I’ve had a chance to sit and relax a bit after I finished everything for the last album. I have way more good reflections than bad, so I’m inclined to start this whole process again. The reaction to the first album was pretty fantastic so that was very fulfilling. Thank you to everyone who downloaded the album, commented on it, or just cranked it up. I listen to it all the time still, so at the very least it met my primary criteria – be an album I want to hear.

As I mentioned, I started writing new stuff as a way of procrastinating finishing, so that’s where I’m going to start with the new one. Like before, I’ll be pulling in some older demos and giving them the full band treatment, but I hope to have more brand new stuff this time around.

I’ve been doing preproduction type of stuff and that mainly consists of figuring out what songs I have, what songs I could have, and what remains to be written to get some of this stuff to a usable state.

I wrote most of the instrumental parts on the first album, but I was most excited about the parts other people came up with, so I’m going to leave plenty of room for collaboration this time around. Hopefully, that’ll result in more interesting things, but I’ll still try to maintain some clarity of vision for the project as a whole.

I’m happy to say that my core (James, Grant, Kevin) has expressed interest in reprising their roles, so that’s a pretty good start right there. I hope to include more special guests this time as well, so the scope of this thing could get well nigh unmaintainable, but I’d like to at least see where that line can be drawn.

I’ve given James, Grant, and Kevin copies of what I have so far. I’ve got way more than a single album, so I’ll probably be trimming stuff as I go and probably adding other things as they come along. I hope to start tracking drums in late January or early February, just like last time. Metroid Metal Live is playing at MAGFest again, and that’s taking place Jan 13-16, so we’re busy getting ready for that at the moment.

I’ll try to be better about writing about the process this time, but again, no promises. Thanks for sticking with me through the spotty updates.

Here we go…again!

I could post a long winded screed about this whole process and how glad I am it’s over, but just go listen to the music.  That’s the important part.

I haven’t been here in a while, as a few of you have figured out, but I’ve been spending all my time working on music instead of updating the blog.

Ok, just kidding, but seriously, there hasn’t been a lot to talk about.  I did start a couple of posts that I didn’t finish, but they were mostly of the “soooo busy” variety.  That’s probably why I didn’t finish them, come to think of it.

Here’s the short version:

Bought a house and all that entails
Played a bunch of music in front of a ton of people (MAGFest, PAX, Asheville)
Played a dream gig (w/Jonathan Coulton at PAX East)
Recorded an album (other than this one)
Recorded some MM tracks (working on one now, by the way)
Started recording ANOTHER not-this-album
Learned way more than I originally wanted to about small engine repair
Learned way more than I originally wanted to about toilet repair

I could go on.

So that’s why things have been slow going on the Yes Mayhem front.  I’m pleased to report that although progress has been slow, it has still been progress.  I can report that primary instrumental tracking for all songs is done.  DONE.  There is one song that is waiting on vocals, and a couple that are waiting on some odds and ends and fixing.  I’m planning  a blitz to knock out these last remaining issues.  James and I are going to lock ourselves in the studio, just like old times, and record and mix and giggle.

In the meantime, just to prove that I’m actually doing something, here’s a song that just got finished.  This is an unmastered semi-rough mix, and it is subject to change before it’s final, but I’m pretty pleased with it.

NEATOMATTER

Personnel
James Moats: vocals, guiro
Grant Henry: guitar
Dan Taylor: bass
Kevin Lawrence: drums
featuring Jason “Xoc” Cox: crapparatus

11/12 songs are mastered and done – ready to go.  I can barely believe it, but there it is.  I’ve been listening to the final versions of the songs, trying to figure out a decent order for the album, and have to keep reminding myself that this is my album.  Don’t get me wrong, it certainly sounds like me – it’s very weird and loud.  That’s how I like it.  It’s just so much better than I could have done on my own, so I’m all kinds of appreciative to all the guys who helped out.  I expect the whole thing to be completely wrapped in about a week, and that’s going to be a load off my mind.  Finally, I’ll be free to devote some musical energy and headspace somewhere else – like these new songs I’ve been writing!

Anyway, what this process has shown me more than anything else is I suck at blogging/journaling/diarying/etc.  So sorry about that.  I promise, the album will be more entertaining than this thing.

So, as promised, a mastered track, and one I haven’t shared before.  We’re doing a sampler for PAX again, and this is going to be on there, but I’ll just throw it out there early.  This is called Whore Shoes, and it pretty much got written as it was being recorded.  That’s unlike most of the other songs that were finished and demoed before I even got started.  I’m really pleased with how this turned out.

Whore Shoes

James Moats: vocals
Grant Henry: guitars
Dan Taylor: bass
Kevin Lawrence: drums
featuring Jason ‘XOC’ Cox: accordion, wurlitzer

First off, if you haven’t heard, Xoc just released Xoc Plays Super Mario Brothers 3.  I was lucky enough to contribute some bass tracks to this album, but I’d be pimping it even if I weren’t on it.  It’s pretty fantastic, and it’s only $5.  Go here and get it, I’ll wait for you.  http://www.xocmusic.com/xocplays3.

Ok, you have it now?  Great.  I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed playing on it.

I guess this is as good a time as any to announce another of my special guests: XOC (aka Jason Cox)!  You probably saw that coming.  If you’re at all familiar with his work, you know he’s a multi-instrument wizard and a musical genius.  If you’re not familiar with him, go here and start downloading and listening: http://www.xocmusic.com.  His Super Mario World soundtrack is a masterpiece, and SMB3 is being compared favorably to it.  This pleases me.  It also pleases me that Xoc has contributed several tracks of stuff to my album.  He’s acting as kind of a chaos element, where he’s adding interesting textures and noises using a variety of instruments, including some of his own inventions.  Particularly, I’m talking about an electronic noisemaking thing he calls a “Craparratus” and frankly, I’m tickled to be able to list that in the credits.

Here’s the short version: I got the swine flu at PAX and everything has been crazy since then.

Long version: PAX was fantastic.  In addition to rocking faces, selling a bunch of Varia Suite CDs, and handing out ALL the promo CDs featuring some Yes, Mayhem, I got swine flu and nearly died on the plane ride home.

Hyperbole much?  Well, yes, but in this case not really.  I had a connecting flight from Houston back home, and about 30 minutes out of Houston I noticed that I was no longer looking out the window at the Gulf of Mexico.  We’d turned around.  The pilot came on the intercom to inform us that part of the cooling system had failed, and there was now a 500 degrees centigrade blast of air going directly into the back of the plane, threatening to melt the avionics.  Also they decided to just go ahead and put the landing gear down.  The stewardess said that they did this to conserve fuel, which anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of physics realizes is a lie.  That’s when I started to get scared.  What else were they lying about?  It was a horrible ride back to the airport as the deployed landing gear made the ride very jerky, and there were all sorts of noises which I probably overanalyzed as worse than they were.  I was very glad to be back on the ground.

While we were waiting in Houston for another plane, a lady said to me, “Well, let’s look at the bright side, at least we’re not all dead!”  I responded, “How can you be so sure?”  She looked confused, so I continued, “Being stuck in an airport terminal in Houston sounds a lot like Hell to me.”  Apparently, she was from there, so she wasn’t too amused.  At least she stopped saying stupid things to me.

I eventually did get back home, so all’s well that ends well, I suppose.  Except that I missed almost a week of work and gave my entire family the dreaded H1N1.  I went to the doctor, and the prescribed treatment for low risk cases like me is to go home and get some sleep.  So, that’s what I did.  I think we’ve all managed to get better around here, finally.

Also, one other note about PAX:  I went from being a fan of Jonathan Coulton to developing a disturbing unhealthy obsession with him.  His was one of the absolute best live shows I’ve ever seen and I can’t even believe we played on the same stage.

That’s why there haven’t been any updates around here.  I’ve been a bit indisposed.

I’m in Seattle right now, trying to soak in all that’s happened today.  Metroid Metal is playing the Penny Arcade Expo, and we flew into town, got checked in, got a tour of the facility, met MC Frontalot, saw Gabe and Tycho (though separately, and only walking past – actually, Gabe was running), and then a bunch of other stuff to get ready for the show tomorrow.  The staff here has been absolutely amazing.  We’ve been treated fantastically, and I’m pleased to report that one of my primary metrics for “making it” has been fulfilled: I didn’t have to carry my own gear to the gig.

In addition to all the Metroid Metal stuff going on, there’s also a bit of Yes Mayhem action as well.  Of course, since 3/4 of the core of the band is here, it only stands to reason that this would be so.  We’re handing out sampler CDs with songs from each of our projects.  The two I’ve chosen for the CD, I’ll also link here because they’re meant for anyone to hear to get a sense of what I’ve been doing these many months.  Both of these tracks were mixed by me, but mastered by Grant.

Naked Fight (this is slightly different from the one I posted before – it’s more “final”)

Reliable

Also, as a web-only exclusive preview, I’ll include the other track I was debating.  This one was only sort of mastered by me.

Victim

That’s not on the sampler CD.

So, if you’re visiting as a result of picking up the sampler, welcome and thank you.  The full album will be available soon!

I’m not going to have the album done in time for PAX.  There, I said it.

That’s ok though, because I would have rushed it and wound up with something less than what I wanted.  I’ve still got tracks coming in from several people, so songs which have been sitting around as just drum and bass are starting to take shape.  As a matter of fact, I’ve still got one bass part to touch up.  Now that I’m not limiting myself to the PAX deadline, a couple of songs I thought I might need to drop are back on the table too.

What I will have in time for PAX is a couple of songs for the aforementioned “sampler” that is now a full-on deal.  I’m in charge of putting all this together and making the discs, and I hope to have it done early this week.  These samplers will include two songs from Grant’s upcoming instrumental EP which he hasn’t really talked about very much.  Danimal is contributing songs from his crazy popular “nostalgia celebration” band, Armcannon as well as his original prog band, Weaponex.  Kirby has some tracks from the latest TSS album, and I’m not sure what I’m including yet.  I’m trying to choose from 3 or 4 different songs that are finished at this point.  I just need to finalize the mastering. So basically, we’re putting out another album’s worth of material in addition to Varia Suite at PAX.

Naked Fight is one I thought would be ideal, but it’s been up here for preview for a while now, so it seems kind of cheap to include that one.  I don’ t know yet.  What I do know is when I decide what tracks go on the sampler, I’ll make them available for the general public as well.  We’re only making 200 CDs to take to PAX to give away.  Those will surely be gone quickly, and we’re putting that stuff out so people will be interested in hearing more of what we do, so why limit that to just the rowdies at PAX?

Oh, and I also registered yesmayhem.com and yesmayhem.net the other day.  I’ve got to figure out what to do with those.  I have a couple of ideas.  I also registered a myspace account for yesmayhem.  That seemed like a good idea at the time.

Hopefully, my project isn’t in ashes just yet, but I’m still rising up and getting back at it after my Metroid Metal diversion.  For those of you interested in that (ie, everyone here most likely), that album is done.  I’ve been listening to what’s being called the “final master” and it sounds great.  When it finally drops, it’s going to drop hard.  The first week of September maybe?  I’m not sure.  It’s either right before or right after PAX.  We plan to have copies available there.

I’m in the home stretch now with tracking on my album.  I’ve got just a couple of outstanding tracks I’m waiting for, and as those come in, I’m mixing more.  I gave one of my songs, Tessellating, to James to see if he could add vocals.  That song is a departure for me in that it’s kind of open and loose, and he had a hard time deciding on a vocal melody.  It just so happens that I had an idea for that, so I played it for him on bass and sent it to him.  He came back with, “why don’t you just do that?”  So, that’s what I did.  That song now features a bass solo for almost the entire thing.  A few of the rough mixes I’ve done have featured it a little too prominently, and I’ve got to tone it back.  The sound I went for is pretty Cliff Burton-y, so maybe I should really do it right and completely bury it in the mix.  It’ll be interesting to see how that goes over.

I got in a bass melody mood and that coupled with a sudden nostalgia rush with Michael Jackson’s death caused me to do this (very rough) all-bass cover of “Ben”:  https://www.chunkstyle.net/ben.mp3.