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1/ Fifteen years ago today, my band Get Him Eat Him released our debut album Geography Cones on the venerable Absolutely Kosher label. It was an unbelievably exciting moment for me, and I'm going to share some memories and highlights in this here thread. https://geth.im/album/geography-cones
2/ Get Him Eat Him formed in Feb 2004 when @therewasaguy booked a show at AS220 and needed to fill out the bill. I was playing drums in his band @lamedrivers and suggested we put together a band to play some of the songs I had written for my high school band The Trolmen.
3/ After that show, we recorded a demo in my dorm room (THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFINITE PATIENCE @jasonli). I had met Cory from Absolutely Kosher earlier in 2004 when I interviewed Charles from @thewrens, and sent Cory a CD-R of this here demo: https://geth.im/album/casual-sex-the-demo
4/ When Cory said he was interested in signing us, I... don't think I believed it at first? There was no way we'd be putting out an album on the same label that put out @thewrens' The Meadowlands, @mountain_goats' The Coroner's Gambit, and had just signed my fave band Frog Eyes.
5/ But... here we were. In summer of 2004, I flew to the Bay Area to sign the contract. On a whim, I emailed @johnvanderslice to say that I'd love to check out Tiny Telephone. He wrote back immediately, told me "there's a pot of coffee on just for you, get in a cab." So I did.
6/ Driving across the country to record seemed like... a lot. But when our initial recording plans fell through, I called JV and we booked 3 days to record and 3 days to mix with Jay Pellicci--with a break in between to open for Arcade Fire at the Great American Music Hall.
7/ I cannot tell you what a dream this all was for me. To sign with Absolutely Kosher, to record at Tiny Telephone, to play at the GAMH (and the Empty Bottle in Chicago on the way home!)
8/ When we got to Tiny Telephone, our keyboard player Raf and I exchanged a look that I will never forget. We both knew how much this meant.
9/ Recording was a challenge. I had a cold and my voice was kinda fucked up. We were nervous and out of practice. But I think that comes through in some interesting ways on a record that is largely about being young, nervous, and unprepared.
10/ The highlight of the record, for me anyhow, is "Mumble Mumble," a song I wrote after a first date at a coffee shop sophomore year of college. https://geth.im/track/mumble-mumble
11/ The vocoder stuff was directly inspired by @victhrill aka Billy Campion from the Bogmen, who had become a mentor/guiding light for me when I was a senior in high school. For your reference/enjoyment:
12/ I do NOT have a lot of vocal range, and vocal effects helped me pull off things I couldn't pull off with my natural voice. That said, the un-affected second verse of "Mumble Mumble" is probably the one vocal line on the record I still feel like I NAILED NAILED NAILED.
13/ Of the "old songs" on Geography Cones (ie, songs from high school) I think "Not Not Nervous" probably turned out best: https://geth.im/track/not-not-nervous
14/ When we first recorded, the intro guitars and my vocals sounded very... tentative. Cory heard this in the roughs, and suggested that I go back to Tiny Telephone that spring to re-track and re-mix. He was right. The version that wound up on the record is MUCH stronger.
15/ "One Word" is another highlight for me. I started writing this one when we found out we'd be opening for @thewrens in September of 2004. We practiced it a LOT that summer (at Funkadelic Rehearsal Studios!!!) and it got better and better and better. https://geth.im/track/one-word
16/ I wrote most of the lyrics in a cab on 1st Ave in NYC, noticing that a bunch of businesses were called "Ideal [Business]". IIRC I was headed back to my mom's house after going to a pirate radio party in Williamsburg where I felt very uncool and out of place (2004, y'all!)
17/ Listening back now, I think "Shirt Like a Couch" (another high school song) actually came out great. A family friend of our keyboard player added some saxophone that I... just unabashedly love. And @joeposner's bass runs at the end are A+++. https://geth.im/track/shirt-like-a-couch
18/ This is some deep nerd shit BUT the distorted drawn out "SSSSSSSS" noise at the end of the bridge is a direct nod to "The Guard Attacks" by Chavez, which is a perfect song:
19/ (For the [checks notes] none of you asking, yes, "Shirt Like a Couch" is about an actual shirt I owned in high school. I purchased it at Daffy's, and it did in fact look like it was made of 70s couch material.)
20/ The highlight of the actual recording session was probably the outro of "Metal Splinters". It was one of the last songs we recorded, and we had really hit our stride by that point. No overdubs, as I recall. https://geth.im/track/metal-splinters
21/ A short while after that spring re-recording session, we received a CD of the master. We listened to it together in somebody's dorm room, and I think we were all floored by the simple fact that we had... made... an album. A real album! That was going to be released!
22/ When the album was actually released, we were in the midst of our first full US tour. That tour had many highlights, but the highlight-among-highlights for me was the day of our first PDX show at Holocene/afternoon in-store at Jackpot!
23/ Looking back on it all, I am just incredibly grateful that we got to have the experience of being a band, touring, putting out records. If anybody happens to have any questions about this record, I would love to hear 'em. THANK YOU AND ENJOY YOUR SUNDAY!!
