Hey all, I got an idea for a Track 31 to 30 Clubs in 30 Songs. The idea is simple: Wouldn’t it be awesome if I did a very well-known baseball song and got as many people as possible in on it? This is where you, the reader, come into play. Can you sing? Doesn’t matter. If you want to join in on the fun, make the jump and I’ll tell you how.
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music, News
Milwaukee! This is a team/city that offers plenty of potential subjects… before getting to anybody that actually plays there. The commissioner, beer, more beer, tailgating, beer, the all-star game tie, Bob Uecker, beer… the list is immense. My choice: The sausage race! I thought it would be a good idea to pay homage to the original Over-sized Non-Mascot Mascot Race in this tune. The subject matter provided an excuse to use some horrible puns, too!
A bit of a milestone was achieved in this recording: The beginning – another style fake-out, not unlike Florida – marks the first time I have ever recorded an accordion. I played it as well, though I cheated a bit (I used separate tracks to record the two sides) because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with that thing. After the accordion bit, this turned into probably the most manic song so far in the project. It would be a bit of an understatement to say that I’m happy about that development… Please to enjoy!
Up next: Minnesota (Next Friday), New York (The following Tuesday and Friday)
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music
I like this whole “Tuesday and Friday” posting schedule here. HOWEVER, since posting two songs a week would end this project far earlier than it should, I have decided to post some random extra stuff on the weeks where I only post one song. This series of posts, called “Off-Days”, will highlight all sorts of stuff. Different mixes, previews of upcoming songs, music completely unrelated to 30 in 30… it’ll all be in here.
Instead of the usual Off-Days fare like the first three iterations, here’s a brand new recording! Recently, I picked up a nice little condenser microphone (first heard in this project on the vocals for Houston) and wanted to try it on something other than my voice. Combine that with hearing a slow/sad/acoustic version of the first Chicago song in my head and I had myself an excuse to goof off one afternoon and post the results here. So… here it is! Chicago, Part 1, reduced to its bare essentials – Intro, chorus, ending. Consider it a reprise, if you will.
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music, Off-Days
It’s Los Angeles week! Like Chicago, LA gets two songs for its two teams. The second song is for the NL team, who moved cross-country in the late 1950s and maintains a rich history and a solid fanbase… even if it doesn’t look like it when their home games start. I have nothing against the team – for the record, VIN SCULLY IS THE MAN – but I couldn’t resist writing about the fans’ reputation of arriving late and leaving early…
I initially wasn’t sure where to go in terms of music with this one. Call it an option paralysis sorta thing – So many good choices for LA-based music that I couldn’t decide! Luckily, the decision was made clear after spending some time thinking about the team. Something about them seems “stuck in the ’80s” to me for some odd reason, so I channeled my inner Van Halen (without the green M&Ms, sadly) and went arena rock/hair metal. Aaawww yeah… If I only had the high tenor voice and/or the synthesizer – then it REALLY could have been authentic! Either way, I’m quite pleased with the results. Enjoy!
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music
It’s Los Angeles week! Like Chicago, LA gets two songs for its two teams. The first song is for the AL/geographically confused team that plays in Orange County. I’ve always kinda liked them in some strange way, to be honest… but four geographical name changes? That’s just nuts.
Musically, this one was a no-brainer. When I started this whole project, I knew I wanted to channel The Vandals as much as possible in this song. In the end, I came up with (I think) a pretty good chorus, a song that’s almost too fast, a couple of jokes, and some fun times with the arrangement. I’m really happy with the results and I hope you enjoy it.
Up next: Los Angeles, Part 2 (Friday), Milwaukee (Next Friday)
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music
You have to feel for a team like Kansas City. They’ve been good before and they have a cool friggin’ ballpark (I’d love to see a game there some time. Granted, I’d love to see every major league ballpark, but STILL…), and a few hall-of-famers have spent some quality time there (George Brett, anyone?). BUT, the team has fallen on some pretty hard times lately – like, say, the entire last decade – and they’ve been stuck in the lower echelon of their league. It’s kinda sad, really.
For this tune, I decided to take the pop-punk/emo/strange breakdown route. This may seem like an odd match, but when you consider the whole emo thing is sorta like that team – gets a far worse rap than most of it is, and usually dismissed without experience – it starts to make sense. Sure, there are a lot of crappy emo bands – just like there were a lot of bad Kansas City teams in recent history – but it’s not ALL bad (Also worth noting: The Get Up Kids are from Kansas City). As the last line in the chorus says: “We can’t always be this bad.” Enjoy!
Up next: Los Angeles (Part 1 Tuesday, Part 2 Next Friday)
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music
I like this whole “Tuesday and Friday” posting schedule here. HOWEVER, since posting two songs a week would end this project far earlier than it should, I have decided to post some random extra stuff on the weeks where I only post one song. This series of posts, called “Off-Days”, will highlight all sorts of stuff. Different mixes, previews of upcoming songs, music completely unrelated to 30 in 30… it’ll all be in here.
As one might be able to tell from listening to Cincinnati, I really like Dethklok. Its music is the near-perfect definition of “over the top.” So, when the “When In Doubt” rule kicked in for this one (When in doubt, go fast and/or heavy), I decided to bust out the ol’ 7-string guitar and get ridiculously evil. The result: A recording that, in the middle section, features six guitar tracks going at once. Here is that bit again, without vocals.
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music, Off-Days
This tune here practically wrote itself. Music, melodies, harmonies, subject matter… it all came together quite naturally. The “local flavor” was a no-brainer: Houston rock is ZZ Top and King’s X first and foremost. Both bands hit pretty hard and groove like crazy, but I leaned far more towards King’s X in the song’s details (Drop-D tuning, three-part vocal harmonies). Nothing against ZZ Top – they’re friggin’ great – but King’s X is one of my favorite bands, so they kinda took precedence, you know?
In terms of the subject matter: This team is bad. Really bad. They weren’t always this bad – they won an NL pennant just five years ago! However, they seem to be still using the blueprint on building their team from 2005… and unfortunately for them, Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio are not walking through that door anytime soon. I wrote these lyrics with this in mind… though in retrospect, I should’ve thrown in a line about Biggio getting plunked. Anyways, enjoy!
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music
As a baseball fan, I’m conflicted when it comes to Florida. On one hand, they’re a young team with loads of potential to do some serious damage in the NL. But on the other hand, the way the team has been run in most of its history – crying poverty and holding fire sales after both championships, holding the area hostage for a new stadium a few years after the same owner killed the Montreal Expos – bothers me to no end. Oh well – gotta take the bad with the good, I suppose. This track “won” the poor attendance lyric line I had from day one: “Come to the ballpark, get a row to yourself.”
Musically, I was stumped on this one for a little while… until I discovered that one of the best prog-metal bands on the planet – CYNIC – was formed in Miami. Sooo… a little mambo at the beginning mixed with some math metal and we’re good to go! This was a serious challenge to put together, but the end result is definitely worth it for me. Please to enjoy the weirdness.
Next up: Houston (Friday), Kansas City (Next Friday)
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music
Detroit is a city with a rich and fascinating pop music history. But, when it came time to write this song, a band not from the area was the first one to pop up in my mind. Why, you ask? The answer is quite simple – “Detroit Rock City.” So, I went for a Kiss-style sound on this one (For the record, Kiss formed in New York). I would’ve channeled Alice Cooper (who actually is from Detroit), but baseball really isn’t all that creepy/spooky to begin with…
The song is mainly about the big tiger statue right outside one of the entrances to the stadium, with the phrase “party in the park” (that was the first written lyric) littered all over the chorus. I recorded this tune in a manner of hours and I like the raw feel here. It accentuates the party vibe to me – loud, raucous, and only here to have a good time.
Next up: Florida (Tuesday), Houston (Next Friday)
Posted in 30 Clubs in 30 Songs, Music
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