Eddie Munizich - lyrics/lead vocal
John Roshell - music/guitar/backing vocal

Brittle Tree

Eddie Munizich - lyrics/lead vocal
John Roshell - music/guitars/bass/backing vocals
Stone Roshell - drums

Trivial background history: This song took about three attempts to record. First Stone played drums along with our acoustic demo, which it turned out changed tempos all over the place. And when a drummer tells you it's changing tempos, it must be pretty bad! HA! Drummer jokes are the best. So Stone and I started over, recording each section to a click, which I copied and pasted around and layered the guitars over. But despite my best efforts at rocking the Les Pauls through the (virtual) Marshalls, the result was just…lifeless. So I lured Stone back out to the garage -- a year later at this point -- where he took one listen, played straight through and simply NAILED it. What a kid. If I ever said anything bad about drummers, I didn't mean it. 

Particles - Agile Strum - Beast

Eddie Munizich - lyrics/lead vocal
John Roshell - music/guitars/bass/backing vocals
Stone Roshell - drums

Near-irrelevant historical minutia: Eddie and I played this song for a long while just repeating a single verse of lyrics, á la REM's "The One I Love". But I liked his concept that sometimes it's better to let something go than keep butting your head against a wall, and came up with two verses of lyrics myself, which inspired Eddie to write another. So two are his, two are mine. I won't say which are which.

Better Lost - Agile Strum - Beast

Eddie Munizich - lyrics/lead vocal
John Roshell - music/guitars/bass/backing vocals
Stone Roshell - drums

Non-fascinating backstory: This one started with the subject as an unnamed female: "She was born on the corner…". Until my wife said, "Are you really making a metaphor of California as a woman? Kinda cliché, no?" Um, no! Of course we aren't… So "she" became "you" and it morphed into a cross between a sarcastic eulogy for Ronald Reagan, and the California Eddie and I remember growing up pre-Prop 13, and the Hollywood myth, and nostalgia and naïve idealism in general, and um… other stuff. If you figure it out, please let us know.

California - Agile Strum - Beast

Eddie Munizich - lyrics/lead vocal
John Roshell - music/guitars/bass/backing vocals
Al Bonowitz - drums

Trivial historical footnotes: Appropriately enough for a song about running in circles, this recording went from acoustic guitar-based to electric and back again. It's also about a long-term relationship gone bad, which fortunately neither Eddie nor I have gone through, but songs kind of take on a life of their own once you get going on them. My good friend Al stayed with us for a weekend a few months back, and kindly spent most of Sunday laying down drums on songs he'd never heard before, but somehow knew exactly what was needed. Hi-hat? Ride? "How about maracas?" Yeah, that's it.

The Deep End - Agile Strum - Beast

Eddie Munizich - lyrics/lead vocal
John Roshell - music/guitars/backing vocals
Stone Roshell - drums

This is of the first songs Eddie and I wrote together, back in early 2011. We recorded it then, too (li'l drummer Stone was just 12!), but both struggled to hit notes in the key it was in. So when Eddie suggested resurrecting it for this project, I kept the drums and redid everything else a half-step down. Fortunately it's relatively simple — "only" three guitars. 

Running From The Drug - Agile Strum - Beast

Eddie Munizich - lyrics, lead vocal
John Roshell - music, guitars, backing vocal, programming

And Now For Something Completely Different: I could hear the drumbeat for this song in my head, but couldn't come anywhere close to playing it. So I started going through GarageBand's stock drum loops, cutting them up and layering them, to try to show Stone what I wanted. But he liked what I did so much, he thought we should keep it that way. Or maybe he just wanted to go back to playing XBox. Either way, it's the only time I've ever used stock anything on a track, and I have to admit it does work.

Empathy - Agile Strum - Beast

Eddie Munizich - lyrics, lead vocal
John Roshell - music, guitar, backing vocal

Empathy (acoustic demo)

Eddie Munizich - lyrics, lead vocal
John Roshell - music, guitars, backing vocal
Al Bonowitz - Drums

For Larry Gibson

No Compromise - Agile Strum - Beast

Eddie Munizich - lyrics, lead vocal;
John Roshell - music, guitars, backing vocal;
Al Bonowitz & Stone Roshell - drums

Sounds Of The Emancipated - Agile Strum - Beast

Lyrics & lead vocal - Eddie Munizich
Drums - Stone Roshell
The Rest - John Roshell

Mrs Baxter (acoustic)

Words: Eddie Munizich; music: John Roshell

sometimes it feels like flying
sometimes the lie is lying
tired and sick of trying
trying to keep up my end

this life is all but pieces
a broken and mended thesis
don't understand the reasons
don't need the he said she said

i'm not a part of this thing
you like to call your own thing
i'm just a pawn in this game
i'm in the middle
and on my own again

Chorus
I don't want to defend
the promises we once meant
and sink into the deep end
but I'm in
yeah I'm all in

run through the act of laughter
run through the life that's after
moments before the time ran
ran out of time and moments

lines cross and redirect it
lines cross and resurrect it
circles are unproductive
redundant redirected

i'm not a part of this thing
you like to call your own thing
i'm just a pawn in this game
i'm in the middle
and on my own again

Chorus

I'll wait for you to come around
I'll wait for you to come around
Will you decide to let me down?

The Deep End (acoustic)

Eddie Munizich - lyrics/lead vocal; John Roshell - music/backing vocal

Prairie Driver (acoustic)

Lyrics/lead vocal - Eddie Munizich
Music/guitar/backing vocal - John Roshell

Head Down (acoustic demo)

Lyrics/lead vocal/cowbell - Eddie Munizich
Music/guitars/backing vocal/percussions - John Roshell
Camaro - John's neighbor Larry

Election (acoustic demo)

Eddie sings. John plays guitar and records things. Dogs wander in and out.

Agile Strum

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