ILLUMINATING DRINK

Dark Ocean Colors - My Barbara Closed The Doors

2012-01-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

Dark Ocean Colors - My Barbara Closed The Doors

2011-08-17T04:27:00.000-07:00

Dark Ocean Colors release date

2011-07-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

Coming 30th August 2011

Scrub Radio.com The Pillbugs Easter Restrospective

2011-04-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

This Sunday on ScrubRadio.com it's "The Pillbugs Easter Restrospective"! Should kick off with the s/t debut CDs at 9 a.m. EDT (2P BST).

Sheriff Ape ala The Pillbugs!

2011-04-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

That Is Ridiculous! - Celine Solution, Part 2

2011-04-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

The Pillbugs rehearse for Arlene's Grocery gig, NYC - Oct 20 2007

2011-04-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

That Is Ridiculous! - Celine Solution, Part 1

2011-04-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

The Pillbugs In The Studio - April/May 2004, Part 2

2011-04-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

The Pillbugs In The Studio April May 2004 Part 1

2011-04-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

The Pillbugs In The Studio, January 2004

2011-04-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Pillbugs In The Studio, February 2004

2011-04-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

pillbugs11news.wmv

2011-04-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

New Mark Mikel site

2011-03-11T19:15:00.000-08:00

http://theofficialmarkmikelpage.com/default.aspx

Dark Ocean Colors and The Mark Mikel Band

2011-02-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

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Dark Ocean Colors
CD Release Date: Spring 2011
Mark Mikel and Scott Hunt
crashing the sky
my barbara closed the doors
same old mistake
the other line
love you much better
she’s a cornucopia
own the day
lazy lighthouse jupiter band
alone with candy
dream away

This self-titled CD, is a new collaboration by Mark Mikel and Scott Hunt described as psychedelic, avant-garde, pop, style music. "It’s the music that everyone else forgot to make", says Mark. The music is dimensional, thick and layered, including various different instruments. Some of them you may hear on this CD are twelve-string acoustic, cymbal crashes, bass, electric six-string, electric twelve-string, cello, guitar scrapes, mic thumps, synthesizer, tambourine, echo’d vocals, glockenspiel….and that’s just one song! A big part of their sound is Mark’s new Mellotron, a classic analogue tape-based keyboard, rarely used by today’s artists. A labor of love, Mark and Scott wrote and composed all of the tracks, and played all of the instruments, in addition to special guest artists Scott Tabner, Dan Chalmers (former Pillbugs bandmates), Ev Harris, Cecilia Johnson, and Jumpin’ Jerry Glesmer.
Out of a pool of recordings and compositions in progress since 2007, the first CD contains 10 tracks, and a second release is due out in the Fall of 2011 on the Rainbow Quartz label. Hunt and Mikel, long-time friends and collaborators have worked together on numerous recordings over the past 15 years.

http://www.myspace.com/scotthuntmusic

....

The Mark Mikel Band is other the new combo.

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Mark Mikel - Vocals/Acoustic guitar
Chris Shutters - Vocals/Lead guitar/Flute
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Shutters-Group/148809902042?v=app_2405167945
Brian Albright - Bass/Vocals
Ev Harris, Jr. - Drums
Greg Robie - Percussion/Vocals

Mark Mikel News August 2010

2010-08-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

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Mark and Scott Hunt have thirty new tracks nearly completed and the plan is to release three cds when it is done. Meantime Mark has taken up a residency at the Village Idiot playing every Tuesday night and Friday afternoon.

ShockPop's First Annual Pillbugs Marathon

2010-02-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

http://blogs.myspace.com/shockpopradio
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ShockPop's First Annual Pillbugs MarathonA big heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone who tuned in and hung out in chat during the marathon. And a extra big "THANK YOU" to Davey Murnen, Pillbug extraordinaire, for being the chatroom for almost the entire 10+ hours! You rock, man!(Here is what 10+ hours of Pillbugs looks like - in reverse playing order)
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The Pillbugs - In The End (You're Moving On) the pillbugs - Goodnight To Babylon The Pillbugs - Illuminating Drink (original jam) The Pillbugs - Milkmans Wife Mark Mikel - Girl In The Window Pillbugs - Play the Hear Back Mark Mikel - Passage of Eternity The Pillbugs - Al Gabone Mark Mikel - Lovesick the pillbugs - Pretend You're Not Home Mark Mikel - Can't Dream You Anymore the pillbugs - Son Of Shirley Mark Mikel - Idiot Smiles the pillbugs - Might As Well Fly To The Moon Mark Mikel - 2010 Anthem Pillbugs - Do You Really Want to Go to the Center of the Sun?Mark Mikel - Sleepy Head Awaits the pillbugs - Morning, Mr. Brain...to you Mark Mikel - Deliver my Love The Pillbugs - Brilliant But Late Advice Mark Mikel - Mr. Cream's MachinePillbugs - Soundman the pillbugs - Thou Doth Warm Me Like The Sun Pillbugs - Will Love Ever Find Chastity Rose Marikesh - Where Have You Beenthe pillbugs - Paper Aeroplanes Pillbugs - Sad Little Girl Pillbugs - Get Away for the Summer Marikesh - Don't Be Afraid The Pillbugs - The Last Confederate SoldierMark Mikel - All Thumbs Pillbugs - Here's to the End of Time Mark Mikel - Holy Roly The Pillbugs - Four Sec Nightmare In A Five Sec Dream the pillbugs - We Are The Orange Sky People Mark Mikel - Perpetual Mouth Pillbugs - LIFE AS IT HAPPENS PT 4 Mark Mikel - Sincerity Pillbugs - GUS OF THE FIRE BRIGADE Mark Mikel - Pacificus (Half Man, Half Ocean) Pillbugs - Heather (Whatever) the pillbugs - Now, I'm In The CIA Marikesh - When I Grow Up I'll Be A Spy Pillbugs - Bright Green Nature Machine Pillbugs - Merely Stacking Chairs the pillbugs - Undecided The Mark Mikel Hallucination - 20 Foot Rock Star The Pillbugs - Buzz For AldrinThe Pillbugs - Closer Marikesh - Love Is What You Want The Pillbugs - Gazing At CloudsMarikesh - She's The Girl Pillbugs - LIFE AS IT HAPPENS PT 2 The Pillbugs - Sidecar Pillbugs - HOLD ME SO NEARMarikesh - Capital L-O-V-E The Pillbugs - Walking Along An Edge Of Sky the pillbugs - Reprise the pillbugs - Comburda Pillbugs - Tragedy Anne Mark Mikel - Bad Mouth Marikesh - I'm Sorry Bad About You Pillbugs - I WAKE UP Pillbugs - The Kind of Problem I Want Mark Mikel - No Way Dogs The Pillbugs - Lost Lonely Sailor Pillbugs - YOUR TASTE IS MELLOW The Pillbugs - Make Like Arthur Lee Marikesh - Mother's Eyes No. 1 Pillbugs - HAPPY BIRTHDAYPillbugs - North of RealityMark Mikel - Right Now Pillbugs - Trip Fast and Run the pillbugs - You'd Better Sit Down The Pillbugs - No Joke Mark Mikel - 80 Million Days Pillbugs - ALLURING MARTHA Pillbugs - One Simple Pleasure Trip Pillbugs - WILD BIRDThe Pillbugs - Good To Be Alive Pillbugs - Feet First The Mark Mikel Hallucination - Skin (by request for Davey Murnen)Pillbugs - THE WORLD'S MOST HARMLESS VILLAIN Marikesh - Frogtown The Mark Mikel Hallucination - Love Is What You Want - LIVE Pillbugs - Up and Down on Your Merry-Go-Round the pillbugs - The Plot Next To Garcia Mark Mikel - The Ride You're On The Pillbugs - Spaced-Out Mark Mikel - (Sorghum Pudding) Theme from Pillbugs - ALL IN GOOD TIME the pillbugs - Illuminating Drink The Pillbugs - King Of Zorgthe pillbugs - The Kick-Around Boy Pillbugs - 3D Montage the pillbugs - Ball Of Stringthe pillbugs - Hanging Around At 5 Pillbugs - Can't Get It Right (So I'm Loving It Wrong) Marikesh - The Policeman CanPillbugs - Wait a Minute the pillbugs - Plastic Surgical Holiday Pillbugs - Larry in the Sea With Daffodils Mark Mikel - Girl With A Heart For A Head Mark Mikel - So Much Lost In Love Pillbugs - Saturday Morning Cartoons Mark Mikel - You've Got The MovesPillbugs - Emily Loves Mark Mikel - Let it not be forgotten Pillbugs - HERE WE GO AGAIN LIKE TWO LEAVES IN THE WIND Mark Mikel - Love Fades away the pillbugs - Meddle With Me Pillbugs - Friend for the Day Mark Mikel - The Hellbound Train the pillbugs - Black Sombrero the pillbugs - No, ImogenePillbugs - Popcycle Island Mark Mikel - Never is here Pillbugs - Liberty Town of Love Marikesh - Look The Pillbugs - It Seem You Are So Happening Pillbugs - Life as It Happens the pillbugs - She Done Alotta Dope Mark Mikel - Wherever You Are Pillbugs - LIFE AS IT HAPPENS PT 1 the pillbugs - Broken Ringing Bells Pillbugs - AND THE DAYS GO BY The Pillbugs - I'd Give It All Up For You Pillbugs - CLIMBING THE WALLS Mark Mikel - Top of the world and afalling Pillbugs - If You Can't RemainMarikesh - Judy's Aquarium Pillbugs - Faceless WonderMark Mikel - Come Tomorrow Feel alright The Pillbugs - Mr. Cid (for Davey Murnen)Pillbugs - 3D Theme Pillbugs - Charlie Blue CarMark Mikel - Out in the midnight rain the pillbugs - Captain NemoPillbugs - DELICIOUS the pillbugs - I Could Never Be A Bird Marikesh - Taking On A Day Mark Mikel - Putty In My Hands The Pillbugs - I Dont Really Mean To Freak Your Mind Mark Mikel - Suicide Rainbow the pillbugs - Leaving To Be Friends The Mark Mikel Hallucination - Your Artificial Stand-Up Man Pillbugs - The Cat Who Dropped the Bomb Mark Mikel - Let's Go Get High The Pillbugs - My Heroine Marikesh - Mother's Eyes No. 2 Pillbugs - Girl on a Laser Beam The Mark Mikel Hallucination - You've Got The Moves - LIVE Pillbugs - May Pillbugs - FEEDING SEAGULLS Mark Mikel - She Can Fly So She Might Try Pillbugs - Neo Mega Quasi Ultra Super Groovy Mark Mikel - Going To a Love In Pillbugs - PEASANT GIRLS the pillbugs - Fear No Horizons Pillbugs - Red Light Summer Mark Mikel - Backward Evolution Marikesh - The Sky Pillbugs - Liquid Bob Mark Mikel - Food For The Company Pigs

The Pillbugs-It's So Good To Be Alive

2009-12-11T07:04:00.001-08:00

Popcycle Island Unplugged - The Pillbugs - Live 21-July-09

2009-12-11T06:58:00.003-08:00

Play the Hearback - The Pillbugs - Live 21-July-09

2009-12-11T06:58:00.001-08:00

The Pillbugs - Girl On A Laserbeam 7-21-09

2009-12-11T06:57:00.001-08:00

The Pillbugs - Live Scott Tabner Solo Material 7-21-09

2009-12-11T06:56:00.001-08:00

Mark Mikel update october 2009

2009-10-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

Mark Mikel "So what's been going on you may ask?

I've purchased a brand new Mellotron from Sweden and it's taking forever to get it. I ordered it in May. I've been basically obsessed with the excitement of its arrival. But it keeps getting delayed for various reasons. Markus Resch (the only man in the world I know of who still builds these things) has had me first in line in his latest production run of 20 machines. Behind me is the Smashing Pumpkins and Wilco among others.We're planning on using it heavily on the Tabner album and the songs I've been writing and recording with Scott Hunt. Both of those projects are coming along nicely. ST's got about 10 tracks in production right now. I think his album is going to be amazingly cool. Still lots of work to do, so I wouldn't expect to see a release of this until late 2010.The Hunter and I have 21 and we're shooting for 30 before we release anything. We intend to release a CD with 10-12 tracks in early 2010 and we are determined to have a huge lot to choose from. Scott Hunt (for those who may not know already) writes, sings and plays many instruments. All of our songs are written together and between us we overdub most of the parts pretty equally. Like Pillbugs tracks, the songs vary in sound and mood. Some very psychedelic songs along with straight-up pop, rock, r&b and experimental schtuff. Other musicians who have contributed so far include Tabner (guitar), Chalmers (drums), Jerry Glesmer (Flute/Sax), Chris Shutters (guitar/flute) and Ev Harris (drums).But that's mainly what I've been involved with. Thank you all!"

The Pillbugs live at Village Idiot Maumee July 21 2009 more pictures

2009-10-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

The Pillbugs live at Village Idiot Maumee July 21 2009

2009-08-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

"The show opened with Mark and Dan Playing "Get away for the summer". They then played "Chastity Rose","No Joke","May","Hanging around at Five",Then Davey joined for "Idiot Smiles" and "Paper Aeroplanes" . Dan and Mark continued with "Greeting Committee" and "Feeding the Seagulls" . Mark,Dan and Cecilia Johnson then played "Popcicle Island" and "It's so Good to be Alive"Mark then invited Muffy to sing "I can Never be a Bird" with he and Dan.Then Finally The four Bugs took the stage to play "Life as it Happens","Hold me so Near","Play the Hearback","Soundman",Son of Shirley","I deliver my Love to You" and an un-named tune from the forth coming Tabner disc.Mark then went solo with "Ball of String".Mark and Dan then played "The Kind of Trouble I want","Red Light Summer". Then Dan took the mic and they played "The Plot Next to Garcia". They continued with "Girl on a Lazer Beam".Then Davey came back for "The Peasant Girls". Dan and Mark continued with "Can't Get It Right (So I'm Loving It Wrong)",Then "Madeline"and"Comburda"(with Davey). "Tho Doth Warm me like the Sun", "Liberty Town of Love". "The Kick around Boy","Pretty Young and Free"(With Davey). "Faceless Wonder","Orange Sky People","Happy Birthday","Delicious","The King of Zorg" and "Out in the Midnight. For a grand total of 38 songs!"
Beistovin

"Still beaming after a few days. The presence of the Pillbugs all on stage was incredible energy unleashed and all I could think of is, they need to play live more! The onstage relationship of these incredible musicians and the power of the music was so palatable, one could eat it up with a spoon for dessert! Do you guys have any idea how great you all sound together? Seriously....I hope that it happens again soon and quite frankly, the whole band might consider doing gigs together first locally and then some light touring. I know family considerations and work schedules have a way of getting in the way but this is way too sweet to not share it with the world....I am a bit selfish and I am very fortunate to have you so close to home, hell, I could walk to the Idiot and back , but what we witnessed was beautiful and so powerful that I think the world is ready."
Moonbaking

photos by Anna

The Art Of Mark Roland

2009-06-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

Renowned artist Mark Roland known round these parts for his fabulous covers for Buzz For Alrin and Everybody Wants A Way Out has a spanking new website up where you can see great stuff like this below, order limited edition prints and generally marvel at the man's talent.

Locus

Seahorse

Webtransition

Vespertine

Check it out here:

http://www.rolandscapes.com/

Bucketfull Of Brains has new Pillbugs article

2009-03-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

The best music magazine of them all Bucketfull Of Brains returns after a 18 month hiatus in time to celebrate its 30th birthday. The new issue features stories on the iconic JESSE HECTOR, the legendary MARTY THAU, THE SONICS, STEVE WYNN, WILLARD GRANT CONSPIRACY, THE PILLBUGS, PAUL & BARRY RYAN, Hugh Gulland remembers NICK SANDERSON, and there's and there's more of the usual features, reviews, blabber and smoke.
you can order it here
http://www.myspace.com/bucketfullofbrains
check out the back issues here
http://www.bucketfullofbrains.com/main.htm

Adamic revists the original version of the first album

2009-02-28T13:27:00.001-08:00

notlame.com review

The truly incredible debut from The Pillbugs. Truly, one of the most forward reaching pop bands on the indie scene. As works they work their way through a long list of influences - The Zombies, Lefte Banke, The Who, The Move/ELO, The Monkees, XTC/Dukes Of Stratosphere, Syd Barrett, late 60`s Pretty Things -- it`s never a cliched, dredging up boring re-interpretation of those influences. More modern bands you`ll hear are Outrageous Cherry and The Resonars and the excellent Rainbow Quartz label. The debut has a strong progressive early 70`s slant with all these pop leanings, pushing song structure to new-minted pastures. Here`s what the bands own manifesto states beautifully and accurately, we might echo: "The Pillbugs are champions of psychedelia in it`s purest form. The goal of the band is to go forward by going backward and with the mindset that we will take psychedelic rock and roll to newer places. We indulge in many sounds and instruments while keeping the music fresh, fun and memorable. We like to take advantage of the fact that music is played primarily on 2 separate speakers. Along with incredible stereo separation, you`ll find songs with strings, horns, backwards guitars and sounds, sitars (all real, analogue and genuine) combined with the more traditional rock and roll instruments. All that genre stuff aside, we`d like to point out that SONGWRITING is king. Our main focus; to write great "gotta hear THAT again" songs." So many great sounds, melodies, hooks and amazing musicianship sprinkle the music here. A Nuggets experience for the 00`s, a new millenium. This tidbit was written about their latest album, but it all applies here nicely, as well: "Like The Beatles with attention deficit disorder, The Pillbugs cut, paste and spackle together a seemingly random starburs of symphonic, hallucinogenic and downright pop-tastic bits and pieces into one long, strange trip of a record. Though the song is paramount, and the hook reigns supreme, The Pillbugs lace each of their pop confections with enough backing harmonies, percussion, flutes and strings, sitars, and who-knows-what-else, that the 72 minute feast takes a few listens to properly absorb! Not that this will present a problem as it inspires all-day listening and singing along."- Toledo City Paper. Extremely Highly Recommended. You want something fresh, different but still wholly accesible for pop sensibilities, The Pillbugs (both of their CDs) are for you!

Mark Mikel on The first Pillbugs/History

MARK MIKEL: I have an early childhood memory of listening to my parent's hi-fi console and the realization of "stereo". My dad had a pair of extension speakers that he'd wire up to play for his outside patio parties and he'd spread them like 20 feet apart. That was when I noticed that certain instruments were sitting next to me and others were coming from way over there. I remember it was Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. Man, that was unbelievably cool and I couldn't enjoy music on my littleportable monophonic record player anymore. When my parents weren't home I'd convince the babysitter that it was okay for me to wire up the stereo extensions, spread them miles apart and crank them to high heaven. Somehow it never took a lot of convincing for these teenagers to go along with the idea. I learned a lot about music just by listening intensely to only one sideof a stereo recording. Examining what was really "in there". Distinct stereo separation is one of the reasons I like recorded music. I like a left and a right. A good/bad, sun/rain or dark/light side to an album is essential to balance. I miss having "side 1" and "side 2" to artist's releases. That could be a reason a double CD would be much more appealing to me. It wasn't to be a double CD at first though. Things were just going so well. I think we all knew we were trying to make something really special. Our first album wasn't supposed to be just a collection of songs. It was supposed to be a journey into wonderland. Something you could never tire of. A fantasy album. You could say it was basically created as an artistic statement that would be our attempt to validate psychedelia as a vital part of our musical culture... or some crap like that. Really though, it's always seemed like that particular genre has never been respected out of the 1967-70 timeframe. That lways seemed a little narrow-minded to me. The mentality is that if something is really fun, it can't be taken seriously. It's really the same reason that comedies don't normally receive Oscars for "Best Picture".Production-wise it was as ambitious as I am capable of being. I wanted to include not only new techniques but also every sound or trick that I've used in the past. So it HAD to have sitars, phase-shifting, backwards everything, tremolo, strings, brass, recorders, moog synthesizers, 12 string guitars, distorted vocals, walls of guitars, walls of vocals, tape loops and echoed mayhem, along with the usual stuff.I personally wrote out the sheet music for the string parts to seven songs by hand. That's not an easy thing for me to do. I can't read music, but I can figure out how to write it. I just can't look at it and play it. It's more like "Oh, let's see now that's a B-flat quarter note and this is a C", and it takes me forever to get a clue. It was a labor of love though. I couldn't wait for it to be brought to life by the quartet.We made up a poster of all the new songs we had. Many more were written during the months of recording. A few of the songs seemed to write themselves. It seemed like we were unstoppable once we got past tough songs like Undecided or I Could Never Be A Bird. Everything else was pretty much all magically "first ake". The main rule we tried to keep was: Don't record anything the way it is normally done! If we could mic it differently, then we'd do it. If we could run the sound through Leslie speakers, vintage stompboxes or different amplifiers - yeah, baby! The hard way always won out over the easy way. Oh yeah, and absolutely nothing digital.Certain albums were guidelines like The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour, Zappa - We're Only In It For The Money, The Monkees - Head, The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds, Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Hendrix - Electric Ladyland, The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request and Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star. But the main thing about thosealbums to me was that there were really no guidelines. They were just saturated with pure inspiration, imagination and amazing sounds. The goal was to make an album that could fit snugly in that line-up.Randy Porter did the mastering. He'd been a longtime fan ever since he heard some of the songs from Sorghum Pudding on a Sandusky radio station. He has a great ear and he understood what we were going for. He acquired top of the line ompressors, EQs and analogue/digital converters. Yes, sadly it was going to have to end up digitally on CD in the end. I remember driving an hour every day to his studio in Milan and we'd work meticulously on the sequencing and segues. He had to edit togetherdifferent mixes because I might have liked certain sections of one over the other. I can't hear the edits at all. Great job, Randy. His studio services are very in demand, but he took a month or so of his time to dedicate to our album and he did it out of pure love.The photography was done by (none other than) Scott Hunt. Scotty had put forth many contributions to this album including playing, singing and writing. He wasn't a photographer, I just trusted his judgment as an artist. He took the first definitive photos of The Pillbugs. The CD design was done by my friends Libby and Larry Fish. Libby Koppinger-Fish is a very successful graphic designer and Larry's a talented musician and artist (his friends call him "Fish"). They asked us to pose with umbrellas. We didn't know why at the time. Fish played the piano on Meddle With Me. The tower in the background is part of a Toledo public elementary school called Harvard School. When the principal found out they made the cover of our CD, she brought us in to honor us and address an assembly of parents and teachers. The mayor of Toledo was there and he bought a copy of our disc. Then they asked me to sing some songs for the children. The kids were great. I'd give them a part to do like shouting "the kick-around boy" and they really delivered. The school really treated us like a big deal. None of The Pillbugs ever actually attended there.

Pillbugs on John Talk Radio 2009

2009-02-21T20:36:00.000-08:00

Host Name: John Talk Radio Show Name: The Pillbugs are our musical guests tonight Date / Length: 21/02/2009 23:00 - 1 hr Description:h:34381 s:416727
This Toledo Ohio based band is the ''The Worlds most psychedelic band'' . The band will join the show live tonight and talk about their new CD release ''Everybody Wants a Way Out '' . This show will blow your mind.

listen here
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/John-Darlington/2009/02/21/The-Pillbugs-are-our-musical-guests-tonight-

then grab the download here by scrolling down to On Demand Episodes

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/John-Darlington

The Rude Boys

2009-01-24T06:19:00.000-08:00

Davey Murnen. "Hey Thought you guys might enjoy these. I've recently connected with my old mate Pat Gleespen..He’s the bass player with the red hair. He sent me some photos of my very first band the Rude Boys…name stolen from the Specials( Coventry ) record label.The first shot shows the whole band…Tim Peat Lead Guitar..Pat Gleespen Bass and Vocals… Anthony Makes Rythym Guitar and Vocals…and Me on Drums and vocals…the other two shots are from a back yard party we put on in the summer of 81 just after graduating from the eight grade…the shot with the collared shirts shows us at the eight grade graduation…the band that was playing went to school with my older brother so they let us come up and do 3 songs. My Generation by the Who is the song we are playing ..we also did Labotomy by the Ramones and Bowie,s Suffragette City ..In the middle shot…Tim Peat sat behind the kit so I could come out and sing My Generation…that was always our finale."

Everybody Wants A Way Out -the cover

2008-11-24T09:37:00.000-08:00

B0b Tibbitts "The change in album title from 'Dragonfly Heaven' to 'Everybody Wants A Way Out' necessitated a complete change of style for the cd artwork. Mark and I asked Mark Roland if he could represent the cd in his unique way. My task was to generate all the designs for the lyrics pages from the original painting, selecting what might go with each song. In some cases I used Photoshop to evolve what I already had and building on it. I also asked MR to paint some extra pieces for certain positions and for certain songs. The jewelcase cd well posed a particular challenge... I wanted to reflect on the whole album and offer the voyager an escape from 'sado city' via the 'pillbugs balloon of hope' into the 'happy beyond'...the answer was the beckoning psych figure at the door to escape that Mark Roland very skillfully created.... because, we all are looking for a 'way out' after all."

Mark Roland. "Much of the booklet interior, and the cd back cover is Bob's work, using the raw material I provided, and Steve gave us some suggestions that helped get the ball rolling. Bob and I had a few working titles that were abandoned, like Dragonfly Heaven. MM finally nailed it with Everybody Wants A Way Out and we were off to the races. Unlike Buzz, we had not heard the music, so the title itself was the inspiration. Bob, Steve and I, kicked around some ideas. At some point the grey city/maze became the place you wanted a way out of, and I started the cover. The guy on the back was a continuation of the maze concept, that is the residents of the maze city also had mazes on their heads. I also did a small piece for the cd well and the portrait of Tragedy Ann. The rest was Bob, working with photoshop and the stuff I had done. One of the more involved ideas we couldn't get to develop, was what happens after you escape the city, and the idea that you kept trying to escape further and further. Art packages for cds seem pretty minimal these days, it was a pleasure to try and give the fans some visual narrative to get lost in as part of the whole enchilada.It was a tight deadline and Bob really had to pull some long shifts to finish the booklet. Steve gave me some suggestions and I used a couple in the painting, perhaps so subtle that he couldn't tell. Steve pointed to the Metropolis concept (the great German film by Fritz Lang) and the tower in the painting sort of came from that along with the sense of futility. Bob did a very early one with a line of figures jumping off a cliff, I thought that was a bit too grim, but we stayed with the dark theme.Another more elaborate treatment, would have shown more of the inhabitants of the city, all trying to find their own ways out."

Bob "One of the aims was to be able to make the lyrics legible without obscuring too much of the art. Most of Mark's and indeed Dan and Davey's songs contain at lot of lines...and taking into account the size of a cd booklet page, presents a bit of a challenge at times. There is nothing more infuriating than trying to read information on a page that is either in a 'silly' font or too small to read...and often many of today's cd packages suffer from this due to financial restraints in production or that the cd art is an after-thought. One of my ideas that was also deemed a little too grizzly, was an image of a bottle of pills, open and on it's side with the pills spilled out, the label stating 'Not The Way Out' or 'Another Way Out'. I wanted to portray the city inhabitants trying to escape one layer of their existence by bustling and squeezing their way through one of the doors on the city structure, almost a stampede, but failing. Mark Roland visualised this in a great way in the cd tray.

The character there beckoning to the listener to pass through the doorway into the psychedelic 'other'. There were many, many slants on the cd title that evoked ideas to work with, but as Mark Roland said, the schedule was slim so most of these ideas never became formalised into sketches or rough art. The task was made more challenging for us both in that unlike Buzz, we had not heard the songs to give us inspiration. There was no real feedback from Rainbow Quartz either as we had no time to present roughs or proofs to them, so we were pretty much left to our own devices. Mark Mikel gave us the freedom to create and this was, in a way, helpful...but I was a little anxious that the package would please him and the other Pillbugs and that Mark and I did credit to the music. I think we did. The fact is, you can't please everybody. It was an enjoyable project to work on nonetheless."

Early Ideas
Bob. "There were very few 'demos' of the art this time around. Time decreed that we got to work immediately and hope the result would please.... The underground image was submitted by Steve Mumford. The 'lemmings' idea was mine. I used a 'stock' photo for this one so if we had gone with it we would have had to track down the original photographer. Anyway, it was deemed too 'gloomy'. End of that one."

Steve Mumford "Here's what little I may have had to do with the cover. You might remember the fantasy cover I did back before there was a finished title for the release. I don't think this had any influence on the final cover. But there might be something in the buildings.... I don't know.The second image below was the one I came up with when I heard the new title for the release "Everybody Wants A Way Out". I think this is the image that may have sparked the direction for the final cover."

Bob. "This is an early scan of the final artwork. This was modified by Mark Roland. If you compare this with the ultimate final art, you will spot some differences, like the eye in the sky and the mummies in the city wall, the 'P' on the escape balloon, etc."

The Pillbugs Everybody Wants A Way Out

2008-10-20T09:15:00.001-07:00

The Pillbugs Everybody Wants A Way Out
Released On Rainbow Quartz November 10th 2008

Life As It Happens (Tabner-Mikel)
Can't Get It Right (So I'm Loving It Wrong) (Mikel)
Greeting Committee (Mikel)
Emily Loves (Chalmers)
Soundman (Mikel)
Sad Little Girl (Chalmers-Mikel)
Merely Stacking Chairs (Mikel)
Do You Really Want To Go To The Center Of The Sun? (Mikel)
Hard Line (Mikel-Tabner-Chalmers)
Play The Hear Back (Chalmers-Murnen-Mikel)
Trip Fast And Run (Murnen)
Get Away For The Summer (Mikel)
Tragedy Anne (Mikel)
North Of Reality (Kelley-Mikel-Murnen)

Mark Mikel "Sessions began Feb. 8th and ended May 26th. I remixed and re-tweaked a bit more afterward but not that much. I had a hard time finishing it after Mark passed on May 3rd. The music actually hurt. It was totally finished by the end of June. This is the first Pillbugs album to not have any hired session players and I played the cello for the first time on any of our releases. There are many instruments that I've never held in my hands. It seems if I get my hands on any instrument I can (within a few hours) make some decent musical notes or sounds on it. I can play convincingly on guitars, drums and keys but I'm not a virtuoso on any instrument...and definitely not close at all to being considered a cellist. The same goes for trumpet, sitar and french horn. Even though I can do takes until I get it right on tape -in reality I'm freaking lousy on those things.

Life As It Happens was originally an instrumental track recorded for Scott Tabner's solo album. I asked him if I could write lyrics to it and open our album with it. He said, "yes," of course.

Dan's the rock of the band and a huge fan of what we create. It's pretty much all he listens to. Very different from the rest of us in that way. He's not only an amazing drummer but he works harder than anyone I've ever met in my life. Still you can count on him to always have the same humor and sweet disposition.The new album has a track by him (Emily Loves) where he sang the lead vocal and played every instrument. That's never happened before on a bug album. Dan brought in his demo for Scott Hunt and I to hear and it just had a perfect vibe. We were thrilled and insisted he recreate it note for note. Hunt and I produced its first session using the demo as the template and though we did sing some backing, most of the backing vocals were multi-overdubbed Chalmers. It's a unique frat house-type track...nothing like we've ever released and I love it. I told Dan that this would probably be our hit. When Jim McGarry heard it he told me it was the best song I ever wrote (laughs).

Scott Hunt played the bass and drums on Do You Really Want To Go To The Center Of The Sun? and bass on Can't Get It Right (So I'm Loving It Wrong).

Dave Murnen drummed Merely Stacking Chairs and Chalmers played guitar.

There are no alternate takes of any songs except Sad Little Girl. It was much faster and heavier before with Davey and I sharing lead vocals.

Play The Hear Back. After Davey wrote and sang those weird lyrics, I asked him what he was going to call it. He said, "I don't know. Play the hear back." I just took that as the answer. I later noticed the similarity in feel to Illuminating Drink but it wasn't intentionally designed that way. It's really not the same at all in key or groove. It's just eerie sounding Pillbugs like Illuminating Drink. Dan Chalmers wrote the main riff. Scott Hunt, Dan and I jammed on it trying to add more. Then SH dropped out from the project and Dan and I carried on another day. We worked out how the song would eventually go. I came up with the chorus chord changes and melody. The basic track was Dan on drums and me on the bass. We got a great sound on those two instruments that night and we had fun doing takes.An organ track was added. Then I taped a vocal melody line singing "na na's" and dubbed a CD that I gave to Davey to write the words. After Davey's vocal was added it was Scott Tabner's turn to embellish. We asked Scott to improvise a blues lead solo throughout. He recorded about 2 or 3 different attempts on the same amount of tracks. Then I asked him to try it with the song running backward and that was taped on yet another track. I also asked him to do a screaming wah-wah bit in the middle but he refused.Later I comped the best bits morphing the backward and forward Tabner guitars. I added the screaming wah-wah guitar bit, some piano, extra bass, electric guitar, backward glockenspiel, and backing vocals. That's pretty much it.I liked that the track recalled Illuminating Drink in some strange way and it really was a case of the band sounding like ourselves.
Soundman. It definitely comes from experience. The last thing you want to do is piss the soundman off, yes? The recording was produced to sound like a "straight-outta-the-garage" band relying on an inept soundman they'd just met. That's why there's all this feedback added in. It's supposed to sound like we're trying to rock while everything is going wrong.I wrote the main riff in the song (plus the first few chord and note patterns) when I was 15 years old. It was one of the first things I ever wrote. Tabner and I jammed it a lot as kids. It always haunted me as a catchy riff...so when I was under the gun to write and produce a new album quickly, I grabbed at it and turned it into something. It's also the first song we taped for the album.

North of Reality has Mark Kelley's demo faded in at the very end for a few seconds. This is his only appearance on the album. That song's a tough listen for all of us. We get pretty choked up everytime we hear that fade. It's like he's back for a couple of measures...and then he's gone again.

Dragonfly Heaven Art

2008-10-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Before the new album was titled Everybody Wants A Way Out it had been called Dragonfly Heaven. The ever wonderful Bob Tibbitts presents the unused cover art ideas for that version here. Over to Bob.

"The 'drawn' art was something that Mark Roland submitted to me for consideration. As it happened the album title was changed and so a new approach was required. Other than the Mark Roland art, the other stuff came from my view of the title, although I hadn't heard any of the new songs, so it was a bit difficult to create an image that represented the upcoming release. I have a hunch that considering other releases on RQ, Jim might have liked the Dragonfly stuff. It is completely different to the style that we eventually decided to go for."

Art by BT

Art by MR

Art by BT

Art by MR and BT

Art by BT

all art copyright the respective gentlemen

Mark Mikel live at the Village Idiot summer 2008

2008-10-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

Mark and Scott...photos by Anna

Mark Kelley "We love you and will miss you."

2008-10-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

"The Pillbugs regret to inform their fans of the tragic passing of their bass player/singer/songwriter/brother, Mark Kelley. Mark battled cancer for 9 years before his life was abruptly ended on Saturday May 3, 2008. He was 45. Please keep his wife Karen, his children and other surviving family members, as well as his bandmates, in your thoughts and prayers. He will be laid to rest On Wednesday May 7, 2008.We love you and will miss you Mark Kelley...R.I.P.10/28/62 - 5/3/2008"

The Pillbugs live in Detroit 2008

2008-04-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

setlist:
Here's to the End of Time
King of Zorg
Charlie Blue Car
All In Good Time
Larry in the Sea with Daffodils
Captian Nemo

photos by the ever wonderful Jammi

except this one

Some Pillbugs Bling

Beyondo Mondo Radio Party

2008-04-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

Steve M "....after minutes and minutes and minutes of intense negotiations, I have secured the official record of this momentous broadcasting event!!And so for your dining pleasure, I present:
Mark Mikel and Scott Hunt on the Beyondo Mondo Radio Party from WAPS, 93.1 The Summit...."
http://rapidshare.com/files/102203808/Pillbugs_BeyondoMondo_3_23_08.mp3

The Pillbug's upcoming Detroit show

2008-04-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Mark Mikel. "Our bass player for the show will be a man named Todd Cotton- he's been a friend of Chalmers' and mine for many years. We ran into him at the music store and asked him. He was very enthusiastic."

100 MP3's Volumes One And Two

2008-03-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

These two data discs are a treasure trove of unreleased tracks that were for sale via the bugstore last year for a short while. A very limited edition there is supposidly an eight disc version called The Archive circulating only amoungst the inner circle of bugdom.

happy birthday release party

2008-03-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures Jammi took at the gig

MARK MIKEL-POPSTAR

2008-03-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

The Buzz For Aldrin poster cover

2008-03-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

"This is the prototype of the Buzz For Aldrin poster that was intended originally to accompany the Buzz For Aldrin CD release. Unfortunately it proved to be a problem in production because of the size and the number of folds involved. It evolved this way in order to accommodate all the band's lyrics and at a reasonable size that could be read easily. The way I had worked out the folds to arrive with the back of the folded poster showing the credits page opposite the cover, meant that the text would be printed upside-down (but would appear correctly upon folding). You can judge the size of the poster from these photos I took with it unfurled upon my coffee table at home. I believe that it was originally intended that the poster front, the codex created by Mark Roland, would be made available (at a small charge) directly from him. This would be supplied unfolded for framing by the purchaser. Since I created the poster back collage, I made some text amendments to the lyrics and then re- formatted the whole job to appear in booklet form as it is today. The back is still available full size minus lyrics. As you can imagine the front, codex and back collage has much more impact to the eye at this size." Bob Tibbitts 2-03-08.

International Pop Overthrow Vol. 5

2008-02-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

International Pop Overthrow Vol. 5

Track 3 disc 1.The Pillbugs -Delicious

3 CD set on Not Lame. This set was released in July 2002 .

POP CULTURE PRESS

2008-02-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

CD Sampler #27. Issue #65: Fall/Winter 2007

3. The Pillbugs, “Faceless Wonder,” from Monclovia (Rainbow Quartz). This band needs no introduction to the PCP faithful, as their glorious string of albums, singles, and harmony-psych gems attest. We at PCP are so excited to feature a superb Buzz for Aldrin outtake, "Faceless Wonder," on this issue's sampler, a song that appears on the Pillbugs' long-overdue RQ best-of.

pillbugs photoshopped

2008-02-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hanging out with the stars

2008-01-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

Davey and Mickey

Mark and Tom

Blue Kazoo AAA Festival 2006

2008-01-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

Dave Murnen

Davey Murnen. "This is the Blue Kazoo performing at the AAA(Auto Club) festival in the fall/summer of 2005..Mark Mikel seated with beard and guitar was sitting in for Callie...who was on maternity leave at this point. The infamous John Pickle pictured standing with guitar...the cat singing with us in black cut off is Don Hiner(DJ) a former member of the original Kazoo line up when i was fourteen...we were known as Shenaniganz then( I nixed the name and changed it when we re-formed..always hated Shenaniganz). DJ can be credited with teachng me how to pick out harmonies. an incredable musicia and well known for his barbershop vocal abilities world wide...seriously.

Mark Mikel

I called Mark a couple weeks prior to this and asked him to sit in. Mark is always great at being told what key a song is in and by the second bar you'd have thought he wrote the freaking thing...always good to jam with me Milk Droog...its like putting on an old jean jacket...just seems to fit."

John Pickle

Photos by Jammi and Jeff Pickle

Toledo City Paper July 2003.

2008-01-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

Click on pages to enlarge and read.

Thanks to Steve Mumford for the scans.

Turn Me Upside Down... Baby! Toledo City Paper CD 2003
Purpose For Useless Cause - Headed The Wrong Way-Johnny Reed and the Houserockers - That's the Blues-The Knobs - What Do You Want Me To Say?-Junkanoo Brother s- One More Day-MC Habitat - Festival-Glinda's Bubble - Kryptonite-Gregg Aranda - 2 Dollar Bottle of Wine-Dr. Kilpatient - 9 o'Clock-The Pillbugs - If You Can't Remain-Driftwood Whale - Dumptruck Love-Jami Lynn Michelle -Quillen - Cry Like Memphis-Luckey Nite (feat. B TIzzle) - It's Alright-Clint Fox - Life Goes On-E.J. Wells - HearsedriverFive -Horse Johnson - Cherry Red-Nick Motil - Wishes (For Emily)-Three Trio Three - Better Days-Brian Bocian - Sunny-The Griswolds - Boogie In the Dark-Jim Gibson - Up My Sleeve

Happy Birthday with The Pillbugs.

2008-01-08T10:24:00.001-08:00

This is the title song from The Pillbugs third album.

The Buzz For Aldrin Codex

2008-01-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

This amazing piece of art by Mark Roland from the booklet back sleeve deseves a post all of its own. Click on the picture to see it in all its glorious details.

The Monclovia Variations

2008-01-06T12:19:00.000-08:00

First idea by Mark Mikel...note original title

Second idea, art by Mark again..now called Monclovia

new lettering by Mick Dillingham

Second Version by MM and MD

Enter graphic artist Bob Tibbitts who did the sleeve design work on Happy Birthday and Buzz For Aldrin bobtibb@gmail.com

Bob Tibbitts "The Monclovia art was based on a photo I had taken of an underpass near to where I live. I then added effects and rustled up a few ideas based on it for the inside of the booklet. The photos of the band were taken by Matthew Mickel for the Happy Birthday sessions. I used those in a circular formation and added effects and the like (also the Pillbugs embroidered logo to Scott's arm). The pebbles were supplied by Mick Dillingham and the Lava Lamp pics by Jammi.

Box Art Original
Originally Mark Mikel and I collaborated on a quite elaborate presentation for cover art. Mark arranged 'bug artefacts set in a stage with background art by Mark Roland. We spent many hours working on that one, only to have it rejected by the label. They then asked for some other examples to be quickly assembled. I supplied five other examples and they chose the one that is in use today.

Boxart colour variant

Inside cover..unused

back cover pebbles

Unused inside cover

The finished front cover by Bob Tibbitts

single cover idea

another idea

Back in the mid to late sixties Bob Tibbitts was in a band called The Fanatics who gigged quite a bit in Coventry (England) and surrounding areas. They later changed their name to Purple Haze and later still The Drops Of Brandy before calling it a day.

The Sunday Times Review 2008

2008-01-06T07:08:00.001-08:00

Mark Roland and the Buzz For Aldrin cover

2008-01-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

Buzz For Aldrin front sleeve different lettering
Bob Tibbitts" Mark Roland painted the original art for Buzz ; I designed the cd as a whole and added the other bits like the main background (pale blue areas). I took photos of my hi-fi speakers, guitar and headphones lead, some outside photos to get the bi-plane, twigs and sea, added song titles. Mark also painted other specific Buzz characters to my brief (like the surfing Buzz on his guitar). I added the 'facerock' pics of the crew and placed them inside the open Buzz helmet that MR created and also combined other wonderful psych art pieces painted by Mark Roland into the cd jewelcase design. It was the first time I had worked with a professional artist but between us came up with what is now the Buzz For Aldrin artwork"

Mark Roland
Since the mid-seventies Mark Roland has been sharing his imaginative works in exhibits throughout the United States including several museum shows, and in published works, including books, portfolios, magazines and the gaming industry. He was one of the original staff artists and art director of "Magical Blend Magazine" in the 1980s and continued that decade with numerous shows at California's Illuminarium/Isis gallery, the preeminent Visionary Art gallery. In addition to his paintings, he has mastered the medium of etching; one example from his "EnchantedForest" series is visable in the right side of the photo. He currently lives in Eugene, Oregon

The White Ship by Mark Roland

Arborial Palladium by Mark Roland

The Moon Pool by Mark Roland

Tranquility by Mark Roland

Another lettering variation for the front cover

Mark Roland"I first heard about the Pillbugs in 2004 on the XTC Forum, in an enthusiastic post that described them as"Very melodic cartoonish nu-psychedelia . . . with references to Beatles, Zappa, Association, StrawberryAlarm Clock, ELO, Queen etc." I ordered "The Pillbugs"and "3-D" cds and was soon convinced that they were the the best contemporary psych-pop band around, known or obscure. I immediately wanted to do some artwork for them.

Unused disc design

The previous albums had already used some of the classic visual approaches, with the surreal group portraits ofthe first two cds and the Hipgnosis-like concept photo of "Happy Birthday." I thought the artwork, while good, was just not as exciting as the music was, as the great musical-visual synthesis of the 60s suggested it could be. Growing up in San Francisco and being 13 in 1967, my own influences were the psychedelic poster artists and the designer/illustrators of album covers and books. Staring at trippy images on the walls or in your hands was the perfect accompaniment to the music melting in your mind. So why not now? Sure we have videos and the rest, but why not give the fan a beautiful object to enjoy, instead of clip art or something that bears no relationship to the music inside?

above-unused cover variation below-early idea sketches

I got involved with the Pillbugs Messageboard and another fan, Barb Petersen, forwarded some of my work to Mark Mikel. He responded by writing a flattering post about it and a dialogue was begun. Bob Tibbitts,who did design work for "Happy Birthday" joined in and together we decided to make the next cd package a major statement, sparing no effort, and perhaps it would almost be as good as the music this time.

Mark sent me a rough version of "Buzz" on CDR and I was floored. This was even better than the previous stuff,the music, the themes all interconnected in the tradition of albums like Smile, Sgt Pepper, Forever Changes and Dark Side of the Moon. I did a number of rough sketches and sent them to Bob, who selected two. I made colour roughs of those; one became the front cover and the other was the origin of the larger complex piece the "Buzz Codex."

The cover went very quickly, except for my habit of adding details to discover over time. This time it was the faces in the rocks that formed the planetary ring. First it was the band members and then I kept going, they are not specific people just beings that inhabit the Monclovian universe

Aldrin is either in space dreaming he is on Earth, or is on Earth dreaming he is in space; he is a confused dude, like many of my generation.The larger piece was conceived as a fold-out poster that would have all the lyrics on the back. I had to pull out all the stops for this and it took many hours and revisions to get it down. The conception I had was all the characters and scenarios were in Aldrin's head. His friends and girlfriend became unreal and distant and Mark had commented about the space between us being greater than outer space, so while I used the space(cadet) suited character to represent him, it was more about his mental space, memories, dreams and hallucinations than a literal Science Fiction world.

Codex in a very preliminary stage

All along Bob and I wondered if there would be some kind of production issue with the poster, and tried to make sure it would be do-able. In the end, with the music finished, it was determined that it had to be reformatted as a booklet. Bob still had more spaces to fill and he kept requesting more bits of art, figures of Aldrin, backgrounds etc. We did collaborations for the cd well art and back cover, with elements of my art, even older images montaged together by Bob to make something new. I don't think the artwork rises to the level of the music, but we did our best and I am proud to be part of the major musical event that is "Buzz For Aldrin." "

Poster Back

Original rough for the front cover

all original art work copyright controlled and posted with the kind permission of Mark Roland

rolandscapes@yahoo.com

The Mark Mikel Hallucination Live

2008-01-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel Dave Murnen
Mark Kelley

Dave Murnen's photo album

2008-01-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

Dave Murnen "This is my great grandfather sitting outside the Toledo courthouse, it still stands …in fact just walked by the same spot today…photo was taken at the turn of the century early 1900’s..

..the soccer shot is me at the Columbus Crew and my season tickets seats…you can barely see me and the ex right above the P in Panosonic.. Im wearing my white real Madrid jersey second row behind the guy in the hat..Im wearing shades..

The Hockey jersey is an actual photo of Dan Chamber’s dad’s semi professional jersey…Dan was born in Omaha while his dad played for this team....Dan’s fathers name was Chick Chalmers…quite a hockey player in his own time…Dan also played semi professionally for a couple seasons as well."

Scott Hunt

2007-12-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel "I was a fan of The Sprags back in the early 90's. I bought their first CD "Neighborhood Sounds" and was really impressed at their songwriting muscle. I approached them at one of their shows and asked to produce their next album. Through the recording of it we became friends. I was particularly impressed with Scott Hunt who was much more into music than the others. Scott was like me in alot of ways. The kind of guy who could play many instruments and spend almost all of his spare time writing and recording. We became great friends and he's a huge source of inspiration to me. I think he's one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived and the true genius behind The Sprags. He's producing the new Pillbugs album. When he and I work together it always comes out unbelievable. We're even trying to develop a sitcom together.

Scott has me play the drums on most of his solo albums too. His sister Shelby sings on them. Their latest "Sonic Symphony" is a pop masterpiece if I'd ever heard one.
When The Sprags lost their drummer, around '98 I think, they asked me to fill in until they found another. I loved their songs and hanging out with them (plus I missed playing drums) so I donated my services indefinitely. I wasn't to join the band as anything but a drummer. They didn't need another singer/songwriter and I was okay with that. It was fun to be in a supportive role for the first time ever.

We still do it and the new Sprags album is getting close to finished.Scott Hunt's Montana is one of the best albums EVER made. How exciting to find some love for it here. Get it- steal it-whatever you have to do (you won't be sorry) but it may not be easy. Only 1000 copies were printed in 1997.

An almost complete unknown and criminally underratted artist and my best friend. Yes, we're finally doing an album together and it's going to be mind blowing."

http://www.scottandshelbyhunt.com/

pillbugs promo photo-signed

2007-12-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

with thanks to Tsutomu Kubota

Mike Baron

2007-12-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

Mike Baron broke into comics in 1981 with Nexus, his science fiction title co-created with illustrator Steve Rude; the series garnered numerous honors, including Eisners for both creators. A prolific creator, Mike is responsible for The Badger, Ginger Fox, Spyke, Feud, and many other comic book titles. Baron has also written numerous mainstream characters, most notably DC's The Flash and Batman, Marvel's The Punisher, and several Star Wars adaptations for Dark Horse. He has been nominated for Best Writer in the Kirby, Harvey and Eisner Awards, and has won two Eisners for his work on Nexus
Buzz For Aldrin is one of his albums of 2007 it seems…

Mike Baron “Pillbugs: Buzz for Aldrin. The Pillbugs have been producing outstanding psychedelia since 1991, released their first album in 1998. Mainly the brainchild of guitarist/composer Mark Mikel, the Pillbugs have been getting progressively richer, deeper, and more rewarding with each subsequent release. This is a two disc set, like two of their previous albums. There is no filler. To give you a clue where they're coming from the second track is called "Make Like Arthur Lee." Only Arthur Lee never managed to fill an album the way these boys do. The second disc in particular hits you with one perfectly timed acid flashback after another, until you feel like you've been worked over by a tag-team of nude female masseuses to music by vintage Airplane and Country Joe & the Fish.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Baron

Mark Mikel's Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums

2007-12-28T18:42:00.001-08:00

Black Sabbath- s/t

Black Sabbath- Paranoid

Black Sabbath- Masters of Reality

Black Sabbath- Vol. 4

Black Sabbath- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Black Sabbath- We Sold Our Souls For Rock and Roll

Black Sabbath- Sabotage

Black Sabbath- Technical Ecstacy

Black Sabbath- Never Say Die

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell

Mark Mikel "Anyone else who claimed to be Heavy Metal were only rehashing what these guys already did IMO. Distorting the guitar more than Iommi did just made it whimpier sounding...who else had that crunch?... and any band that called themselves metal but had a high pitched singer in spandex seemed to really miss the point. The moment HM became a genre it was a joke. Many people just remember the hair."

Bucketfull Of Brains 66 summer 2004

2007-12-28T16:14:00.000-08:00

A few years back I came upon a C.D. called “The Idiot Smiles” by Toledo based musician Mark Mikel and what a gem it was. Mikel was obviously a creative artist to be reckoned with. Peerless playing, adventurous production, classic voice and guitar sounds and, most vitally, superb songwriting, Mikel it seemed was blessed with an abundance of heart fuelled talents few could match. The petsoul psych sound of a man who obviously had a passion for what he was doing, delivering up an album of pop joy riches just for the hell of it. The album was already a few years old when I fell for it’s endless charms and on such a tiny label that I thought the chances of ever finding out anything about the man himself, remote. File along side the likes of Bill White Acre, Sean McDonald and Mr. Brown, in the “Who was that Masked Man?” section of my collection. Then a few weeks ago I was handed a CDR of an album by The Pillbugs, “The 3-Dimensional in Popcycle Dream” which just knocked my socks off. A brilliant adventurous psychedelic rock tour de fucking force of the most beautiful kind with an overflowing detailed and stunning production and playing that is jaw droppingly authentic without a single knowing wink of conscious parody. The Pillbugs aren’t just playing in the perfumed garden, ala Dukes of Stratosphere, they are landscaping it from the bottom up. Most importantly of all at the multicoloured heart of this multi-layered treat lay one great pop song after another. This was the real deal beyond all doubt and I quickly tracked down a proper copy of this magnificent creation along with a copy of the equally brilliant self titled debut double CD and low and behold who is the main driving force behind the band? The Mikelmiester himself (well obviously, otherwise why would I bother mentioning him at the start). Anyway Mark has not been an idle jack in these last few years, as a quick trawl through http://www.pillbugs.com/ will confirm. A whole slew of production jobs, a couple of other, solo albums and Mikel also finds time to plays drums for The Sprags. The new Pillbugs album in itself should be reason enough for an interview but now there’s loads more reasons why you every loving Bucketfull should track the mighty Mikel at Bug Central and open your eyes to a truly gifted talent.

BOB. So what are your earliest musical memories?

MM. I don't remember a time when music wasn't important to me. I remember my favourite toy (which wasn't really a toy at all) was my little portable record player. The first song I can remember hearing is Louis Armstrong's "Hello Dolly." My mother was a singer and a big music fan so I was lucky to have access to her collection, which was mostly big band stuff. Harry Bellefonte was another early favourite of mine. My parents would buy me kiddie records like Disney and Yogi Bear-type stuff. I loved those too. I'm talking about when I was 4 years old. I think I was aware of a newer-style of music called "rock and roll" but my grandfather (who I was very close to) always made fun of it. He would say it was nothing but (mock sing-shouting) "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Oh Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I'd laugh and agree with him though I really hadn't a clue. Then my friend across the street (who had a few older brothers) invited me over to listen to music that he likes and he played me an album by The Monkees. The first song I heard was "She" and by the time I got to the 3rd song "Mary Mary" I was completely hooked. He told me this band had their own TV show and it was on tonight. I couldn't wait. I sat by the TV until it came on and enjoyed a few minutes of the coolest zany-est comedy I'd ever seen, until my mom made me turn it off and come to dinner. I couldn't make her understand how heartbreaking it was to press that off knob and go eat. I think I started making up my own songs around that age but they were not very original. Just stupid kid lyrics to an already famous melody.

BOB. So what was the first song you wrote?

MM. The first actual song I wrote that was any good at all was called "Georgia Apple Wine." I was 12 years old. I've never recorded it. My first band was with Scott Tabner on guitar, Ian McCormack on bass and I was the singing drummer. We had known each other since we were six years old and we always pretended we had our own rock group called “The Jelleybeans”. When we were old enough we begged our respective parents to buy us instruments, which they eventually did and once we had the stuff we became the local garge rock band. We were The Bronze Serpent then but soon switched to the name Marikesh and added Dan Rhyand on keyboards. That was my band for over 12 years. We released our own LP in the mid-eighties and a couple of singles, while reaching some sort of a "hometown heroes" status. Local radio stations weren't locked into a strict playlist then and we were fortunate to get some good airplay. After Marikesh disbanded in ’86 I was tainted toward the idea of forming another group. I got in the habit of recording alone in my studio and making albums that never materialised. I got into doing a lot of production works for the local Toledo bands and that kept me busy. Then an old friend of mine Mark Kelley called me up one day and asked if I'd consider being in a band if the band agreed to play my songs. I thought that was okay as long we didn't have to become a recording entity. I didn't want to put that kind of labour into a group that would just fizzle out again. I liked to record by myself and if these guys wanted to play my songs live then I'd go along with that fine. He suggested calling us The Mark Mikel Band but I suggested Hallucination should replace the word Band to give it more pizzazz. I thought it had a Jimi Hendrix Experience sound to it. I didn't really like the name but inside I thought this group would only last for a few months so I wasn't that precious about it.
So Mark Kelley brought in his bass and Dan Chalmers to play drums and I brought in Glenn Blattner on lead guitar. I was to play rhythm guitar and sing my songs. We were more successful than I'd thought we'd be. Winning a few “battle of the bands” competitions and getting to play openers for big shows for the likes of "Bad Company," "Cheap Trick," and "King's X." So... here I had a band that really rocked and played MY songs. How lucky can one be? It seemed like a good idea to release a solo album made up from some of the best songs I'd recorded up to that point.
Dan Chalmer's was obviously very rock steady. He was so good I'd include him in the studio on most occasions. Dan had the most, easy going, eager to work and please, attitude that I'd ever experienced from a musician. He loved my songs and loved being the drummer on the recordings. The other guys would get invited over less but still made it onto a few songs. Mark Kelley was still pretty new to the bass guitar because he'd been a drummer for so many years. Glenn Blattner just wasn't crazy about my songs.
When this first "solo" album, "Sorghum Pudding" was released in mid-1993 there were no other Toledo rock groups with CDs available. So again local radio was very willing to play it. "Out In The Midnight Rain" was the track played mostly. I find it hard to listen to Sorghum Pudding nowadays because it was recorded to please Def Leppard's producer/engineer Mike Shipley. I think I was making too much concession to the music scene at the time to please him. He was courting me with a possible record deal for about a year and a half. Mike's own career was getting a bit wobbly at that time so he eventually decided he couldn't take me on. Anyway, after all that I felt liberated and confident enough to do a new album that was more me...more what I'd like to do.
And the band kept continuing on, even though the lead guitarist role kept constantly changing. We'd added a keyboardist, Steve Eyer and a background singer/percussionist Dave Murnen. We'd had so much fun becoming famous in our hometown with Sorghum Pudding that we were eager to release another. The Idiot Smiles was released in late 1994 and, though I believe that album was so much better than its predecessor it basically died on arrival. By that time, every garage band in town had their own CDs pressed, so radio stations, rather than dealing with that kind of onslaught, closed their doors for good. We just needed a good idea to get noticed again.
I had the braniac idea of doing an album comprised solely of cover songs by some of the many groups I'd produced records for. The idea was to try to do their songs our way and then give all the discs away at one concert, a tribute to the success of the Toledo rock bands. "Blatant Rip-Offs" was the first and only Mark Mikel Hallucination album and it was a training ground intended to make the band an actual recording entity. By the time the CD was actually released the line up was Mark Kelley (bass), Dan Chalmers (drums), Dave Murnen (vocals/percussion), my old Marikesh bandmate Scott Tabner (guitar), and me (vocals/lead guitar/keyboards). That's the line-up you know today as The Pillbugs except Tabner has taken on the lead guitar role.

BOB. So how did The Pillbugs germinate, first gig, first recordings etc.

MM. I was becoming more uncomfortable getting all the attention with only my name being represented in the band's name and I think, possibly some of the other guys were becoming a bit resentful too. And as I said before, I never liked the name so I was keen on changing it even more than the others were.
This was 1996 and by this time everyone and their brother had their own crapball band. Techno dance clubs were really becoming the hang-out of choice for the hipsters. It was becoming almost impossible to get audiences excited about seeing an original rock group.
I couldn't blame them either. I felt there was nothing new for me anymore personally that I could find in a record store that I'd even like, let alone be thrilled about. This was definitely a national or even global problem for all I knew. So I had a vision of this new group that would be just what I would look for if I was walking into a record store. I always felt there was a black hole in psychedelic music. That Sgt Satanic Piper stuff that you just can't find. If anyone was carrying the torch at all it seemed to me they were still applying this "college-y dance" or MTV quality to everything. Nothing seemed authentic unless it was authentic. But what if there was a band that sounded like it hadn't heard any disco, hip-hop or U2, REM, Gun n Roses, or Nirvana? I’m not knocking that music or their influences but it was so much easier to find. It's still that way today.
We still sustained a modest following when we changed from The Hallucination to The Pillbugs and gigs were different in name only until the first CD was released.

BOB. So when did you first feel that you were a proper band?

MM. I didn't think we were a proper band until we'd finished the first Pillbugs album. It wasn't until then that we could really see ourselves. That's what we can do when we try our best. That's what we are. That's what we sound like. Now we can feel it and live it. It was a myth that we created for us to step inside.

BOB. The sound on both albums is stunning, beautiful, overwhelming and endlessly detailed. What references were you taking in to achieve such an authentically psychedelic spirit while remaining current?

MM. Remaining current was a concern that I realised caused weakness in an artist. It was the element that killed Sorghum Pudding for me personally and I swore never to let it happen again. My tastes are extremely quirky because I feel records just sounded better pre-disco-era. There are some exceptions but it wasn't even really about that. I mean, how many albums amaze you like Pet Sounds? Where are the masterpieces where instruments and sounds appear unexpectedly or arrangements were colourful but somehow still managed to rock? With great vocals, songwriting, bass playing, drumming, guitars, orchestration, harmonies...everything. Real instruments and no sampling, sequencing, or Lexicon crap to kill the human element. Where the different conglomerations of sounds, create an alternate universe rather than a mental-picture of a band jamming onstage with really cool clothes. I wanted to make a rival for Sgt Pepper. Inside I knew we weren't as good as The Beatles, but I wanted us to believe that we were...to pretend at least while in the studio. So really the next idea for us to get noticed was to arrogantly believe that we were making "the best album ever" and...uh...make it a double.
I wanted everyone in the group to get a really arrogant attitude about our next recordings, a complete Zen-like approach. We were not to re-write or re-create anything that came before us. It was the spirit and attitude only that we wanted to retain. As producer I tried to make sure every little sound mattered. And there were many little sounds. I wanted as many instruments as I could get to make appearances throughout the album. I made sure that feel was king and not perfection because I tend to hate albums that sound too perfect, like no one's having fun and I wanted the songs relatively short and very melodic. It had to have push and pull, light and dark, control to cacophony or constantly at odds with itself. No two songs could sound alike either. Every silly idea we tried, whether it was swinging microphones around the room, bastardising the string section by sending them through guitar stompboxes, or ping ponging tracks till we achieved 70 voices, seemed to work magically. Echo and phase shifting were done with two tape machines or an old Echoplex.

BOB. I’ve always considered The Idiot Smiles imbued with the musical adventurism that came from the sixties era so you don’t seemed to have tailored your songwriting for the Pillbugs.

MM. My approach didn't really change, however a lot of the songs wrote themselves by just letting tape roll. "Illuminating Drink" would be the best example of that. The band were only in the studio to record a weird improvised ending to We Are The Orange Sky People. We kept on going and never stopped until the tape rolled out, 30 minutes later. After editing it down the overdubs flowed as magically out the air as the basic tracks. Some of the lyrics wrote themselves as a result of written lyrics played backwards. My songwriting process is normally just me humming and singing broken phrases and melodies on the piano or acoustic guitar until something connects. I always finish the lyrics last but sometimes a lyrical phrase or title will spark the whole song. I think lyrically I was consciously more playful than usual for the first Pillbugs album.
The other Bugs got their feet wet, songwriting-wise, on that first album. I requested that each one of them do at least one track for the album. Not only did they come through but their songs, in my opinion, are strong and memorable. Davey's "Comburda" and Dan's "Goodnight To Babylon" are stand-out tracks for me.
That all being said, it's not the greatest album ever made but I think we achieved an important album in the genre. It's hard for anybody when you're that close to a project to see it from an outsider's eyes. You never get to know the experience of hearing it fresh for the very first time. I think we made an album that I would buy and thoroughly enjoy.

BOB. What was the response to the album?
I don't think the response was tremendous. I know we as a band loved it and believed in it but we knew we were travelling a bit out there for the average Toledo rock fan. There was no radio play or big hurrah in the papers. It wasn't until we got on the internet that things started taking off. I still run into people in Toledo who say they are huge fans of mine but have never heard The Pillbugs, since we changed the name of the group, we were basically starting from scratch again. To get people to come and see us, we would perform The Beatles Abbey Road album in it's entirety for the first half of our show and then play The Pillbugs stuff the rest of the night. We tried performing as many songs off of the double CD as possible but some just weren't made to be reproduced live. The band become a different animal in a live situation. We have to be for obvious reasons. The best live groups are all that way anyway. Nothing is ever dead-on like the CD. The Pillbugs know to keep the spirit of the original recording intact without completely imitating it.

BOB. So when it came to the new album, what lessons do you think you took from the debut?

MM. Well I know the other guys learned that they could write good songs. So this time around they were ready with a few more. So much so that even some of their contributions were given the axe along with mine.
"The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream" wasn't as focused from the beginning. I think we were drained from putting our all into the first album. It took awhile to even have any kind of vision except to try to record and experiment. Though we were confident in who we were and what the measure of appeal our songs should contain, lots of songs were tried and rejected for one reason or another. When recording had stopped we had 34 tracks to release. It would have been another double CD but it didn't really flow well as one. Somehow it didn't seem as coherent as a double. 11 tracks were removed in favour of a stronger, more focused mood. I'm extremely pleased with it now.
BOB. What songs are you happiest with and what do you try for when writing?
MM. Songwriting for me comes in phases. I never know when it's going to be but I'll become focused on writing for weeks or even months at a time and then stop completely for months at a time. I need to purge myself of them by recording them thereby opening up the demand (in my own mind) for more writing. Some people write more lyrically and some others more musically. I think I write visually. I can almost picture the whole mood and sound before I start writing. If I don't know what I'm going for then it's much harder, but I can stumble upon many good ideas too. If it's too agonizing I don't force it. I just stop.
I'm always into the latest. I feel like I keep getting better and whatever my latest song is, it's the one I'm happiest with or at least most excited about. I know that the songs we have been recording lately are by far my best. I had a great period of writing in 2002 and we're only laying that stuff down now. Mark Kelley wrote his best one yet too. It's called "Alluring Martha."

BOB. You also play drums in The Sprags, how did that come about?.

MM. I was a fan of The Sprags back in the early 90's. I bought their first CD "Neighborhood Sounds" and was really impressed at their songwriting muscle. I approached them at one of their shows and asked to produce their next album. Through the recording of it we became friends. I was particularly impressed with Scott Hunt who was much more into music than the others. Scott was like me in alot of ways. The kind of guy who could play many instruments and spent almost all of his spare time writing and recording. We became great friends and he's a huge source of inspiration to me. I think he's one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived and the true genius behind The Sprags. He's producing the new Pillbugs album. When he and I work together it always comes out unbelievable. We're even trying to develop a sitcom together.
Scott has me play the drums on most of his solo albums too. His sister Shelby sings on them. Their latest "Sonic Symphony" is a pop masterpiece if I'd ever heard one.
When The Sprags lost their drummer, around '98 I think, they asked me to fill in until they found another. I loved their songs and hanging out with them (plus I missed playing drums) so I donated my services indefinitely. I wasn't to join the band as anything but a drummer. They didn't need another singer/songwriter and I was okay with that. It was fun to be in a supportive role for the first time ever. We still do it and the new Sprags album is getting close to finished.
BOB. Future plans?
MM. I've been getting into video and animation lately. I hope to become better at that soon. I want to keep making Pillbugs albums. The next one "Happy Birthday" should be out by June. I keep toying with the idea of doing another solo album but I think I'll wait for a good reason.

Mick Dillingham

Monclovia

2007-12-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

Rainbow Quartz 2007

1. Here’s to the End of Time
2. Faceless Wonder
3. 4 sec Nightmare in a 5 sec Dream
4. Good to Be Alive
5. All in Good Time
6. Make Like Arthur Lee
7. Alluring Martha
8. Charlie Blue Car
9. Hold Me So Near
10. King of Zorg
11. Spaced-Out
12. Liberty Town of Love

Rainbow Quartz is an innovative record label started by music attorney and former musician Jim McGarry, who is located in Manhattan. The label is currently distributed worldwide by Red Eye USA. At a time when major labels are becoming mega-corporate-monoliths with diminishing interest in the underground and alternative music scenes, Jim McGarry has "first look" as both an attorney and international label A&R source at some of the finest, most talented, and interesting unsigned artists and bands in the world. Rainbow Quartz releases guitar-pop and rock with a jangly psychedelic edge as well as solid singer songwriters and bands with a cerebral and artsy bent.

RQ bio. This fab Ohio-based psychedelic pop band have agreed to release a formidable compilation of their most serious forays into guitar-based psychedelia (which includes some remixes) – with the opening two tracks on the album being brand new, never before heard perfect pop confections. Track 1 is downright REVOLVER-esque with sitars galore, evoking early TRAFFIC. Track 2 is one of the most perfect pop songs we have heard in years with chiming guitars and gorgeous harmonies. The album also boasts sophisticated sounds that would make BILL NELSON of BE BOP DELUXE smile. This is a must-have album for any Rainbow Quartz fans of MYRACLE BRAH and COTTON MATHER – and just about any fan of 21st Century BEATLE-esque pop and rock. THE PILLBUGS, proclaiming themselves “the world’s most psychedelic band”, are a Toledo, Ohio-based American psychedelic progressive rock group formed in the 1990s. Band members Mark Mikel (vocals/guitar/keyboards), David Murnen (vocals/percussion), Mark Kelley (vocals/bass), Scott Tabner (guitar), and Dan Chalmers (drums/vocals) released four albums of some notoriety: one landed them as the first rock band in history to release a double CD of all new original songs as their debut release (The Pillbugs), and another is the only known rock CD to contain a Viewmaster reel (The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream). Their third album Happy Birthday is considered their poppiest effort, and summer 2007 finally saw the release of Buzz For Aldrin. Their first release on Rainbow Quartz, Monclovia, is a “best of” The Pillbugs’ heavier guitar sound. The dozen strong, catchy tracks were hand-picked from previous releases by Rainbow Quartz label owner Jim McGarry and promises to put The Pillbugs on the map.

Mark pointing out the fact that Monclovia is available everywhere including Bestbuy

Mark Mikel. "There's two new tracks on Monclovia. I wrote 'em. Dan drummed. Scott Tabner played guitar. Davey was MIA on both tracks, I think. Scott Hunt played tamboura, bass guitar and organ on Heres To The End Of Time. I played guitar, bass, guitar synthesizer and organ on FW and sitar on it.
Faceless Wonder was extracted from the Buzz CD line-up. Heres ToThe End Of Time was recorded specifically at McGarry's request. I sent him the demo that was actually meant for Scott Hunt's and my new album we've yet to do. Jim loved it and asked that we record it proper for his release. He was worried that it was too fast and he didn't like the blue note on the verses but he eventually changed his mind. (The song is in C and the blue note is the flat 5 and in this case would be Gb. Reach my arms as far as I can seeee-eeeeee. The blue note is on the first half of "see." And also on words in the lines with the same melody- "Grabbing for the wonder that remai-ains.")
The remixes are my mixes. They were meant to help give the album some more worth to people who already own most of the songs

I remember being elated when Jim told me he wanted Alluring Martha on the CD. He had already picked the 12 songs that were to be used for Monclovia. I was down in Mansfield Ohio at Ken Dudley's converting all the analog versions to be used to 24 bit. digital. McGarry happened to call me while I was there to tell me of a recent revelation: "We gotta have Make Like Arthur Lee and Alluring Martha on this thing. I love those songs." I was really fucking thrilled about Alluring Martha being added. He kept adding more after that and it was starting to get up to 16 songs. I told him the genius of his comp was keeping it 12 songs- if we keep adding more songs, then it's not going to be as tight and powerful. All the other bug discs are like 2 hours long so this would be a great move. So three songs that were supposed to be on Monclovia were deleted (Wait a Minute, Son of Shirley and Walking Along an Edge of Sky)."

PSYCHEDELIA

2007-12-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel “It seems to be the most misunderstood genre in the history of rock and roll. I find it the most enjoyable because experimentation in (writing, sound and lyrics) is the first rule. What other genre can boast those qualities? I don't like that it's still associated with drugs. Virtually every music of any style has had its share of druggies. I find the music more of a substitute for drugs than a companion. It's also the most exciting genre (when virtually all genres bore me because of their lack of exploration)... even 40 years later. When was the last time you heard something really colourful, fresh, rocking, melodic and sonically daring released as a single? It's almost as if those qualities are outlawed. As if record companies are afraid of them.

******And it IS the record companies- not the lack of newer psychedelic groups. There's probably more psych bands than ever before now. Intelligence and their target audience are not seen as something that can intertwine.. Sometimes I wonder if the whole '67 psych season was closed early due to the whole misunderstanding. Kind of like "I can't do those drugs anymore...so I'm not going to be doing that music anymore." Then people just distanced themselves. I sure as hell wouldn't want people to feel I was telling them to do LSD just because my music sounds like an aural hallucination. I believe that the rule has reversed in modern psych. I don't see LSD at all involved in the new psych scene. It just seems to be made up of people who still really like to listen. If you're going to sit and just listen-it's very fun and rewarding music- psychedelia is really the Disneyland of rock and roll.The 1960s fashion, image and idealism that accompanied psych ate it alive really. But all those great psychedelic albums and hits have aged better than almost any other music. We still seem to love Magical Mystery Tour, Are You Experienced, The Piper At The Gates... and all that wild music from the late 60s. True music lovers are amazed by that stuff- without tripping, being sedated or hit on the head.

I was 6 years old through most of 1967. I'm not really in a position of authority on the subject. But as a musician in a modern day psychedelic band, I can draw you a picture of how someone may have been affected by it enough to carry a torch against all odds.My earliest memory of becoming remotely aware of the word psychedelic was seeing Micky Dolenz say it at the end of the Daily Nightly clip. But the word meant nothing to me for the rest of the 60s. It meant as much as "far-out" or "out-a-site" or "sock it to me." It was just another word that was part of the crazy culture that was unfolding. Even at that young age I was aware that the world was a very different place than it was a few years prior.It wasn't until early 1974 (when things got a little tamed) that I started lamenting over the loss of the radical attitude and excitement that to me was extremely colourful or..."psychedelic." I felt robbed because as soon as I was old enough to go buy my own music- the good schtuff wasn't being made anymore. I was 12.So that's when I started digging into the music that was made before. I've kinda always been that guy ever since. I remember being teased in 8th grade for being a Beatles fan. There were other great bands around but nothing blew my mind like the rich sounds of well done psych. Strawberry Fields Forever, I am The Walrus, Eight Miles High etc... I've had many love affairs with different music over the years but songs like that always seem to haunt me the most...even to this very day.

So in my mind there has always been a big void of true listening music in the pop/rock arena. There was that one little beautiful moment so many years ago when it was alright to go where no band has gone before. I've mourned the death of that spirit for years. I still believe that love is the answer but that's not cool anymore either- what can you do? Country music, jazz, rap, metal, blues etc...have all been celebrated for years to the point where nobody's going to even point a finger at you. But with psychedelia, critics become holier than thou and fault you for your influences...as if you have no right to carry that torch. That attitude has created a great void in the world's musical catalog. I've been trying to do my part to fill that void- not to change the world, but mainly for personal reasons.

What is psychedelic? Is it sitars and backwards instruments? Possibly. Many people think of The Grateful Dead as psychedelic but they never really used that stuff much, did they?Is it singing about laughing gnomes, white rabbits and walruses (walri?)? That could do it for some too I suppose. Our method is to use songwriting, instruments, vocals and recording techniques as color and make lots of colors. Varied and unexpected. We re-invent ourselves with every song. You never know what the next song or album will be like. You can just count on the fact the "love" was put in. It will always be a result of musicians trying their very hardest to bring you a high-quality listening experience.Then we say on our website "The world's most psychedelic band," and I'm sure that gets interpreted in people's minds many different ways. It really means nothing and at the same time means everything. It's just our way of drawing attention to ourselves, isn't it? We say we are, so we are. When we started The Pillbugs in 1996 we were not aware of any other modern-day psychedelic groups. There might have been other underground psych bands but we knew nothing of them. We thought it might be a good idea to try and fill the gap. Nowadays it seems there is much less of a gap to fill. I'm aware of the underground psych bands. Psych/pop connoisseurs like Valis and Mick Dillingham (Bucketfull of Brains) have turned me on to so many psych bands it's inspiring and somewhat discomforting at the same time. We have much competition now. Try to observe and separate what's weak in modern psychedelic music from what's meaningful and timeless. Just like every other kind of music there's good and bad psychedelia too. I have no interest in bands that set up strict boundaries by what's already been done. These guys are just re-hashers and do little to contribute to the growth. The Beatles still cast a huge shadow on this particular community and when bands try to imitate them it just always ends up sounding contrived. Musical cliches (even ones created by The Beatles) have to pretty much be considered taboo. They can be used, but you must do it with a wink because everybody can see through you. The important thing is to think like the greats- not imitate their sound and arrangements. Although it's fun to do as a learning experience. Take it farther and every now and then back up and start again and take off in another direction. For me it is key to really make it a very likable song. I like to slightly challenge the listener but keep my arms around them at the same > time. I like catchy but clever lyrics and melodies and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I like everything to hit you hard and deep. I want people to smile at least once during every track. I want the songs to have a real strong purpose or motive. Don't want them just sitting there. The Pillbugs' psychedelia is the new and now of the genre. Along with all the now countless others, be it The Virgineers or The Squires of the Subterrain or whatever, we are all here defining or redefining what psych music is in our time. If we do it, it's authentic because it's us. We own it. We inherited it."

heres a link to a great british psych site

http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/

SITARS

2007-12-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel “It is incredibly hard to master the instrument but for a guitarist with patience, the sitar can make some pleasing sounds. I never learned properly like George Harrison did. I wish I had Ravi Shankar sitting next to me to show me some things. As with almost any instrument I play- I take time to reacquaint myself with it before I do any recording. You see credits for me like French horn, sitar, accordian...etc and I really can't play those instruments. I pick them up then work something out that might be suitable. It might take me a few hours.These same situations can apply to guitar/drums/keys/bass and even vocals. I have to give myself a reacquainting period. If I was a performing musician, it would be easier to master whatever instrument I use. "No audience" means that I have to somehow keep up on all these instruments by motivating myself.

The acoustic sitar has frets that you supposedly can move for a particular scale. I don't really think that's wise to do more than once- if at all. Maybe they have different sitars for different keys (like harmonicas). It just was a mistake when I tried it. It was never the same afterward. When I bought my new sitar I resigned myself to never adjusting the frets more than a slight hair. If I need to change the scale, I just change the pitch on the tape machine. Tuning it is a bitch because there's 18 strings and it's not an exact science. Sometimes a good ear is more detrimental for that reason.The toughest part is holding it properly. I've gotten better at it over the years but, I can't sit that way for long. Many of my tracks have the sitar up on a stool and I just stand next to it and play. I wish I could just once see someone play one in person.That sitar piece by Anoushka Shakar is my favorite part of The Concert for George. She was sorely missing from OUR Concert for George
The electric sitar I have is made by Danelectro and called the "baby sitar." It's just like a guitar with a semi-teardrop or gourd shape body that has a bridge that sizzles the strings like a sitar. You play it just as you would a guitarYes, we've used my electric sitar a number of times. Scotty the T played it in NYC on Here's to the End of Time. You can see him using it in the rehearsal video on YouTube. It's been on all our albums, but its appearance can be slight. I'm pretty sure it's on Plastic Surgical Holiday (but not the main solo- that's the acoustic one). It's used on Popcycle Island and Neo Mega Quasi...It's possible it's not used on Happy Birthday, I suppose, but at the moment I can't think.It's definitely on Buzz for Aldrin and Cosmic Surprise."

Donovan

Sheriff Ape

2007-12-24T10:17:00.001-08:00

Mark Mikel of The Pillbugs creates flash cartoon. Theme song by The Pillbugs. Voice talents include Scott Hunt and Dave Murnen. Very Funny!...

Smile- the great lost masterpiece

2007-12-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel “Well the way I see it, The Beatles considered themselves to have only one band in real competition with them-The Beach Boys. They admitted this many times. The two bands were constantly trying to "one-up" each other in the rock and roll "re-invention" game. Brian's answer to Rubber Soul was Pet Sounds and though the album wasn't a huge commercial success, it influenced music itself beyond any real definition. The Beatles were trying to better "Pet Sounds" when they did Sgt Pepper.Brian was doing Smile as an answer to Revolver. He knew The Beatles were cooking up something else huge so the race was on. When Sgt Pepper came out first, Brian knew he was defeated and gave up on Smile. The other Beach Boys basically took over and released the watered down and totally confusing Smiley Smile.

Had Brian not given up and instead released this masterwork in '67 (post-Pepper), I grant you it may not have tore up the charts and the hippies might have bashed it, but that album would have been in the general musical (and non-musical) public's reach for almost 40 years now. Music that great and significant would stand very tall among classic albums nowadays. And think of the influence it has already had just from being bootlegged. Really even Smiley Smile's influence is hard to escape among pop writers today.I would bet it would have been top 10. Maybe even #1 in the UK. The Beach Boys were already #1 in the UK when Brian was working on "Smile." I think it was way original and different enough to not seem like Brian was jumping on any band wagon.At least it would have had a number one single on it -Good Vibrations. That's the song they used to sell Smiley Smile instead.I know I would have bought it years ago and it would have had a very profound influence on me. I don't think in that way I'm very unique.I would still like a properly mixed and mastered version of the unfinished album. Judging from the ones they finally released on The Beach Boys boxset, they would sound fantastic. Hope I see it before I die. I don't care that it's not finished at this point.That album not coming out in 1967 is one of the all time greatest rock and roll tragedies. It would have changed life as we know it. It came out much too late to matter."

Mark Mikel's dream production jobs

2007-12-24T09:40:00.001-08:00

Mark Mikel has produced many local bands down the years but if he could pick anyone to produce who would he choose?

“Here's my dream list- keep in mind that this is to produce- not to be an actual part of their band:
Paul McCartney. I'm still in awe of the big Macca. I think Chaos & Creation it's his best production since the early 70s. I don't mean it's as good but it's pretty darn close. The production has been crappy on many Macca albums but aside from the odd dodgy or unfulfilled composition, his writing is still very strong in my opinion.I know this sounds cocky but Paul should have his next album recorded by Scott Hunt and me. That would be a brilliant move on his part. He needs to leave the multi-million dollar crapball studios and get into mine where only music matters- not a bunch of "digital gadgets&fixes." We know exactly how we'd produce him because we discuss this all the time. I've studied his music for most of my life. I feel like I know him. Paul's biggest enemies are "perfection" and that lounge-style of singing he's employed since Broadstreet. And if the drum sound is not right (which it rarely is)- forget it. If it's too perfect and spot on- there's no saving the track. Still the McCartney era is almost over and he's done well more than his fair share of great music.

The Monkees. As arrogant as this may sound-and though they deserve it anyway- I can virtually guarantee their place in the Hall of Fame if they have one more go the right way. It's just something I've believed for years. Even though they're still alive- it's probably too late. I've studied their music since the earliest age. The Monkees' career is plagued with bad decisions. Out of roughly a dozen albums they only have 2 consistently great ones- Headquarters/PAC&J. "Head" is arguable- still it suffers from only containing half an album's worth of songs.Most anything they've done since has only confirmed in my mind that they don't understand their own strengths and appeal.

Producing Brian Wilson would scare the hell out of me- but I'd love to keep him away from digital instruments. I have the new version of Smile I think they did a great job. The only drawback (to me) is the vocals. There's no way to reproduce those magical voices singing together. Brian's voice isn't quite right either. I wish he could have finished it when Carl was still alive. No Carl Wilson vocals is the biggest downfall of all. I Do love how they went back to the old studio where it was originally done and used the old equipment. For that reason the music is very well produced. It's easily the best music that's come out in over 20 years. That writing is totally sent from God.

The Rolling Stones, The Kinks or Ray Davies, Ringo

There are others out there, who are still performing or still able to record, that I think I would benefit from getting their hands dirty in my studio:The Moody Blues, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Steppenwolf (but only if they include Goldy McJohn), Peter Frampton, Tom Jones, The Zombies, Ian Hunter......

Every day is one more day too late, guys. C'mon.”

Some Rare Songs

2007-12-24T08:25:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel.....................................Elanie Mickel
Mark Mikel: "Earth Fogged Over is a cool one from 1987. It was super ambitious- that's for sure. My mom (Elanie) is singing backing vocals on that one along with an ex-girlfriend Merri Shivelbein (now Montgomery)...plus Dan Rhyand and T.J. Evans. T.J. was substituting for Scott Tabner who had washed his hands of Marikesh a few months earlier. Because Scott wasn't part of it, I don't consider it a true Marikesh recording really. But Ian McCormack's bass playing is totally off the hook. His bass parts were so great that when I listen to Marikesh recordings, that's always what I focus on. Earth Fogged Over is one of Ian's best.

Jeff Kollman

Still Much Better You Than Me is from '87 or '88. I know I wrote it in '87 but I think it wasn't recorded right away. The only memories that stick out are the taunting "nah nah nah nah nah" sound of the sped-up backing vocals and a train whistle at the end. Oh yeah... and Jeff Kollman played the lead guitar solo. He was my best friend back in the late 80's to early 90's. He's one of the greatest guitar players to ever walk the earth and a very successful session musician out in LA nowadays. He's worked with virtually every biggie in the business- including Linda McCartney. He also has some music in the recent Fantastic Four movie. There's a few songs that Jeff had me finish writing for him. He'd give me the music and I'd write the lyrics, vocal melodies and harmonies over it. That's happened three times and all three songs are included in the first 100 MP3 set. Don't Listen to Your Head, Come and Rule the Night Time. and Crowd of None.

Mark and Jeff

Day of the Time to Come Gone By is the first song I ever used a sitar. It's from 1988 and I play all the instruments though Dan Rhyand sings backing vocals. The Hallucination used to play this one a lot when we first started out.

It Will Be You was based off a guitar melody from an earlier song called The Rules. It's a solo recording from 1982. The vocals are pretty cool but the music sounds a lot like The Doors.

Plastic Girl was an experiment. It must have failed because it's obvious to me that I never finished it. From 1984, it was a contender for the Love Is What You Want LP. The experiment was: do a different guitar riff every time after each vocal line. Normally you would want a nice catchy guitar riff to be repeated. I wanted a bunch of confusing ones that were NEVER repeated. If anyone ever tried to learn them they would get a severe headache. I don't think anyone in Marikesh thought it was a good idea- including me. We really didn't want the headache.

I recorded the original versions of Let it Not be Forgotten and Passage of Eternity in 1990. Those songs became early Hallucination "live" staples. We re-recorded both those songs as a band in 1991 (not too seriously). I think we were just making tapes to get gigs. When it was time to mix for my first solo album, I chose the '90 version of Let it Not and the re-made '91 version of Passage. Passage seemed to really capture what the band actually sounded like. It was one of our most popular songs at the time.

Fat Evelyn was recorded in 1990. It was the first I worked with Scott Tabner in a year (and that was only because he did that Marikesh reunion song in 1989). He and I laid down countless guitar tracks doing the same line and that's how we got that big sound.It may be the only recording I've ever done that had my voice running through a digital effect. Jeff Kollman lent me an ADA effects unit that had 1000s of crazy sounds. It was then I discovered I don't ever want to own any digital effects. I did use it that one time though for the deep voice chanting at the end.I know it's based around an experience I had of seeing the fat lady at the county fair. She was so huge and smelly. It was disgusting really. So the lyrics aren't that sympathetic. But they aren't geared toward overweight people- just toward a person who is SOOOO BIG that people will pay money to see her. "Who knows where her body ends and where her heart begins?"But I wrote her a dark love story and made her husband Jack the Clown who never put her down. Jack used to be a woman or a nun or something. I'd have to look at the lyrics of the end chant.

Portait of Your Garden. It was written about my Mom. She's an artist- abstract realism with lots of attitude. I think she's the greatest around today. Anyway- she had this long narrow room that she painted in. She designed the house and this room had drains in the floor to wash away the paint. The room was formed by 2 long walls and 2 glass sliding doors. Sky lights across the top, windows all along one wall and plant-life all around.Looking through the glass sliding door was like looking at a painting in a way.So it's (the lyrics) images of her and the song is pretty abstract."

http://www.jeffkollman.com/

xtc

2007-12-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel “I think I've mentioned this before but Nonsvch is my favorite XTC album. Wrapped in Grey, The Ugly Undereneath, Then She Appeared, Humble Daisy, That Wave- all amazingly fantastic songs with a high "cool factor." The Dukes of Stratosphear is really my fav but doesn't really count as an XTC album, no? I discovered them late really. I read a review of Psonic Psunspot in Rolling Stone magazine and it described music that I didn't think anyone made anymore. When I heard it I thought they were doing the same thing I was doing but only much better. The main difference is they were being silly and I was taking it seriously.

I looked for their next album and I was pretty excited when Oranges & Lemons came out. I was confused by that album because the songwriting was great but the recording quality was pretty unlistenable to my ears. I managed to get through it enough to learn the songs. Chalkhills and Children is the winner on that album. Mayor of Simpleton was perfect pop songwriting.I bought many of the previous releases and followed them pretty faithfully up until The Apple Venus schtuff. Don't know why I stopped really. I think the idea of the band falling apart took my interest down a few notches. Unreasonable prejudice, I suppose. Andy Partridge is one of the few well known pop/rock recording musicians still around today who is legitimately worthy of being called an artist. Not many left to look to nowadays.”

http://www.xtcidearecords.co.uk/

Mark Mikel Cosmic Suprise 2007

2007-12-23T17:26:00.000-08:00

1. COSMIC SUPRISE
2. THE RIDE YOUR ON
3. LOVESICK
4. GIRL IN THE WINDOW
5. ALL THUMBS
6. PERPETUAL MOUTH
7. SO MUCH LOST IN LOVE
8. LET'S GO GET HIGH
9. WHEREVER YOU ARE
10. SHE CAN FLY SO SHE MIGHT TRY
11. BACKWARD EVOLUTION
12. SLEEP HEAD AWAITS

Mark Mikel "Waiting for Buzz for Aldrin to come out started to drive me completely crazy around mid-May. I needed to escape into the studio and do something new. It's been suggested to me by many to do another solo album (my last one being 13 years ago) and with nothing else going on, I really had a good opportunity for the first time in years.I decided to record in an anti-Buzz way. That album was worked and re-worked as a whole for a couple of years. This time I'll just write a new song, record and mix it and put it away- not listening, re-evaluating or judging. Just move onto the next song until there's 12 of them.The first 3 songs were done in a week and I was having a blast. I haven't worked this way since before Love Is What You Want. Many nights I'd record until I dropped (usually around 5am). Jammi would bring me dinners and made sure I really didn't have to worry about anything else.This is the first CD that I've done where I played and sang every note. So it's kind of a vanity project I needed to get out of my system. I'm now really looking forward to recording with others again (especially Scott Hunt when he's finished scoring the movie he's been hired to do).I also, for the first time, didn't use any synthesizers, brass or sitars. I stayed pretty true to the "straight up" rock instruments. In the case of every song on Cosmic Surprise (exept for All Thumbs) I laid down the drums first while I pictured the rest of the arrangement in my mind. That's basically been my home recording technique since 1978I started recording on May 18 finished the last song on July 12th. I listened to everything and I thought it was okay. Jam snapped my pic for a cover and we decided to go ahead and make it available in our ebay bug vault.This will be available as a CDR version that I'll put together by hand -only until I can afford to press 'em."

Jammi “It was a great honour to hear these songs as they were done. Every time one was completed Mark would put it on a cdr and bring it home to me. Then he'd forget about the finished one's and start another but I listened to them every day! That was great! When the cd was complete, he asked me to burn him a cdr and put the songs in the order of my choice for his first listen. I can't tell you how wonderful it makes me feel that he kept the order I chose!”

Mark “It was interesting to do it that way. It was the closest I could ever come to listening to my own disc as if I just bought it. I told Jammi her sequencing was genius!”

Mark and Jammi

The Pillbugs Musical Favourites

2007-12-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel "Those are mostly my influences and as much as I like Walk Away Renee (one of the best popsongs ever- maybe THE best) I can't cite the Left Bank as an influence only because I never heard anything else until recently. Any similarities between them and Pillbugs living or dead are purely coincidental.

The Zombies are a band that I also was turned onto in recent years and not a big formation in my production/songwriting psyche. Oddessy and Oracle is killer no matter when it is discovered.The Beatles are a definite fav among the bugs with Tabner possibly being the lowest on that totem pole- Chalmers is also not quite as Beatle-geeked as Davey Mark and me.
I think we all like early Aerosmith, Yes, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, ELP and Alice Cooper but I may be wrong when it comes to Davey.

Every bug LOVES The Who.

I think I'm the only real Spirit fan in the bugs- with the possible exception of Mark Kelley. The other guys like their hits enough but I absolutely devoured their early albums. The same can be applied to Traffic.

I think my love for The Monkees was contagious because now everybody's a huge fan again with the possible exception of Scott. I think he appreciates them enough but he had to put up with my monkeemadness his whole life. Davey's always been a big fan though.

I'm not sure how the others feel about Love. I guess I've always enjoyed them without much interaction with the others. Same with The Moody Blues but I know everyone else enjoys them. I think I was deeper into them than the others- with the possible exception of Mark Kelley.

We all like Pink Floyd but I believe Davey, Mark and I love the early stuff with Syd and immediately after while I believe Tabner and Chalmers don't really delve into it much- if at all.

I believe we are all big fans of the early Queen albums.Other bug loves:The Rolling Stones The Kinks Led Zeppelin The Doors Jimi Hendrix Experience Cream Frank Zappa

Music that I love but have no (or almost no) other bug to share with:Mott the Hoople Marvin Gaye Donovan The Pretty Things Small Faces (except Mark Kelley) Simon & Garfunkel (except Dan Chalmers)

King Crimson (with Greg Lake and Michael Giles. Murnen's more into the later schtuff with Levin and Bruford) Klaatu Cat Stevens There's a bunch of influences. If you name any virtually any OLDER artist, chances are it's enjoyed by at least of one of the bugs. Newer music is a bit of a wasteland with few exceptions.

Harry Nilsson was one of the all time greatest pop/rock voices ever, probably the most underrated singer of the 20th century. Harry's voice is maybe the only voice that can bring tears to my eyes just purely from the sound and delivery. If you can ever get your hands on the album (CD version w/bonus tracks) he did with John Lennon (Pussycats) listen to the bonus track of an early take of Save The Last Dance For Me. Normally that song (who did the original?) sounds trite and cheesy to me but Harry's version...oh my...he makes it sound like the deepest most meaningful love song ever -and if you hear it, and it doesn't choke you up at least a bit -I'd be concerned that your soul may have already left you.I also feel like mentioning that, in my opinion, Harry wrote the best TV show theme song ever- the theme from The Courtship of Eddie's Father (Second runner-up would be John Sebastian's Welcome Back.) I think the original Nilsson recording is called "My Girlfriend." He changed the lyrics to fit the show and called it "My Best Friend." I used to watch the show just to hear the song.

I must confess though. I was a KISS freak as a teen. Scott Tabner's dad Orris (a well-known sports caster and local celeb) got us in free to the Sports Arena to see them. We watched from the safety of the press box. I was 14 and Scott was 13.It was my first concert and (at that time) the most amazing thing I've seen in my life. We formed a rock band immediately afterward called The Bronze Serpent -lol- and we played virtually all KISS songs along with our own songs. No make-up though. That lasted about a year.I lost interest in KISS way before the make-up came off. After Destroyer, I thought every album just got cartoonier and cartoonier. It's funny because most of the music I listened to as a kid- be it The Monkees to Disney records- has aged pretty well. I still find enjoyment in it when revisited. I've tried to go back to KISS maybe 3 or 4 times in the past 30 years and most of it just sounds ridiculous.I say most because the "Bob Ezrin produced" albums still have their moments. The Elder is cool for a listen but not A LOT of listens.I think if I came away with any influence from KISS- it would be their sense of pop melody. They actually had some nice ones on the early records. But the lyrics are inane.I do a pretty funny "Paul Stanley as dinner guest" bit. If you look at them as comedians instead of musicians then their appeal may not seem so bizarre.

When I'm in the middle of working on a new bug disc I tend to be very careful of what I listen to. Everything influences me whether I like it or not.I try not to listen to obscure or fly by night artists because I don't really know if their influence on me will be that good.I tend to listen to the music or albums that have amazed me for years and see if I can tap into that magic. I know- I'm very unhip.But mostly I listen to the work that I'm doing. I listen, analyze, take mental or sometimes written notes...If I listen to it 1000 times and make it so it can last 1000 listens, I may have something there. So the prototype for Buzz For Aldrin is usually playing in my car (the only place I really have to listen to music).AND to a slightly lesser extent... I've been listening to The Beatles EP collection- The mono Magical Mystery Tour is very psych. The Beatles keep me on that straight and narrow road to likeable songwriting. Their immediacy is really something to try and achieve.I have to listen to Brian Wilson (Smile bootlegs, Pet Sounds, Friends) to keep the musical mind working.Pink Floyd's "The Piper At The Gates of Dawn" is essential for me. It keeps me from taking music too seriously.I've been rediscovering Queen's "Sheer Heart Attack" and Yes's "Fragile." I listened to the Dukes of Stratosphear recently- that still sounds very cool too. It has relatively the same effect on me as "Piper" but it inspired me to be a little more original in production. That album (in a way) showed me what NOT to do. I thoroughly enjoy it though.

Mark Mikel

And If I don't play some Kinks on a semi-regular basis (mostly Village Green Preservation Society) I feel like I haven't been home in a long time.
Headquarters will always find it's way back to my stereo before too much time goes by. The textures and song styles are completely unique. The songwriting is extremely good. I find the mixture of virtuosity (Peter Tork) and garage punk (Micky's drumming) to be an alluring marriage. It's a one of a kind album and it took a Sgt. Pepper to oust it. Headquarters balanced on a line between the "let's bang out some sound" garage-mentality and the sophisticated "let's make a finely arranged pop record" studio-mentality.Every track on Headquarters is a one of a kind recording. I don't think it's ever fully appreciated what The Monkees invented during those sessions. Stylistically it was unprecedented and since has never been victim of overkill. The only exception being Zilch and I still believe it is the first instance of rap as we know it today.Even "No Time" sounds completely original to my ears. I've never heard Chuck Berry interpreted quite that way and the piano and backing vocals are killer. The lyrics are hilarious but sung with an incredible amount of heart. Early Morning Blues and Greens is one of the coolest most original Monkees songs ever. The Girl I Knew Somewhere is my favorite song from The HQ sessions, it is a magical track... Maybe the greatest Monkees song ever. Why it was never an A-side is well beyond my comprehension. If that had been on the album it would have had a much better "classic album" standing.

And for pure inspiration outside of the pop realm- Ravi Shankar.

Love that Klaatu. It was recorded so well. The first two albums always sound great. Every time I think about the 4th album (Endangered Species) I cringe. If anybody doubts that colourful psych sounding music was outlawed by the record companies by 1980, just play Klaatu's first 4 albums in succession. You can hear Capitol Records slowly bleed the life out of them. On the 4th album you can actually hear them crying for help (Sell Out, Sell Out). Read a Klaatu interview about it- it's heartbreaking."

http://www.klaatu.org/

And in the real world....

2007-12-22T19:13:00.000-08:00

Mark and Jammi

Mark Mikel. "I do video and graphics for my family's business American Frame. So I actually work for my Dad, my two sisters and my brother. I'm lucky they take such good care of me though really. They've always treated my music as something very important. That's how I have time for it because they don't demand all that much. Any project I do is mostly on my own schedule. I've always been very lucky in that regard. Though I did have a short stint at Kinko's in the late 90's.But no matter how much studio time I get, it's never enough. And to get me to stop working is not easy.

Davey Murnen is the box office promoter for a convention center here in Toledo. Big Bird takes more of his time than we do. Plus he has a jugband he plays with. With a wife and fairly new baby daughter he's pretty busy.

Dan Chalmers is a brick layer. He works harder than anyone else in the band but somehow he never let's it get the best of him. Can you imagine 12 hour days of brick laying and then 5 hours or more in the studio? That's Chalmy. He loves recording as much as I do really. And I've never seen him in a bad mood.

Scott Tabner teaches guitar and has a daytime sales job. Industrial belts or something...I really don't know. He plays with a local blues band quite regularly too. A very busy man. I never get the impression that life is easy for him in any way. I also know he must love the bugs because there's no way in hell he'd be in the band if he didn't.

Mark Kelley is now retired for life. As you may know we don't know how long that is because of the terminal cancer he's been fighting for the past 6 years. He's an amazing man. The strongest I've ever seen. He's still fighting beyond what any of us can conceive.He's never been addicted to alcohol, drugs or cigarettes. He would only occasionally indulge and leave it behind. He doesn't deserve what's happened to him.Everybody counted on him to take care of business and we didn't make a move without his advice and approval. It's really insane to think of going on without him.The fucking cancer brought him down as he was reaching his musical apex with songs like "Al Gabone" and "Alluring Martha."But even in his wheelchair, with a fucking machine in his throat,only able to communicate with people who can lip-read, he made treks to the studio and laid down the bass for the Buzz for Aldrin album.He didn't sound like he was sitting in his chair. He sounded like he was an active moving musician/performing on the stage. Maybe dancing. Maybe flying. Listen to his bass on "I Don't Really Mean To Freak Your Mind" or the bass solo in "Buzz For Aldrin." Listen to him on the last bass track he played "Still Haven't Learned to Behave." The man had life even then that most bass players can't or don't convey.It's been a long time since I've seen my friend. Back in '91 to early 2000's, I used to see him almost every day. And now I don't see him at all and I feel bad. He's moved away. I need to see him. I never got to tell him face to face that we're playing again. He used to be in sales of some kind...rubber belts or something- I don't know. He and Tabner worked together for awhile.

Marky the K, along with Dan and I, would rather be in the studio than almost anywhere else. Unfortunately he doesn't have the energy to be there as much as he'd like. Amazingly his bass playing is still getting better. I think that now that he's retired, he knows he now IS a musician only. Some of his best work ever is on our new album.

What instruments do the bugs have?

2007-12-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel. I have a stratocastor and it was built by a man named Pete Robinson. So the guitar is technically a "Pete." That's the electric guitar that I've been playing on practically everything since 1985. I think the bright cutting Revolver guitar sound is probably what I usually go for without thinking about it- because it has so much musical presence. I have to play with the mics a lot to get the sound in your face. But I have no formula. I just plugged my guitar straight into my Fender Twin but I may have used some ADA tube overdrive- but I doubt it. I can't remember offhand. I did everything so fast. "Pete" is a very original and distinct sounding guitar. I could never replace it. So many different tones. I'm not a very technical guy so I can't really talk about what makes it that way. Pete told me the guitar neck was owned by Curtis Mayfield. I know that my pick-ups are double coils and my bridge pick-up is a "Lace Sensor." My normal setting is the LS pick-up "full on." I've been playing my Washburn (Gibson 335 copy) much more on the new album. I used it somewhat on 3D too. The Washburn is on the cover of 3D.

For keyboards in the studio I use my Baldwin electric harpsichord quite a bit. I have a couple of Farfisas, a hammond BX3 (i think), a Rhodes electric piano, a tack piano and grand piano (I forget the names on those).a Yamaha synthesizer from 1979, a moog rogue (broken) and an old Hohner electric piano (semi-broken).
For bass I have my Gibson (what's the name of the bass when it looks like a Gibson SG guitar? Anyway that's what I have been playing since 1978).
The drums in the studio are Dan's but they are the studio drums and have been since Sorghum. I think they are slingerlands but I'm not sure. The snare was bought seperately too so who know what THAT is (DAN?)I have a sitar, tamboura, trumpet and french horn, a banjo that I only used once I think on a song called "Nervous," lots of percussion stuff, a glockenspiel, a viola (broken), a fender twin amp, a fender guitar leslie speaker, a Yamaha leslie cabinet. I don't think I've ever owned a really nice guitar so there are a bunch that I always drool over. A Rickenbacker 12-string, Les Paul, any of the classics really.I would love a hammond b3 organ. A clavinet would be nice. A new sitar. A Vox AC30 amp would be really very nice. more microphones (any kind). A harp would be awesome. I'd like a nice trumpet (are you getting all this, Santa?)
Actually If I had a million dollars I could easily spend it all on instruments and studio gear.We basically record like paupers compared to what the biggies were blessed with. A professional 2'" reel to reel tape deck has never been used. We use the more semi-pro 1" 16 track format. The sound difference is huge. I've only once got to indulge in the sonics of the 2" 16track format during the recording of Scott Hunt's Montana in Chicago 1997. Complete aural bliss.I've never had the luxury of professional EQs and mic-pre amps. I've recently obtained my first professional tube compressor (post Buzz for Aldrin ) and that makes a big difference- but you've never really heard it yet. I did abuse the use of it on the last two Christmas songs. (Though not quite as badly as McCartney did on Memory Almost Full.) I've owned the same mixing board (most studios have a console) since 1984. It's not even really for recording. It actually used to be for miking live situations. They don't make it anymore. It's a Soundcraft Series 200B 16 channel board. Now think about this -16 tracks of tape and only 16 channels on my board. That means I have no extra channels for microphones or effects. Without getting too technical here, this just means that I can't always hear all the instruments recorded while I'm overdubbing extra parts. It also forces me to print to tape most of the effects- instead of saving those decisions for the mixdown stage. Professional mixing consoles can run anywhere from $30,000 to $500,000. If I sold this board on ebay I'd probably get about $600 for it.Also- mixing 16 channels of different instruments and sounds by hand is basically unheard of in this day and age. Even most analog studios have some sort of automation. Automation is where you can set all the ways you want a particular track to behave during the mix (volume, eq, panning left to right) ...and have the board automatically (during playback) make these changes itself after you've set them.Mixdown is my own private hell. With 16 different tracks all needing at least some attention barreling past me two little hands. Not many people have witnessed me in action because I normally can't concentrate with others around...or if others are around I'll usually request their helping hands. Scott Hunt helped me immensely mixing Buzz for Aldrin.

Mark Kelley in the studio

But even with the 2 of us, even after we know everything we want to do, it can sometimes take up to 30 attempts to actually get it right. If we had automation our mixes would be through the roof. Mixing is where a lot of the magic happens and SH and I are never short on ideas.But every mix that I've ever done (without exception) has things in it that I wish were different. There's always a sound that's too loud or a bit here that could have used more bass or whatever. I have to let these things go because I'm only one human with semi-pro gear. Brian Wilson had 4 or five people with a hand on every fader during the mixdown of Pet Sounds. And that was 8track (half of what I have to deal with) and monophonic (also half of what I have to deal with).Don't even get me started on microphones. If I had the money I'd be a complete mic junkie. From the crappiest crapball mic to the stellar $10k and beyond. They all have their uses.I don't enjoy engineering (hooking up mics and cables and such). I wish I could just once work with a professional engineer who really knew about sound and how to achieve it. I'm a "throw it up and go" sort of guy and I usually let the chips fall where they may- unless it's particularly bad or there's a specific sound I have in mind. But I hate cords and cables. They're all over the place like an evil spaghetti. And they're always going bad because I don't have the patience to treat them properly.

Mark M and Scott Hunt

Lately if I have a situation in the studio where I need more than 3 guitar cords and 4 mic cables, I'm in a lot of trouble.I don't want many of the things that people use today. (Sequencers that play the music for you or pitch correction so you don't even have to sing on key anymore.) I'm glad we still have to play and sing.Good musical instruments are expensive. If I had the dough I'd have a Hammond B3 organ, Steinway grand piano, harpsichords, mellotron, clavinet, Martin acoustic guitar, a whole array of electric guitars, and probably every exotic instrument I could find. Right now I'm working toward getting enough money to buy some more cords/cables, mic stands and recording tape.Technology is not always a good thing when it comes to music. I just want the basics- good tape machine, mics, cables, mixing board and good instruments, echo, reverb, compression. But that can cost a LOT of money. If I were to try to make an album of slick modern day pop, I would fall flat on my face. The quirkiness of the bug's music is conducive to my set-up. We combat the lack of hi-fi technology by trying to do something different with the music and keep it interesting in another way.

Mark K and Dan
Mark Kelley: My favourite bass is my Fender Mustang Bass. It is short scale with flat wound strings, The thing plays as smooth as "butter." 2nd Fav is my Gibson SG Bass similar to what MM has, which is also a short scale bass. As a matter of fact, Mark turned me on to short scale basses and how easy they are to play. These basses allow you to play very aggressively and yet still sound smooth. I have used a Trace Elliot bass amp for about 10 years. 1970 Fender Stratocaster, Martin HD28 Acoustic, 1974 Ludwig Vistalite Drum Kit (see-thru tinted blue), 70's Kramer 4 string bass w/ aluminum neck , Blackfaced Fender Vibrolux Guitar Amp.......

Mark M and Dan
Dan Chalmers: Well, I have a Fender acoustic, a Fender Strat, a Crate amp,a bass I aquired from Mark Kelley, a Mandolin (from Kentucky), an upright piano (from a church), and 3 drum-kits. One kit is at Mark Kelleys house(Ludwid Rock) 4 piece. One kit is at "the main studio" (a recovered Gretch kit that sounds great as you all know) 4 piece. My favorite is my live kit, custom made by "Daves Drum Depot". 4 piece, 6 ply shells (hickery). Bass Drum, 24x18, Rack Tom 13x11, Floor Tom 16x14, and the snare 14x61/2. Paiste 20" ride, two 18" Zildjian crashes and one 16" Zildjian crash. 15" heavy high-hat cymbals to take the beating!!!! I'm tired and babbling.......................Chow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Davey with his washboard
Davey Murnen Ok..my list not as extensive as me mates!!Fender strat 1994 editionfender telecaster..made in Indonesia..but still sounds greatLudwig 4pc Gold Sparkle 1963..just listen to those old thingy Dale(surfing records)..same exact kit. Zildjian/Paiste cymbols2nd kit is a canabalized Reuther( German copy of a CB700)..combined with Adamics old Ludwig 5 piece..3 rack toms..1 floorI also have two snares..Ludwig which came with my 63 kit..and my favorite a 1970's era Slingerland..which is photo'd in the Harrison picsalso have 3 1930's era washboards..purchased on e-bay..I use these with the Kazoos and a cosmic precussion set of congas ("BABALOU")An Irish drum..called a Boughran(check my galic spelling )..featured on all those Chieftan records that I love. Numerous maracas and shakers..and about 12 tambourines.. Oh and Cowbell...and last but not least..I am always armed with a dozen or so Hohner plastic Kazoo's..Oh and I stole Dans bass..Gibson SG copy..used to be Mark Kelleys..Dan bought it..I borrowed it..and DANS NEVA GETTIN IT BACK..sure hope he's not reading this one. My dream instrument would be a Richenbacher 6 string..Like Lennons..and or a right handed Hofner 4 string bass..and what the heck another old drum kit(Slingerland)

Mark Mikel. "Yeah, Chalmers can play anything he wants to. I wouldn't call him a keyboardist or guitarist but if you need him to play a part on them he can. And he writes songs on guitar and piano. So if he picks up a guitar- he noodles around or plays one of his own songs. Those are the only songs he really knows. He's always amazing.All the other bugs play other things when required. Davey's a great surf drummer. That's why his drumming was perfect for songs like "If You Can't Remain" and "Liquid Bob." He plays guitar a bit and played some bass when we played NYC without Mark Kelley.Tabner's the most "schooled" musician. He still studies with a local jazz great Gene Parker. Scott's always been ALL about the guitar. But he has been playing some keyboards for the past few years too.Mark Kelley was always a drummer when I knew him in high school and somewhat beyond. Later he started playing bass for different groups. Like Chalmers, he can play any instrument he wants to it seems. Mark was the drummer for a bar band that included Tabner and me (Riff Raff). It was for the summer of 83 and I was the backing vocalist/percussionist until Artie King left and then I became the bass player. Nothing serious, just a bunch of friends/musicians having a great time. That was also with John Rideout (lead vocals), George Pressor (keyboards) and Mike Phillips (shared lead guitar with Tabner in a sort of Keith Richards/Ronnie Wood sort of way).Our dear friend Mike Phillips was tragically killed in Feb 2004 when the bridge he was working on (I-280) had a crane collapse on top of him and 3 of his co-workers. We miss him very badly."

THE PILLBUGS LIVE NEW YORK 2007

2007-12-22T16:57:00.000-08:00

SETLIST:Here's To The End Of Time
Faceless Wonder
4 sec Nightmare In A 5 sec Dream
Good To Be Alive
All In Good Time
Make Like Arthur Lee
Alluring Martha
Charlie Blue Car
Hold Me So Near
Spaced-Out
King Of Zorg
Liberty Town Of Love

Jammi “The guys were the BEST band there! Big surprise? They were excellent and you'd have never guessed that it was Darrin's first performance with the bugs. They totally rocked NYC and everyone was coming up to us saying the same thing...even the other bands. Equipment breakdowns.....well, at Friday nights practice, Dan accidentally spilled his beer on Mark's keyboard but they ran a fan on it until we left Saturday morning and it seemed to be ok....I later found out that it's a bit sticky, but who knew?”

Mark Mikel “The Mellowmen were a great bunch of guys though the lead singer's a fucking drunk bastard (we like him). We had lots of fun with them. Their music was more akin to ours than any of the other groups too. The Grip Weeds were great too. That drummer was one of the best I've ever seen.Monclovia is a sweet CD too. A very interesting slant on the bugs. The different mastering brings new elements out of the songs. Great graphics work by Mr. Bob Tibbitts. I got one while we were there.”

Jammi and Andreas (Mellowmen)

Mark and Jim McGarry (Rainbow Quartz)

Mark and Anders (Mellowmen)

Dan, Angie and Mark

Mark, Andreas and Peter (Mellowmen)

Spaced-Out by The Pillbugs

2007-12-22T16:54:00.001-08:00

BUZZ FOR ALDRIN

2007-12-22T16:44:00.001-08:00

PROVERUS 2007

Walking Along an Edge of Sky/Make Like Arthur Lee/Milkman's Wife/It Seems You are So Happening/King of Zorg/I Don't Really Mean to Freak You Out/No Joke/Spaced Out/Al Gabone/Gazing at Clouds/Brilliant but Late Advice/Lost Lonely Sailor/4 Sec Nightmare in a 5 Sec Dream/Closer/I'd Give It All Up for You/The Last Confederate Soldier/She's in Style/Still Haven't Learned to Behave/Long Goes the Human/Sidecar/My Heroine/Buzz for Aldrin/Good to Be Alive/In the End (You're Moving On)

The first listen fresh off the press

Mark and Dan

Davey checks the booklet for typos

DAN

Mark Mikel "Make Like Arthur Lee was based on the idea that the modern world can seem like another planet compared to the one in which you grew up. Finding the only way to deal with it is to form a Pillbugs or something like that to combat your own complete eventual abandonment of what was once important. If you're Arthur Lee, then you form another incarnation of your 60's band Love- which, of course, he did.I used to have a bumper sticker (I can't remember who gave it to me) that stated "You can have my guitar when you can pry it out of my cold dead hands." I borrowed that concept for a lyric and Tabner's guitar lick that follows states it very well too, I think.The song itself (verse melody, chorus melody and main riff) are extensions of two other songs (Good to Be Alive and Buzz For Aldrin). The only real songwriting that occurred here was the lyrics. The rest was all rearranging. The more you listen, the more you'll realize how the last songs of disc 2 seem to somewhat mirror the first songs on disc 1. But the reality is they were written in the opposite direction than what's implied.When I record backward bits, I just take the reels off and turn them around and put 'em back on the machine. Track 1 is now track 16, Track 2 is now 15 etc...I've been doing it for years and I've developed the ability to hear songs backward and to basically know what to play (and when to play it) to get the desired line.
"Still Haven't Learned To Behave" was worked on prior to Happy Birthday and it was originally called "Keep It Real." As with any song where the songwriting credits starting with Chalmers, Dan brought in an unfinished piece and asked us to finish it with him. Chalmy always has the music and arrangement down really well but he likes to have me or Davey do the lyrics and often times the vocal melody. Davey had written a set of lyrics that Dan wasn't too keen on. Dan then changed the vocal melody and asked me to write lyrics based on something his wife Kim said. Something along the lines of "You're still the same as you were never supposed to be" or something like that. Dan couldn't remember the exact quote and neither could Kim. So I came up with the lyrics that we have today (with a couple small changes made before the final mix).Dan and Kim both acknowledge that "Still haven't learned to behave like you wanted me to" was not right but about as close as we're gonna get. They never complained that the line ends in a preposition -so that's cool.
She's In Style was not part of it originally. Scott Hunt offered it as a song for Davey. Davey usually writes one song per album and co-writes a bit on others. We all love his voice and want him to sing as many songs as possible. I always write a couple for him. This time I gave him Spaced-Out and I'd Give It All Up For You. We duet on Still Haven't Learned To Behave, Long Goes The Human and Brilliant But Late Advice. Of course his backing vocal is all over the place.The other guys' songs really had nothing to do with my concept. As far as they were concerned they were just writing another song(s) to be on the new album. I wrote the lyrics for Chalmers's songs- so I made them work. Mark Kelley's "Al Gabone" (though recorded back in 1999) fits perfectly. Tabner wrote Long Goes The Human after many of my songs were already recorded- so his concept of self-imposed alienation was probably a direct addition on his part. That compliments it perfectly too. There is a love interest that I illustrate heaviest in It Seems You Are So Happening, No Joke, I'd Give it All Up For You and Sidecar. So I just felt She's In Style zeros in on that a bit more (the Sunflower character). It works. Plus the breezy innocence of She's In Style makes a nice contradiction to the trashy geezerness of The Last Confederate
Soldier that proceeds it."

During the first cover printing the layer with the Pillbugs logo fell out the process and as a result the original run has the cover sans The Pillbugs as seen above. This has been corrected for the second pressing.
Bob Tibbitts "Yes, the ommission of the Pillbugs Logo is a shame, even though the first pressing will become a collector's item! When I prepared the files that were submitted for the printers to make plates from I decided to use high res pdf files, that way reducing the overall file sizes that needed to be sent. Unfortunately, when the pdfs were opened at Proverus the layer that the logo existed on didn't open very quickly and it was assumed that it was intentional that the logo did not appear. The logo was intended to be there all along so it appears there was a type of production oversight. Those final days were quite frantic also, having to convert the lyrics from appearing on the back of the poster to sit within the booklet format."

Banner by Barb Petersen

Mark & Fish rock Sylvania!

2007-12-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

Fish is a musician friend of Mark's –go here
http://www.myspace.com/scottfishsongs

Mark Mikel "It was a normal fun night out at a dive bar. Nothing more. It was nice hanging with friends I don't see often enough. I'm lucky Fish likes to perform so much because I got to just sit in the crowd most of the time. I only played about 5 or 6 songs by myself. The rest of the time when I was up there I was just embellishing the songs Fish sang."

Mark Mikel "I'm really done with playing acoustic guitars in bars. I've already been fired from virtually every club in town anyway. I've done it for years and I've always felt uncomfortable with it ...and that made me really lousy at it, I suppose. It's more for performers who don't mind top40 music and don't mind intoxicated people telling them to play American Pie, Hotel California, Brown Eyed Girl (I wouldn't play them anyway). I'm not saying those are bad songs (they are actually very good songs) but they've become anthems for people who don't really enjoy or like to think about music. There are a few other songs I could add to that list.People who really get into music aren't generally out at these kind of bars anyway. They're more likely home jamming to their CD or album collection. There are exceptions of course. I've met a lot of great people while gigging. The patrons themselves would usually be a handful of friends plus some others who came back enough to become familiar. Still I could never make a bar owner happy.To be a human jukebox, you have to not care about music at all. You have to have a book in front of you so you can happily play the new James Blunt or Dave Matthews hit to keep your job. I'm the only solo performer in Toledo that I know of who never sang out of a book. I only sang songs that were so deeply embedded in my psyche that I could just feel every word and chord. Mostly Beatles, Monkees, Who etc...I rarely want to share my own songs in these settings. It would be different if I wrote folk songs. But I write rock songs that shouldn't be aired as folk songs to the first time listener in a loud environment. Once someone's familiar with the recorded version, it's easier for them to relate to the unplugged version.I did it for the money basically. I'm hoping I don't need it that badly to have to go back. I never had the ambition to be a folk singer. It was nice to keep the callouses on my fingers and my voice in shape but, if I just stay prolific in the studio, I can have that and more."

buzz for aldrin is coming

2007-12-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

Banner put together by Barb Peterson

Mark Mikel "It wasn't really a black day so to speak. More of a slow realization that more and more drop-outs were occurring. It took awhile to notice that the tape and tape-heads were still rubbing together during rewind. Actually Scott Hunt discovered it upon a quick close examination. The lifters weren't pulling it away. This caused the tape to shed. And it seemed everytime I played the tape it got worse.The original version of Milkman's wife was pretty much toast. As was the 1st take of Spaced-Out. Other songs I remember deteriorating were Lost Lonely Sailor and No Joke. Brilliant But Late Advice was in bad shape too. That was particularily heartbreaking because the song was unthinkable to remake. I salvaged what I could and mixed it down to the 2track machine and then transferred those 2 tracks back onto a fresh reel on the 16track. Then I started doubling and replacing things that were lost.The whole album was a battle at times. But when SH and I were mixing it, it fell together as a pretty wonderful experience.

Early sleeve design by Steve Mumford

Well you would think that things have been going smoothly but not yet, my friends.I DID pick up my 16 track tape machine that day but it was NOT fixed. The tape started dragging and the sound quality was horrible. There was also a small gap/opening in the front that I didn't remember from before. I wasn't sure though and I didn't think much of it.So I took it to a different guy in Columbus (Dan Abell) and he had it back to me in less than a week but at a price of $946.12 but I was glad to pay it if it was really fixed.When I got it home- a week ago today- I was anxious to put it through some work to test it. I started doing a mix of our song "Lost Lonely Sailor" when Chalmers and Kelley showed up. For some reason it just didn't sound right. I'm a bit out of the game but I knew something wasn't as it was before (soundwise). They knew it too but thought it was my mix.So with some more experimenting with A/B'ing from the source then back to the tape, I realized the tape machine was making everything dull. I called Dan Abell and he was surprised. He offered suggestions like cleaning the heads really well (did that already) and other trivial tasks and methods that didn't help.I spent most of that night trying to get anything at all to sound good on that machine and failed miserably. So Wednesday I bit the bullet and asked Dan Abell if I could drive it down to Columbus again and if he could go over the machine with me while I'm there. I was sure it wasn't calibrated correctly and I wanted him to make it right.So then on the phone Dan informs me of these little screws that are very user-friendly (if I take off the front panel of the meters). He said to find the one that says "REC EQ" and turn it clockwise. He also said that he had already set them counter-clockwise and if I screw anything up I can just turn them back all the way he had them.So I ran a song onto 2 tracks of the 16 track and turned the screws while listening to it record. All of a sudden I could hear a blanket being lifted off. It sounded fantastic. Then I turned the same type of screws that would effect the Play heads (marked Sync and Repro) and then they sounded fantastic too.So now it's Thursay and I feel off and running and I begin to add guitars to a song (Buzz for Aldrin) and around 4pm that day, the take-up reel stops turning and tape starts spewing and wrinkles our original tracks for BfA in a short section. I couldn't believe it. There's no way in hell that I just spent almost 3 grand (altogether) and still could not record to finish our album.So I call Dan Abell again (who's probably getting sick of me at this point) and he offers some suggestions that didn't help and then I accuse him of not fixing it properly. He stood strong against me and stated it was working fine when I picked it up. Again I decided to be a bullet-biter and asked him if I could bring it down again Friday morning (this is a 2 1/2 hr drive mind you) and he could see what the problem was and fix it.I get down there about noon on Friday and Dan is right there ready to take a look. He asked if I wanted to stay and watch. I said, "Yes, but let me step out and have a smoke and I'll be right back." So a couple of minutes later I walk back in and he said, "It's fixed.""Really?""Yep. All done.""What was wrong with it?""There was this small hole in the front panel where a metal plate should be keeping the motorized guide in place.""Ahhh, The old 'hole in the guide' trick, eh? That was like that before I brought it to you.""Really?""Yes."So the tech that did nothing and kept my machine for almost 5 months got to get me one last time. And even if Dan wasn't able to fix it thoroughly the first time and had to have me open it up to make it sound right, I like that he was always willing to take care of me fast. That counts for alot. Waiting is the worst torture. I will go back to him again in the future.Now the tape machine is fine (fingers crossed) and I'm hoping to see some bugs tonight. So this is hopefully the REAL "Return to the Studio."

Buzz For Aldrin will be both our heaviest album AND most psych album.Everybody sticks to their normal instruments for the most part. Mark Kelley adds some guitar and glockenspeil. Chalmers plays some piano.I play some extra instruments like- accordian, recorder (flute sounding but not a flute) along with my usual french horn, sitar, tamboura, electric sitar, tablas and trumpet-type extras. The return of my Yamaha Leslie (revolving speaker) cabinet gets us back to the sound on the first CD somewhat. I would run so many vocals and instruments through that thing back in the day(think Plastic Surgical Holiday or Meddle With Me).An amazing returning appearance by my Oscar B. Schmidt 12-string acoustic (not used since the first CD ala "Pretty Young and Free" and "Ball of String") and the amazing part is: the strings haven't been changed since recording those songs. Yep!! Same exact guitar strings will appear on both our 1st and 4th albums. Cool, yes?Violinist Cecilia Johnson has made many great contributions already. Our good friend Scott Hunt has added vocals and contributed a song for Davey to vocalize. Scott Tabner tears it up on lead guitar using (mostly) his black Les Paul guitar and (for the first time) his Marshall amplifier. Scotty was also going to sing his first vocal track on his new song but opted to have me sing it instead.Dan Chalmers and I "duel it out" on drums on a segue piece. He wins. I drum on his song "Closer." He drums incredible drum tracks on my songs -most notibly on the heavier ones- "Buzz For Aldrin," "Make Like Arthur Lee," "King of Zorg" and "4 sec Nightmare in a 5 sec Dream."I pulled out an old 3D outtake- Mark Kelley's "Al Gabone."I feel like the album needs an MK vocal track. Hopefully that will work out. I really love that song.The songs yet to be recorded include "Faceless Wonder," "A Warm Goodbye," and a remake of "Sidecar" (I think everybody's starting to hate me for driving it into the ground). We keep rehearsing it in so many different ways. That song was among rejected choices for the Happy Birthday CD. I don't think it was presented to Scott Hunt as an option. Still I feel it figures in with what we're doing now.More songs are being written too, so who knows what may attach itself.The intended running order so far:
Disc 1Walking Along (an Edge of Sky)
Make Like Arthur Lee
Milkman's Wife
It Seems You are so Happening
King of Zorg
I Don't Really Mean to Freak Your Mind
No Joke
Spaced Out
Al Gabone
Sidecar
Brilliant but Late Advice
Lost Lonely Sailor
Disc 2
4 sec Nightmare in a 5 sec Dream
She's in Style
A Warm Goodbye
Still Haven't Learned to Behave
Long Goes the Human
The Last Confederate Soldier
Closer
I'd Give it All Up for You
Faceless Wonder
My Heroine
Buzz For Aldrin
Good to be Alive
In the End (You're Moving On)
Studio Update:
Since I finally got my recording equipment working. We did alot more work on "Buzz for Aldrin" and "Brilliant but Late Advice." Work that was done while battling the demon posseded equipment in Sept. and Oct. include Tabner's "Long Goes the Human" and remakes of "Spaced Out" and "Milkman's Wife."So far everybug is very happy with what we've done. If it was released today it would work very well actually but the true vision has not yet been completed. I ordered more tape which should arrive on Monday. Since many of the original tapes were harmed by the machine it has made adding overdubs to many of them virtually impossible. It is not going to be easy to mix this album.Right now things are going well and I'm going back to the studio to do more damage."

Early unused cover design by Bob Tibbitts

Banner by Barb Peterson

Mark Mikel's compact guide to The Kinks

2007-12-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel's quick guide to The Kinks

I know Andy Partridge thinks that "Autumn Almanac" is the greatest song ever written and I can't argue that.The main thing about the Kinks for me is "songwriting." Ray writes songs that speak to me deeper than any other group ever. No one can touch him-lyrically. Now throw in these fantastic catchy melodies to accent the incredibly strong lyrics and you have me in a stranglehold. Then the voices. Ray and Dave Davies together have a magical sound and Ray is one of rock's greatest singers. Ray somehow keeps the sugar of British pop in his voice while simultaneously keeping an authenticity along the lines of Hank Williams or Bob Dylan. And he knows how to melt it right into the song perfectly. I love how they build their backing vocals throughout the songs-ala "Lola."The music is sweet guitar riffs and chord changes mixed with the occasional piano, organ or harpsichord. Mick Avory's drumming is complete badass.Another reason they appeal to me is they are rock and roll's greatest underdogs. They rarely follow trends of any kind and that's why their career keeps diving straight back into the dumpster. Everytime they've had a success it was considered a comeback. They have a curse of their own. I guess I can relate to that, yes?Yes, their sound quality is questionable. The 60's albums up to (but not including) "Lola vs Powerman and the Money-go-Round" sound very overcompressed and garage-y. Just like the early Who albums. Not surprising since both bands were produced by Shel Talmy. But the song itself, in those early records, still reigns supreme. I actually enjoy the charm of those semi-Lo-Fi albums.That's not the case with their 80's/90's albums. I find that production quality way too annoying to even hear the songs. So if you're basing your opinion of the Kinks on those albums then I understand. But they did do that "To The Bone" album in the early 90's where they sit in the studio and perform many great songs for their friends. The 70's albums sound fine.
If you have heard these songs at least 3 times and still don't like them then there's not much I can say to change your mind.

Do You Remember Walter?- The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Sitting in the Midday Sun- Preservation Act I
I'm Not Like Everybody Else (B-side to the "Sunny Afternoon" single) but appears as a bonus track on the re-issued "Face to Face" CD
Picture Book- The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

Waterloo Sunset- Something Else
Autumn Almanac- (single) but appears as a bonus track on the re-issued "Something Else" CD and can also be found on a GREAT kollection of Kinks songs called The Kink Kronikles

No More Looking Back. Here's one of my favorite Kinks songs ever:It's well recorded and The Kinks sound smooth.Pay close attention to the way the song builds. Dave's guitar harmonies are glorious. The lyrics are unbeatable because- who could possibly ever put this many genuine thoughts and feelings into a pop song and make them as catchy as...as...well...as they are? Only Ray.From 1975 "Schoolboys in Disgrace" album

All you really need to do is listen to "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" and if you don't agree they are the most catchy clever little pop songs ever then 60's Kinks just aren't for you, my friend. If you find yourself enjoying it then listen to "Something Else" and it will be just as magical or more.

20th Century Man- Muswell Hillbillies
Animal Farm- The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation
SocietyDreams- Percy
King Kong- (B-side of the "Plastic Man" single) appears as a bonus track on the re-issued "Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire" CD and The Kink Kronikles

Celluloid Heroes- Everybody's In Show Biz

I could go on and on but...I'm really amazed that my songwriting grabs people that don't like Ray's. I'm proud of it and yet find it a bit surreal. My whole life has been spent trying to even come close. Personally I don't feel like The Pillbugs or me ever touched that kind of greatness.You can put "Think Visual" and "UK Jive" in the back pile unless you're a big fan of bombastic 80's production. Songwriting is still great on those but the beauty is missing. If nothing happens then I would still try some 70's Kinks. "Sleepwalker" is a great one. I love every song on that album.

That Is Ridiculous!

2007-12-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

My good friend and musical cohort for the past 10 years Scott Hunt and I used to do a homemade sitcom. It's called "That Is Ridiculous!" For a little while there we had our own website where you could watch the episodes.It's kinda like Abbott&Costello meets The Monkees. The premise was basically two idiot songwriters (one slightly smarter than the other) and the surreal happenings that occur while trying to create music. There are many running gags. One is Scott saying "we have to get to work" and I say "I have an uncle who lives in Newark" and usually get my ass kicked for saying it.Jim Ryan plays our boss Fred Fredmann who basically hates every song idea we come up with until we tell him we can get Celine Dion to sing it. Somehow he always falls for it. Jim loves playing Fred and he's the complete opposite in real life.Scott and I are working on some new episode ideas so we can get back to having that kind of extreme fun. It's been a couple years since we've done one. We were never great at it but I think we could get better if we keep trying.

Mark as Celine

The Mellotron

2007-12-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel "My dream instrument to own would be a mellotron. I almost bought the one that was used on all the Grand Funk records. I don't know how famous Grand Funk is internationally but they were very big in the states in the early 70s. The most famous mellotron bit on their stuff was a song called "Closer to Home." I think their biggest hit was "We're an American Band." Todd Rundgren produced them. Anyway the keyboardist (Craig Frost) lives just outside of Toledo over the michigan line. He was selling his mellotron (back in 88) when digital keyboards made it seem as if nobody would ever use one again. It was broken and I couldn't find anyone who knew how to repair one. It was $200 and I didn't buy it. Can you imagine the money I'd get on eBay for that thing now? He had the old Moody Blues one in his garage too. That thing was monsterous.Anyway he is now playing keys for Bob Seger (another famous detroit musician that I have no idea if he made it big over there but he's HUGE here still). I saw Craig last summer and he said to me, "ya know, I'm thinking I should get that mellotron fixed and start using it again." I think he knows how much it's worth now too."

http://www.planetmellotron.com/

PEPPERMINT TROLLEY CO.

2007-12-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel "I bought a little record player/CD combo for my front porch and now I can play my albums. There's so much I haven't heard in like 20 years.Lately I've been playing "The Peppermint Trolley Co." every morning. Playing the song "Trust" first thing when I wake up makes me feel like life is new. As if it was the 60s again and I'm in a movie (especially when it's raining like it has been). Absolutely love the whole album. Haven't listened to it since I was 8 (when life WAS new). "

Formed in Redlands, CA, in 1967, Peppermint Trolley Company managed to release one album and five singles. They were one of the initial bands signed to the Acta label, whose biggest success was the American Breed "Bend Me Shape Me." Only one of Peppermint's singles managed to make the charts, "Baby You Come Rollin' Across My Mind." It peaked at number 59 in the summer of 1968. They managed to keep a relatively high profile by performing the weekly TV theme songs for Love American Style and the first season of The Brady Bunch (the cast members sang the theme from the second season on). The band consisted of Bob Cheevers (vocals and guitar), Jimmie Faragher (bass, guitar, and sax), Danny Faragher (keyboards), Casey Cunningham (guitar and flute), and Greg Tornouist (drums). Their success was short lived and by the early '70s the band changed their name to Bones and finally the Faragher Brothers before disbanding. Bob Cheevers gained success as a solo artist, releasing several discs in the contemporary folk genre. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide

Mark Kelley's Alluring Martha

2007-12-22T13:13:00.000-08:00

Credits for Alluring Martha:Mark Kelley: lead and most backing vocals, all guitars

Mark Mikel: bass, keys, some backing vocals

Dan Chalmers: drums

The Scandia String Quartet: strings

Mark Mikel "We used to rehearse/record demos in Mark Kelley's basement on Monday nights from sometime in 2002 to sometime in 2004. It would start at 7pm and go past midnight or 1am. Tabner would always leave at 10pm no matter what was going on and Davey was quite often MIA. (sidenote: After 3D, Davey wanted to quit the band but we wouldn't let him. We just told him he could participate when he wanted - no pressure- no obligations and he agreed. So that's why he's missing on much of Happy Birthday and Buzz for Aldrin.)So at 10 on Monday nights it was usually Mark, Dan and me. The remaining three of us loved creating together so much that we'd go until we dropped. Chalmers who'd have to wake at 5:30am for work would drop first- but he'd still hang there- sleeping sitting up with a beer in his hand.One Monday night MK introduced his rough idea for Alluring Martha. It was acoustic guitar based so MK led us through it on his acoustic, Scott on electric guitar, Me on bass and Chalmy on drums. It seemed like it was in an odd time signature but it wasn't. It took us awhile to grasp the timing but oddly enough it was in 4/4. Something about Mark's feel put the accents in weird spots causing a timing illusion- it's fucking brilliant actually. Chalmy and I had our own time signatures in our heads while Mark was playing it properly. We were all hearing the "one" beat in different places...until the chorus where it seemed obviously 4/4 and we came together.Tabner had some interesting guitar lines happening but they were never captured because he left before we started actually recording. Many contributions he came up with for many songs were lost for that reason.By the end of the night we managed a backing demo track. I added a string/mellotron part (in my weird timing) and that was it. There were no lyrics or vocal melody yet. We left with the understanding that Mark would finish it. And finish it he did.When we returned next week. Mark had added tons of harmony guitar lines and vocals with harmonies. It was so fucking cool. It was one of the best demos we ever did. It was the best thing I've heard Mark come up with to date. I couldn't believe how awesome it was.When we taped it properly in my studio for the upcoming album Happy Birthday, we wanted to be careful to duplicate it exactly. Therefore the three of us did exactly what we did before as closely as possible. This time, however, I understood the 4/4 timing because I'd scored the string parts. That scoring forced me to realize what the heck was going on by breaking everything down. I tried to get it into Chalmers' brain but it only screwed him up. He had to keep hearing it his own way. We've never played the song live because unless MK is playing acoustic guitar, Dan cannot grasp what to play.But it's the quintessential Mark Kelley song in my mind. I love it and was thrilled when it was picked for Monclovia.

Alluring Martha by The Pillbugs

2007-12-21T22:12:00.001-08:00

Mark Mikel on The Monkees part one

2007-12-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel loves

Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Davey Jones and Mike Nesmith
Mark Mikel is a huge Monkees fan and here are some of his thoughts on the band's albums....
If you're a fan of 1960's pop music then you'll love almost anything by The Monkees. Not only is Micky Dolenz one of rock's all time best singers but the amount of talent poured into those tracks amaze me to this day.The Monkees only made 3 GREAT albums (to me) out of 11- "Headquarters," "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones LTD," and "Head." The rest is a treasure hunt with many riches and undesirables. Lots of their best stuff was never released until the Missing Links Comps on Rhino (late 80s-early 90s).Here's my quick synopsis on their output:

The Monkees - 1966 pop music at it's finest. A hodge podge of producers: Boyce & Hart, Mike Nesmith, Jack Keller. Not ground-breaking but essential for anyone who wants to learn how to write and arrange a good song. Nesmith employs The Wrecking Crew who play on more 60s records than you even want to know (most notably Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and The Beach Boys singles/albums). Album highlights: Saturday's Child, Papa Gene's Blues, Take a Giant Step, Last Train to Clarksville, Sweet Young Thing, Gonna Buy Me a Dog.

More of the Monkees - more of the same as the title implies but adds-in producer Jeff Barry who scores big with "I'm a Believer." Also Neil Sedaka and Carol Bayer produce a decent sleeper on there "When Love Comes Knockin (At Your Door)". This is their biggest selling album but also the one that pissed off Nesmith to high extremes. Rhino recently released the deluxe editions of the first two albums and they give you all the Nez productions that were left off the original releases. It becomes obvious that music supervisor Don Kirshner really dogged him because MN's schtuff was by far the best. Album highlights: She, Mary,Mary, Your Auntie Grizelda, (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone, Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow), Sometime in the Morning, I'm a Believer.
She from More of the Monkees was the first Monkees song I ever heard. I had to beg my dad for it when he was buying a stack of platters for his new Zenith console. He was stocking up on Herb Alpert, Al Hirt, Simon & Garfunkel, The Sound of Music Sountrack...I loved those too. I embarrassed him at the check out counter by pleading like I was pleading for my life. I guess I really was because he relented and my life as I know it began that night. I received the debut Monkees album in September 67 for my birthday from my uncle who was always impressed at my note for note "Your Auntie Grizelda" recital. He was also responsible for getting me PAC&J LTD. The Monkees music changed my life and I've never changed back.

Mark Mikel on The Monkees part two

2007-12-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

Headquarters This is where things get really interesting. Donny Kirshner gets the sack and The Monkees are in charge of their own music. Nesmith brings in (Turtles bassist) Chip Douglas to produce. This album is garage band perfection. The Monkees prove themselves to be more worthy than the suits and provide the soundtrack to their second TV season with this (and the next) album. The album only suffers from not including the songs "All of Your Toys" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere." AOYT was not included because it was written by Bill Martin and he was not published under Screen Gems. TGIKS was only offered as the b-side to the "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" single but I consider it the greatest song to come out of the whole proceedings. And that's saying a lot. There's so much joy in that track and Peter Tork's harpsichord solo is killer. The new deluxe edition coming in July will include these songs.Album highlights: You Told Me, You Just May Be the One, Shades of Gray, For Pete's Sake, Mr. Webster, Sunny Girlfriend, Early Morning Blues and Greens, Randy Scouse Git.

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones LTD If you are going to buy one official Monkees album, I would recommend it be this one. For this The Monkees decide that augmenting the recordings with session musicians is the way to go. Micky Dolenz is replaced by Eddie Hoh on the drums and instead plays guitars and Moog synthesizer (the first appearance of one on a rock record ever). The results are fantastic. The Monkees are in command and experimenting just as successfully as anyone else in 1967... (um except as well as maybe you know who)...This album only suffers from the non-inclusion of the single Daydream Believer/Goin' Down. Album Highlights: Salesman, The Door Into Summer, Love is Only Sleeping, Cuddly Toy, Words, What Am I Doing Hanging 'Round?, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Daily Nightly, Star Collector.

The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees This could have been another PAC&J LTD but missed the mark by splitting into camps, not working as a group and not including any of Peter Tork's contributions. The individual Monkees became producers and pooled their work under the umbrella title "Produced by The Monkees." They do a good job though the best results will span this and the next 3 albums. "Daydream Believer" is included as a ringer. Nesmith continues to shine with very original sounding pieces.Album highlights: Auntie's Municipal Court, Tapioca Tundra, Daydream Believer, PO Box 9847, Valleri, Writing Wrongs, Zor and Zam.

Mark Mikel on The Monkees part the third

2007-12-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

Mark Mikel "I saw this movie in 1973 on the CBS late show. I was intrigued by the newspaper listing which read:HEAD-1968 starring Annette Funicello and Peter Tork.I made sure I was allowed to stay up and watch it by asking my parents early in the week Then at 11:30pm that next Saturday my life was greatly affected. When I first realized all of The Monkees were in it I was completely glued to the set. Then the beginning-Micky commiting suicide while the other 3 watched and landing in the river, finding psychedelic mermaids instead, to the sound of this Monkees track I'd never heard before (Porpoise Song) seemed too fucking cool. It didn't hurt that it felt like the best song I'd ever heard in my life at the time.But that movie cracked me up and I totally got it. Every song seemed equally as cool as PS and every one new to my ears. It was an unexpected treasure for me. At 12 years old it was the best movie ever made. I guess I still carry that feeling with me a bit.

I never understand how this movie gets panned. It's so fucking funny and the music is phenomenal.Just watch the first scene where the mayor is inspecting the soldiers and each makes a sound as he presents arms. One soldier has a goofball face and sound. That happens so fast and subtley it cracks me way up. Lots of schtuff like that.If you pay close attention, you'll see that this movie is brilliant."But why should anyone listen to me? Why should I speak? Since I know nothing.""And...uh...I'd like a glass of cold gravy with a hair in it please.""Are you saying you don't see the connection between government and laughing at people?"

Head Fantastic. Every song is a gem. The problem is it's a movie soundtrack and only has 6 songs. Tork and Nesmith dominate and shine brightly on their two respective tracks. This album contains one of the coolest rock singles ever released" "Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)"/"As We Go Along" - both songs written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and sung by Dolenz.Album highlights: All 6 songs.

Instant Replay Exit Peter Tork and we have another Birds Bees-type Monkees album with some early Kirshner-rejected songs added in. Good but not a huge step in the right direction. It's starting to become obvious that nobody really cares anymore.Album highlights: You and I, I Won't Be The Same Without Her, While I Cry, Through the Looking Glass, Shorty Blackwell.

Present More of the same but more focused. It still included 2 early Kirshner-rejects by Boyce & Hart. Dolenz and Jones seem to become prolific songwriters. A very odd album that comes across as "adult-contemporary" Monkees.Album highlights:Little Girl, Listen to the Band, The French Song, Mommy and Daddy, Bye, Bye Baby Bye Bye, Good Clean Fun.

I was 8 years old when this album came out. My mom gave me the choice of one album from the Monkees albums available in the store at the time. They had the first two albums (which I already possessed), the newly released Greatest Hits (that I wanted badly because my friend had it and I loved Zor and Zam, Daydream Believer, A Little Bit Me and Valleri- all songs I didn't have) and one I'd never seen before- The Monkees Present Micky David & Michael. I was sad to see that Tork wasn't part of it.But that was a hard decision for me. Probably the hardest decision ever in my then brief existence on this planet. I gambled and chose Present, reasoning to myself that 12 new Monkees songs would be much better than 4 that I'd already heard- even if I loved those 4 songs more than life. If Birds,Bees&Monkees had been in stock, it would have been a no-brainer (unless of course they had Head too). I'd only seen those other albums in the stores enough to be aware of their existence.When first I listened to Present, I was very disappointed. The music seemed dark, dull and lifeless. The only songs that sounded remotely like The Monkees to me were Ladies Aid Society and Looking for the Good Times. I thought Micky's voice sounded weird. It sounded sped up and light to me. Davy sounded sad on If I Knew and French Song and Mike sounded like he was more concerned with sounding country than giving us some good rocking schtuff.I played the album about 1000 times anyway- being the dedicated little freak I was. I would sometimes watch the record spin and fantasize that I had made the right decision and bought the greatest hits LP instead...looking at the band space of Pillow Time and wishing it was Zor and Zam.I took it into school to play for my class (during designated "play your album" times). In 1969, The Monkees were already considered pretty uncool even amongst a bunch of 3rd graders. I put it on and I couldn't get past the first verse of Little Girl before everyone was laughing at me and saying Micky Dolenz sounds like a girl singing. I took the LP off and sat down in humiliation. That was the last time I ever took a Monkees LP to school."

Mark Mikel on The Monkees part four

2007-12-21T20:29:00.000-08:00

Changes Exit Nesmith and time to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Pretty useless album in the context of the Monkees canon. Just a return to the early Jeff Barry method of production without the successful results.Album highlights:Oh My My, I Love You Better, 99 Pounds, Midnight Train

Pool It! A reunion album without Nesmith? What's the point? This album is the most powerful argument for the Monkee-hater. Worthless 80's crap that even a Monkees freak like me would not listen to it.Album highlights: None

Justus Finally a reunion of all four Monks playing every instrument and writing every song on the album. The first and only such occurrence in their whole career. But Nesmith seemed more like a saboteur than a contributor. He rewrote bizarrely lame lyrics to Circle Sky and used a 90's grunge guitar sound for the whole album. He also contributed very little vocally. Dolenz should have played his Gretsch drum-set but instead played on electronic drums (bleeaachhh!!). Plus it was oddly backward- Dolenz & Jones writing more than Tork & Nesmith? (weird) As disappointing as this album was- it was miles above "Pool It!" I would not recommend it to anyone, save the extreme fan.Album highlights: not really any but I suppose the best ones are Never Enough, Admiral Mike, Regional Girl, It's My Life.

If you want to dabble in Monkees, I'd say get one of these comps:The Monkees Anthology, The Monkees Music Box They both do a decent job of grabbing the essentials.If you want to dive in head first. Buy the actual albums that have been released on Rhino as deluxe editions. These releases contain the best sounding mixes available plus includes the axed songs and informative liner notes. That way you get all their best stuff without having to buy the Missing Links sets.
http://monkees.rhino.com/shop/

WHAT MONKEES SONGS WOULD MARK RECORD

2007-12-21T20:25:00.001-08:00

Mark Mikel " I could record Monkees until the Cowsills come home. I've done The Door Into Summer when I was 15 with two tape recorders (gone forever) and more recently Porpoise Song, Can You Dig It and Star Collector. Mark Kelley has done Lady's Baby and For Pete's Sake.None of those were done very seriously. But if I were to do an album of Monkees, I'll tell you right now what they'd likely be:
Do Not Ask For Love
St Matthew
Goin' Down
Take a Giant Step
The Girl I Knew Somewhere
Early Morning Blues and Greens
She'll Be There
Sweet Young Thing
Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?
Daily Nightly
I wouldn't need much convincing to record any of those songs.
I'd probably want to redo the 3 I've done also...plus an ultra disturbing dark psych version of The Day We Fall In Love."

Porpoise Song with The Pillbugs

2007-12-21T20:24:00.001-08:00

The Happy Birthday Cover

2007-12-21T19:52:00.001-08:00

Bob Tibbitts "I had just been smitten by the bugs and (like Mark Roland later) wanted to be involved and help them with what skills I had. So I offered to create some artwork for the next album. I sent stuff to Jim Ryan at Proverus and he liked what he saw and urged Mark Mikel to contact me and arrange to start work.I do remember having a few drinks one evening and chatted to MM via Instant Messages and between us the creative ideas started to flow and we bounced these off each other for a few weeks thereafter. One of the first ideas was to have the band faces appear within the flames of five candles on a birthday cake (this led to MM having at least two birthday cakes made professionally) I intended to use this photo in a design for a 'demos' cd if it were ever sanctioned by MM.

A photo of the cake that was eaten at the release party

that was taken by Victoria Countryman

Mark and V

Ideas slowly evolved including one idea I had of showing the Pillbugs laying all over the floor and furniture in a log cabin with various party treats and hats and the like strewn around, the lads would be flaked out (possible dead, but that was a bit too far out) with cake as the main feature, through the open cabin door there would have been a snow scene, and an decontamination tent with the various operatives also laying on the snow even with their decontamination suits on! The idea being that something sinister had happened and everyone had fallen to it (a virus?)...the pun being "Happy Birthday" (Happy Fucking Birthday). Well this was a bit too dark but some of the ideas prevailed and Mark got his brother to take photos of two people (legs) passed out after a good party and also various party gimmicks.

Mark wanted all the text to be hand-written so I developed the Happy Birthday logo and the rest of the texts...spending literally hours re-writing it until it looked 'right' and then scanning them all and converting them for use in the design. I wanted Mark to get all the bugs to write out their own lyrics to be in keeping with the overall concept. It worked really nicely I feel."

http://us.f316.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=bobtibb@gmail.com

An example of the lyric art

Photo by Matthew Mickel above-below Photo of Matthew Mickel

http://www.americanframe.com/artshop/artgallery/artistA.html?alph=M&lastname=Mickel&firstname=Matthew%20S.&start=1

All In Good Time with The Pillbugs.

2007-12-21T19:51:00.001-08:00

Peasant Girls with The Pillbugs.

2007-12-21T19:50:00.001-08:00

happy birthday

2007-12-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

PROVERUS 2004
Happy Birthday/Life As it Happens Pt. 1/The World's Most Harmless Vilain/Your Taste is Mellow/Life As it Happens Pt. 2/Wild Bird/All in Good Time/Delicious/Feeding Seagulls/Climbing the Walls/Life As it Happens Pt. 3/I Wake Up/Peasant Girls/Alluring Martha/And the Days Go By/Life As it Happens Pt. 4/Daddy's Perfect Little Girl/Gus of the Fire Brigade/Here We Go Again (Like Two Leaves in the Wind)/Hold Me So Near

Mark Mikel "I know the album is supposed to make you feel better about aging by the time it ends. It begins a little troubled though, no? Like everything's going way too fast.Scotty's four part "Life As It Happens" themes reflect birth (innocence), adolescence (wide-eyed discovery), maturity (awareness and acceptance), and death. Marky the K's "Your Taste Is Mellow" deals with the love that saves your mind from thinking about the inevitable and impending tradgedys we all face with time. It's for his wife Karen and she amazes us all.Chalmy's "Wild Bird" warns to find real love before you give it all away. I always felt that might have been directed towards me.Davey's "Climbing The Walls" is pure insanity. Basically saying that whatever goes on in your mind -good or bad-it's all yours. No one can take it away.I feel like my songs are pretty self-explanitory. Maybe except Peasant Girls. That song pretty much says that life is never a fairy tale even if you live in one.It really is our first concept album. 3-D could've been but it went off in many directions."

And The Days Go By was written very quickly and I don't remember much about the actual creation. It has a lot in common with the other songs on Happy Birthday...I mean, in the way it came about.Songs were in demand every Monday night in Mark Kelley's basment. This was an idea we decided to record because I hadn't anything else finished at the moment. It had only one chord progression and never deviated. There was no bridge or chorus, just a repeated figure that really went nowhere. This again was just Mark, Dan and me after the others left. Scott played a low synth line on the released version. It was an easy song to demo. Mark and Dan helped with the arrangement and we didn't slave over anything. I wrote the lyrics on demand out in Mark's driveway while having a cigarette.I was surprised when Scott Hunt chose this song for the album. Especially when songs like No Joke and In The End were passed over. I scored the strings for it and extended the length just to make it a bit more substantial.

Feeding Seagulls
Outside the studio there's seagulls...sometimes. I actually haven't seen them since I wrote the song so maybe there isn't anymore. So...(ahem)...yes...Once upon a time there used to be many seagulls outside the studio door. And I'd work at the studio alone and take breaks and feed them with whatever was leftover from my fast food- usually french fries. I thought after awhile that they were getting to know me. Some would let me get dangerously close. They became pets in a way. It was great inspiration for that song because the lyrics flowed pretty easily after realizing the concept. The things that run through your mind when you are alone can make you question your sanity sometimes. So it was one of those "AM I crazy?" moments...you know, for enjoying interacting with these birds.There used to be a different guitar solo at the end. Scott Tabner didn't like it but Scott Hunt did. SH dropped out of the Happy Birthday proceedings kind of early on and ST replaced it with a solo he liked. I could have gone either way.

The Happy Birthday Release Party

Your Taste Is Mellow
There's a demo of it where Mark Kelley playing and singing everything. Scott Hunt and I were heartbroken that Mark had lost almost all his voice by the time of the official take. Davey sang it trying to imitate Mark. But Mark had the right sound for it and with all due respect to Davey (who did a fantastic job) it would have been better with Mark singing.

Life As It Happens (Parts 1 to4)
Scott taped four separate ideas but we connected them by continuing off the previous bit. We discussed putting it out that way but it didn't flow really well -as Steve found when he tried connecting them. We decided to deliver what it really was- four separate ideas.

Click on image to enlarge and read

Banner by Barb Petersen

VIEWMASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

2007-12-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

With the release of 3-dimensonal in popcycle dream the pillbugs became the first band in history to include a viewmaster reel with their album ....

......though obviously they were not the first ever band to dwell in the magic 3D world that is viewmaster....

http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~number6/vm/
http://utenti.micronet.it/gnatale/viewmaster/VMviewers.html

The idea for the View-Master Stereoscope came
from William Gruber, a Portland piano tuner.
He patented the system
by Sawyer's, Inc. on January 20, 1939.
The View-Master model "A" viewer was introduced at the New York World's Fair in the some year.

Melody Hill Zine Atlanta 2003

Melody Hill Extra

GEORGE HARRISON TRIBUTE SHOW

2007-12-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Dave Murnen "Barb Petersen helped promote a performance, as a tribute to George Harrison. We played nothing but George Harrison..post Beatle stuff as well as George Beatle stuff. I believe we closed the show with a few songs of our own as an encore. The five of us were quite stressed having to learn all the parts. It was done to sound as authentic as possible. Scotty was probably the most stressed having to cover and learn all those licks. I had a stand up there to guide me through lyrics. Mark got me to sing lead on a quite a bit of it, leaving him more open to cover all the keyboard and guitar bits to complement Scott. Sean filled in on some guitar and bass parts again to cover the large production of some of those later Harrison songs."

Setlist: I Want to Tell You- Not Guilty- Free as A Bird- What is Life- Isn't it A Pity- I Need You- Taxman- Give Me Love -And Your Bird Can Sing- Dig A Pony- Here Comes the Sun- Something- Savoy Truffle- I Me Mine-Dark Horse-While My Guitar Gently Weeps- My Sweet Lord- Piggies- Only A Northern Song- Think for Yourself- All Those Years Ago-Old Brown Shoe- Charlie Blue Car- Pretend Your Not Home- Illuminating Drink- Come Together*- Give Peace A Chance* * with Marc Stacer

Adam Stark “The concert was recorded to dat from very expensive mics. It was intended to be matrix recorded. I couldn't get a clean feed from the sound board But two pro mics were setup one to catch left and one to right. This was never mastered or reduced properly from 16 bit 48 khz to 44.1. I do have the masters as you can see above. Mark could clean the hell out of these but it really was just a audio snapshot of time. The 16 minute live version of "Illuminating Drink" is worth the price of admission!! As well as all others!!! It was a great time and no one else in Ohio could have pulled it off.”

Bootleg cover by Mark Kirk
Mark Mikel “Wow. LOL!! That's a very funny and pretty damn cool boot-cover, MK.Makes me want to buy it. The full dimensional stereo bit cracks me up. Is that concert in stereo? I can't remember.”

Heather (Whatever) by The Pillbugs

2007-12-21T19:11:00.003-08:00

Red Light Summer with The Pillbugs.

2007-12-21T19:11:00.001-08:00