A subject has been coming up a bit lately, and I think it warrants a weblog post. It is the issue of balancing a visually engaging, energetic presentation with playing the songs well. Both are important.

(Note: the following is fairly genre-dependent, subjective and ill-informed.)

When you go see a band live, you expect to be entertained. There are two major parts to this. The first is the quality of the musical performance. The second is the quality of the, for lack of a better term (as I’m too lazy to think of one), act. Let’s examine these.

A band exists to make music (unless it’s a band of, say, transient clowns). It seems to follow that the musical performance is the most important and critical part of the show, with the act coming in a moderately distant second. But is this true?

Suppose you go to see a band you’ve never heard. We’ll call them Slime Folly. They come up on stage and make music seemingly flawlessly. While they are making such music, they are standing, looking devastated, staring at some piece of masking tape on the floor left over from some show three nights ago.

They are followed with another band called Flying Monotony. They proceed to rock the crap out of the stage as they play. Their energy washes over the crowd and everyone is, at a minimum, bouncing to the beat and grinning stupidly. While they are giving this performance, they screw some stuff up. Their harmonies are occasionally cringe-worthy, the guitar player poops a few chords, the drummer spills his beer and so forth.

Which is more enjoyable? Which would you rather see live?

-

(I realize that this is a false dichotomy, but be quiet).

I awoke to find this note prominently displayed.

Please give me your katra.

You’re mad at me.

That’s why you’re being so quiet.

What did I do?

Why do you always get angry at me?

Was it that thing I said about your mother?

Look, I was just trying to be funny.

You know me, my jokes always go over wrong.

I didn’t mean anything by it.

(sigh)

Well.

I don’t know what you want me to say.

Just tell me what to say and I’ll say it, ok?

What do you mean, ‘that’s not what this is about’?

Oh.

OH.

That.

Ok.

Yeah.

Ok.

I see.

Jeez.

I forgot all about that.

I’m sorry.

I am.

No, I know it doesn’t make it any better, but I am sorry, for what it’s worth.

Why are you still angry?

Seriously.

Why are you still angry?

I said I’m sorry.

What else do you want?

Stop saying that! You’ve already said that!

Hey, don’t start calling names.

Don’t start being like that.

I’m not going to do this.

No, I’m not going to do this again. AGAIN.

No.

Talk to me when you’re ready to act like an adult.

No, YOU shut up.

Shut UP.

UGH.

Hey, look, now, you’re upsetting the kids.

Are you happy?

No, eff YOU.  Don’t talk to me like that.

Get out.

Now.

I don’t even want to look at you when you’re acting like this.

You’ve been drinking.

You have.

Son of a monkey.

No wonder.

You have to stop this.

You HAVE to.

It’s going to kill you.

Yes, it is. And it’s affecting all of us, too.

How many times has little Jimmy been late to school because you can’t get your hungover self out of bed on time?

How many times?

No, that IS fair.

That’s perfectly fair.

You can’t keep doing this.

You can’t.

God, you have to stop.

This is not working.

You can’t even speak anymore.

Look, you need to leave.

You need to leave and sober up and come back when you’re ready to behave like an adult.

You make your mother so proud.

THE END

Earl and I keep a working list of all our songs.  It’s called “Master Song List.”  We try to update it about as often as we write or start writing anything new, though it of course gets ignored a lot of the time.  Earl wrote two new songs this week, and that got me looking at the list again.  Below is a sampling of comments that both of us have written for various songs on the list, under a column titled “Status/Notes.”

Status/Notes
“A lot of potential, but needs attention”
“Needs some re-writing”
“Needs a lot of re-write help”
“overplayed – shelved”
“Fun”
“Needs re-write”
“Needs a hefty re-write”
“Needs music?”
“Abandoned”
“Disowned”
“Synth”
“cover – partially developed”
“A joke song.  Needs synth version.”
“ugh”

I’ll post the respective songs later so we can all make a game of matching them with these comments.

Gentle and beloved fans,

All is well!  I realize most of the status updates of late have been something like, ‘We’re working on the album, seriously’, to which I respond: seriously.  It’s the details.  It is progressing.

Anyway, we are nearing the end of something called ‘proxy season’, during which 2/3 of the Lime Colony are actually improsoned.  de facto.  Tim seems to have been freed from his shackles (only to be replaced by other, more portable shackles) and it’s been reported that Colin is in the process of reclaiming his personal effects (consisting of an old quilt, a lizard mask, two cans of  DEFY UV-Resistant Clear Wood Finish, a pair of tin-snips and several unmentionables) from the desk clerk at a non-descript minimum-security prison in Modesto.

We’re hoping to make a couple of changes in the near-future (good changes).  I won’t tell you what they are because I’m chewing right now and don’t want to be rude.  [Wait...hold one...just a second...] *ANOTHER BITE*.

So don’t jump off of the bridge – your life is worth more than you think.  We can help you.  Think of your family!

Beautiful weather, huh?  We pity the fools who live outside the lesser Bay Area where temperatures can exceed 85 degrees.  How do you do it?

Earl

Dear Subscribers and Website Readers,

Lime Colony is looking for a kick-butt bass player (upright or electric, preferably both) willing to add  a bit of low-end to our recordings and occasional live performances.  After some great live shows and numerous open mic appearances (namely at the Hotel Utah), we’re now in the middle of recording an LP’s worth of new music (approximately) to be self-released.  We usually get together about once a week (Thurs or Sat nights) in the city. If you love music, and are good at playing it on a bass, then we’d love to hear from you.

To summarize what we’re looking for:
- a talented bass player and musician
- upright or electric or both, preferably
- music-lover
- easy-going
- sense of humor doesn’t hurt
- ability to sing back-up vocals a plus

To further summarize what you should and should not expect, please see below.

What you should expect:
- a friendly environment
- fairly informal but focused rehearsals and recording sessions, when schedules line up
- jokes (usually bad/not-funny)
- open-minded and good-humored bandmates
- to play semi-folk-inspired music, that is sometimes quiet, but sometimes tries to rock pretty hard

What you should NOT expect:
- pay
- a strict or frequent practice/rehearsal/recording schedule (see first paragraph)
- many, many gigs every month
- scary monsters
- fame

Love,

Lime Colony

…with synth.  If you haven’t already, you can hear a new, futuristic version of the score we wrote for Tough Love.  You can find it over at our page on Myspace, or over at our page on Facebook!  We’re also ringing in the new year with words that are actually hyperlinks!  Please enjoy.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in advance.

EPs are great, huh?  But sometimes they don’t fill you up, which in many cases, is perfect.  Like a salad.  A musical salad.  With beans (they’re good for your heart).  The album that is presently consuming all or nearly all of our energy (seriously, we come to work in shorts these days and all sport nasty, nasty beards), was going to be an EP.  But then it started getting (way) behind schedule.  We wanted to finish it before Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Festival of Lights/Hail-Earthworms Day, but, as the very existence of this posts indicates, that dream is shot.  SHOT.  Blam.

Anyway, the New Album (Untitled), is going to be a bona fide feature-length album (or as some would say, alblum).  Crazy.  Also, as part of this new thing, we’re going to be trying to get back in the public arena – holding fund-raising carwashes and bake sales and trying to make live music.  This means several things, but I’ll let you figure them out on your own.

Stale chocolate covered raisins are almost as good as fresh ones.  But if you eat too many, you’ll want to vomit.  Also, you may be attacked by giant ants, as is happening in the picture below.

Happy Hunting,

Earl

Recently, you’ve been waking up in the middle of the night, naked, alarmed and sweaty, standing upright on the matress, with the sheets twisting from the foot of the bed all the way around your ankles… with the sweet taste of some classy bourbon wreathing from the back of your throat…  And when this has happened, you’ve also been squinting your crusty little eyes and asking, “What is Lime Colony doing these days?  Why don’t they talk to me anymore?”

Here are some answers.  Lime Colony has been recording music.  Lime Colony has also been learning on the fly, and striving for perfection.  And so sometimes the old music has been utterly scrapped, and recorded again from the start.  Fresh. 

Things are looking up, though.  One song is almost complete; we’ve acquired a cello; I finished my bag of buffalo-flavored pretzel bits Earl hated so much; Colin made great headway with Bioshock, and even greater headway with his proficiency in new latin-based rhythms on the drums; Earl got a new shirt from Woot (it’s a funny one, but it would be hard to explain right here (and while i could also just put a picture up, that would spoil the mystery and also infringe too much on Earl’s privacy)); and we’ve spent a few weeks here and there on our band yacht just lounging in the sun sharing old war stories, which has been a nice way to finish out the summer.

Here’s a private picture I found of Earl, in our private recording space working on a track:

Sorry the updates have been so slow.  If all goes well, maybe our next post will feature a cut off our new album.

This one is for all you new subscribers to the RSS feed.  Thanks for reading.