Guys Without Tyson (2001)
tyson didn’t show up for band rehearsal one day a few weeks before the air jam, and no matter how many times we called or paged him there was no answer, so andrew, gord and i decided to record a bunch of aimless jamming to pass the time. i wish i had recorded our three-piece version of be sorry with gord on drums and me playing both guitar parts, because it was interesting. what i did record is…something. gord’s death metal vocal on raaaa is pretty funny, and my fuzz bass playing on drum-less discord is pretty cool.
eventually things start to sound a bit more like proper songs. eat it up begins with fuzzy promise, but ultimately pales in comparison to the version found on KISSING THE BALD SPOT because i couldn’t remember the lyrics and couldn’t think of anything interesting to improvise in their place. i like that new little guitar bit i came up with at the beginning, anyway. mental constipation fares much better (i was pretty sleep-deprived at the time and thought i would use the giddy dementia to my advantage), but the real gem here is song for tyson, my love song to our absent drummer. funny that i was singing the lyrics in jest, but they basically predicted the future of our relationship, even if he never did walk in on me while i was deep in the throes of self-pleasure.
i got a much better drum sound this time out with only two microphones on the kit, and gord did a solid job in tyson’s absence, particularly on mental constipation. i dig how you can hear him saying “yeah!” from behind the drums as he gets into the groove. it’s actually me playing bass on that track, though i probably should have pushed it up a bit louder in the mix; andrew didn’t seem to know what to do with the song, so i replaced what he had done with some of my own bass-playing after he and gord took off for the night.
the next day i discovered that tyson hadn’t shown up because he had been grounded, though he never did divulge the reason. whatever had happened, the song i improvised in his honour didn’t quite get the reaction i had expected; instead of being angry, he thought it was hilarious and seemed touched that i had been thinking of him. i guess it is a pretty ridiculous song…
TRACKS:
here’s to you
raaaa
discord
more discord
drumless discord
eat it up
little drummer boy (x-rated version)
mental constipation
song for tyson
LISTEN:
