Beacons Revisited

'Flowers' is taken from TRAAMS' forthcoming debut album Grin, out September 16th (UK & Europe) / September 24th (U.S.)

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Flowers - TRAAMS

SIDE ONE

1) DAVID COMES TO LIFE
None of us can really remember where or when we met David, but it
seems like a long time ago. Originally this song was called
"Ian"-something something, and was going to be in reference to Ian
Dickson, who we had recently kicked in the balls rather severely.
While writing it at practice (about 2 weeks before we recorded the
Hidden World
LP) one of us said "Wait, maybe it should be about David, and be
called David Comes to Life?"  And David was born.  This is a rare
unmixed version without the backup vocals over the last chorus.
Alternately, one morning while we were doing backups and pre-mixing,
it was early enough that only me and Beat were in the studio.  We did
a version of this song that has a lush 14 part vocal harmony at the
end of the song.  By the time we got to the 5th and 6th overdubs, we
were clapping, whistling and laughing. I would have included this
version but I couldn't find it.

2) NEAT PARTS
This was done during the Hidden World demo sessions at Audiolab, where
we recorded most of the cuts from the old singles.  That session
produced demo's of "Carried out to the Sea", "Vivian Girls" with no
vocals, parts of "Crusades", "Two Snakes" and "Triumph of Life", both
of which were released on the internet. The session also produced the
Triumph of Life 7" single, the Dangerous Fumes 7" single, and the Year
of the Dog 12". All in all, we were in that studio for 51 hours over
the course of 2 and a half days.  Ultimately we ended up with a LOT of
different vocal versions for "Neat Parts" and "Teenage Problems", our
2 UNDERTONES tribute songs. This one was almost going to be the 7"
version, but we balked at the last minute, because Pink Eyes sounds
way too much like IAN STUART, and as you know from the last Mixtape,
we aren't into referencing racism in any way.

Pink Eyes - As I remember it: I cut the vocal, which I was pretty
happy with, and I walked out of the booth and Camp and Beat just
stared at me blankly.  Thinking, that perhaps, the amazingness of what
I had just committed to tape had left them searching for words to
describe the awesomness of what they had just heard rhetorically asked
"What do you think?" To me shock and horror they suggested that I do
again differently. This is one of the rare points where I will concede
that I was in the wrong. This is not to say that
I am not going to one day release my solo record "Patriotic Ballads Vol. 3".

Mr. Jo - There was a lot of talk and worry about whether the way some
of these new songs were coming out was going to be either too poppy,
too indulgent, and/or dealing too much with unsavory ideas. While this
is probably the safest, most politically correct and positive Fucked
Up song, at the time I couldn't think of anything more callously poppy
and indulgent as to consider releasing this crooned version of 'Neat
Parts.' Of course with the new shouted vocals, the acoustic guitar, 12
part lead, marching drum break, the mild 'bust' which PE so tastefully
evanesced into the split second gap 3/4
through the song, and the "Looking for Gold-brand" riff-reference lead
seem totally justified and equate to a total classic.

3) I DON'T WANNA BE FRIENDS WITH YOU
If you bought this tape at the Hidden World record release shows, you
are probably also holding onto the Dolly Mixture and Shop Assistants
tribute 7''s we put out just for these shows.  This is the best SHOP
ASSISTANTS song, and they were a post-punk pre-twee C86 band from
England in the 1980s. The vocalist was also in MOTORCYCLE BOY who did
I think one 12" only.  Anyhow, we covered their songs and got Manno
from the Bayonettes to do vocal versions as well.

4) TEENAGE PROBLEMS
Speaking of girl vocals, here is Mr. Jo's version of TEENAGE PROBLEMS
which you aren't going to be able to hear all of.  Also in this series
is the Pink Eyes "Morrissey" version of "Looking Back" by the Shop
Assistants, and Concentration Camps "Gojira"
version of "Litany".  I almost included a section on this tape with
all of Camp's back-up vocals I found in the live sets, but it was way
to scary, so I left it out.

5) LOOK BACK AND LAUGH "A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS"
I saw LBAL do this cover on a bridge in Austin at 4am and it blew
everyone's mind. We think these dudes are great.  These tunes were
from the same session that produced their last 7" for Deranged.
Pink Eyes - I remember I kept reading for like 2004-2005 about how
great this band was and how they are the best live band in the world
and all this bullshit, so I said to myself: "Yo fuck this band. No
Matter how good they are I will hate them on principle. Because, let's
face it, no band ever lives up to the hype. So I never listened tyo
there records and then on 1st west coast tour I saw them and had to
eat my shit. I can't put into words
how shit it feels to watch them and know that you have to go one after them.

6) FUCKED UP "PANIC"
Ok, some people think the only bands we listen to are HATEBREED and
INTEGRITY and that we are a mosh-metal band. We put this token
Japanese hardcore cover that we did on this tape to dispell those
rumours and to let people know that The Slasher paid $100 for the "No
Side" 12" in Portland. If you still dont' know who this is a cover of,
you are bigger posers even than we are.
Pink Eyes - I got my copy for $30 and Seasons The Size Of days is a way better
record.

7) FUCKED UP LIVE AT CREWTONZ
Ok, lots of people will know about this defunct "venue" in "New York
City". We played there a bunch of times. The first time was New Years
Eve and was special. The second time was after a show we did at the
Knitting Factory downtown and was a bit more bananas i think. One of
the times there were 3 fights during the CRO MAGS cover we played. I
saw Ian Dickson almost put a pretty small kid through the wall because
he liked bandana thrash in the early 00's, and Ian only liked
DISCOUNT.  During this particular set, more kids i think had to be
thrown out, but since they were in a "bike gang", they came back and
there were more scuffles outside for a while.  We are a responsible
unit, so we tried to clear the building by playing cover after cover,
trying to frustrate everyone into leaving.
Pink Eyes - I remember some kid in a Mental shirt with a Taxi Driver style
Mohawk and jacket (who was ex Navy), trying to hand over hand it
across a huge drainage pipe that hung 15 feet above where violent
minds were playing and falling on top of guitarist Haroon mid set. I
honestly thought that it may have killed him.
Later on during out set, this guy was thrown out for fighting while we
were playing. Four people rushed him out the door, and Pink Eyes
followed them, still talking into the mic.

8) A lot of the in-between-song banter from this tape is from a radio
show our friend Guille does in Barcelona Spain.  We set up in his
small room and i think he had the turntable on his lap. If you've ever
been to Spain, you know these people speak really fast, so there was a
LOT of talking. Also our Jewish-Canadian friend Nathalien was present,
but he didn't actually fall out the window.

9) COLD WORLD "A-ALIKES"
Nick: "The breakdown is the beat from Prodigy of Mobb Deep's "Keep It
Thoro" note for note.  The singing part is me and Alex together. The
dude who says "reaching out, i need your help" is Craig Wilson.  His
dad has a size 7 1/2 foot and was once seen by our friend driving his
motorcycle into "fag forest" at around 8pm.  His favorite singer is
Prince and he talks like a straight up femme. But Craig refuses to
believe he's gay."
This song is exclusive to this tape by the way.

10) DANGEROUS FUMES
Two years ago, the plan was to have "Dangerous Fumes" be the 1st
single for Hidden World. This song was written almost three years ago.
Well, it didn't even end up making it onto the LP at all. We recorded
an LP version during the Hidden World sessions, and made the bridge a
bit longer and trickier, but then we weren't real happy with the
version, plus the record was pushing 80 minutes already. So we cut it,
and revisiting it, it's pretty smoking, albeit a little rough.  Plus
check out the enviro-themed DROPDEAD style freestyle in the middle.
Pink Eyes - No matter what I did during that bridge it sounds lame but
I think this is worse then the single version.
Mr. Jo –  Like almost every FU song we record I end up listening to
the rough mixes without vocals a ton before the session is done. In
this case, the original version had such a perfectly executed lead, I
used to dream about it as its own entity. Sadly, the re-recording and
subsequent re-re-recording of this song along with the addition of the
vocal track sent that dream careening directly into 'fag forest.'

11) "LKNG FR GLD"
A guy asked us to be on this compilation where every song had to be 20
seconds long. Since we were in the middle of recording the LP, we
really didn't have 20 seconds to spare, so we took the original 16
minute long "Looking for Gold" file, and shrunk into a 20 second
versino on protools one day when we were mixing.  For those of you who
don't have 16 minutes to indulge us with and listen to the original,
here is a more economical version, which should have pretty much the
same effect as the original.


Mixtape 2 Side A

Wolf People - Tiny Circles

2008 track for the B-Music tour 7", sold excusively on the tour.

Wolf People - Caratacus

Previously released on limited 45 through Battered Ornaments Records, now due to be released on TIDINGS - a collection of rare singles and EP tracks from between 2005 and 2007 on Jagjaguwar Records.

Wolf People - Cotton Strands

4th track from our Brattwell Recording session

TRAAMS - klaus

WOLF PEOPLE-STEEPLE-SILBURY SANDS

WOLF PEOPLE-STEEPLE-DORNEY REACH

WOLF PEOPLE-STEEPLE-MORNING BORN

From the album Pearl Mystic, released March 4th 2012 on Gringo Records.

Pre-order now from: http://gringorecords.limitedrun.com/products/508257-hookworms-pearl-mystic

http://parasiticnematode.blogspot.com
http://gringorecords.com

Pearl Mystic

In Our Time

Track One from the forthcoming Wire album "Change Becomes Us"

Change Becomes Us

Doubles & Trebles

Pre Order Ltd Edition

Out early April on Audacious Art Experiment/City Hands Records /// Recorded and mixed by MJ @ SBRBN HOME back in 2012 /// Mastered by M_Wadio /// Artwork by Tom Hudson
REPRESS NOW AVAILABLE http://theaudaciousartexperiment.limitedrun.com/products/513607-cowtown-dudes-vs-bad-dudes

Nightbeats

Traams - Peggy

WOLF PEOPLE - FAIN - ALL RETURNS

New album 'Dudes vs Bad Dudes' available to stream/pre-order at http://cowtown.bandcamp.com/. Out 01/04/13 on The Audacious Art Experiment/City Hands. To celebrate check out 'Ski School' - it's a party ballad.

Ski School

Exclusive 7" released as part of the Too Pure Singles Club on May 27th. 

A digital copy can be purchased at: http://hookworms.bandcamp.com

Limited to 750 Copies.

Recorded by MJ at Suburban Home
Mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road
Artwork by Anna Peaker

Radio Tokyo

TRAAMS - Mexico

On Returning

Order the Ladders EP here, out June 17th: http://fatcat.sandbaghq.com/traams-ladders.html

TRAAMS upcoming live dates:

Jun 22 - Westhill Community Centre, Brighton (*supporting Milk & Biscuits)
Jul 20 - The Great Gatsby, Tramlines Festival, Sheffield, UK
Sep 14 - Pie & Vinyl Stage, South Sea Fest, Portsmouth UK

Follow TRAAMS online
twitter: @TRA_AMS
Facebook: facebook.com/TRAAMSBAND
Tumblr: http://traams.tumblr.com/

TRAAMS - Jack

From the Ladders EP. Available on iTunes July 2nd. 

Follow TRAAMS online
twitter: @TRA_AMS
Facebook: facebook.com/TRAAMSBAND
Tumblr: traams.tumblr.com/

Beacons Revisited

There's That Dog