NEW SONG: Special Boy (aka A Paean To My Extreme Self Loathing)

Posted in General, Music with tags , , , , on July 29, 2009 by Matt

Some months ago, never mind how many, this little lyric showed up in my inbox from our one-time bassist, Gator, who long sinced put his bass guitar in mothballs in order better to focus on wordsmithing. “For consideration only,” he wrote at the bottom of the missive, but I liked it. And I was looking for a lyric around which to craft a fast punk tune. This was it. Which of us wasn’t a “special boy,” i.e., a pathetic loser made to feel special by his mother? I liked that Gator was just bringing it all out into the open for mockery and contempt. It was like spitting in our own faces–and we deserved it, too.

Soon I had composed a very fast guitar part and bass line. I “sang” this one, too, as it was perfect for my voice (I have a propensity for speaking very quickly). After months of waiting, I finally received an incredible drum track from Sir Pent, and just recently our friend, the punk rocker Gordon Bazsali of the South Korean punk band Cuttlefish (www.reverbnation.com/cuttlefish) composed a thoroughly perfect guitar solo. In short, I love this song!

Listen and download the 160 kbps mp3 on our Reverbnation site.

And, voila, the lyrics (if I’m yelling them too quickly for you to catch):

He’s got time to kill and time to waste
Got a room with a view and an office space
Got two hundred friends on the internet
Sure he’s meant for something, he just hasn’t started yet

He’s a special little snowflake and there’s nobody like him
Writes poems hoping publishers will find them
A boy of destiny don’t make any plans
Dropped out of art school ’cause they couldn’t
understand that

He’s a special boy (He’s one of a kind)
He’s a special boy (He’s gonna blow your mind)
He’s a special boy (He’s mama’s favorite)
He’s a special boy (Who hasn’t grown up yet)

Sleeps in every day ’cause he’s a sensitive soul
Too cool for emo, too depressed for rock and roll
Sits in coffeeshops writing out longhand sestinas
That he leaves them on the table for his favorite barristas

Drinks absinthe from the bottle like great artistsdid
Owns a cool guitar but hasn’t got any gigs
Keeps a “secret journal” he wants everyone to read
To understand his “secret pain” and know his “special needs”

He’s a special boy (He’s one of a kind)
He’s a special boy (He’s gonna blow your mind)
He’s a special boy (He’s mama’s favorite)
He’s a special boy (Who hasn’t grown up yet)

He’s a special boy (He’s one of a kind)
He’s a special boy (He’s gonna blow your mind)
He’s a special boy (He’s mama’s favorite)
He’s a special boy (Who hasn’t grown up yet)

He’s got two hundred friends on the internet
He’s sure he’s made for something, he just hasn’t started yet
He’s a special little flower in his mama’s precious vase,
And he’s just another god damned little waste.

**

(optional fourth verse replacement before the solo:
spoken word dialogue. We’d need a girl with the vroom,
though.)

“So … what are you writing?”
“Oh, it’s not much, it’s just a little … you know …”
“Is it a poem?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s, you know, like, a song.”
“Oh yeah? You play guitar, huh?”
“Oh, No, no … no.”
“Then why are you writing songs?”
*beat*
“Can I have a refill on my soy latte?”

VEGAS, BABY

Posted in General with tags , , , on July 19, 2009 by choppernewt
4805_1166940607627_1051261217_30528914_4174174_n

Winna Winna, Chicken Dinna

An LFA fan in the land of the Rat Pack.  Luck will follow.

Amplified Again At Last!

Posted in General with tags , , , , on July 10, 2009 by Matt

Recently when not working on my writing, grant application, or the new house, instead of recording music as I usually do, I’ve been jamming on my new amplifier, a Vox AC4tv. Here it is with my Fender Esquire (built by me from mostly American parts):

DSCF5807

I picked this little hottie up when it was only three days out of the store from a guy who decided it was too loud for his guitar room. I can attest to the fact that it must be the loudest 4 watt amp I’ve ever heard. I wanted a tube amp with that Vox chime, but affordable and capable of home use. Well, I guess I can use it at home. So long as nobody else is at home. The AC4tv has only three knobs: volume (the more you crank it, the more it overdrives the tubes), a tone knob (crank it up and you get something like the Vox top boost chime), and a power attenuator (set for 4, 1, or 1/4 watts). At 1/4 watts the amp is loud enough at full volume to bug the hell out of my wife and make my daughter clap her hands over her ears. At 4 watts, however, it has the unmistakable jangle of a much bigger Vox and veritably shakes the walls. Certainly I can use this amp for small gigs, if the need arises (hopefully). It doesn’t have the power or “fullness” of my Ampeg from long ago, but that one was 20 watts (or so, who the hell knows) with a massive 15″ Jenson speaker. I could barely turn it up all the way and stand in the same building. I wish to hell I hadn’t gotten rid of it…. But this little Vox with its 10″ Celestion custom speaker nearly makes up for it. I’ll never get rid of it, unless it’s to trade up to an AC15… and even then, the AC15 isn’t as cute as this little cream tolex baby…

So now my project is to relocate my old effects pedals. As one can see from the picture, I have my mid 1980s Ibanez DML modulation delay. This pedal has an amazing sound. It saved the day back when I was using a crappy solidstate Washburn amp in college, providing a rich, warm depth to the tone, especially as I set it up with just a teensy bit of modulation. Through the Vox the result is absolutely heavenly. I thought it didn’t work when I first put a new battery in it, but with a little bit of fiddling, everything is back to the way it was 20 year ago!

I have no idea, however, what happend to my Ibanez SC10 Stereo Chorus or my MS10 Metal Charger. I can live without the MS10 if need be (the Vox overdrives on its own wonderfully), but I don’t want to. That little beast also contributed to its share of salvation back in the solid state days: it provided rich, deep, tube-like distortion at almost any level I wanted, making my little Washburn (which also had a 10″ speaker) sound almost like a tube amp. I do remember it failed on me once: at my solo for “Funk This College Life” during a gig at some bar (forget the name), it shorted out. If I do find it, I’ll have to open it up to see where the short is, because I never fixed it.

The SC10 is a must have, however. It provided the nicest, richest chorus any old style guitarist could want. If I can’t find it, I’ll have to search ebay… when I have some money again.

Once the past has been shorn up, of course, it will be time for a tremolo pedal, flanger, reverb….

Update: Did find a great deal on a TS9 today: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31SZs0Jcr4L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Poster Child on the D&M Show

Posted in Music with tags , , , , on July 9, 2009 by Matt

I keep trying to find time to play this podcast, but what with…. well, you know, all the shit we all have to do all the time (everyone I know is as busy as he or she can possibly comprehend being)… I just haven’t yet found the time. But the guys at D&M have played “Poster Child,” a tune from Gator’s “Wasted Youth” punk cycle. I just love the tune and it is obviously in good company in this podcast, what with tunes like “Punks Not Dead” (or is it “Dad”?) by the “We are the Dads.”

So, hop on over to their website and give it a listen, dear fans, and let us know if they say anything good about our song. Personally, I’m going to put the podcast on my iPod and listen in the car as I do errands today.

Dynamic Metrosexual

Click here to subscribe to The D and M Show podcast

New Song: Outside

Posted in General with tags , , on June 27, 2009 by Matt

UPDATE 2 July 2009: New (and better) mix of “Outside” with new (and better) drum track by Sir Pent. Yeah!

What with all the other vagaries of life, we here at LFA haven’t had much time for band stuff, but there are several new tunes working their way down the pipeline. Some months ago I received a lyric from Sir Pent that caught my attention: it was entitlted “Outside.” I won’t go into interpretations of the lyric right now, but it spoke to me, so I decided to compose some music. This was during the height of the Chopper Newt hiatus, so I looked for no collaboration regarding music or vocals from him. As a result, the song is totally my musical composition, recording, and singing. Sir Pent did a nice drum track for it, but then I took it, rearranged, and manipulated it so it would suit my purposes.

Singing the song gave me renewed confidence in my own unique voice. As a result, several of the new songs will feature the Gecko’s vocals.

For the curious, here is a picture of my “workstation” with Outside on the screen:

outside

Check it out on our Reverbnation page: www.reverbnation.com/lizardsfromafar

Or click HERE.

202330 on TSM Radio show MOBRULE #11

Posted in General, Music with tags , , , , , , , on June 9, 2009 by Sir Pent

OK. This is a little late, I admit. This week is getting away from me a little bit. (What with life and all.) That is no excuse to ignore cool news like this, though. The most kick-assing song from the pen of Gator…202330…has found another spin. Ali, Emma & Paul burn up the podwaves with lots of great tunes. These guys sound like they’re having a great time…and drinking is an important part of their lives. They also admit that 202330 rocks.

Give it a listen here:
http://www.thesunmachine.net/radiomedia/podcasts/mobrule/mobrule11.mp3

Check out TSM Radio and all of the cool shows here:
http://www.tsmradio.net/

Thanks guys for giving us a shot!
Sir Pent

David Carradine RIP

Posted in General on June 8, 2009 by Matt

Although this has nothing immediately to do with Lizards From Afar, I imagine all of us Lizards were fans of Carradine, at least from Kung Fu up to Kill Bill. Just heard that he died in Thailand on 3 June. They say he died an epic death. He was only 72 years old and I was looking forward to seeing him in at least a dozen more crazy films…. Goodbye Grasshopper.

Here’s the wikipedia article

Lizards From Afar on The Night Guy 103 podcast

Posted in General, Music with tags , , , , , on June 7, 2009 by Sir Pent

Here’s an interesting one. Guy David is your run of the mill Renaissance man, he writes, makes music, works, does podcasts…just a ton of stuff. I friended him up several months ago. I stop by his site regularly to see and hear what he’s up to. (You should too.)

This week Guy was asking for suggestions on music to play on his show. The opportunist in me could not pass up the opportunity. I suggested us. And guess what? He played us. Not only that…but LOTS of us on episode 103: Your Avatar Goes To Work.

  1. Poster Child
  2. Giant Robot
  3. 202330
  4. Block Party

I’m going to go over and listen to it now. Here:
http://pod.icast.co.il/Media/Index/Files/83ee5e1d-c92f-4d50-a0b7-5b424d351df0.icast.mp3

Check out The Night Guy anytime here:
http://nightguy.guydavid.com/

Thanks for the play Guy!!
Sir Pent

LFA News … And pictures!

Posted in General with tags , , , , , , on May 19, 2009 by Matt

While Sir Pent and I proceed to work on what will probably be some sort of EP release that I have entitled “Copyright Is For Losers” (although that title is contested, I believe), Chopper Newt has been in occultation apparently working on an LFA concept album. I mean, if Green Day can do it, why can’t we? Without a doubt we are cooler than Green Day. Poorer, too. I have no idea what the Newtski is really doing, but he revealed some of new lyrics last eve and I was suitably impressed by their po-mo stream of consciousness style.

Meanwhile, the Newt is going to sing on our next single “Dance Theodora,” since he apparently liked my punk-pop composition. At least two more tunes are in works that I think will see the light of day soon, too.

Also meanwhile, I’ve been saying goodbye (temporarily since I’ll be back next month, and then again probably next year) to New York City. I’m not sure LFA can survive without a presence in Brooklyn, so I’m keeping the address.

Here’s new DUMBO graffito that I found quite appropriate:

lifebackThat’s what I’ve been thinking all month…

Here’s the Manhattan Bridge this morning:

manbridgeDamn nice morning it was, too.

Here’s my favorite Brooklyn Mexican joint:

pedros

And here’s the Gecko last eve after a few beers playing his brother-in-law’s classical guitar (I tried to steal this guitar, which sounds really nice, but was caught. Now it has to stay in Brooklyn when I emigrate back to Ohio for the year. Boo.):

classicalgecko

A few more…

Here’s the Brooklyn Bridge in the morning sun:

Brookbridge

The Brooklyn Naval Yard (What you see from my apartment when you look away from Manhattan. Not quite so awe-inspiring.)

navalyard

I should mention we have two cats here: the mother is named Navy and the kitten is named Yard. I didn’t pick out the names.

Here’s New Jersey as seen from an airplane where it’s much more impressive:

NJ

And finally, some nice irises for a touch of blue:

iris

Lizard Fans in Lizard Gear

Posted in Blogroll, General, Music with tags , , on May 11, 2009 by Sir Pent

Lizards From Afar have the best logo ever designed by man. So good, in fact, that it needed to put in t-shirt form. Our bestest friends and fans had to have one, so we made that happen. We were repaid with awesome pics of the t-shirts in action.

Enjoy!

Edit:  Added a new fan pic from Seattle.  Thanks, anonymous Seattle fan!