Jerkatorium wins again for "Fashion". New song "Leave My Brother Alone" at SongFight.org.

Jerkatorium won the most recent Song Fight with our song "Fashion".  It was a very last-minute composition, and it was a lot of fun.  Doing a song that uptempo was so much fun that I'm going to be reluctant to make anything that isn't 190 bpm or faster from now on.

We also submitted to the "Leave My Brother Alone" fight, and entries for that are posted at SongFight.org.  Chumpy had the inspiration for this entry; he wrote nearly all of the words and music.  I did most of the music for the bridge, which Chumpy then improved with an additional vocal melody.  The song is nonfiction and biographical in nature, about a band named 'Dogbreath' that was only active around 1978-1979.

In an effort to continue including images in this blog (which I think is a good policy), I found this old photo of Jerkatorium from the 90s.

I can't even fit that costume over my ankle anymore, much less dance around in it.  I don't know what became of Chumpy's street organ.  Good times [sigh].

Jerkatorium's "Deterioration" WINS! "Fashion" Song Fight songs posted.

Jerkatorium won the "Deterioration" Song Fight, and I am very happy about that.  I am not surprised though, because Chumpy wrote a great song with great lyrics.  I listen to that song daily.

Songs for the current Song Fight with the title "Fashion" have been posted at SongFight.org, and Jerkatorium has submitted a song for that fight too.  It was a very very last-minute composition, but I am pleased with how it turned out.  Go to songfight.org and give it a listen (and vote, if you like it).  As I have mentioned before, you don't need to register for anything or pay for anything to listen or to vote; the only catch is that it only accepts your vote if you vote for more than one song.  I think that's a good idea - it makes people stick to the spirit of Song Fight, where voters should listen to the music and vote for their favorite instead of just hopping onto the site to vote for a friend.

I promised more pics to brighten up this drab blog, so here is what I had submitted for the "Fashion" song cover art.  It was not used for the Fashion fight, and that was the right thing to do because the art they went with was an original drawing by a different SongFighter (which is better than using my lazier entry, which is just a cropped photo with text superimposed over it):

Jerkatorium's "Deterioration" Song Fight entry posted at SongFight.org

Very pleased to announce that Jerkatorium's "Deterioration" Song Fight entry is up for votes at SongFight.org - please listen, and vote for it if you like it.  I am extremely happy with how it turned out, and I've been listening to it compulsively (and narcissistically) ever since we finished it.  'Narcissistic' might not be the most accurate word for me though, because the song was written entirely by Chumpy.  I did the backing vocals, piano and bass, but the great tune and the excellent lyrics are all from Chumpy.  It is one of Jerkatorium's very best songs.  Enjoy. 

In other news, we did not win the "Don't Come Here To Live" Song Fight, which was not a surprise.  Our "Don't Come Here To Live" was a very last-minute composition with minimal production, and to be honest I think that the three submissions that got more votes than Jerkatorium were considerably better than our entry.  Still we didn't do bad, tying for fourth place out of 13 entries, and only three votes short of the winners' vote count.

The next Song Fight title is "Fashion", and we're kicking around some ideas for a song submission.  I will keep you posted.  I'll also find some more pics to post (text-only posts are dull).

Song Fight Live pics and "Don't Come Here To Live"

Just wanted to leave a quick update - here are those pics of Jerkatorium live in concert that you've all been clamoring for:

That last photo is a pic of us performing the Song Fight Live Fight song "Don't Come Here To Live". We did not win the Song Fight Live Fight (that win went to anti-m, who absolutely deserved to win it with her excellent performance of her beautiful song), but our entry is still up for votes at songfight.org, you can listen to it there.  Please note that there is a Parental Advisory for explicit lyrics on that song - it contains some gratuitous profanity.

We are still working on a submission for the next Song Fight title "Deteriorate", and it's coming along very well.  I will enter another update here when those songs are posted on the Song Fight website.

Jerkatorium wins again & Song Fight Live this Saturday

I don't see any reason to be modest about this one:  Jerkatorium won the "No Good Can Come of This" Song Fight, winning first place out of a total of eleven Songfighters and getting nearly double the vote count of any other competitor.  We won because we submitted a good, fun song.  We worked very hard on it.  Chumpy did great work on the vocals.  We were happy with the result, and I would have been surprised and disappointed if it hadn't placed in the top three.  Is it tacky to say that?

We are going to follow up our win with a potentially disastrous fiasco of a live performance at Song Fight Live 2015 on this coming Saturday, August 15 at 9pm at Mississippi Pizza at 3552 N Mississippi Ave in Portland, Oregon.  I will be playing this accordion:

I do not actually know how to play the accordion.  I have never played accordion in any live performance.  I'm more of a guitar/bass guy, but Chumpy got dibs on the guitar and I couldn't come up with a second guitar line that would complement his guitar playing, so I'm stuck wrestling with this weird contraption.  It is slightly out of tune, which cannot be corrected without some serious surgical attention (and that isn't going to happen before the show).  It is only a 12-bass accordion, so I have to compensate by playing some of the chords on the keyboard part instead of the bass buttons, and I'm just going to ignore some of the other chords.  In terms of ease of use, it is like playing a musical Rubik's cube with a bellows attached.  Still hoping to rock it; I have a few days of nonstop practicing to get it just right.

Hope to see some of you at the show.

No Good Can Come of This (the song), & Jerkatorium World Tour date confirmed

Jerkatorium did okay in the previous Song Fight for the title "No Rush", winning 18 votes and sharing third place with two other entries (out of a total of 15 submissions).  I don't mind losing that Fight to Cookie Blue, they did a great song.

Our newest song is currently posted and up for votes at Songfight.org, please go there to listen to our submission for "No Good Can Come of This".  If you like it, please vote for it.  As always, you don't register or pay for anything to listen and vote (there is literally nothing to pay for or buy at the Songfight.org website anyway), you just listen and then vote by clicking the little box next to whichever songs you like.

I am very happy with our submission for "No Good Can Come of This".  It's a good, fun song, and the lyrics to it happen to be related to my next announcement:

It's official, Jerkatorium will be doing our first live show ever at Song Fight Live 2015 on Saturday, August 15 at 9pm at Mississippi Pizza at 3552 N Mississippi Ave in Portland, Oregon.  We'll be the sixth band on the roster that night, and we expect it to be a short set (probably no longer than 15 minutes).  I anticipate a 10 minute set followed by a 10 minute standing ovation.  Ha.

No Rush posted at Song Fight, working on No Good Can Come of This

Jerkatorium's "No Rush" is currently posted at SongFight.org, please listen and vote for it if you like the song.  Chumpy and I tried to channel The Cars.

We are currently working on a submission for the upcoming "No Good Can Come of This" Song Fight, which is due Sunday morning 26JUL2015.  I think it's coming along pretty well.  One of the things that is really helping me with the song is this new (used) piece of equipment:

It is an Evolution eKeys 49 USB controller that I bought used, super-duper cheap.  I plug it directly into my computer and I can use it to control software instruments in GarageBand.  Before this controller I was using "musical typing" for software instruments, which involves using the computer keyboard as the controller.  To give you an idea, the interface window looks like this:

Musical typing is better than nothing, but it is clunky and far from ideal.  It only gives you one and a half octaves, it takes up space on your screen while you're trying to use GarageBand, and of course the feel of the piano/organ keyboard is completely absent.  The eKeys 49 is making things a lot easier and more comfortable for me.

In general, buying used electronic musical equipment is not a good idea, especially the way I did it:  this type of keyboard doesn't have speakers so there was no way to tell if it worked without plugging it in to a computer (which was not available), and the power cord (9-12V adapter) was not included so it was impossible to check to see whether or not it would even power on.  I took a gamble and bought it, found an adapter in the box from my old Fostex 4-track cassette recorder (which I'll never use again anyway), plugged everything in and it worked great.  But I realize that was just dumb luck - I cannot recommend that anyone else try the same sort of thing.