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Post by rogersstevens on Jun 25, 2007 11:29:56 GMT -5
this is getting very chinese democracyish indeed....have patience my friend. We are greasing the wheels in every way. It's possible that we could release several records before you get your eager hands on 'chinese democracy'. I hear all the gossip about that record out here....rather amusing from a distance but I would imagine not so amusing to be involved. All the music will be done on our record before the end of the week.... We're going to get it all mixed and then go out and figure out a record deal or something. If there's time before we have to turn in masters, we may even track more songs. There are WAY too many songs for us to get to right now...some really good ones that I'm bummed we haven't gotten to. Everybody is writing so much that it has been tough to keep up..... rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Jun 21, 2007 14:57:22 GMT -5
I would hesitate to purchase the songs online via internet services such as iTunes and Napster because that is more sketchy. They should try to push for a release on disc. Just observing, the band sounds a lot different. I don't get that mid west vibe any longer. I'll address a coupla these points..... We are filming everything. Danny Cliinch and Colleen Hennessy have been in the studio with cameras a lot, so we'll do something with it. The story of how Travis pulled us back together will be pretty weird....you'll see. Another thing you'll see and hear is a more complete picture of what we sound like now. The first 3 songs that ya'll heard are the tip of one of those large blocks of ice that float in the ocean...whaddaya call it....the thing that sunk the Titanic...oh yeah, an iceberg. There are things that sound like they coulda been on all of our records. There are things that don't sound like anything we've ever done before. I will say this....everybody has learned a lot about writing songs since we last made an album and it shows. Before, we had a kind of 'kitchen sink' approach to writing. On the songs that the band wrote the music before the vocals were written, we would put in everything we could fit in there and then take a shoehorn and work some more stuff in....in hindsight it was amazing how Shannon could do what he did in the way that he found ways to make vocals work over some of the music we gave him. I've never run across another singer that could do that....he was indeed incredible. Brad and I talk about it all the time when we listen to stuff. There were lots of instumentals that we just ditched because they weren't all that great....take for example the one that's on our myspace page. There's a couple of cool bits, but it's mostly just a snapshot of us trying to figure out how to play our instruments. Wow...that was a lot of typing...I hope it was clear enough........off to the studio! rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Apr 15, 2007 10:49:26 GMT -5
So it's a back-log of... logs. I like it. I also like to refer to them as blagues ('blague' being french for joke.) Works well as an insult too: you are ze filthiest blaguer in ze world! ooohh...I like blague. OK, my blague has been updated......read 'em and weep. rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Mar 16, 2007 9:17:56 GMT -5
Hi
Does anybody else not like the word 'blog'? It sounds like something that causes intestinal blockage or something. Anyway, I'm going to get back to all of your questions this weekend....I've been burning the candle at both ends trying to work on songs and then getting up with the suckling at 5:30. My brother refers to his baby as the 'little dreamcrusher". I get it now. Hope ya'lls all well.....
rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Mar 16, 2007 9:40:40 GMT -5
WOW! The vids are great! Makes me excited to think about all the stuff that is out there that we have yet to see/hear, and I know there is a lot of it. It also kinda pisses me off that we have to wait so long and search so hard to find it. I really wish the band would get their new site up and start sharing more with us. Yes, I know it takes time and Blind Melon is a business of which they are trying to maximize earing potential, don't blame them but damn I need/want more . I also think they shouldn't be so worried about "Quality Control", what are less than stellar performances in the band's mind are most likely a fan's wet dream. Again, those vids are magic! Thanks for posting the link, now if only i could get the DVD. hey... this is a perfect example of something that exists that I have absolutely no memory of. I mean, we were in Holland for God's sake. I promise you guys that we are not 'holding out' stuff for any reason. Whatever we can get our hands on we'll put on our website (if we own the rights to it). There's all sorts of issues there. Usually when we would do stuff like this, we'd never see it again unless we went to great pains to get a copy. Sometimes these radio/tv stations would send a copy to our management, sometimes not. We did lots of these promotional type things and 90% of them are collecting dust in radio station closets. Oh, and by the way...on a quality control note....that guitar solo I played on 'paper scratcher' there is horrendous. Totally not cool to do that type of thing on acoustic guitar. Especially the crappy one that I'm playing there. Makes my skin crawl...... rogers Edit: Quote was funked. Fixed it. ( ~ M A T T ~ )
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Post by rogersstevens on Sept 6, 2005 21:48:06 GMT -5
Hi everybody Just wanted to let you know that all the new Blind Melon releases are in the can and look really great. We've mixed a live show that was recorded at the Palace in Hollywood in September of '95. We've also done a live DVD from the Metro that will be coupled with an augmented version of the "Classic Masters" disc, which includes some live recordings as well as other re-mastered songs. We are all very happy with the way this stuff came out! Look forward to seeing ya'll on the road..... take care Rogers Stevens www.myspace.com/tendertriowww.thetendertrio.com
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Post by rogersstevens on Sept 1, 2007 6:55:04 GMT -5
I really like the song. Although one thing caught my attention... The line ' You think this song is about you? Don't you? Don't you?' or whatever it is (you can't skip through the song and I can't be bothered to play it again to hear the lyric), automatically reminds me of You're So Vain, by Carly Simon #eek# You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you Don't you? don't you?it's on purpose....meant to be sarcastic. I got in touch with carly simon and she gave us permission to use it...very nice lady. rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Sept 8, 2007 7:50:56 GMT -5
...Travis is a big-time Pantera fan and has been turning me on to it....He gave me a video that I'm s'posed to watch on the plane to LA today....going out to rehearse for the tour. As of today, we suck, but hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have it together.
I don't know...maybe a new song soon for ya'll....we'll see.
rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Jul 11, 2007 15:55:06 GMT -5
Oh man, I hope one of the guys can read this and confirm it. I don't see how that can be our Blind Melon.....but nothing surprises me with this band, they have all kinds of tricks up their sleeve. that's really strange...I hope they didn't embarrass us. If they did, we might hafta go sue-happy on 'em. 3 songs mixed, 16 to go......
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Post by rogersstevens on Feb 19, 2007 15:40:54 GMT -5
Hey Kristian hold tight...we're going to give you more. The new record is going to really surprise people. It's good...at least we think it is. I suppose we're the last band on earth that anybody expects to make a good record. The first 3 songs ya'll heard to me don't even touch what's happened since. Anyway, as far as all the merchandise stuff goes...we dropped the ball on all that years ago, unfortunately. I guess you can toss out the opinion that some have that we are in it for the money. Business acumen is in short supply here. We've recently started sorting this stuff out. We just did a deal with a company called Trunk LTD (trunkltd.com) and they are making shirts for us and you can see them on their website. The reason we haven't really put it out there is that Trunk is a sort of high-end company. They make expensive stuff...it's very high quality, I have a few samples. All hand-sewn and very nice....they do these limited edition shirts (make like 500 of each design etc.). We were waiting to put it out there because we are also signing on with another company that will do good shirts for regular rock t-shirt prices. We want to give people the option because obviously most people don't have $90 or whatever to spend on a t-shirt. So there you go...if you really want a new Blind Melon shirt right now, you can go to the Trunk site and spend all your lunch money. Otherwise, the not-expensive things are coming soon. Right now, Trunk is reproducing a bunch of our old designs. Fashion baffles me....I live in the West Village in New York, and here you would think that fashion was more important that the Palestinian-Isreali crisis.
rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Feb 19, 2007 9:45:38 GMT -5
Here's a laughable amendment to my story about the messed up "Live at the Palace" release. So we finally got the thing done right and put in stores, but it was taking months for Capitol to get it up on Itunes. I guess a kabillion Ipods aren't enough for them to realize that somebody might pay to download the record. Anyway, they finally got it up there last week and I went this morning to check it and guess what?...the track listing is still scrambled. AAARRRGGGH! FUUCK! Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to understand that this takes about 20 minutes to do correctly, and that this is the second time they've put the album on there with the scrambled track listing. DO NOT BUY THIS FROM THESE PEOPLE! I'm pretty sure it's the label's fault. We'll get to the bottom of it. rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Feb 18, 2007 20:33:33 GMT -5
Hey Christian....
I'm not really sure what you are getting at here....I agree with some of the things you said. The fans (I don't like this word anyway) have been primarily responsible for keeping the band alive for the past 11 years or so....this is true. All I can say to you is that we've done the best we could. All of our master tapes that were ever recorded are in the Capitol vault. They paid for them and they own them in perpetuity. This is what happens when you sign a record deal to a major label. They have the contractual right to release whatever they want whenever they want, and we have pretty much the same deal as most acts that you know. They were going to release things anyway, so we decided it was prudent to get as involved as we could with the mastering and artwork in order to make it the best it could be. ALL of the people we worked with when we were a functioning band are long gone from Capitol, so we're not exactly getting priority over Coldplay or whoever else is hot at the moment. On top of that, people have come and gone during the process of making these releases and have not passed along the plans, so things got screwed up here and there...ie: fucked up tracklistings and artwork on the live album. With the messed up live album, we had created artwork and approved everything, only to see a cover in the stores that we had never even put our eyeballs on! Crazy, huh. We freaked so heavily that they pulled it and finally got our live album properly packaged. With unreleased demos and such, we will get to that when we do our long-delayed website. Last year we battled for months to get the domain name, which was a major pain, and with the reformation of the band shortly afterwards we had to rethink how we would do the website. We want to make separate parts of the site that will deal with the history and the here-and-now. For the last few months priority has been given to recording this new album....14 hour days weeks in a row, etc. We're giving it everything we have. As far as any unreleased demos go, we'll get to it. Some things are on DATS which no longer will play because they've deteriorated over the years (ask any audio engineer...it's happened to lots of people. This stuff was supposed to last a long time. Oddly enough, tapes last a LOT longer.) Some stuff is in the Capitol vault. Most of it has not been released for quality issues. Most of it we won't sell, but will make available for download when we get a site up. Some of it is problematic for other reasons. Take a song like "Ever Had the Feeling", which somehow got out there against our wishes. That song was not on "Nico" because it was just too fucking depressing in light of Shannon's death. It's a great song that Shannon wrote, but it felt like it crossed some kind of line for us. I can't listen to it. Anyway, a lot of these issues will be solved soon. A big part of our problem is lack of organization. We currently don't have a manager, and none of us have any great organizational skills. We've been meeting with managers and will make a choice within the month, so a lot of this will improve. A lot of the stuff we are dealing with will be handed off to them and we can focus on the songs, and they can also help us with ways to connect with ya'll better. Perhaps our promotional contest type things came off to some as clumsy...personally I thought it was cool and was stoked to see Glen reaching out and trying to communicate with "fans" (again, that word...does anyone have a better term?). That's really all it was...an attempt to connect with the people on this board. And it worked...the whole band sat around in the studio and watched all the videos and we were duly impressed. We're certainly not trying to get stuff from people for free...just kinda thought it might be fun (remember fun?). So I don't know what you really want here? Shall I come over and water the plants and feed the dog while you're away? Yeah, I can be pretty non-communicative sometimes...it's a problem, just ask my wife. I've got a box full of emails that I haven't replied to, and with this new recording and travelling and a 9 month old baby girl, I'm swamped. I'm certainly not attempting to complain or claim hardship...I've got things pretty good. I'm just trying to say that I can't do all the stuff I need to do. Here's an example of my day when I'm home (forget the studio...never see daylight there): Friday, Feb 16th: 6:30 AM....suckling wakes us up. 6:35-8:30 AM...try to appease suckling 8:30-10 AM....She's down for nap! Read and respond to emails from Brad and Christopher about song mixes I've just downloaded and listened to. 10-11AM... pack up and take subway to Brooklyn to studio to cut guitar tracks. 11AM-1PM... Cut killer verse part on "Sometimes". Stoked. 1:01 PM.....Computer crashes, erases killer guitar part. 1:02-1:03PM...scream 1:04-4PM...read on the internet about Protools software bug. Fix problem..start over 4-10:30 PM...redo "Sometimes". Try a different part on "Last Laugh". Phone calls to B and C about transferring files. Pack up. 10:30-11PM...Subway home. Come out of subway starving because I haven't eaten all day. Go to TwoBoots Pizza on 7th Ave and 11th Street and get a Chicken Parm Sammy (I recommend it). Walk home. (STAR SIGHTING ALERT!...on the way home walked by Steven Speilberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Chris Martin on the sidewalk). 11:30...home. Tired. Stay up for 2 hours doing just about nothing. Wash, rinse, repeat....
For hoon1234,
What is your name? I want to know who I'm speaking to. You can see my name right here on this post, so it's only fair that you sign your comments. I'd like to know if you are truly qualified to judge us, otherwise I can give your words no merit.
For Cody (AKA "angry simpleton"),
Where does all this anger come from? Have we wronged you in some way? I've seen similar bile spewed from other people...most of it seems to revolve around the fact that we are using the band name, etc. I mean, I can understand if somebody said "You're keeping the name?...man, I don't know - that's not so cool". That's one thing. But the level of anger that you are displaying is just disproportionate to that issue. Some people wrote us and said that we should reconsider using the name, and we listened and appreciated the opinion and considered all of it. In the end, we're going to go out and play our songs that we wrote with Shannon, and it's going to be weird and emotional and all that. To do it under another name just seems pointless to us. We would be our own cover band. If there's some other issue that you have...I don't know. Get this through your thick fucking skull....the world is not black and white, and people make mistakes and learn from them and hopefully change for the better. I've always acknowledged that we made mistakes in how we dealt with Shannon (listen up hoon1234). Keep in mind you're talking about a bunch of 23-24 year old fuckups to begin with. Hindsight is a bitch, ain't it. But as the old cliche goes...never judge a man until you've walked in his shoes.
To everybody else: I'm sorry to come on here and argue with these people. The last thing I want is to put a bunch of negative stuff on here. If I could call these folks on the phone, I would, but I don't know who they are. I vowed a little while back not to respnd to this stuff, but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't bother me. When somebody questions mine or my bandmates' character, I get pissed. From now on I REALLY am not going to respond to these people. ...unless somebody says some other horrible bullshit. Damn.
see ya soon Rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Feb 11, 2007 13:22:26 GMT -5
Wow...that was some message you left me! I went outside and had a cigarette and when I came back, you were still talking (ha!...kidding). Anyway, I generally turn off the phone at night. The little suckling is getting me up these days at 6 AM, so I'm pretty much toast by 8. Anyway, hope you had a good one....I know these greetings are a day or so late. The new songs....phew!....going to be a good record, we think. Also, Ryan sent me the link to the youtube vid you did (thanks, Ryan!) and that was really cool. Off to the studio to try to write more songs....take care.
sregor snevets.....
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Post by rogersstevens on Jan 27, 2007 1:41:06 GMT -5
Hi All
Tracking is going great...we're doing 8 new songs that we really like on this session and then another 10-12 next month. We're planning to do 2 albums in this period before April. We'll release 1 and then another a few months later (if all is up to par). Meeting with people etc....filming the whole thing with Danny Clinch for some kind of documentary type thing. All is going well in sunny LA (although it was kinda chilly here last week).....more news soon
rogers
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Post by rogersstevens on Jan 16, 2007 11:48:51 GMT -5
you folks are just...... don't know what to say. Very cool.
things going great in the studio...new songs are several steps forward over last month's. I'll try and arrange some pictures from the studio.
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