A New Day, Changing Weather

So, it would appear that I have lost my apartment.

This doesn't came as a huge shock, as I haven't had any solid income to speak of since the end of February.  That's okay though, I'm sacrificing my comfort for my music.  Still doing the tour in June, still putting out the album hopefully in time for that, still doin other stuff as the summer drags on, and at the moment, I don't particularly need an apartment anyway, just the guitar and my bookbag.

My old man and JJ and I moved all of my shit into my parents basement today.  It wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated but here I am, and that's weird.  Only gonna be here for a day or two anyway, then it's time to hit the road.  I'm very much looking forward to that, I can't fucking wait to get the album done and the tour planned and stop worrying about it.  I don't wanna have to be responsible to anything but David R this summer, and that's what Ima gonna do.

I'm tired as fuck.  Drank some beer and whiskey with JJ last night and popped awake at 9am bright eyed and bushy tailed, been on the move since, cleaning and moving.  Tomorrow I'm goin back into town to clean the apartment and get rid of the last of the shit in it.  Then it's hang times with the bros.  Then hopefully I can get up to freddy and get some shit recorded.  Gotta finish the album in Fred, I think, and I'd also like to get to Hali with some folk, since that might be fuuuuun.

Talk more soon.

Back In the Port City

It's been an extreme gap since I've last posted, but in an effort to be more active an artist online, I'm going to attempt to return to this blog somewhat frequently. A lot has happened since those Stephen Hero shows I mentioned in the last post.

Those shows went extremely well, particularly in Fredericton. For some reason Cousins opened and SexWolf closed (actually the latter thing makes sense) so it was an odd lineup, but it was very well-attended, especially for it having been the on stage debut of both Stephen Hero and Whale Skin. Whale Skin is a poppy and awesome electronic band with live instruments led by my good friend Willow Bell, with the classic rhythm section of JuHang Sin on bass and Dan Tweedie on drums. That's a rhythm section you can't really beat (nudge, nudge...get it? Har Har!) Actually all three members of that band were at one point in my band, David R. Elliott & the Novellas, the halifax edition.

I played the Stephen Hero set with Willow Bell standing at his laptop hitting play, essentially, as we were unable to put together anything better in time for the shows. Regardless, it was an awesome show, and people seemed to legitimately love it. On top of the fact that the shows went well and were a lot of fun, it was great to spend a weekend playing shows and hanging out with those guys for the first time in a while, their incarnation of the Novellas was a very fun and solid band to be in, and I was very sad for it to end as abruptly as it did.

I brought a lot of people on stage during my set, and there was a lot of 'Swag' chanting, championed most enthusiastically by Brydon Crain, which brings me toward the current state of affairs.

Saint John was a good time as well, mostly because I got to see an excellent group of Hip Hop performers from my hometown, and also got to perform my brand of hip hop or them and my best friend and fellow hip hop obsessee Jeremy Smith. But of course attendance wasn't stupendous for two nameless acts in our fair port city. After the shows, and the completion of the Stephen Hero mixtape, and album (although I still haven't released this album online) my enthusiasm for the Stephen Hero project waned, with the coming of the fall, and I began to return to country music once again, and pick up the guitar for the first time in almost a year.

It was a little slow at first, of course, but I began writing again and getting into more country music I hadn't heard, while further exploring things I had heard, such as Woody Guthrie, whom I experienced a slight obsession with just in time for my slight involvement in Occupy Halifax.

I experienced some frustration attempting to explore new music that wasn't hip hop, which I've mostly given up on now, aside from some tracks here and there that were pretty decent. I wrote a new album, which I've yet to record (the plan at this point is to record it with Clinton Charlton in his home studio, which I'll hopefully start doing soon) called 'Just Down the Tracks,' which is about my family. I also started recording a three-song ep with Tynan Dunfield, which is also not finished, but I do plan on releasing a song from those sessions as a single with a music video I'm planning on doing with Dan Culberson, currently brainstorming for a treatment.

One thing I particularly appreciate about this past fall was my growing musical relationship with Jordan Doucet, who became my dude to trade songs with this year. We spent a lot of time talking about records, playing songs to each other, getting drunk, etc. This is something I sorely need in my life, creatively. I hope to record his album in the March-April era this year, and hopefully release a short run of them for shows. Slinky (as he prefers to be called) and I got drunk and walked to a park in Halifax to pass a guitar back and forth and drink a colt 45, sometime before it got too cold for that kind of thing, and I think that was one of the best nights of my 2011.

I started getting to know Motherhood this year, a band from Fredericton formerly known as the Elephant who've been involved with foodclothingshelter for some time now. We ended up playing the same mini-festival and getting drunk together a number of times, which led to Brydon and Kaylee contributing harmonies on the Tynan sessions (along with Jordan Doucet). This led to the idea of having Brydon, Kaylee and Motherhood's drummer Adam Sipkema perform as my backing band. This seemed like an awesome idea to me, so we played The Capital on New Year's Eve, and it was excellent.

We had to cram a bit, leading up to it, but it was worth it, and I hope to continue that lineup for some more shows in 2012. I moved to Saint John, which was something I decided I needed to do earlier this year, and so far it's been excellent. I like the music dudes who live here, and I like the record stores, and I fucking love this city, and I feel peaceful and creative here, in a way I haven't in quite some time.

Since I moved here I recorded an EP called 'Blue Sky Country Gold,' which is available for name your price (no minimum) on the bandcamp, and I'm working on a new ep which I hope to get some collaboration happening on, which I'm calling 'Sam Hill.' I'm planning some shows with Motherhood and Jordan Doucet hopefully by March, and I have an instore at Backstreet coming up, among a few other things I can't really mention yet, as they are not yet set in stone. I plan on starting three bands this year; a noise band, a three-piece akin to a band I was in years ago with a 90's drunkrock sorta thing, and I plan on drumming for Jordan Doucet in his band. I plan on doing all of this with the involvement of one of my favourite musicians to work with, Cameron Evans, who also just so happens to be in the port city.

I'm excited about music right now, excited about rock bands, listening to a lot of punk and noise, and also rocking the shit out of classic Saint John releases, among which are Hospital Grade, Babs, The Organizers, Clinton, and of course, the incredible Adam Mowery, who just released an excellent album. I feel right, being here. I'm home.

I'm listening to Devil's Night right now. Yeh, I mean, it's actually pretty good. I'm not gonna lie about this, Tyler talking about this being one of his favourite albums is definitely the reason why I've revisited it. But dude, this shit is dope. Some of the choruses are a little annoying, but some of them are fucking amazing. A lot of the verses (not including Bizarre, who doesn't really count for much as a rapper) are also fucking great. So yeh, gonna be listening to this and 2001 a bit in the next little while, along with Goblin, and Project Pat. And Ye.

I haven't blogged in a really long time and I don't know that there's anything in particular I'd like to be blogging about right now. I'm been mad cooking at Saege, which has been mostly good. Still really feeling cooking as my default career barring some small miracle in my musical career. I really love the idea of having my own place eventually, that's simple home food, but done really well with quality ingredients. Just a daytime place, cool place to chill. Yeh I fucking love cooking.

The Stephen Hero shows are starting to creep up slowly but surely. I was really hoping that I would've done some live hip hop by now (aside from that New Year's Party) and so I'm a little disappointed, but I'm remaining optimistic. Tomorrow I'm getting together with Willow to start putting together a cohesive set list for the Saint John and Fredericton shows. I guess it's pretty appropriate that my first shows will be Freddy and Durty J, but I wish I'd have gotten some more practice in. I'm doing a pretty good mix of stuff from the last half a year. I have some stuff off Verses From the Working Class, but it's not too heavy on it, I'm also using other rappers beats, some of Al Pal's beats, and a beat TV Cop from Large King Canadians made for a collab in the near future.

Speaking of LKC, I'm doing an EP with their MC, Stagefright, who's a cool dude from Hamilton, ON. I'm thinking it's going to be pretty cool, and pretty good, and pretty weird, so I'm into it. We only have a few jams, but they're pretty stark, cold, simple beats and really offkilter verses (in my personal opinion), so I think we kind of have a thing going.

I'm also supposed to start practicing a bit with Rekkid Bitch Mike, who is a dude I met in the kitchen, who DJ's (with actual vinyl!). I think we're hoping to get some show things happening in the not-too-distant future. I certainly would love to do some hip hop with some scratching going on.

I should be getting my hands on a mac soon, which will make Rolodex come out really fucking quickly, and BITCHES. I'm really having a hard time coming up with a new title for that mixtape album type deal. I know I want a new title but I can't figure out what it should be. I don't know, I think the album is pretty clearly an odd viewpoint of a dude that thinks about girls too much and deals with it angrily and awkwardly. I don't know. It's also pretty swag, this dude can rap. Brad Allen, I think, is gonna send me some album art for that. If I could get both those albums on the nets in the next few months I'd be happy. That and some shows.

final tracklist!!! OMG!!

Verses From the Working Class

1 Intro From the Working Class
2 Who the Fuck is David R.?
3 Trouble ft. Manny Boii Spittin
4 Back Peddlin
5 IDA
6 Don't Worry About Me
7 Weekend Grrl
8 Sexy Interlude
9 One Time!
10 Sunday Jamz (Bitches Ain't Shit)
11 Dirt
12 Youth LIVE
13 Go Button
14 Get My Grown Man On

So, it's a bit longer, for the better I think. Still pretty tame hip hop in comparison to pretty much everything I listen to, but I like it, it's pretty chill if you dig some stoner jams, and like rhythmic verses n shit. Anyway, credits:

All songs written by David R., except 'Trouble,' co-written by Manny B. Tracks 1, 3 5, 8, 9, 11 and 12 produced by Willow 'Big Will' Bell. Tracks 2, 6, 7, 10, 13 and 14 produced by Tynan 'T-snake' Dunfield and track produced by Dan 'DJ Tweed' Tweedie . This album features the voices of Al Palone, Christian, Cam, Slinky, and maybe other people. copyright 2011 foodclothingshelter music.

I just downloaded an Eminem discography, but I left out the albums I own, and mostly downloaded it for the misc. tracks from other people's albums, soundtracks, etc., and all the fucking freestyles!!!! AMAZING. I mean, I know this last year has been brutal as fuck for all us dawgs who have been there since 99., but fer real, in the years between 2000-2003 this guy really was the best rapper. Some of these songs that arent on Eminem albums are fucking brilliant. I don't know what else to say about it, it's smart, funny, clever, dark, and just, impressive. Great rap.

1 Intro
2 Who the Fuck is David R.?
3 Don't Worry About Me
4 IDA (interlude)
5 Dirt
6 Sexy Interlude
7 Rain Dog Beach
8 Go Button (interlude)
9 Back Peddlin
10 Trouble feat. Manny Boii Spittin
11 Youth Live
12 Get My Grown Man On

So this will be it, I think, the first official release for Stephen Hero, Verses From the Working Class. I'm pretty proud of this I think. I really enjoyed making it, and Willow Bell, Dan Tweedie and Tynan Dunfield did some great production. Should be putting up a song from it soon. Also my favourite Halifax rapper Manny B is donating a verse. So I would really like to think of this album as mostly an honest and serious ode to Hip Hop. I tried to make it as exlusively hip hop head shit as possible, cause that's what I am, and all I can hope is that no one compares it to backpack rap. I drop a lot of references in the album from No Way Out especially, but also Project Pat, Grip Plyaz and some other dudes. I tribute a little biggie, Ye, Beastie Boys. I don't know, but it was really fun to make, and it's strictly for dawgs, special mention to the bucks, and also from SJ, Sara G, Shanice, Jay & Strokes, D-Town, JJ, Tooth, all those dawgs. This is copyright fcs dude.

Hey everyone...it's me. It's been a long time, I shouldn'ta left you, without a blog post to...read once. Um, Stephen Hero is back baby, working on the official debut LP, titled 'Verses From the Working Class,' featuring production from Willow Bell (Whale Skin, Jenocide), Tynan Dunfield (Writers Strike, Dance Movie) and Dan Tweedie (The Belle Comedians, Rain Dogs). It will be released for free online care of foodclothingshelter music, on bandcamp. It will also feature a guest spot by Manny Boii Spittin (Blue Team). Glad to be back.