The Bloody Hams

Sleepless North of Seattle

2005-04-25T11:03:00.001-07:00

That’s a lie, I actually did sleep, but I shouldn’t have because I ended up finishing the mix at the last moment this morning.

Done.

I had to send it in before I was happy with it, so I have a bunch of complaints about the levels / tone of the mix. Steve has already been my shoulder to cry on, so I’m done griping about it. I wish I could have added some more thingies to the mix, but it turns out that was not to be. Tom, your drums and bass were both killer. The mix sounded so good even when they were all I had. Steve, your guitars are great, and your harmonizing hummings totally made the song. Ken, way to go with the vocals, and thanks for checking your PMs and responding to my 3am musical requests. And a round of applause to Jason for writing a kickass song with an extra kickass chorus.

I’m off to brew up a gallon of coffee.

Status Report

2005-04-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's where we are right now, as of about 5:30 PM PST. Leaf's drum tracks are uploading to my server right now and Adam should have the ftp info to get them, otherwise i'll post the links here. I just spoke to Ken on the phone and he is working on the vox and has a guitar track too. I gave him a copy of the mp3 that jason sings on to synch to, but it would be helpful to have one without jason's singing in it. Adam, any chance you could give us a rough mix that Ken and I can both use to sing to?

damn, these things get complicated. :)

blog rights

2005-04-24T00:29:00.000-07:00

all of you guys now have administrator rights so you should be able to edit posts, etc.

tracks

2005-04-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

i'll upload the 4 tracks i did tonight and send puce the links. also, who's singing this? bolio? ken? me? i wouldn't mind doing some harmony vocals.

Finally

2005-04-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Updated lead sheet *new & improved with LYRICS*

http://home.comcast.net/~jbolish5565/aa.xls

And I threw a vocal 'sample' (use the term lightly) on for you. Think it flows pretty well. It's a basis anyway for your interpretation.

http://home.comcast.net/~jbolish5565/aa.mp3

Oh my...

2005-04-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

You guys aren't going to belive this, but I was looking at our blog and pressed the "next blog" link up in the right hand corner and the next blog was... http://superpornstars.blogspot.com/ !!!

Rockstars and Pornstars next to each other!

Be well,
Ken

Eine Kleine A and A

2005-04-22T01:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so i did some recording with this tonight and posted a rough mix. here's a link to it. keep in mind that the stuff i did was intentionally mixed high to emphasize it so you could hear it easy enough.

http://www.jackshite.com/music/stash/bloodyhams/hamsroughmix.mp3

i did 4 guitar tracks.

track 1: tremelo guitar in verse panned slightly left
track 2: overdriven rhythym guitar during chorus/loud section panned slight left
track 3: overdriven lead in chorus/loud section panned slight right
track 4: acoustic guitar in verse panned slightly right

anyways, let me know what you think.

-js

Fresh Ham

2005-04-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

A new thread for a new track.

Possible New Slice

2004-11-29T13:18:00.000-08:00

there's a rumour going around that there may be another slice of bloody ham in the near future. any thoughts?

"the missing soundboards"

2004-09-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

that could be one way to describe it. so keep in mind that the guitar track i added is just for show and not really what i'd play. my thoughts would be to have leaf record his bass to the mix and get a good clean drums and bass to work with. then have puce record his guitar, and maybe even an overdub on the vox if he wants to drop another dub low in the mix. then bolio and i could add something to that, and if ken wanted to add to his drums he could too. the real challenge would be to maintain the appearance of a live board mix, a good one but not overdo the studio aspect of it. i think "so many possibilities" is an ideal candidate for the first song to try. i think gwp could also be a good one to clean up too. as well as "let it be". maybe if we can get enough cleaned up tracks, we make a CD a stick on homemade music or something. that could be fun.

anyhow, here's my rough remix:

http://www.jackshite.com/music/stash/bloodyhams/tasmpremixed.mp3

-js

Is it live or is it........

2004-09-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

a cool project idea. i'm sure you guys have heard glenn's mp3s and bless his heart for making them and recording them but they sound like ass. unadulterated ass. it's certainly not his fault at all. the mp3s are 64k mono and the mic sounds like it was sitting next to the floor monitor/drum kit and all you really hear are drums, vocals, and an occasional fill from bolio. so here's my idea. we remix some of these tracks and overdub our parts in. kens drumming is pretty spot on, as are the vox for the most part. we could all overdub our parts, drown them in reverb, and mix in with the live mix. i've been known to fake a live mix a time or 2....

as a sort of test, i took puce's "so many possibilities" and added a new guitar track (as mine is nonexistent on the mix) for kicks to see what it might sound like. anyone want to here my remix?

-js

The Bloody Hams conquer Seattle & Songfight!

2004-09-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say it was a complete and utter blast to hang out with you guys this weekend. Great job on winning this week's fight too, i mean really, we did have the BEST FUCKING SONG THIS WEEK ANYWAYS!

So i hope that we can continue to do more Bloody Hams collabs in the future on an irregular basis, and i'm really looking forward to the next Bloody Hams reunion show....you guys absolutely rock!

-js

on the road

2004-09-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Ken and I are getting to ready to hit the road for Seattle soon. Leaf, call me later today, anytime to chat. If my cell is out of range, i'll call you back.

-js

Woo Woo Hoo Surfin USA

2004-09-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be a fun one to do also. Almost belongs as the last song (encore?) where we go off at the end adding solo upon solo upon solo until they have to drag us off the stage.

Notes del bolio

2004-09-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

HEY going through stuff like crazy. GREAT selection of songs. I've never heard "Dirty Chucks" before, but it could be the best song I've heard from SF. I'm trying to learn all these songs but I keep goin' back to that one... I think I have a good grasp of all the songs, you'll have to let me know in practice exactly what you want me to play on each song. I'd love to be driving out where I could bring my keyboards & have everything programmed ahead of time. But I don't mind a challenge!

-Jason

Thoughts on setlist

2004-09-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

first thought, too many songs. I thought adam offered to drop dirty chucks, and we can ixnay one of mine if need be. but do the math, 11 songs at an average of 4 minutes per (remember, this is live.....) is 45 minutes, about 10 minutes too long. i'd say cut 3 from leafs list, 2 at the very least. and i don't mind if one is mine.

oh, and for what it's worth leaf, i've been singing "gift with purCHESS" all friggin day. bastard. don't change anything. you were right.

-js

In Summary my good sire....

2004-09-08T22:47:00.000-07:00

Ok. First off... things (as in the shit) hit the fan a bit for me this week... work feels like a lost cause, like I'm out the door soon... (a downtime in a plant always brings this feelng....) and our lead player quit the cover band, so I had to spend today and yesterday finding a replacement for the friday after Seattle... fucking pain... the new guy's a good friend, but he can be particular about silly shit like "your bass tone on this section of this tune is...." waste of a pub band's time stuff... I hope it works out... now I'm listening to our tunes, and I thought I 'd post a summary set list... clarify if you would...

Little Pig
Third String
Gift With PurCHESS (seriously, if it's retarded... I'll change it... or not.. I dunno talkstamongstyerselfs.....

Talk About Your Feelings
Let It Be

Dirty Chucks
I want To Get Better
There are So Many Possibilities

Foam Rubber Girl
Unless I Change My Mind
Gonna Be Your Man

This looks good to me.... comments....

Spud

2004-09-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

so i finally caught up with our man spud in the IRC earlier today and he informed me that he will be sending everyone an email concerning directions to barn, contact info, etc. this way we can all coordinate a time and place to meet, such as the studio on saturday night. jason, you'll probably be there before any of the rest of us. i talked to spud about a 7:30pm start time on saturday, we can all meet there.

i also mentioned the idea that if someone comes up with an arrangement and lyrics before saturday, we could always record a live 2 track bloody hams songfight for this week. or not. it's certainly not and shouldn't be a priority. but it could be fun if there's time.

-js

wah's up?

2004-09-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.jackshite.com/music/stash/bloodyhams/libmix.mp3

TIMES ETC

2004-09-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

Since I'm going to Seattle to also do other things, it would help to know exactly when practice is, to schedule my time accordingly.

Thanks
-Jason

Talk about your feelings....

2004-09-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

or at the very least, post the changes here so i don't have to waste too much time trying to figure it out, or like i was doing with "let it be" playing it wrong. i've pretty much got let it be nailed at this point. started working on third string and tasmp.

adam: the riff you are interested in me playing is the one over the chorus? if not, let me know.

oh, and on my songs, if you guys want to harmonize high over some of my tunes, that would be great. especially, the beach boy chorus on GBYM.

great tune this week too guys. don't feel bad voting for each other. i won't.

-js

Blogs are Fun

2004-09-07T16:22:00.001-07:00

How do I log in as myself in this Blog? Or do you Blog in? I am very computer literate, but I'm equally lost here.

ANYWAY as I mentioned in another post somewhere, I would suggest replacing my 2nd song 'Spirit World' with the song I covered for the coverfight 'Talk About Your Feelings.' It would be more stage friendlier fun & it's courtesy of Ken anyway.

Loyalty Day:

Bolio Version:

Let it be tab updates

2004-09-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks Jason. very helpful.

-js

Mistaken 3rdstring tab

2004-09-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

Whoops. That fourth chord, in the first tab for the intro, should just be a dm7, no open high e string!!!! worry...

hey Jack, can Bolio's other picture be easily inserted in the header? Just a thought....

The lead player of our pub band opted out... gave me a week's notice... what a tit.... so now I gotta find a lead player for friday the 17th... fucker... could have given me some time, and he knew I was getting ready for this show...

anyway... having fun learning all the tunes... I got most dialed in except Jason's but that should come by tonight.. still haven't gotten my octorthorpe tunes 100% though... awell... onwards....

Sorry Ken, I didn't get my shit together on the collab until Sat. night, then I flat out forgot to pm you in case you wanted to add on to it... I had this intention of trying to write something for this week's fight tonight... we'll see if I do, and if I do if anyone wants in on it... or if someone else wants to start something tonight, say so, I'd love to play bass on it!!! It' d be cool to get a tune with each of us playing a part akin to our show... whatever whatever...

later...

Bolio - Let it Be arrangement

2004-09-07T01:43:00.000-07:00

Jason: I've been working on this a bit and had some ideas and questions. One idea I have is to play this wah riff over the verse (c and i think b flat?). i've been playing it over your mix and it sounds pretty good. the other stuff i can play pretty cleanly. one question i have is on the next riff, the progression is b/c#/d/c#/b/c# then ? what does it resolve on? the chorus (g/d/bm/a) is killer. i'm really liking this tune and looking forward to practicing it saturday. it has a great steely dan/phish feel to it.

leaf: i've also been working on third string a bit too. i'm guessing the verses are the reggae riff over a dmin7 and a gmaj7? or is that wrong? and i've been playing around with this little lick to play during the chorus, where you play that looping bass line. oh, and whats the changes during the chorused/andy summers guitar part? i guess i could go look on your blog...

puce: i've listened to tasmp a number of times but i haven't had a chance to tune one of my guitars to drop d yet so i haven't worked on it much. but i will. leaf mentioned you might have wanted me to play some riff so that it would be easier for you to sing...

-js

Please Stop Lacing Your Guitar Tracks With Nicotine, Tom!

2004-09-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I am addicted to this song. I am most likely biased.

I started to completely warp and mangle the song, but then I realized that I may be the cook who would make it "too many cooks". Instead I kept the original structure and just dropped parts in and out. I also added a few easter eggs in there. Every track I was sent (Except for Jack's percussion track. Sorry Jack) made it into the song one way or another. I have not double checked the mix on other speakers, so I'm not sure if the bass/kick/vocal levels are correct. Also my ears are very tired, so this could sound terrible.

Bolio: I artificially widened the seperation on the piano, so it might sound strange.

Jack: I mangled the mandolin. It's in there, but it sounds like percussion.

Leaf: I did not recompress and re-re-verb your vocals because a) your reverb sounds better than mine, and b) I couldn't preserve the vocal dynamics using my compresser.

Grab It Here!

Gift of the Madguy

2004-09-06T02:12:00.000-07:00

Hey, glad you got the files ok Adam. I spoke to Tom tonight for a couple hours too and feel pretty good about the set. I also mentioned that it would be cool to bust out "Gift with Purchase" as one of the songs at the show. that would be cool. I guess it's also up to leaf and if he feels like he could sing it too. I think ken could nail those drums pretty easy though for that song.

never mind the buttocks, here come the bloody hams!

-js

Up-Late Update

2004-09-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

First of all, great work everyone on Gift With Purchase! It's all so good I don't know where to begin. Well, it's late (and I've had too much coffee) so lets all cross our fingers and see what happens. Plus I'm road-hypnotized after driving back from a practicing at Leaf's place. Tom has a lot of talent and a lot of patience, and after hanging out with him I'm convinced Seattle is gonna be a blast.

On to mixing.

Gift With Purchase

2004-09-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Puce: I sent you my tracks via IM Dumbrella. Hope you got them.

Leaf: Great tune, especially with such a quick turnaround. hilarious lyrics and idea. guitar and drums really solid too d00d. hope i didn't muck it up too bad...

-js

yello

2004-09-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

...........waiting to be leaf's bitch............

Tabs and such...

2004-09-03T13:44:00.001-07:00

Well, I specifically took the day off work today, and I’m having a four day week end!! My agenda is:
1) finish my tabs and load them up! (I found a neat demo program at download.com called tabedit… sweet and easy to use, except I can’t save anything!! So, I’m using screenshots pasted to a photo editor… fun though…
2) Write half a song, and then I’m gonna load up an mp3 of what I got so far…I’m gonna lay down bass and vocals, and I’ll do drums if you do not have time Ken, however, you, and anyone is free to laydown what ever you wish… I’ll keep it simple, a verse, chorus and bridge structure… and then if ya’ll could give me links by Sunday morning, I could download your tracks. My preference for collab work is to get individual .wavs or mp3’s of high quality of the tracks, so for example if you did two vocals, a guitar and a kazoo , I’d love to get those each as an individual track, the same length as the original of course! So I can line it up… however, if this is too time consuming to prepare, other options are doable, as in you just giving me a stereo mix… anyway… It’s been a tough and busy week, so I had to ditch today’s work to get this stuff happening!
3) Learn Octothorpe drum parts and your guys tunes today. Fortunately, and take this however ya want, but I have a very quick rentention level for song parts, so It’s gonna be fine…
4) Find out how you all feel about my tunes. I’m getting an implicit vibe that perhaps they are gonna be difficult to do… do you guys feel confident that you’re gonna enjoy doing them? I’m open to suggestions.

I’ve often found that a strong start and finish to a short set is what frames an audience’s view of a band, and as long as the meat in between is tasty , everything is good.
For me, and perhaps others, performance is a major mindfuck if you are not confident in the opinions of the other players. Here are my honest opinions of the players we have (I know they look like reviews, and maybe they are, but this is my view, so thus “re-view”….):

Oh yeah, jack, I got a picture from Bolio (Jason) for the banner...not sure why he hasn't posted here yet!! Here's the picture address:http://home.comcast.net/~jbolish5565/bolio.jpg

GO HERE FOR THIRD STRING tabs:http://leaf62.blogspot.com/

But is bacon a Leafy green vegetable?

2004-09-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

yo Leafster...work anything up for this week's SF collab? just curious....

-js

Bacon Is A Vegetable

2004-09-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

Alright, it's time to vote some songs off this island. Jack, you predicted an 8 song set. Right now we have 12 songs (actually, eleven), which means that something's gotta be cut. I volunteer my Brown Boxes as first to the chopping block. Why? It's a downer, it's too serious, a little hard to sing (because it's so serious the vocals probably have to be in tune), and I'm having a really hard time putting it into a playable arrangement. I say we should focus on upbeat stuff and lose that mopey song. If anyone else has any ideas for chop-able tracks do tell.

Jack, we should talk guitar. If you really can't post comments here (pssst... ditch Safari and install Firefox) then I'll PM you and we'll chat.

per Ken's comments......

2004-08-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

about my tunes: that's fine. i like the social D pub tune take on it just fine. i figure we can hash it out on saturday but i don't mind just doing an acoustic accompaniment to them, a la beck "jackass" style

about mini sets: yeah, thats most likely the best idea. we'll each have to carry our tunes but we can go in order and do them together. probably a good idea.

arrangements: i do like the idea of messing with arrangements. like maybe on my GBYM, 2 of you guys drop out and just do the beach boy harmonies, or something like that.

btw....for some reason, i can't seem to comment on the blog. i think it's a mac issue. that's why i always start new posts.

headphones blasting

2004-08-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

Burned a CD with all the tracks today. I'm still figuring out who is who, but here are some initial thoughts...

Jack: I don't like the slow metal version of (i think) Unless I Change My Mind. The original is way better. I think we should leave it an upbeat pub tune ala Ball and Chain by Social D. Same with Foam Rubber and Gonna Be Your Man.

Bolio: Good stuff. Should be fine as it is.

Leaf62: I think we should play mini-sets of one person at a time, and you should go first.

Puce: Is your stuff the heavy electronic song? I think this one should be done Karoake style with people playing along. That might be as far as I got on my walk to work this morning.

Overall, I think it will be a fun set. Lot's of good stuff.

Be well,
Ken

Has anyone seen my Grey Poupon?

2004-08-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

any chance that maybe leaf and bolio can post some chord charts/cheat sheets for their tunes? leaf, i know you posted some info about one tune but nothing about third string i think. bolio, haven't seen anything from you, but i like your stuff. you get some nice keyboard stuff working there. i got puce's updated tab. i can post mine if it's needed.

yeah, leaf, if you want to take the bull by the nads and work something up by thursday for the fight, i'd be up for whatever. i'll think about it too. but i'm happy to be your bitch this week......

-js

I AM A FULL FLEDGED CONTRIBUTOR!!

2004-08-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks Ken, I'm in....

I'm up for a cover fight... I was thinking, what if I sent a bass line and some vocal/lyrical stuff, say on Thurs., via wav. files, and then could we all lay down some tracks? I use Cubase, and prefer mixing with wavs, but high quality mp3's could do the trick... what ever.. the game is afoot. I'll see what I can do, and post a link here to a stero mix... then we'll see where it goes from there... hey, haven't heard much from Bolio yet... you still in the picture??

Ken, I'm gonna have to see your qualifications man... like that was ever in question!!!! Speaking of which, obviously that's not really Bolio in the banner.... but you all got cooler photos... I need a digital camera....

Ms. Piggy.

A thought for the Canucks

2004-08-30T23:57:00.000-07:00

If you guys get together to practice, think about what you might like the rest of us to be doing while you guys are doing your thing on your songs, like what sort of guitar riffs i might be playing, or bolio might be playing. take some notes and post here if you could, or even record a rough mix, it could be 1 or 2 track live of what you come up with. then, we can listen and practice a bit. thanks!

-jacques

hey, you guys like my banner?

songfight

2004-08-30T23:49:00.000-07:00

we should do a songfight collab this week. who feels up for whipping up an arrangement w/lyrics? is the world ready for the bloody hams? first one that works something up gets to make the others his bitches.

-jacques

Hello. My name is.........

2004-08-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Steve. but you may call me Jack. Or Jacques. Or Steve-O. or dumbshit when i mess up your song. and Ken is indeed, his real name.

Listening pleasures

2004-08-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is leaf. So, I got a blog name, and how the fuck do I become a "contributor" like Ken ??? Anyway, all that aside, I'm sure most of us are coverfighting our asses off, but I had some comments I'd like to HAMmer through to ya'll, in the spirit of team building, and cause I'm like that, and cause we need a new post here!!!

So, I've got a cd with all twelve songs on it, (with Jacques two new mixes, and Puce, did you replace those tracks, or did this computer do what my home one wouldn't? I dunno) So, I'm listening and there are some cool thematic similiarities, namely ADD and Booze.... interesting!!

Ken's point about playing the songs as it comes naturally is perfect. For a gig like this, it's totally unrealistic to try and adhere to one artist's version, however, I do think that a stylistic and melodic attempt should be made... ya know, play the guts of the tune, but don't worry about nuances, fills, leads, etc. Ken, you asked about switching it up... in all honesty, I'm pretty keen on playing bass on all these, as long as your cool with that. I know where your coming from , I think, it's nice to show that other side of yourself as a drummer, and I am getting to drum with OCTOTHORPE. Are you getting the chance to do some melody playing with anyone else? If we had more time, I would be totally game for it.. and who knows? What does everyone else think? Bolio I think, from listening, that some of the melodic runs from dizzy spells in the chorus (harmonic minor riffs) should be tackled by you... Basically, I'm starting to get to know your guys tunes.. Jack, I love your stuff, good tunes, I suspect they will be the ones to gel us together, great stories to them, and feel. I'm looking forward to this like I'm going to Mecca, cept I'm not a Muslim, or Jewish or whatever... but Songfight is certainly, in some ways, religious for me, cept it's free..

I have to tell myself on occasion "Don't work it up beyond the reality that it's a sunday night gig!!!! Don't hype yourself out!!" .... seriously, I'm quite grounded on it, It is normal for ME to be excited about new stimuli, the whole adult ADD thing...

Anyway, I'm gonna supply my chords and riffs later on this week,(weednesday night at the latest) as coverfight is dominant right now!!! I hope there is some decent titles this week, I need to songfight too!

Puce, are we still on for Saturday or Sunday?

Is Ken your real name? ARe we gonna call each other Bolio and Leaf or are we gonna break down and reveal our real names??? What is the etiquette on this stuff anyway???

I'm spent.

New Shitey Mixes are Up!

2004-08-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

I posted a couple new mixes I made last night. Basically, it's just me doing guitar and vox. No click track because I'm not so much trying to lock down exact arrangement/bpm I'm looking for but to give you guys an idea how I'd want to play it if I have to sing over it. A sort of tempo guide. Anyways, here's 2 of them. The last one I'll get up tomorrow.
Gonna be your man
Unless I change my mind
-jacques

Identities

2004-08-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

first of all, hey ken! second, i think if you other guys sign up for a blogger account, you can just post under a different name, like he did. no big deal if you don't want to mess with that but at least sign your post so we know who's oinkin!

-jacques jambon

WASSSUUUUUP!?!?!?!?!

2004-08-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

hey All,

I joined on my own, so I can post and stuff.

Spud is worried that some of the hams aren't 21 years of age or older. We are playing at a bar, so you have to be 21 to get in. Let him know that you are okay?

I'm down to play whatever. Charts are helpful if you want me to play a melodic instrument. I'll start listening to stuff soon, but I have to finish my coverfight stuff first.

See you all soon.

Be well,
Ken

Please don't call me Ken

2004-08-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

I emailed Ken the blog info again and pleaded with him to prove that he's not just a figment of my imagination that I'm trying to sell you guys. Hopefully, he'll come around soon.

-Jacques Jambon

listening to tracks

2004-08-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I've started really getting into the tracks today... It'll be interesting to see how our different styles will blend together... I think it'll work out pretty good. Puce, I couldn't get your songs to burn to a cd, cause they are all at 48 k. Jack, if I learn the back up vocals to your tunes, should I learn the high parts or the low parts? Bolio, that bass line on let it be is gonna be fun to play! Also, for the lead on dizzy spells,I talked to the guy (Duffy) who did the lead, and he's given me some ideas to pass on for a cool sounding but easy way of doing it.
I'm gonna have to assemble cheatsheets and such this weekend, after I finish my cover fight. If anyone would like "karaoke tracks" (everything but the part your gonna play)_ let me know, and I'll mix those off this weekend... or another way is to send the individual part soloed, a full mix (which we all got already) and a Karaoke track. Just ideas.
One thing that I believe is very important is to not confuse modesty with honesty. What I mean is that most musicians (and so far we've all reflected this) tend to undersell ability in the name of modesty. Well, we can't afford that!! So, we should be honest about what we can and truely cannot do...

Are we gonna modify tunes, for example, add drums and bass to songs that don't currently have them, alter arragenemetns, etc? Nice, how I spelt arrangement, eh, how appropriate...

Can you tell how freakin excited am I ????
These are my thoughts...

Leaf, the canadianbackbacon.

Puce song update: Now with EXTRA playability!

2004-08-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hello hello. As you may or may not have noticed, my guitar tab has been transposed to drop-D tuning. Also:

Leaf: In each song (except I Want To Get Better) the bass plays the root note of each chord (same timing, and obviously down an octave). If you have any trouble making out the bassline on IWTGB I'll tab it out. Also, being the experienced bass player that you are, if you have any modifications you'd like to make to the bass don't hesitate.

Jack: I have no problems playing most of my songs in a little clump to prevent wasting the audience's time. Dirty chucks can be played in standard tuning. I still have no idea how we are going to split guitar duties, but I will put on my thinking cap. Be warned: thinking is boring, so my thinking cap often becomes my sleeping cap.

Ken: All these songs have programmed drums. I am completely ignorant to the restrictions of live drumming (like having two hands, or not being able to hit three toms at the same time). It is my intention to provide click tracks soon; any input or recommendations would be appreciated.

BoLiO: Hi. Count this as our formal introduction. I don't know anything about anything when it comes to keyboard. Most of the songs I've got contain at least some instrumentation that can be translated to keys. Brown Boxes has a whole piano track and a piano solo at the end (it may be backwards/forwards and run through a guitar amp, but it really is piano). I Want To Get Better has some trumpet stabs that could be turned into piano stabs, as well as some saxamaphone in there. There Are So Many Possibilities has some glockenspiel and synth in the second half, and Dirty Chucks has a string chorus/outro that could turn into pretty piano arpeggios. I don't know where to begin arranging these synth lines into piano parts. Recommendations?

Yeeha!

earth to ken

2004-08-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

I did send ken a link to the blog, with the login info. hopefully he'll overcome his shyness, come out of his shell, and give us a great big oink!

-j.j.

merchandizing machine

2004-08-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

You are so right Moijambon, dead time between sets ruins the vibe!! Occassional, BRIEF chit chat is tolerable, if it's real, or so fucking funny the crowd has no choice but to love you... I often achieve this by mocking my bandmates publically about their age, however, this will not be an option with this group!!

Seriously, does Ken have any input or questions, etc?

Enjoy the move, I am going through job-disgust this week... I'm not loving what I was loving, ya know? I need to win a fucking lottery.. how hard can it be?

I'm nervous but excited by who may(or may not) be the audience... although I'm not doing this for that reason, I'm still curious. For example, will the desicrate a Miss Piggy stuffy just to satisfy our egos before we are willing to play? Just a thought.. just a thought...

Remember Spiderham?

I'm running out of pig jokes.....

Out of the loop thursday

2004-08-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

So, i'll be out of the loop for the better part of today. I'm moving to a new office and won't be on the internet i assume. We can talk about the tuning stuff (drop d would probably be fine, but i would say if that is going to be the case, then all drop d tunes be played sequentially so we'd only have to dub with the tuning twice). Sorry if I seem like a stickler, but it's been awhile since I gigged and I'm just trying to remember the little tweaky things that are issues for me. and i've learned in my past gigging experience (and leaf, correct me if i'm wrong, you gig regularly) but the worst thing a band can have in it's set is down time between songs. it's the killah....

i'm still downloading peoples songs and listening. puce, your "so many possibilities" rocks hard, we'll have to figure out/show me how to play that riff. i hope to have everyone's songs downloaded tonight (i'm on dialup) and i'd still like to re-record alternative arrangements for my songs and post them by this weekend.

i think if we continue these discussions, practice each others stuff, cut the list to maybe 8 songs, practice the hell out of them, show up saturday, practice the hell out of them, we will be fine. show up sunday, play the hell out of them.

hey, does anyone have a digital video camera? just curious. it would be fun to do a video about the making of "the bloody hams". i have a small tripod to use to shoot the set if anyone has one.

-jacques jambon

thoughts on setlist

2004-08-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

In looking over Puce's setlist, it occurred to me that most of his stuff is either in alternate tunings (from standard) or played with a capo. this could prove to be problematic as I'm not wanting to change my guitar tunings in the middle of the set, even with a tuner. This would inevitable add time wasted to our 30 minutes of fame, not to mention downtime that the audience will start having a more animated conversation while we twiddle around. My general rule of thumb is no more than 30 seconds between songs. Now, this doesn't mean i don't want puce to play these songs. I'm just saying we either need to modify the arrangement to standard tuning or I can just drop off guitar and do something else during that song (vocals, percussion, fetch beers...). Re-tuning one guitar isn't too bad, but having to do 2 is. Seriously puce, i'd love to play on your stuff, but lets see if we can come up with a setlist that expedites the set. and if this is the stuff you want to play, that's totally cool but realize you might have to carry the guitar part alone. these are just my thoughts, not set in stone....

and i vote for "little pig" as the encore. it is a fitting theme song.

-jacques ham

Leaf 62 tunes

2004-08-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm... so I suppose "Little Pig" will be our theme song as the Bloody Hams eh??

I posted a link with the other song titles...
I shall put up tabs or chord charts or drums parts or whatever for the tunes... individual wav files of parts can be made too if you all wish, that might make lifting stuff easier....

some idle notes:

on Dizzy Spells, the intro is in 6/8, followed by a 4/4 part in E... using a whole tone scale the riff is e,c,bflat,d... then the reggae chorus is a walking line in A, em,d, followed by a quick c to d, and back to the main riff. the bridge is a simple g mixiolydian bluesyrock thingy, goes to c and d and into the 6/8... which is a riff I';ll post later cause I gotta go home and play it.. the song is actually pretty simple, it's more about dynamics and all that. AS far as the leads go, they can be modified of course, and the 6/8 in the middle may be scratched if it proves too awkward... we shall see.... post comments onn Leaf62 tunes here... and pass the pork.

Kevin Bacon. (hmmm... now that could be a good Ham's title hahahahaha!!!1) Six degrees to cook Kevin Bacon.... six strips of Kevin Bacon... I like the evil kevin bacon better than the footloose kevin bacon... Kevin Bakedon.

This Just Aint Kosher

2004-08-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, all.

Here is guitar tab for my four. I'll soonly (best word ever) post some simple versions of these songs. If anyone doesn't like one of these tracks please speak up now, as it might save me from having to mix/record the simple version.

Pocine Puce

tentative lineup

2004-08-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

so, i've talked to super duper ken and he is willing to play drums with us. this would free up leaf to play bass or guitar. bolio i'm assuming is playing keyboards. and puce and i are playing guitar. what would really help would be to have some familiarity with the songs we can practice on saturday. posting chord sheets is very helpful. i will do this for my songs in the next day or so, i'll post links to the info. and i'll make this a priority so we can maximize the time we can get familiar. my songs are pretty easy.

-jacques ham (not to be confused with the hall of fame linebacker of the same name)

possible setlist songs for download

2004-08-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Bloody Hams setlist (tentative)

Shite
Foam Rubber
Unless I change my Mind
Gonna Be your Man
Bolio
Spirit World
Let it Be
Leaf 62
Third String
Dizzy Spells
Little Pig
Puce
Dirty Chucks
There are so Many Possibilities
I want to get Better
Brown Boxes

just a thought...

2004-08-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

i'm really not as random and incoherant as people think. i think.

Welcome to the Bloody Hams Blog

2004-08-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, here you go. Won't find any spam on here. Just nice, fat, pure loin.