8.31.2007

FRIDAY NIGHTS ARE THE NEW SATURDAY NIGHTS***

...but what would your weekend be if you hadn't seen this?

***please ignore if you don't have a morbid curiosity towards Britney Spears or her newly leaked (as of last night) single "Gimme More."
***also to be ignored if you don't regard 2007 as "the year of the comeback" or have no interest in watching the hastily recorded dance moves of a young man who also believes in COMEBACK 07.
***seriously, the song has only been out 24 hours and this video already exists.
***kudos to you, dancer friend.
***also, you shouldn't listen to this song if you don't want to hear the B-WORD.
***because boy does she say it.

8.30.2007

TWO WISHES REMAIN AND YOU CANNOT WISH FOR MORE WISHES

An update:
We are recording today.
We are taking a week off starting tomorrow.
But not a week off from you, YOU-ME-GOERS!
If you were worried.
Also:
I might very well be meeting FREEDARKO tonight.
They are the ones who taught me to post abstract pictures and embrace all blog things self-referential.
Or maybe it was in my heart to begin with.
I would like to think so.
Also:
That's enough with short sentences.

HERE GOES! AND IT'S A QUICK ONE!


Devin pictured upon his trusty steed.

Your friend and mine, Devin O'Sullivan, encountered the facebook genie last night and was granted three wishes. And with his first wish... did he think of himself? Did he ask for gold? Riches? Snappy attire? A blogger username of his own?

Hardly.

Instead, he thought of you - the reader - and asked that this video be shared:



The other two wishes, I believe, are in good hands.

8.28.2007

Hard Times...

Noted: 8 hours of recording a piano that was nearly 10 cents sharp will make any recording sound incredibly awful.
Dually Noted: The picture shown below is a snap shot I took earlier of the crook that swindled us with the bogus tune-job. DO NOT LET THIS MAN TUNE YOUR PIANO

In other news...


(via ffffound.com)

8.27.2007

YOU-ME-GO MAILBAG #2: UPON A BEAUCHAMP REQUEST!

You asked for it. And who am I to say no?

IT'S MAILBAG TIME!!!!

"Dear Anathallo, I've been out of the country for four years and have been jamming your cds non-stop on my walkman. I just came back home, though, and found out about Myspace. I went to your page and didn't recognize anyone. I'm not sure if I like you guys anymore."

---David W. from Minneapolis, Minnesota

Well, friend. I hope your trip was fantastic. And to be honest, I understand the dilemma. You left the country thinking this:



or maybe even this:



and instead:



WHAT?
WHY ARE THEY ALREADY TAKING A MEANDERING RETROSPECTIVE LOOK AT THEIR CAREERS?
WHO IS THAT GIRL?
WHO IS THAT GUY REACHING FOR A BEER DURING THE INTERVIEW?
WHO OR WHAT IS A ZUNE?
WHY DOES THEIR RECORDED PERFORMANCE LOOK LIKE IT WAS FILMED FROM A DESERT STORM BUNKER?
WHY ISN'T THIS A VIDEO FOR A SONG FOR CHRISTINE?
WHEN DID THEY START PLAYING GOLF?

....

David, I understand.

Let me try to explain. We don't really play golf but it made for a clever video montage. A zune is a brown ipod. "The girl" is Erica. She has been in the band for nearly two years now. Just like MY BOY JER who also turns out to be the beer drinker. He is over 21 and the drinks were free. If both of those are not true for the reader, I recommend keeping clear of alcoholic beverages. THIS BLOG CARES.

And the song? It's another from the new record. It's entitled "John J. Audubon" and will pretty much be track three for the album. See! Look at all these treasures I am handing out. It's almost as if the Nearly September Santa stopped by.

Oh wait. He did.



Anyways, thanks for the e-mail. I hope we can still be friends in the future.

NEXT!

"I love your music. It really sounds like nothing else I've ever heard and is very refreshing. I write music myself, and am really curious as to how you think up your songs and what your songwriting process is, if there is one.

Thanks and be sure to come to Dallas, Texas, the next time you go on tour, if you can help it.

See ya!"


---Hunter Beauchamp from Dallas, Texas.

This was from our comments section and made it's way quite easily to the mailbag. Thanks for writing, Hunter! And thank you for your kind words. I'm afraid I don't have the most interesting answer... although I did ask Matt what he thought and we neeeeeearly wrote back:

"If the magician gave away all his secrets, what reason would you have to still come to the show?"

Fortunately, though, we are not out of our minds. And we don't really have any tricks. I think our songs are the combination of... a lot of us have been playing music together for awhile now. I'm sure it's like this with any group of friends who have been together for a long time - you get to know how each other works. So for us, we might bring a few melodies to practice... a lyric or two... a vague idea of where the song should go... and then we mash them all together. There's not really a set process - we just talk through everything and mess up each other's ideas. Surprisingly, this actually makes what we write way better. It's like Voltron but music.



Eventually it comes together and the result is a song that we all feel we had a hand in.

I'm sorry if that's super vague! If you have any more questions, there are plenty of mailbags where this came from. And we'll definitely try to get to Dallas when we jump back in the van.

What? There's more mail?

"Anathallo! You are all so wonderful! If you had to choose an animal for each band member to serve as a representation of their personality, who would be what animal and why??"

---Lauren H. from Tallahassee, Florida

I asked Seth and he said we're all dolphins.

And finally.

"Is it really true that you're playing with Hey Mercedes? And that it's free?! And that Southwest Airlines has all sorts of great deals from Denver to Chicago??"

---Julia Gulia from Colorado

Yes, yes, and yes.

Here is BOB NANNA from the past!

Hey Mercedes - Quality Revenge At Last

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Come see BOB NANNA in the present!

Click here for more details. Actually, if you click there it will take you to the Threadless t-shirt sale. But! If you scroll to the bottom of the page and click "news and updates," there will be all the details anyone could ever want. And maybe a shirt or two will strike your fancy? Perhaps.

Also. I've been thinking more about Lauren's question and we're not all dolphins. Seth was nearly right - I would say six of us are dolphins. But Jeremiah would unquestionably be a bulldog (UGA IS IN HIS HEART)... and that means our songwriting process probably looks more like this:



The North and South living together in harmony! Dogs and dolphins as friends! The perfect representation of our band as a geographical being!

Google Images finally comes through!!!

(if you can't tell, this mailbag is losing steam in a hurry... I think that's it for me)

ONWARD DAY TEN.
Bye!

8.24.2007

Day 7 - Video Update

Here's a little taste of what Bret and Jamie have been working on.

Day 6 - Studio Update


Day 6
Originally uploaded by dbracken
Day six: We've taken a turn towards the extremely frightening.

8.21.2007

YOU-ME-GO MAILBAG #1: STUDIO EDITION

Alright you-me-goers, this is what you've been waiting for. You're all patient readers and I love you for it. You put up with our randomness. Some of you even learn to like it.

Case in point:


But now we are in the studio. This means "STUDIO UPDATES." This means "FUNNY STORIES FROM THE STUDIO." This means "OBSCURE TRACK LISTINGS" and "HAPHAZARD UNMIXED MUSIC CLIPS THAT PROBABLY WON'T MAKE THE RECORD" and "ENTRIES THAT GET SHORTER AND SHORTER BY LATE SEPTEMBER AS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD AROUND US SLOWLY DIMS."

It probably also means an unwarranted use of all-caps on day five because we were here late last night and the construction work in my neighborhood started early this morning. Or that there is a football team that practices right outside my window. Yesterday, Coach was unhappy. I wanted to let him know that everything was okay and that I was working on a hit record but instead he kept yelling at his linemen. Apparently, "run or go home!" wasn't scaring his players into running. And the eventual "jog or go home!" didn't seem to do the trick, either.


Coach, I want to go home.

But that is neither here nor there (I don't know what that means).
It is what it is (I don't know what that means, either).

So let's get on with it, shall we? It's mailbag time!

Suzie from Omaha, Nebraska writes,
"Anathallo! You're my favorite band! How is recording going?"

Suzie... great question and thanks for writing. Most bands will give you an answer like this: "recording is great - we love our producer, we're getting the sounds we want, all of the songs are on track." There aren't too many interesting variations on this, though, unless the session is going down in flames. It turns out we are no different. Recording has been great. At least so far, it has been nothing but good vibes. We're getting the sounds we want pretty easily, the songs are coming along at a comfortable pace. No red flags yet. The plan is for a ten song album... our producer (probably like most producers) has had us start off by making scratch tracks - basic structures of our songs to layer parts on. As I type this, we're working on the song "Northern Lights." Our engineer, Neil, is staring intently at his monitor and the rest of the band is going through their second take. Me? I am sharing this with you:



(I swear I'm not being lazy - the bell part will come later after the scratch is finished)

Anyways, I hope that answers your question Suzie! NEXT!

Mark from Athens, Georgia writes:
"Anathallo! There are so many of you and you all play crazy instruments! It's crazy! What's your favorite recipe to make while you're in the studio?"

Mark, that's easy. It's Cheez-It Casserole:

2 (14 ounce) cans corn
2 (14 ounce) cans green beans
1 (8 to 12 ounce) jar sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 (10 ounce) box Cheez-It crackers, crushed
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Add all the vegetables and soup to baking dish and mix thoroughly. Top with crushed Cheez-Its. Pour melted butter over the top and sprinkle with the almond slices.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until bubbly and heated through. Serve hot.

NOTE: You can omit and/or add any vegetables that you like.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Good luck with the recipe, Mark! And Jeremiah passes along a hearty UGA hello. "How bout them DAWGS??!"



GREG BLUE! Jer and I just gave each other high fives.

Andy from Indianapolis, Indiana writes:
"What's it like having a girl in the band?"

If I hear that queston one more time.

Jacob DL from Cincinnati, Ohio writes:
"HUUUUUUUUUGE Anathallo fan here. I'm an aspiring blogger myself - how do you guys do it???"

One day at a time, Jay. One day at a time.

Finally, Margo from San Francisco, California writes:
"Hey guys. I've been getting this weird feeling lately that I don't actually exist... And that - instead - I'm merely someone's cheap fictional creation whose only purpose is to serve as a contrived (but AMUSING) blog gimmick. Strange, right? Anyways, I was wondering if you have a title for the album yet?! Or a release date?"

Well, Margo. First, weird. And secondly, no - everything is still up in the air. The release date probably depends on whether we put it out ourselves again. If there's a label involved - and who's to say? - then I'm sure they'd have a better idea of where we would fit on their calendar. As for an album title, there's no folktale here tying everything together. These songs kind of dance around - an astronaut, an orinthologist, Matt's girlfriend, an averted apocalypse, Erica's mom (no, really), the occasional earthquake - they all make an appearance. So I think that pretty much rules out "Floating World 2: The Awakening." What I'm saying - when we know, you'll know. Thanks for writing in!

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And I think that's it. I'm posting this a day later than I intended, but we have so many more stick clicks recorded now. You have no idea.

Bye!

8.20.2007

Day 1


Day 1
Originally uploaded by dbracken
Let the games begin! I'll try to post a picture everyday at flickr.com/dbracken.

8.16.2007

WHEN YOU WAKE UP TOMORROW...

...before your day starts.

You've wandered to the bathroom. You're looking back at yourself in the mirror. You mouth the words, "Hello world."
Look yourself right in the eyes. Scratch your chin. Maybe pause for a moment.
And then let out one of those weird Tim Allen noises.

(file this under ideas that I couldn't stop laughing at but fully expect the world to not follow along)

Here are the worst impressions I could find:



Don't just read this, though! YOU HAVE TO TRY IT. IT IS WAY MORE FUN THAN IT SOUNDS. ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE MY PARENTS.

That's all!

(I did this two mornings in a row and cracked up both times... sorry world)

(contests results still pending, I swear it)

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EDIT: Okay. That wasn't all. The Mid-August Santa just called and wants to give you another disjointed video. Who am I to argue? You can watch it if you promise to try the Tim Allen Noise Experiment:



Video kudos to the fanhouse. It's a sports blog so you shouldn't click unless you want to visit a sports blog. A warning since I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea. Even if they are my cup of tea.

Okay. Bye for now!

8.11.2007

AND THE CONTEST WINNER IS!....

...well, I don't think I have it in me for a long post tonight.

But in celebration of having hooked up my computer:



Has anyone else seen this preview?

P.S. We start recording a week from today.

P.P.S.



I hope to have the same father/son relationship someday.
We will cheat to win together.

And I'm posting on a Saturday night again. BYE!

8.04.2007

LIVING FOR THE WEEKEND.

It's a Saturday night. I am at home. I am not at Lollapalooza. I am not dancing to M.I.A. right now in Grant Park. I am not making up my own words to Galang. WHY IS THIS??

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybeeeeee it's because:

(1) last night's show did not start until eleven.
(2) team a's set began at one.
(3) my eyes saw a four and a thirty - I'm fairly certain - before finally passing out in bed.

I think that's enough "night out" for the entire weekend.

It was wonderful, though. In case you missed it, YOU-ME-GO commenter of the month (contests and awards - it's all about contests and awards) Miss Brownsword took a few pictures and decided to share them with the world. Unfortunately, her camera didn't happen to catch Jer in his bike shorts... which were SO SWEET! Maybe next time.



A few more things to brighten your day (night?):

We received our first contest entry today! I couldn't be happier.

DON'T FORGET - THE DEADLINE IS THIS WEDNESDAY.



Ga lang a lang a lang.

AND. Ryan posted this a few hours ago in the comments section:



Maybe he can explain.

Goodnight goodnight!

8.01.2007

THE REAL DEAL: YOU-ME-GO'S FIRST EVER CONTEST!

Do not miss this post. Matt is absolutely right. Why not sweat out the oreos?!

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Okay, confession time. I realize I mention our blog nearly every time I write. There - see - I just did it again. I'm pretty sure this means I'm self-referential (a debatedly good or bad thing). It could also mean, though, that fear goes hand-in-hand with posting to an unknown audience... and that if I acknowledge my blog-writing could be ridiculous to you (the reader), I will make myself less ridiculous. Well, I mulled it over on my bike ride home tonight. Here's what I think:

TAKE THAT FEAR!



I don't even know what they're saying!! And with that, confession over.

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In the same spirit, though, every good BLOG needs a contest. Unfortunately most prizes cost money. So... until we release our yet-to-be-named-soon-to-be-recorded record, tour Shanghai, and leave with a billion yuan in hand...



"there are so many of you!!! and you all bought cds!!!"

...well, it looks like we'll need to offer up something extra special.

Namely, my sister.

MAY I PRESENT TO YOU, BETHANY "THE REAL DEAL" WALLIN.



B-Bear and I are more than just siblings, you see - we are ROOMIES. And in-between debating the pros and cons of On Demand vs Netflix (I VOTE ON DEMAND) and watching Kathy Griffin's "My Life on the D-List" (which we wouldn't have been doing if we had ON DEMAND), she tells me this:

Young Wallin: I have to go to my co-worker's wedding.
Me: When is it?
Young Wallin: August 11th. It's a Saturday.
Me: Who are you taking? You should take Jamie.
Young Wallin: I don't know. Would he want to go? I don't have anyone yet.
Me: DING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry Jam-Jam, but the playing field just got a whole lot more crowded.



"google images does nothing but bring up wrong pictures of Jamie Macleod"

YOU-ME-GO'S REAL DEAL CONTEST.

Prizes include:
1. You get to take my sister on a date.
2. The date has to be on August 11th and you have to go to her co-worker's wedding.
3. There should be, ummm, beverages at the wedding. This is what my sister tells me. As long as you are responsible and at least 21 or if you have a good fake (JK PARENTS JK).
4. If the two of you really get along and start hanging out all the time, I might be home sometime when she is home and maybe I could let you hear our newly-recorded demos (JK BAND JK).
5. An all around pleasant evening (with no funny business - I will kill you).
6. A post dedicated to the winner and what separated you from the rest of the pack. I am for real.

To enter:
1. Please write a 500 150-200 (or so) word essay entitled "Why I think I should be the one to take you - Bethany Wallin - on a date."
Feel free to include all things applicable (headshot, resume, a link to your myspace, why your parents love you, proudest accomplishment, etc)

2. Bonus hint: someone told me that being "confident," "fun," "sociable," and "still able to look cute without having to wear a tie" (because I don't think you have to wear a tie) are all good places to start.

3. Extra bonus hint: not having a girlfriend/wife is another good place to start.

All entries due: August 8th.

Who is eligible: Sorry ladies... unless you know an unattached guy-friend who'd be just the ticket! Then you could share prize #6. Other than that, this is only open to the dudes. You can be from anywhere. Also, there is no age limit. That cracks me up/worries me.

Please send all entries to: contact@anathallo.com
Please send all entries to: bret.wallin@gmail.com

GOOD LUCK!