Recording Roland High Life album #3, Part 1

We started working on the new Roland High Life album this weekend, carrying on the tradition we established from last October. This time, we got together outside of Newport, Rhode Island — and for the first time, we actually had an active, functioning bass player there to contribute to the songwriting process! Jake WM had played one show with the Roland High Life back in the day as a fill-in, and it was probably the best show we ever played; we had wanted him to play on “Another Other Dorset,” but he had some family stuff that come up. We couldn’t have been happier to finally officially welcome him into the band.

We got another 5 songs done this time, and I think that covers it for our existing back catalog of tunes we wrote between the bands’ active eras. That means it’s a good diversity of tunes, but we’re also looking forward to writing with the future in the mind — starting from who we are now, as individuals and a band, and working together to crank out the best stuff for who and where we are in our lives.

I’ll share some samples of the songs we did as soon as I have them!

We out here #newalbum #newmusic #recording #homerecording #homerecordingstudio #diy #punkrock #indierock

12 Likes, 1 Comments - The Roland High Life (@therolandhighlife) on Instagram: "We out here #newalbum #newmusic #recording #homerecording #homerecordingstudio #diy #punkrock..."

🎶 Chris and I cased the neighborhood We found out that everybody sleeps in the middle of the night 🎶 (#timelapse of #drummer @n_correia laying down #drums for @therolandhighlife's #newalbum) #newmusic #punkrock #indierock #recording #homerecording #homerecordingstudio #recordingstudio

8 Likes, 1 Comments - The Roland High Life (@therolandhighlife) on Instagram: "🎶 Chris and I cased the neighborhood We found out that everybody sleeps in the middle of the night..."

A lil' #behindthescenes #music from @therolandhighlife's recent #recording session. #newmusic #indierock #rockandroll

12 Likes, 3 Comments - The Roland High Life (@therolandhighlife) on Instagram: "A lil' #behindthescenes #music from @therolandhighlife's recent #recording session. #newmusic..."

The new Roland High Life album is out today! →

Well folks, it’s been about a decade since we last released or performed any music … but the new 5-song EP from my indie rock band the Roland High Life is now available on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music, BandCamp, and everywhere else you might want to find your tunes!

We arranged and recorded all of these songs over a single weekend at a house in Vermont. They weren’t fully written that weekend — me and Walker, my co-front-man for the band, had been working on songs intermittently that we’d share with each other. But we put them all together, arranged them, and recorded the tracks pretty quickly on our own. For a self-produced work in a basement in Vermont, I’m pretty god damn proud of the work that we pulled off, and I’m very much looking forward to what’s next for the band.

I wrote this song about a few people I know in real life who have succumbed to the crippling addiction of fucked up Trumpian conspiracy theories. I think the Americana-blues-punk vibe we landed with here really encapsulates our vision for the future of the band. The song also explicitly references David Graeber’s economic theory on Bullshit Jobs, which I think everyone should read.

This is a Walker jam (aka my best friend, and the other lead singer in the band). He had sent me an acoustic demo of this a few years back, and I think we landed in a pretty rad Jimmy Eat World-esque area in this. It’s a banger for sure, helped along by Chris the Drummer laying down a sick bass line.

I had originally imagined this as more of an AJJ-esque folk punk song; you can find my solo version of it on Spotify as well. It’s a lot more politically direct than our other Roland High Life thus far (even when we have gotten political), but I think we hit on something good here. Walker convinced me to play it like a Springsteen song that my audience already knew, and that’s exactly how we recorded it. I also threw down some mandolin and lap steel guitar on this track, to really mix it up.

This is actually an older Roland High Life song that we never quite recorded right. I’m not sure if this one is perfect, either — maybe a little too slow — but it’s still the best we have so far. It’s a love song to my cherry red Gibson Les Paul Junior, and I definitely accomplished what I set out to do (i.e., writing a song about loving music that’s also overly sexualized in a weird way). I originally wrote this at a time in my life when I was prone to over-complicating songs, but I do think that the look-at-me-i’m-so-clever music theory games that go on in here are still pretty cool.

Another Walker jam, this one started off as more of a Billy Joel knockoff, and Walker wasn’t sure if it would fit with our rock vibe. But Chris, our drummer, said that he’d been listening to lots of Teenage Fan Club lately, and as soon as he said that, I was hit with a Teenage Fan Club-style version of the song in my head. Or at least, that’s what we were going for; the final product is a little more ambient power-pop, and very much us, which makes it even better.

Plus that snare drop right before the second verse is sick.

You can now listen to my new solo album "5 Years on the B-Side" in all fine digital music stores!…well mostly.

Back in December, I started recording a solo album at home, compiling a bunch of songs that I had written over the 5 years I lived at the B-Side Brewery. Some of them have been heard intermittently by friends and at open mic nights, and through various online demos over the years — but I think I’ve just about locked in on the definitive versions of most of them, anyway. And now they’re available to listen to on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music, BandCamp, SoundCloud, and more! (like seriously: does anyone really use Napster anymore?)

5 Years on the B-Side by Thom Dunn, released 01 April 2018 1. My Life as a Weapon (Song for Hawkeye from the Avengers) 2. I Take Your Love For Granted 3. Pillowman (Acoustic) 4. Don't Break a Window 5. Your Love Won't Save Me 6. Film Noir 7.

Most of these recordings fall in a spectrum of acoustic-folk-electro-indie-punk, more out of necessity than anything else (you don’t really wanna groove to that built-in Logic Pro auto drummer, do ya?). Oh, and of course, because it’s me, you’re mostly dealing with tunes about comic books, politics, and mental health. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A playlist featuring Thom Dunn

Oh, also: the photos I’m using for the album art, et cetera, are all courtesy of the wonderful, inimitable, and multi-talented Conor Olmstead.

(PS: I am still adding songs to the album every now and then, so if you want the best bargain, buy the pay-what-you-want download on BandCamp, where you should continue getting every new song as I post it. That’s the “mostly” caveat of that there headline, see?)

New Album Preview! Hooray!

I've been putting this off for far too long, but I'm finally making headway on a new full-length solo album of songs I've been working on, tentatively titled "Five Years on the B-Side." If all goes well, it'll be out sometime in the early spring, and I might even do a few live shows around the Northeast to support it!

In the meantime, here are a few rough draft demos to give you an idea of what to expect. (just, ya know, keep in mind that they're sketches of the final arrangements, to help me figure out production things myself, which is why they're kinda messy and why they'll also disappear when recording is complete)

Happy St. Padraig's Day!

Everyone knows I love St. Padraig's Day. And so to celebrate this year, I decided to record cover versions of a few of my favorite Irish folk songs (also the Pogues, which counts). Enjoy!

Basketcase

Truth be told, I've always thought The Fourth Green Day has the best job in the world. He gets to reap all of the benefits of being a rock star, without any of the hassle -- no publicity, no scandals. Hell, he doesn't have to write the songs! He just plays the parts on tour (and let's face it, Green Day doesn't write particularly difficult tunes). But he still gets the chance to stand on stage and rock out to an adoring crowd, and get paid handsomely to do so. If you offered me that gig, I've take it in a heartbeat.

"The Other Guy In Green Day" on Five By Five Hundred

Final ALEJANDRO AND THE FAME demos

We've been working on these for about a month between recording, mixing, and mastering, but I'm finally satisfied with the results — and I hope you are as well! All instruments were recorded/engineered by my, except for the lead vocals which were done by Paul Cantillon (aka "Cody Grey"). We'll be sending these out to some clubs as we try to book some more shows, so keep an eye out for our updated events list. In the meantime, enjoy, and tell your friends to do the same. [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/1035013" height="200"]

Alejandro and the Fame — Boston's premiere all-male Lady Gaga cover band

Beyonce's Hardcore Breakdown

Here's another look at one of our new Alejandro and the Fame demos — "Telephone" by Lady Gaga (featuring Beyoncé). It's still a little rough, but you get the idea. And I mean, c'mon — Beyoncé's breakdown has never been this hardcore.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/19498710"]

Alejandro and the Fame: Boston's premiere all-male Lady Gaga cover band. Putting the fucking metal into Lady Gaga since 2011.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BAT-BOY!

For the next 10 days, you can find me in the pit (well, okay, technically balcony, but it's still called the pit) playing guitar for MetroStage Company's production of BAT BOY! The Musical, directed by the lovely and quite talented Miss M. Bevin O'Gara. Here are the performance dates, for those of you who are interested:

• Friday, June 3 at 8pm
• Saturday, June 4 at 8pm
• Sunday, June 5 at 2pm
• Thursday, June 9 at 7:30pm
• Friday, June 10 at 8pm
• Saturday, June 11 at 8pm

Performances take place at the Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre in Central Square, Cambridge.

And the synopsis (in case you're somehow unaware of the "Bat Boy" trend that once ruled The Weekly World News):

Based on a story in The Weekly World News, BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL is a musical comedy/horror show about a half boy/half bat creature who is discovered in a cave near Hope Falls, West Virginia. For lack of a better solution, the local sheriff brings Bat Boy to the home of the town veterinarian, Dr. Parker, where he is eventually accepted as a member of the family and taught to act like a "normal" boy by the veterinarian's wife, Meredith, and teenage daughter, Shelley. Bat Boy is happy with his new life, but when he naively tries to fit in with the narrow-minded people of Hope Falls, they turn on him, prodded by the machinations of Dr. Parker, who secretly despises Bat Boy. Shelley and Bat Boy, who have fallen in love, run away together from the ignorant townfolk and have a blissful coupling in the woods, but their happiness is shattered when Meredith arrives and reveals a secret. Soon the entire town arrives and hears the shocking story of Bat Boy's unholy origin.

Alejandro & the Harbingers of the Apocalypse

Friday night was the first performance of my all-male Lady Gaga cover band, Alejandro & the Fame. In light of the then-impending rapture, we changed our name to Alejandro & the Harbingers of the Apocalypse. We have since returned to the Fame. Audio/video to come, but for now, here's some pictures to tide you over:

Yes, I'm wearing leopard print leggings and jean shorts. No, I do not own the leopard print leggings. Yes, I did make my own jean shorts.

Photos by Justin Seward