Wall of Sound

This project covered the entire post high school period up to its point of completion. Some of these were almost used in Ruin Bound and vice versa. Writing was likely completed before Wounded Lands, but arranging them into one body of work happened afterwards.

All and all, this took me a long time to love. Most of the songs were written both to prove I could write compressed, short pop songs, while at the same time trying to appease my band, Side Effects which sorta wanted to be a garage punk band while I wanted to be Dylan. The influences for many of these are right on the surface: Pixies, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Eliot Smith, Modest Mouse and The Velvet Underground among others. In a sense, it kinda makes for nice love letter to that period of music which I really love a lot, and in many cases otherwise wouldn't likely show up in my writing (at least at that time). Still, the fact that many of the songs didn't hold on the page the way others had made them disappointing. They really needed their melodies to justify most of them. They also had the unfortunate mental association of being a project started near the end of my band and finished just in time for a serious break up.

Looking back on them now, I'm happy with some of the hooks and enjoy the trip down music geek memory lane. They're more open songs which welcome collaborative input. A lot of these I would still play... with the right band.

1. Wall of Sound (Crash)

2. Welcome Farewell

3. Milk and Lead

4. Holly

5. Pinwheel Gardens

6. Stiff Neck

7. Under Rug

8. Barbara Steele

9. Chinese Chestnut

10. Aquatic

11. Back to Throwing Stones

12. Old at Heart

13. Wall of Sound (Catapult)

14. Felix Numb

15. No Fun

16. Driver

17. Little Libertine

18. Calamari

19. Game of the Enemy

20. Deathbed Wish

21. Road to Recovery

22. Wall of Sound (Shelter)

23. Orchard Eroding