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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Breaking Down "Smash Smash Bang" Part 2.

The second song on the EP is called "Planes Down." It was the second song we recorded, too. It is a very simple song both musically and idea-wise.

The music was created with me, Sentence, and Stine in the studio. I had wanted to make a hip-hop song that had drums like the song "Dance to the Music" by Sly and the Family Stone because I had never heard a hip-hop song with those drums -- constant four-on-the-floor kick and snare.

So, Stine programmed the drums and I picked up the guitar and played the most silly, simple little guitar line of all time. Stine put some fuzz bass underneath it (I don't know if heads have caught on yet, but Metermaids digs us some fuzz bass), and then he played the organ part, which in my opinion, makes the song. That organ is screaming. It was Sentence's idea to cut the organ short so that it leaves the last two bars without.

Also, the cool little build in the beginning of the song is Stine playing some weird chord really hard and fading it in.

In the end, Stine had the mighty Andrew Mclean come in and lay down some live drums for this song too, which made everything sound a lot better. Because Andrew is incredible.

Even though the concept behind the song is simple, I don't feel the need to talk about it. Suffice to say, "Planes Down" was wholly inspired by Bernie Madoff.

Here are the lyrics:

Put your fingers in the sky like BANG
Shoot all the planes down
Shoot all the planes down
Shoot all the planes down

It's the real thing, its the live ammo
Carve the message with a key in the side pannel
Its a waste land, it's a salt flat
Burn it all down now, paint it all black

Raise your elbow. Lower your eyebrow.
Tell the pretty city kids they better get inside now.
What up Bernie? How'd your summer go?
We've been wondering a long time when you'd be coming home.

Do what you want, break what you feel like
There's no rules no more, there's no real life
I'm gonna throw down, start something
I'm taking what I want 'cause it's unlocked and the car's running

We came through to bum-rush your building.
We want to know what the inside is like.
So if you're a studio set living cat then duck your shit because it ain't your night.

Put your fingers in the sky like BANG
Shoot all the planes down
Shoot all the planes down
Shoot all the planes down

We're not bad people. We're just waking up.
Figured you had taken about enough and we could shake it up.
So I'm the boss now. I make moves.
It's the take money, take over, take two.

You can get it if you think that it's yours
No one's gonna notice anything any more
Blank check bankroll, I ain't giving nothing back
Finance the high balls, white walls and knuckle tats

We came through to secure our future.
We want to be just like you.
I could get nice with the math in a spreadsheet.
Fuck it yo. Imma build an empire too.

I'm grabbing everything that I can reach by the neck
Gonna show it what I think, gonna teach it some respect
What did you expect? Metermaids got a posse
What you gonna do about it? Whos gonna stop me?

Put your fingers in the sky like BANG
Shoot all the planes down
Shoot all the planes down
Shoot all the planes down

And here is the song:

<a href="http://music.metermaidsnyc.com/track/planes-down">Planes Down by Metermaids</a>


In case anyone missed it, "Smash Smash Bang" is now available for free at STRANGE FAMOUS RECORDS! because Sage Francis is the fucking man.

Holler.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Breaking Down "Smash Smash Bang" Part 1.

So, we are going to officially release "Smash Smash Bang" this week. It has been a long, long time coming for five songs. Haha. But that's how we work. Expect the big announcement sometime soon.

Anyway.

I thought it might be nice to break down the EP song by song this week -- tell a little bit of how each song was made, what we were thinking about while we were writing it, etc. Not that I think anyone particularly cares about any of this. Mostly I do stuff like this to help myself remember down the line. I was going to start doing this yesterday but I got lazy because it was Monday. Awesome.

The first song on the EP is called "Blackout Baby," and that is where I will start. I thought up the general vibe of the song in the shower. I was thinking of these sharp, violent hits punctuating really quiet, spacious sections. In my head it was a lot more reflexive and bouncy than the song actually turned out.

Sometimes in the studio it will just be me and Stine -- "Turn the Lights Out" was done with just the two of us, for example. But I like it much better when Sentence is there with us too, and that was the case with "Blackout Baby." I always start trying to make things too pretty and major-chordy, but the bottom line is that I am not that good of a musician or songwriter, and it is very hard to write like that and have it not sound like Blink 182 or something. Not to hate on Blink 182. But, you know. Sentence always helps steer it into more raw, aggressive territory, which I think goes much better with how we write.

The music started out with me playing the Rhodes part as the basic melody and framework for the chords. I also played the rhythm guitar. I didn't really play the guitar so much though. Mostly just smacked it. Haha. Stine wrote the music for the second half of the verses, where everything opens up, and he played the arpeggio guitar part for that. He also played the fuzz bass.

Originally, Stine programmed the drums. And these drums that he programmed had a floor-tom sound that, when they hit during the verses, literally shook his apartment. When he emailed me and Sentence the beat to write to he named it whatever frequency the "Brown Note" supposedly is. For the unaware, the "Brown Note" is the frequency that will make you doo-doo in your pants when you hear it. Because we are classy like that.

Stine ended up bringing the mighty Andrew Mclean (who plays drums in our band) to rerecord the drums, though. And Andrew killed it, because that's what he does. Stine has a great little drum set-up in the vocal booth of the studio and actually gets a really great sound out of it, which is a testament to how good of an engineer Stine is. Stine also brought Rodman (who plays guitar in our band) in to fill out the hook sections with some more guitar. When we played the song live Rodman was filling in the gaps in the hook with feedback-y, screaming guitar, and Stine wanted it for the actual song too. So Rodman came in and killed it, because that's what he does.

As far as the writing of the song went, I'm not in to telling people what a song is about -- that's not the point of muuuuuuuuuusic, maaaaaaaaaan.

I will post the lyrics though so people can better figure out what they think it means, if they give a shit at all. Haha. I'm feeling self-conscious today.

Here they are:

There's no picture going to do it any justice.
No Polaroid, 35 millimeter, or a digital snap.
Kodachrome won't capture the moment.
You can't own it. There's no bringing it back.

In fact, you can save on all your video tape.
It's not the same the way the shot crops the frame. This is not just stop drop and aim.

We're taking it from the front to the back.
Side to side. It's time to drive.
Time to ride. So climb inside.
But I'm alive. Say it. I'm alive.
And Imma live every day like it was my first.

Isn't Brooklyn pretty?
The way she holds your fingers to the flames.
She's calling your name in the street but the street doesn't hear your name.

I don't want anybody to touch me.
I've gone where you can't go.
I've seen what you can't see.
I know what you don't know.
I've never been comfortable inside my skin.
But now that I'm inside I'm not going back again.

Blackout, baby.
There's no tomorrow.


Swear to god think I'm destroying something beautiful
Pictures speak a thousand words and I've been speechless with a burning on my lips
Eyes are open less than usual
Done explaining, from now on I'm hoping they just get my drift

Sometimes I wish this skin was mine, get in line, but I'm not into picking sides
Some birds are just too big to fly
Spin the bottle kiss the sky, it's live or die

All or nothing, taste of blood, the hands are shaking, I'm just trying to chase the sun
Now or never, a place to run, I'll pluck the strings, I'll fucking sing, I'll make shit up

Isn't Brooklyn ugly
how she holds your face in your mistakes
Yeah, it's great and the pay's lovely
Don't know what I have but there's nothing left that you can take from me

I've seen what you don't believe in
I was awake and you just slept
I've walked to the place the streets end
Smoke and fear on my breath

I've been what I thought I should be
I've ran through the city at night
I didn't look back once
I lived what I thought was life now

Blackout baby
No Tomorrow
There's no Tomorrow

I hear the music clearly, I taste the nicotene
I feel the buildings close in, I see the city scream
I hear you talk about me, I see your finger shake
I know the pain inside you, I hear the glasses break
I don't regret a second, there's honey in my veins
If there was no tomorrow, I'd keep it all the same
Please don't mistake my smile, cause this is not for you
This is not a place you've been, this is not what you thought you knew

Blackout baby
No Tomorrow
There's no Tomorrow

And, finally, here is the song:

<a href="http://music.metermaidsnyc.com/track/blackout-baby">Blackout Baby by Metermaids</a>

More tomorrow. Hope everyone is well.

Holler.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

"Turn the Lights Out" Video of the Day at AOL Music!

This is a very big deal for us, and we are incredibly excited about it.

You can check it out HERE!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Holler.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Interview I Just Found From Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival.

With our girl Raven from Brooklyn Bodega. She is the absolute shit, and hosts a bunch of dope radio shows / podcasts that everyone should check out. Seriously, Raven plays and supports dope hip hop, on top of being one of the funnest people you could ever hang out with. I got to talk with her a lot more at Rock the Block with Styles. So, yeah. Big shouts to Raven.

Check out: DA LISTENING SESSION

And

BROOKLYN BODEGA RADIO

And here's the interview!



Holler.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Wednesday TV Sucks.

When you have basic cable.

We got the first cut of our video for Matchbooks today from Tim, and it looks really good. We are going to do a little more shooting on Saturday in Williamsburg -- originally we thought it would be a funny little video, but once we saw the first cut we realized it could actually be pretty worthwhile too. What a world!

Also, the trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are" looks really fucking cool. Spike Jonze yo. A while back, when we were on tour and in Spokane, we stayed with our good friend Locke, who also happens to be a dope rapper. He had a video compilation of all the music videos that Spike Jonze had done, and it was incredible. I forgot how incredible the video for "Sabotage" is. Well, remember:

Sabotage



And in the trailer they keep playing that Arcade Fire song "Wake Up" which makes me think of my favorite live performance I've ever seen (on the internet). This video makes me happy to be alive.



We used to want to make music like Arcade Fire. Now we want to make music like The Kinks. Or The Ramones. Something like that. Life is about evolving. Or tempering expectations. Something like that.

Holler.

Monday, September 21, 2009

90's Alternative Rock.

I've been on a big kick of this music recently. Anyone else?

Hum -- Stars



Superdrag -- Ursa Major



Far -- Man Overboard



And, actually, while doing my daily YouTube Music Video watching, I found that Far has reunited and put together the illest cover of Ginuwine's classic song "Pony."

Check this out. It rules --



Anyway, that's what I've been listening to for the past couple days. Am I missing anything here?

Sunday Night Yo!

Ahhhh yes. We filmed a video in Williamsburg today with our homey Tim Young, who directed both:

Funk Terrorist



AND

Feel Alive



We filmed for a song called Matchbooks, which is available on our new EP Smash Smash Bang, which is now available on iTunes!



Go check it out! Let us know what you think! All that good stuff. We have more and more good news and exciting stuff coming down the pike. Fall is a good season, and we are feeling good about where we are at and where we are headed.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Turn the Lights Out Available on iTunes.

Correct, correct.

You can now purchase Turn the Lights Out for under a buck. It's like the Metermaids Dollar Menu.

We are thankful for all the support. More music and news coming soon.

CHECK IT OUT IN THE ITUNES STORE!


Holler.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

"Turn the Lights Out" Featured on Ultimate Guitar.Com!

So, we've always thought of ourselves as the illest rock stars of all time, obviously. But Ultimate-Guitar.Com just featured our video for Turn the Lights Out, and as far as I'm concerned, that pretty much cements us as Aerosmith-level rock stars. Ultimate Guitar son. Not Average Guitar. Not Best Guitar. We are talking ultimate here. Ultimate son!

Anyway, we thank them for showing us love.

You can check out the link HERE!

Holler.

Monday, September 14, 2009

RIP Swayze.

What a year 2009 has been. So sad. Jim Carroll too.

Anyway, I've been trying recently to find the silver lining. In this particular case, my silver lining is that Road House is the illest movie of all time.



Holler.

Friday, September 11, 2009

So, live we have been doing a rendition of Sentence's song "Two Rows of Teeth" set to "Thriller."

Sentence has actually been doing verses over Thriller for like five years or something -- so as to the blogger's insinuating that we somehow are jumping on the MJ-Tribute-Band-Wagon, as Sentence says in the song, "No Dice." Not that he would have any reason to not think we were doing just that. No harm, no foul.

Anyway, you can listen and download a live version of us doing this song at Southpaw at the Rock the Block Festival with Styles P HERE!

And this is what we looked like performing it on that very night! Hiyo! The internet is amazing!



Hope you dig.

Metermaids.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Off to Cali.

I'm heading to Cali for the rest of the week. Metermaids made some moves today. Things are looking good. I won't be blogging for the rest of the week. I'll pretend that that really affects anyone's life.

Chyeah!

Biggie Going Back to Cali



Have a good Labor Day Weekend everyone.

See you all on Monday.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Nightlife in Illinoise Now On Our BandCamp Site.

Our mash-up of our album Nightlife with Sufjan Stevens' album Illinoise, which we brilliantly called, "Nightlife in Illinoise," got us coverage on Spin.Com and Wired.Com, and into the pages of the Village Voice and Playboy. It has been downloaded over 10,000 times since December, and has been a big hit on Last.FM

Sentence did the cool-ass cover. It looks like this:



Anyway, it is now available (along with all of our other music) at music.metermaidsnyc.com.

We also got the absolute final mixes for Smash Smash Bang today. It is done! Finally! It's original release date was June 15th. Niiiiiiiiiice. Anyway, it sounds fucking ridiculous. Five songs, fifteen minutes total. We should be releasing the first single in the next week or two. So get ready. We hope everyone digs.

Another big conference call tomorrow. I love conference calls. Exciting things always happen on conference calls. At least for us they do. I don't know about dudes who work for Goldman Sachs or whatever.

More news soon.