! Everything to continues trending upward for the band so I am gonna just keep pushing this fucker to see where it wants to go...
AHMV!!! Oh contact me for tix to either show this weekend...email me at j@meanvenus.com if you dont have my number...ROCK AND ROLL!!!
2009-09-18
GREAT NEW MV ARTICLE!!! Great article in the Allentown Examiner: CLICK HERE!!!...Thanks Rob!!!
2009-09-17
2nd Night w/ Stryper: Pony Saturday and Croc on Sunday Well better late than never. Just cemented a 2nd nite with Stryper @ Croc Rock in Allentown. THIS SUNDAY NITE!
Please contact me for ticket info :)
2009-09-16
Coaster Claudia from the Coaster just myspaced me to let me know we will be in the upcoming edition of the Coaster to promote Saturday's Pony gig...check it out!!!
Thx Claudia!!!
2009-09-15
More Benefit Pix Just saw some more great pix from the benefit...might hafta add Patti on facebook to see em
CLICK HERE!!!...thx so much Patti...
2009-09-15
Cool Article :) Was just googling "mean venus"--something i do from time to time--and found this really great article: CLICK HERE!!!...thx so much Patrick...really appreciate it!
2009-09-14
Third song--Vivid--off new album available on MySpace Third song--Vivid--off new MEAN VENUS album--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--available on MySpace: Click here!!!.
Entire new album on iTunes: Click here!!!
and Amazon: Click here!!!
Physical copies now available @ Click here!!!
AHMV!!!
J
2020-00-09
Just wanted to briefly say that I hope all the 911 hijackers are rotting in eternal hell right now. Burning and writhing. F*&k you pieces of shit.
2009-09-11
Benefit Sept 27th...get tix now Regarding benefit in E. Hanover, NJ on Sept 27th: Get tix for $15 in advance...$25 the day of the event...
Advance tickets here. Gonna be a great show...great line-up and they have already sold more than 400 tix!!!
2009-09-09
Fran's Benefit Pix Dunno if you can view our friend Fran's pix on myspace without being her "friend"...if so check em out:
Fran's Pix of Benefit. She really got a lot of great shots...thx!!!
2009-09-08
Yesterday's Benefit Had a great time at the benefit yesterday. Everybody was so hospitable and all.
Thx to everyone who came out and showed support. And thx to everyone--old and new--for the kind words.
Think we kicked some ass...The guys really seemed to be on their game...felt good...Really glad we were involved...saw bunch of pics and they were outstanding (thx Rob/Jenn) and a bunch of other people were shooting too...hopefully see those at some point too...
and George shot video...cant wait to see that. THANX! On to the Pony...Sept 19th w/ Stryper.
MV COASTERS! Just got word from Adrian that the coasters are in...What coasters? Well my man took it upon himself to get a shitload of coasters with the album covers on em for promo at gigs: brilliant...good shit Age!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
2009-09-03
Physical copies of new album available Sept 18th Thx so much to Vlad for getting the album art all together for us. Loox terrific man. Uploaded it and made payment to the cd replicators.
Mom and George gonna hand deliver the master tomorrow...thx guys!!! CD will be available to us for pick-up the day before the Pony show (Sept 19)...
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
2009-09-03
Real cool benefit on Monday This benefit looks great on Monday. Get there noonish...all day thing: FLYER HERE...KISS ALIVE on the bill...yeah!!!
2009-08-27
Friend's thoughts on newest song Just got a cool email from a friend of the band:
"J,
Just checked out the new tune and I must say it is my favorite one to date.
Has a great punk feel to it that makes me want to go out and hit stuff, but
in a good way. Just thought you would like to know.
Mike"
Thx so much for that Mike. Made my morning ;)
2009-08-26
New album on iTunes soon Submitted the new album for digital distribution. Should be available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, etc real soon :) Letcha know when it goes live.
2009-08-15
New Song Temporarily on MySpace!!! Well I am real excited for everyone to hear the new album. CRAZY ASS AMERICAN (the song)
has been on myspace a coupla months now. I am going to leave it up. Eventually I want to put excerpts of the best songs off the album on there as well...
Until then I think I am going to "spotlight" a song for a coupla weeks...Right now the 2nd track off the album is available
It's called NEXT TIME AROUND...Check it out if you get a chance...wuold love your thoughts on it :)
Thx for the review Jenn ;) A good friend from years back attended our recent Dingbatz show and wrote a review on her myspace page...thx Jenn...
was great to see you again:
Catch-Up Blog Falling behind on blogs...went to CRUE fest last week...was real entertaining...got to hang with Chris and Heather for a bit...
was great to see them...such awesome people...world needs a lot more like that...
Chigger was there too but he avoided me all nite so I didnt get to hang with him...
Took my bro for his birthday and really had a good time...missed Tommy Lee...he burnt his hand up with a sparkler or some shit...
he did play a song with the band though so that was cool...
Godsmack was surprisingly entertaining too...not a big fan of em but they put on a good show...
Friday nite me and Marc went to the premiere of the latest episode of MUSIC INC now called PROJECT: AMERICAN STUDIO...
really great reality show that shows the daily ins and outs of running a studio...
They filmed me shooting the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN album cover at their facilities and included the footage in the show...was really cool
and had CRAZY ASS playing through out the segment...the episode should be available on youtube real soon...
Got another batch of shirts btw...gotta XXL too since i had to turn the real BIG fans away heretofore lol...
got these girl t-shirts too...cut different than a regular t-shirt...wanted the guinea T style but there was a miscommunication and i ended up with these instead...all good...
Also got the finished SEALED master of the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN album...
Sean went back and tweaked shit even further and really improved the quality even more...really pleased with outcome
and the new song order and everything.
Lotsa new pics on myspace...just put up Rob Holt's from Sunday nites gig at Dingbatz...
Adrian's friend Donna also took a shitload of pics at our last two Croc gigs...i gotta resize and crop them and upload em...when am I gonna get a chance to do that??? LOL
Oh yeah Dingbatz Friday nite with Pretty Boy Floyd...great show...cool venue...really great staff...
thx to everyone who came out to support us...looking forward to returning their next month to play with Get Your Guns...
2009-08-18
Where the f*&k is the new album?!? Where is the album? OK OK OK...it's coming...I swear it's done...heard it wih my own two ears...
The music is done...i earlier blogged about axing a tune and re-arranging the order of songs...that is being done...
i approved the actual mastering of the album...hoping the final FINAL master is in my hands by the weekend...
Back in touch with Vad from Something-Blue about laying out all the album art...
hafta get a high-res pic from Rob Valine that i want to use inside the album...as long as everybody in the band is cool with the pic...its the one
of us on the images page where Chigger is giving you all the finger..naughty...
once i get Vlad that pic and go back and forth a coupla times, the thing should be ready to send out...
i am going back and forth with the company that digitally distributed CRAZY ASS (the single)...i want the other 8 songs to appear with the single on iTunes and all the other online mp3 retailers...
finding out how best to accomplish that...physical copies will take two weeks from the time i upload the master and the art...really want these by Sept 19th at the Pony...that is a month away...PLEASE!!!
prolly wont have til December though LOL...thx for patience...hopefully will have been well worth it :)
2009-08-18
... In 1969 Rolling Stone wrote of Zeppelin's debut: "Unfortunately, [Jimmy Page] is also a very limited producer and a writer of weak, unimaginative songs, and the Zeppelin album suffers from his having both produced it and written most of it (alone or in combination with his accomplices in the group)... In their willingness to waste their considerable talent on unworthy material the Zeppelin has produced an album which is sadly reminiscent of Truth. " He goes on to say that if they are to help fill the void created by the demise of Cream, they will need better music and a better producer.
2009-08-18
Pix Posted some pics from Dave Christopher (the Coaster) who shot us at Stone Pony w/ RAINBOW...
they are on the 'Images' page and on myspace and stuff...great shots...check em out ;)
2009-08-18
Labor Day show Going to see Motley Crue tonite at PNC. Crue Fest II. Got my bro tix in June for his b-day so we've been looking forward to it for a while.
Was hoping to see Loaded (Duff McKagan's side project) but he cancelled...i heard it had something to do with the whole 2nd stage being a pay-to-play sort of thing...
what a great moneymaker...fans pay to see a band who is paying to play...a lose-lose situation!
Also I hear Tommy Lee burnt his hand playing with a sparkler so he is out...that sucks pretty bigtime...
well i am sure it will still be cool...letcha know how goes ;)...also we are booked at a place called Tiki Stadium in Keansberg on
Labor day (Sept 5)...get there around 3PM...it's a benefit...i'll have more details soon...
2009-08-17
MEAN VENUS in the Coaster Link to Dave Christopher's photo page in the Coaster: Check em out!...These are pix from our show @ the Stone Pony last month with RAINBOW...thx DAVE!
Last minute changes to CRAZY ASS AMERICAN (the album) So I have the master of the new album and listened to it like crazy for past few days making sure
everything is cool...after much consideration i have decided to not release NEW WORLD
on this album...hard decision to make cuz i really love the song but i think (and others have helped me see) that it kills the flow of the album a little too much...
there are a coupla tunes that have mellow parts but nothing that is mellow from start to finish like NEW WORLD...
without NEW WORLD in the mix the record just pretty much rocks out from start to finish...
the moment i finally gave into this i felt a real feeling of peace about the record...
i have felt there was something just not right about it for a while but couldnt really figure out how to remedy it...
i believe this will do it...i also originally intended to bury ARE YOU FEELING IT? last on the record cuz i really like
to end with a super strong song and i like ending records with a question (WOULDNT IT BE GOOD?)...the album even without NEW WORLD is longer than PCP
and sometimes people aing got 45 minutes to listen to your music so i dreaded the thought that ARE YOU FEELING IT? wouldnt get heard being ordered last on the album...
i decided to move it to 4th in the order and tinker a little with the placement of a coupla other tunes...
this is the FINAL order:
1) CRAZY ASS AMERICAN
2) NEXT TIME AROUND
3) VIVID
4) ARE YOU FEELING IT?
5) BEYOND ME
6) CHANGE YOUR MIND
7) SHARE YOUR SOUL
8) TAKE ME AWAY
9) HEAVEN'S ROSE GARDEN
HEAVEN'S ROSE GARDEN is still a damn good tune...not a hit but a good rocker...overall this order really pummels you...bam bam bam...
SO.......that's it ;)
2009-08-14
Adrian's Dumbass Song Had a great rehearsal last nite...ran thru the set and then worked more on Adrian's dumbass song...
it's really good...real catchy...stuck in my head...nice to work as a band at arranging and tinkering with it...
we seem to work well as a band doing that...everybody has ideas and we try them all out until we find the right fit...very rare to have 5 guys able to do that together without
getting their panties all in a bunch...think we throw this badboy in the set sooner than later...i am still working on the lyrics a little and the phrasing but i have found the voice
that worx best for it...have a lot of lyrical ideas but havent had a chance to really sit down and go over everything with a fine-toothed comb...
Marc is kinda in the same boat...tinkering and looking for the lead guitar stuff that will best take it up a notch...
i knew once we got to working together in a songwriting capacity that shit would be
creative and cooperative...now that we are actually doing it i have even more faith that we
will put some really great stuff together as a band...we work pretty quick too which is nice...
looking forward to MVIII...trying not to let CRAZY ASS get lost in the shuffle though...really proud of it and want to
really get it to everyone's ears and give it a fair chance at being heard...ready to throw a third song from the album into the live set
...hard to decide which one to do next...Russ says he's open to any of the new ones and I am thinking ARE YOU FEELING IT?...Chigger wants to do BEYOND ME...
Age wants to do VIVID and Marc thinks CHANGE YOUR MIND...guess it's good we all have a different third favorite :)
Cant wait to get the new disc in my hand...been working too long and hard on it...really starting to feel relieved the process is almost totally behind me...
blah blah and blah
2009-08-14
Master. Master. (In Hetfield voice) Sean gave me a fully mastered version of CRAZY ASS AMERICAN (the album) last night...
gotta listen to it a thousand times over the weekend before i give him the thumbs up...
what a journey this record has been!
2009-08-13
MaximumThreshold.net Interview this Saturday Nite Doing an interview with http://maximumthreshold.net this Saturday nite @ 8:30 PM. Make sure and tune in!!!
2009-08-07
Adrian's Dumb-Ass Song Hey hey hey...ventured down to Chigger's rehearsal facility last nite in Clifton...
damn cool space he's got...sounds really good and clear too...we blasted through the set
once right quick and then started rehearsing a new original that Adrian and Russ
had prepared. What a God-awful song I must say (please don't tell them I said that though ok...
I been pretending to like it...hehe)...J/K...LOL...on the contrary I really dig the thing...
Called MY OWN WAY and it kix some serious ass...Marc is putting his trademark "layering" over it and it
of course grows and becomes a more rabid animal that way...we started picking at it a little (like a scab that you should just leave alone)
but honestly, musically it needs nothing...some minor arrangement stuff...like a pause he or there or whatever...
Adrian even brought lyrics in (that suck like a 4th grade girl emulating the Pussy Cat Dolls)...
hehe...and they are actually coherent...always scary to see what someone is gonna hand you lyrically but
i am proud to say that the boy is literate :) What is even cooler is his non-chalance in letting us
tear the fucker apart to whatever degree we desire...told me to fuck with the phrasing, the words, whatever...to make it mine...
which is just so totally Adrian...laid back...no ego...gotta love that...really the only douche in the band is Chigger...but he'll be the first to tell you that
or where a t-shirt that warns you before you even get to shake his hand LOL...
So things are remarkably going along just as planned...once this new line-up was cemented and we ran through
some improvisational jamming I knew I wanted very much to write with these guys and
to explore things the more traditional way a band does...that is, as a band...a group of guys in a room bouncing ideas off one another...
feeding off of each other, etc...although Age had most of this puppy ready to go, there was still that
communal thing happening..."try this"..."how bout we do this here?"...i have had such bad experiences writing music with people in the past that
i have just found the only way to get the show on the road was to lock myself in a room and not come out til i had
a polished song...really nice to know there is also this way of doing things available to us too...Album 3...song one...in the can LOL...
great song guys...cant wait to tear peoples heads off with it...it sounds like Godsmack if they were good.
2009-08-06
SO ROCK AND ROLL IS DEAD. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Our new album--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--is being mastered as this is being written.
Please support the band by buying the new single and by forwarding this.
We will be eternally grateful. You rule!
CRAZY ASS on iTunes New album--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--being mastered as this is written. Please support the band by buying the new single and by reposting this bulletin. We will be eternally grateful. You rule!
I'm a farmer A few months ago Lily and I got some sunflower and tomato seeds from the A & P.
She did such a good job of planting the seeds and keeping everything watered. Look now!
Sunflowers are like 8 ft tall!!!
2009-08-03
Special Thx to Mike and Jackie A while back these guys launched a MEAN VENUS fansite from North Carolina (or mighta been South Carolina)...
we of course were beyond psyched and grateful. We've kept in touch via the web ever since and the guys have really helped to spread the MEAN VENUS word
anywhere they can. Well the guys moved into PA not too long ago and when they found out we were playing in Allentown they immediately got tix and
booked a limo to come see us for the first time. They came from an hour and a half a way last nite and i gotta say it was a pleasure to meet em i nthe flesh finally.
They stocked up on the merchandise and made a really unbelievable donation to the MEAN VENUS band fund. Cant tell ya how flattered we are
for such unbelievable support. Big MEAN VENUS thx to Mike and Jackie ;)
2009-08-03
Last Nite @ Croc Had a great time last nite @ Croc Rock. Really want to thank everyone who came out
for all your support and kind words. Thx to Shottie for coming out and filming for the
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN video. Hope ya got the footage you need! Band was great last nite. Realy proud of the guys.
Think we put on a damn good show...met so many people last nite..great people...finally met Mike and Jackie and wanna
thank them for their generosity. Thx to Kenny and Val for moving so much merchandise...wow...actually shocked...
Thx to Rob Valine for taking pics...Donna too! definitely went above and beyond for us!!! thx as always to my family (thx for filming George!!!)
and to all our friends and fans who make the trek out there. Wanted to thank Jenn to
from Croc Rock for having our backs :) And also wanted to send a shout out to Joe, the owner. What a cool dude...
talked with him for a while. Interested in helping the band out and all...not gonna say too much about that right now...hafta see how it pans out
but wanted to acknowledge his interest in the band. we appreciate it. Thanks again to each and every one of ya...too many to mention!
we are lucky like that :) Stay tune. Things keep getting more and more interesteing :)
2009-08-03
Rockeyez.com Real cool review of CRAZY ASS AMERICAN (the single) on rockeyez.com. Thx so much Brian...looking forward to your take on the whole thing...
CLICK!
2009-07-31
CROC Sunday w/ RATT & EXTREME...WHAT UP MF!!! HEY! Great rehearsal last nite...New tune in the set off new album...YEAH!!!
CROC ROCK w/ RATT & EXTREME on Sunday...Doors open @ 7PM...you better get there then
cuz shit happens and i would hate for you to miss us...Shottie from Shotwell Productions is coming to film for the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN video...
really gonna be a great nite...thx for all your support...ring-a-ding-ding
2009-07-27
ALBUM DONE!!! No...I swear...seriously...this time i really mean it!!! It's done...c'mon...PLEASE BE Oh yeah the album is done...LOL...well i just want to make one small change...very minor...
actually want to put a tiny guitar part back the way it was before it got tinkered with...other than that i am ready to release it to the world...
really need to just let it go...dont alot of tweaks in past coupla weeks (that rhymed :) and i can listen to it now in such a way where i dont cringe at all LOL...
THX SEAN FOR BEING SO PATIENT WITH ME AND HUMORING MY EVERY OUTLANDISH WHIM...Me: "Hey how bout we stick an oboe in here?"...Sean: "How big an oboe you want?"
LOL...fucking proud of this album...blood sweat tears time and dollars went into this badboy...i like every song and LOVE most of them...
thx to Mama and George Venus for helping to bankroll the thing...would be selling all my bodily fluids otherwise to make this happen...yuck...
CRAZY ASS * NEXT TIME * VIVID * TAKE ME AWAY * BEYOND ME * SHARE YOUR SOUL * CHANGE YOUR MIND * NEW WORLD * HEAVEN'S ROSE GARDEN * ARE YOU FEELING IT?
That's the order...gonna ask Sean to make that change and give him go-ahead to finish mastering it...cant believe its done...9 months!!! maybe 10 by this point...who's keeping track ;)
Wish i had these things all replicated and shrink rapped for Sunday...oh well...perhaps in time for Stryper next month...cant even guarantee that the way things go with this band...
thx for hanging in there and for caring ;) Hope you love it!!!
2009-07-27
YOU CANT STOP MEAN VENUS...well...uh... What a nite!!! Tried to have rehearsal at my place last nite. There were downed power lines
rite at the opening of my street and the dudes fixing the shit kept turning everybody in the band away lol...
eventually i went down and talked to the guys and they started letting everybody through...
as each member of the band approached they asked em if they were with the guy with the long blonde hair and tattoos lol...
I thought to myself "See you cant stop MEAN VENUS!!!" We got through the set once and Poof electricity on my entire block went out...
really REALLy sucked...MEAN VENUS definitely NEEDS electricity lol...guys hung in there and waited a LONG time for shit to come back up but to no avail...
just ended up watching it rain for an hour or two...thx for being patient guys...at least we got through set once...sucked though cuz we really wanted to work on another song off new album in hopes of having it ready for
Croc Rock on Sunday...still have another rehearsal between now and then so hopefully we can get it together in time...please let me know if you intend to get tix thru us so we can get them to you in time...cool?
2009-07-23
PIBCO Hey Sherry thx so much for the interview last nite...was fun...thx for getting the word out!!!
2009-07-23
Cool pic Kenny (our 6th member ;) sent me from the other nite at the Pony...What up Ken!!!
2009-07-23
Start of new bio i think You've got to realize that straight-up hard rock is going to make a big resurgence.
It is inevitable. What is most fascinating is that it hasn't happened yet.
We're not talking about hairspray and spandex here.
We're talking about a continuation of
the great rock and roll lineage that began back with the Beatles and the Stones.
That continued and developed with the likes of Cream, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors.
We're talking about the torch that was passed to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith and
then to GNR and that was ultimately left near extinguished after
the last great era of true, authentic rock and roll that gave us Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains and their ilk.
Well never fear: It is MEAN VENUS' personal mission to make sure the resurgence happens.
The boys are tired of waiting around for someone else to do it and a new generation needs to know how great rock and roll
can be. It is a sorry state when all they have is hip-hop, isn't it? Shame on us all for allowing that to happen.
2009-07-22
Waiting OK. How's it going? Good I hope. Been listening the shit out of new tracks.
Believe I have nailed down the order they will appear on the actual album.
Thinking:
1) CRAZY ASS AMERICAN
2) NEXT TIME AROUND
3) VIVID
4) TAKE ME AWAY
5) BEYOND ME
6) SHARE YOUR SOUL
7) CHANGE YOUR MIND
8) NEW WORLD
9) HEAVEN'S ROSE GARDEN
10) ARE YOU FEELING IT?
I hate burying ARE YOU FEELING IT? last but it has such a feeling a finality to it that it just has to be there...
CD is approximately 50 minutes long and I fear people--in this short attn span world--wont get that far into it before
twittering about their latest bowel movement but i gotta stick to my guns...the order flows and makes for an awesome 50 minute listening experience...
very important to me to try and write 50 minutes of good music as opposed to 3...
I miss great albums where you put it on and closed your eyes and just went for the ride...
hoping to offer something similar to that great experience i have had so many times to anybody interested...
Getting psyched for 2nd half of summer/fall shows...what a schedule we are starting to assemble...
gonna be a roller coaster ride (in the best kind of way)...playing with some damn solid acts at some damn fine venues
and looking forward to really leaving whatever we got up there on the stage...along with lotsa sweat and maybe some blood too.
New line-up is firing on all cylinders...i think we are more than the sum of our parts--that is, when we all do our thing full-on
it becomes something more, bigger, cooler. Wanna thank the guys again for really giving this their all...planning on getting new music in the set real quick...
that is gonna be fun...i love PCP but the new shit is...well...new! and that makes it more exciting for me...
at least til the novelty wears off (in a year or two???)
That's bout it...just wanted to say hello and see what would randomly pour out of my brain...oh yeah...still waiting on Sean to contact me about
finishing up the last coupla trax...i am in holding pattern until then but i believe he's done...
new album any day...I SWEAR!
At the time of his writing we were all still feeling one another out. Since then
we are proud to say Chigger's a permanent member of the band. Looking forward to tearing stuff up with ya buddy ;)
2009-07-02
Dingbatz Chigger set up a coupla new dates for us @ Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ:
2009-08-23 6 PM (Matinee!) w/ PRETTY BOY FLOYD...Contact us for tix ;)
2009-09-25 8 PM w/ GET YOUR GUNS (GNR TRIBUTE)
Looking forward to getting up north!!!
2009-07-20
Last week in the studio... What a week. Wanna thank Sean at SRG Studio for having me practically live with him for a 4 day stretch there...he is really the man...if you need to record an album i suggest you go see him ;)
The new stuff sounds really amazing and I swear if I didnt really think that i would just NOT blog about it...you wouldnt hear a damn word from me about it...
i would just be silently, secretly tinkering away in the background trying to make it better and better until i could actually claim that it is up to my expectations...
did endless edits and even some re-tracking to get the thing where i wouldnt change anything...where it pretty much mirrors the sound in my head...
Here's where everything stands: Of the ten songs on the album, 7 are in the can...done man...like shrink wrap em and ship em out :) I retracked some
guitar on two songs at the 11th hour cuz it seemed wiser than trying to edit the existing stuff...we ran outta time at that point and those tracks need to be mixed in...then there is the tenth tune which
feels a little shaky to me (in comparison to the rest of the album)...i think i wanna take the fine toothed comb over it again and make sure it is as goos as it can be before
setting the wheels of cd replication in motion...after the issues with those final three tunes are ironed out Sean will master everything and that's a done deal i believe...
This thing has been a labor of love that has been dragging on for like 9 months (like a baby in my man belly) and i just gotta let it go...get it finished and
release it so i can let my head move onto the next (insane) thing...i am in love with 7 or 8 tunes on this album...like i believe they stand up to all my influences...which is kind of what i always feel like i am competing with...
the other 2 or 3 songs i REALLY like...in fact they came out better than i thought they would...i picked them for the album not because they were "hits" or anything...
just thought they nicely rounded out the record...they explore areas the other other tunes dont and hopefully make for a more diverse and complete entire album listening experience...
want you to just be able to put the thing on and listen to the whole thing as opposed to just skipping around to the two tunes you like (as is the case with almost every record i have heard in WAY too long)...
Feel like i want to document the past week in more detail...like real specific...not now though...just wanted to put out the overall sentiment: which is, i really am happy and proud of
CRAZY ASS (the album) and it is 95% done!!!
2009-07-13
MEAN VENUS @ THE PONY... What an awesome show Saturday nite. Had a blast. Thx to everyone who came out.
Thx for all the kind words too from all of ya. Really made me feel good :) Wanna say great job to the band to...
way too much energy for so little room ;) Thx to everyone who bought merchandise and thx to Kenny and Bruce for making sure everyone
left with a shirt or cd or at least a flyer for the next show. You guys rule!!! Thx of course to my family for never missing a show and filming and helping out in so many ways.
Feels like an Oscar acceptance speech :) Wanna thank Live Nation and Kyle from the Pony for the gig
and wanna say thx to Rainbow for being so cool and personable. And thx for the Stryper show Sept 19th...YEAH!!! Gonna be another great one that's for sure.
Thank you to the diner that made my burger after the show and to the waitress who put up with us. And thx to the Nenichka's for coming out and representing!
Good to see ya Ang and gotta say i approve of the new hubbie :) Patti, Mike, Bill...you guys rle but you know that...thx to Dave from the Coaster for taking pix...dying to see em...
Nice to meetcha Deanna...looking forward to working with you...thx to ultra pro sound and security...awesome guys all over the stage and venue...thx for the free drinks!
hmmm. prolly forgetting a few...didnt mean to get this detailed in the first place so dont be offended...gotta run...spilled pea soup on myself...
LOTSA SHIT COMING YOUR WAY REAL SOON!!! WHAT UP!!! AHMV!!!
2009-07-08
BUY CROC ROCK TIX ON PAYPAL
Use this button to advance order Croc Rock tix for us with RATT & EXTREME (Aug 2)
2009-07-08
Upcoming Interview Going to be doing an interview with Sherry from Fallen Rock Zone Radio
on July 22nd around 9:30PM...Make sure and check it out ;)
Fallen Rock Zone Radio
2009-07-07
Get your MEAN VENUS/RATT/EXTREME tix here!!!
You can purchase tix via paypal for our show with RATT & EXTREME @
Crocodile Rock in Allentown, PA (08-02-09)
2009-07-06
Myspace Bulletin - Facebook Note We have a brand new lineup. We're really pleased to announce the return of Marcelo Cardosa to the band on lead guitar. Adrian Freyre is on rhythm guitar and Russ Ippoleti is now on the drums. You may know both these guys as former members of TRIMM. And we have Tim "Chigger" Louie (Hostel Inc.) on bass guitar. Really psyched about the new lineup. We're going to be @ the Stone Pony this Saturday night with the guys from RAINBOW (as OVER THE RAINBOW) and we will be opening for RATT/EXTREME @ Croc Rock in Allentown, NJ on Sunday, August 2nd. (Let us know if you need tickets to either event!)) Wanted to thank everybody who has come through the band over the past couple years and who allowed the thing to stay afloat especially Kev, Chris, and Randy... Work on the 2nd album--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--is just about done and we're working with Shotwell Productions on the first video for the album (for the title track). Really excited to get right back in the studio and begin work on number three as there is lotsa material, chemistry, and inspiration floating around at the moment. Just wanted to update anybody who cares and wanted to thank those of you who have had our backs through out the past 3+ years. Long Live Rock and Roll! ALL HAIL MEAN VENUS!!! J
2009-07-06
Welcome Chigger! HEY!!!
Good news...Want to officially welcome Chigger into the band on the bass guitar ;)
AHMV!!!
2009-07-06
This Weekend Really good weekend (for once)...helped having Friday off--that's for sure...rehearsed Friday and Sunday...shit is almost there ;)
One more rehearsal Thursday and we should be good for the gig Saturday...STONE PONY...July 11...w/OVER THE RAINBOW...got tix???
we do :)...please contact...we have for 20 bucks...gonna be 35 at the door...let us know if you need :) Rob Holt came to rehearsal Friday nite to shoot pix of the band (which look great!!!)
while his wife (my sister) watched my daughter...thx so much guys!!!
2009-07-06
WZZO Thx so much to Jain from WZZO for playing CRAZY ASS on her program last nite ;)
Well we worked with a really great bassist Sunday nite and we got high hopes for him.
Get together with him again Friday.
I think finalizing the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN album is gonna happen mid-this month...hoping to have the master in my hand July 18th!!!
We'll see...cant promise anything after breaking previous ETA promises...hoping to coordinate art work for the album with finalizing the mix/master so it can immediately go out for replication...
If this all goes according to plan (which it never does) this thing can be in our hands in time for the August 2nd show @ Croc Rock in Allentown, PA
w/ RATT and EXTREME. Really hope we make that goal.
Hoping to get together with Shotwell Productions to continue work on the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN video this month...would be great to band that out NOW and hopefully get them out to the RATT/EXTREME show
to finish the live filming...we'll see...
Been secretly working on my concept album...bout 80% of it is written...really want next MEAN VENUS album to be a live band effort though but will probably work on this
concurrently as it is just kind of writing itseslf and really has my imagination at the moment.
Let us know if ya need tix for us with the guys from RAINBOW @ the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ on Saturday July 11th...
we have tix left and they are 15 bucks cheaper than at the door...still time to mail em out if you plan on going and wanna save money for beer ;)
Just wanted to updatecha a bit...more soon...AHMV
2009-07-01
PCP REVIEW There's a brief but really cool review of PCP @
New York Waste MAGAZINE. Check it out at your leisure ;)
2009-06-25
MEAN VENUS - RATT - EXTREME @ CROC ROCK Just got best news: Sunday, August 2nd @ Croc Rock in Allentown, PA...MEAN VENUS-RATT-EXTREME...in that order...
We got reduced price tix for 25 beans...let us know how many you need ;) Thx Jenn!!!
AHMV!!!
2009-06-24
I wish I could tell you... Welp...was hoping to get into SRG to listen to mix of new album yesterday but was unable to.
So...since I had the day off I thought i'd go visit Donnie T in A.C. (that bastard)...
I was taking a tubbie and a great concept occurred to me for a song...then the song wrote itself as i was lathering...
then it occurred to me that it was a great concept for an entire album!!! usually when a new song writes itself in my head i let it go to see if it comes back to me at a later time...
i have found this to be a good way of sorting the crap from the decent ideas...i figure if it is shit then i wont remember it later...
if it comes back then it was kinda catchy ;) Just my little system...anyway, i couldnt let this one get away so i assembled everything real quick
to record it on my laptop real quick...phew got it outta my jungle-like brain and onto a hard drive...i wish i could tell you the concept...I REALLY DO!!!
But i cant...i just cant...i think it is really too novel and i dont wanna unveil it AT ALL until it is finished completely...perfected...and crafted, etc...
So I am psyched and I get in the car humming the new song which will be the center piece of a concept album...something i have never even thought to write...
and damn it, if i wasnt riding down 287 and the second song writes itself in my head!!! Shit...i resign myself to let it go...that is how i work anyway...
kinda like the whole butterfly thing: let it go and if it comes back it is yours or whatever (God i butchered that)...A.C...A.C...i am on a mission...
it isnt song-writing time...it is time for me to frantically give Don my dough as I always seem to do every coupla years...that bastard...
Shit man I cant lose this tune!!! It's the second tune of what i have by now decided will be a ten song concept album...in a set of three concept albums!!!
A trilogy...3 albums!!! 3 acts in a play...like rock and roll Shakespeare...fuckin eventually on Broadway and all that shit!!! Wow...i dont
even realize the grandiosity i am neck deep in cuz I am freaking out looking for a u-turn so i can go home and get this bitch outta my brain and on the hard-drive with its minutes-older bro
and then i say...no, no, no...off to A.C. I go..."I'll get a hand held recorder somewhere!!!" "How much could they possibly cost???" "20 bucks"...
"Where the hell am i gonna get one???" "Maybe on Rt 1 somewhere..." I pull off 287 and bam I swear it was eerie seeing Office Depot IMMEDIATELY once off the exit...
it was freaky...i laughed a bit like a madman...like too meant to be to be coincidence...more grandiosity...
in and out in 2 minutes with my handy-dandy new device...McDonalds breakfast? OK...right next door and I dump song #2 outta my brain in the Mickie D's parking lot...
OK...this is great...two great songs for a concept album...to make a long story short I had a long ride ahead after that...and a handheld recording device...and in the hour and a half drive to A.C.
I wrote 3 more of the songs for the 1st of three concept albums...so the first one album was half written in about 2 hours!!! talk about inspired...
this concept freed my mind up to start thinking about songwriting in a new, different way or something...i hope it is good...i think it is...
would suck for people to say "Hey that's stupid..." This one aint about pleasing others though so much...has to be realized...too big an idea...
i want it to be a masterpiece...well without being grandiose...like a masterpiece by rock and roll standards...not like Michelangelo or whatever...
like by the Who or Pink Floyd standards (what do these two bands have in common with what i am talking about???...hmmm...trivia of the day)...
the worst part is i cant tell anyone the idea...it is really deep (i believe) and involved and has layers and layers of meaning that can be created with allusion...
kind of like that TS Eliot poem the Wasteland (i think that's what it's called...where the footnotes are longer than the poem itself...what a nightmare that is to read...but definitely fascinating once you start digging in and getting some of what he is doing)...
my allusions i promise are WAY more accessible...shit i still want it to be popular and mainstream...not one of these intellectual snobby dicks man...
Anyway...i will keep you informed about this...and the new album...Sean is gonna get me the mixes via the internet super highway since he and i cant seem to get together
in the "real" world...new album looking like mid-July at the EARLIEST...makes me weepy to think that...to know that's the truth...this thing shoulda been for sale a month ago...
well not that i really sell em...i shoulda been giving them away a month ago ;) No serious people i gotta sell this one...costs too much money to do this and gotta fund the next one...
if i say "No just take it...i dont want your money...i am just happy you want to hear it at all..." FORCE YOUR MONEY ON ME!!! OK??? Please...i
just cant accept it for some reason...some deep seeded psychological issue i have from infancy or something...Say to me "Dude look I know how it is...i know you went into debt to make this album so please take the fuckin ten bucks for chrissakes...and give me a coupla shirts too..."
MEAN VENUS/ guys from RAINBOW...JULY 11th @ The Stone Pony...tickets for SALE!!! heavily discounted through us...$10 cheaper than at the door!!!
C'mon out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2009-06-22
The new album Well I've been avoiding mentioning the new album in hopes that I could suddenly just spring it on all of ya'll...Release date of June 1st was realistic in my opinion but so many things out of my control have happened...one after the other
about 6 times...Mixes have just been sitting there waiting for me to approve or whatever and i just cant work it with SRG Studios to get in there for one reason or another...looks like mid-July is the first i can even get in there...by that time i will have been finished tracking for 2 and a half months with the stuff sitting there...
really frustrating...wanted this done in time for summer....and then i wanted done in time for the big Pony show with Rainbow on July 11th...cant believe this.
Fuck it...what can i do...only so many Saturdays in the fucking year...
2009-06-16
Friday nite @ Croc Feel I have been censoring myself quite a bit out of respect for past members of the band.
By saying new band sounds good I fear past members might take it somehow as a slight or something.
Well all I can say is that if i ever--going forward--glorify this new version of MV, it is by no means an attack or slight to former members
who for the most part have always had my back and risen to the ocassion to keep the ship afloat.
I am not trying to be insensitive to them.
With that said I wanna say hats off to guys Friday nite.
With very few rehearsals they put on a show that I think rivals the great bands that made me fall in love with rock and roll in the first place.
Watched video last night at me mums--she and George got me a new bullhorn!!!!--and gotta say I am really pleased with what i heard/saw...we really have a unique energy...
looking forward to the Pony on July 11th with Rainbow now that we have broken our live cherry...see ya there?
2009-06-15
This past weekend Wanna just send a big thank you to everyone who came out to Croc Rock...was great catching up with everybody and was great to finally meet some of you who I only know from the internet...
really had a great time dispite the fiasco nature of much of the evening that was out of my control. You guys are the best and never
let us down with your tremendous support...also hope nobody ended up at the rained out festival...like my mom and George and bro...sorry guys!!!
they tried to get the thing happening but the rain would not relent...adrian was up there for a while too sending me meteorological and crowd reports ;)
guess we'll get em next time...with the exception of a private party i think we are playing in two weeks we have nothing on the schedule to July 11ths
Stone Pony show with Rainbow...gonna get in a bunch of rehearsals between now and then and really promote the shit out of this next show...
should be a great crowd...let us know if ya need tix ;)
I dont have a clever title for this one... This is a hard one to write. Been putting it off hoping i'd find the right words but there really arent any. We've parted ways with our drummer Chris. Gonna have Russ Ippoleti (formerly of TRIMM) on the skins tonite and tomorrow. Just want to say that it was a joy to play with ya and bring the noise from here to Hawaii. You are a brother to me and I know life has only the best in store for you man. Fuck the band man ;)
2009-06-12
Tonite and Tomorrow Well really looking forward to tonight. Rehearsed LATE last nite...feeling it now but shit sounded fierce. Love playing Croc Rock.
Love P.A. crowds in general. They love their rock and roll and aint too proud to show it ;) Thx for everyone who bought tix and who is making the long haul. You guys
really go above and beyond for the band. Make sure and make some noise. Filming the live segments of CRAZY ASS video. Want it to look as good as it feels up there ;)
Got a great, no filler set tonite...just balls to the wall for 30 minutes...gonna need oxygen...make sure and come say hello ;)
Oh yeah and come on down to the festival in Lake Hopatcong tomorrow...gonna be a great time and for a great cause...AHMV
2009-06-12
2009-06-09
Thanks Randy! Welcome back Marcelo! Kev holding down the bottom... Really wanna thank Randy Maldonado for stepping up and taking on the bassist role of the band for a while.
Love ya Randy. Was a real pleasure playing with you and I hope you had fun too!!!
Really pleased to welcome Marcelo Cardosa back in the band.
Really missed him in MEAN VENUS land. Didnt realize how much I fed off his playing and energy. And love singing harmony with him too...
Kev's back on bass...he didn't miss a beat.
Dudes head must spin as much as he switches instruments. Thx for being cool Kev.
2009-06-05
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN video Keeping a lot of news close to the vest lately regarding big upcoming shows, the new album release, and line-up changes...but I can say
that the live portion of the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN video will be shot @ Croc Rock on the 12th...so make a lot of frickin noise ;)
2009-06-04
CHECK BACK A LOT Lotsa really big shows coming up this summer ;) TBA!!!
2009-06-04
CROC ROCK JUNE 12TH Still got time to get your Friday, June 12th CROCODILE ROCK tix from us. Playing with BLACK WATER RISING.
Let us know if you need some asap ok???
2009-06-04
YEAH!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JER!!!
2009-05-28
Dunlop's Band of the Week Totally forgot to blog about this the other day. We had "won" this Band of the Week competition some time last year with Dunlop Guitar Accessories.
Well they finally sent the goodie bag and I gotta say I am blown away with how generous they were. Hats and shirts and lots of strings and straps and cleaner and stickers and
MEAN VENUS picks!!! Was really happy and surprised. They also sent a camera that we can take pics of the band with and send back to them for promotional use.
If we do we get free pedals. Amazing!!! Gonna bring it to the Croc show. Anyway...THX DUNLOP!!! You guys are the best!!!
2009-05-19
Saturday Nite Great gig Saturday Nite at the Saint. Everybody at the venue was awesome to us as always. thx for that. and of cuorse thx to all the awesome people that came out in support...old friends and new...
was great to see Marcelo and Val...so glad that we are all still friends even after his departure from the band...
I think Marc is good luck...i was standing outside talking to him after the performance and a guy from a big Indie label walked up
and said he enjoyed the show and wanted a cd to bring to the label he was scouting for...pretty cool...dont want to mention the label at this point but
they got some pretty big acts...the kind of company i wouldnt mind being in ;) I am not one to get my hopes up...i have been disappointed too many times...
but it was cool to have happen nonetheless...hopefully i will have more on this real soon...Gotta hang with Marc a lot more :)
He has been doing some recording work...mixing and such and what I've heard sounds amazing as always...AHMV
2009-05-15
MEAN VENUS & RAINBOW @ THE PONY Gonna be playing with Rainbow @ the Stone Pony on July 11th...we have tickets for 20...they're gonna be 30 or 40 at the door so you best get em thru us...
email tickets@meanvenus.com if interested...AHMV!
2009-05-14
Asbury Park: Two shows this weekend... GONNA BE AT THE SAINT SATURDAY NITE IN ASBURY PARK. Get there around 9 PM.
Also gonna be in Asbury the following day...Sunday around 2:30 PM...on the boardwalk I believe...
supposedly all kinds of happneings in Asbury and surrounding areas this weekend. I think this is some sort of bike/car rally...
called Rock 'n Ride??? If rain it'll be in the Wonder Bar over by the Pony :)
Rehearsal lat night Great rehearsal last nite. Great to have the whole band back together. Adrian came back from Jamaica all tan. Envy.
We sounded good especially for not playing for two weeks. Have rehearsal tomorrow and Wednesday nite before gig
@ The SAINT on May 16th. Should be plnty of time to get back where we were. Have dicked around with WOULDNT IT BE GOOD? and GNR's
IT'S SO EASY past coupla rehearsals. Hoping to add them to the long set soon. Both great live tunes. No word on the mixing of the new album.
Out of my hands at this point. Just waiting for an email/txt/call saying the thing is ready for me to give a listen and that its
time to go back in and tweak. Hope soon!!! That's all for now. Gonna be a great MV summer ;)
2009-05-04
MEAN VENUS THIRD ALBUM!!! So Sunday morning in the tubbie, my brain finally freed from the oppressiveness of mentally working out the songs comprising CRAZY ASS,
an old song of mine finished itself in my head. Thought it entirely fitting that the moment CRAZY ASS was done my mind would return to new music.
Song's called I GOT A FEELING (There's Something More) and is one that I began to wrte many years ago and that regularly pops back in my head to remind me that it exists.
I pretty much use that process as my guide to what songs to ultimately develop completely and record. Really good tune and in the tubbie
the second verse's lyrix came to me and then some really cool background vocal words and melody for behind the choruses. Just needed a bridge which came to me later that morning and that evolved out of something my daughter, Lily, said
the day before while I was driving her to see her Saturday grandparents. She was in the back seat and said "I can see the way out!" She's pointing out the window at the sky.
I look and there's a break in the otherwise totally clouded sky. She then said "That's where the angel's come in". Just kind of flipped me out
and got my head going with all the layers of meaning in what she said. The song was about struggling with faith and looking for meaning in life and
about doing self-destructive things in lieu of something to give life purpose and her words just summed up to me what "the way out" is...and i believe she is
one of the angel's she spoke of that came in through a break in the clouds and really saved my life in so many ways. Spent some time Sunday morning putting that all together. Looking for words, melody and chords
to somehow express that experience and that worked with the existing verse and chorus...still some details to work out but overall it came together very nicely and
most importantly has such a personal profundity to it. If you cant make a million bux writing tunes you better at least get some deep personal satisfaction from it and
this one grabbed those few words and moments that might otherwise have just passed right by and have been forgotten. Instead i will always have them captured in this song.
Cant imagine a listener would get a lot of the meaning out of it since the experience wont be tied to their listening experience but hopefully enough comes through that others can enjoy it too.
that would be great. but if not i guess it doesnt matter. sometimes music is therapeutic to the writer. the whole catharsis thing. i have had
a fair amount of such experiences writing and you cant put a price on them. things mysteriously working themselves out through songwriting.
cant articulate the resolution but it is real and can be felt and thinking about these moments that happen instatly brings back immense emotion.
definitely feel like you are on the right track when this happens. hope you actually get to hear it someday and are able to tell me whatcha think.
2009-05-04
TRACKING DONE FOR CRAZY ASS!!! YEAH!!!! Saturday nite I finished tracking the album. I mean SATURDAY NITE I FINISHED TRACKING THE ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*&^#$(&*%@#$%^&#$)@!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had a shitload of vocals left for HEAVENS ROSE GARDEN...everything except verses needed to get done...and the song is harmony laden like a mf G.
There is a melody that the song grew out of that I laid down five separate vocal layers for...the original, main melody is very intricate and is sung near the top of my (chest) vocal range pretty much...
I laid two less intricate harmonies beneath it and then two even less intricate harmonies (just the root!...thx for that Sean)
beneath that...so it is damn thick and dare i say angelic (befitting the title?)...
in addition there are lead guitar tracks that can and prolly will be mixed into the vocal harmony that mimic the top vocal layer...
kind of sounds like if the Beach Boys were cool and knew how to rock...hehe...jk...
now this song is weird in one way at least (that you hopefully will not even realize upon listening)...
i do a rather bizarre thing...the first verse and second verse are a whole step apart while the chorus that separates the verses never changes key...
it really worx well...you cant really tell its occurred...i hope that 2nd verse has greater excitement due to this...
subconsciously to the listener of course...
really dont know why it worx theoretically but i believe it does...anyway with that said...the entire five voice harmony thing i just explained
had to be tracked again a whole step higher...fun fun fun...was time consuming and brain breaking but worth the time and experimentation and i kind of gave myself latitude with this tune...
kind of approached it like thinking i will do whatever i want on this tune regardless of 'rules'...
it's been a tune lingering in my head for years and just glad that i can free up the hard drive space in my head :)
Wrote it in college while taking a piano class...grew from there and evolved as it transitioned into a guitar tune...
after that harmony hell i laid down the choruses and done deal...
Also did all vocals for the final tune on the album--ARE YOU FEELING IT? (I love ending albums with a question :)
That came out really well. Had tried to sing it once prior but wasnt feelin it (hehe)...Sean in fact refused to let
me continue doing vocals that day cuz I was sucking.
So every note, chord, and word is on Seans hard drive and out of my head...what a relief :) Just gotta
mix this badboy and the 2nd MEAN VENUS album--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--will be ready for your ears' consumption.
Really hope ya dig it as much as I do. Great diverse song selection.
I tried to keep this one more consistently heavy (at least by PCP standards)...
PCP had quite a few songs arranged in the mellow verse/heavy chorus kind of way and
i tried to resist the temptation of going there too much with this sophomore offering.
Definitely have a couple that follow that pattern but
had the desire to keep this album a hard rock listening experience from start to finish.
No one wants to be wimpy man. Hoping Sean gets lotsa time to mix in the next coupla weeks.
DYING to hear finished product. I know you are too right?
Check http://meanvenus.com for updates on the mixing and mastering process and the inevitable replication and digital distribution thereafter.
Can everyone please stand and say AHMV?
2009-05-04
Thx Sher! Just wanted to send a quick shout out to Sherry Thomas
of
Fallen Rock Zone Radio who has been playing us quite a bit.
2009-05-04
YEAH! ADRIAN'S BACK! Damn we missed him. Two weeks in Jamaica mon. Lucky basterd!
2009-05-04
4! ThaNk you so much to everyone who came to Lily's party and/or wished her well. And thank you so much for all the generous gifts.
She had a great time and you guys all really played huge roles in making that happen. We appreciate it all very much :)
2009-04-30
Last nites rehearsal Had a really good rehearsal last nite. Felt like since forever since we'd played. Voice feels really strong and rested.
Dabbled a little with ITS SO EASY by GNR (of course). Used to do in first incarnation of the band and always loved singing it. Think it's something we can definitely pull together relatively easily.
Was good to see the guys and get some sausage from the Dowds (man i missed that!) and Wolverine from the Jakester.
Looking forward to Adrians return and kicking rehearsals up a coupla notches before May 16th's SAINT gig. Gonna squeeze at least three in before then.
Looking forward to finish tracking the album Saturday nite as well. Actually elated about that. Cant believe it's done. What a blur recording this thing has been.
Thx for all your patience. I believe it will be well rewarded. Really strong album. Great material and I think the performances definitely capture and do justice to the tunes.
Mixing and editing should be a bit hectic but once all the "raw material" is there it's just a matter of being patient and thorough in mix/editing process.
Summer really looks promising. Hopefully completed new music beginning to surface next week!
2009-04-30
... A ventriloquist is doing a show in a small town in Texas. With his
Dummy on his knee, he starts going through his usual
Dumb blonde jokes.
Suddenly, a blonde woman in the 4th row stands on her
Chair and starts shouting: 'I've heard enough of your stupid
Blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype
Women that way? What does the color of a person's hair have
To do with her worth as a human being? Its guys like you who
Keep women like me from being respected at work and in the
Community, and from reaching our full potential as a person.
It's because you and your kind continue to perpetuate
Discrimination against not only blondes, but women in general...
And all in the name of humor!'
The embarrassed ventriloquist begins to apologize, and the
Blonde yells, 'You stay the hell out of this, mister! I'm talking
To that little son of a bitch sitting on your knee.'*
2009-04-27
Regarding Saturday's Time in the Studio Hmmm. Saturday. Dicked around a lot in the studio. Debated with Sean for hours about all kinds of stuff. Pretty heated. Eventually got down to record some vocals.
Really happy with what got recorded. Really sang and screamed my head off. Did all vox for SHARE YOUR SOUL, VIVID, the verses for HEAVES ROSE GARDEN, and the bridge for NEW WORLD.
Felt like I had that special something in my voice...where shit comes outta my mouth that even surprises me. Woke up 5 a.m. with the worst headache though from all the screaming.
was excruciating. This album is pretty much done guys. I hafta sing the choruses of HEAVES ROSE GARDEN and re-do all vocals for ARE YA FEELING IT? and that's it. Booked again Saturday.
It's my daughter's birthday party that day though so probably gonna just be a short session later in the evening but I really only need a coupla hours to call tracking officially done.
Sean wanted to keep going at 10 oclock Saturday and finish the shit but I was just wiped. Really left everything I had on the studio floor. I'd sing/scream a line or two and then hafta wait a few moments
for the pain to subside. I think I could sing/scream with enough intensity to actually make my brain explode right out my ears. Anyway. Hopefully the passion/anguish felt translates into sound.
Really excited to get this thing finished. Has taken a lot out of me. Would be nice to hafta not think about it anymore and switch the focus to promoting and gigging. Hard to switch back and forth. Always worried about "saving" my voice
in rehearsals so I got 100% available at recording sessions. June 1st looks realistic. I think the album will definitely be done by then. Really hope it will be done early enough to have physical cds and to have it digitally distributed to iTunes, etc.
Really depends on what kind of time Seab has available throughout May to get this thing edited and mixed. I really think it is gonna be a special record. Happy with every beat, note, and word.
2009-04-27
...
2009-04-23
MRI: Medically Required Insanity Man my back's been killing me lately. Getting old I guess. Have really abused my body ;) Went for an MRI yesterday to try and figure out once and for all
why I am in so much pain. I WILL NEVER GET AN MRI AGAIN!!! I dont know how I made it through that shit. It was frickin maddening. I was shaking and almost
threw in the towel at least 20 times. If you never had one: You are mechanically brought into this big machine. shit i cant describe it.
anyway your whole body is inside this machine and you cant move AT ALL. I had no idea this is what an MRI entailed. When i went into the room and saw the contraption I thought
"Oh f*&k"...it reminded me of the scene in the Excorcist when they are putting the girl through all the scientific testing. i wish someone went with me to hold my hand or something.
they put headphones on you and the technicians giggled "Here's your music...there's only one station though" and I nervously quipped in reply "Well as long as it isnt hip-hop"...
the machine started pulling me in deeper and deeper and i immediately started to freak on the inside...i tried to call out without too much panic in my voice: "How long is this gonna be?"
"40 minutes."
40 MINUTES!!! Holy shit I started to sweat. I guess I'm claustrophobic. Shitty way to find out. Felt like I was in a coffin. Just plugged
'MRI' and 'claustrophobia' into google and what do you know: 114,000 matches. Here's the first match.
Now I believe as a musician I had an additional problem that perhaps many do not have. The "music" the technicians kidded about is this insane noise that the contraption makes.
Or several noises actually. A lot of em sound like heavy metal guitar riffage actually. Cool right? I kept telling myself "Hang in there".
I tried to write lyrics and melodies over the "music" but to my intense dismay, the "music" had no real pattern...i kept desperately trying to find the "beat" and it would never repeat the same pattern twice.
Now faintly "behind" this noise was a second noise...a bass drum and a snare drum almost...boom...bap...boom...bap...very faint and very consistent but NEVER locking up with the metal guitar noise in the forefront.
This was maddening. My mind NEEDED to have these rhythms lock up. It was all so random and loud and impossible to ignore. It was like musical torture.
"Please stop shaking your feet sir"..."Sorry about that" I replied. It was agonizing...then ANOTHER metal guitar noise out of time with the original metal guitar and the underlying bass/snare beat...
all three out of time...my heart was pounding...i dont know how i made it...I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN...NEVER!!!
2009-04-22
MEAN VENUS & UFO @ STARLAND BALLROOM Looks like we're gonna be @ Starland Ballroom on Oct 9th w/ UFO. Email us for advance tickets ;)
2009-04-20
... Wanted to thank Jain @ WZZO for playing CRAZY ASS AMERICAN LAST night!
2009-04-17
Oooooooooooooh spooky
2009-04-17
Final day of tracking tomorrow??? In the studio for a few hours tomorrow nite. Hoping to sing my ass off for a bit. That is the plan. Hope I have "the voice". Got for vocals left to do and
some bits and pieces here and there in the other tunes. If I aint on fire tomorrow perhaps we'll edit/mix a bit. Really hoping I
got that special something tomorrow so I can officially be done tracking this album. So close! Hoping Sean has lotsa available time in the next month to get
this thing all mixed and mastered in time to get it replicated by the June 1st deadline I set for myself. Once I finish the vox it is pretty much in his hands...well
to a very large degree anyway. He will get the editing and mixing done to the degree he is happy with it and then I will give it a listen and we will start tweaking from there...
unless he nails the mixes without my input. that would be swell but he has no idea what i hear in my head and there is a lot of shit to sift thru...
prolly 40-50 tracks per song each often having many "takes" that need to be sorted...lotsa decisions to be made...as long as it all goes like the title track went we
will be fine...finishing that tune up early really has put my mind at ease...i know what the final result will sound like for the most part...have total faith in Sean's abilities
...so far he has exceeded my expectations which is always a great place to find yourself ;) Hang in their a bit longer...new music coming real soon :)
2009-04-17
Band Press Pic Just got Heather's pics. She really got some great ones. I forwarded em to the guys and asked which were their favorites. I picked out like 20 that I dig.
Should have an "official" band pic real soon...as soon as everybody chex em out and says which one they dig ;) will post at that point :)
2009-04-16
Last nites rehearsal Had first rehearsal with the whole band since our first show back at the saint. adrian wasnt at last practice so we last rehearsed as a four piece.
i dont know if it was the fact that we have a gig under our belt now (with new line-up) or what, but i gotta say the boys were slamming shit last nite.
significant, easily discernible difference. and i was damn pleased prior--just elated now...rock solid. energetic. enthusiastic.
great background vocals. guys really blew my mind last nite. hats off. i guess doing a gig makes you a band or something.
that is my number one piece of advice to anybody who wants to become a gigging musician. the secret? go do it.
that simple. dont overplan. micro-manage every detail. just get out there and do it and let momentum do the rest.
anyway this thing is gonna be a monster in 6 months no doubt. i figure by the time we do Croc
in mid-June and get on that big ass stage, this things gonna be firing on all cylinders. really amped up to perform with these guys as much as possible.
really talented and professional and just a pleasure to be around. heather took a bunch of pix of the group last nite too...about 200 with 5 different backgrounds.
we really need a proper band photo and i am looking forward to seeing what she shot. gotta get new pic out to press and in press kits, etc.
i'll post a few when i get them from her.
All Hail
2009-04-15
A Little about Last Week in the Studio Took last week off to finish up as much of the album as possible. really got so much done. Had a bunch of lead guitar stuff ready to for last Mondays sessions
and knocked out all the lead guitar work to ARE YOU FEELING IT? Really was a lot of tracking and took the whole first day...there is lead guitar all thru-out the tune...at some points there are 5 layers of guitars simultaneously...
There is an outro solo that is like a cross between something the Who would do and Paradise City...actually improvised a lot of it and really worked out well that way...also banged out the VIVID solo in a coupla takes before leaving.
Didnt get back in the studio til Thursday and quickly worked out solos to HEAVENS ROSE GARDEN and SHARE YOUR SOUL on Tuesday nite. Did all the lead guitar work for those songs on Thurs and Fri. Also did all lead guitars for BEYOND ME at that point too...
lotsa improv occurred during those sessions...only had very basic idea of what to play and had to reach deep for inspiration and thankfully some cool stuff came out of me...
i like that some of the album came together that way...that it isnt 100% pre-produced at home and then mechanically tracked...there is a lot of "the moment" in the lead guitar especially...
Saturday was reserved for NEW WORLD. This is the song that has been bothering me since drums were tracked for it...there is an old demo of the tune that i did with Jimmy Whip back in the day so it definitely had a good starting point...
i've really re-worked the tune alot since then...second verse is gone and new lyrics are there now...bridge now exists...arrangement has some pretty significant changes...
the drums felt shaky on the tune...so Saturday (actually late Friday and then first thing Saturday) we started ripping the drums apart and Sean did some awesome editing that
pretty much erased all the problematic areas...there were a handful of beats that were adjusted 30 milliseconds here and there and it got the groove back...
on top of this i added shaker and some tambourine hits here and there to make it really flow...also added a gong strike in a coupla places for effect...
tune has lotsa Jimi in it...i kept looking at my tattoo of him throughout the recording for inspiration :) After that I re-tracked ALL the guitars with new tones in acoupla different ways (shit is gonna be a nightmare to edit but all the pieces of the puzzle are now there)...
Then Sean fired up the Fender Rhodes and i complemented some guitar parts with those beautiful Rhodes tones...THEN i laid about 5 tracks of improvised bluesy lead stuff atop it all!!!
Gotta pick and choose what licks to keep...by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th takes I was really getting an idea of what the lead guitar should sound like and say in the tune...
a lot of call and response type stuff...Late Friday I said "Let's take the worst song on the record and make it the best!!!" What a challenge...
It is by no means the best tune on the record...but it went from something that was making me cringe to something i am damned proud of...it really was the only weak spot on the album--in my unbiased opinion ;)
Man there is so much music on that hard-drive. I tell ya. Sean never gave me reference cds throughout the process so I really have NO idea what is even recorded...gonna be full of surprises and "Oh yeah"s when we finally sit down and mix/edit everything...
This weekend I am really hoping to lay down vocals for the last four tunes and then that is pretty much that...been a long journey...great musical memories...
feel like i have definitely grown through the process...feel like it is a great rock and roll statement...hope you agree...hopefully start having stuff for your listening pleasure real soon.
AHMV!!!
2009-04-15
Thx Lindsay! Thx to Lindsay Klein from WDHA for spinning CRAZY ASS and for plugging the upcoming Saint show (5/16/09). Your the best!
2009-04-15
New Pics from the Saint posted Just put a bunch of Heather's pix up that she took at the Saint earlier this month. Go check the new line-up out on the 'images' page. AHMV!!!
2009-04-14
MEAN VENUS in tomorrow's AQUARIAN magazine Pick up a copy of the Aquarian tomorrow. MEAN VENUS article there for your consumption ;) AHMV
2009-04-14
CRAZY ASS on WDHA CRAZY ASS AMERICAN's debut on WDHA 105.5 FM (wdhafm.com) tonite @ 11:35 PM. Dont miss it ;) Thanks so much to Lindsay Klein :)
2009-04-13
The new album is almost done! Finished tracking all the instrumental tracks Saturday. What a journey this recording process has been.
Listened to a few of the tunes before I left SRG Saturday and I am really just blown away by the material and quality of the recording.
Sean is the man and has made this a pleasure from start to finish. Hoping he can start mixing this week if he gets a chance. I am in there again on Saturday to hopefully finish the vocals on 4 remaining songs.
Cant believe it is this close to completion. Thx to my mom and George for all the support with this too. Couldnt have done it without them.
Hopefully have some stuff for you all to hear real soon ;)
2009-03-30
Thanks Jer My bro hung with me this weekend and took it upon himself to re-arrange the studio. Set the whole thing up so it replicates how we will be on stage. Thx Jer.
It was a lot of work and I wouldnt have even begun to thought about undertaking it without his help. Psyched to rehease and for gig Saturday at the Saint.
Get there 9ish. Trying to get all the bits and pieces together for next week in the recording the studio. Got a bunch of lead guitar parts to come up with.
Beat my head against the wall for a while last nite. Having trouble coming up with a lead for the tune HEAVENS ROSE GARDEN.
I'm sure it will come if I stay at it. Spent a few hours noodling around aimlessly though. Was a bit frustrating. Also have a lot of lead guitar stuff needed
in SHARE YOUR SOUL including a guitar solo section. Gotta get all this stuff together this week so i can be as productive as possible in the studio
next week. Dont wanna write in there cuz i got so much that needs to get done to finish up the album. Should also have the CRAZY ASS promo cds this week.
Disc Makers is taking forever to get this thing to happen. Really disappointed with them I must say. From start to finish this thing has been hassle after hassle.
Lots more stuff in the works. Lotsa plans. More to be revealed. Stay informed ;) I am a little worried that if I dont get this band successful soon that Obama
is gonna come knockin on my door and take over the band. Cant let that happen. Welcome to the U.S.S.A.
2009-03-27
.... Happy Birthday Jenny!
2009-03-26
123
2009-03-26
BUY OUR DEBUT ALBUM PHYSICALLY or DIGITALLY You can now purchase a physical copy of the debut album @
you can get the album track by track digitally @ DIGSTATION.com
ALL HAIL MEAN VENUS!!!
J
2009-03-24
Still feel like shit Still battling this flu...on antibiotics but it refuses to relinquish me. Got a late start at the studio Saturday. Was unable to complete second tune
but finished tracking everything. laid down the lead parts and the solo and then got sidetracked writing some chordal accompaniment for it on Sean's Fender
Rhodes. He thought it needed something more and suggested the Rhodes and I gotta say he was dead on...really added a bit more meloncholy to it...
very cool that he just happened to have one laying around too ;) Had to cancel rehearsal Friday but I am going thru with it tomorrow even if it kills me.
Might try to get in the recording studio again this weekend and bang a lil more out this weekend if Sean has any availability. Just want to get this shit done already so I can free my mind up for other things.
April 4th at the Saint ya'll ;)
2009-03-20
Shit Rehearsal/audition gonna be rough tonite. Sick as hell still. Cant shake this shit.
Should postpone it but I hate to lose any progress whatsoever and with a gig coming up in two weeks time is of the essence.
Gonna hafta take it real easy. Tomorrow I hope to finish another tune off of the new album--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN.
Going to work on the song TAKE ME AWAY. Have high hopes for the tune. Needs a lot of editing. I laid down a shitload of guitar tracks so far and
a lot of decisions hafta be made as to what should be cut from the final mix. Also have quite a bit of lead guitar work yet to lay down but I have the ideas
pretty much together so it should be ok. If all goes well we will be able to stick this up on myspace too on Monday.
Will be good to get another tune out of the way ahead of the full week of recording coming up second week of April. The more that can be done ahead of that the better.
Gonna be a crazy week trying to get this album completely finished. 4 tracks still need vocals and almost all of them need lead guitar still...then editing, mixing and mastering of the whole thing.
Hopefully it will all go smooth cuz i really dont want this thing taking any longer than that. Hoping to send it out for replication mid-April and getting it distributed to iTunes and all that to
coordinate with physically releasing the album June 1st. Would be nice to have everything happening simultaneously June 1st. Doubtful though. Just getting the single pressed for CRAZY ASS AMERICAN
took two weeks longer than it should have due to things out of my control so I imagine i will hit 10 times the obstacles trying to finish this album and get it replicated and digitally available to everyone.
And then stick the video in the middle of that and it really should be a true nightmare. I'll do the best I can. That's all I can do ;)
2009-03-19
PCP available for download PCP is available on a track by track basis for download @ DIGSTATION.COM
2009-03-19
Last Night's Rehearsal Man I have had the flu for what seems like weeks. I am normally sick the entire winter but this year i got a flu shot (to show my daughter that it didnt hurt) and it totally worked all winter.
But now i am making up for it bigtime...funny thing is everybody around me who DID NOT get the shot seems to be un-sick...seems weird.
Anyway we had no drummer at rehearsal last nite and my voice hardly exists at the moment so i sat in and pounded away. It was utterly exhausting and I felt like i was getting pneumonia by the time we were done but
we ripped thru the set twice real quick and i gotta say the boys are ready man. pretty much flawlessly ripping thru shit like they been playing it for years.
Dont really know how this version of the band got together cuz i really didnt put any effort into making it happen...it just kind of...happened...and that makes it even more awesome.
My hands are destroyed too by the way...nasty nasty blisters with blood under em. could only feel numbness in my hands by the time we were done last nite. rock and roll.
Anway looking forward to another rehearsal tomorrow nite. auditioning a drummer for the second time. letcha know how that goes. just wanted to thank and praise the band for their professionalism and determination.
you can hear that shit man...loud and clear...april 4th at the Saint...just show up...no tickets...YEAH!
Updates A bunch of random updates. Got the materials in the mail to have a coupla hundred promo cds of CRAZY ASS made. Should have in a week or so and then
gonna send them out to radio, press, labels, etc. In the same package I sent discmakers a half dozen PCP discs to sell on CDBABY.com
and to have it digitally distributed to all the big mp3 download companies (iTunes, Amazon, Napster, etc). CRAZY ASS is already undergoing the
4-6 week process of becoming available of digital download sites.
Been pawning off a bunch of my gear to free up as much dough as possible to complete and then promote CRAZY ASS.
Hate to part with a lot of the stuff but getting this album to people's ears is my priority right now and I can always
get other gear in the future as its necessary. I have spent most free moments (of which there are really very few) writing the leads for the album.
The album has about 5 or 6 songs out of the ten that have a proper guitar solo section...one has been completed (CRAZY ASS title track) and I think i have the others
all written at this point and really love the stuff I've come up with. Somewhere along the line i actually acquired my own style of lead guitar playing.
Kind of a weird thing to have occur in the middle of everything that's been going on in the world of MEAN VENUS. These other 4 solos really have the same vibe
as the CRAZY ASS solo...like you can tell the same dude wrote and played the leads...I think the fact that i started as a drummer has really helped the rhythmic phrasing i come up with...
virtuosity is really not necessary (which is good cuz i aint got it) when you can re-phrase the dozen licks that have been popularized in rock and roll over the past coupla decades...
I still need to work out a lot of "lead parts" through out the album but the hardest part--the actual guitar solos--are pretty much in stone...
Felt so good about one that i booked next Sunday at SRG to finish up a song called TAKE ME AWAY...gonna do like we did with CRAZY ASS...just go in and not leave until i have a mastered
radio ready version in hand...then i will complete the rest of the album the week of April 6th...gonna have every note ready to go before stepping foot in the studio
and hopefully bang the shit out 1-2-3 so we can spend a lot of time mixing and mastering and editing...
Adrian is the frickin man. Just txted me that he has us a guaranteed slot at this annual festival/benfit on Lake Hopatcong that usually is for a 1000 people or so. Sometime in mid-June...getcha more details asap.
And talked to Joe from Aarius last nite about doing another MUIC INCORPORATED related show @ the Cup in Linden on the 28th of this month...
The Aarisu Girls are going to be introduced so i feel i must be there ;) Adrian is unavailable that nite so i think i am going in solo acoustic...
letcha know for sure soon...back to Adrian...that guy frickin rules...i love him...cant believe he is booking better shows than me!!!
How awesome is that...i booked us a pretty amazing year last year with coupla festivals, Hawaii, and 5 nat'l act opening slots...but i got a feeling with him onboard we are gonna make 2008 look like a warm-up...
thx Adrian!!!
Also trying to get all the details of the CRAZY ASS video together. Think we're gonna push the whole thing back to May or so. Lotsa things hafta be coordinated to make this thing happen and i
dont wanna rush it and get anything less than the best we can produce. With an album release of June 1st i think a goal of having the video done about the same time makes sense--although i would like to have the thing in the can
ahead of the album to hopefully generate some buzz for the album release. Need as many "extras" as possible for this thing...spread the word ;)
Rehearsal have been going better than expected and I cant wait for you all to hear the line-up...really awesome awesome cool guys who can really play and just LOVE to play.
I know that will translate into a great live show. More soon!
2009-03-12
Last Night's Rehearsal Great rehearsal last nite. Really felt good. Devastatingly loud. Ran through the set twice and played CRAZY ASS about 5 times.
Had no idea the guys new the tune as well as they did...wasnt thinking we'd get it up and running so fast but it is nearly there already...
what a great bunch of guys. no non-sense...just play and play for the love of it...i think if we had the time they would be into playing
24/7...it aint a chore with the guys which makes it really satisfying...Chris played drums. was great to play with him again. missed the big lug ;)
getting psyched for the live thing...been so wrapped up in recording and promoting that i forgot how much i love to just turn shit up to ten
and sweat :) AND SO PSYCHED TO HAVE THIS THING AS A FIVE PIECE AGAIN...so much more fun for me that way...dont hafta worry about being in tune or stomping on pedals...
can just wiggle and writhe and be an overall idiot...such fun...gotta start booking some more shows ;) Gonna be a great summer...all my life in bands the goal was to get shit up and running
and tight by summer cuz that is when the best gigs are and when you really wanna be out and about...we were really in good shape last summer (after whip saved us from having to cancel all the summer shows)
but this year we are REALLY set up nice...the new album and video will be here just as summer is coming and we will be tight as hell and have a coupla lower key gigs under our belt with this line-up.
Real psyched. Thx for having our back. You know who you are.
2009-03-10
APRIL OK. Looks like April is starting to really shape up. Going to be a launchpad of a month.
Going to hit the studio the week of April 6th and finish the record if it kills me. Also looks like we will shoot the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN video on
April 19th or so. That is subject to change if any of the players involved cant do that date. But if everyone is cool with that
then that'll be the date. And of course we have our first warm-up gig at the Saint Saturday, April 4th. Really hoping to have all ducks in a row come June 1st.
Have album mixed, mastered, replicated and downloadable on iTunes, Amazon, etc. Band tight and ready to gig like mad all summer through end of '09.
Killer video racking up 6 figure hits on youtube ;) That's what it's gonna look like if I have my way. Let's see how close that actually is to reality.
Gonna need legions of beautiful bombshells for the video so if you or anyone you know is interested shoot us an email!!!
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN album art Well we had a great rehearsal Friday nite. Adrian's buddy and ex-band mate (TRIMM) came down and pounded the shit out of my drums.
I still cant hear! Really a cool dude and good player. Looking forward to jamming with him again in the near future.
Adrian got together with Kev and Randy on Saturday and from what they tell me they really worked out every nuance.
Saturday night I met with Vlad and Rob and Jenn from Something Blue Photography and we spent hours eating pizza and
working on the album cover. Well I mostly blabbed and they worked ;) I cant tell you how happy I am with the final product.
Just exceeds my expectations. Something Blue is an amazing company and I am really thrilled to work with them.
Again I should thank Aarius studios for supplying the space and for filming the album cover process for the MUSIC INC reality show--thx Joe, Crystal and Shottie.
And of course thank you to the models: Rachel, Melissa, Meghan, and Victoria. Hope you all dig it:
2009-03-06
CRAZY ASS on internet radio Some internet radio stations have put CRAZY ASS in their rotations.
Like to say thanks so much.
Check em out ya'll.
... Added merch "panel" on MEAN VENUS myspace...also added player here (upper right)...let me know if it is behaving ok...
this site is shit on Netscape Navigator and Firefox I am sure...gotta stick "BEST VIEWED W/ INTERNET EXPLORER until i can get it multi-browser friendly...its on the list)...
2009-03-04
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--the single--AVAILABLE!!! HMMMMMMMMMMMM.....
Well I am really happy with how the title track of CRAZY ASS AMERICAN turned out.
It has kind of sent my head a whirl and caused me to change all the plans for the new album.
I uploaded the new tune to myspace. Check it out:
If you dig it I have set up paypal (temporarily) so the public can purchase it if they want.
Also have made it so you can pre-order the album directly through us.
Click the "merchandise" link in the menu bar above and you can get the mp3 or pre-order.
Have a new ETA on completion of the album: June 1st, 2009. Might be done sooner but I wanna make sure I don't
have to push it back again.
The song (and entire album will be available via iTunes, Amazon, Napster, etc) in a coupla weeks.
When it goes live there I will pull the paypal option for buying mp3/wav. By the way if you get the mp3 I'll also
send you the cd quality wav file ;) Going to try and put the myspace music player on meanvenus.com as well
so song hits are calculated...if i cant get that happening i will add the track to the third party
music player we are currently using (see upper right of page).
As soon as the album art is ready to go (hopefully very soon) I am getting
a bunch of promo cds made to send the song to radio, press, labels, etc.
This site and the myspace page will be changing pretty radically in the upcoming days so check back frequently!
2009-03-03
NEW ALBUM COVER HERE!!! Finally the album art for CRAZY ASS AMERICAN!!!!!!
MEAN VENUS & BLACK WATER RISING @ CROC ROCK Just booked us with BLACK WATER RISING @ CROC ROCK on JUNE 12th...tix are like 12 bucks...let us know if you need em and we'll figure out a way to get em to ya ;)
Email us @ tickets@meanvenus.com like usual...
Lotsa developments in the worx...new music ready for ya...letcha know when and where to get it asap ;)
2009-03-02
ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHY DONE!!! Sunday morning the photo shoot. Hmmm. Where to begin? How to articulate what that was all about?
Cant possibly do it justice via words. Let me thank everyone who made it possible first.
The models (in alphabetical order): Meghan, Melissa, Rachel, and Victoria (who always comes through for me).
Thanks to Something Blue Photography (Vlad, Rob, and Jenn). And of course Aarius Studios--Joe, Crystal, and Shottie--for
coming into the studio super early on a Sunday and letting us have the run of the place and for filming the whole
mad scene for episode 4 of their reality show, MUSIC INCORPORATED. Oh and to poor Brit who never made it to the shoot
because she got so lost she was on the road for like 10 hours...she must've covered the entire state. I feel so horrible for her.
I really appreciate you trying to participate. Sorry about the nightmare day...
I got home near midnite on Saturday nite after mixing with Sean and was thrilled to be able to get a good nite sleep. Sunday I woke up with
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN just engulfing my brain. Had dreams about the song...a crazy dream version of the song that could never actually
exist...you know how dreams are...could like taste the song...the guitar solo smelled like apple pie...anyway...
I was a little nervous as I scurried about my house gathering all the days necessities: guitars to serve as props if necessary,
a good variety of leather pants (tight, loose, black brown...subtle but important differences), shirts, cds, and stickers for the girls as
meager payment for their invaluable service. How many to bring? Well I had 8 women who said they'd make it to the shoot...so i grabbed 8 cds, 8 shirts, and 8 stickers and
packed all this stuff in my car and headed to my mother's to pick up the massive stands we use to hang the MEAN VENUS banner at shows.
Thought it would be nice to use them to suspend the flag over us
(took almost obsessive care to not let the flag touch the ground at any point throughout the two hour shoot).
Being that the photo shoot process was going to be filmed for the reality show--MUSIC INCORPORATED--i was a bit more nervous than i might have normally been.
What if the girls don't show? I will truely be a schmuck for all the world to giggle at. A coupla girls were not responding to my txts...
my dear friend of many years Jeannine informed me that she and her kids were all laid up by flu...uh-oh...not looking good...(thx for trying Jeannine!)...
not looking good...I got to Aarius Studios right at 11 a.m.. One car. A girl in it. Oh good! At least one showed!
Her name was Melissa and had come via the people at Something Blue Photography. Then a txt from Victoria "I'm on my way"...
finally I could feel relief...needed at least two to make this anywhere near what I see in my head. So now I could just focus on the
underlying nervousness: what had i gotten myself into? When I originally started planning this shoot everything seemed very sane and feasible and abstract.
Now moments away from actually doing it I though "I must be insane". The guys from Something Blue showed up with a half ton of cameras, and lights, and rolls of paper and
backdrops and stands and miscellaneous. Joe from Aarius arrived and let us in and "the set" was rapidly assembled. A third girl arrived--Rachel--
a great friend of 2 of MV's biggest friends and
supporters, Amanda and Spencer (thx for recommending her!). So now three girls.
As the guys got all the gear ready I got to answer questions like "So which heels do you prefer?" and "Wear should I disrobe?"
:)
I really wanted an image that would/could be iconic. Dont really know what that means. But when I see it I know.
Have had this image in my head of me sprawled out--passed out--with a bunch of scantily clad women all around me with an American flag draped over us--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN.
The girls were beautiful and just such incredibly great sports. As we lay there on the cold, white platform I felt the acquiescence of suggestions like
"Hey why dontcha put your hand on his thigh?" or "Make like your whispering something in his ear".
:)
Again let me thank the ladies for cooperating so absolutely. We took shots with the four of us standing around as I held the flag behind me...
the girls all in some equivalent of a black bikini or lingerie with black heels, staring and wrapped around me adoringly in some fashion. Those pics
were amazing...we then took a bunch more but with us all laying down and the flag draped over us...i swear the stuff loox like the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
All the while I got Joe to loop the new song in the background and Shottie is filming the whole decadent scene for the reality show.
I may never be some famous rock and roll God but at that moment I must say--I really felt like one. I can die a happy man.
So the only part that was nagging me was the lack of a blond in the photo (other than me). Really wanted a variety.
I walked into Aarius' lobby very elated that we'd captured some truely magnificent album art. And as I'm talking to Crystal about the reality show
there is a blond standing there all by herself. It was actually such a distraction i couldnt concentrate on what Crystal was saying.
Finally I said "Is she here for me???" Crystal said "oh no no she's here to audition to be an Aarius girl" or something to that effect.
Next thing I know I am asking her if she'd be willing to take her clothes off. Hehe. Then me and Crystal and this thus far nameless blond
are in the bathroom and she is showing me what's under her shirt asking "Is this good?" HEHE. I said "Yeah that'll do" or something and then we introduced ourselves.
Classic moment and she just happened to be wearing black underneath.
:)
So we quickly re-shot everything with our new friend Meghan. Victoria had to take off so we unfortunately never got a shot with all four girls at once...
i am definitely a more-is-better kind of guy. So since we had already rehearsed everything i think this second set of shots was even better...
everybody already knew what we needed to do (except for Meghan) and they shot frantically for the final half hour to get duplicate images with a blondie in there too.
Thanks again to everyone for their immense professionalism. To the photographers who went above and beyond and actually did test shoots for this and planned
for every possible scenario...to the girls for being a part of this and for hamming it up with me...and to Aarius for the hospitality...and again and again to all for helping
me take the madness in my brain and put it in a form where everybody can behold it. Definitely a crazy ass American. I'll post the pics as soon as i get 'em.
2009-03-02
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--the single--is mixed and mastered and I LOVE IT!!! Man I don't even know where to begin. Saturday Sean (from SRG Studios) and I
finished mixing and mastering the first song and title track off the new album--
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN. I have been recording for a long time and I don't know why
but this process just seemed too easy--to Sean's credit. Like I can't believe how good it sounds.
Usually you go back and forth with the engineer 150 times "Tweak this" or "Can you make the
xylophone louder" or whatever--Sean just nailed it. I love the mix. It is radio ready. I have no doubt.
It is just all there. It is just...right. He and I really work well together...I have mentioned this before...
he gets me and what I am trying to do and is always lockstep with me in trying to achieve that.
Sean thx so much brother for making this painless--even pleasurable--and for always giving your honest opinion...
Editing the track is always the most difficult part I find...i like to take an idea...
a guitar part or a vocal melody and just lay it down all over the song to hear where it sounds cool...
so when it comes time to mix you just start subtracting...you dont wanna subtract too much though...
and if you leave too much in you get a clusterf*&k ya know??? so it is actually stressful for me...
I do believe that we nailed the editing and chiselled everything down so that exactly what is necessary
is all that is left...cant wait for you to hear...will make available in approx one week...iTunes and I will
post an excerpt and/or stream it...anyway i am so pleased with the mix...usually I am asking everyone's opinion
"Do you like it?", "Is this part loud enough?", etc...i just have no urge to ask anyone this sort of stuff this time around...
just sounds "right" to me...like we stuck a microphone in my brain and recorded the insanity in there...
That would be frickin cool, btw, if you could do that...i am working on such a device in my shed but dont tell anyone...
It starts with my daughter Lily introducing the band "Put your hands together for MEAN VENUS"...cutest thing you ever heard...i swear it is...
then big build-up GNR style and boom right into whammy wah mayhem...this high pitch
melody that will just grind into your brain until you want to literally stab your eardrums with pencils...but in a good way...
this melody will be stuck in your head three weeks later...just incessant and cruel and obnoxious...i love it...
monotonous and shrill...hmmm...maybe doesnt sound appealing but it really is cool...
i love the tune...essentially a warning to not f*&k with America...the sleeping giant...
was in response to all the shit we were getting last year before the world started liking us again...
our grandfathers died on European shores to liberate them and a generation or two later we're assholes...
that concept pissed/pisses me off beyond belief...Americans are walking around never having know there grandparents
so some conceited jerk over there doesnt hafta be a Nazi now...moreso it is a warning to terrorists not to push us too far...
once you push us too far you get Hiroshima type stuff happening...a song for the troops and veterans of all wars who
are singly responsible for how great we have it in America...
I really love the guitar solo...it is my favorite part of the song...cool bridge and
really fun breakdown section where i scream with a bullhorn...lotsa gang vocals "HEY!!!"...
really every trick in the book of rock and roll is woven into it...really happy with it and cant wait for your opinion.
Need to thank my mom and step-dad too for all their support and encouragement. without them this process would be no where near where it is right now.
They really have made it so I can get the stuff down with less worries about non-musical aspects of this. Thanks guys!
Gonna continue blog about the weekend in a few...
2009-03-02
WZZO Wanna thank Jain and WZZO for spinning "LET THE FEELINGS GO" last night on the radio. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!
2009-02-27
This Weekend What a weekend coming up. Tomorrow I will spend 10 hours at SRG going over mix and master of the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN single.
Sean (from SRG) was supposed to get some time during the week to work on it so I am hoping to be walking into
something that is almost ready to go...will just have to make some editing decisions and tweak some stuff...
yeah right...nothing has gone smooth thus far...dont know why it would start tomorrow...
i'll probably end up retracking half the song LOL...Sunday morning is the photo shoot for the album
cover...been talking to the models and photographers non-stop all week trying to get this all together
and take care of every nuance ahead of time so we dont end up with unexpected shit derailing the whole thing somehow...
And then Sunday nite we are auditioning a drummer...i cant imagine what i will be writing in this blog come monday...
hopefully that i have the single in hand and ready for your listening pleasure...that album cover cam out magnificently and that we
have a new drummer...we'll see...fingers crossed.
2009-02-24
CRAZY ASS VIDEO This is only an embryo of an idea but wanted to put it out there.
Really been thinking hard about making a video for CRAZY ASS...
Have a lot of ideas and have a coupla people in mind that might be able to get it done...
If we can get the tune down i'd like to even film the live parts of the video at the saint gig...
more soon on this!!!
2009-02-24
First Gig Back!!! WE'RE BACK!
Saturday April 4th @ the Saint in Asbury Park...
Gonna call it a warm-up gig though we have decided to promote it and get people out like a regular gig.
First gig with new band!!! Chris has honorably agreed to play the show if we cant
nail down a permanent drummer by then. I love that mf. Really has my back i nwhatever I do and it is amazing to see
that that kind of friendship/loyalty is not based on him being in the band...has nothing to do with MEAN VENUS...has to do with being true friends...
really amazing to me that he still steps up and gives it his all when I need him...i hope he knows it is a two way street and that i have his back if ever the
tables are turned...thx bro!!! And Chris if we do find a guy before then I hope you still
come to the show...I will totally get you like 20% off the ticket price...hehe
Thanks man ;)
APRIL 4TH
Oh yeah and Adrian mentioned a biker rally this summer that his old band played...
sponsored by Harley and Triumph or something like that...said it is a swell time...
ADRIAN!!! Thx for stepping up and getting active in the behind scenes right from the get-go.
That is amazing!!! What a relief...I hate doing everything...you inspire the shit out of me
to do even MORE knowing that you are getting shit done too!!! You are the mf'in man bro!!!
He and I mastermind shit all day long via text messages like a coupla mad scientists...
you guys better look out cuz I think my ambition alone was gonna get this thing in the mainstream someday...
with his interwoven into this too, it's frickin unstoppable!!! Gonna really tear the roof off April 4th and
that'll just be a warm-up to later gigs when there is actually only a crater left where the venue used to be...
This is MV Phase 4 but I feel totally rejuvenated like this is Day One...Thx to Kev and Randy too...
you guys learnt the stuff in such a way where I am really speechless...never had such an easy time at a first rehearsal...
just felt like getting in the car and driving right to the nearest venue and setting up and playing it live...
damn near flawless the first time thru...none of this dick around in a rehearsal studio fopr 6 months trying to get tight...
get tight at home right??? Very psyched. Very very psyched!
2009-02-24
Last Piece of the Puzzle Adrian has a guy in mind who is interested in auditioning for the band to complete the line-up.
Hoping that everyone involved can make it happen on Friday nite. Mite have to be late Sunday but would prefer not having to do it then since the photo shoot is during the day.
Also if we can do it Friday and we love the guy we can get those band pix together. I hear really great things
about this guy and am really looking forward to seeing what he can bring to MV.
I wanna cry when I think of this as a 5 piece again. Cant tell you how much I hate having to play an instrument live.
Forces me to put only about half my concentration on what is coming out of my mouth.
The rest is on the notes/chords i am playing, how i am playing them, whether i'm in tune, my instrument volume,
hitting foot pedals, etc etc etc etc...the vocal is pretty importatn part of the song ;)
It really deserves 100% of my energy and concentration...not to mention i hate being tied down to one spot on the stage...
cant get too far from the mic stand which is necessary when you play and sing...cant just grab the mic and wander around and interact with the band and the audience...
it is in fact an entirely different show the moment i have to play an instrument...
so i am elated to have my live role simplified again...
2009-02-24
Album Cover Art Doing the photo shoot for the CRAZY ASS AMERICAN cover Sunday morning at Aarius studios.
The guys are gonna come in early so we can have the run of the place.
They are also gonna film the "event" for inclusion in episode four of their reality series, MUSIC INCORPORATED.
Got a real great concept in mind for the cover that requires a some female friends of mine's participation.
I really hope they show up. If for some reason I get "stood up" I have a back-up image in mind I'd like to capture so
we will make the best of it either way. Really wanna thank Rob and Vlad for putting so much time and thought and professionalism
into this shoot. They have been brainstorming and preparing for this quite a bit and
I wish I could let them know how thankful I am for their time and energy. Gonna be a great cover
and a great album. Thanks to everyone involved in hopefully making this a success!
This ia also a long-shot depending on quite a few variables, but i am hoping to possibly have the line-up finalized
by Sunday as well...in which case we could also take some quick pro band shots immediately after wrapping the
album cover shoot...i hope the planets align and we are able to pull that off as well.
cant think of anything cooler than having pro band shots the moment the band is officially finalized.
might be asking a bit too much--as i always do...gotta shoot for the most but not be discouraged if you fall short...
something i am trying to live by...i am a very all-or-nothing kind of character...
that trait sometimes is beneficial but mostly leads to a lot of sitting around and waiting for things to happen for you...
just get out there and do a little everyday...PCP...read about aforementioned "variables" above...
Oh yeah...if interested in being on the cover drop us an email ;) Spread the word. The more the merrier.
2009-02-23
Tracking to first new tune completed Well...again I have nothing to letcha hear...Busted my ass Saturday at SRG Studios.
Finished all tracking for first tune--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN. Coupla hours doing background vocals and screaming
into a bullhorn and the remainder of the time was spent laying down all the lead guitar stuff for the tune.
I had most of that all planned out and pretty well-rehearsed but the first four measures of the guitar solo
--after careful consideration--didnt seem to do the song justice. Fortunately after realizing this
a new melody immediately popped into my head and Sean really coached a great lead and performance out of me.
I am very proud of the lead guitar composition in the tune now...it is a song within a song and really takes you on a journey...
very long solo that has a good deal of chord changes beneath it...really shredded the shit out of the fingers on my fretting hand...
the thing is littered with guitar bends and i must've bent strings literally a thousand times...during the week Sean says he will
clean stuff up and get it mixed...it is really a cluster f*&k at this point...like 90 trax!!! many of those are just 5 seconds long so he needs
to edit and consolidate, etc...i am back in next Saturday and we will do the final editing--decide what layers will stay and what layers will go
and how often a particular idea appears and occurs...I will definitely have this song ready for public consumption March 1st...
I love the tune inside and out
and am dying to hear it completed...i believe it is the best thing i have ever recorded...
i dont even have a rough mix of it...we always run out of time and i am always tracking some new idea right up until the final
minutes of the session...i truly exhausted every possible idea i had for the tune...there is definitely no feeling of "it feels like something is missing".
There is A LOT there on hard-drive...a lot of decisions need to be made to carve it down to something sane...
hard decisions...you dont wanna lose a part or lessen the amount of occurrences of a part too much...
and you dont wanna beat someone over the head with it either...
Photo shoot for album cover is next weekend too so that first week of March I will have everything I need to really start
promoting the shit out of the new album...check back later...i got other things to blog about but dont wanna lose em at the bottom of this tangent ;)
2009-02-20
And Randy Maldonado... OK. The second announcement I promised you: Would like to welcome our new bassist
Randy Maldonado into the band. Randy is a great player and all-around dude who
Kev knows from way back...has even been in previous bands with him. The two of them were working hard
while MEAN VENUS was on hiatus getting every nuance of PCP down. Have had two rehearsals
with him so far and was blown away right from the first note he played. I mean the shit was tight right out of the box...thx guys for working so hard to make this whole thing look so easy. Welcome aboard homes!
2009-02-19
Welcoming Adrian Freyre into the MEAN VENUS family! Pleased to announce the addition of Adrian Freyre on guitar. You guys might know him from
the band Trimm. Had the pleasure of seeing them play many many times and Adrian was
always a great performer, musician, and person in general. Really thrilled to have him aboard
and had a great first rehearsal with him Sunday. I'll be announcing new bassist soon...check back!
2009-02-18
NEW LINE-UP ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW!!! Three blogs in a day!!!!!!!!!
That's like the old me ;)
Dont get used to it though ;) Too damn busy to even properly wipe my ass these days...
Last and nowhere near least!!!
Going to introduce the new members to you all tomorrow...would do it now but dont have time to
blog about it in the kind of detail this sort of announcement deserves...afterall MEAN VENUS is the guys actually in the band...
Had a bitchin rehearsal with em Sunday and cant tell you how great they were and how awesome it was to be a five piece again...
I'll give ya all the details tomorrow...check back.
AHMV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2009-02-18
CRAZY ASS album art photo shoot...THEY DONT DO IT LIKE THIS ANYMORE!!! Also shooting the album cover for CRAZY ASS AMERICAN on March 1st. Dont wanna give away too much but lets just say it involves me, the flag, and as many scantily clad women as possible.
We are gonna do this Van Halen pre-Sammy Hagar style. We supposedly have more than enough "participants" to do this thing up right
but if you or anyone you know is interested, drop us a line...the more the merrier and you never know who will actually come through and actually be present for the shoot...
hoping to get a whole mess of shots with the flag and with/without the girls...thx so much to Rob and Vlad for taking
the photography for the album on with such determination and professionalism and thx to all the girls who have agreed to
make this cover the coolest image I could think of and thx to Aarius for opening early so we can do this thing in private...dont wanna scare the clientele away with random scantily clad women lurking about.
Since the cover will be shot so close to when the first tune and title track will be finished i may hold back the release of the tune (as blogged about below) so that the image and the song can go out simultaneously
like a package...in fact that will definitely happen...but if you want an advance listen--granted all goes well this Saturday with mix and master--let me know...would love your opinion...
2009-02-18
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--the song--available next week??? Sorry I have been such a bad blogger. Good things going on since I last blogged.
Lots of slowly but surely things happening. Dont think I even blogged about last recording session.
Voice wasnt cooperating so decided to postpone finishing vocals and decided instead to lay down a bunch of guitar stuff.
Have since then been working feverishly getting all parts written at home. I am back @ SRG this Saturday and plan
to deviate a bit from the original plan. Getting this album is taking much longer than I originally thought it would take...
or, rather, taking much longer than I might have liked for it to take. I knew the "deadline" I put on myself was arbitrary and
really aggressive but I thought it possible. Anyway. In order to keep some of the momentum we gathered all throughout
last year I decided to finish up the title track (CRAZY ASS AMERICAN) this Saturday (finish tracking, mix it, master it)
this Saturday and get it ready for public consumption asap. Kind of like a teaser or something to gnaw on while
I finish up the rest of the trax. I plan on sending it out to press and radio and putting it out on iTunes and all that and try to get a buzz going about it.
So Check back soon. Could be available for your lstening pleasure as early as Monday.
New Band Soon? Had a great jam/audition with Kevin and a friend of his on Friday nite. The guys learned 7 tunes off of PCP pretty much inside and out.
Wanna thank em for putting in the time necessary to do the album justice. Looking forward to doing it again this weekend with 2 other guys
i Have huge musical repsect for this weekend. Hopefully they will be ready.
First time we've had a five piece jam in a LONG time. Definitely keep checking back. If all goes well we'll have a new--hopefully--permanent line-up to announce soon :)
Recording the rest of the vocals tomorrow!!!!!!!! Back @ SRG Studios tomorrow to hopefully finish the rest of the vocals for the album.
Four songs left to go and I took some time this week to really work out everything
at my home studio so as to not waste any time tomorrow...should be able to get in and bang shit out 1-2-3-4
just like I did last Saturday with the first six tunes.
Not sure how ready my voice is though...i was almost totally voiceless around Tuesday.
Was definitely not used to singing for 6 solid hours at full intensity...i think it feels ok now but wont really know
until i get in and really let it rip...if it aint 100% i am gonna hafta scramble and plan B
is to record a bunch of acoustic guitar parts--i am actually going to double everything i recorded with clean electric guitar so as to later have the option when we mix...
too hard to decide at this stage of recording whether an acoustic guitar or a clean electric will sound better...or maybe both will sound best layered together...
options...all about the options...after that i really wanna lay down the lead guitar parts in the title track--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN.
Have that all worked out except the actual guitar solo...there is a lead guitar presence throughout the whole song that is ready to go...mostly played with whammy wah...
that is an effect that does some outrageous stuff to your guitar sound and i am using it for it's ability to have the guitar jump up an octave...
there are a bunch of other miscellaneous lead guitar parts that i am ready to record too so if time allows i have plenty to do...
gonna need two weeks or so after this session to work out the rest of the lead guitar stuff...
gotta lot of homework to do yet...have spent the past two evenings working out the leads to VIVID...
trying to get it perfect...i hear it in my head...another tune that has a lead guitar throughout the entire tune in some capacity...
After two weeks I hope to have everything entirely worked out for the entire album...all leads and keyboard parts...other than that we are done tracking...
I'll letcha know how i make out on Monday...hopefully i can bang vox out and then get to acoustic and lead stuff tomorrow...that is the goal but i have been too optimistic with this sort of planning in the past
it seems...i'll settle for finishing the vox tomorrow ;) Anyway...have a great weekend...enjoy the superbowl...Go Vikings!!!!
2009-01-28
No longer searching for the words... OK OK OK. Damn I am happy about this: Every word to the new album has officially been penned.
There were a few tunes that had second verses that needed to be written and they were really eluding me.
Amazing how the words come when they are ready though...VIVID was the toughest tune.
Have a real concept in my head...living in a dream world of sorts...a dream world built on the past that is so VIVID you can't
really function or be present entirely i nthe present. ya know??? well i have melodies i wanted to adhere to and would try to ponder this concept while humming the melody and strumming the chords and nada for quite a while...
but one line came and the rest just flowed and i swear they are the last words written for the album and my favorite lyrics on the album...
irony...bridge was also eluding me in the same way...had concept and melody to adhere to but words wouldnt come...
they came immediately after writing that second verse and just really get across what i am feeling without literally saying it...very figurative and
dare I say "poetic"...i guess you will be the ultimate judge of that...you can say what you mean or you
can figuratively describe it ya know? and to succeed at the latter is such a wonderful thing...again that success will be ultimately determined by you and hopefully you get
the underlying connotations i imply...if you dont it isnt cuz you are stupid it's cuz i didnt do my job well enough...
also tweaked parts of SHARE YOUR SOUL that were killing me...especially re-wording an awkward bridge that flows now and is smoooooth...
came up with some great words for HEAVENS ROSE GARDEN that will overlap the chorus melody...kind of counter melody sort of thing...
i love doing that...BEYOND ME actually had three melodies simultaneously and SHARE YOUR SOUL has possibly FOUR!!!
real hard to pull off without things sounding cluttered you know...they hafta all fit together nicely like a puzzle and enhancing the adjacent melodies ;) Duh.
That's all. Just wanted to share...Can lay this all down on Saturday. Words
came just in a nick of time...Really cool to see the whole album's lyrics written out in front of me. Very proud of this batch of words.
Good shit if I do say so myself...Guess that English degree wasnt a total waste of time...hehe...
Oh yeah I will post em soon...AHMV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2009-01-28
THE KIDD's Blog is Live In case you hadnt noticed, I had our webmaster (the lazy bastard) put up a page for THE KIDD to blog...check it out!!!
... I know we've only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it.
2009-01-26
Is MEAN VENUS actually a band??? It occurred to me that our line-up must seem pretty shaky to an outside observer who might actually care about the existence of this band.
Well let me just take away any doubt about any of that. Kind of merging with another band from that area that really kicked ass.
They sort of broke up and left a bunch of members in between gigs...looking like they are gonna be able to fill in any holes that currently exist in the MV line-up.
Pretty psyched cuz these guys are just awesome people and musicians...very talented and super serious and good showmen and all that...the whole package...
kind of like a local super-group if you will...um...well maybe not...but if you follow the local scene at all you will know who these guys are and
I am beyond pleased to have them aboard. If all goes well i should be able to be a little less cryptic about it all in the upcoming weeks. Just wanted to
erase any doubts that this MV thing isnt still up and running from a live perspective...it is and it is gonna be bigger and better and tighter and
more in your face than ever. AHMV!!!
2009-01-26
CRAZY ASS AMERICAN update HEY!
What a great recording session I had Saturday. Man I needed that. Was in emotional limbo regarding
new album...not about the material...i love that...these songs are my babies...i was worried whether or not the performances were doing the material justice...
this album is being recorded very different from our first one--PCP. PCP was recorded
over a six month period (give or take) and we were really able to track and track and re-track parts over and over until they were just right.
And then we were able to edit and edit and fine tune and hone. This album is being tracked like...an instrument per day! Like the entire rhythm guitar
for the WHOLE album in two days (one day for les paul and one day for strat/tele)...all bass for album done in ONE frickin day...
so there are some bumpy parts here and there that need to be re-worked, edited, etc...
I knew this as tracking was happening...but hearing the bumpiness over and over upon subsequent tracking made me a bit--for lack of a better word--depressed about how things were going.
Anyway I really needed to get in there and belt out some vocals to get a better idea of what the hell this thing is gonna actually sound like when all is said and done.
I did the clean rhythm guitar for the final 4 songs real quick Saturday and then eagerly jumped into the lead vocals for 6 songs...did em in about 5 hours.
One of the best things i did was quit smoking about three weeks ago.
I know that made a huge difference Saturday. I had lots of air and power and stamina. Way more than usual.
When we stopped tracking at 10 PM I definitely had a lot more in me and could probably have finished the whole album in one day!
The past year of gigging and rehearsal has really had a good impact on me as a singer.
I feel like I have REALLy found my voice now...like i am starting to know what I DO. Ya know?
The tracks I recorded are by far the most powerful things that have ever come out of my mouth. I was forced to laugh at some of the things I recorded...
just was that blown away by how much power and range I had...was pulling off things i could never have pulled off in the past (gonna make shit interesting live...gotta be on top of my game to reproduce this shit live)
Really can scream my ass off these days...must be all the internal pain ;)
Anyway I am beyond psyched about the album again...some really cool vocal things going on...like overlapping layers, melodies
and variations on a vocal theme, lyrics, melodies and some cool harmonies already tracked too...
Me and Sean work great together...like a machine...i would say i just wanna do verses on a track and
then record the choruses separately on another track and he would cue me up the first verse and i'd sing it and then bam
he'd be at the second and i'd sing it and then the third...just bam bam bam like we were one person...
really efficient on both our ends and had a great time...was a great vibe...lots of fun and laughter
about all kinds of sick politically incorrect things that we find devastatingly funny ;)
So I am back in this Saturday to finish lead vocals...only have four tunes left...
glad to have the extra week to work out a coupla lines that have been bothering me in VIVID
and SHARE YOUR SOUL...also gotta sing ARE YOU FEELING IT? and HEAVEN'S ROSE GARDEN.
With whatever time is left over after that I will start dicking around with lead guitar shit. CRAZY ASS AMERICAN (the song)
in particular is ready to go and I am dying to hear what it sounds like with these whammy-wah parts i have for it...
that song should be officially finished (as far as tracking goes) this Saturday...those vocals came out mean man...
Sean said vocals are like a cross between David Lee Roth and James Hetfield...hehe...i think that is a good thing ;)
I tracked that song first and this big mean frickin voice just came out of me...
i had a pretty wicked headache by the time i was done cuz i literally almost blew my head off screaming it...
i took some aspirin and just kept going right thru the headache ;) Cant wait for you guys to hear the stuff...
Hafta retrack some rhythm guitar for a tune or two...but overall almost everything laid down so far is keeper stuff...tracking 70-80% done!!!
Check back soon :)
AHMV
J
2009-01-23
New Band Announcement Soon!!! Got some really awesome news regarding the new line-up soon. Dont wanna jump the gun but some really
really awesome players and people wanna meet up and make some music with me and Kev.
Pretty frickin psyched man. Could very well be like an all-star band real soon...stay tuned...2009 looking
pretty sunny...
2009-01-23
MUSIC INCORPORATED episode featuring MEAN VENUS released... Hey All.
First off: Thank you all so much for all the support and love you showed us last year.
Was quite a year for us...from releasing our debut album to playing in Hawaii to opening for lots of our childhood heroes.
Throughout last year our good friends at Aarius Studios filmed and interviewed us for inclusion in their reality series, MUSIC INCORPORATED.
Well it has finally been released. Check it out: Click here to view.
Also wanted to mention that our second album--CRAZY ASS AMERICAN--is almost finished.
We are really proud and excited about it.
Hoping to release it in the next month or two and then start gigging again in support of it in the Spring and all throughout 2009.
Back in recording studio Saturday Finally back in the recording studio this Saturday.
It will have been two weeks that have really felt like an eternity.
Kind of needed to get head together before resuming
(although I did see if I could get in there over the weekend at the last minute...
all desperate ;) Was in a bad place last session.
Just emotionally. Dont know precisely why.
Just was sort of down and let some minor things in the tracking we've done thus far
take me even lower. Needed to take a step back and get some perspective--
which I hope I have now.
Anyway enough of the wimpy babble...
Hoping to bang thru the rest of the clean rhythm guitars Saturday
so that I can finally begin vocals.
I have also been fortunate enough to not smoke for the past two weeks
and can really fel a difference in my voice.
I sometimes worry I will lose some of the gruffness by not smoking
but at this point I think it is a permanent "feature" of my voice.
Just have a lot more air and "vocal endurance" at the moment.
Have really laid a shitload of scratch vocals down at home.
Some songs have 6 or 8 tracks of vocals where I just let myself
go with the moment and explore variations in melody and such.
So I have taken quite a few dry runs through the material
and feel pretty well prepared to lay vocals down.
The thing that sucks about new material:
It hasnt gotten a chance to evolve on stage.
Ideally I would like to play these songs live for a while
and then record them.
Things definitely evolve on stage and in rehearsals...especially vocally.
There are things I would sing differently on the first album
after gigging the songs so much for a year or so.
Guess that is just the nature of this sort of thing.
All the more reason for a million dry runs. You have basic melody ideas and need to really flesh things out.
I sing the stuff in a coupla different "voices"...different octaves...looking for what sounds best...
that sort of thing is a lot easier to do in a live or rehearsal environment as opposed to in a basement alone with a multi-tracked performance in headphones.
Same with the lead guitar stuff really. Lots of experiment. Recording and recording and re-recording...just playing along in a looped section of music...
looking for the right scale or melody or tone...a lot of work...really fun when it is "on"...frustrating when not...
got the rest of the week to prepare so all should go well. messing around with the idea of going in for a few days in a row and really finishing this fucker up once and for all.
we'll see...kind of beneficial to go in only on weekends and prepare during the week. i guess it'll depend on what kind of progress is made Saturday. I'll letcha know ;)
2009-01-13
Thoughts Not really much in mood to blog lately as you can see.
Kind of made a decision to take a coupla weeks off mentally from MEAN VENUS
and that has really been doing me good.
(Re)Gaining some perspective as I stand back a bit
and look at what we've done so far and how we've done it
and think about what i'd like us to do from here on out and why.
One thing that has really clarified itself once again to me
is this kind of mission statement of the band...
or at least the motto i kind of used when this whole thing began.
Essentially, I know that this thing has to be done
and can only continue based upon love for this kind of music.
The more I look around at the "industry" the more I realize
it is futile to put any of my eggs in the MEAN VENUS basket
if my goal is to get rich and famous as a result.
There are better, smarter, easier ways of attaining wealth should one so desire it...
And fame...well the more you think about that the easier it is to see that one should NOT need it to be happy. One needs to be happy with oneself....from within oneself.
I have a pattern where I take my love for the kind of music MEAN VENUS makes and I try to parlay that into money.
With that subtle shift in how I mentally see music comes stress...
poor decision making...and less fun and artistic gratification.
Lately I havent been stressing out about things though.
Each nite I get home late and need to get to bed but
I go down in the studio and tinker a bit...maybe for an hour at most:
I add a vocal track, a guitar part...
the new album is like one of the simple puzzles I do with my daughter.
The pieces just fall together so easily and obviously.
That is the reward.
I have been doing this long enough where that SHOULD be the reward. It is all I really wanted at one point in my life. To be able to write a good song that people would like. To give that feeling I got from people who wrote songs I liked.
Nice and simple and pure.
I have made it my business--so to speak--to write a certain kind of hard rock song.
That has been my genre or art or whatever you want to call it.
It is what stimulates my brain, what gets me excited.
Really cant be too hard on myself for attempting to turn that into an occupation.
Really I think those that can do the things they love for a living
are really some of the luckiest people on earth
(second to those born rich who can do what they love just for the hell of it...bastards ;)
Anyway I am just glad to have something out there that I really love to do
that I am pretty good at and that a decent amount of people seem to enjoy too.
Gonna keep at it--for the right reasons.
Might slow the wheels down a bit but it will get done (the new album) for the right reasons and it will not get rushed and
when it is done it will be as good as it can be
cuz it is only motivated by wanting to create something as good as i can...
not by wanting to get it in people's hands quick
in hopes that maybe it'll be some magical ticket to another life.
No it'll just be 10 new MEAN VENUS songs that have our heart and souls in every note.
And the songs will exist just for the sake of existing with no ulterior motive.
Just for fun. Attempts at expression. Hopefully you will get something out of them.
I need to not care if you dont though :) I have pretty much scratchtracked the entire album at this point...
Really have 95% idea of what it is going to sound like now. Proud of it. In the studio again next Saturday...hoping to really knock out a bunch of the vocals and the rest of the clean guitars.
Can't wait for you to hear ;)
2009-01-09
????????? Just wanted to give a quick update. Kind of on a brief hiatus. Booked to record on the 24th. Kind of laying low.
Figure we deserve a bit of a break. Really busted our asses last year. Non-stop rehearsal, gigging and even a bit of
travel (that was awesome by the way...ahhh memories)...listened to CAA in its entirety last nite...very raw still but
man does it re-ignite my passion for making music every time i hear it. i get a little down sometimes and i swear as soon as i listen to the trax
i get psyched again and new energy is sort of blown into me. anyway. we aint going no where. havent disappeared.
just catching our breath and weighing out options for the future. want a nice solid game plan to adhere to rather
than scurrying around like a bunch of drunk rats. cant wait to finish the new album. hope you like it as much as i do.
see ya soon ;)
2009-01-06
So how's it going with the new album??? Regarding the album: Been making progress with CRAZY ASS AMERICAN in the background.
Since I last blogged about it, the second half of the heavy rhythm guitars got tracked.
Ended up using Sean's Custom Shop NoCaster Tele (Butterscotch...bad ass instrument) thru his VHT.
Those tracks combined with the Les Paul thru the Dual Rectifier are just massive.
Was a lot more work than I thought. Was very difficult to re-play everything exactly the same way twice...well it isnt exact but i did
a pretty damn good job. Did another session Saturday that didnt go incredibly well.
Laid the clean rhythm guitars down for the three tunes that have the most clean guitar: VIVID, TAKE ME AWAY, and NEW WORLD.
There are rhythmic inconsistencies in places on what has been tracked so far.
I knew these inconsistencies right from the moment drums were laid down but I figured they were small problems that could later fixed in editing like was done
with PCP. These inconsistencies are starting to screw up tracking though. I am trying to lock in with the drums while doing guitars and find myself having to slow down or speed up certain things
so that the guitars lock with the drums. I am thinking it is best to start major editing now and then track the rest of the album AFTER that occurs.
Ideally drums should have been edited before ANY tracking was done because now not only the drums have to be corrected but all instrument tracks that have been laid on top.
Fuck! I believe this can be done in a single session if me and Sean are really on fire.
After that it is just a matter of laying down the remainder of the clean guitars, the lead guitars, vocals, and any miscellaneous percussion and keyboards.
Anyway it is definitely all full speed ahead but a little disheartening. Letcha know how things evolve...
2009-01-06
Had to cancel 2009-01-31 STARLAND show :( For longer than I can even remember I have been trying
(sometimes right up until the last second) to
get a band together to fulfill the various live commitments that I have agreed to.
I really appreciate everyone who has stepped up and taken on the crazy challenges...
we have sounded really amazing
with countless different people stepping in and out at the last minute.
Now that Chris is gone I just cant do that anymore.
At least I cant get it together again in time for the next show:
that is, the one with POWERMAN at STARLAND at the end of the month.
I just cancelled it and the people there were super cool about it.
I really appreciate it and look
forward to continuing an awesome relationship with that venue.
Anyway my goal is to get a REAL band together once and for all.
And then book a gig :) Imagine that.
I am in no way complaining about the way shit has gone down cuz
it really has been an amazing run.
I have played the best and most exciting gigs of my life in the past year or so
and wouldnt change a detail about any of it...well maybe a few ;)
Going forward I just wanna do it differently and with a helluva lot less stress.
This shit is supposed to be fun too...well it should be more fun than stressful anyway.
Sorry about the inconvenience...check back and I will letcha know how putting a permanent band together is going. Peace out ;)
Oh yeah and happy new year. Hope 2009 brings happiness and success to each and everyone of you ;)
YAHOO IM = MEANVENUSJ 
AOL IM = MEANVENUSJ
