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 did Heart and the Climax Blues Band.

The score for these commercials is incredible.

It remind me of this gem from the mural on Oakland High:

Yeah, the Youths had better get on that.

That turn and smile when she heard me shouting her name? That really melts my butter.

Here is a 20 minute film of someone making typewriter noises. No, really. And it’s enjoyable all teh way through.

History of the typewriter recited by Michael Winslow from SansGil—Gil Cocker on Vimeo.

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.

I think it turned out well.

The album, Western Medicine, was intended to be a vinyl only release, and they spared no expense in pursuing that – recorded to analog tape, mastered specifically for vinyl (this is different from how one masters something for CD), and pressed into 180 gram virgin vinyl. I’m not a vinyl fetishist, personally, but I do think that if that’s important to you then you should do it the way these guys did. Whatever the differences in sound quality may be, I would suggest that they depend doing the job to the highest possible standard. The vinyl’s used or flimsy? Don’t bother. Your cousin recorded it on his Fostex? It’s not worth it. The main argument for vinyl (from my perspective) is that it is a very mature technology, and several extremely smart engineers have spent several decades working to make it sound good. All of that benefit is negated is you press a flexi-disc. It will still play, and hipster kids will still buy it, but you’re not doing the music any favors.

Doing it the right way is, however, extremely expensive. The idea of sending some high percentage of those expensive records off to reviewers or as promotional items struck everyone involved as a waste of money. Furthermore, there are people like me who don’t buy records for whatever reason (although this one does come with the CD included and a great cover, so there’s a good reason to make an exception here).

So we hit upon the idea of packaging the CD as a 16 bit replica of the album. Something cheap and utilitarian that will give you the impression of the album, but not the same. It’s like a photo of a painting.

The package itself looks inexpensive and utilitarian, but still elegant. Design-wise, I was thinking of the crate-like wooden boxes that Sovtek Big Muff pedals used to be packaged in: something cheaply functional, but so cool on its own that you just knew there was something good inside. The raw cardboard, one-color printing, and hand-folded package all seem slightly shoddy, but the embossed logo gives it a sophisticated quality.

The CD itself has the portrait of the band printed on the face (painted by my wife), giving the package a shot of color when you open it up.

This is also related to the promo packages I sent out when our two bands went on tour together.