Songwriting Workshop

This Saturday, as an instructor for Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective, I'll be presenting a workshop on writing your own songs!

I'll be covering subjects like where to find inspiration, whether to start with music or lyrics, why anime theme songs are so good, and however much more I can cram into an hour-long session.

As for my qualifications as a songwriting instructor, regular readers of this blog know that I've been writing songs and playing in bands most of my life. I'm certainly no Rivers Cuomo*, but I've written songs that have been licensed for use by TV shows like The Golf Channel, MLB Network, and Access Hollywood as well as a Muzak-like service waaaay back in the day (it's been so long, I've forgotten their name). So yeah, I collect my $2.10 royalty check every quarter.

The workshop is free and will take place over Zoom from 2pm-3pm Pacific Time. If you're interested in attending, it's not too late to register! Just go to this link. Hope to see you there!

* Although I think I could probably take him in a best two-out-of-three guitar shredding contest

Stage Play Status Update: First Production Meeting

This past Sunday we had our first production meeting for Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play!

It was just me and my friend Rachel Dubuc, a fellow musician formerly of the band Ghost Feet. Rachel has a lot of live venue production experience which will be invaluable in helping us bring the play to life. We talked about general aspects of the project as well as specifics like how we're going to create wavebow effects on stage, which will include Star Wars-like blaster shots, Ghostbusters-like light streams, and Doctor Strange-like magic shields (sometimes all at once).

I'm really grateful to have Rachel on the team and am looking forward to our collaboration!

Stage Play Informal Table Read

This past Sunday we held an informal table read for Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play!

As I mentioned in last week's post, it was just friends and family members filling in for the actual cast (who I haven't started looking for yet). Also, there was no live singing; I just played a recorded mix of the songs that I pulled off my band's albums and edited (poorly) into the sections that will be in the play.

Still, it was a lot of fun! And I got a sense of the runtime, which I think will come out to be around 1.5 to 2 hours (we finished the read in one hour and ten minutes, but that's not counting the intermission and a lot of stage movement). Everyone did a great job, despite the fact that I failed to provide some of them with the latest version of the script.

Also, I was able to talk my son into reading for the character of Joel, which was a real treat, especially since Joel was kind of based on him in the first place (if you're reading this, thanks again for doing it! Much appreciated). 

Next, I will be working on finding more crew members as well as polishing up the script (my son gave it a 7 or 8 out of 10, which I think is a great starting point). Stay tuned for more updates!

Stage Play Status Update: Bullet Point Edition

Here's the latest status update on Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play adaptation of Volume One.

- A friend had recommended a book called Writing Musical Theater, but it was out of my budget - $106 (!) for the hardcover version and $71 (!!) for the e-book. But then, to my surprise, she sent me her copy! So I've been reading it and learning a lot. Super grateful for her generosity.

- I believe we have our first crew members! One is the makeup artist who worked on Hold My Beer, and the other is a fellow musician with venue production experience who will be running sound and/or lighting (to be determined). I met the latter last year after they found my business card on the ground outside their apartment (not kidding). If you folks are reading this, hi! And thank you for your interest in the project!

- I've been watching more musical stage plays and making-of-musical-stage-plays for educational and inspirational purposes, including Hamilton, Frozen, Diana, and Broadway Idiot (the making of Green Day's American Idiot play, since the play itself isn't available). They were all highly impressive productions; you could tell a TON of work, talent and passion went into each of them. Obviously, we will have a mere fraction of their budgets, but I hope to come at least somewhere close to the amount of joy they were able to generate.

- This coming Sunday, we will have an informal table read of the script! Not with anyone who will be in the actual cast, but just friends and family filling in so I can get a sense of what the script sounds like out loud as well as the total run time. Pictures to follow in a future status update post. Stay tuned!

SPS Gig @ Dante’s Tomorrow!

This is a reminder (partly to myself) that yes, my band Second Player Score is sometimes actually still a band.

In fact, we might be even more of a band now than in recent years. By my count, this is our *counts on fingers* THIRD SHOW this year already, which is one more than we played all of last year.

So if you are in the Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR area (or will happen to be passing through), come check us out! The other bands we'll be playing with are great, so it will be a fun night. Plus, Dante's has awesome pizza.

Hope to see you there!

Stage Play Status Update

Here's the latest status update on the stage play now known as Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers!

As you may recall, the play will be a musical featuring songs from my band Second Player Score's existing catalog. This is mostly because I am too lazy to write all-new songs most of our albums are concept albums, so a lot of the songs already fit the story beats quite nicely. 

The actors won't be performing the songs in their entirety (except for the big closing number), so I've been assembling a one-track mix of the parts that we will be using, mainly for reference and rehearsal purposes. For example, during our upcoming informal table read that will have friends and family standing in for the actual cast, no one will actually be singing. But I still want to hear what the songs sound like in the context of the script as well as get a feel for the total run time, so that what this mix will be for.

Overall, on the thousand-mile journey, we are still maybe on step fifty or so. But as long as we keep making a little progress every day, I'm confident we will eventually get there. After all, this isn't my first rodeo (Hold My Beer, the film, was originally written in 2019, didn't seriously go into production until August 2022, and was finally released in January 2025).

Stay tuned for more updates!

Stuff I Did This Past Weekend

I've been so busy solving puzzles and fighting boss battles in Life, The Video Game that I forgot to mention the stuff I had going on this past weekend.

On Friday, my sometimes-a-band Second Player Score was actually a band, playing Day Two of the inaugural PDX Pop Punk Fest at the Wyrd Hut in Portland. It was all-ages and a good crowd turned up, so that was cool. Big thanks to Lexi and Chris of Crisis Averted Booking for having us, and to bill-mates First-Class Martians, The Disorderlies, Ninjas With Syringes, and The Sh*tfits (this blog is now officially PG-13) for sharing the stage with us and rocking out.

Then on Saturday I taught a workshop on Independent Writing and Publishing for Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective. It was an encore presentation of a workshop I did last July, and it was a lot of fun. If you missed it, you can watch a replay here.

Coming up next week: a status report on what was called Wavemaker: A Rock Opera but is now called Joel Suzuki: The Musical (don't tell Joel and Felicity)!

A Show? Yes, A Show!

Remember in this Band Update post from March when I said that Second Player Score, my now-mostly-a-multimedia-production-team-but-still-sometimes-a-band, had shows booked for May and June? Well, the time has arrived!

If you're in the Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR area (or happen to be passing through, or have frequent flyer miles to burn), you can check us out THIS SATURDAY, May 16th, at The Snug in NE Portland. We'll be playing with Six Sundays and Craig James & The Hawthorns, so you know it'll be a rockin' good time. There's no cover charge, and as a bonus for old people like me, the show starts relatively early at 8pm and should end by around 11:30pm at the latest (it actually does kind of have to end by then, since The Snug is in a residential neighborhood). We'll also be debuting our brand-new song "Edge Back," along with a new-old song (written in 2018 but never officially recorded or performed live until now) called "Think About Baseball."

Hope to see you there!

Band Update

Confession: the last time Second Player Score got together as a band was when we played a benefit show for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention last September. Yes, SIX MONTHS AGO.

Funny how time works, huh? But anyway, we are now on the cusp - I hope - of starting back up again. As a musician, when you don't play music for a long time, you start to really miss it even if you don't realize it. It's a great way to relieve stress, even if some of that stress paradoxically stems from the act of playing music (as much as I love performing, especially for a good cause like supporting the AFSP or Autism Empowerment, there's all the other stuff that goes into it: loading gear! Finding parking! Staying up past my bedtime! Are people going to show up? Etc., etc.)

I have even, for the first time in literal years, WRITTEN NEW SONGS. Three of them, in fact. Two of them were deliberate attempts to make anime-theme-song-style songs, and the third was a completely different animal loosely inspired by "Gotta Get Away" by The Offspring and "Catch These Fists" by Wet Leg. The anime-style songs still need lyrics (my goal is to write them in Japanese) and are pretty complex, so you probably won't be hearing them anytime soon. The third song, however, is a simple punk-rock jam (called "Edge Back" - yes, it has lyrics) that we may have ready by the time we play our next show.

Oh, did I forget to mention? Yes, we HAVE SHOWS BOOKED. One is in May, the next in June. Which equals the number of shows that we played all of last year. I will announce more details when it gets closer.

Will this represent a new beginning, a phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes revival of Second Player Score, the band*? We shall see! Stay tuned...

* the multimedia production team is something totally different and may have a cool announcement of its own coming up soon

Wavebow Comp?

Last Friday, I dropped by the Asian Arts and Culture Exhibit at the Vancouver, WA Arts Hub. There were, as you might expect, lots of amazing crafts and artwork, as well as some great musical performances. Some exhibits even combined craft, art, and music, like this one:

I found this stringed instrument to be so interesting that I had to take pictures of it. It kind of reminded me of a wavebow, or a possible relative of it (in case you're new here, a wavebow is the magical musical instrument that some of my characters from the Joel Suzuki series play). The back of it was even cooler:

As you can see, it had a carving of what I think is a dragon, which looks incredible. Confession: I had never thought of doing something like that for the wavebows, and now I wish I had! Maybe I can work it into Volume Eight somehow.

Anyway, there was no one manning that booth while I was there (I had to leave a little early), so I didn't get a chance to ask what the instrument was called. If you know, please tell me in the comments! And if you're in the Vancouver, WA area and have not checked out the Arts Hub yet, I highly recommend doing so. You can find out more information about it here.

School of Rock

Did I mention that since September, I've been teaching guitar lessons part-time at the School of Rock franchise here in Vancouver, WA? No? Okay, then I'm mentioning it now.

It's been a great experience and a lot of fun. I've had the pleasure of working with students of all ages, including a young maestro whose skills are so advanced that in one of our lessons, I actually had him teach ME stuff.

Big thanks to school owner/general manager Kenneth Weiner (who is also the lead singer of Monty Vega & The Sittin' Shivas, whose song "Flash Bang Grenade" is the title theme for the Hold My Beer short film - Ken also makes a cameo appearance as a homebrewer in the film's climactic contest scene), music directors Dylan and Justin, school admin/coordinator Christina, and the rest of the staff and students for welcoming me and being awesome.

Rock on!

Why Are Anime Theme Songs So Good?

If you're a fan of anime like me - or even if you're not - you may have noticed that anime theme songs totally rock. Or "slap," as the kids say. Do they still say that? Or is that a Millenial term, supplanted by another word that Gen Z uses? (to an old Gen Xer like me, Millenials and Gen Z are all lumped together in the "kids" category.) 

Tonikaku ("anyway"), what was I saying? Oh yeah, anime theme songs: SO GOOD. I enjoy them so much, often playing YouTube mixes of them while I do chores, that at one point I decided to try to figure out why they are so good. This reverse-engineering process led me to a couple of interesting discoveries:

1. A lot of anime theme songs (and just J-Pop/Rock songs in general) tend to use a similar structure that goes something like this:

- Instrumental or vocal introduction

- First verse

- Pre-chorus that increases the tension

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental or vocal break (usually 1/2 of the original intro)

- Second verse, usually with an additional element that differentiates it from the first verse

- Pre-chorus

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental solo

- Bridge

- HUGE CHORUS

- Outro (usually a reprise of the intro)

Two songs that are good examples of this structure (and are personal favorites of mine) are "Shunkan Sentimental" by Scandal (from Full Metal Alchemist) and "Zankyou Sanka" by Aimer (from Demon Slayer).

2. Anime theme songs tend to have vocal melodies that "tell a story" in the chorus, as opposed to a lot of western-hemisphere songs that rely on the "repeat the same line 4 or 8 times" method. A classic example of the "tell a story" melody is the "Happy Birthday" song (sing it to yourself and you'll see what I mean):

- Happy birthday to you (introduction, like you're setting out on a journey)

- Happy birthday to you (rising action)

- Happy birthday, dear Brian (climax)

- Happy birthday to you (resolution)

A couple of good examples of this are "Blue Bird" by Ikimono-Gakari (from Naruto: Shippuden) and "Gurenge" by LiSA (also from Demon Slayer). These songs also utilize variations of the song structure I went over in point #1 above.

In addition to making them rock/slap/whatever, utilizing these techniques allows these songs to be shortened down without diluting their effectiveness into the one-minute-or-so range that animes will use over their intro or closing credits. So keep them in mind if you want to write a song that would make a good theme for an anime (and optionally, maybe also consider learning Japanese)!

Rock & Brews For Suicide Prevention

This Saturday, my band Second Player Score (yes, we are sometimes a band) and our friends Old Cross will be playing a benefit show for the Oregon chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention!

(The flyer says the show includes special guest Animation Eddie, but unfortunately he had to cancel. You should still check out his awesome stop motion animation on his YouTube channel.)

It will be from 6pm-9pm at Loowit Brewing Company's downtown Vancouver, WA location at 507 Columbia Street. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so come and enjoy cold beer and hot punk rock tunes while supporting a great cause.

Hope to see you there!

Benefit Show For Autism Empowerment

Believe it or not, Second Player Score is occasionally a band! And we will attempt to prove it by playing our first show since last November (man, does time fly) at Ole's Outpost in beautiful east Vancouver, WA this Saturday.

We'll be opening the night at 6:30pm, followed by our friends Flying Whammy. And best of all, the event is a benefit for Autism Empowerment!

So if you're in the area, head on down to 11202 NE Fourth Plain Blvd to enjoy some great beer and rocking tunes while supporting an amazing cause. Hope to see you there!

Show Recap

We (Second Player Score, that is) had a great time playing our first show in (checks notes) over a year?? at Ole's Outpost, Loowit Brewing's second location this past Saturday.

Big thanks to Tom and everyone at Loowit for inviting us to be part of the festivities, and also to our friends who came out! It was a little different from most of our shows in that we were playing with our garage setup, with Kyle on his electric drum kit and me and Dan on our smaller practice amps. But it was still a lot of fun, and actually sounded better to my ears than a number of other shows I've played in the past - I could hear everything, especially my own guitar (people in the crowd kept telling me to turn the guitar UP, which, to a guitar player, is like a "Whaaat? Seriously? You're giving me free beer?*" kind of situation).

* And speaking of free beer, the bands had open tabs at the bar, which was a total chef's kiss situation seeing as how Loowit beer is so darn good

For posterity's sake, here's the set list from the evening, which consisted mainly of SPS "standards" (i.e., songs that we remembered better than others):

Liberty's End

Daily Grind

Ragged Town

Winner Takes It All

Demon's Kiss

Game On

Falling Forever

Eye of the Needle

Comets

And as a bonus, we started around 8pm, played until 9pm (which is when most bar shows begin), and got home at an hour that is much more compatible with my cat-affected sleep schedule.

Hopefully it won't be another year before we play again!**

** It won't be. We're scheduled to perform at Loowit's original downtown Vancouver location in a few months for an exciting special event. More details on that to come!

SPS @ Ole's Outpost

A reminder, in case you needed it (we kind of did): Second Player Score, in addition to being a multimedia production team, is also - gasp - a band!

Yes, after literally months of not picking up our instruments due to being busy with Hold My Beer, we are once again going to be cranking out some tunes. And what better occasion to dust off the cobwebs than the grand opening of Ole's Outpost, Loowit Brewery's second location!

If you're in the Vancouver area, check it out this Saturday, August 24th, starting at 6pm (we'll be going on at around 8pm, but come early for the beer, food and raffle). Ole's Outpost is located at 11202 Fourth Plain Blvd, Vancouver WA 98662. Hope to see you there!

Stuck In The Daily Grind

Hey, so remember this post from six weeks ago where I mentioned that my band was making a video for our song "Daily Grind?" And I posted a picture from the set where there was a green screen behind a desk? Well, whether you remember or not, here is the completed video!

In preparation for our work on Hold My Beer, we scripted, storyboarded, directed, and edited this all on our own (with an assist from my son Torin). It was a lot of fun to make. Here is some behind-the-scenes trivia about it:

- The opening wake-up shot of me was filmed in my bedroom with my actual alarm clock that I don't use, because I'm usually woken up by cats. Kyle's shot was filmed on my couch, while Dan filmed his shot in his room at home.

- All the "getting dressed" shots were filmed in my house. Yes, that's my 20-sided die mug (a present from Dan) and my Portland Trail Blazers miniature basket.

- We considered several different options for the "sitting in traffic" shots, like actually sitting in traffic, or filming in a garage somewhere with giant screens behind our cars, but when we realized a tight shot of us in the driver's seats would be sufficient, we just did it in my driveway.

- The offices are all green screen images, in case you haven't already guessed.

- Torin shot most of the "playing in the garage" scene.

Check it out!

4-D Is Here!

Now that every track on Second Player Score's latest release 4-D has been launched, it's time to reveal the official entire album, complete with cover art!

It features the main characters of the underlying story, Wynn and their fourth-dimensional companion Gogo. As for the story itself, some of the details have changed over time, but the main plot (inspired by things like Pokemon and Avatar: The Last Airbender) is essentially the same: four kids become involved in a high-stakes scavenger hunt to retrieve powerful objects from the fourth spatial dimension in order to make their dreams come true... but, of course, nothing is as it seems.

The tie-in novella that was originally planned has been put on the shelf for now, but the associated card game is still in production. And we also have concepts and ideas for a possible TV show adaptation. In the meantime, you can check out the rest of the album's artwork and order a CD copy of it (do people still listen to CDs? Of course they do!) at this link.

More New Music Tomorrow: Divide and Conquer

If you've been following this blog for the past five weeks, you know that my band and multimedia production team Second Player Score has been dropping a new track off our latest album 4-D every Friday. The first four were from the "Summer Suite" (4-D is divided into four seasonal suites), while the next four, which began last week, are from the "Spring Suite" (graphic below).

Tomorrow's new song is "Divide and Conquer," which is a song about, well, dividing and conquering. You see, 4-D, like all our albums, tells a complete story while still having lyrics that are relatable to everyday life, and "Divide and Conquer" is told from the Big Bad's point of view near the beginning of the final act right before the climactic fight with the heroes. This song is probably the album's least relatable one (unless you are an evil supervillain), but it's still a rocking, energetic track that is perfect for a good shout-along (fun fact: it used to be slower tempo-wise and didn't really work until our drummer Kyle, inspired by an Offspring song, suggested that we play it a lot faster). Or, I don't know, maybe you can relate to it, read the lyrics and judge for yourself:

And now that we're at the final battle

They come together like herding cattle

Since when they gather, they drive you bonkers

You'd so much rather divide and conquer

Hey!

Alone you know they won't last much longer

And joining forces will make 'em stronger

To kick their britches from here to Yonkers

You're gonna have to divide and conquer

Hey!

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Check it out on all the usual streaming platforms!

Things Are Happening

Exciting times!

First of all, remember the film project tentatively titled Hold My Beer? In the last status update post about it back in April, I mentioned that I was working on an application for a grant from the Vancouver Culture, Arts and Heritage Commission that would help fund the project. Well, on Tuesday, it was announced that the grant has been awarded! (it's going to Autism Empowerment, who is coproducing the film with my band/multimedia production team Second Player Score). So now, we can move full speed ahead, which means you'll be seeing a lot more status update posts. In the meantime, Second Player Score has been developing our filmmaking chops by creating a music video for "Daily Grind," the song mentioned in this previous post (the picture above shows one of the sets of the video, complete with green screen).

Second, the secret recording project that I talked about in this post has been unveiled! It's called "Welcome to Punky's MixTape," and it's the new theme song for the internet variety show "Punky's MixTape" on Twitch. We've been good friends with the show and its host/creator, Punky Bruiser, for a number of years now (you may recall us having a virtual launch party on the show back in February 2021, and also playing Dungeons & Dragons as a fundraiser for Autism Empowerment a month after that), and we are honored to now be the official soundtrack for their opening credits. You can check out the song and its awesome accompanying footage on YouTube at this link, and be sure to tune in to Punky's Mixtape every Wednesday on Twitch at 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern.

And finally, tomorrow another track off of Second Player Score's new album 4-D will be released! It's from the album's Spring Suite, it's called "Fourth Quarter Comeback," and it's about...well, it's basically about what it says in the title. Also, it features guest backing vocals from Dan's wife Molly and Kyle's daughter Fallon. We wrote it with the idea that it would make a good anthem for high school football games across the country. Here are the lyrics:

Let's see those rally caps go on

We'll seize this chance before it's gone

Stay calm I know we got this now

It's not too late to show them how

We're never giving up

We're never giving in

We're never gonna stop

Not until the end

You know there's still a lot of time

And fortune can turn on a dime

It isn't over 'til it's done

And then we'll see just who has won

We're never giving up

We're never giving in

We're never gonna stop

Not until the end

Check it out on all the usual streaming platforms!