A Beginning

I got a phone call a little while ago, an excited phone call from my friend Tim. He was talking about this project we started about three weeks ago. Just wanted to drop me a quick line to share a thought.

“This is music for the iPod generation!”

I paused. Reflected. And realized just how right he was.

For a little over three weeks, Tim and I have been working on music. Writing. Tinkering. Tossing out ideas and seeing what sticks. I play guitar. He sings and comes up with everything else on the computer. The result so far has been … well, that would be telling. You’ll just have to listen for yourself.

But music for the iPod generation? He’s absolutely right.

The idea of working together on music began in the summer of 2005 as a little something he wanted to do called Astrobot. The idea, he said, was a sort of electro-punk dance band, Daft Punk with attitude, I guess; the kind of music you’d hear playing in an upscale and hip women’s shoe store. It sounded appealing and different to me, so I agreed to come on board. The idea came and went quickly, though, when he dreamed up Rebel Scum, meant to be New Jersey’s musical answer to Pantera – with a whole bunch of hardcore, over-the-top redneck attitude to make things interesting. All sorts of outlandish, totally fun ideas were thrown about. He was ready to put on a wild stage persona for the project; I was just hoping I’d be able to handle crunchy metal riffs. However, that idea lost its luster after a few weeks, too, unable to sustain itself on novelty alone.

But he still had ideas. And I still wanted to play. He heard this song called “Slowdive” from LCD Soundsystem, a song that kind of defies genre, and it kicked him in the ass. The vague notion of getting together to play some music became a need to do so right now. And so one day, after the new computer and software that would record us was set up at his place, an mp3 arrived in my inbox. It was a groove. A simple bass and drum groove.

“Something for you to work with,” he wrote.

That was a few weeks ago. Just an idea he tossed out, probably wondering if I could come up with something to go with it, wondering if this whole notion would even work. I know I was. But now, there is music. Actual, tangible music that you can hear and listen to and enjoy. Oh, it’s rough. It’s a bit loose. It’s still in the idea stage. But it’s there, coming together, turning into songs. Songs that are all over the damn map. Which is the idea. The iPod generation, used to shuffling its music, genres intermingling like people at a party. Keep that idea in mind.

So consider this a start. I’ll chronicle the process as it happens, with sound clips, and pictures, and the whole mess. An inside look of how a cool band and a cool batch of music comes together, step by step, its birth right here on the web. We don’t have a name yet. But what we do have is two guys full of ideas and eager to let them loose on the world.

Enjoy the ride. We’re only just starting, and it’s already been thrilling.