Liner Notes to LIVE MY DREAM ROCK TRUE
Posted on January 2, 2011
* LINER NOTES to Live My Dream Rock True *
Dreams, aspirations, hopes and expectations are the focal points of this gritty indie rock opera, pushed by this gritty band with a gritty attitude. If you don’t like gritty, well, it’s too late now. An old expression goes something like ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry’.
Translation: regardless of how much you prep work you have done, things may not go exactly the way you expect. Although the line generates a negative vibe, the positive side of it all is alternative plans, which is a good starting point on my thoughts regarding my band’s third release, Live My Dream Rock True. There is a story to tell.
I had toyed about writing a rock opera after I shut down my Nineties alternative band and started up a solo-fronted act. After receiving a rare chance to see one of Pete Townshend’s projects The Boy Who Heard Music in a 2007 workshop production at Vassar College, one thing became clear. It was time to redirect the John Sullivan Brigade away from making just another CD and write something more challenging for our next effort. By 2008, I began compiling a series of rough demos to see if there was enough material for such a record.
Time, however, was staring me down in getting my music beyond the Long Island airwaves. When my crappy finance day job ended and learned my experience wasn’t worth a conversation, I reassessed my music situation. If I landed just one song on the music charts, I thought, I’d be satisfied and call it a day. But maybe if I got a taste of success, might I try to keep it going? Those ponderings ended up starting a storyline I set around a fictional band called Rust Hand and their travails after winning a song contest. I reworked old ideas into new songs, combining both imaginary and personal experiences into this two-act, 24-song rock opera. The downside now was that any bandmate was subject to new material appearing on a regular basis.
Speaking of bandmates, writing songs was the easy part. From the band’s launch in 2005 to the current lineup six years later, roughly a dozen members have been associated with the JSB. Although I subscribed to the ‘addition by subtraction’ theory and that things were always moving forward, progress was affected as getting any new person up to speed took some doing. Certain song arrangements had to be adjusted (with varying degrees of success) and there were always the blending of personalities to contend with. But which musicians would end up as the ones for the task at hand?
The new vibe around this project played a critical part in its development as the band’s musical identity kept evolving. The harder, crunchier groove from the JSB’s first record was our calling card, but lacked the proper dynamics to be much else. Our second effort was much more ambitious in various ways, but the necessary preproduction work was often lacking in spots. For Live My Dream Rock True to work, where all two dozen songs had to interconnect, everything had to stay flexible yet structured. The key was not to shoot for absolute perfection but to avoid straying too far from the path. Thus, my script for a live stage production idea was put on hold; it was way too distracting. Music first; everything else later.
With pre-production rehearsals beginning as we barreled into 2009, our weekly session down in ‘The Barracks’ digital recording space turned into months. As part-timers, our personal lives slowed us down. And with the media quiet on our exploration and nobody showing interest in financing this venture, I wondered where exactly the JSB stood in the middle of this maddening quest. Sure, my eclectic quintet has been this quintessential long shot in a crowded horse race and that wasn’t going to change. But could a multi-generational band -- that includes a drummer of 60 and a sax guy of 20 -- blend their experiences together and turn out a finished product?
I thought so, and LMDRT forged on. The tunes quickly fell into three categories: one-third that stood on their own, one-third acting as connectors to add storyline clarity and one-third as hybrids. After one lineup managed to test-run a good chunk of its viability at one show we taped, the results exposed what was working and what wasn’t. More important, I got a bird’s eye view as to what this might sound like from start to finish. More changes continued through 2010 that eventually led to summer discussions about using a producer at his studio and what was needed for that situation to work. With the recording lineup of founding JSB veterans Steve and Russ teaming up with the young newcomers Brian and Charlie now set, much like the decision on what the next release should be, how to record the songs took another turn.
After analyzing my options, I chose to produce this in a live format but within familiar studio territory. As we’ve always been this organic-sounding band, recording au natural made perfect sense. Basic tracks were cut live at Sabella Studios, with all five Brigaders strategically positioned around Jim’s main room and his vintage gear. Any additional tracking and fixing up would be done later where needed. Mixing sessions followed alongside engineer Mike Mulieri (of The Upwelling fame as their bassist), whose studio chops and musician mindset blended our organized chaos properly.
Though unconventional for a big project, the live studio approach was the smartest way to go. Because in the end, we captured both the essence of the rock opera’s spirit and the JSB’s best live performance talents, warts and all. And it is here where the songs took on their own personalities, like the comical ‘Them’ where we mocked ourselves, the very prophetic-sounding ‘Stinking Up The Joint’ or even the acoustic ‘Somebody’ that could have lasted forever. Even instrumentals like ‘Overview’ and ‘Underview’ and the demo ‘I Am Yours To Keep’ added something different but thankfully fit the bill.
Not to be overlooked is the title of this project. The word ‘live’ has two meanings here: the actual ‘live’ basic tracks recording we did AND my ‘live my dream rock true’ mantra. In a recent interview, singer Robert Plant said, ‘Everything you do creatively has a moment – moments of coherence and comprehension and great communion – and then things don’t. It just changes. And thank God for that.’ After fifteen years on the New York metro indie rock circuit, a moment was found. As this might be loosely considered the ‘big record’ for the JSB, I’m glad we finally got to release this. In any way, shape or form, bigger is better.
– Sully, January 2011
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Dreams, aspirations, hopes and expectations are the focal points of this gritty indie rock opera, pushed by this gritty band with a gritty attitude. If you don’t like gritty, well, it’s too late now. An old expression goes something like ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry’.
Translation: regardless of how much you prep work you have done, things may not go exactly the way you expect. Although the line generates a negative vibe, the positive side of it all is alternative plans, which is a good starting point on my thoughts regarding my band’s third release, Live My Dream Rock True. There is a story to tell.
I had toyed about writing a rock opera after I shut down my Nineties alternative band and started up a solo-fronted act. After receiving a rare chance to see one of Pete Townshend’s projects The Boy Who Heard Music in a 2007 workshop production at Vassar College, one thing became clear. It was time to redirect the John Sullivan Brigade away from making just another CD and write something more challenging for our next effort. By 2008, I began compiling a series of rough demos to see if there was enough material for such a record.
Time, however, was staring me down in getting my music beyond the Long Island airwaves. When my crappy finance day job ended and learned my experience wasn’t worth a conversation, I reassessed my music situation. If I landed just one song on the music charts, I thought, I’d be satisfied and call it a day. But maybe if I got a taste of success, might I try to keep it going? Those ponderings ended up starting a storyline I set around a fictional band called Rust Hand and their travails after winning a song contest. I reworked old ideas into new songs, combining both imaginary and personal experiences into this two-act, 24-song rock opera. The downside now was that any bandmate was subject to new material appearing on a regular basis.
Speaking of bandmates, writing songs was the easy part. From the band’s launch in 2005 to the current lineup six years later, roughly a dozen members have been associated with the JSB. Although I subscribed to the ‘addition by subtraction’ theory and that things were always moving forward, progress was affected as getting any new person up to speed took some doing. Certain song arrangements had to be adjusted (with varying degrees of success) and there were always the blending of personalities to contend with. But which musicians would end up as the ones for the task at hand?
The new vibe around this project played a critical part in its development as the band’s musical identity kept evolving. The harder, crunchier groove from the JSB’s first record was our calling card, but lacked the proper dynamics to be much else. Our second effort was much more ambitious in various ways, but the necessary preproduction work was often lacking in spots. For Live My Dream Rock True to work, where all two dozen songs had to interconnect, everything had to stay flexible yet structured. The key was not to shoot for absolute perfection but to avoid straying too far from the path. Thus, my script for a live stage production idea was put on hold; it was way too distracting. Music first; everything else later.
With pre-production rehearsals beginning as we barreled into 2009, our weekly session down in ‘The Barracks’ digital recording space turned into months. As part-timers, our personal lives slowed us down. And with the media quiet on our exploration and nobody showing interest in financing this venture, I wondered where exactly the JSB stood in the middle of this maddening quest. Sure, my eclectic quintet has been this quintessential long shot in a crowded horse race and that wasn’t going to change. But could a multi-generational band -- that includes a drummer of 60 and a sax guy of 20 -- blend their experiences together and turn out a finished product?
I thought so, and LMDRT forged on. The tunes quickly fell into three categories: one-third that stood on their own, one-third acting as connectors to add storyline clarity and one-third as hybrids. After one lineup managed to test-run a good chunk of its viability at one show we taped, the results exposed what was working and what wasn’t. More important, I got a bird’s eye view as to what this might sound like from start to finish. More changes continued through 2010 that eventually led to summer discussions about using a producer at his studio and what was needed for that situation to work. With the recording lineup of founding JSB veterans Steve and Russ teaming up with the young newcomers Brian and Charlie now set, much like the decision on what the next release should be, how to record the songs took another turn.
After analyzing my options, I chose to produce this in a live format but within familiar studio territory. As we’ve always been this organic-sounding band, recording au natural made perfect sense. Basic tracks were cut live at Sabella Studios, with all five Brigaders strategically positioned around Jim’s main room and his vintage gear. Any additional tracking and fixing up would be done later where needed. Mixing sessions followed alongside engineer Mike Mulieri (of The Upwelling fame as their bassist), whose studio chops and musician mindset blended our organized chaos properly.
Though unconventional for a big project, the live studio approach was the smartest way to go. Because in the end, we captured both the essence of the rock opera’s spirit and the JSB’s best live performance talents, warts and all. And it is here where the songs took on their own personalities, like the comical ‘Them’ where we mocked ourselves, the very prophetic-sounding ‘Stinking Up The Joint’ or even the acoustic ‘Somebody’ that could have lasted forever. Even instrumentals like ‘Overview’ and ‘Underview’ and the demo ‘I Am Yours To Keep’ added something different but thankfully fit the bill.
Not to be overlooked is the title of this project. The word ‘live’ has two meanings here: the actual ‘live’ basic tracks recording we did AND my ‘live my dream rock true’ mantra. In a recent interview, singer Robert Plant said, ‘Everything you do creatively has a moment – moments of coherence and comprehension and great communion – and then things don’t. It just changes. And thank God for that.’ After fifteen years on the New York metro indie rock circuit, a moment was found. As this might be loosely considered the ‘big record’ for the JSB, I’m glad we finally got to release this. In any way, shape or form, bigger is better.
– Sully, January 2011
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