Your records are on their wayMy House

I’m a lucky man. I can say that now, not just because I recently bought a house, but because a riot hasn’t started yet over the fact that I’ve been dragging on this month’s singles club records. For those who subscribed to plan #1, your record is on its way — it’s Aluminum Knot Eye’s entry, which features “Same Old Greasetrap,” the most downloaded song on the Lemon Session Sampler (available here.)

As for the Steeples 7", it’s been delayed — it needs to be re-plated, which will hopefully happen soon. I’ll probably be sending off the Blowtops record before the Steeples stuff is ready to go.

I should add that around the same time I bought the house, I was promoted at work, which means more money to sink into this label! Nothing like blowing thousands of dollars on thousands of records that will probably end up sitting in my moldy attic for the next 20 years — that is, until I chuck them into a landfill to triple their worth. (The ol’ “Man’s Ruin” scheme….)

And yes, I know I probably should be waiting until AFTER the rest of the singles club and Bundle of Fags singles are out to be talking about even newer stuff in the queue, but hey, I actually have the tracks and so I’m going to let my mouth start writing checks.

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Plus bonus Intelligence video!Bundle Of Fags cover

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this, but it just has to happen: The next 4 singles in the club (AKE, Steeples, Unnatural Helpers, Blowtops) will have smaller pressings; instead of pressing 600 of each, I will only press 300.

I want to put out more records and pressing 600 of each record is making that more difficult by being so expensive, as well as taking up the little room I have in my apartment. At some point I’d like to press all the records at amounts that don’t make them so “exclusive,” but at this point it’s just not possible.

I’m also going to shore up the number of possible subscriptions, from 475 to 210, so if you haven’t subscribed yet, you should do so now. I’m guessing that since we’re already close to reaching 210 that it won’t be long until I’m announcing that there are no more subscriptions.

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The moment a few of you have been waiting for.Lemon Session logo

From this idea’s inception it took me 11 months to get to this point. Personally, I don’t think that’s too long of a time to get eight records ready to sell, but if it is, I would love to know.

In theory it shouldn’t be that hard to send a CDR to someone in a different part of the country and have them turn it into a record. Yet it is, because:

A. You actually have to talk to two or three people;
B. You have to have the grip of money that’s required to be sent with it.

Oh, and one quick note: I’m doing this so I can start a label and put out more records you’d want. So, to make yourself feel better when you’re buying this, you can tell yourself you’re helping start a non-profit.

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I can scream REALLY loud. (I also love Devo.)Devo Autograph

So this post is a little late and a little rushed because I leave for the Dry-Shitties tomorrow. Still, I finally finished these goddamn demos and everybody should download them, distribute them, do whatever. They’re just demos, right?

But before I get to the songs, I have to show off/brag about my newly obtained Mark Mothersbaugh autograph. My wife’s aunt came over from Philadelphia to visit my in-laws for a few weeks and brought me a present — no, not the autograph, but a Men Without Hats “Safety Dance” 45.

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Don’t call it a come back! I’m just starting up again…

Kevin drumming

I can honestly say that the last two years of my life were the hardest I have ever experienced. I finished my master’s degree, got married, lived through a fatal car accident where my passenger died, spent months in court fighting a nine-month jail sentence… Usually I would end such a long, intense run down with a “Good times!” but I really can’t joke about experiences like that.

Now my life has calmed down and I can finally concentrate on doing what makes me happy — obsessing over music. So, for my first blog post since my hiatus, I am going to share some unreleased live tracks of my old band the Popular Shapes.

The shapes started in 2000, when the guitarist/singer Phi (real name Nick,) bassist/singer Lee and I started hanging out at shows. I used to love Phi and Lee’s old band The River Rats; they gave Screeching Weasel and the Angry Samoans a run for their money. But back then, whenever we talked about music, it was typically about our mutual love for the Pixies, Devo and the Hot Snakes. It just made sense to start a band with those influences in mind.
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