tuesday tapes aiight
Posted on February 23rd, 2010

The Beautiful Ms Parker And I Approach The Singularity (2040)

I’m pushing for a huger polished version of this to appear on Virginia Is For Hoverers (Part II).

The year was 2030
My hands were hardly dirty
The custom bug inserted
His wife would find him murdered
I had his mind and hence his codes
When the day broke, I was far away
From the banker man and the empty bank

All I want in a girl, she’s got to load all my weapons
All I need in the world, a pretty face at my back
While I’m hacking the lotto, killing a cop and singing my motto
By her side
All I want in the world, a little girl with a weapon

I met you ones and zeroes
We soon became the heroes
We hacked into The Center
We found a hidden vendor
Where we found out that we were clones
From a time lost
From another world
And we got it on just for one last time

All I want in a girl, she’s got to load all my weapons
All I need in the world, a pretty face at my back
While I’m hacking the lotto, killing a cop and singing my motto

So come on, baby
We go down together
So come on, Bonnie
Sing it like you mean it
Come on baby
We go down together
So come on, Bonnie
Sing it like you mean it
Come on baby
We’ll go down together
So come on, Bonnie
Sing it like you mean it

All I want in the world, a little girl with a weapon

9 Comments »

winter’s the time for lovin
Posted on February 19th, 2010

A four or five-year-old song called Winter’s The Time. I thought I’d better post it soon because Spring is almost here!

Come see the trio tonight in Richmond, Virginia tonight at 9:00 or 9:30.

I don’t know what we’ll play but we’ll probably do the likes of Another World, Tarmac, Feminine Mind, Drug, a new song, Rain King, Virginia, Sugar, Sherlock Holmes, maybe Quinn or something, or maybe Sequel! It will be a great show tonight.

4 Comments »

Shows and buttons
Posted on February 17th, 2010

Hi all! Cathy here once again, Chris’s trusty social-networking-booking-agent-manager. Chris is über-busy this week. He and Brett are in Richmond right now, recording lots of phenomenal new tunes at Jake Thro’s “Studio Eh?” pad for his upcoming album, “Virginia Is For Hoverers, Part 2″, available May 1st.

This Friday, Chris will play a show with the amazing Gills and Wings band at the Capital Ale House Music Hall in Richmond. If you live in RVA or thereabouts, come on out! Chris’s set starts around 9:30, full band, with Gills and Wings playing around 10:30. If you’ve never heard G&W they’re a powerhouse! You’re gonna love their sound. Check out their music here.

If you’ve noticed some neat looking “Chris buttons” on the right side of the homepage, those are button links especially for those Chris fans who have blogs and websites and would like to share their love of Chris with others in a less invasive way than bombarding friends and family with emails, tweets and Facebook page invites. These are all effective means as well, or you can try my favorite, the CMI (Chris Merritt Immersion) technique: playing Chris’s music spontaneously in a closed vehicle or room with another human being and not saying a word until they exclaim in utter astonishment, “Who IS this amazing guy and where can I get his CD??”

Also, coming up NEXT WEEK, New York City-area fans can catch Chris and Brett in an acoustic appearance at Manhattan’s Angels and Kings bar/lounge on Wednesday, Feb. 24th at 9pm. This is one of the most publicized, well-trafficked bars in NYC. Check out their site here. I hear there’s 2 for 1 drinks from 7-9pm, so get there early to hear some other great performers and, dare I say it, whilst double fisting?

Chris will post another blog very soon, so in the meantime, spread the word about these shows. Thanks so much!

~ Cathy

3 Comments »

thursday tapes
Posted on February 11th, 2010

whoops i forgot about tues tapes!

here’s some stuff that Dustin and Al and I did in the recording studio yesterday

drive over to see us play tomorrow night at Velour in Provo, UT.  Be there at 8:00 pm mountain standard time.  Couples get a free gift, but you have to kiss to prove it.

Somebody show this to Steven Merchant for pete’s sake

who’s pete?  St. Peter or something?  Is there a St. Peter?

4 Comments »

recording studio
Posted on February 9th, 2010

I’m in a recording studio.  In Utah.  I don’t know how I got here.

This weekend was a crazy NYC weekend and I need to tell you guys about it.  Some cool projects ahead!

Anyway, yesterday I flew to Utah for my quarter-annual show at Provo’s premier music venue, the notorious Velour.

I’m playing with Code Hero and Dustin Christensen who are two of my favorite artists around these parts.  If you are reading this, and you live in Salt Lake City or Provo or Orem or American Fork or any of the other cowboy-named-towns around here than you gotta be there!

2 Comments »

tuesday tapes innit
Posted on February 2nd, 2010

I’ve just enjoyed a Bachelor Lunch Special:

• Two slices of sandwich meat.  Serve plain and eat chilled.
• One cup of Snack Pack pudding.  Vanilla or chocolate?  It’s up to your preference!
• One carrot.  Important for a healthy lifestyle!
• 1/2 bottle of Coca-Cola.  Enjoy straight from the bottle.  Why introduce a middleman?

3 Comments »

posterz respec’
Posted on January 29th, 2010

I spent the last few hours making posters for the Velour show.  I don’t know why but now there’s three to choose from!

Hey guys, I got some awesome awesome comments on my post on a new “sound” in music.  It’s turning into a really rad discussion.  I’m planning to answer back to everyone but I’m so bogged down.  I love the new genre name suggestions – poetic-alt, stellar, eccentric-rock, idio, clavier, surrogate rock, and of course, earfuckingrockabillytoasterbullshitcrumblylove.

By the way, tomorrow I’m playing piano at Le Caprice at The Pierre on 60th and 5th – come by!  After a less-than-favorable review in The New York Times (at least the piano wasn’t reamed), mostly regarding the white-millionaire-snob-atmosphere, they’re changing the vibe from stuffy and expensive to hip, young, and…..less expensive!  Come by and get an adult beverage.  I’ll be rocking out on Killing Me Softly or something.  Right now I have to call some folks, get some food from the amazing Deli across the street (practically family by now…Pizza for a buck), tape this new crazy song, get to bed.  How long does it take to dry-clean stuff?

5 Comments »

tuesday tapes
Posted on January 26th, 2010

you thought these were dead, didn’t you?  WELL, didn’t you??

and here’s the new single, just so it’s at the top of the blog:

Album out May 1st.  If I’m not dead by then.  I’ll try my very best to not die at least until this album is done.  I think it might be important.  Or maybe not.

Hey, has anyone seen the new Stephen Groo trailer?  It’s quite possibly his best yet.  Scroll down to the 150 Miles trailer and watch it – NOW!  It solidifies Stephen Groo as my favorite director on the planet.  Here is the music video I convinced Stephen Groo to direct before I moved out of Utah – it makes me happy every time I watch it.  And also mildly self-conscious.

2 Comments »

new sound ramblings
Posted on January 25th, 2010

There are so many bands and performing artists out there right now. There are so many, it boggles the mind, like trying to imagine all the stars in the Universe. Most groups are mediocre. I haven’t heard something new that I love in a while. When I hear The Beatles, or Pinkerton, or Kid A…..man, it’s just so good. I don’t get that feeling with nearly any internet-age groups I’ve heard. Maybe it’s just psychological, but come on, stupid lyrics, mediocre melodies, no cleverness. Where’s the cleverness? And stick in a solo for crying out loud.

I have dreams of starting a new music scene. They’re only imaginings, but I think something needs to happen in music that unifies people a little bit. Gets them dancing again. In the 90s, it was this ‘grunge’ sound from Seattle. In the 60s, it was this….um, 60s sound. But in both cases it was really just good songwriting. Clever melodies. Lyrics that were a little bit funny or absurd or profound. If I could start a new ’sound’, and unite some great artists, I would put forth the following criteria.  The ’sound’ I would create would be something like this:

• Focus on clever melodies, good songwriting.  (Like, really good.  Like Frank Black good.  Like Ben Folds Five good.  Brian Wilson good.)
• Consistent use of “weird” time signatures (not in like, a prog rock superfluous way, but in a way that serves the melody, that adds a whole new layer to creative songwriting.  Frank Black, again.  Radiohead, sometimes.)
• Pianos, man.  Let’s hear some pianos.  I’m so sick of misused guitars.  Let’s hear some wurli, distorted to all hell.  Some Rhodes.  Organ.  And also guitars.  What?
• Clever part writing.  Good melodic bass parts, clever, weird drum parts.  No more 4/4 drum groove just because it’s “supposed” to be there.  And distort that drumset to all hell, sometimes, please.
• Vocal harmonies.  What happened to these?  Let’s go nuts.  Beach Boys.  Beatles.  Queen.  I’m always blown away by “musicians” that don’t want to sing.  Drummers, I’m looking at you.
• Lyrics that use science, technology, realism, physics, weirdness-awareness.  History.  Philosophy.  I want science fiction lyrics.  Oh, and as an added bonus, they should superficially sound like a simple love song or whatever.
• Humor.  Weirdness, funny lyrics, ridiculous breaks.  Penis jokes.  Mistakes on recordings.  TMBG-type secret songs.
• No concern for mainstream society.  No selling out, little desire of fame, no compromise musically.  And no attitude.
• This one is a ‘maybe’ – 8-bit sounds.  They’ve been used in such cheesy ways lately though.  Maybe they could be used for good.  And NO CHEATING – program that crap on a GameBoy.  No midi hookups.  No DS drum machine things.  Use Nintendos or Ataris or emulators.  (I don’t care that most people can’t tell the difference.)

Hmm.  I think there’s one thing missing.  Something simple and instantly recognizable.  I don’t know, maybe this is enough.  This is incidentally what I’m going for in Virginia Is For Hoverers (Part Two).  We’ll see what it sounds like.

Society is getting smarter and artier as a whole, but in this weird, twitter-like, technology-ridden obnoxious way.  Mediocrity is exploding right now in popular culture.  Oh, by the way, I need a name for this thing, too.  This sound.  Like Alternative rock had.  Any ideas?  Grunge, Ska, Techno.  Something like that.

14 Comments »

fire escapes don’t work unless there’s a fire
Posted on January 24th, 2010

I got locked out yesterday and monky’d it up the back fire escape! I felt like I was in that Persiany game with that Prince-y guy.
Every time I walk outside I remember that I live in Brooklyn, and every time it surprises me for two seconds. “How did I get here? Why are there so many ca-…oh yeah I live here now”.

Check out this new single:

Buy the new single and two other tracks in the Store section of this webbed site.

The most ultimate gun would be a gun that made someone see your point of view. Douglas Adams is a genius.

Also, don’t forget to download the free CD here.  It downloads as a .zip file – unzip the contents and open the 14 mp3s for your listening pleasure!  Also look at dumb pictures of me.  Sign up for the Newsletter!  Wes sends ‘em out every 2 weeks and they’ll make you laugh.

So I ask you this: has anyone noticed that as the graphics and general technology in video games tends to increase in quality, the music sucks more and more? Why is that? Sonic The Hedgehog. Mario. For example. I couldn’t believe the cheesy midi accordion crap I heard in Mario Sunshine, an otherwise great game. Mario Galaxies has music that changes dynamics and tempo according to what’s going on and the flute part comes in and out if Mario’s mustache twitches WHO CARES? The melodies SUCK. They still recycle the old melodies, in cheesy jazz-pop vocal arrangements from hell. What happened there? And the first Sonic game. Amazing songwriting. Pushing 8-bits to it’s limits (16 bits?). I still catch myself singing the star light zone song now and then. And the new Sonic games are actually underrated I think – but the music is laughably horrendous. It makes J-Pop look like Be-Bop.

What do you think?  Also do you think in a few million years there will be a species of cephalopod with language and near-present-day-human-level analytical and creative consciousness?  I do

3 Comments »