Category Archives: The Football Project

Last week’s tune was a bit of fun, wasn’t it? Well, as a result, I’m now writing music ahead of schedule. Thanks to this development, I can tell you for sure that the next couple weeks are gonna be pretty crazy. But before we dive headfirst into that, Here’s a song where we can just kinda turn our brains off and rock out.

Musically, there’s not much to talk about here – just the fact that I like The Vandals. So, what about the words? Well, football fans have many things to be thankful for. The game itself, mute buttons, the many opportunities to wander into the kitchen and grab a snack without missing a play… all sorts of stuff! This song is an ode to perhaps the greatest invention in the history of football fandom and/or dormitory life: The Mini-fridge. That little guy you keep in the garage/basement/living room and stock with beverages (adult and otherwise). You don’t really need it, but it’s so nice to have around… Enjoy this week’s tune (preferably with a drink you just took out of that mini-fridge) and I’ll see you next week.

C’mere, You Big Lug

Happy Halloween! This week’s tune is an homage to the greatest/dumbest Halloween song of all time. That song, of course, is “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett. I took the music to that song, transposed it up a step and a half (for the guitars, that meant putting a capo on fret 3) and swapped out the third chord. In order to get a more ’60s-style sound, I used fewer microphones on the drums and pushed them back in the mix.

So, what was I gonna write about? Well, this one was simple. Instead of monsters suddenly dancing for whatever reason, this time they all get together and play a big ol’ football game. They played to a tie and partied afterwards (as a finishing touch, I mentioned Mr. Pickett by name in the last verse). Cue the fadeout. Have a great holiday and I’ll see you next Wednesday.

Special thanks to the people that joined me as the monster party at the end: Rob Klingenberger, Sarah Peangatelli, Robbie Ellis, Adam Donnelly, Jacqie Young, Kate Begy, and Steve Begy.

Monster Bowl XIII

Most musicians tend to wear their influences on their sleeves. Those influences make themselves known in a number of ways, be it chord choices, melodic phrasings, or rhythmic ideas (besides asking them, “Hey, what are your influences?”). If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you will certainly know that I’m no exception. Let’s face it – I’ve flat-out parodied bands in a few cases. In fact, this song is an unintentional band parody… but in this case, I kid because I love.

The band in question this time: Meshuggah. Their influence on me has crept up a few times in the past, but this song makes it clear as day. Specifically, “Destroy Erase Improve” is one of my top 20 metal albums. The method I used to create that disjointed feel was quite simple: I took some really basic rhythms and moved them so that they all start on the off-beat instead of the downbeat. Simple, yet deceptive.

Lyrically: We’ve all been there. In fact, we’re usually there on a weekly basis. Watching a game, trying to enjoy it, but the commentary and “analysis” is so wretched that it distracts us from the actual game and makes us want to mute the TV and/or stab our eardrums with a spork. Clearly, since there’s so much bad commentary out there, it must be a far tougher job than it looks. Incidentally, the bits of analysis in the verses were improvised. I have no idea how many times I said “football” during those takes…

It’s Tougher Than It Looks

Programming Note 1: Holy crap! This is the 100th post on this blog! How fun is that?! Thank you again for reading/listening/sticking with me.

Programming Note 2: Next week’s tune will be released on Halloween, not the following Wednesday.

The foundation for this week’s tune was hatched as I was listening to last week’s track fade out. That one faded out on a G chord, so why not fade in on a G chord this week? OK, so there’s the first 10-15 seconds… now what?! That was when I decided to take a different route entirely. Instead of another batch of prog-metal (but don’t worry, it’ll be back), I went old school, set the death growls aside, and churned out a nice little slab of groove rock complete with The Hendrix Chord. I was happy with the results, but it needed just one more thing…

What was that thing? Well, I can’t really be trusted with a guitar solo in this style, so I called my friend Robbie Ellis. He was willing to assist, so I wandered over to his place last night… and he recorded his solo parts (2:35-2:46, 2:56-3:17) in one take (He’s a professional, kids – don’t try this at home)! That was the extra kick the song needed.

Lyrically, most sports fans can relate to this one. Everything but the chorus is in the guise of a mopey guy watching his favorite team play really poorly. The chorus is his friend essentially telling him “Shut up, it’s football.” Sing along!

Grab your beer and a bag of chips and the nearest TV tray / You complain now but you’ll miss it before we even hit May

Enjoy and I’ll see you next week.

No, Team, No!

Well, last week was a fun little deviation, wasn’t it? Now back to actual songs. I can’t promise a track like that won’t happen again, though…

This week, a return to both more standard song structures (with some exceptions) and more melodic fare. I had been inspired by a band called Red Seas Fire for this one, so I do what they did and went to Drop-A tuning (yay seven-string guitars). Hadn’t done that in quite a while…

As one can guess by the title, the lyrics to this tune are from a crazed fan’s perspective, seemingly willing his/her team to win by yelling at the TV. Does it work? No, not really, but it’s worth a shot, right? We’ve all yelled at our TVs at some point in our lives, myself included. Nothing to be ashamed of – just kinda goofy, that’s all. Anyways, enjoy and I’ll see you next week… with perhaps a guest guitar solo…

Trying to Affect an Outcome With Your Very Mind

This week’s tune sprung from an idea I had the instant I decided to do this project. I couldn’t help but notice that there’s a lot of both yelling and downtime in football, so here’s a song vaguely having to do with both! This tune’s length represents a rough average of time it takes between the end of one play and the beginning of the next (based on timing a bunch of these moments earlier this season). The evil death metal voice is the coach going crazy on his “troops” while the other voice at the end is the quarterback.

In terms of the music… Well, 30 Clubs in 30 Songs really showed me just how much you can throw in to a song in less than 2 minutes, cramming a bunch of riffs into 35 seconds didn’t seem like much of a problem… Otherwise, this is me channeling my inner Dillinger Escape Plan. They’ve been an influence for a while, but it’s rarely more apparent than it is here. Either way, this tune is not for the faint of heart but was a lot of fun to put together.

What The Hell Was That?!

This week, a bit of a change of pace. I’m a fan of really dark sounding pop songs – not necessarily minor keys, but have that feel to them anyway – and I thought I’d try my hand at it. This one was mostly inspired by The Dear Hunter and Porcupine Tree for sure. I couldn’t resist the heavy bridge, though…

Lyrically, I guess it’s vaguely about the fact that my local football team (Buffalo Bills) finally defeated a division rival for the first time in seven years this week. Otherwise, I’m not really sure what this is about, but that’s half the fun, right? Anyways, please to enjoy and I’ll see you next week with something that promises to be drastically different.

Finally

Yes, I meant it. A new song every week for the regular football season… and here’s week two! The lyrical concept behind the song is a little obvious when you glance at the title. It’s a guy who, two weeks in, is already panicking about his favorite team and/or fantasy team because they’re not 2-0 on the season. They’ve lost at least one game, so HOLY CRAP SOMETHING’S WRONG! Hilarity ensues. Oh yeah – the guy in the bridge is every person in existence’s response to hearing somebody else talk about their fantasy football team.

Musically, this one was tough but ultimately worth the headaches and the hassle. A couple o’ prog riffs (especially the polyrhythmic kind) and a groove metal chorus should do the trick just fine, but I knew I wanted the latin break in there before I even started writing. Why? Well… ’cause. If you’ve been following my blog, you might recognize the instrumentation from something I posted a while back. It’s a different pattern, but the same three objects. Enjoy! And I’ll see you next week.

Is It Too Early to Panic?