Tuesday, August 1, 2023

What I said to start all of this:

My Job. 

It's not to market well or be great looking. It's not even to try to please you. In fact it has a lot to do with existing outside of either your praise or your criticism. I make things up. That's it. In the end I'm the only one who is going to make up the particular things I make up. You, as much as I love y'all being around and the affirmation I get from that, well...you really only muddy up the water. 

Over a ton of years I recorded a bunch and put nothing into the universe for consumption. I'm okay with that. 

I played a lot and then I kinda stopped. I don't want to make things unless I feel pretty good about them. I'm bored. I've been bored and damn it there's no good reason for that. I don't make a lot of money, so it's not as if I need to keep my income high. 

So, with all of that said, I have a philosophy I have refined: "Screw it". I have ideas and hopes and one day I'll get to them. Below is some commentary about things I worate a long, long time ago. At some point I'll share more of me. For now, musically, I don't know what I'm doing. Maybe I'm done. Maybe I have a lot more to say. I guess we'll find out. 


Thanks, kt

Thursday, May 15, 2014

The Things That We Carry

NSFW. There, you've been warned.

I will eventually have all of the Small Shiny Things tracks up here, except one. I want a do-over for one.

I don't know why I like this one as much as I do. I greatly forget about it until I hear it and then I think I might have done a few things right on this song. I'm not sure what, but something works for me.

It's brutal. And it has tenses that don't really agree.

I had been going through some stuff. I was in a relationship that I should have valued, but didn't. I was dealing with my failing body, and that sucked. I had learned that there's something more to us than the vehicle we ride. There's other things I meant to say in here that I think I kinda said, which I prefer to having said it out right. The line that is the apex of this for me is "Do you see me in you? If everyone that you chose to love failed you, what does that say about me?"

and I don't know what it means.

Pat Goode stepped in for the lead on this one. He's a badass of ambiance and terror.

I wanted to say more and I'm a little in love with not having been able to. I like hitting my limitations. This should do more and I'm ashamed of it, but proud of it at the same time.

I like what Jay did on the bass and I wish the drums were a little bigger, Matt did something pretty great in there, too. We fought over the guitars, but I'm happy with the performance, if not the EQ.

In the End you make up your mind. Here's a failure of mine:

Take it. It's all yours. 

kt

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Song

This is a favorite for me. I'm reasonably certain that this is one of the best things I'll ever write. I don't have any more to say about it.

I had plans, but this does it just as well.

Take it. Keep it. Share it. 

Thanks for being a part of this.

kt

Thursday, April 10, 2014

KT

I don't really know how Matt does this. I brought this tune in to SST completely naked. the only things I knew about it was that there should be an off key trumpet and that it was too long and too boring. The guys found a way to make it all work. Chris is pretty amazing t making a lead sing and Matt wrote a drum part I would listen to by itself. In fact I have.

This song, like all of the SST stuff I've posted was a part of a full on project that never really saw daylight. This is  project called "Illinois" that we recorded with Tony Montana in North Aurora sometime in 2007. I suspect it's my fault this never fully came to be. I was antsy.

Still, if you ever sit and listen to the disc in full (which I have and will post), Everyone is a huge contribution on this. Jay and Matt with vocal arrangements, Chris and Ron are so good at working together and shaping the songs - I didn't play a lot of guitar on this at all. Matt, man, he's in a large way the guy who drove us all to be our bests and preform in a certain, on purpose way. He sings all over this, played every beat of the drums and contributed to the arrangements. He knows these songs better than I do and we couldn't do this without him.

It's been a big priority for me to get as many of these guys back in a room and as soon as possible. We got to do a few songs for Water Bears and I hope to have an annotated version of that album after it's finished. Which is strange for me, because I've mostly tried to shut up about the stuff I write, but the response to this has been pretty wonderful. At any rate, I hope you'll get to see Small Shiny Things in some incarnation at some watering hole very soon.

Here's just one of the marathon parts he contributed. It's KT, a half ass love song about not really wanting love, but a better definition of self and not so much loneliness. I was lonely when I wrote it. There was a KT, but it was an amalgam of influences ad I just called it that because I used to use my own initials to start conversations with girls because I suck at the girl stuff. I'd ask if I knew them and if their name was KT. Yeah, lame written down. It's all I had.

Thanks, as always, for your continued listens and time in reading this stuff. Buy Matt a cup of coffee. Hell, buy me one, too.

Here it is. Take it. Share it. 

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Lost & Found

This is it. I have two songs that have gotten me more attention than the rest of everything I have written combined. This is one of them, the other shall not speak it's name.

Fine. It's kinda dirty. I knew that when I wrote it. Figured it might get some attention either positive or negative, but on an entirely different level, really, most of us do it.  I'm not sure why the act of sexual congress can't be a component of a larger emotion. I'm sure I'm being naive on some level.

This recording of it is Small Shiny Things again. I've talked about Chris Bauler and this is his lead. It's great. Matt has the kit on this and he's great. It was written to be an acoustic song back when SST was playing all acoustic. It didn't swing like this and Matt sold it. I've got another song that I think shows Matt off even a little better and that's for next week.  So it's really amazing how that evolved., but let's focus on two other aspects. RD's chicken pickin' starts at :28 and it kills. It's one of the best parts of this for me. Ron is the guy in the pocket, he always brings it and most of the time in a take or two. I'm amazed by his instincts as a musician and his usefulness in a song. It's doubtful I'll ever do anything in a band without him. I like being the only player, but if there's a second guitar its gonna be Ron. I can;t say enough about what he brings to a song. He's never too little or too much. I fucking love what RD does. I'm his biggest fan.

And Jay. Shit. That guy doesn't get enough love and he gets a lot. His part here steals the tune. Ghost notes and from the belt swing and bravado. Check the fill at 1:22. Yeah. Hell yeah. I've never really tried to be in a group that was a collection of kick ass players. I never wanted the albums to be a pile of licks. I believe in the song. Accidentally I got these guys. They bring all of that and never take their eye off the ball, off the tune. It's a great honor to know them and to get to play with them no where near as often as I'd like.

Give some love.

Here's the tune today. Keep it. Share it. hopefully get a good laugh, maybe a little sadness. That makes me happy, I'm always trying to break your heart while you're laughing about it.

Thanks. Happy Thursday.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

I Love You In Blue

I don't have a ton to say about this.

The band is Small Shiny Things, which is was Jay Olaszek, Matt McCain, Ron Donavon, Chris Bauler and myself. If you can listen close enough Todd Kessler is singing on this track.

I feel like this song gets too little love. On my part I think that it's a pretty realized tune. It says what I wanted it to and it manages to have a little fun with it.

The idea is someone telling you that they love you in that color or they love when you say a thing, but they don't. At least not enough. Sure it's painful, but after some time it's also a little funny. There's  lyric in here I'm particularly proud of after the lead (Which is RD and I think pretty funny in itself) that goes

"You say you wish it was simple and you're sorry you hurt me now you think I should leave"

That at the time struck me as pretty funny. Still does, to be honest. I dunno, I guess you be the judge of that. If we can't have a good laugh at shit, though, I'm not sure what the point of all of this is.

Here's the Link. Thanks for listening.

What I said to start all of this:

My Job.  It's not to market well or be great looking. It's not even to try to please you. In fact it has a lot to do with existing o...