The Sexy Accident Blog

New lyrics

2010-01-31T12:02:00.003-06:00

It's a brilliantly sunny day in Kansas City. There's snow on the ground and it's hovering just above freezing. I think I'll go for a hike!

But first, I posted up the lyrics for the three songs that will comprise the Now That She's Gone EP, to be released this Spring.

We're playing these songs live, so for those who want to sing along... enjoy!

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

My Girl - Live, semi-acoustic

2010-01-25T13:36:00.002-06:00

I'm a bit behind on sharing the goodies here on the Sexy Accident blog. Here's a video from our last semi-acoustic show at the Roasterie in Kansas City.

The song is "My Girl," from Kinda Like Fireworks.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

Thoughts on "Ignore Everybody"

2010-01-22T16:15:00.003-06:00

Derek Sivers of CD Baby fame sent out a bunch of copies of Hugh MacLeod's Ignore Everybody to his musician friends, so that Derek could hear what other musicians thought about the book and how they'd applied Hugh's ideas.

When Derek announced his plan, I pointed him to a post that I'd already written in response to Hugh's book.

Today, Derek published the results of the project on his blog and included a link to my blog post. This is pretty cool for me, 'cuz I've been reading Derek's writings on music and business for over ten years. He's always full of practical, applicable wisdom and seems very down to earth for such a successful guy. And I really, really dig how he gave away his massively successful company to charity.

Thanks, Derek!

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

The Sexy Accident hits the Pitch!

2009-12-22T19:06:00.003-06:00

Crystal Wiebe just gave us our first feature write-up in this week's Pitch!

Entitled "The Sexy Accident gets some lady in the lineup," Crystal talks about our recent past, our future, our love of vegan cookies and our newest band mate, Camry Ivory!

I must admit that participating in this interview was a ton of fun for me. I've been very excited (nervous, even) to read it and I'm glad it's finally here! Enjoy.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

Operation Domestic Bliss

2009-12-21T10:27:00.002-06:00

Live in the burbs? Under 21, perhaps? Have a quasi-industrial space you want us to peel the paint off of? We have a modest proposal...

The Sexy Accident announces (dum dum dum...) Operation Domestic Bliss.

Simply put, if you want us to come play a show for you where you work, live or play, just send us a message explaining why it would be a GREAT idea to play for you. If we like what we hear we'll play the show provided that:

1. we won't get arrested
2. nobody will beat us up for being loud
3. we will not be electrocuted by terminally bad wiring (it happens!)
4. we can make the schedule / travel work out

You can even help us make the setlist and you can pick between full electric, acoustic or semi-acoustic style!

So yes, Operation Domestic Bliss. Now you know. And you know what knowing is half of, already, because GI Joe told you.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

Live video from Prospero's

2009-12-20T13:29:00.002-06:00

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to our annual holiday show at Prospero's! We had a wonderful time and we hope you did too.

As a souvenir, here's a video of Now That She's Gone, one of the best songs of the night (we think!) :)

Happy holidays!

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

The Onion A.V. Club's Year in Band Names!

2009-12-11T14:59:00.003-06:00

The Sexy Accident made the Onion A.V. club's infamous "The Year in Band Names" list for 2009. What an honor! :)

Check it out.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

Surprise show - thanks, popwreckoning!

2009-12-04T13:52:00.003-06:00

Popwreckoning, a pretty hip music blog with city-specific content, gave us a shout today re: our surprise acoustic show tonight in the Crossroads!

The show is a part of First Fridays in the Crossroads at the Beggar’s Table Gallery. The Beggar’s Table Gallery is located at 2009 Baltimore in Kansas City, MO. (map)

View Larger Map

Chad, Daniel and I will play acoustic versions of about 15 songs: some old, some current and some brand new! We'll start around 7:30.

Hope to see you there.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

Thanks, Wayward Blog!

2009-12-01T15:19:00.004-06:00

And happy birthday to you, Christmas Dog!

Ahem! The stunning Mr. Harper has written a bit of a write-up about Steve Fisk's remix of A Merry Christmas To You over at the Pitch's Wayward Blog.

Check it out!

Or download the song!

Everything! has! exclamation!

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

I'm nothing special

2009-11-28T20:59:00.005-06:00

None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration - Thomas Edison

Hardly an original quote, eh? Yet I hadn't heard the complete form before. If you do a little googling you'll find a number of variations.

I think this is something I've always understood about myself, but it bares repeating. I'm no musical genius. I'm not really much of a genius at anything. Mostly, I just work hard, and I've had the benefit of being surrounded by some very talented and skilled people.

I can be competent at many things, and I've always been interested in a lot of different stuff. If anything is my "talent," it's probably some kind of mental ambidextrosity. I can handle calculus and matrix algebra, I'm a good programmer, I'm pretty good with people, I can write well, and I can write a tune. I also used to be somewhat of a visual artist in an obscure, primitive digital medium, though my work never really evolved beyond copying the pages of comic books.

But really, at the end of the day, I just work hard. I've been playing guitar now for 12 years. I've been writing pop songs in earnest for six. The later stuff is clearly better than the early stuff. How many hours have I put in? Probably somewhere around 5 hours a week, on average, on actual songwriting. I've put in more on the band at large, but a lot of that is booking and posters and stuff. So that's 12 years * 52 weeks * 5 hours = 3000 hours of songwriting. In the beginning, I put in more time. I played until my hands hurt. Now, I have to scrape my songwriting time out when my kid's napping and my wife's asleep.

I work hard, but I don't work enough. My friend Russell told me about Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, which I may or may not need to read. In it, he talks about the 10,000 hour rule. The gist is that in order to reach a level of incredible, genius-like performance at anything, you have to put in at least 10,000 hours. The Beatles did it. Tiger Woods did it. Bill Gates did it. The list goes on and on.

So maybe this is the real sacrifice one makes when one doesn't pursue one's art professionally. Or maybe I've just spent too much time working on non-essentials. In any event, I'd have to change my routine pretty significantly to get to 10,000 hours any time soon. I'm only a third of the way there, and I'm 32. At this pace I won't hit 10,000 until I'm 55. Professionally, I'm at 16,000 hours. And I started really peaking as an interaction designer after 5 years, right at the 10,000 mark.

But now I have a goal. I can make a change. It's like discovering that you haven't been saving enough for retirement. It's not too late, but the years you've spent not saving enough make your task harder. I have to make some catch-up contributions.

Thankfully, the IRS can't limit how much time I spend working on my art. It's time to get creative and re-budget my time.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

A Merry Christmas To You - Remixed!

2009-11-26T01:00:00.002-06:00

The Sexy Accident have just released a brand new Steve Fisk remix of A Merry Christmas To You!

Be warned: this is no song of holiday cheer. The remix is spooky as hell, and features lead vocals sung by Michelle Plaitis, who sang backup on the original version from mantoloking.

You can download the new track free of charge at sexyaccident.com.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. And welcome to to the holiday season!

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

The Sexy Accident is not a bus

2009-11-15T12:06:00.006-06:00

something I sent to the band on this rainy Sunday morning, prompted by my visit to Unity Temple.

---

The Sexy Accident is not a bus. You don't get on, sit down and wait for it to take you somewhere. The Sexy Accident is a canoe, and the journey is upriver and long.

The canoe only moves as fast as everyone paddles, and it moves the farthest when everyone's paddling in the same direction, and with the same pace and rhythm.

Sometimes you might pull your paddle out of the water and start to think about whether the canoe will really get where you want the canoe to go, or whether we're paddling in the right direction. Sometimes, even though you're trying to paddle, you might not take the time to get your rhythm right. You may start to chop frantically at the water or make small, ineffective strokes. It happens.

Sometimes people leave the canoe, and sometimes new people hop on. That's OK. It's all part of the journey upriver.

The best part of being on the canoe is not getting somewhere, because there's always somewhere else to go next. The best moments are when everyone's paddling together and having a great time doing it: when you sing songs and laugh out loud as you go, and when the motion of the canoe is fast and smooth through the water. Sometimes it's fun to pull the canoe up to shore for the night and just party together, too.

So if you catch yourself with your paddle out of the water, stuck in a mental rut, ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I paddling as hard and as effectively as possible?
2. Is there a way I can help everyone in the canoe paddle together, with the same pace and rhythm?
3. Is there a way I can encourage everyone to paddle with more strength?
4. Is there a new, better way to paddle that we should all try?
5. Can I help make our time in the canoe more fun?

Chances are, you'll think of something.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

Master of my domain

2009-11-08T21:26:00.003-06:00

"The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will." - Hugh McLeod

I'm reading Ignore Everybody. It's good so far! I'm on chapter three.

I try to read an art book every year or so. So far, it's been The Artist's Way and The War of Art. Female and male halves, respectively, of the same coin.

The quote above caught my eye and I started to think about my work, and the sovereignty of it. Or the lack thereof. I guess the question is this - do I try to sell out? Do I water things down to make them more commercial?

It's a complex question. I used to play in instrumental bands. Part of why I don't do that anymore (and it's only part) is that I realized that people just don't want to listen to instrumental music, unless you're a virtuoso. Maybe there are a few exceptions. Explosions in the Sky. Mogwai. Token indie instrumental bands. What's crazy is that Mogwai aren't even really that great. I mean, they're good, but Godspeed you Black Emperor were always much, much better. And how many times can you listen to the same, slow, e-minor arpeggio set to big ambient drums before it gets a bit stale? How many ways are there to slice that cake? So yeah, part of the transition to pop songs it that I got bored, and part is that I love pop music and listen to more or less nothing but, but there's a tiny sliver of logic in there regarding the fact that nobody listens to instrumental music. And I just didn't love it enough to keep playing it just for me.

I think at some point I also embraced the idea of trying to make the personal universal, which is easier with lyrics (or at least more direct?). But it's tricky. On the one hand, you have Rock You Like a Hurricane. I mean, clearly that song was written to be performed in an arena. Is it expressing some deeply personal experience? Maybe it is and I'm just being an ass, but I don't quite see it. I'm struggling for a counterexample. I don't know what the other extreme would be. Hmm... something so personal that it's completely unapproachable? I don't think I've ever created such a piece. I almost wish I had something like that to point to.

I think I'm passionate about the notion of a pop song. Something that's made to be approachable and deeply, fundamentally simple. Yet I want it to be quirky. I want it to be me. And it's that tension that I'm always trying to master. I have songs like My Girl that have been rejected for consideration for placement in movies and TV because of lyrics like "My girl is at home asleep / 'cuz she's gotta keep / Toby blowing bubbles" That's hardly universal, right? But it's a catchy tune, and it's for my wife. So that's the way it's going to roll. And then there's some dude on Youtube complaining that I Just Need My Car is too "average" yet 1) I love it just the way it is and 2) we rejected that song as our single because it contains the word "bumblefuck" in the chorus! Hardly radio friendly! And I knew it, too. I could have said "BFE," instead. Still a little obscure, but not against FCC regulations. Yet I went with "bumblefuck."

I constantly wonder if I'm sabotaging myself, making decisions like these. I sometimes consider changing things around to make stuff more widely palatable but I can never bring myself to do it. So instead I keep waiting for that magical song to come along that's truly exactly what I want to say and also miraculously approachable and appreciable enough that a lot of people might relate to it. I mean, what artist wouldn't want that? It's always been a dream of mine to have people sing along to my songs at a show.

But that's exactly how I look at it. If that happens, it'll be a happy accident. A sexy one, even. It won't be because of conscious decisions that I've made to make things more generic or palatable. I hope it does happen, because it would be great to have more people hear and appreciate our work, but if it doesn't, I'd rather write a song for somebody I love and have nobody (maybe not even them) appreciate it than write generic crap that I can't stand behind.

So here I am, keeping on. Rock you like a hurricane.

I have this new song that maybe hits the mystical balance point. It's called Now That She's Gone. It sounds sorta motown, but we're going to put a lot of guitar noodling in it. I'm sure some of our fans will feel it's too poppy and will be disappointed because it's not in an odd time signature (though it is highly syncopated.) I'm sure somebody will think it's too generic. And I'm equally sure somebody will think the vocals are mixed too low or that we'd do better with another singer. But fuck it, it's my jam. I hope you like it when you get to hear it, but if you don't, that's just the way it is. What am I going to do about it? In the end, I wrote this song for the same reason that I wrote all the others. Something happened that deeply affected me, and I needed to write a song about it. So I did.

You see? I'm just a conduit. I think Hugh MacLeod would approve.

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

New bass player

2009-11-07T18:14:00.004-06:00

Our search for a new master of the grooves is over. Welcome Jonathon Smith, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire and fan of motown. What more could you want?

Jonathon also writes and publishes radio free raytown, a blog and podcast about all things musical. You should check it out!

Coincidentally (truly!), he recently wrote a review of Mantoloking. :)

We're all super excited to have Jonathon on board and are jazzed at the prospect of playing shows again. Jazzed! Jazz hands!

All our love,

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

New press!

2009-11-04T10:29:00.002-06:00

Two great reviews just came in.

The first is from Americana UK, and it's probably my favorite review to date. Jonathan Aird really heard the record in the way that I hoped it would be heard. It's a well written review, too.

The second is from Straight, No Chaser. Just as you'd expect, it's right to the point. :)

- Jesse Kates / The Sexy Accident - Download our music for FREE

The Sexy Accident Mint Lip Balm!

2009-10-24T23:54:00.002-05:00

Do your lips need a little somethin' somethin'? Try...

The Sexy Accident All-Natural Mint Lip Balm! :)

Made in the USA of natural ingredients. SPF-15 UVB/UVA protection. With aloe and shae butter!

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

Tell us about YOU!

2009-10-21T16:45:00.002-05:00

There's lots going on at Sexy Accident central. We're making you an
awesome Christmas present. :)

But before I blab at you about us, may I ask you to take The Sexy
Accident's ...

Very Important Survey for Very Important People

That's right! We want to know all about you: your dreams, your
aspirations, and your preferences in board games. So please, take the
survey! It's very short. :)

More from me, later. We want to hear from you!

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

The Sexy Accident seeks BASS

2009-10-16T13:37:00.002-05:00

Kansas City indie pop band The Sexy Accident seeks a new bass player.

Here's our bio -

The Sexy Accident play "forceful, even fiery power-pop" "driven by catchy melodies and smart, real-life lyric writing." (The Big Takeover) On their latest release, Mantoloking, the band "addresses the noticeable failings of leaders, family, friendship, and love" and "proffers raw lyrics and bitter memories with aching honesty" (Present Magazine) Jesse Kates, the band's singer and guitarist, writes lyrics that "are detailed, seem carefully crafted, and reflect circumstances from life as we know it." (erasingclouds) and "sings with a devotion and sensitivity that's sometimes surprising." (The Big Takeover) In the past, they've been accused of "evok[ing] the new-wave songwriters of the '80s, clean-cut pop artists like Marshall Crenshaw, Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello" and have been called the midwest's "regional answer to the Fountains of Wayne." (Ink KC)

---

Things we've done over the past few years:

- Recorded a record (mantoloking) with legendary Seattle producer Steve Fisk (Nirvana, Unwound, Soundgarden, The Wedding Present, etc.) here at the Black Lodge
- Recorded a record (Kinda Like Fireworks) at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studios in Chicago
- Played about 85 shows, mostly in Missouri and Kansas
- Written, rehearsed and performed 35 songs
- Received numerous press reviews and accolades
- Had a bunch of (labor intensive) fun! :)

---

Our bass player is moving to Florida, and we need a new master of the grooves. What we're looking for:

- A dedicated and professional attitude (practices outside of practice)
- Somebody who writes bass parts to serve the song
- Ability to play in odd times and syncopated rhythms
- Willingness to rehearse once weekly and play out 2-3 times per month
- Open to travel for the odd out of town show
- Somebody who can conjure a little Motown if necessary

Interested? Contact us at: http://www.sexyaccident.com/contact.html

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

The Story Behind The Song. Track 11 - Won't You Be Mine?

2009-10-07T23:40:00.005-05:00

I love this song.

So oddly enough Won't You Be Mine? is sort of a book-end paired with track 10, All Surface. I wrote it at about exactly the same time of year, one year later. It was the last song I wrote for Mantoloking.

Won't You Be Mine? is a song that's meant to sound and feel like spring ("the sun melts the week-old snow.") It's a song about the redemptions and renewals that are necessary, unavoidable and healthy in long-term relationships. But first and foremost, this is a song for and about my wife, Stephanie. I don't write them all the time, but I do write them, and as I said - this is probably my favorite song on the record. I think it's the perfect way to wrap things up.

I love Michelle's vocal round during the choruses (she came up with the melody), and particularly the notes that we hold out together at the ends. Steve's un-hyped and unadorned approach to the production also makes me happy. My voice is completely natural and unaffected - it's just as I sang it into the microphone at Black Lodge. The guitars sound great, Chad's leads are as tasteful as always, and the drum beat is interesting (it's somehow related to something from Grease? Ask Daniel.) Like I said, I like this one.

Some more tidbits - this song is the only one on the record to feature the low C# in my crazy C#G#D#G#C#F tuning that I use on my ASAT. In fact, it's also the only song played on the ASAT on Mantoloking, despite the fact that I used it for four of the ten tracks on Kinda Like Fireworks. I tend to do that. I have a dominant guitar or two on each album. One tends to be the newest instrument in my collection - in this case, that was the Telecaster Bass IV that yielded Say Goodnight, I Tried Again, Buy Me Out and All Surface.

So that's that - the last of the stories behind the songs on Mantoloking. I hope you've enjoyed them! Now I'm off to bed so I can get up bright and early to enjoy a vacation day with my aforementioned wonderful and awesome wife. :)

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

The Story Behind The Song. Track 10 - All Surface

2009-10-01T10:50:00.002-05:00

This is one of the better songs on the album, I think. Man is it a whopper, too. I'm listening to it as I write this and I'm remembering just how long that's going to take. :)

As to what it's about, I talked a bit about that in my interview with present magazine. Allow me to repeat myself:

All Surface was the first song I wrote after we got back to Kansas City from recording Kinda Like Fireworks. Based on more gmail searching it looks like I wrote it in early April. Winter was hanging on way too long, which is where the "float away winter" opening line comes from. I found myself floundering in a number of ways, both personal and professional. I felt I was stuck in a dead-end job. I was feeling old. I felt crippled by responsiblity. I was experiencing the postpartum blues that follow the completion of any major art project. There were other things too. I was basically just kind of bummed and feeling more than a little isolated and adrift. So yeah, it's more or less an encapsulation of the mood and an attempt to turn the feelings of hopelessness into useful angst. Angst and frustration can be powerful feelings if you take action in response to them, I think. It was tough for me, actually, letting that song out. I've always tried to make the Sexy Accident an upbeat band, and so I've censored songs that were too gloomy or serious in the past. This time I just let them out. I can't tell if it's led to a better result, to do that, but it's an experiment. :) You gotta take chances.

As for production, there's lots of neat stuff here. This is the only song on the album that we played without Daniel listening to a click track. So the tempo ebbs and flows as the song moves, and I think it works out perfectly and lets the song breathe like it should. What you're hearing is a live take with extra goodness sprinkled on top.

A few months before we recorded I got a freebie piano that a family was willing to let go of if we moved it. It's a beautiful 1903 upright grand, and it has a wonderful and full sound. I don't play piano, really, but I started to figure out how to play the guitar parts to my songs on it for fun. I became so enamored with how the two arpeggiated verse parts from All Surface sounded on piano that I decided I had to play some keys when we tracked it, which I did. Black Lodge's spinet doesn't sound quite as cool as my piano at home, but it wasn't feasible to track in my living room. :)

What else... oh, during the DUM DUM DUM parts in the pre-choruses, Daniel is pounding an extra kick drum with a rubber mallet. That was fun, too. Woot.

Next up: Won't You Be Mine?

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

The Story Behind The Song. Track 9 - The Chatty Bandit

2009-09-25T22:47:00.003-05:00

When I was in high school my friend Scott inspired me to be emphatic. He was one of the few people around who didn't seem to be afraid to express appreciation for pretty much anything, and he knew how to be happy. I've never seen anyone scarf down eight taco bell tacos with quite the same level of enthusiasm, nor take a bite out of a raw stick of butter just because. No project was impossible, either, including bizarre fashion videos and a skateboard ramp built from lumber stolen from a construction site. But I digress...

It was 10th grade. I literally decided to try to be like him. It was a conscious thing. Dispassion was for sissies. Apathy was boring. Life is about gratitude and enthusiasm.

I'm my own guy, of course. I don't know if Scott would write The Chatty Bandit, but maybe he would if he were into the sorts of things I am (those things in this case being Wedding Present-influenced guitar pop and a girl named L, I guess.) Though come to think of it Scott was one of two people responsible for getting me into The Wedding Present in the first place. The other culprit was Chris Drew, another person who is not afraid of feeling.

Anyway. This one's tough to write about, and I didn't expect it to be at the time I penned it. Have you ever acted kind of perfectly, or at least with perfect intention? Have you ever appreciated somebody with no reservation? Has there ever been somebody who just made you happy, for no particular reason at all? Their mere existence makes you glad to be alive and around? Somebody's whose foibles become something you are thankful for - just another way of making them stand out as who they are? Maybe they really like cheeseburgers or sing a certain song in the shower (so they say) or have a bipolar relationship with thunderstorms. In any event, it doesn't happen often, this appreciation. Only with the best of friends, in my experience. Family can be that way, but you know how families are. A perfect friend can be at a perfect distance. Close, but not so close that you start to resent them for not putting the cap back on the toothpaste tube. And by perfect, I don't mean flawless. I just mean perfect. Exactly as they are supposed to be. Any other way would be wrong.

The Chatty Bandit made me happy just by being The Chatty Bandit. She would cheer me up with her stories and secrets. We wrote together. I fell in love with her music. I wanted to make her happy, just like she made me, and so I wrote this song. I thought she deserved it. It was only fair. The least I could do. The lyrics and feel and energy say it all, so I'm not going to rehash it. It's there. It's properly expressed.

There's nothing flashy about the production here. Just a bunch of meticulously arranged guitars and some particularly amazing drumming from Daniel. I like the "poke you in the stomach a little" chord at the end of the first chorus. And the tambourine and cutesy lyrics floating above the bridge of destruction. Oh, and there's a little subtle thing where I asked Pat to use the bass line from "There's no I in threesome" as a shout-out because El Bandita liked Interpol.

In the end, I'm glad that I wrote this song. It's one of my favorite on the record, and so it's impossible to regret it, though sometimes it's hard to sing. Aw heck, I'll even tell you a secret: The Chatty Bandit was Saucepants.

C'est la vie.

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

The Story Behind The Song. Track 8 - You're Out Of Luck

2009-09-24T14:39:00.003-05:00

You're Out Of Luck is a song about fear, about this so-called "age of anxiety" of ours. I'm not putting that in quotes because I think there's nothing scary about our times, nor am I trying to make fun of people who feel fear or worry, because like most people, I do my fair share of that. Probably more than my fair share. But a few things are clear to me, and these are: 1. There's always something to worry about. 2. There's never any point in worrying.

So in a sense, this song is about how not to live. The chorus is meant to be falsely reassuring, or ironic without humor, if that makes sense. Consider: "You sit and watch the ticking clock. Until it stops you're out of luck." The point is, it's never going to stop ticking. It's always ticking, or there's always a new clock to watch tick. Whichever way you look at it, it's the same point. The only real fix is to stop watching the clock. Or to realize that there isn't a clock at all, and to watch different things. Do what you can about whatever's worrying you, if there's something you can do, and then let it go. Go lie under a tree in a park with somebody you love.

Some of the imagery was chosen to represent things that I don't like about our culture. Like cul-de-sacs. Modern architecture is designed for isolation. Isolation with the wrong stimulus (CNN) leads to paranoia. In our rush for privacy, we've created echo chambers, and we're often broadcasting the wrong things inside of them. I love a good front porch. Front porches lead to community and peace. If you have to walk past your neighbors on your way from your car to your front door, you're going to say "hi." Sooner or later, that neighbor may become a friend. And someday, that friend might come to your aid in the least expected way.

This song was an experiment for me. I always try to write songs that I would enjoy listening to. I appreciate the arrangement, melody and vibe of You're Out Of Luck. It's well-executed. It's cohesive. But I don't enjoy listening to the song. I almost always skip the track. Does that mean that a song like this doesn't go on the next record? We'll see. I just don't want to be negative. It's a thing with me. I feel like it's my responsibility to be uplifting. But more than that, it's what I want to do!

Production-wise, interesting details include Chad's use of an e-Bow to get that tornado-siren like effect over the choruses. We took the e-Bow/guitar signal and ran it into a delay pedal, and I manually increased the delay time as we tracked. For anyone who's played with a delay pedal, you'll realize that this causes the delayed part of the signal to detune. So effectively, I was creating an electric tremolo arm and simultaneously increasing the echo intensity and detuning Chad's part as he played.

I also love the drum sound here, and the crazy "ticking clock" effect that Steve put on the extra hi-hat in the choruses (chorii). Fun stuff, maybe even a little 1970s. :) Phase effects on cymbals always make me think of the 70s. But I wasn't really listening, then, so that could be a poorly-informed stereotype.

What else... oh. We used a really cool Wright 5F6-A Bassman clone for Chad's primary guitar tone. Sometimes we doubled his Vox AC15CC1 on top. In other spots, we used a silverface twin w/tremolo engaged. A few more words about the Wright: that thing sounds amazing. I almost bought it two and a half years ago but I chose my Dr. Z instead. If you want a great sounding and amazingly well-built tweed and are local to the KC area, check out Wright's stuff at Mass St. Music!

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

The Story Behind The Song. Track 7 - A Merry Christmas To You

2009-09-23T13:43:00.006-05:00

Ah, what a lovely after dinner mint of a song. I love the sound of this one. I'm almost more enamored with the sound of it than the song itself, though I like both.

So the story. During Christmas break I was sitting with my son (3 years old) while he played his drum kit. I had my mustang out and plugged in. We rock together regularly. While he was wiling out on the kit, I came up with the basic guitar riff that you hear on the twangy electric throughout the verses of the song. That established the meter (6/8 or 2/4 followed by 4/4 depending on how you count it) and the groove/vibe. As it was Christmas, I decided to write a Christmas song. And I wanted it to be all Wedding Present-y and jilted male and stuff. That's pretty much it for the genesis, here.

There wasn't a specific broken-heart experience that led to the tale itself. But I've pulled the feel and tone from how I've felt at various times. I also decided that I've taken myself way too seriously in various situations in the past, and so I had the idea of having the girl's perspective layered in on top as a duet. So here you have this obsessed guy obsessing on this girl. He's built the girl up into something magical - like Christmas! The girl knows he exists, but barely, recognizes he has a crush on her but doesn't pay it much of a thought when he shows up and sees her smooching somebody else (somebody she actually likes). She never does realize that he came to send her off with a gift, but if she had, she would have found it awkward and kind of unnerving, not charming. So yeah, you can see that as heartbreaking or sad, but it's also absurd and stupid in exactly the way that unrequited crushes can be. The girl's perspective is perfectly valid, after all, isn't it? It's just less "romantic" than the guy's. PS: There's a reason why "romantic" is in quotes.

Now! This will be fun. In my head, when I see all this play out, it's all at the Carnegie Mellon campus. And thanks to the miracle magic of Google Maps and Street View, I'll show you EXACTLY where.

When he sees her kissing the guy, he's walking across the street at THIS VERY INTERSECTION.

View Larger Map

Of course, it's winter in the song, but this is the spot. She's down by that brick building dead ahead, on the right by the street. There's no train there, but that's where the shuttle bus would pick up to go to the airport. (See? I'm bending reality again.) When I picture the train station / icy stairs version in my mind, I picture a Harlem above-ground station like this.

And later, when he's walking around ("as I walk, I stop to see the sights / people shop / the doors are decked in lights"), it's on Craig St. Right here.

View Larger Map

...Only a block away from where he saw his crush kiss that other man.

So there you have it. That's the interior shot from my brain.

Production-wise, there's lots of fun stuff here. Guitars, guitars, and more guitars. We had a fake sleigh bell that we had tried to concoct from recordings of a single jingle bell, but it didnt work out and so I removed it from the final mix. (Sorry, Daniel!) The duet is sung by Michelle Plaitis, a friend of Steve's.

Oh, last fact. I tried to get Sarah Anderson of Softee to sing the duet with me but she said she was too busy. :) Now that's heartbreak! oh well. :) I think in the end, she missed out. She has no idea how great a guy I am. Haha. Now I'm off to cry and throw this book away. :)

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

The Story Behind The Song. Track 6 - Failing To Play Nice

2009-09-20T23:19:00.003-05:00

Boy! It'll be nice when I get through this patch of darker songs. :)

Failing To Play Nice. Let's see. I'd hope the subject matter is obvious. Honestly, I'd hope it's obvious in all my songs. But let's see what I can add that might be of note.

The story is half about me, half about somebody else. The first half, the half about somebody else, was inspired by a true story that involved a child saying, upon his return to his mother's house from staying with his father, that "daddy loves me some, but momma loves me all." That's all it took. I had to write the song. I think it's the first time I've ever written a song for/about a person that actually brought said person to tears the first time she heard it. I'd say that's kind of cool, but I sort of feel bad about it, too. I mean, is that a good thing? Hopefully it is. This is the weirdness of dark songs. Is it better to write them? Right now I think it is, though I've also decided that the next Sexy Accident record will be intensely danceable. At least once we're done with this first new one... In Heaven. Aw, hell. I can't predict what'll happen. But the SECOND new song, Now That She's Gone - that shit has a beat you can shake your booty by, no doubt. But now I'm foreshadowing.

My parents got divorced when I was about five, though it wasn't 1980. This is the strange thing about songs. The facts are slaves to the song, and even to the sound of the song - to the phrasings and rhymes. 1980 rolls off the tongue like it needs to. And the woman in the first half? She wasn't 21 when she got married, either. Does any of this matter? Does it matter, also, that my two real stepdads had neither money nor aplomb? One of them reminded me of shag carpet with cat puke on it, and the other had gone insane from too much exposure to xerox chemicals (my mother's theory.) He vehemently hated the smell of parmesan cheese and yelled at me for liking his basketball trophies.

Anywho. I sang this one in one take. You can probably tell. I'm glad we kept it, but it's hard for me to listen to. It's certainly not picture perfect. But I was upset as I sang it, and that's appropriate. I was upset partly because of the song itself - it's very naked and emotional - but also 'cuz I was generally stressing about the recording at the time and it was one of the first songs we tried to do. It's hard to sing a song like this with your back to a control room full of your band and a producer you've admired for a long time. Plus, Black Lodge is great and all, but that place is a little creepy. It's a former mausoleum, after all. We might have even had a tornado siren right before the take. I can't remember.

Rewinding a bit, arranging Failing To Play Nice was surprisingly hard. We tried a country version. It was a song that got kicked around a lot, for months. We played it during our acoustic shows, and it worked well in that format, but I wasn't sure it was a Sexy Accident song. It almost didn't make the album. We finally hit an arrangement that we liked (inspired by recollections of Steve's work with LOW on the Curtain Hits The Cast) about two weeks before we started tracking. I *still* wasn't sure it was a Sexy Accident song, but we went with it anyway, and I've had a surprising number of people say it's their favorite track on the record. Shows what I know!

Other interesting facts. This song features the only significant use of my blue Heritage 535 on the record, last used as my main guitar during the early Whitford days. Daniel Torrence manually manipulated a Ross Flanger and that Electroharmonix POG to get the crazy Star Trek IV slash whale-sounding guitar tone that you hear during the instrumental chorii. That's one of my favorite effects on the record. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, the verse drum part is a loop. SHH! See? We're as bad as Metallica.

Next up: A Merry Christmas To You

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE

More radio play!

2009-09-18T15:43:00.002-05:00

Thanks again to the following radio stations, who are all charting Mantoloking this week!

KSCL Shreveport LA - #10
WMCO New Concord OH - #29
WMCX W. Long Branch NJ - #24
WMPG Portland ME - #19
WPSC Wayne NJ - #7
WRHU Hempstead NY - #11
WRNC Ashland WI - #15
WVOF Fairfield CT - #25

I'm particularly pleased to be getting airplay in Wayne, NJ, which was near where I grew up. Go Willowbrook mall!

- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE