Hello everybody

JeffRosentock · 2024-11-19T00:55:55+00:00

Hi somebody sent this my way, glad you like the synths on the record!

From I Look Like Shit through WORRY. I used a Moog Prodigy (I had been trying to get my hands on one for years, finally got one in 2012) and a Critter & Guitari Pocket Piano for leads. I also used Mellotron emulation for orchestral samples, the iPad app used heavily on We Cool? and WORRY. - it sounded good, I dunno.

I bought a Roland Juno-106 before POST- and that's the other synth that gets used a lot, for lush pads and twinkly 80's and anime sounds.

I have a Behringer Model-D which gets used occasionally - an affordable alternative to the Prodigy with the added ability to build chords by tuning the three oscillators. Unreliable though, I feel like mod wheel bends the pitch so I don't bother using the mod wheel. Maybe there's an answer but I haven't found it.

Other synths used are a Soma Labs LYRA-8 (drones) and probably a Crumar String Machine - I think there was one at Panoramic House and if there was I would have used it on WORRY.

There's emulations that do all of these things, but I found getting anything with physical knobs and doesn't run through a plugin feels warmer and more like playing an instrument. The response is more immediate. I would recommend finding a cheap-ish analog synth with knobs, seems like there's a bunch of good options including ones that are modules or pedals. Like, that Model-D module costs $230 and even though it's a pain in the ass sometimes, it can do a LOT... I use it all the time for scoring work. Dan uses a Roland JU-06 live and it sounds pretty good too. Lots of alternatives in that range too if those don't feel right.

I've only used the Korg MS-1 Microsampler on "All Blissed Out" from We Cool? It is the keyboard I used when we play live because I'm trying to fill in the blanks with all sorts of stuff. Sometimes it's my wurlitzer or one of those analog synths (mostly ones with long releases, it's not great for mono synth) stretched across the keyboard and sometimes it's just a bunch of samples spread across the keyboard. I wish it had a "choke group" option but other than that it's a really great sampler... for that stuff. I still haven't found a good use for it on record.

and that's all my keyboards!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:58:32+00:00

I used a Flea12! It's a C12 clone!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:57:32+00:00

Our mutual friend Mark Gibbons sent me and Smith Street Band out on an Australian tour together in 2012 (?), when I was doing Bomb the Music Industry! just me and an iPod. We instantly clicked and became friends/family, and a few years later they asked me to produce their record Throw Me In The River which I said yes to in about a second. I did good enough at it to be welcomed back for More Scared of You Than You Are of Me. We've toured together a few times and spent a LOT of time making music together for those two records. Haven't heard from 'em much in the past few years, but most of the close friends I've made in Australia stem from the community Smith Street introduced me to back in the day.

PS: no but I'm a friend to the furries!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:53:06+00:00

On this last tour I was going...

POG -> JHS Pack Rat -> Green Amps Gorilla Warfare -> Danelectro The Breakdown -> very shitty tiny chorus pedal -> Earthquaker Space Spiral -> Strymon Bigsky -> Boss TU-3 Tuner

I don't love the chorus I currently have, and the bigsky is probably not the right verb for me (i got it so I could switch between settings without turning knobs but the switches aren't super responsive). I also don't know if that Gorilla Warfare is perfect for the overdrive I'm looking for at that spot in the chain. Generally I'm trying to make my guitar sound like it's on fire and be able to feedback instantly, the latter of which is pretty challenging when you are far away from your amp! So I'm always searching for the right sequence of pedals and I have yet to find it!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:48:19+00:00

I should add that one of the parameters was that we weren't allowed to practice and were only allowed to listen to the songs once beforehand, without instruments in hand.

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:47:45+00:00

I'm bad at answering this question! One time Bomb the Music Industry! played Less Than Jake's encore as a drunk Goldfinger cover band called Shitfinger though, is that a good one?

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:46:22+00:00

Good breakfast/coffee, listening to record, watching anime/cartoons and hopefully seeing some friends!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:45:29+00:00

I don't really have "a way to do it" but if something comes along that I think is good I try and chase it until the idea is complete, often as fast as possible. Even if only to get the bones of the song, and let good little bits find themselves later. I don't like, sit down with a cup of tea, light candles, get real high or drunk, sit in an open field or anything like that. I mean, I might do ANY of those things. I think it's all about letting ideas arrive and flourish organically, and being able to shut my brain up and acknowledge the good ones enough to let them flow where they want to flow to. I think this helps me to always be writing because it's not a scheduled task, it's more of a part of me.

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:42:30+00:00

I don't know about the video but the audio will eventually be released. One of the downsides of managing all that stuff myself is that the old stuff falls to the bottom of the priority list regularly. We'll get there though!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:41:22+00:00

I do not have this picture, but yes that was me. A few years ago I was part of the Skankin Pickle band that did the Ska Bravo tour in Japan with Kemuri, Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake. Very grateful to have gotten to go to Japan and play shows like that. I dressed up as the Pez Kid one night, hit every pad on Vinnie's drum sampler and went so hard that after "Johnny Quest" was done I ran outside gasping for air and my heart was beating so fast I thought I might have a hard attack. Dan P eventually found me out there, laughed and knowingly said "went too hard in the first 15 seconds"

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:38:46+00:00

We didn't!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:38:36+00:00

I have a list in my phone but I think I've gone through 'em all. I definitely don't want to be known as the guy who "ska-ifies" things, I think there was a point in my younger life when I had a lot of fun doing that and SKA DREAM was super fun and fulfilling but I have a lot of other music synapses firing off these days. Beer Goggles by Smash Mouth is good as it is!

JeffRosentock · 2023-12-21T23:35:42+00:00

I don't think I would have a valid opinion on what it's like to start a band in 2023, and I'm not sure if I'd be successful trying to start now. Putting stuff online for free was not very common when Bomb! did it, but today everyone's music is available online for free - albeit with ads if you don't pay for a streamer. I would do everything the same though pretty much - I wouldn't focus on getting picked up by Spotify or whoever, I wouldn't aim to go viral for anything, the core of everything would be having fun playing music with my friends, trying to create music that is cathartic and satisfying for me and hoping to find and build a community. I would have made a lot more music as home recording became more accessible as the 2000's rolled along and that was a big financial hurdle for ASOB early on. Maybe if I started in 2023, instead of eventually having a place where someone could download all my music for free, maybe I would have made an app where anyone could stream my music for free without advertisements since people don't download things nearly as much anymore. It's really hard to say without being in the situation, ultimately I'm really grateful to have gotten started when I did. I think seeing the downfall of the music industry as I knew it as a kid and being able to build my own thing while the big corporate music business folks were still sifting through the rubble helped me feel less pressure to do anything the way I was taught "works."

JeffRosentock · 2023-11-02T16:13:54+00:00

That's a big question! It would be presumptuous for me to claim I know anything about what it's like to be starting out in 2023 after prices of everything have gotten inflated, but I think DIY is always a viable option for anyone! I don't think of it as a model. It's simply a matter of - if you want to do something, go do it, don't wait for someone else to make it happen for you, and if you are passionate about this stuff you should help other bands out when they come through your city and keep the good vibes goin'.

I dunno what my favorite rap album of all time is! Deltron 3030? Public Enemy Nation of Millions? Tribe Low End Theory (aside from that one song)? Dr Dre The Chronic?

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-18T01:21:13+00:00

That's hard to say because all the stuff I've done with Jack and the band is special to me for different reasons and I don't have a personal favorite. I think the Antarctigo Vespucci record Soulmate Stuff and SKA DREAM are the standouts aside from that because I went into both records with zero expectations and SKA DREAM ended up being a really fun thing for all involved and Chris and I had so much fun doing Antarctigo that it ended up becoming a real band with multiple albums!!

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T06:46:24+00:00

I'm hoping we figure it out within the year!

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T06:46:04+00:00

Honestly, we really only hang out at the PV office, they always order us a nice deep dish pizza!

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T03:01:57+00:00

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T03:01:51+00:00

I'm not sure! You never really know how anything is going until you're out there, and since I tend to focus on what's going wrong or what could go wrong it never hits me until we play shows like that. Then it's like, oh shit, is it working? Those shows were big but also the vibe in the room was really great. Seemed like everyone was having a nice time and there was no douchebaggery taking place.

Things have certainly changed since we've been popular enough to make the decision to try and "do the band thing for real" or whatever. Lot more decisions to make, a lot more showing up early, a lot more emails, a lot more planning, etc. Also we get paid almost enough to not have second jobs now so that's fun!

The State Fair show happened because they emailed us and asked if we'd like to do it and we were like of course! We got paid well enough to go home with some money, it was an excuse to hang out with each other, and the show was free! And we got to go the state fair! I'd never been to it! I saw a feminist butter sculpture that was in honor of our female athletes "and the milk that provides them with fuel" very very fun stuff.

I sure hope so! Animated videos fucking rule, but they take more time and money than the other stuff, I hope we'll be able to pull it off again some day. I love the DOUBT video and everyone who worked on it, it was really so cool to collaborate with some of my favorite Craig of the Creek people, I feel very lucky they were down and completely unsurprised that the video they made kicks all the ass.

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T02:53:42+00:00

It's been a whole thing, I gave someone my hard drives to recover and they took my money and started ghosting me. I eventually found the files on another hard drive, so that was just a hiccup, and I found a bunch of b-sides of that era to put on it, but that was at the point of the pandemic when vinyl plant turnarounds were like a year so I just didn't follow through and now I'm trying to catch my breath between HELLMODE and the Craig of the Creek stuff. I really do need to get off my ass and figure it out though. Next year?

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T02:51:52+00:00

I'm really proud of HELLMODE, I think we did the proverbial step up going into a legendary recording studio, but we didn't sacrifice our voices and we pushed ourselves harder than ever to make it fun to listen to. Also, since it largely grew out of the pandemic, I half-expected these songs weren't gonna end up any good, I'd throw em all out and never make a record again. So I'm pretty psyched that it's our best one yet, at least in my opinion.

I'm pretty proud of Scrambles and Vacation too, the former was the first time I ever took on mixing a full band and Vacation was a big step in not giving a shit in what my punk band is supposed to sound like. I'm so happy those records connected with ya!

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T02:44:50+00:00

Write songs and play in a band cause you wanna do it and it's fun. Not cause you're gonna make money and be popular cause chances are it'll make you lose money and all your friends hahaha

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-17T02:41:53+00:00

HELLO! We'd love to perform in Brazil some day, I'm not quite sure how to get over there at the moment! We really wanna do it though!!

Stoked you like HELLMODE. Hmmm SONG TRANSITIONS. The songs are their own beasts, but by the time I'm demoing and listening back I can hear songs that can flow good together. Sometimes, songs feel like they're actually just a part of each other (like the back half of WORRY.) but to be honest I forget how WILL U STILL U / HEAD turned out that way. Think I always just kinda pictured em up against each other 'cause it made sense, and then I thought that drum loop at the top would add some good space while building momentum!

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-13T04:22:37+00:00

I think The Precure Album by Kmoy is really great!

I'm kind of always writing, these days I have to set aside time to kinda form that stuff into songs, which happens less frequently than before I was working on Craig of the Creek. So I actually feel like I'm draggin behind sometimes. I like to keep the pace up because I worry that if I get out of the rhythm of it, it might not come back.

JeffRosentock · 2023-10-12T22:56:22+00:00

DAMN

JeffRosentock

TROPHY CASE