We've broken ground

2006-02-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we officially began recording our upcoming full length album tentatively titled "After Dark." A few of the songs are as yet unwritten, and the album will not be availiable for purchase by the general public until June 9th. It will be about 11 songs long, and will include old standbyes as well as some exciting new stuff.

Yesterday me, My Man B and Zam Zam went in and when we were finished we'd laid down the drum tracks for Once Is Never Enough, Back From the Dead and It's Gonna Take a Miracle. I think the craziest part of this whole process is that we will be rerecording three of our original four songs, it will be interesting to see how the new versions shake out.

A tentative track list:

The Mesoamerican Dream
It's Gonna Take a Miracle
Once Is Never Enough
Downtown
Back From the Dead
After Dark
Urban Hunting Ground
The Weathermachine
The End
Dagon
We Own the Skies

This album is going to be life alteringly brutal. On June 9th, the world will tilt.

Unlimited Power 2006!

2006-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

So in about an hour we will begin setting out for our first "tour", even if it is only a three day shot we're all still very excited to get our first taste of really being "on the road." We're doing it ridiculously inefficiently too, but we managed to fit almost all of our gear into the back of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, we'll be taking three cars between us and our touring partners Baby Guts.

So far its shaping up to be a grand adventure.

Tonight we'll play at the Mainstreet Pub in Brookings, South Dakota with Baby Guts and the Layered Cakes. This should be a good show with a lot of people actually, the only problem is that we haven't secured a place to spend the night in Brookings. Hopefully somebody will have pity on us.

Saturday we'll rock The Post in Mandan (near Bismarck), North Dakota. With Baby Guts, Shiss and Sliver. We do have a place to stay in Mandan, however we don't really know where The Post is. We never were given an address and we have only vague directions ("5 miles south of Mandan on 1806"). I love it.

Sunday we'll return to the Cheap Thrills in St. Cloud, should be a blast, but we gotta figure out what time we play.

If the opportunity arises I shall update from the road.

Rock on,
Johnny

2006-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

Considering that we have only been gigging for less than six months, The Men Who Control the Weather have quite an extensive and turbulent history. I feel that for everyone to properly understand what will be written in the bands future, they'll have to know a little about the bands past. So I will detail the history of the band in a three part blog miniseries with a cheesy title: "The Rock Before the Storm: How They Came to Control the Weather"

Part I : A Dream Conceived in a Pool of Vomit

Like all good things in life, the concept of The Men Who Control the Weather was developed as I lay supine in a pool of my own vomit on my friend's bathroom floor. The band formed as a result of many feelings, not the least of which was dispicable envy.

However this situation was not without context. In July of 2003 I was a high school dropout, trying to make it day to day on my own peddling pornography for $7.45 an hour. I felt lonely and depressed, it was a rare week if my bank balance didn't drop below zero. I also regularly played acoustic folk rock in the south suburbs of the Twin Cities for sparse but loyal audiences, and if there was anything resembling a music scene in the south suburbs at the time, I was pretty decently immersed in it. It was the hayday of Manic Euphoria, and the new era of Screaming Monkey Boner was dawning, it certainly wasn't the worst time to be involved in music in the sleepy southern suburbs. Johnny BoomBoom was of course a footnote in the history of this time and place, there was a period when I could go to the Burnsville mall and be recognized by the regulars of The Garage. I had managed to achieve a modicum of local celebrity in the city of Burnsville, by playing music that I would never listen to, and that in retrospect was almost totally insincere, but I attacked that music with gusto. I did it because I enjoyed being in front of people, I discovered that the time I was happiest was when I was up there on stage. I've received praise for the music I was making, but personally today I'd like to see all the copies of those CD's rounded up and blown to smithereens.

I mentioned before that this was the dawning of a new era for a band that was known at the time as Screaming Monkey Boner. It would be impossible to discuss the history of The Men Who Control the Weather without discussing briefly the history of S.M.B., if not only because of their musical influence but also because of the way they acted as a key motivator in getting the whole damn project off the ground. Their bass player Cass Nee was then and is now one of my closest friends and confidants. It is also impossible to write about the history of this band, without writing of my implacable envy of Cass's success at the time. If asked what my greatest vice in life is, I would have to say it is envy. Its envy that can at times become self destructive if not kept in check, that keeps me from being happy for other peoples successes. It is something that I've become better at keeping in check today, however even still now it can consume me if I'm not careful. My envy came to a head on a weekend in early July of 2003.

The previous fall Cass was given the invitation to join Screaming Monkey Boner, which at the time was venerable band which was probably known for their madcap antics more than for their music. They were nonetheless consumate showmen in my reckoning. Cass joining SMB might well have been the best thing that ever happened to my social life, life really seemed to pick up when it happened anyway. I of course was also living vicariously through Cass, because I wanted to be making music that had potential too, but was unable or too lazy to build a vehicle for that goal. As Cass became established in SMB the band underwent what was in my opinion a musical renaissance that is still in motion as of this writing. I had been going to shows for Cass's bands for some time, and never had they attracted the type crowds SMB was attracting. This was when the envy began to take hold of me, I wanted those crowds, I wanted those people, I wanted that fame and glory even if it was only modest (but respectible) local success. I began to hate myself for my lack of success, and the envy also dove me into deep depression, because as badly as I wanted it all, it all seemed so unattainable, the mountain felt too steep to scale.

So we were talking about early July of 2003, right? July 2003 was a landmark month in the local music scene, for it marked the completion of S.M.B.'s Atomic K demo. That of course to an outsider might seem like a pretty mundane landmark, however to those on the inside it was significant because the EP may well have been the best thing ever to have come out of the South Suburbs at the time. Cass's parents were conveniently out of town the weekend of its completion and so naturally he threw a party at their house to mark the occasion. It was a pretty bitchin' party in my recollection, it was a varitable who's who of friends, acquaintances and well wishers. By all means I should have been having a brilliant time, and I suppose it had its high points, but I spent most of the party drunkenly wallowing in my own depression and sucking down beers... twelve of them, Grain Belt Premiums, in a period of about two hours.

I would be lying if I said my jealousy was the only reason for my depression. I had a grocery list of things I was having a hard time dealing with; money, women (or lack thereof), my job. But the envy which was utterly consuming me was what sent me over the top. It was only a matter of time before I ended up where this chapter started. I was pathetic, I was too drunk to even get my head to the toilet. There in the presence of so many people I knew and respected I had sunk to a low like no low I'd ever experienced. It was there when I asked myself maybe the most important question I've ever asked myself:

"Are you going to keep feeling sorry for yourself, or are you going to try and do something about it?"

So as I laid there in my refuse, I made a series of vows to myself.
1. You're going to stop living like a slob and get yourself in shape.
2. You're going to get a real job.
3. You're going to go back to school and get your diploma.
4. You're going to stop crying about it and go out and try and find love somewhere.
5. You're going to stop wishing you were a success, stop wishing for fame and glory, and go out and make it for yourself.

Two and a half years later, and I'm doing pretty well for myself, other than number four of course, but thats a different post for a different blog.

I recovered from my drunken stupor, and of course went to work with lysol and bleach and cleaned the Nee's bathroom floor, not only was it the responsible thing to do but also because those Nee's are like my second family. I came out of that bathroom a new man though. It would take me awhile to get to those items, but I was invigorated the next day. I was blissfully unaware of the bumpy road that lay ahead. Later that month, on a brisk autumn evening I would approach the prolific Gravey Graves.

You'll be able to read all about that in Part II.

Ian made me do it

2006-01-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, to make an epic comment on Ian's blog ( http://kiaiian.blogspot.com/) I had to sign up for a blogger.com account. Rock on.

So I guess my livejournal is devoted to my more personal details, my myspace blog is dedicated to my random musings so I guess I can devote this blog to the more straightforward aspects of my life. Mainly my band, and trying to make it work while also trying to devote time to my other endevours (Judo, college, full-time employment).

Whether or not it will catch. I don't know. I guess I can write it pretending I have an audience and it could help stimulate my thinking, maybe allow me to better step back and evaluate "my struggle." So starting now, I'll pretend I have a readership.

The official subject of this blog is the struggles of the five piece epic punk rock band The Men Who Control the Weather (http://www.myspace.com/theweathermachine), and specifically its maniacal* front man, Johnny BoomBoom.

*(Authors Note: the use of the word maniacal was suggest by the bands competent keyboard player, "Vile" Kyle Parr).

More to come later.