(Note: Lyrics below)  Zombie is the first studio release from The Foothill Tribe following an extended hiatus due to life, personal, and health issues in the band. Unfortunately, due to some severe personal problems in one of the band member's lives, the struggles continue.

Zombie is a mid-tempo rock track with alternative lyrics and a touch of b3 & synthesizer underneath, not too mention a bit of slide guitar. Clay & Rob sing unison & harmony throughout the song as the overall vibe and mood of the track shields the listener from the darker lyric. 
 
Thanks checking out The Foothill Tribe's latest. More songs are in the works.

BEAUTIFUL ZOMBIE (LYRICS)
Such a pretty thing, Angel with a broken wing
Such a pretty pretty thing, Ripping at my heart strings
The truth be known you're all alone
Heart like a frozen zone
Your mystical majesties' beautiful tragedy
BRIDGE: The sparkle in your eyes, cuts like a knife
So pretty on the outside, but cold as ice ...
CHORUS: You're at Beautiful Zombie

Eyes like diamond, Shine like pearls
Such a pretty face, junkie love girl
Just a lost girl kamikaze nonstop party girl
Beautiful, mystical, satanic and majestical
BRIDGE: The sparkle in your eyes, cuts like a knife
So pretty on the outside, but cold as ice ...
CHORUS You're at Beautiful Zombie

Just a lost girl chasing all the time girl
Hoping for a lifeline search for the next high
Riding on a roller coaster thrill ride
Living on the dark side
Can't stop, can't smile, sick all the time child
BRIDGE: The sparkle in your eyes, cuts like a knife
So pretty on the outside, but cold as ice ...
CHORUS You're at Beautiful Zombie


Beautiful Zombie

Hippy Stomp

"Blame The Foothill Tribe" is the 2nd song on our STONE FLY Album release. The track is a good introduction to the overall eclectic and experimental nature and sound of band (with a lot of stylistic colors and musical instrumentation hidden deeper in the mix - in fact, some of the instrumental voicings are buried in the mix on purpose so the listener may hear something new with each listen). Juxtaposed to BLAME THE FOOTHILL TRIBE is "WORLD UPSIDE DOWN" (also on the "Stone Fly" album). World showcases more of a lyrical journey and is witness to some of the classical blues-based rock influences on the band. For anyone interested in the album cover art or why the name "steel dog cafe" appears, The Foothill Tribe was f/k/a "Steel Dog Cafe" or "Steel Dog" on the HDIMYF EP.

Blame The Foothill Tribe

The sister track to "Somewhere On The Hill." The song is a journey through the darker more eclectic side of the band and features more layers of sound, subdued delivery, and tasteful instrumentation. The song is a bit "heady," in its own way.  

These Are The Days

A full-blown uptempo hard rock jam track. Washout is also the opening track on our first album "Beggars & Thieves."

Wash Out

Fly Again is the B-Side for our "Hippie Girl" single. The song is an acoustic-electric blend and shows our exploration of various styles and directions at the same time. Fly Again sort of ventures into more of a Rusted Root style of hippie music (leaning heavily on percussion and bongos for the rhythm section). The song has a nice chilled out intro and then slowly builds until a full blown percussion driven ending. As a tie-in: this song style of starting sparse and then continuing to build to a crescendo (without any let up in the slow build) comes back around in later songs like "Rubicon" on the Stone Fly Album. The song (and Hippie Girl single) was recorded and mixed on a Yamaha MTX-8  Eight Track machine.      

Fly Again

This is probably our most polished minimalist pop-song. This track was also released on the Crossroads '98 Compilation Disc. We played Beale Street in Memphis as part of the 7th Annual Cross-Cultural Music Expedition that same year. We also made a pilgrimage and got the tour of Sun Studios / Sun Records while we were there! Pretty cool stuff.     

Fly With Me

This is a deep album cut from our Stone Fly record. At 6:12, the length and arrangement of the song offers room for a variety of mini-movements. The track is a mid-tempo pseudo-psychedelic alternative rock journey with "answer and call" verses (Clay / Lead Vocal & Rob / Backing Vocal). A wah' infused funk breakdown in the middle-section brings in the guitar solo before breaking down again to a "vocal only" chorus section, before building again to the ending outro which features additional percussion (bongos) with a delay on them that creates an interesting effect and sound. Sonya Gilmore sings harmony on the song.   
 
Thank  you for listening and sharing our songs. We welcome your comments and truly hope you enjoy the music.

Feelin' Like I'm Over You

A quirky alternative rock/pop song. This recording of My Friend is an unfinished version, but it is an honest showing. Perhaps the minimalist and demo nature of the production captures the emotion of the song and hopefully that honesty will come through. 

NOTE: The production quality for many of the songs on our Conspiracy No. 9 release was more "demo" in nature than the previous Stone Fly album. This is because when we were writing Conspiracy we had a lot of record label and industry people interested in Fly With Me and the Stone Fly record and we were being asked to record more and more songs. 




Thus, we would put the songs down on tape, get a decent demo mix, and send the demo tracks to various producers, labels, and other people. 

Interesting Side Note: Well known rock producer John Kurzweg got a copy of Stone Fly and became a huge fan of the Stone Fly album and the band's eclectic sound and the overall style, nature, and writing of the band. We became good friends with John and he re-edited a couple of the more alternative-rock type songs off Conspiracy No. 9  ("Sun on My Thumb" and "Crash"), tweaked the knobs a little in his studio, and circulated the stuff to the label guys. We will be uploading those songs and John’s edits/mixes to our cloud in the future. 

LYRICS: 

Do you want to be my friend...

Times are hard, like bricks are heavy
And things are pretty heavy now
I need to know, Are you ready
Are you ready right now

I want you to be my friend
Do you want to be my friend ....

You like Ford, I like Chevy
Is that too heavy to ignore
If you know which way to turn now
You better learn now, Which way to go

I want you to be my friend..
Do you want to be my friend..


My Friend

As title track for our Conspiracy No. 9 album, the song is an up-tempo track that leans toward pop punk. “Don’t trust the government and don’t change who you are” sums up the message of the song. We actually recorded two versions of this song, this version which we call the “cheap trick mix” and another slower tempo version we call the “hippy mix” which also adds tambourine and additional ear candy and colors. The very ending was intended to catch the casual listener off-guard.   

Conspiracy

This song was intended as a soundtrack for the experience of that late night, 3:00 AM in the morning, rolling down the interstate, and the lines in the road passing you by - that sort of hypnotizing tunnel vision effect.  Lyrically, the track speaks to that desire to move on from where you are to somewhere else, either metaphorically or actually.    

Traveling Song

Hippie Girl is "smooth chill" and represents a different direction in writing and style for the band. The song was written and produced by Clay and recorded between "Beggars & Thieves" and the "How Does It Make You Feel" (EP). The song also represents the first time Clay took lead vocal duties. HDIMYF (5 song EP) represented a significant change in writing and stylistic direction for the band. As a predecessor to HDIMYF, Hippie Girl is likely the first track showing the band's new direction. The Hippie Girl single turned out to be three songs - Hippie Girl, Fly Again (intended B-Side), and the "Free Love Mix" of Hippie Girl.  Spoken word section was written and read by poet Brentt Dayton.

Hippie Girl

One of the more eclectic psychedelic groove tracks from our "Stone Fly" album, “Questions” is similar in feel to "Feeling Like I'm Over You."  The lyrics were mainly written by Clay, the guitarist, at a time when he was studying history and simultaneously inundating himself with current events on CNN.  The troubling crimes against humanity, both past and present, and the bleak outlook for the future of mankind weighed heavily on his mind while writing this song.  Referencing the lyrics “think I’m gonna cry,” the guitar solo section was actually supposed to be symbolic of the songwriter’s tears dripping down.  This track also marks the beginning of Clay's experimentation with the organic wave-like phasing effect for the rhythm guitars.  It was first tried on the synthesizers for "Blame the Foothill Tribe" and on "Questions" it makes the song breathe like a living organism.  This effect was used a few more times for some of the rhythm guitar on "Conspiracy No. 9" and the "Scatterbrain" EP.   We hope you like the song.

Questions

Seven Stories was recorded during the later sessions for the Conspiracy No. 9 album and is pretty much the demo. We were going for a raw, down and dirty psychedelic rock sound. Whereas most of our prior psychedelic was a bit more smooth around the edges, we were experimenting with a rougher edged sound with Seven Stories. I am not sure we accomplished that, but we tried. Lyrically the song invokes a manic journey and is a bit dark in its tone and imagery. 

Production Note: to get the drum sound, we took a one of Rob’s “live” drum takes from another song (don’t remember which one). Then we slowed the drum track down to drop the pitch, and the result was this big booming drum sound and lower pitched high-hat wash that swirls with a certain dirty grit and Bonham’esque flavor.  

Lyrics:

I don’t know where I’m going
I’ve been wandering for days
There were many faces glowing
So many faces held to sway

Looking out from seven stories
The world is pretty small from here 
Feeling like I’ve lost my worries
There is no escape, There is no escape from here…

Ahead the flowers growing
Behind there all dead again
Remember when we were all knowing
Before the flowers grew so dim 
	
	[Chorus]

I don’t exactly where I am going
I don’t know exactly where I’ve been…from here


Seven Stories

This song is one of our more straight forward alternative rock songs. The guitar riff leans toward Van Halen, but as is our way, there are also some interesting space guitars and alien spaceship landing sounds in the track. The lyric speaks to a fictional character and the song's name-sake "New Jersey Jane." I had a lady that lived next door to the studio where we were recording (who I referred to as "Crazy Mary") in mind when the lyric was written so I guess Mary became the proto-type for the fictional New Jersey Jane.  

We hope you like the song. 

Lyrics:

New Jersey Jane she's quite insane
She washed my windows in a stand still turning lane
As I tried to flee these cold dark city streets
To smaller places where things are better there for me

Better...Better Than Before

She turned me on to that place in mind
Where better things can occupy my time
Its all touch and go as I head for the door
To other places where things are better than before

Better....Better than before

Typhoid Mary she's all in the know
She sold me flowers told me they could never grow
Now, she talks to God with her hand in stone
And I'm feeling better, better than before

Better...Better than before...



  

New Jersey Jane

One of the more psychedelic songs from our Stone Fly album, Rubicon features a variety of  directions. The initial bongo rhythm section (a prominent feature in this track) starts the song  underneath earthy clean guitar chords and surrealistic lyrics. The earthy vibe builds to a drums-only breakdown as prelude to the slow-motion distortion riffs and guitar solo. The full band finishes the track with a uptempo jam section.

This is the last song on Stone Fly that was built from informal jam sessions. The guitar solos at the end of the song are a marriage of the groove-laden vibes of Hendrix with the more lively bombastic flavor of Eddie Van Halen.  
   
The surrealism in the lyric and the bongo flavored rhythm section definitely combine to make the song one of our most psychedelic numbers. 

We hope you everyone enjoys the song.  
     

Rubicon

She Said, She Said is one of the deeper album tracks from Conspiracy. We were a bit nervous about posting the track at this stage. It is a clean driving track and a nice change from the wah infused psychedelia we have posted of late. The track is more of a minimum foundation than a completed song. Even though it is unfinished in its present form, we hope you enjoy the idea. 

Thanks for listening to the Tribe.     

She Said, She Said

As the lead track on our “Conspiracy No. 9” album, “Sun On My Thumb” basically describes an elaborate LSD or Peyote trip and immediately picks up where the trippy organic direction of “Stone Fly” leaves off, particularly with the swelling, breathing effect of the rhythm guitars. The main guitar riff under the verse is a sister riff to the heavy spaghetti western section of “These Are The Days.” 

The song’s feel and arrangement is “heavy alternative” with a late 1990’s feel and groove. We gotta give credit and huge thanks to our good friend and multi-platinum rock producer John Kurzweg (Godsmack, Puddle of Mudd, Creed, Jewel, and others …) for his arrangement and post production work on the song. We never could have afforded John, but luckily for us he had become a huge fan of the band from our “Stone Fly” album (he often commented how much he loved and how often he played the Stone Fly record in his car and at home). Needless to say we were shocked and honored. I think our material was consistently different to his ears. So luckily for us, as we finished tracking the record, we would send the mixes to John for his ears, thoughts, and feedback. John really liked the psychedelic “Somewhere On The Hill” and  "Yesterday," but due to the time constraints and because he was looking for the two most alt-rock radio friendly songs, he chose Sun On My Thumb and Crash to work on. John dropped the mix into his studio and changed the arrangement up some (example: the transition section coming out of the second chorus/ resolve). He also made some post-production moves on the track. All of which we remain extremely grateful for! We have the original mix/edit somewhere and we will probably upload the original one day just to compare the two edits. Our hats are off to John for his talents, efforts, and for working on our material.  

The song title and lyric “check out the sun on my thumb” references the lyricist marveling at the forced perspective of viewing his held out thumb at arms length just underneath the setting sun while under the influence of the mind altering drug. The lyric questions the often bleak outlook on the world (especially the news broadcasts), all the while the natural state of things offers a much different possibility (and often brighter contrast) if one takes the time to notice what mother earth is providing to help with our spiritual support. The imaginary southwestern town of Wao (“Way Oh”) was inspired by The Simpsons episode “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer).”  Wao is a hallucination brought on by the drugs and serves as the setting for the mind expanding vision quest. Surrounded by endless deserts, Wao is filled with colossal monuments, pyramids, castles and the disembodied voice of Johnny Cash who guides the angel headed hipster on his journey to peace and enlightenment. 
 
The end of the song virtually falls apart, symbolizing the drugs wearing off and the lyricist coming down. When he comes to his senses he realizes that the deserts were just golf course sand traps, the monuments were only miniature props, and the disembodied voice was just his subconscious. It would have been seriously cool to actually have Johnny Cash do a spoken word piece under an extended middle section (a la U2’s Zooropa track “The Wanderer”), but alas Mr. Cash was slightly out of our price range.  

In the end…we just hope people enjoy the song!   


Sun On My Thumb

"Riddle of a Poor House Man" was recorded during rehearsals at Fullsail Recording Studios in Orlando, Florida. Sounds weird to say a “live” track was recorded at a studio, but here’s the story - we had just finished mixing the Stone Fly Album and we were all looking forward to playing out again, but we needed to get our live chops and set list together for upcoming club dates. Our good friend Jim McManus was teaching at Fullsail at the time and invited the band to come down to do some live recording and a video shoot as part of his mixed class in “live” audio and video production. We thought it would be awesome to go down to Orlando and take part in Jim’s class program where we would be the guinea pigs for a day. It gave us the opportunity to get some solid rehearsal time in and get our set list together (a mix of the new and older material from our first album “Beggars & Thieves” and the “How Does It Make You Feel” EP). We spent the day in Fullsail’s Live Stage area in what was a full dress rehearsal of our set list and also a “live” video shoot (I believe there were two roaming camera guys and a fixed camera as well). What came out of that day was the  “Live at Last” album which features 10 “live” tracks (including "Riddle ...") taken straight from the FOH board mix. These were the first recordings of the band since tracking for Stone Fly had begun many months earlier. We also gained a lot of raw video footage for the archives, and Jim edited a video for “Careless” (Stone Fly) for us from the same session. It was well worth the trip down. 

NOTE: The "Live at Last" Album Artwork (click to enlarge/download) is a montage of photos taken that day during the Fullsail rehearsal recordings. 

“Riddle of a Poor House Man” dates back to the “Beggars and Thieves” days. It was a lost track until we added it to the live set list for the Fullsail rehearsals. We believe this “live” version is the only known recording of the song, but there may be a demo of the song somewhere in the Beggars & Thieves session tapes. Some personal background: Clay and I are admitted studio junkies. We both absolutely love the endless musical and production palette and opportunities available while in the studio. The “live” recording shows the band raw and vulnerable and at our honest core - a three piece “Power Trio”. Dan (bass guitar) is the band's “live” junkie. Dan easily gets bored with the slow and repetitive tasks required in a studio setting. In contrast, Dan absolutely loves the stage and everything about the spontaneous nature of performing live. Somehow we all combine into a strange concoction of musicians and personalities, but it seems to work. We do hope you enjoy the “live” recording and the song.   

SIDE STORY: BUGS & BONGOS. As an aside to the Fullsail live rehearsal sessions, it was definitely cool to hang out with Jim in Orlando. There’s a little segue track called “Bugs & Bongos” that wound up on the Stone Fly album. B&B was basically a percussion jam recorded “live” in Jim’s living room after we had spent all day recording the rehearsals at Fullsail. The B&B track was a combination of 10 people sitting around Jim’s living room playing various percussion instruments and drums which Jim had handy – it was awesome. During the impromptu drum jam, Jim was moving around the room recording the jam using these weird glasses he had made with some tiny specialized microphones (mounted to the rim of the glasses). The "bugs" part came from recordings of frogs, crickets, and other night crawlers Jim had made at his home. The resulting mix of “Bugs and Bongos” was a 360 degree listening experience (in the headphones) – with sounds coming from all around you (side to side, above, below, etc.).  


Riddle of a Poor House Man ("Live")

Keeping with the “live” theme, we thought would be cool to upload “Stardust Caravan.” Stardust Caravan was a song which Clay had been working on as early as 1991 with his band Anthem based in Orlando, Florida.  Originally titled “Moonbeam,” it was saddled with unremarkable lyrics, vocals and song structure.  It was performed live a few times on the local club circuit as well as recorded by students at a Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts studio facility in Orlando.  This early studio version exists with two different singers trying to salvage the track, but it ultimately lapsed into a coma of mediocrity for two years before Clay met his new band mates, Rob Gilmore and Danny Bertram.  With Steel Dog Café, Rob and Dan applied a vastly superior sense of song writing to the track and helped Clay bring “Moonbeam,” now renamed “Stardust Caravan,” to creative fruition.  Sporting new and improved lyrics, vocals, song structure and melody, “Stardust Caravan” made its way onto their first album “Beggars and Thieves” and was cranked out live on many occasions following the release of the album.  The version here was recorded live a few years later at Full Sail’s live rehearsal recording sessions (the same performance which yielded the previous track uploaded to SoundCloud, “Riddle of a Poor House Man”). We hope you enjoy the song.  

Stardust Caravan ("Live")

Our third single  "IN THE HEAD" started out as an alternative rock track, but in the end once recorded and mixed we realized we had written a simple (but hopefully likeable) pop song. The B-Side of the single was "Girl Like You."  Both songs were written and recorded on the heels of  "FLY WITH ME."  You can hear the similarities in the melody lines of the verse and even the style of the chorus. We hope you enjoy the song. 

In The Head

Earth Buddy

The final track on our "Stone Fly" album. We are really proud of how the track turned out. World is actually two separate musical movements combined. The first half of the song being the acoustic portion, and the second half (following the transition section) is the full band in a heavy blues driven rock groove. There are a number of things going on musically within each section of the song. While I (rob) play the underlying acoustic guitar track during the first movement, it is Clay's signature guitar sound and his playing and work on the arrangement, effects, chords, musical counterpoints and overall tasteful playing and musical accents during the acoustic portion that just take me to whole other place. Dan's bass groove is front and center during the transition sections and you can hear why I compare Dan to JPJ so often. And in the blues laden heavier second movement one can hear the heavy influence of a certain legendary rock band (circa early 1970's).  

The song was a perfect track to end the album with as it has a bit of an anthem structure and vibe to it. I feel like we are sort of putting our souls out on a plate for the listeners with this song (which can be a bit scary), so we hope people enjoy the song and perhaps people can find something in the song they can relate to.  

Lyrically, the words and song title speak to a variety of circumstance in one's life and to what was going on inside the band. Sometimes, when you are in a band and making a serious effort at creating and performing music that will be appreciated over time, there comes a time when a bandmembers' girlfriend/wife/significant other is feeling left out of the bandmember's life  because of the sheer time commitment required to the band in rehearsals, performances, studio recording, mixing, just everything. At the time World was written ... perhaps this is where the lyric was coming from (in lines like "take a little time to do the things we never do" ... but I also remember the world outside of the band being so screwed up (and it still is) and feeling like the outside world was just upside down and out of sorts, so it all kind of fit and tied together. But for each his/her own and I hope the lyric is such that people can take away different translations from the song.  

LYRICS: 
I  believe this world has turned itself upside down
I believe my time has come, no foolling around
So many pressures and so little time
So many poisons got me feeling alright

I need no search lights, keep my feet to the ground
So I climbed on high, hoping never to come down
So be with me tonight, take a walk in my shoes
Take a little time to do those things we never do 

Honey you sit there with your eyes all a mess
And in your mind your thinking its all for the best
There is no solitude in my peace of mind
No searchlight falling on my heart for better times

[ Musical Transition ]

Can I meet you in the summer 
In the Sweet sunshine
in my eyes there is no other
You are my only kind ... 

Under moonlight desert skies
Everything seems OK 
In our time I'll keep no secrets
Waiting for the day

You are my only lover
You are my only friend
Can I meet you in the summer
I'll give my love again ...   

This World has turned itself upside down...
This World has turned itself upside down...




World Upside Down

“Rough Lightning” is the final track on our low-fi, bootleg, instrumental, improv jam album “Ruckus Amuckus.”

Every time we would get together and rehearse we would record the session.  Early on we ran two room microphones into two channels on a Fostex 4 track cassette recorder.  Later, after the Fostex broke, we would record on a crappy, little boom box cassette recorder strategically placed somewhere in the room.  In the case of this particular track we were using the boom box.  Most of the time the improvisational jams were misses more than hits, but every so often we would catch lightning in a bottle (no pun intended).  “Rough Lightning” is indeed one of those moments where the band was firing on all cylinders, delivering a super charged, scorching hot, mostly instrumental improvisational jam.

The beauty of a performance like this is that it’s so ethereal in nature.  One moment it’s there, and the next it’s gone.  Nothing was preplanned.  We just flipped on the amps and launched into the music flying by the seat of our pants.  The setting outside was chaotic as a vicious lightning storm raged across the Florida Gulf Coast.  After a few riffs into the jam, our bass player, Danny Bertram, walks over to the light switch and turns it off.  Everything you hear on this track was recorded in total darkness, except for the momentary, strobing effects of the lightning.  You can hear the band ebb and flow along with the storm as it oscillated between varying levels of intensity.  We had seamlessly fused to become one with the violent hostility of Mother Nature!

Eventually the lightning became too intense and, for the greater good of protecting our equipment from a dreaded power surge, we brought the jam to an end.  Before, the music stops, you can hear our drummer, Rob Gilmore, say “That’s some pretty rough lightning,” which is how the track got its title.  You can hear me the guitar player, Clay, exclaim “Woooowwww” in dazed astonishment at the spectacle of the storm and the intensity of the jam.  Then Danny walks over to the tape deck saying “Let’s kill it for a few,” and the recording is shut off with decisive finality, bringing the Ruckus Amuckus album to completion.

Clay Urquhart
Clay@TheTribe


Rough Lightning

ROB: We were seeking creative license to go insane I guess, and I feel it is safe to say the resulting track “Space Gun” on our "Stone Fly" album is one of our most adventurous sonic assaults to date. For the best listening experience I would recommend that Space Gun be listened to cranked up as loud as possible (preferably with a sub kicking) – “so yo’ feets can move and yo’ heads can groove.” ( “Rob’ism”)   

CLAY: We originally intended “Space Gun” to end the “Stone Fly” album, but ultimately we overruled ourselves after completing “World Upside Down,” which technically ends the CD.  But as a form of compromise and so we could sort of have it both ways (and with the idea of hopefully surprising a few listeners) we separated the two songs by a long period of silence and an ambient track titled “Bugs and Bongos” (“Bugs and Bongos has an interesting story of how it came into existence - but we will leave that story for another day). “Space Gun” serves as the official end of the album and “World Upside Down” is a special, hidden, bonus track ending the disc.   

CLAY: On our first album “Beggars & Thieves” we had two instrumentals: “As a Matter of Funk” and “Wash Out.”  “As a Matter of Funk” is a short, hit and run style funk jam with clean guitars and “Wash Out,” which begins the album, is a three and a half minute, heavy hitting barn burner with distorted guitars. For our next full length album ("Stone Fly") we also wanted a couple of instrumentals, and by the time we got to “Space Gun” we already had the short funk jam with clean guitars, “Earth Buddy,”  in the can.  To distinguish one from the other, for “Earth Buddy” we took the concept of “As a Matter of Funk” and ramped it up quite considerably by putting a totally ridiculous, over the top spin on it.  So for the follow up to “Wash Out.” we wanted to do the same and write an over the top, epic, gonzo monster of an instrumental jam.  But this time we wanted to end the album with it. 

CLAY: The first things to do were double the size and then stretch it out to nearly seven minutes (at the end of the track you can hear Rob laughingly say “that was about a long fucking song” after nailing his final take). The final drum take (as with all of Rob’s drum takes) was done in a single take from start to finish (no punch-ins and no pro-tools drum comp’ing was done). Instead, we did it old school style, we just played and recorded a BUNCH of drum takes to get that “one take” of Rob’s best drum performance from start to finish. 

CLAY: I had the basic framework of distorted guitar riffs and also some funky, clean riffs for a middle solo section.  Rob and I worked it out, rehearsed it, and then laid down the drums. While Rob was recording I was also recording the basic guitar track running the Digitech processor direct to the mixing console.  During pre-production on the drums, Rob found and used a percussion sample called “space gun” that had a wicked, sci-fi laser gun sound (think storm trooper laser rifle), and so we had our title.  The “space gun” was triggered “live” (not overdubbed) while Rob was tracking the drum takes. We might have just intended on using that as a temporary title at first, but the name felt appropriate and stuck.  I had been playing around with the main, distorted riff and thought it sounded like Godzilla on a rampage through Tokyo.  But with the inclusion of the “space gun” triggered drum sample and the sci-fi title we began to envision it more like the soundtrack to an interplanetary dogfight.

ROB: The “space gun laser shot” sound was recorded as part of the original drum take by taping a drum trigger to a practice pad (which itself creates no real noise when you hit it) so I could use the practice pad as if it were another drum to get the triggered laser gun sounds. Thus, I was able to play the “space gun” sounds as if they were part of his drum kit. You can hear the interplay between the space gun shots, high-hat, cowbell, and ride-cymbal throughout the track.  

CLAY: Once the basic “foundation” tracks of drums and guitars were recorded, I spent a long time “filling in” the rest with a ridiculous amount of layers, overdubs and ear candy.  Most of it is guitars, but there’s also some keyboards routed through the Digitech guitar processor, specifically at 5:10 with the “red alert” keys and another moog synthesizer through a wah pedal. There’s also a regular piano at a 1:54, but I think even that was run through the processor to give it more of a futuristic flavor.  The main guitar riff has the phase shifter all over it, as was the custom on the “Stone Fly” album, but on “Space Gun” it’s supposed to invoke the sensation of spacecraft pitching, diving and accelerating during the battle.  I was also really into Tom Morello from “Rage Against The Machine” at the time, so I used a lot of staccato hammering on the fret board to great effect as it adds quite well to the chaos. I had first started using that technique on a track called “How Does It Make You Feel” from the EP of the same name (between “Beggars” and “Stone Fly”), but on the EP track I was using my fingers to hammer out the chords and on “Space Gun” I was using my pick, which gave it a much more brittle, metallic sound.  But actually, at some moments, I’m trying to channel Randy Rhoads and the way he used to get a similar effect by toggling the pickup switch in rapid fire succession.

ROB: There’s a short but cool little drum interlude section around 4:40 that has a definite Latin feel. I think I played every drum I had during that section (save my Congos, but they might even be in the mix somewhere). The Latin drum interlude was overdubbed after the main drum take was down. The Latin flavor actually works pretty well and it is sort of cool to hear those flams and triplets over the straight driving beat, that always creates a unique feel for the drums.   

ROB: We have always enjoyed trying to push the envelope of rock music by combining or blending styles, sounds, or genres that are not necessarily supposed to fit together (like storm trooper laser rifles and hard driving guitars). With Space Gun we feel like this may be an instance where perhaps we actually pulled it off and created a musical work that is honestly unique, something that people will find interesting and really enjoy listening to, and that will stand on its own merits as a Foothill Tribe original work. That’s our goal and while we don’t always reach it, we keep trying and keep pushing the creative envelope. 

ROB: In the end, we were proud of how “Space Gun” turned out and we hope listeners will enjoy rocking the track with us. Thanks for listening and for any feedback.      

 
 


Space Gun

BACKGROUND: We wanted to offer something completely different from our preceding upload ("Space Gun"). So, we went back and decided on the acoustic "AS THE CROW FLIES" from our 5-Song EP "HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL"  (or "HDIMYF" as we often refer to it). Another reason we re-visited HDIMYF is because that EP marked a monumental shift in the band's trajectory on many different levels. Several tracks on HDIMYF - including the title track (How Does It Make You Feel) and the drum-driven (Incantations) were so different from all of our prior material, we look back on HDIMYF as the release that marked the time and date when we made a huge leap forward in our sound and our artistic direction. The EP also provides a hint of what was to follow - which was the "STONE FLY" album. On HDIMYF we truly broke free of any limitations imposed by our prior work on Beggars & Thieves (our debut album). HDIMYF also marks Clay's debut as "lead vocalist" and is the starting point for our "twin-lead vocalist" approach.

PRODUCTION NOTES: 
 
CLAY: I remember having fun playing with the vocal harmonies and it was a lot of fun to record because I was just discovering that I could do that kind of thing. It has a slight flavor of medieval fanfare with the synth. The soft guitar lead sort of represents the symbolic crow taking off in flight.  It’s interesting how much better [the HDIMYF] tracks sound compared to Beggars & Thieves even though we were using the same equipment. The acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and vocal sound production is a huge leap forward from Beggars & Thieves, but I don’t remember doing anything different.  Perhaps we had better microphones.

ROB: As The Crow Flies has a bit of a haunting nature to it, with its lyrical inferences of breaking free of life's rules and confusions, of youthful longing, and the ever-present wanderlust and desire to "if I might, hitch a ride, my friend." I refer to the song's nature as "dark psychedelia." I remember we were listening to a lot of Celtic music at the time as well, so that had some definite influence on the song. I remember being excited about the vocal harmonies too, as these were among our first attempts where we started focusing on vocal harmonies in our songs. You can hear the vocal tracks are not perfectly in sync in places, but to me the fact that they are not perfect just adds to the honesty of the recording and the vocals.    

In the end, it was Clay's contribution on synth, guitars, and vocals, combined with the bass guitar work, that truly make the song.  I love the soft guitars on the end third of the song. Clay did such a tasteful job of accenting the song. 

We realize "As The Crow Flies" is completely different from "Space Gun." We wanted to change it up a little bit. As always, we really appreciate any spins and any feedback/comments that might be offered. 

We hope people enjoy this short little haunted song. 

PS - If anyone is interested in the lyrics, let us know and we will post them. 

Sincerely,
The Foothill Tribe  

 




As The Crow Flies

“Somewhere on The Hill” is one of our darker psychedelic tracks from the Conspiracy No. 9 release. The song is a sister track to "These Are The Days" but was written and recorded some time later than These Are The Days (on "Stone Fly"). In contrast to our other psychedelic tracks, “Somewhere On The Hill” is built on a heavier guitar riff/sounds, but still features Clay's signature effects, instrumentation, and arrangements. The mix is a bit rougher than the Stone Fly album mixes, but it works out pretty well. 

Sincerest thanks for taking the time to listen to Somewhere On The Hill - we hope you enjoy the song and welcome comments and feedback. Thanks again! The Tribe. 

Somewhere on the Hill

 "INCANTATIONS" - Psychedelic Latin Rock Jam (with Vocals)

“Incantations” harkens back to our “How Does It Make You Feel” EP (“HDIMYF”) which was really a seminal release for the band. The HDIMYF EP marked a turning point in the band’s direction - away from our 80’s and 90’s metal influences toward something new, exciting, experimental, and completely different than anything we had ever done before. And with “Incantations” … it shows the band really stretching out creatively and musically. 

Incantations closes the HDIMYF EP and first came about as a result of Rob’s desire to record a “drums corps style” drum track with multiple drummers jamming on a high-energy driving (almost pulsating) drum groove and vibe. There are three Robs playing on this track. You will hear a variety of drums and percussion instruments throughout the track, a variety of syncopated rhythms, but hopefully all of the drums come together to create an energetic and really driving groove. Note: the short little drum solo breakdown section around 2:15 or thereabouts kicks a pretty mean little groove "drum corps style."  

Rob’s Notes: Clay then took my basic drum grooves and turned them into something all together different. Clay wrote and recorded the keyboard and synthesizer parts, then all of the rhythm and lead guitar parts (be sure to check out the lead guitar work immediately before the drum solo breakdown) , then Clay wrote the lyrics and tracked all of the vocals on the song! Clay turned what was basically a drum track into a completely unique and interesting piece of music. Dan stopped in to wrap up the bass guitar work and wallah! - Incantations had evolved into a new animal all together. 

Rob’s Notes: Clay’s arrangement on this track is particularly interesting to me - in the way that he wrapped all the different guitars, synthesizers, and vocals in and around all of the drum parts that were going crazy everywhere, and all the while leaving room for each separate instrument to breathe in the available space.  

We were not exactly sure what the song was (or is), much less what to call the song. Is it Psychedelic? Is it Rock? Is it Latin music of some form? Or is it something else all together? In the end, we settled on calling the song “Incantations” because it evokes a combination of all of the above influences and genres (and more perhaps). 

As a three piece band, this is a song we could never reproduce live, but we weren’t worried about that, we were just going for it, reaching and stretching out in every direction, and trying to create a piece of music that would be unique and that would absolutely rock in a set of headphones or on a quality home system.

We hope you enjoy the track and would really appreciate any feedback and comments. Sincerest thanks for listening!  

Rob,
The Foothill Tribe 


Incantations

Hippies On The Road is one of the deeper album tracks from Stone Fly, but it definitely has some interesting colors in its sonic spectrum, from the backwards intro into the main bass line/riff, mandolin, the mix of cosmic phase and heavy guitars, Clay’s bow and vocals. Dan’s bass riff really drives the song start to finish. We hope you enjoy.   

Hippies On The Road

CARELESS - ROB'S COMMENTS: 

The final upload from our Stone Fly album release - Careless is fun guitar driven track, featuring Clay on vocals. We are not sure where the song fits, perhaps somewhere between rock and psychedelic pop (is there even such a thing as psychedelic pop? we doubt it).

I know I really dig the guitars and Clay's vocals on this track, that and the orchestration Clay did on this track is pretty amazing to me. The middle break is an example, and the ending fade as well.   

I remember the snare drum roll that starts the song is sort of cool, but it was very difficult to cut in one take along with the remainder of the drum track, but somehow we got it. You will also hear the stereo compression grab the mix when the main force of of the song kicks in ... if you are listening to it at a loud volume it sort of pulses (which is kinda cool ... to us at least). 

Of our entire catalog, Careless is the only song to date that we actually have a video for. The video for Careless was produced Jim McManus and was taken from video footage we shot in Orlando, Florida when we were recording the  "Live" At Last stuff. The audio is the studio version of Careless. 

We do hope you enjoy the song. Feedback is much appreciated!  

Peace,
Rob@TheTribe


Careless

The is basically the same track as the original, but with a trip hop beat mixed in.  Enjoy!

Hippie Girl (Free Love Mix)

Five Years was one of the last tracks written and demo'd for what would become Conspiracy #9. The song speaks to a variety of struggles the band was going through, internal and external, and sort of sets out where the band had been, where we were (at the time), and an unknown present and future. 

Lyrics: 

We've got no worries and we've got no pain 
We've got no reason at all to explain
We're numb to rejection, We're crazy for more
With hungry affection we're misunderstood...

Five Years ... that's what we've got

I don't want to be left alone 
I don't want to drop like a stone when Five Years are gone

I've got these people to tell me to smile
And I've got another to tell me these lies
I don't need someone to market my youth
I just want someone to tell me the truth 

Five Years ... that's what we've got
I don't want to be left alone  
I don't want to drop like a stone when Five Years are gone, Five Years are gone, 

(Solo)

I've got these phrases stuck in my mind
Look how they linger,  look how they shine
Do you remember how things were back when 
I'd like to stay, and I'd like to again 

Five Years ... that's what we've got
I don't want to be left alone ...
I don't want to drop like a stone when Five Years are gone, 

Five Years are gone ...  

   

Five Years

This track is the first song and title tune of our 3 song EP “Scatterbrain.”  It was the last project we worked on before disbanding in the late 1990s.  The lyrics reference my encounter and drive along Northwest Florida’s Emerald Coast with an unspecified, female friend.  It was a mercifully welcome reprieve from all the turmoil going on at the time.  As for the turmoil in question, I’ve included Rob’s tray card notes from the E.P.  Also of note, I wrote and recorded the bass guitar due to the absence of our bass player. – Clay Urquhart

This three song EP is the last studio recording from The Foothill Tribe (f/k/a Steel Dog Cafe) to date.  Scatterbrain is an appropriate title for this EP. At the time this recording was finalized, we had all but lost the battle to include our bass player in the recordings. We were all broke and had lost control of our individual lives in different ways, we were truly scattered. These were difficult times. The band was out of contact, demons were out of control, and the band was spinning toward its demise. We needed a break. Clay was able to take the master tapes (which were drums only) and complete the Scatterbrain EP in his bedroom.  Ironically, the songs themselves show the continued growth and solidification of the band's unique sound and direction. 

These tracks provide a glimpse into the future ... Although, at the time of completing Scatterbrain EP - the band's fourth full length studio album was never finished. Thus, until recently,  the Scatterbrain EP was the last collaboration between Gilmore & Urquhart as a prolific songwriting & recording team and the bookend of our catalog. However, given that Clay and I have reconnected and the new ideas, raw demos, and talks  -  the next chapter in The Foothill Tribe story has yet to be written, but we are moving in that direction (being a brand new release in the coming year - either EP or a Full Length – Rob Gilmore


Scatterbrain

"Room To Breathe" is the second of three songs on our final E.P. and swan song "Scatterbrain."  It's a mellow, melancholy track which chronicles the passing of childhood to adulthood and how the time wasting pleasures of youth transform, from the perspective of the adult, into a relentless enemy to be abandoned and avoided.  In this case, the pressure was on to abandon the pursuit of music in favor of accepting my place in society as simply another cog in the wheel.  At the time I tried to hold on to some of that youth by living vicariously through my niece, who was old enough to watch Star Wars and Pixar movies and such.  So it was my way of being able to be a kid again for a little bit longer.

We had to move out of our studio, so I had to set up the console and effects rack in my bedroom to finish.  Rob laid down the drum tracks in the studio before the move and I think it's one of the best sounding drum recordings I've ever heard.  The ambiance of the kit is extraordinary and Rob's playing is loaded with so much nuance and character.  You just don't hear that kind of drumming in rock music anymore, which is why I couldn't imagine playing with anyone else. I finished the guitars, bass and vocals in my room, then we mixed it.  in fact, the entire E.P was done in this manner.

Also of note, my cat Raz (a.k.a. Sweet Pea, a.k.a Pretty Girl, a.k.a. Little Shit) would hop up on the console and sprawl out over the knobs for a nap.  That had to be the most uncomfortable place in the room (in fact, there was a soft, comfy bed just a foot away) but, dammit, that's the place she chose to sleep and by gum she was gonna MAKE it comfortable no matter what.  I swear the psychology of a cat truly baffles me sometimes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Clay

Room To Breathe

------  BIO -------
The Foothill Tribe (f/k/a Steel Dog Cafe) is a three piece alternative-psychedelic-progressive rock band (and recording artist) from the tiny ocean-side town of Destin, Florida, USA. The Tribe is: Clay Urquhart (Guitars | Vocals); Rob Gilmore (Drums | Vocals); Daniel Bertram (Bass Guitar).  

A Note On The Photos: The picture beside each uploaded song is the Cover Art for the Album, EP, or Single the song is on. We will update our Profile with our discography soon.   

We really enjoy (and continue) trying  to push the creative envelope with our music, whether it be with our songs or instrumentals. We often incorporate different genres, styles, and sounds into our music. Our desire and goal is to create original music that is interesting, different, and uniquely recognizable as The Foothill Tribe's own sound. Thank for listening and we truly hope you enjoy our material.   

As a three piece power trio we have no separate front man. We tried out several "would-be" front men when we were first forming the band, but ultimately we were not satisfied with any of the proposed lead singers because they just did not fit with the band or our vision for the future. Out of necessity we made the decision to handle vocals ourselves in what would become a "twin lead-singer" approach with Clay (guitars) and Rob (drums) both handling lead vocals, and with Dan (bass guitar), Clay, and/or Rob handling back-up vocals depending on who was singing lead. This twin lead-vocal approach has developed over the years and forms a key ingredient (and some have gone as far as calling it a trademark) of the band's sound.   

Over the course of writing and recording our various Albums, EPs, and Single releases the band's sound has developed significantly. There are a handful of songs along our path that show the growth of our sound and are witness to a change in the band's direction creatively. We hope to have a chance to tell some of the stories about these key songs and what was going on at the time. We try to offer a bit of background on each song, and sometimes even the lyrics are posted, in the song description for anyone who might be interested in a bit more info about a song.  
 
Since joining Sound Cloud, we have made some awesome new friends and met some great bands and artists. We really appreciate all who listen to our music and who have elected to follow us. Our sincerest thanks! We look forward to continuing to share our music, to making more new friends, and to continuing to discover new and inspiring music/artists/bands as we all grow together. THANKS TO ALL for  sharing in our story and for allowing us to share in yours!  Thanks again for listening to The Tribe!

foothilltribe

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