Nice guitar. Plays very well. Not too keen on the quality of the pots. And I hate the aftermarket lugnut knobs, but have yet to get new proper ones.
Archive for the General Category
The Gecko’s Parts-built Fender Esquire
Posted in General on August 29, 2011 by MattAlthough the war-scars don’t show here (they’re, strangely enough, mostly on the back), it’s starting to look worn in. Updated with Joe Barden compensated brass saddles and vintage 60s Reissue tuning machines.
I’m also planning to customize the headstock decal eventually.
New Music?
Posted in General on April 6, 2011 by MattDear Lizard Fans:
If you are one of our Facebook fans, you’ll probably know that Lizards From Afar soldiers on in the new “dynamic duo” era of the Gecko and Sir Pent. We’ve released several new songs, including my favorite, “Monster Truck,” on Reverbnation. Please visit our site there and download our tunes as always entirely for free. Sure, lots of bands can’t afford to give it away like us, but we’re here only to enjoy the music.
In big LFA news, Sir Pent has completed the lyrics to a fascinating concept album and I’m working on the music. Yes, we’re going to pull a Green Day: a power-punk-concept-collection. It had to be done, didn’t it? No work on a completion date, though, so don’t get all breathless waiting for it. We’re hoping to drag the other Lizards out from under their respective rocks to participate, though.
Eldred Modification to My Esquire
Posted in General on January 31, 2011 by MattYeah, I’m going to try it out.
Here’s the mess of wiring that I’ve got to figure out which doodad to remove and which thingy to add and where.
Ignore the socks.
Update 3 Feb: After a dark cold night of soldering in the basement after everyone else was in bed, the mod works perfectly. Awesome! Now my Esquire is even cooler than it was (which is really saying something).
Sooicyde Soozie?
Posted in General on January 23, 2011 by MattWow, over three months since I’ve visited our own blog.
Cool stuff does occasionally happen for Lizards From Afar, including the release of some newer songs, including this one called Sooicyde Soozie:
Lyrics by Sir Pent, music by me. It’s sort of British New Wave in style and I dig it. Enjoy. There aren’t many of us still active as Lizards, but this music is pure LFA.
The Gecko is the Trent Reznor of Lizards From Afar
Posted in General on October 18, 2010 by MattWhat happens in Lizardom? Although silly new “social networking” technology allows us always to stay “in touch,” the Lizards have almost entirely gone their separate ways. But I keep on pumping out new songs, working through the incredible backlog of lyrics sent to me by Gator and Sir Pent. Some of these songs may yet see the light of day, and some are even good. The big problem is that the only Lizard available to do vocals is… well, me. If it’s a loud punk song, it’s not so bad. If it’s a song that actually requires singing, the results are often not so fortunate.
But Chopper Newt wrote, after apparently hearing my last demo, “the Gecko is the Trent Reznor of Lizards From Afar.”
I’m keeping the flame burning.
Why Aren’t Lizards From Afar on Wikipedia?
Posted in General on July 25, 2010 by MattIsn’t it now time? Other bands of less importance than us in the development of a unique rock sound have wikipedia pages. We should have one.
New Song: WESTWARD
Posted in General, Music with tags garage band, hot sex monkey, independent music, indie, indie music, Lizards from Afar, Rock, True Independent Music, West, Westward on May 14, 2010 by Sir PentBack almost 20 years ago when LIZARDS FROM AFAR were a college band, my friend Chopper Newt was our main songwriter. We all wrote songs, but Chopper had a style that was definitely more advanced and mature than the rest of us. So most of the songs we did were written, co-written, or in some way tweaked by him. You think that would’ve made the rest of us angry, but the truth is that we all clearly understood that his stuff was just better than ours. (Gator may disagree…either way, I was a distant 5th.)
When we got back together 3 years ago to try virtual recording online, Chris didn’t want to write songs. He seemed content (enough) to sing, play guitar and mix the music. This was good news for me because we ended up doing a lot of songs I wrote. I never stopped bugging him to write something, though.
Sometime late in 2009, Chopper sent out an email title “Inspiration Struck”. Enclosed were lyrics to a proposed suite of music. Three songs that were unique, but worked together musically and narratively to tell a bigger story. At first I wasn’t knocked out by what I read because I didn’t understand what the lyrics meant. (What that means is that I felt stupid and inadequate.) A few months later he sent us the music and I no longer cared that I didn’t understand the lyrics because it was just cool.
So, give Westward a chance. It’s a pretty ambitious undertaking for us and I’m very happy with how it turned out.
Also, if you think you know what it all means, please tell me because Chopper will not. (Seriously.)
New Song: I HATE EVERYBODY
Posted in General, Music with tags hate, home recording, hot carl, Indy, indy music, Music on May 4, 2010 by Sir PentOne of the last new songs you will be hearing from the current configuration of LIZARDS FROM AFAR is here and ready for your enjoyment. It’s called I HATE EVERYBODY. It’s an ode to the guy who thinks life has dropped the proverbial hot carl on the chest of his existence. Everything sucks and everyone annoys him.
The Gecko was generous enough to compose some music for it after some prompting. I was forced to sing lead vocals by default of the there not being a real singer available at the time. (I showed them all and sang my frakken ass off!) Then we could barely stop Chopper Newt from adding some bass and backing vocals!
So go ahead and give it a listen here!
http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2633919
As always, we’d love you to download it to play on your Sony Walkmans and what-nots. Just make sure you come back here and tell how great we are!
Sir Pent
Mid-life Crisis Rockers…. No, not LFA, Kurth & Taylor
Posted in General on April 2, 2010 by MattWhen I saw this video, I had to laugh. Of course, LFA never even took rock’n'roll this seriously. We were slackers from the beginning. Still, even in laughter, I found it rather depressing.
