Monday, October 26, 2020

"Candle" Video!

 
I had fun making this little video!  I hope that you have fun watching it (you know, in a moody and depressing way)!   It is definitely fitting to have a gothy video up during the Halloween season though!

If you prefer a laugh instead, then please read my latest novel!

Sunday, October 18, 2020

New Recording!: "Candle"

This song is one of the earliest I ever wrote.  It probably stems from 1991 or so.  My pals in The Escaped Fetal Pigs helped me to flesh it out, though I have played it with many of my other groups.  My pals Pogeybait liked it so much they based another song around the music.  It's based on a newspaper article I read about an elderly couple's murder-suicide.  The wife was apparently suffering from Alzheimer's, and the husband couldn't stand to see her suffer any longer, so he ended things.  Given the heavy subject matter, the song can get a bit melodramatic.  Since the Pigs were primarily a humorous band, the drummer used to do a lap around the venue during the intro to see if he could make it back in time for his drum part.  That helped to undercut the fact that we were turning into a poppy goth band for the next two minutes.  Since this recording is solo, I just made the drums kind of crazy.  For the weird instrument, I'm blowing on a bottle like I'm in a dollar store jug band (i.e., they can't afford a jug).  If anybody wants to hear the song in full melodrama, I have a version with just guitar and vocals from this session.  I do prefer this version though.  The song is still fun to play though after all these years.

If you need some cheering up after this somewhat depressing tune, then please read my latest novel!  It's a comedy!

Sunday, October 11, 2020

New Song!: "Starter Spouse"

This song stemmed from a realization that most of my heroes have long since passed or proved not as heroic as I once thought them to be, leaving me if I still wanted a hero to be that hero.  In other words, for example, if I wanted music that I liked, then I had to make that music.  No one was going to make it for me anymore.  It's all part of a great chain.  Someone inspired me.  Now it's my turn to be the inspiration.  I may not succeed in inspiring anyone, but it's my turn to try anyway and pass on to the next generation what I can.  The lyrics are below.  It's the same deal as always.  If you like a song, then feel free to cover it if you're in a band or whatnot.  I love to hear covers of my songs, so please let me know about your version.  If you start making money, then send me a check/we can work out a deal.  Similarly, if you want to use a song for your Youtube video or whatnot, then just let me know.  It's usually fine by me unless it's a commercial product or whatnot (and then it's likely fine as well--I just want my cut).  Find out first though.  Write me at wredfright ATATAT yahoo DOTT com.

You have to be your own hero
Because no one's going to save you.
In fact, no one's there at all.

Do you remember your old heroes?
How you used to look up to them?
Now, when you're looking, you're looking down.

It's your time now
To show them how

And whatever became of them?
They're all depressed, disappointments, or dead.
Just take a look around.

And as for your starter spouse,
You had fun setting up house,
But now it's time to tear it down.

And they still want you to follow their path,
And that just makes you laugh.
You say, "No thanks, I'll find my own way around."

Because you were a starter spouse too.
And now you're finished with that,
But you're not finished at all.

Written September 2020
Recorded September 2020


Want more Wred Fright music?  Order the Yeast? 7" here!

Monday, October 5, 2020

New Mark Justice Book!

 
My buddy Mark Justice has a new book out!  After a couple of excellent novels, he's branched out to nonfiction.  Toxic deals with Mark's experiences reading the Bible and finding it incompatible with what he thought were his Christian religious beliefs.  In addition to the heavy and thought-provoking subject matter, it's also a very funny book.  The humor is very brutal and for believers will be considered blasphemous, but it's right in line with how betrayed and disappointed Mark feels about his faith.  I was lucky enough to read the book prepublication and provided a blurb for the back cover:  "Toxic is the book that one should really find in a hotel room.  Not only is it funnier than The Bible, but also it leaves out the boring bits, so we can focus on the kinky sex, gratuitous violence, and general insanity in the 'holy' book that still undergirds American society.  Watch what those judges and politicians usually put their hands on when they get sworn in.  The President has control of nuclear weapons, and he's offering an oath on a book that has a guy get murdered because he masturbates meanwhile Lot has drunken sex with his daughters and God's like totally cool with that even after almost entirely destroying a couple of cities for being 'sinful'.  You'll never wonder again why our modern, 'scientific' society can still be so stupid.  You'll know.  By the end, you might be as angry as Mark Justice is in this book, but you'll also recognize a mythology when you see one, no matter how many people run around still believing in it and doing strange things like stocking hotel rooms with a book that not many of them have apparently actually read."