Metro Times coverage of THE FLOOD BROUGHT THE FIRE
"The Great Tribulation’s The Flood Brought the Fire (self-released) is a gem of a record. It’s female-fronted country, but not in that nasty Faith Hill sort of way. Rather, these tunes are honest, gritty and sublime." - Brett Callwood
How we'll spin it for future press releases ... "Female-fronted country ... in that nasty Faith Hill sort of way." The rest of it is good too, though. Thanks, Brett.
Meanwhile, an Austrian music distributor is selling our CD online, somehow. It must be a CD Baby connection, or else they're the worst bootleggers ever. Anyhow, it'll run you nearly $20 if you order it from them, and I assume the lyrics and liner notes will be translated into German, which is arguably the world's most beautiful language.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A nice snap from the Great Tribulation CD release gig back a couple weeks in Ypsilanti ... thanks to Tony of The Blueflowers (who opened for us that night) for documentation.
More soon, or sooner or later ...
Sunday, May 29, 2011
I've been ignoring this blog as of late, but so be it ... if I have nothing to share, there's nothing to share. Fuck it. I don't even know if anyone is looking anymore, at least those who might have once so far as I know no longer do, again, so far as I know. If I am wrong, please don't correct me -- I'm more likely to be candid and prompt here if I can actually believe there's no consequences to my actions.
Dig my latest proudest moments:
"Shine That Silver Bullet," written by Jeni Lee Richey, performed by The Great Tribulation, first track off our debut compact disc collection The Flood Brought The Fire. My favorite of our entire repertoire, it feels like everyone on board does what they're best at in service to one of Jeni Lee's greatest songs, captured by my hero Jim Diamond at the legendary Ghetto Recorders in Detroit, MI.
"Sure As The Rain," written by me, performed by The Great Tribulation, ninth track off our debut compact disc collection The Flood Brought The Fire. The first song I began and finished during this latest (final?) tenure as resident of The Great Lakes State. Easily the longest guitar solo I've ever attempted, let alone completed. Credit where credit is due, this track is recorded by Jim "The Other Jim" Roll at the soon-to-be legendary Backseat Studios in Ann Arbor, MI.
I am currently happy. There is no shortage of stressors, such as my mother's current serious health issues (seriously serious, I'm afraid, but considering the doctors' prognosis and my Mom's indefatigable optimism, I can only expect the best possible outcome at this point -- knock wood for me, if it's nearby, thanks), and it's not like I love my fucking job, but I've known so much worse, I really have no space to complain for now. I'm fighting some medication withdrawals and typical seasonal mood shifts, but for the most part I am essentially sane ... it's a fairly beautiful world these days, despite the nagging ugliness of the past and the potential chaos of the future.
Dig my latest proudest moments:
"Shine That Silver Bullet," written by Jeni Lee Richey, performed by The Great Tribulation, first track off our debut compact disc collection The Flood Brought The Fire. My favorite of our entire repertoire, it feels like everyone on board does what they're best at in service to one of Jeni Lee's greatest songs, captured by my hero Jim Diamond at the legendary Ghetto Recorders in Detroit, MI.
"Sure As The Rain," written by me, performed by The Great Tribulation, ninth track off our debut compact disc collection The Flood Brought The Fire. The first song I began and finished during this latest (final?) tenure as resident of The Great Lakes State. Easily the longest guitar solo I've ever attempted, let alone completed. Credit where credit is due, this track is recorded by Jim "The Other Jim" Roll at the soon-to-be legendary Backseat Studios in Ann Arbor, MI.
I am currently happy. There is no shortage of stressors, such as my mother's current serious health issues (seriously serious, I'm afraid, but considering the doctors' prognosis and my Mom's indefatigable optimism, I can only expect the best possible outcome at this point -- knock wood for me, if it's nearby, thanks), and it's not like I love my fucking job, but I've known so much worse, I really have no space to complain for now. I'm fighting some medication withdrawals and typical seasonal mood shifts, but for the most part I am essentially sane ... it's a fairly beautiful world these days, despite the nagging ugliness of the past and the potential chaos of the future.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Dig The Gentleman's Club ... if you had told me twenty years ago that I would end up in a band with Norm Fuckin' Zebrowski, I would've been thrilled. If you had told me ten years ago, I might have wept. But these days it all seems utterly obvious that I'd be back in a Lansing living room off Michigan Avenue (better known these days as "the Green Mile" for the surprising plethora of medical marijuana dispensaries) knocking out blues riffs for Norm's cantankerous poems. It's still very much in the project zone, but we did step out last weekend to play a Dylan cover for a theme party at a local art gallery -- I think getting Norman Bates to sing "Lay Lady Lay" in public is one of my greatest artistic achievements, so thanks again Ed for the canvas. We're joined by old pal Matthew Bour on guitar, still working up songs to figure out exactly what it is we're doing, but it's always good to have an excuse to drive to Lansing.
I also did two songs with Mark Lansing and a take on "Diamonds and Rust" (the Judas Priest version, counts only because it's about Dylan) with Jen Green, the latest End Times vocalist. I propped up the sign and made it official ... going back to Backseat tonight to mix and to edit the new single, which I expect to be ready by the end of the summer, and then I'm hoping to con Jen into putting on a true End Times performance at some suitable venue (gallery, theater, nothing with an operational television set).
Also, The Great Tribulation officially announce the release of our debut CD The Flood Brought The Fire, available now in digital form with physical copies ready in time for our June 17 gig at Woodruff's in Ypsilanti. Rumor is we'll have t-shirts too ...
The new job with Prime Research is perfectly adequate, but I'm definitely due for a health kick ... I've ballooned to 250 lbs, haven't shaved in weeks (strangely the only thing that grows aside from my sideburns is a huge 1890s-style moustache), my hair is down to my shoulders but I never wash it, for some reason my feet have shrunk down about two shoe sizes and I think I've developed x-ray vision (but not enough to make it worth while). So once the rainy season ends, maybe I'll start walking to work ...
Thursday, March 31, 2011
So as of one year ago, I was planning my big trip West for the End Times' LP release "parties" ... now we're on the cusp of finishing off the Great Tribulation's first long-form release, so I guess I'm back where I started, except farther up the board.
I'm also gainfully employed as of now, slowly assembling a new End Times 7" vinyl record and past the ugly Michigan winter, so I'm definitely more settled and certainly more positive about the next six-to-nine months than one year ago. So hurrah for me, I suppose ... if anyone is still watching this space, let it be known that all is well.
I'm also gainfully employed as of now, slowly assembling a new End Times 7" vinyl record and past the ugly Michigan winter, so I'm definitely more settled and certainly more positive about the next six-to-nine months than one year ago. So hurrah for me, I suppose ... if anyone is still watching this space, let it be known that all is well.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Hi.
I didn't get a job I wanted. That's worse than actually getting a job you don't want, in the long run, at least, in the short run such a thing is good but it ultimately wears on you, especially if you're talking one bad job after another, and another and another ... of course, this is what I'm back to hoping for, another series of bad jobs so I can keep it all together, whatever it is. Gotta say, though, in Michigan's economy it's always exciting to see a good job open up, downright ecstatic to get an interview, and ultimately that much harder to take when it doesn't happen, even if you never expected it to in the first place ... thanks anyways, guys.
The Great Tribulation is all I talk about here anymore, because it's the brightest spotlight on my personal horizon. We had another great night last Saturday, did the Lagerhaus with Scarlet Oaks and Doop & the Inside Outlaws. I miss Noelle on drums, but ScarOak's new lineup kept all the pieces together otherwise, and I finally understand everyone's collective boner over the Inside Outlaws (Doop's cool, but this is clearly Katie Grace's band right now). We made twice as much dough as I expected, got just drunk enough, and at some point we'll have some live video/sound/photos from my pal Jason too, although his old lady has a new boy coming any second now, so we might have to wade through some postpartum excitement to get our results. We sounded good, it was our last gig with pedal steeler Paul Delamater and while I had the usual difficulties battling this newfangled electronic guitar technology, I know for a fact we blew a few minds. Don't forget, we're looking for a lapsteel player and/or organist, so if you got a lead or a pitch, please let us know at greattribulation@gmail.com. At the end of the month we go to Backseat Studio to record more new compositions for a projected full-length release of some kind, so you can expect more feminist diatribes, Satanic screeds and re-written outlaw country ballads sometime in the very very near future ...
Speaking of Backseat, I've started some further End Times recordings there with my new ginger-domed pal Brook ... he's helming the eventually-upcoming single, which I hope to have finished within another month (finances willing). Thanks to Jennifer, John and Cory for filling in the spaces between signature licks ... if it all works, the spring should see at least one End Times recital in the mid-Michigan area plus a new vinyl release. Don't quote me yet, but still, that's the target.
Bye.
I didn't get a job I wanted. That's worse than actually getting a job you don't want, in the long run, at least, in the short run such a thing is good but it ultimately wears on you, especially if you're talking one bad job after another, and another and another ... of course, this is what I'm back to hoping for, another series of bad jobs so I can keep it all together, whatever it is. Gotta say, though, in Michigan's economy it's always exciting to see a good job open up, downright ecstatic to get an interview, and ultimately that much harder to take when it doesn't happen, even if you never expected it to in the first place ... thanks anyways, guys.
The Great Tribulation is all I talk about here anymore, because it's the brightest spotlight on my personal horizon. We had another great night last Saturday, did the Lagerhaus with Scarlet Oaks and Doop & the Inside Outlaws. I miss Noelle on drums, but ScarOak's new lineup kept all the pieces together otherwise, and I finally understand everyone's collective boner over the Inside Outlaws (Doop's cool, but this is clearly Katie Grace's band right now). We made twice as much dough as I expected, got just drunk enough, and at some point we'll have some live video/sound/photos from my pal Jason too, although his old lady has a new boy coming any second now, so we might have to wade through some postpartum excitement to get our results. We sounded good, it was our last gig with pedal steeler Paul Delamater and while I had the usual difficulties battling this newfangled electronic guitar technology, I know for a fact we blew a few minds. Don't forget, we're looking for a lapsteel player and/or organist, so if you got a lead or a pitch, please let us know at greattribulation@gmail.com. At the end of the month we go to Backseat Studio to record more new compositions for a projected full-length release of some kind, so you can expect more feminist diatribes, Satanic screeds and re-written outlaw country ballads sometime in the very very near future ...
Speaking of Backseat, I've started some further End Times recordings there with my new ginger-domed pal Brook ... he's helming the eventually-upcoming single, which I hope to have finished within another month (finances willing). Thanks to Jennifer, John and Cory for filling in the spaces between signature licks ... if it all works, the spring should see at least one End Times recital in the mid-Michigan area plus a new vinyl release. Don't quote me yet, but still, that's the target.
Bye.
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