So, some of you may remember my reaction to an online game that was going by the name of Empire Craft. Well, I had meaning to try a somewhat dramatic reading of that “intro” blurb that they had on their site for a while (looks like it’s down by now). A quick reading followed by some classic background music, and taa-da!

This was a thought I had during my flight….

A short tune that Mark and I made back in 2004.

Here’s one from the archives; the “Fat Cat Stomp,” thanks to Cakewalk, the Disney Afternoon Songbook (for easy piano), and a dull afternoon back in the early 2000s.

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Man, I hope I can revisit this someday….

This was actually made for my Sound Design class at Parsons, but the basic idea I had already developed from a different class, which was a bunch of unruly trainees learning how to become tour guides in Hell. While the animation remained fairly simple (that wasn’t the point of the class, after all), working with the audio was a joy. I had about 8 people record a huge number of lines — in the very professional recording studio we had, no less — and then went through ProTools and crafted them all together. The voice work by my friends was great, the sound effects fell into place, and the background music was absolutely perfect. I had so much fun making this, that, as I said, I really hope I can actually make this a full-featured short.

Oh, and that voice in the beginning? That’s me, with a little help from ProTools’ reverb.

A while ago, my friends Mark, Parker, and I finally got around to releasing that album for our band, Error-09, that we had always talked about. You know — the type of album that about 12.3 billion people swear they are going to make with their friends, only for that pledge to eventually fall into the gutter like a crumbled newspaper from last week that nobody would even use as a lining for the bottom of a parrot cage.

Well, it took us about a decade, but hey, we were still faster than “Chinese Democracy.” I had these files up previously, but now that you can actually listen to them right from the blog (just press the play button to the left of the title), I wanted to list them all as a group. And I can make some comments about each, as well. Yippee-skip!

Besides, it’s tough to explain what genre our band is in; we have a number of songs in the alt rock mosh crowd, but we also throw a drink back with rockabilly, chill out with reggae, get heavy with techno, and in some cases just get a touch weird. See what you think:

This was the first song that we ever really worked on as a group. And, by golly, it’s still as much fun as when we first started it.

I wrote the lyrics for this in about 15 minutes; it was pure stream of consciousness.

This is a 100% true story. Honest — I couldn’t have made this up if I had tried.

Based on a quarry that Mark took Parker and I out to investigate for the fun of it. I got some great photos of the place, as well.

Another early song, written when I was still learning how to play the drums. Hence, I think the drum track is a bit dull.

My favorite version of this was actually an early rough Mark recorded, where about 1/3 of the way in, he suddenly realized he had misread the song.

Again, based on a true story. I wasn’t 35 when I wrote it, but given that I am now, I’m glad that there is a song out there that relates to my age for a change. And I admit, that I was really happy when the way I handled the snare drum in this one; much fun.

This was written as sort of a callback to the Billy Idol songs of the 80s. Not the heavy punk ones, but the ballads. Mind you, the key phrase is “sort of.”

Only Cleveland Browns fans will really understand why the title is perfect for the lyrics, but hey, it’s the perk of being part of the most diehard, loyal fans in the NFL. And currently, there aren’t a lot of perks to being a fan….

This one written by Mark, actually, and Parker and I whipped up the drums and bass in surprisingly short order, afterwards.

I have to admit, this is one of my favorites, just in terms of the lyrics. I think the song would have been better with the shaker throughout, but it was dropped in a miscommunication, so oh well. We’ll fix that on the Greatest Hits album.

I wrote the lyrics for this song in high school, and you know, I think it’s still one of the best songs I ever wrote. The music, as well, fits perfectly.

Another one of my favorite songs that we’ve made, and it was really one of the main reasons I took some singing lessons. I still need some work, but man, much better than first draft. Oh, and enjoy the backwards-speaking Parker at the very beginning.

Another song written while in high school about a joke band that my friend Randy and I claimed to be in; Mark and Parker created the music entirely on their own in a few hours, and when I heard it, I realized that there was nothing that could top what they had developed.