It has truly been a while since the last post; in the midst of traveling, organizing, working on other projects, and of course, navigating life and all of its ups and downs, i decided to take a bit of time and create something- which is kind of like a ‘Fulfilling Teenage Wishes (part 1.5)’.
i’ve been fairly obsessed with the melodica i recently got; it’s an instrument i’ve always wanted to play ever since i heard Augustus Pablo), but never got around to it. i’m obviously not as good as Mr. Pablo, but i still have fun, experimenting with different music.
i did not have a lot of time to work on anything in the St. Anger Room,. so i decided to make use of the things i have outside of it, one being the melodica, a drum pad, and a cardboard box in particular.
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i went to see D.R.I. a few days ago (my second time within a year), and like always, it was a lot of fun. The main difference this time is that i entered the pit. Not only was it the first time i’ve done so in almost 30 years; it was also the first time i did so, as an amputee in a wheelchair. It felt absolutely amazing. It certainly brought back memories of seeing D.R.I. at L’Amour in Brooklyn in the 1990s, and the pit there being in the top 3 of the most brutal ones i’ve ever been in.
D.R.I. transitioned from being beloved in the hardcore/skate scene, to being one of the originators of crossover thrash- that mix of metal and thrash. One of the things that attracted me to them musically is their propensity for odd timings, and start/stops. And it doesn’t hurt that the lyrics are saying something.
i figured i would commemorate the moment by covering my favorite D.R.I. song of all time- ‘Draft Me’. The song’s actually pretty timely, given that Germany’s cabinet recently voted for a bill regarding voluntary military service, leading to the potentiality of the reinstatement of compulsory military service, if the volunteer numbers don’t increase. No one should be surprised if there’s some U.S. bill (that majority of people in the House and Senate don’t read but pass anyway) that has some fine-lined stipulation (on page 978) regarding conscription- despite the president not being able to unilaterally reinstall a draft.
Again, in this day and age, no one should be surprised.
Here, i played the melodica (obviously), the harmonica, a cardboard box, a drum pad, a tambourine, and vocals.
The other thing that happened (actually on the same day i saw D.R.I.) was the news of Flipper’s Bruce Calderwood (aka ‘Bruce Loose’)’s passing. i mentioned this to a bunch of people, and most of them were not familiar with Flipper, which made me quite sad.
Flipper was one of my top 5 favorite bands in high school- i would not necessarily call them a ‘gateway’ band (it’s clear they’re not, since most people i talked to didn’t even know who they were); but they (along with Melvins, Mudhoney and Jesus Lizard) were one of the bands that led me to a trajectory of even more ‘weird’ and ‘unconventional’ artists. They were, for all intents and purposes, punk; but overall, they created uncompromising noise.
The song i chose to cover is perhaps one of their most beloved- ‘Sex Bomb’. i have a trumpet (as opposed to a sax), but i’m not great at it- but honestly, i’m not that great at most things i play, so who am i kidding? Perhaps i will post a song with a trumpet here sometime.
Speaking of the sax, the riff always makes me think of the sax riff in James Brown’s ‘Out Of Sight’, and you can’t tell me they weren’t listening to that before they did this song… Either that, or it seeped into their subconscious. James Brown’s song is essentially some blues, and so is ‘Sex Bomb’.
Nevertheless, i played bass here (where the pick kept falling out of my fingers, but i didn’t want to stop- it’s actually perfect, given the song i’m playing); i also played the tambourine, the soprano and alto recorder, a cardboard box, a drum pad, some handclaps, a melodica, a harmonica… and some screaming vocals.
RIP Bruce, and RIP Will.