I couldn’t be more proud of this record. I think it’s the most cohesive album we made, with the most solid set of songs. Eli Crews at New, Improved Recording did an excellent job recording and mixing it, and the end result represents us well.

My only regret is that it’s only getting released as a digital download. Call me sentimental, but I like a physical product. I sat on it for a long time trying to get packaging together, but as my plans got more and more elaborate the will to put a lot of work in for what was effectively a dead band shrank. Ultimately I had to admit defeat and settle for just getting it out. Lesson learned.

I hope you enjoy it.

You can also watch it on YouTube if Vimeo makes your computer stammer.

I haven’t posted here in quite a while, obviously, mostly because I’ve been insanely busy. Looks like things will start to lighten up in March, and I’ll be posting the slew of projects that I’m finishing up sometime around then.

You can also watch it on YouTube if Vimeo makes your computer stammer.

Also available on YouTube if you prefer.

Nice thing about a band that wears the same uniforms all the time is that you can film several shows over the course of a year and have them look the same (although they did all get new patches in between 2 of these shows). It’s like the poor man’s multi-camera shoot.

I toyed with editing this to the version of the song off of the record, but I prefer the slightly inferior-sounding live recording. While I like the clean studio sound, it makes it look like they’re lip-syncing. Plus doing it this way meant one take was already perfectly synced with the audio.

In the Fall of 2009, my band Ovipositor went on a quick tour up the Pacific coast with our friends Generalissimo. I put together a press release, as well as posters for 3 of the shows.

Considering the number of press releases that show up at papers touting unknown rock bands on their way through town, it’s hard to stand out. This one needed to be unique: a one-sheet with a glossy photo and CDR wouldn’t cut it. It was also important to make something appropriate for Generalissimo’s highly conceptual presentation and our somewhat looser character as a band. I came up with doing an official-looking document bundle. When the string is removed, the 2 cardboard pieces separate to reveal a one sheet bio about both bands, an Ovipositor CD, and a Generalissimo Patch.

The color scheme is a nod to Generalissimo, as is the bold simplicity of the package. The distressed type and massively inconvenient packaging were a nod to Ovipositor. And I’m not kidding about it being massively inconvenient: The string coming through the back of the package is the only thing holding the CD in place, and once the 2 pieces are separated they’re nearly impossible put back together – the string has to be looped around itself in a very specific way. I wanted anyone who opened it to have it intrude into their life in a way that would make them remember it.

I think one can’t help but walk away with an impression of the sensibility of both bands, even if it isn’t obvious.

Because the context in which they’ll be viewed is very different (a dark club as opposed to a mail room), I took a different approach to the posters. The posters I’ve done for Ovipositor play by a different set of rules – esoteric and arbitrary rules I’ll discuss elsewhere. I’m not interested in making them grab you by the collar and shake you, but rather to seep into your consciousness. But for a tour through towns where we are unknown, I wanted to do something bolder. People showing up equals gas money. I’ve always loved the challenges of 2- and 3-color printing, and figured it was a good way to keep myself in check.

The weird Guy-Smiley-looking heads are actually dummies for dental students. They are made from the heads of unclaimed bodies at the morgue which are fitted into the supposedly less-creepy plastic heads. Yes, I agree – ew. But appropriate to the bands and the tour. As bold as the images are, there is a strange undercurrent in them (even if you don’t know the deal with the heads) that I’m very proud of.

My brother-in-law Steve started this band in 1976 and was an active part of the SF music scene. By all reasonable accounts, it was a pretty interesting time to be making music in the Bay Area (and, well, the rest of the world as well). Last time we saw him, I pulled out the camera to get a little history:

I have a hard time saying a band is “punk” or not, and frankly I don’t think the distinction is that interesting. They were active in the punk era and were inspired by punk bands, but so were Heart and the Climax Blues Band.

 
The score for these commercials is incredible.

Fortunately, I will probably never make that documentary, so I hope this is enough for you:

PLAYBACK IS A BITCH Trailer on Vimeo. (Since some people have trouble playing back footage on Vimeo, it’s also available on YouTube, where it doesn’t look quite as good).

All shot with the Canon 5DmII, mostly with the cheap plastic 50mm lens. Mostly shot at New, Improved Recording, where we spent a day tracking under the watchful eye of Eli Crews. I might post more about that here at some point, but Max has already done a fine job of writing it up on his blog.

Pictures from an exhibitionist.

Pictures from an exhibitionist.