maximum joy demos 2008

in the fall of 2008, drummer kyle reid and i started working on an album together at my place in zipolite, oaxaca. we later decided that my recording equipment and lousy engineering skills weren't doing the songs much justice so we decided to stop kidding ourselves after 5 songs and called it a "demo". when we finished it and the artwork was done, i shopped it around to some labels that had expressed interest in hearing my latest work. we have a couple more tunes to record, though, before kyle leaves for the states and we will do so in order to finish documenting our rocking good time together

1. all these smiling skulls
2. big bowels
3. here comes the beast/relax into awareness of celestial villains
4. what's good for the goat
5. the eye

some had fun

some had fun is a collection of song pieces and demos that i was working up around 2003. i made the recording to give to this fellow, a canadian guitar player named jake, who was to be my collaborator on the project. while i recall practicing once or twice with him, we never got started recording the album so some had fun only exists in this unfinished demo format. interestingly, the song "o what will i have done" appears in a very different version on 2007's YON as "shore of pain" and "here comes the beast" has been recently rewritten, restructured, and recorded this year on MAXIMUM JOY DEMOS 2008 that was recently shopped around to record labels, again in vain.

1. gone stars
2. happy again
3. here comes the beast
4. i can't see clearly now
5. it stinks of me
6. o what will i have done
7. one, two, three
8. some had fun
9. the when of soon

download here

¿my strength is hatred?

¿my strength is hatred? was recorded in ardmore, oklahoma in 2001 at my friend gabriel williamson's house. it was my first solo album and self-released on beautiful ten inch vinyl. a hearty thanks to damian, G, and L.L.O.J. who played on the record with me and supported my addled ass all through the recording process. thanks to delia for helping finance the pressing and thanks to my long lost friend will who convinced me to record this in the first place.

there are still some copies available on vinyl. email me for info/details:

1. a ghost song/silently crying, lambs devoured
2. a tropical depression
3. patches
4. where makes blame
5. O where, O where

mop up

this download is a mop-up of a handful of recordings which don't otherwise have a proper home, that i can tell. the first three songs were recently recorded live at a show in puerto angel, oaxaca in late july 2008 at bar maca with kyle reid on drums and pedro cervantes on rhythm guitar. tracks 4 and 5 are also live but this time in the context of gallery thirteen. these two live songs were recorded at a club called liberty drug in norman oklahoma in 1995. track 6 is a guitar oriented instrumental. it is actually an outtake from the LOAF sessions. track 7 is a cover version of will oldham's "rider" off of his album JOYA. track 8 is a harsh instrumental. the idea being that "fun" has an on/off switch and some had fun off. the last track is a gem called "those naked ladies" which continues in the tradition of "these naked ladies" and "that naked lady" before it. i still need to pen "this naked lady" so all the demonstrative adjectives are duly covered.

live 2008 zipolite oaxaca mexico

1. become a stranger (live 2008)
2. hay que (live 2008)
3. a ghost song (live 2008)
4. cupid is drunk throwing up love on me (live 1995)
5. someone to blame (live 1995)
6. lung meridian
7. rider
8. some had fun off
9. those naked ladies

download here

el hollin

el hollin is a word i learned in mexico and it means soot. being that the idea behind this batch of recordings was to be yet another collection of demos going to record companies in vain, i didn't make as many copies of this as i had made for trembling things. i remember there must have been twenty or so that i gave away as presents to friends. the paper for the cover was the same as before, made from banana leaf, and the insert was a stencil of a lesbian orgy scene. on this collection we have yet another Sade cover. this time it is a pathetic version of "jezabel". the song "lover's lane" is on here which was later officially released on the tract records' compilation eye of the beholder vol. 4. as a hardcore sabbath guy i am glad it was vol. 4. interestingly, there is an early version of "four mountains" which later appeared in a bit of a boogie version on 2008's YON album. thanks to the great COKE COLA company of the angels.

1. the other
2. of murdered feelings, miss slain
3. lover's lane
4. the matrist
5. untrue
6. jezabel
7. four mountains
8. what's more
9. nightlights
10. that naked lady
11. tiny i

download here

trembling things

after a year was spent writing and recording and working to finance the pressing of the ten inch of my strength is hatred, the, at the time, lack of linguistic nuance in electronic communication and the resultant consequences led me to believe that it wasn't in this one's best interest to keep on rockin' in the third world. and so the craft was temporarily abandoned for the who knows thousandth time.

enter rifle steve. rifle steve's got the fuel, remember, but the final tool ended up being something completely different than the rocket ship. and so it was this glorious rifle steve who convinced me to buy "a little red japanese gizmo of a rocket ship" and keep fighting the good fight. so, that was what was done, largely thanks to my friend damian who got together enough equipment to get started and brought it down to me in mexico. the result of that is trembling things.

only about 50 copies of this CD were made and they were given to friends and sent out in vain to record labels. the paper for the CD art was made of recycled banana leaf fiber. the image on the cover was of a photo i took of some toloache that was growing in the garden. toloache tremble at night when the flowers are open and rigid and nine kinds of potent.

1. become a stranger
2. leave things be
3. subliminal fire
4. one of these days
5. trembling things
6. you don't know what pleasure is
7. all the while
8. one town, one house
9. moonset
10. bad, bad, bad
11. stow away
12. hay que
13. O beautiful
14. bahia cabrona

download part one

download part two

gallery thirteen songwriting session 1995

this volume of "songs" is from one evening of hanging out, drinking and roughhousing at the place where i lived with gallery thirteen member tony roberts. songs before they were "songs" were presented to the other members of the band by me in this casual bohemian environment. in this way i was able to see which song ideas, melodies, lyrics etc provoked the correct kind of reaction with the gang. most of these never became fully fleshed out songs. some of the ideas still seem valid to me some 14 years later. i am pretty sure it was just me on the guitar and lead vocals and those present chimed in at times. there are a few covers that rear their partial heads. keep your ears peeled for beefheart, nick cave, and marty robbins. those present seem to be derek joe brockett, tony roberts, chris paco johnson, stainar stavings (lyrics on track 5), and tony's girlfriend at the time whose name can't quite come through clear to me at the time of writing.

track 14 is what you might call the bonus track. in 1997 when gallery thirteen recorded up above the world, 'neath the everlasting stain we recorded over used 2 inch tape. the tape had been recorded on before us by some such Skip Wiggins. after the instrumental tracks were recorded for "these naked ladies" we decided to give it a quick listen. upon doing so we noticed that we had recorded over pretty much everything but Skip's vocals. notice how uncannily well his vocal melody and phrasing go along with our music. a perfect accident.

1. bury her where the sun don't shine
2. O woe man
3. at the end of the world you can't find any friends
4. in salt's disguise
5. rifle steve
6. a holy bible
7. bruce lee
8. loser=gallery XIII
9. por mas que sufra
10. por mas que sufra ii
11. stainar's worry
12. orchid blue
13. amazing grace
14. these naked ladies (skip wiggins version)

download here

mr. wonderful vol. 2

mr. wonderful vol. 2 was recorded in order to make demo versions of just a couple of songs before going into the studio for what became gallery thirteen's up above the world, 'neath the everlasting stain album. these songs were written during my first year in mexico and feature an error-ridden, yet brave attempt at penning lyrics in spanish. like volume one, they were recorded at chris paco johnson's house (different house though). again we are (mis)treated to a cover version. this time we have "no ordinary love" by Sade which has my one and only attempt at playing soprano saxophone. it is interesting to note that "la onda tropical" seems to be a spanish version of what became "a tropical depression" from the 2001 ten inch "my strength is hatred". chris johnson, matt carson, and jesse butler contributed to these recordings. thanks to matt carson for digitizing these tracks from the analogue originals.

1. como puedo ver
2. el dia de los muertos
3. these naked ladies
4. no ordinary love
5. la onda tropical

download here

mr. wonderful volume one

mr. wonderful vol. one is a collection of songs recorded on a four track at chris paco johnson's former house in norman, oklahoma. recorded probably in 1998, cassette copies were given to friends before my departure to oaxaca, mexico. while a couple of these songs are solo versions of well known songs that were played live by gallery thirteen at the time, there is one odd cover version here. the song "three" has lyrics by tennessee williams and music by paul bowles. thanks to matt carson for digitizing these songs from the analogue originals.

1. bitter
2. i would like to hold your hand
3. gristletown
4. we can take our medicine together
5. that i'd wish for you
6. someone to blame
7. cupid is drunk (throwing up love on me)
8. three

download here