CD Release Party!! And Other Happenings

For all of you in the Portland/Vancouver area, come on down to the Sandy Hut this Saturday for Second Player Score's CD release party!

Three other awesome bands will also be performing: Laurelhurst, Stab In The Dark, and Kings and Vagabonds. We'll have CDs, T-shirts, and other swag for sale. Feel free to wear your leftover Halloween costume from the night before. Should be a rockin' good time! If you can't make it, our CDs are available here, or as digital downloads here.

Other random quick hits:
- I'm still playing Hyrule Warriors. I thought I would have gotten tired of it after a relatively short period of time, as there isn't much to it beyond wiping out hordes of enemies, but even after completing Legend Mode (in three different difficulty levels) and unlocking all the characters in Adventure Mode, it's still a lot of fun. I guess button-mashing can be a really cathartic release after a long day of rewriting dialogue and fixing up plot holes.

- I've been enjoying Star Wars: Rebels and the current season of Doctor Who much more since their debut episodes, which I thought were kind of meh. Speaking of which, the latter is almost over already, can you believe it? The previews look great - can't wait.

- Speaking of great previews/can't wait, I'm sure you've all seen this. Can it be May already?

Believe Me, I Am Still Working On Book Two

You know what's crazy? That there is a Kikaida reboot movie out and I didn't know about it until a couple of weeks ago. You know what else is crazy? That I have been working on Book Two almost every day now for nearly twenty-six straight months.

Yes, over two years.

Now, the last time you heard about it from me was back in July (three months ago, holy cow), at which point I said that "the Book Two rewrite is coming along nicely - not much else to report there."

Well, that was true, at the time. Since then, though, I've actually gone back and pulled elements from some older drafts and synopses and incorporated them with some new ideas, all in an attempt to craft a story that is as strong as it can be while still following the overall series arc that I've envisioned. I've always been a stickler when it comes to plot holes in other people's works, so I like to try and make my own stuff as airtight as possible.

So, in a nutshell, the rewrite has not been progressing in a smooth, linear fashion - it's been a lurching, stop-and-start process, to say the least. At one point I found myself wishing that I had some kind of magical book blender...like, you know, I'd dump my several hundred pages of notes and drafts into it, push a button, and then - voila - out comes a delicious smoothie of a perfect, completed book that kept all the best ideas and strained out the not-so-good ones. I guess that's not really what a blender does. But you know what I mean.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I have not forgotten about Joel and Felicity's next great adventure - quite the opposite, actually. Just bear with me, and I promise, we'll get there eventually. Probably not by the time the Kikaida reboot movie comes out on DVD (which is this December - can't wait!), but hopefully sooner than later.

My Musical History, Episode 16: The Harmonies Change Everything

All right, so as you know from the last episode, I had reunited with the drummer from Upper80, and we had been knocking about sort of informally, just having fun and playing some tunes from the old days. It was a welcome distraction from whatever else was going on at the time, and after a while, we decided to get a bass player and give it a go - but, of course, only as a hobby, definitely not meant to be anything serious.

As is always the case (because - say it with me - no one actually wants to be a bass player), we cycled through a bunch of bassist candidates, even finding one that I thought would last for while, before finally, one day, we crossed paths with a dude who - despite the fact that he originally played guitar - actually did want to play the bass, was a good fit, and was even from Hawaii, to boot. We settled on a name that I had been wanting to use for some time (this is where it came from), and off we went.

At first, we played a mix of originals and covers, including everything from Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" to "Seek And Destroy" by Metallica to "Synchronicity II" by The Police. We did a bunch of shows around town, including the launch party for Book One and the Rock For Autism fundraiser for The Children's Occupational Therapy Charitable Trust. It was a rockin' good time, but, again, that's all it was really meant to be.

Then, one day - I don't remember exactly when - we decided to try and add some vocal harmonies to one of our songs, specifically, "Gloria." I don't really know why we did it; I suppose it was just something fun to experiment with. After a lengthy trial and error process, we finally got it, and the results were...pretty dang amazing, actually. Seriously, it was like we were playing an entirely different song.

So, encouraged by that success, we figured - in true mad scientist fashion - "why not add harmonies to all of our originals?" We started that process while we played a bunch of shows that featured punk rock versions of '80s classics (including an "'80s Night" at Mickey Finn's - Devo hat FTW), until eventually, the newly-harmonized originals just sort of took over and we decided to focus completely on doing our own stuff. In fact, it was so much fun, we found ourselves booking time with a recording engineer that I had worked with before to make some sweet-sounding tracks.

And what do you know - just like that, without even really realizing it, I was back in the band business. And, this time, it was fun. It just felt right. We finished recording ten songs with the aforementioned engineer and decided to release them as a proper album, which we chose to call - nerd alert - Fortress Storm Attack.

And that pretty much catches us up to today. Thanks for coming along on this ride through history with me. Honestly, it really feels like it's all gone by in a flash. But that's how it is when you're having a good time - most of the time, anyway.

Hey, so tonight, tune in here as we do a live interview on Anarchy Radio starting from 8pm Pacific Time!

Random Thoughts About Random Stuff

So, the new Star Wars show. Wasn't this supposed to be the live-action series? I had been looking forward to that. Anyway, I watched the premiere, "Spark of Rebellion," and I thought it was...okay. Now, I'm not one of those fans that want everything Star Wars-related to be super dark or whatever, and I consider myself to be pretty forgiving when it comes to new additions to beloved franchises (I didn't hate the prequels, and I also didn't hate Metallica's Load and Reload albums), but my reaction to this new show - the first episode, anyway - was mostly "meh." (WARNING: Mild spoilers to follow, although if you plan to watch this show you probably know all of this stuff already)

It wasn't really the familiar tropes (Ezra=Aladdin=Wan=etc.) or the creepy-looking Wookiees that I had an issue with, it was just...I dunno, the whole thing came off as kind of flat to me. The dialogue, which was often very Star Wars-y if you know what I mean, didn't feel like it was delivered with the kind of conviction needed to pull it off successfully. And since Kanan is taking such pains to conceal his Jedi identity, shouldn't he have killed all the Stormtroopers once he finally busted out his light saber? Or, at least, taken them all prisoner or something?

Anyway, on to something new that I really do like, and that's Hyrule Warriors. I had never played Dynasty Warriors, but I had a feeling that I would enjoy HW not only for its Legend of Zelda-based characters and setting, but also for the mindless button-mashing bad-guy-smashing gameplay. As much as I appreciate the puzzles in a "standard" LoZ title, one of my favorite things to do in those games is to take my Master Sword and slice up a bunch of bokoblins, so HW indulges me in a pretty serious way.

Also, the co-op feature allows me to play the game with my daughter, which is all kinds of fun. Believe me, the two of us being able to say things like "I'll take care of Ghirahim, you go check on the Allied Base!" to each other is a major highlight of the whole parenting experience. And yes, she totally gets the difference between fantasy violence and real violence, so don't worry, I'm still doing my job as a dad in that respect.

Finally, just a few notes about some cool things that are going on with my band, Second Player Score. Our debut album, Fortress Storm Attack, is now officially available as a physical CD or digital download - you can get it here, or, if you're in the Portland area, you can come to our release party on November 1st at The Sandy Hut. We're also on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify if you're into those kinds of things. And next Thursday (October 16th) we'll be doing a live interview on the Anarchy Radio Show starting at 9pm PST, so check it out here. Call in and we'll give you a shout out!

My Musical History, Episode 15: A Second Chance

As I said at the end of Episode 14, after Council Crest came to a close I was feeling pretty burnt out. Honestly, I was ready to hang up the band-playing-boots for good. All the hassle of inter-band drama, lugging around heavy gear, and playing shows on Tuesday nights at 1am just didn't seem worth it anymore.

Not to mention, by then I had discovered a new creative outlet, something that I had always wanted to do but never really had the time for: writing. It seemed to be some kind of divine coincidence that, right around the moment when Council Crest started to peter out, my son asked me to write a book for him.

I figured that this still-to-be-named novel would replace playing in bands as my life's work. It was fun, exciting, and a little scary to be embarking on this new journey, and I felt rejuvenated. Writing was going to be everything that playing in bands was not. It would be the anti-band. I would have complete creative control, I wouldn't have to deal with other people's schedules or temperaments, there was no gear to lug around (besides my laptop), and I could write on my own time. And yes, I know I tried the solo music thing before, but playing music alone just didn't feel right. Music, to me, is a social thing, while writing, by nature, is a solitary activity, so I didn't have the same kinds of doubts.

But then, a couple of months into the drafting process for what would become Book One, something strange happened. The drummer from Upper80 - remember that band? - contacted me and said that he had received an electronic drum kit for Christmas. Why is that significant, you ask? Well, if you recall, Upper80 had ended mostly because we had been evicted from our practice space. But, with an electronic kit and its adjustable volume levels, we would now be able to play just about anywhere - my garage, his living room, whatever.

So, despite my reservations, I accepted his invitation to get together for a casual jam session. The jam session went well and we had fun, and before you knew it, "jam sessions" turned into "practices," and we started looking around for bass players and open mics to play at. Honestly, I really hadn't meant for it to happen, but it was like the proverbial call of the siren, and I couldn't resist.

Still, I felt sure that, this time around, the band thing would be nothing more than an informal distraction, kind of like a regular weekend golf outing with buddies. Little did I know what was in store....

Next: The Harmonies Change Everything

P.S. If you're in the Portland/Vancouver area, don't forget to come check out the NIWA Writers' booth at the Portland Fall Home & Garden Show this weekend!