Under Construction...
Bryan: Our first recording was done on a 4 track Bill borrowed from our high school. When we brought it back to his garage I wrote the melody then and there and Bill added that special touch. The recorded version of this is a spellbinding, tour de force to somewhere you probably didn't want to go. The song ends with all three of us trying to play the last note until the whole thing dies. I think Brian won. This song is the very definition of odd rock.
Brian: When first created I thought this was a timeless masterpiece. Upon further objective listeneng I realize that we are never together for over 5 seconds at a time during this 7 minute aural cricis.
Bill: Confessions: many of the lyrics are stolen from T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland", for reasons of pure pretense; I think they are from the opening stanzas, we definitely didn't turn the page. Astinus is a character in a Dungeons and Dragons book that our friend Bob forced us to read- for some reason I thought it was both a good and necessary allusion. The title comes from items in my garage at the moment of composition: looking at the color of the "DOD Flanger" (blue) and a trick or treat basket (pumpkin). The "berry" is original.
Bryan: This was recorded at an all night recording session in Bill's garage. We were looking through a notebook of lyrics I'd written and took special notice of the line "stumps for arms." I again wrote the melody on the spot much to our amusement and Bill added the second verse. I don't believe I've laughed as hard as when we recorded this song more than a few times in my life. For some reason, this seems to be our most popular song which says a lot about people.
Brian: Playing bass was never fun during this one chord saga, but it was worth it. The Greatful Dead may have covered this if they were still around.
Bill: I think this song was inspired by two things. The legendary monster "Stumpy" of Camp Betz, when Bryan and I were Cub Scouts, who we would run from around midnight in the woods, and then watch Godzilla movies. Also the one handed guitar teacher I almost had, "Otto". We eventually all took lessons from Frank Gatto.
Bryan: One of our earliest songs. Playing this song live was usually not fun. I believe that Bill and I stole the intro from one of Brian's songs, but it did fit very nicely. I (with Bill?) recorded a very short, medicore version of this medicore song to which I proceeded to cap off with a half and hour of studio wanking. I recorded over the master tape with "Electronic Rain" and as Morrissey would say "...and I don't feel bad."
Brian: This song brings back some painful memories of us trying to play coherent music. Mr. Green would probably like it though.
Bill: When Bryan and I first started jamming together, he would always play this riff, which was quite poor but had lots of energy. I added a power chord progression to make it more poppy and lots of sixths, for the musically inclined. The line "all's good that ends, except for fall" is really fine, considering the next line was "Mister Green". We recorded this many many times.
Bryan: We initially liked this song so much that it appeared on early versions of "Synchronized Dreaming," but it slowed up the flow of the record. One of the rare instances of all three of us working together and coming up with something good. I think we tried two or three takes of this, but the first one, off the cuff, was the best. Not bad at all. The title came from a painting in Brian's living room.
Brian: Though its creation felt magical, taking this song off the first record allowed it to meet a much higher standard of excellence.
Bill: This is the only song the three of us have written together, except maybe The Ghost of Someone's Dad. Addendum: this is the only song the three of us have PUBLICLY written together.
Bryan: This song was born in an odd rock jam session. Bill and I worked together on this until, for some reason, I took it home and finished it myself. One of our best outtakes. This one has aged very well and I'm quite pleased with the flanged noise finale. Original lyrics concerned an intoxicated Japanese racecar driver burning up after a nasty crash. Oh dear.
Brian: This is a really good song with good lyrics and transitions.
Bill: This song utilizes a B7+5 chord! Our punk fans left us after Bryan candied this up in the studio. There is a fine line between aviation and accidents.
Bryan: Although I usually hated playing a good deal of our early material live, I always enjoyed "Thea's Plea." I can't remember how it goes and I have no idea if we ever recorded it or not, but Bill did a fine job on this one.
Brian: I allmost remember this one, but not really.
Bill: B.J., characteristically, cannot remember a song of which he said, looking me in the eyes, "this is our best song. This is going to make us famous." We practiced this song before playing at a party, but then the mic didn't work, and oddrock was dead. Me kicking the microphone over during Blueberry Pumpkin marked the beginning of our ambience.
Bryan: Bill and I had just gotten our four tracks, but we still hadn't figured out how to record properly. After a little trial and error we recorded this song, thus entering into a whole new level of sound recording. A very pleasant song to listen to. I had a good vocal performance and Bill has an excellent melody at the end.
Brian: One giggle too much from Bryan Ward, and far too little of Bill's guitar song.
Bill: This is not an actual song, I just played a 1,4,5 progression, to test out the tracks, adding bass lines and solos, etc. But towards the end, I tacked on a really pretty guitar piece that I was working on at the time. Cool.
Bryan: One of my very favorite songs from Bill is Clown Check. It captures the insane and giddy world of mad clowns like nothing I've ever heard before. He claimed he needed a professional recording studio to do it justice and judging from the version we made, he's absolutely right. I greatly offended Brian with my original lyrics, much to my amusement. Clown Odyssey is as fine a jam as you're likely to hear from a delayed guitar and a keyboard. Shockingly good!
Brian: Bryan plays wonderful harpsichord on this one.
Bill: Now I have had many music lessons, some ear training, and studied a fair amount of music theory, and I can still not explain why this song works. It's as if there is Major, Minor, and Clown. Instead of having a soundcheck at shows, we decided to have a "Clown Check".
Bryan: Perhaps the very first song from The Seagreen Incorruptible. Bill and I were playing that old computer game "Classic Concentration" and couldn't figure out the puzzle. It had a picture of a boat, then "E-T-H," and an oar. We came up with Boatethoar. Bill wrote a delightful romp and I added some feedback and things. Much later, Brian surprised us by writing some excellent lyrics for this golden oldie and we revived it for a completely shitty version intended for "Bon Voyage." I overdubbed screaming roosters and feedback which I don't believe Bill cared for. Our singing needed work. As with "Blueberry Pumpkin," I believe we could do a really good job on this song, but every time we try, it just gets worse and worse.
Brian: My lyrics are brilliant.
Bill: While recording this song, we would literally set our guitars down and run out of Bryan's room, holding our ears, to record excessive feedback. This is a very funny image. I remember, years later, BJ passing me a note in history class, with the lyrics to Boatethoar on it.
Bryan: One of my best memories from the days of odd rock. This song was our grand finale. I don't believe it had any real music, but back then I just played feedback most of the time anyway. It was very hard to do this with a straight face so we didn't. Inspired by the wonderfully crappy "Gorilla" amplifiers.
Brian: I believe they left the room while recording this one.
Bill: The music for this one was me escalating dramatically from the low E to the highest note possible on my electric guitar, for about three minutes.
Bryan: The first time Bill and I had access to a four track recorder, we stayed up all night in his garage with intention of finishing as many songs as possible. Somewhere along the way we both drifted off. Listening to the tape a fewdays later I noticed this "song." Played at normal speed, it sounds like two overtired kids wanking around on their instruments, but at half speed you've got genius! I still half-heartedly wish we'd put it on the album. My favorite outtake. Also known as "Foreign Represenatives of the House Committee of Sound." Huh?
Brian: This is a special song with a felling all its own.
Bill: Sleep always overcomes my comrades, making me angry. I have even written several songs on this topic. But for this session, even I was overcome. I think it was the sloppy joe my mom made for us. Mmmmmm.
Bryan: I figured out how to record properly by making really long, dense sound montages. This is probably the ugliest of them all with a good deal of backwards screaming and feedback, but at the time it was a major breakthrough for me. It clocked in at around half an hour, I believe.
Brian: I don't remember this one.
Bill: I heard this once, in the school library, on headphones, briefly. I thought it was awesome. I really think we may have played this song for Benji. The controversy continues.
Bryan: I remember liking this song when I first heard it, but my appreciation turned to horror when Bill became obssessed with it. I haven't heard hardly any of the aborted "Nestled In Gum" versions, but I believe my "Old Man Winter mix" will stand the test of time. Brian's bass playing on this song impressed my mother.
Brian: Poor song, great remix.
Bill: The vaults within the vaults include my nine to twenty takes of Nestled In Gum. Bryan and BJ insist that BJ played bass on this song, and he did, briefly, but I was dissatisfied, and recorded it myself. This song includes an allusion to Socrates. Which reminds me, I also wrote and recorded a song called "Socrates the Mailman", around this time, on the Fostex, but it is inaudible.
Bryan: Does this song even exist? Few have ever heard it. Even fewer know how to play it. None have ever recorded it. One of Bill's quite excellent guitar showcases.
Brian: This song should be called "Tribute to Bryan Ward."
Bill: This song is also called Winter, Part Two. I swear that I also wrote Winter, Part One, though independently of Bryan Ward. My sentiments exactly, Jonathan Sparrow.
Bryan: At a time when I was attempting to create the "cosmic circus punk" genre of music, Bill was honing his skill at writing odd and catchy pop/rock of which this song is a perfect example. The characteristics of an "odd rock" song? Well, it must have some nice hooks, a good, steady beat, room for guitar interplay, and must be impossible for the three of us competently perform, elusive to properly record, and cannot be played with a drummer. I usually forgot the chords halfway through this song and would drown my sorrow in feedback until the whole thing fell apart. This song was the foundation for a much better song, "The Alien's Respiratory Machine."
Brian: I find it hilarious that Bryan was either unwilling or unable to learn the parts in Bill's songs. He single-handedly brought us to the depths of frustration.
Bill: I called into a radio show with the answer to this cluster of drumbeats... I knew one of them was from the Spin Doctor's "Two Princes". And I won tickets to an early screening of Apollo 13, or 11, or whatever that Ron Howard movie was. I asked Bryan to come along with me, and we brought pen and paper, and worked on the lyrics to this song. "Puppet show, eskimo, blue sky turning grey, and a solar eclipse." Why weren't we famous, again? Red the Clown was impressed by the kicks.
Bryan: In the early days, Bill and I made a list of all the material we had for a possible show or something. On this sheet we had songs that we'd written music for, but no lyrics. We had songs that we'd written lyrics for, but no music. We had a few songs with no music or lyrics! I'm not sure which category this song falls under, but I think I really liked it. For some reason, I have very fond recollections of all Bill's songs that I can't remember.
Bryan: I believe this is our second song. Bill came over one day and probably attempting capitalize on the success of "Boatethoar" the previous session, we recorded this sickening jumble of noise and guitar punishment. When I say sickening, I'm not kidding. Bill and I both got physically ill during this song, and remained so for the next few days. Afterwards, I realized I wasn't even plugged in. The title came from the movie "Labrynth" with David Bowie which always seemed to be on the TV whenever Bill would come over.
Bill: Were there candles involved during this recording? This was more like a seance with the ghost of someone's dad.
Bryan: Recorded live in my room, this jam saw one of the first appearances of Brian's "Advanced Wave Memory" keyboard which was to be a hallmark of our first record. This jam wasn't half bad, kind of a bridge from odd rock to ambient psychedelia.
Brian: I enjoyed this when I heard it.
Bill: This is one of the best techno songs of all time. I think. Bryan always retitles his songs, continuously, but I think this song was called "Advanced Wave Memory". Really awesome backwards stuff.
Bryan: Another one of Bill's great "lost" guitar epics. He really is the "Invisible Minstrel" since I can't remember most of his songs.
Bill: I never recorded this song, but it was an homage to "My So-Called Life".
Bryan: This song was an assignment for a guitar lesson, and was done in about twenty minutes. While it didn't earn me any extra Christmas cards, I'm still glad it exists. My teacher especially liked the whistle.
Brian: Beautiful Christmas song.
Bill: This song sounds nothing like "The Little Drummer Boy". Possibly an insult to the original and to Jesus. I am with Frank on this one.
Bryan: Our one and only cover song. We manage to play "Canon" during almost every live performance and will hopefully continue to do so. All recorded versions have been terminally poor.
Bryan: Originally intended as a tribute to my elementary school nurse, I was unable to produce anything beautiful around this time. The version appearing on "Christmas All Year 'Round" is a very, very remixed edit.
Bryan: This is "Winter 2" again, only since I couldn't do it justice forwards, I tried recording it backwards. Becoming ever reliant on sound effects, I hastily finished this wreck instead of working with it; a pattern I would unfortunately continue. How dull.
Bryan: I think the initial reaction of just about everyone who ever heard this song was that Bill secretly or not-so-secretly wanted to be a woman. However, this song, the first recorded for our second record, is easily one of the best written for "Bon Voyage." It's a shame the production and our better judgement were not present. We should have stopped here. This is one of the finest Christmas songs of all time.
Bryan: One of the last songs Bill recorded for "Bon Voyage."
By this time, I think we might have begun to realize the faults in our material, or at least in each other's material. This song made me believe that Bill was turning into an imbecile. I now think that it's pretty clever.
Bryan: A pretty fair instrumental lost in the depths of "Bon Voyage."
Bryan: I've met Bill's grandfather a few times before, but never noticed his cat eyes. The title is a lot better than the song, an instrumental which I can't remember.
Bryan: I believed that this great song from Bill would be perfect for the new record. I was wrong. Still, one of the best song titles I've ever heard.
Bryan: Just about the worst piece of shit Bill or anyone has ever done. His "Archaeopteryx" of this period. Ten minutes or so of shrieking voltage, never going anywhere but further down into the sewer. I proudly sampled this song in the September section of "Christmas All Year "Round." Now Bill is taking me to court.
Bryan: One of the first songs Bill and I collaborated on in a long while, it was a slow guitar jam over the sound of an airplane engine. I loved the song, but unfortunately, we recorded everything on the same track, thus making a decent mix impossible. This may have been the spark of interest for my airplane trilogy.
Bryan: In high school, we would often ditch class and end up either in the library or the band room. On this particular day, Bill and I went to the band room and wrote this song. This is a really cool rock n' roll number which we will hopefully record someday, but probably never will. I believe our English teacher caught us afterwards and punished us for creating something.
Bryan: Recorded in Bill's basement which usually means death. Brian came up with one of the funkiest bass lines ever which turned into one of the most sickening and tasteless instances of music making ever documented. I was against this song from the start and when the idea of overdubbing an obituary in high speed arrived, I gave up. The lowest of the low, but unbelievably funky.
Bryan: Bill and I jamming in his basement - not usually the best formula for good music. This song was not only poor, but ridiculous.
Bryan: We got off to a pretty good start on the fouth record although everything eventually deteriorated. Bill recorded this song around the same time I did "Leaving the Planecatcher" I believe. For some reason, he gave it to me to finish, but I couldn't save it. The world mourns the loss. Bill's hillbilly cop vocals are pretty entertaining though!
Bryan: I had finished all my songs for a forth record and asked Bill if he could come up with anything. Along with "Feathers" he had this song. "Snow and Honey" is noteworthy in that for most of the song, it contains no bass frequencies of any kind, whatsoever. A nice ending, but a lot of explaining to do.
Bryan: Bill gave me the tape with "Feathers" and "Snow and Honey" on it and this song and "Michelle" was hidden at the beginning. I can honestly say that no one in the world has come close to creating pop music as profoundly perplexing, disturbing, imbecilic, clueless, directionless, yet utterly compelling in its idiot madness. I had to listen to these songs literally over a hundred of times before I could at all grasp what kind of logic was going on. The world is not ready.
Bryan: Possibly the most ridiculous song of the entire century. This is what the Beach Boys would sound like if they were to record a song in a couple hundred years from now. It is the sound of a child who got hit in the head with a four square ball in recess going to music class and passing out. Infinitely enjoyable once you lose all your senses.
The Vault is where The Seagreen Incorruptible lock away their poor songs and bad ideas. Constantly expanding.
March Of The Blueberry Pumpkin
London stands aghast and in awe as the Blueberry Pumpkin descends.
Stumps For Arms
Odd rock gets a little more odd.
Fall
A two minute odd rock precurser with a thirty minute floating finale as told by a undercover reporter in a sanitarium.
Walking To Church On A Sunday Evening
See title.
Night Driving In the Skyway
A fast paced, high octane adventure through the nighttime cityscape of the future. At Christmas time, of course.
Thea's Plea
Odd rock visits a lighthouse.
Upon Graduating Recording School
The Seagreen Incorruptible graduate from recording school and have a laugh.
Clown Check / Clown Odyssey
The Seagreen Incorruptible goes to the circus and loses their minds.
Boatethoar
We have no idea.
Supernatural Gorilla
A mad scientist kills a whole neighborhood of kids with his poisoned apples, but they do not die in vain for a supernatural gorilla murders the mad scientist. Happy Halloween from The Seagreen Incorruptible.
Invisible Houseguests
An icy and eerie world of unseen Scandanavian creatures living in your home.
The Proof That There Is Evil
You want proof?
Nestled In Gum
Lungs, guns, and a carousel combined with lots of gum equal odd rock, Bill Lyon style.
Tribute to Bavaria
See title.
A Chimney Sweep's Day Off
On his day off from cleaning chimneys, a man (presumably English) enjoys the sights and sounds of the city. An odd rock showstopper.
In Blue
Something old, something new. Something borrowed, this song.
Labrynth
Picture the worst time of your life, set to music.
Lunar Tribal Rhythms
Some kind of mad tribe on the moon finds their groove.
Fishing For Brian
This song is not about us catching Brian Thomas while fishing, although that's not a bad idea.
The Little Drummer Boy
Bryan Ward's psychedelic update of this Christmas classic. Featuring drums.
Canon in D
Pachelbel's Baroque classic is embraced by a new generation.
Buried Alive Inside of a Horse
What does it feel like? Listen...
Bryan: For as poor as "Bon Voyage" is, I'm surprised that there aren't more outtakes of this caliber. This song was recorded in one sitting without much thought. I think I did capture the mood though.
She Smiles Often
A nice sentiment turns unexpectedly violent.
My Sentiments Exactly, Jonathan Sparrow
Bryan Ward attempts to make contact with his favorite imaginary friend, but succumbs to backwards lightning.
An Orphan Momentarily Forgets
A little orphan girl dreams that Santa Claus is her father.
Space Zoo
A zoo in outer space. Space Zoo.
Easter Raga For Two Guitars
No comment.
My Grandfather's Cat's Eyes (And Other Gems From the Phillipines)
No comment.
Springtime Outdoor Children's Library
The greatest library in the world.
The Twilight Zone
Supposedly about a bat cave.
Thank God We've Finally Done Something Together
Music to travel in an airplane by.
Merry Christmas(Fuck You)
It's hard to wish people a happy holiday when they're assholes.
Ghost of Dad
Funk opus of the spectral realm.
Retards at the Beach
A few sick persons are taken to the beach where they happily watch the waves roll along the surf.
We are in Pursuit of a High Speed Motor Vehicle
Hillbilly policemen attempt to apprehend a fleeing motorist.
Snow and Honey
A very special kind of Christmas sleigh.
It Would Mean Much More (La, Di, Da)
Only Bill knows for sure, because I forgot what he told me it was about.
How Are You, Michelle?
You should never kiss and tell.
