The Bar - Fred Willard - Luke Top - Charlatans
June 1st, 2009

I’ve got a lot of events coming up so I’m just gonna spill ‘em all out here:
Wednesday, June 3rd
The Bar w/ Travis Keller and Amusement Parks on Fire
We’ll all be spinning iPods and hangin’ out. I suspect it could get a little grungy but don’t worry, I’ll pull out some Akon if I have to. You should listen to some Amusement parks on Fire.
Saturday, June 6th
The Midnight Show @ UCB hosted by Fred Willard, music by Giant Drag
Fred Willard’s IMDB page melts my face. Annie and I will be playing a few Giant Drag songs between sketches. The show is sold out but there will be a waiting list if you show up around 11:30pm
Thursday, June 18th
Chairlift & Luke Top @ The Echo
Luke Top rocks. Chairlift rocks. If you come to this show you will rock.
Friday, September 18th
Charlatans UK w/ Giant Drag @ The Henry Fonda Music Box
Not happening for a while but tickets are already on sale. I’m pretty excited about this. Might play a show with Charlatans in San Diego as well.
April Shows With Luke Top Opening For Peter, Bjorn & John
April 27th, 2009
I’ll be playing bass with Luke Top this week in New York and Philadelphia. Here are the dates:
Apr 29 2009 - Webster Hall, New York w/ Peter Bjorn & John
Apr 30 2009 - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn w/ Peter Bjorn & John
May 1 2009 - World Cafe, Philadelphia w/ Peter Bjorn & John
How to rule karaoke with zero vocal practice.
January 2nd, 2009
I was wondering when someone would finally couple karaoke with autotune
“…a unique vocal effect best described as a robot gargling Listerine.”
How else are people supposed to keep up with T-Pain.
P.S. Don’t get the wrong idea, I seriously <3 extreme autotune and T-Pain.
Robot Nightmare, The Shirt!
December 8th, 2008
At long last, the t-shirt of my dreams. I recommend clicking the little “aa” logo to get the American Apparel version. Thanks to Nathan for the tip on insanely easy t-shirt sales.
November 4th, 2008 in Echo Park
November 5th, 2008
Strangers spilled out onto Sunset Boulevard hugging, high fiving and banging on pots. It was fantastic.
Solve all your problems for the low cost of $22*
September 20th, 2008
It would take about 733 nine inch balloons and cost about $22 to fill a half my living room to nine feet. I’m just sayin’
* Does not including helium tank and sparkles
Robot Nightmare
July 29th, 2008

I asked my friend/sometimes videographer Mark to help me test out my fax machine. Within a few minutes he drew and faxed over this masterpiece. I’d never seen such an accurate representation of so many of my nightmares. I kind of love it.
Stuff to Live For
July 22nd, 2008
Back in April, Annie, Joe Cardamone and I recorded four newish Giant Drag songs with Chris Rakestraw at Sunset Lodge Studios (If you were to open the door in the middle of the Elliott Smith wall you’d ben inside Sunset Lodge studios). The song “Stuff to Live For” ended up in a short film by Yorkshire photographer Bella Howard,
Apparently the designer of TankThreeGraceFilms.com didn’t want anyone to find anything on their site so here are some detailed instructions on how to watch the video:
- Go to TankThreeGracesFilms.com (and wait through a very long intro)
- Click the green dot (“commissioned films” should show up when you mouse over)
- Mouse over the three baby green dots birthed from the mama green dot until “bella howard” pops up (I’d specify which dot but, in yet another stroke of unusability genius, they appear in a different order every time.)
- Now that you’ve found the most awesome of all dots, go ahead and click your mouse.
Georgia, The Song
June 8th, 2008
I recorded this song yesterday for my friend Georgia’s birthday. The goal was to write, record and mix a song within an hour then head over to her birthday party (sorta on time) to deliver the fresh-baked gift. In reality I clocked in at about three hours and arrived painfully late.
I started off with the drums and a vague idea for a single note guitar/bass line. Here’s the track list in order of first recorded:
- Drums - Sonor Sonic Force whatevers
- Acoustic Guitar - Mark’s Johnson (quit laughing perv)
- Bass - Hagstrom with flat wounds
- Backing Vocals - 3 harmonies each doubled for a total of 6 tracks
- Lead Vocals - doubled
The signal chain for all tracks went: GT67 mic -> Neve 1272 preamp -> UA 1176 compressor -> Summit TLA-100 limiter -> Cubase except for the bass which skipped the mic and went direct from an SVT Classic head to the 1272.
Everything went down easy within one or two takes except the bass track. I was trying to match the guitar line I had just improvised a minute earlier and could not recreate it to save my life. I ended up practicing the line at least 50 times and cutting three takes together. That snag alone cost me about 45 minutes of birthday BBQ time.
Special thanks to Yuko and Mark for standing in to check levels.
Happy Birthday Georgia!
Boiling: Rough Track & Video
May 23rd, 2008
I sent a rough version of a song to my friend Mark and today he surprised me with this. The song still has a ways to go but I was so impressed with the video I couldn’t resist sharing.
Morning Commute
May 20th, 2008

Luke Top @ 3 Clubs May 14th
May 13th, 2008

I’ll be playing bass with Luke Top tomorrow (May 14th) at 3 Clubs (map). We’ll most likely go on some time between 10 and 11pm. I heard John Webster John has got a sweet, seven piece percussion arrangement so come early.
Fresh Baked Cookie Gun
May 9th, 2008


