halfwaynorth (the best opening band in AMERICA)

Music Envy: Siamese Dream

15+ years after this release from The Smashing Pumpkins, halfwaynorth takes a look back.

Eugene:

First Listen? I purchased the album in 1994 and eventually replaced it in 2001 after the disc wore out.

Favorite Song? Mayonnaise (probably)

Tidbit: I learned how to play guitar by buying the album tab book and learning all the parts to almost every song.

Jason:

First Listen? Like Eugene I purchased SD in 1994. And then later again in 1996.

Favorite Song? I go back and forth between Geek USA and Quiet.

Tidbit: Despite being the largest SP fan amongst my circle of friends, I actually bought and sold this album in 1994. Everything was just so loud and angsty. I look back on this and laugh. I do remember liking the track Hummer in ‘94. I repurchased Siamese Dream after attending my first SP concert in ‘96.

Darby:

First listen? Release day 12 am.

Favorite song? Mayonnaise, Silverf*ck a close second.

Tidbit: I attended a cd release listening party. 11 pm listened to Gish until the 12 am release. I remember walking home listening to SD and wishing it sounded more like Gish.

Joe:

First Listen? Honestly, I don’t remember specifically buying Siamese Dream. I was getting into music just a little bit behind others in my generation. Sometime during 1993 the pieces started to fall together… Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and of course, Smashing Pumpkins. Once I got a sense of the musical terrain my collection grew exponentially. Siamese was probably acquired during a CD purchasing bonanza around this time.

Favorite Song? Geek USA. This song makes me want to throw a Radio Flyer wagon down a set of stairs in an office building. I dare you to not rock out when this song is on. The guitar tones are just sick. And the break down… oh the break down. If I had listened to this song before every match when I wrestled in high school, I would have been state champ all four years.

Tidbit: The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this album is being in the car with my cousin somewhere around 1996-1997. We were driving back home from a day of skiing listening to Siamese. I remember saying, “This album is classic. I mean it’s only been out for a few years. But this thing is in classic. Ten, fifteen years from now, we’ll still be listening to it and losing our minds.” I was right.

2 years ago

Drum Essentials: Rudiments

Rudiments make the drummer’s world go round. I have seen Darby’s drum skills improve tenfold over the last year. The difference? Drum Rudiments, he is constantly on the practice pad. Once he translates these para-diddles onto the drum kit — it’s game.set.nintendo. This site is highly recommended for any aspiring drummers out there.

2 years ago

Boogie Boogie Hedgehog!

“Got your head stuck in a toilet paper tube.”

Parry Gripp is a pretty inspirational guy. He really nailed the internet phenomenon equation. A + B = C

A= make silly videos (a lot of silly videos)

B= post on youtube

C= get paid making commercials

2 years ago

Music Envy: Lifehouse - You and Me (Live)

Alright. I know. A Lifehouse video. It took me a second to get over myself and watch it too. We all know this track whether we want to or not. It’s been the go to emotional hit for TV and movie for the last 4 years. There are a lot of good reasons for this song’s popularity. It has a great vibe to it, a great song structure, and a memorable hook. A+B+C=Hit Record.

What I really dig about this stripped down version is that it allows the song to breathe, really highlighting the bass and drums. The drums are super crisp and the snare is cracking. The bassist really holds down the fort through the entire song. My favorite part is the bass run at 1:18 seconds. This move is straight out of the Chris Darby Bass Player Handbook. (That’s right Darby plays bass) The bassist also adds a ton of texture to the bridge at 1:44 seconds. He really helps move the song along. When you add on a flawless vocal performance by Jason Wade it’s hard to ignore this as a great performance.

— Jason Abraham

2 years ago

halfwaynorth – Lydian

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Music Envy: Joe Shields

In honor of Joe’s birthday I’d like to share a gem from the Lies for Annebelle archives. A demo recording of Lydian Joe and I had in 2001. Joe comes in at 0:45 seconds with a single string lead part over the pre-chorus. He lets loose a little bit at 1:39 during the chorus turnaround. Joe’s favorite lead in this song comes at 2:06 seconds. 9 years he can still play this line verbatim. Quite strange.

halfwaynorth later recorded a full band version of Lydian for the breakup? album in 2006 without Joe on guitar. The album version goes a little less twangy and a little more poppy but you are listening to its roots.

Very few people know that I’ve been playing music with Joe since 1999 and even fewer people have heard the demos from the early years. I’ve been pursuing Joe to rejoin halfwaynorth since 2007 and it took a little more than a year to convince him to move from Michigan. I’m positive school is the reason he is in Chicago but I like to tell myself that the real reason is halfwaynorth.

Happy birthday Joe!

— Jason Abraham

2 years ago