Jerkatorium

Jerkatorium

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith wins the "Baked Out Of My Gourd" Song Fight

Jerkatorium featuring Micah Sommersmith won the "Baked Out Of My Gourd" Song Fight, tying for first place with Berkeley Social Scene.  It was a pleasant surprise how the song came together, and a pleasant surprise to win.

Jerkatorium did not submit a song to the current "Safe Harbor" Song Fight, and it's likely that we won't submit anything to the upcoming "House Red" Fight either.  I will be sure to post an announcement here when we have another song.

In the meantime, here's another pic from the Italy trip (it's an odd section of an ancient fresco from Pompeii or Naples):


Sunday, May 1, 2016

Jerkatorium's collaboration with Micah Sommersmith: "Baked Out Of My Gourd"

Quick update:  Jerkatorium worked with Micah Sommersmith (another SongFighter) for our entry in the most recent Song Fight for "Baked Out Of My Gourd", and that song is currently posted at SongFight.org:

http://www.songfight.org/index.php

It probably won't be posted there for much longer, but you can listen (and vote if you like it) for the next couple of days anyway.  Afterwards it will probably be archived at this link:  http://www.songfight.org/songpage.php?key=baked_out_of_my_gourd

There were a couple of technical snafus with the collaboration.  Originally there was supposed to be a third collaborating band, but the files didn't work so that part had to be scrapped at the last minute.  We were using different and incompatible music software, so Chumpy had to give each iteration of the song some extra attention.  I left for a vacation in Italy after just a few days into the project, so the chorus vocal harmonies just didn't get done.

Still, I consider it a success.  I composed the chord progression and did all of the instrument work except the accordion.  Chumpy and Micah each wrote and sang their own verses.  Micah wrote the chorus words/melody.  Micah's accordion work is fantastic and Chumpy's vocal delivery is wonderfully Pogues-ish - I think those two aspects are the best parts of the song.  Upon my return from Italy I added some background vocal harmonies for the chorus and solo sections, but that was long after the deadline date for song submission so those harmonies didn't make it into the Song Fight version.  Maybe at some point that version will be posted somewhere else and if so, I'll put the link in this blog.

In the interest of gratuitous visual stimulation, here are some pics I took on my trip to Italy: