Special Thing -2/3/95
This one wrote itself quickly and it's far from a virtuoso performance but I cleaned it up for the Rise and Fall record a few years later. Somehow this song has survived for ten years -- to this day, people still want to hear us play it live. "Special Thing" also got used recently in a love scene in a really bad movie, the title of which I conveniently can't remember...

Sorry -3/6/95
I wasn't going to use this song here but now I think I like it again -- a bit of angst you can sing along to!

So Cold -3/6/95
For some reason the distortion-pedal-damaged vocals are a bit on the sharp side here -- but this is a nice, tight little bit of Beatles-esque perversity. I think this was written in about 30 seconds.

Let's Pretend that None of This Happened -3/23/95
Dig that Morrissey-esque title, eh? I always loved this song.

Shake Me Awake -4/3/95
Some of the singing sucks but I really like the whole mood of this song. The outro guitar fills sound like bile rising. Mmmm.

Time 2 Go -4/10/95
Listen to those shredding vocal chords! I lost my voice a lot in these days. Anyway, this is a pretty inspired song, I think. The solo at the end has a lot of notes in it but is loaded with feeling just the same.

Pushover -5/4/95
I have no idea where this came from, but I really like it. I'm sure I could sing it a thousand times better today.

Hate Me Now -5/20/95
More anthemic angst! I was trying to bridge together heavy metal and shoegazer pop with a lot of songs from this era. I totally dig this, although the fidelity has gotten muddy over the years, I'm sorry to say.

Sadly Yours -5/22/95
A very simple song, written about a 'woe-was-me,' always-complaining type person. I always loved the round-robin chorus.

Slow Motion -5/23/95
I love the overall aura of this song but hate certain specific things (namely, some of the lyrics and most of the singing). I've always had the unfortunate habit of writing quickie lyrics and recording throwaway vocal tracks just to get the basic idea of the song down before it disappears. Here is evidence of that.

Ugly All Day -5/24/95
Weeee! This is a fun song. Written about the inevitable crumbling of physical beauty -- "when your face turns into I-95, you'll wish you weren't even alive!" Wicked. You can hear how raw my voice was back then -- still learning to sing.

1,000 Miles -7/12/95
On this one I was going for a Pornography-era Cure meets Mike Patton kinda vibe. I love all the vicious backwards guitar parts. Written in the putrid yellow heart of summertime.

Black of the Ocean, Crush of the Motion -8/15/95
We re-recorded this for the first P*S*K album, without changing much from this original version. Some asshole critic called this song a "blatant Gary Numan rip-off." Since I only knew one Gary Numan song at the time ("Cars"), I'm not sure how I could have been ripping him off. Anyway, I was ripping off the Jesus and Mary Chain. Remember, kids -- Critics Are Always Wrong.

Cold Floors -8/30/95
Pretty and sad. Total shoegazer music -- more about "vibe" than "song."

Drowning -9/8/95
I like how this song sounds just like its title. My Pornography obsession is written all over the place; how many times have I tried to re-write Cure songs?

Baby I'm a Winner -9/95
The chorus is a little silly, but I love the main groove, and there are plenty of little hooks all over the place. I'm a huge Gene Loves Jezebel fan, can you tell?

Blue Sky, Black Heart -10/12/95
The melancholy of summer ending. This isn't well recorded, but the feeling is totally intact.

Mr. Negative -10/16/95
This has always been one of my all-time favorites even though the lyrics are on the silly side. You may notice that it's just the same four chords throughout the entire song, just played a little differently in the various sections.

Covered -1/11/96
This is the last song I wrote before moving to NYC May '96. It's about not wanting to procreate: "I'm the last in a long line/ the ball was handed to me from/ father to father, but I couldn't bother." The singing is out of tune but who cares.

Hello to You -11/27/96
Another one ripped from Gene Loves Jezebel -- this song is loosely based on the vibe and pacing of their song "Steven." Not one of my favorite songs, but I like feeling of it and the way the recording came out.

Sad But True -12/20/97
It took about two years to get into my songwriting groove after moving to NYC (so much stimuli to absorb!). This was the first inspired song I'd written in over a year and it opened the door to a bunch of other pretty good songs that would come out of me in '98. I love all the hard-panned guitars.

Happy With You -2/9/98
A decent pop song, a bit on the sad side. Was starting to work the songwriting muscle again, finally!

Disappeared -2/9/98
The jangly guitars are definitely Smiths-influenced, and the solo is cribbed from The Top-era Cure. I like the way the chorus kinda....disappears.

Career -2/22/98
My songwriting was really starting to warm up with this one. I always loved the feeling of "Career" -- a warm, fuzzy, B-52s type of vibe, but with a streak of dark pessimism underneath. We polished it up for the first P*S*K album but for the most part kept it the same. Oh, and that's the tape literally ending at the end of the track -- the song just barely fit on the end of the cassette!

Make a Wish -2/26/98
A good bouncy little pop song with a chorus that goes all dreamy. A little Brian May in the solo section.

Somewhere -3/4/98
I love this song and somehow it fell through the cracks. It's got a bit of an early Banshees feel. I'd love to resurrect this one someday, somewhere...

Locals -3/13/98
I wrote this one immediately after discovering Gang of Four. One groove, very linear. This could be pretty powerful and mesmerizing if it were cleaned up a bit. Meanwhile, I like it as a souvenir of the time...

Dig Me Out -3/15/98
I always liked this chord progression. At this point I realized, if you're frustrated about being uninspired, write about it! Next thing you know, you've tricked yourself into being inspired again. I like the line "when you live on optimism, it's not hard to stay so thin."

Japanese Eyes -3/19/98
This is a pretty steamy song. Maybe I just think that because I know what it's about. See if you can guess what the guitar solo's supposed to sound like...

Scourge -4/4/98
This song was inspired by my asshole neighbor. Living next door to her sucked, but hey, I got this song out of it, didn't I? Dig that burning guitar solo, just dripping with venom.

Oceans of It -5/10/98
This song was really important in setting the tone for the future pOp*stAr*kiDs -- bright, poppy and whimsical. This version is a slight retooling of the original that I recorded in spring of '99, using an ancient Roland synth for all those whooshing sounds. When I recorded it again for the first P*S*K album, I added the "Hong Kong Garden" quote.

Happy Undercover -5/11/98
This song has been a P*S*K contender for years and somehow it never makes the cut. But I love it anyway. I recorded that sixteenth-note "sequencer" part by sticking my keyboard through a delay pedal and playing eighth notes. Four chords and a groove is all you need sometimes.

Over n Over -7/10/98
This is one of my favorite chord progression I've written. There's something melancholy about it. I guess the lyrics are about time passing quicker than you can handle it; "you kiss the day goodbye, over and over..." Just five days after recording this song, I got evicted from my place on 11th street.

True Love is Terror -9/2/98
Really like these arpeggios -- purty. I especially dig the key change going into the solo. First song I wrote in the apartment I was subletting on 9th street and Avenue C.

Fairie Spring -9/2/98
A song about drug addiction. Love the chord progression (for some reason I wrote a bunch of good ones around this time). I was really happy about how the last chorus came out --- the voice is supposed to be coming from somewhere in the afterlife, and I made it sound warbly and disembodied with a delay effect. Would love to do something with this song at some point.

Gold Tooth -9/11/98
This sounds Prince-y to me now, although I don't think that's something I was going for at the time. "Every other boy is like a trophy on your shelf but when you hold my hand, I got you all to myself."

Strangeland/Frontline -9/18/98
I've tried to rewrite my share of Jesus and Mary Chain songs in my time, as well. This would be one of them. Check the guitar solo -- I'm a pretty good noisemaker when I wanna be. A pretty brash recording overall.

Judy Honeymoon -9/21/98
You may think this song's corny, but I think it's sweet. About an angel who gets lost in drugs; "Judy Ecstasy got caught up in a tree so she's goin' straight edge from her hospital bed." The only time I've ever whistled in a song, too!

Spit -10/9/98
Another JAMC-influenced track. I love this recording even though it's definitely on the muddy side. The end just spirals down and down into miasmic cacophony. Gorgeous.

Turning Small Wheels -10/15/98
A moody one, about someone I knew at the time. The intro was stolen from the Banshees' "Cities In Dust." I love the line "but when I scurry home, it's bedtime with the insects/ I sleep alone and dream of people with passion." It just occurred to me that I recorded all the guitars from this era with a tiny Park practice amp. Sounds decent, considering.

Falling Like Leaves -10/15/98
Very much in the same vein as "Turning Small Wheels," but it's got a nice chorus.

Israel (Siouxsie and the Banshees cover) -10/98
I love this song and felt like covering it. I tried to be as faithful as possible in recreating the song (on my measly four tracks!). If I'm singing out of tune, that's just me trying to maintain the feel of the original!

Boy Meets Girl -11/15/98
This is the first song I wrote after moving to Williamsburg Brooklyn. I enjoy the ascending guitar chords in the chorus. A tune about a drag queen (get it? boy meets girl?).

Williamsburg -11/16/98
This song makes me crazy -- the chords, the groove, the little hip-hoppy synth melody. I don't know why I haven't done anything with it. It could have been recorded and sung better, but I'm still attached to this.

New Leash on Life -12/98
This is the official beginning of pOp*stAr*kiDs. The words are different and of course it's very raw (the version on This Is pOp*stAr*kiDs is certainly the definitive one). The electro vibe was a new thing for me, and I was really excited about it. This, along with "Oceans of It," "Happy Undercover" and "Atomik," were starting to point me in a new direction. Weeeee! P*S*K rarely leave this out of our live sets; it's a signature song for us.

You Got to Get the World to Love You Now -12/6/98
You may notice a slew of Madonna references in the lyrics. Don't pay any mind. I'm proud of the chorus, though.

Driving In Yr Sleep -12/98
It's got a bar of seven! You won't catch me dabbling in odd time signatures too often, but it worked this time.

Grey Skies Blue Skies, In Yr Eyes It's All the Same -1/8/99
My electro fetish was blossoming. I dropped all those drum machine fills in manually, pumped through a Whammy pedal. This song got dressed up for the first pOp*stAr*kiDs CD.

Out ta Win -1/14/99
I'm a sucker for the simplest ideas. There's almost nothing to this, which is why I like it.

Come Out and Play -3/13/99
This song summed up the carefree, playful, celebratory vibe I wanted to put across in P*S*K. To this day I never get tired of playing it live. Believe it or not, it took me forever to complete these lyrics. I even bought a Spanish/English dictionary, which helped me find a word to go with "muchacha." I wound up using "coquetta," which everyone thinks is "cocaine time." Whatever.

Turn Up the Noise -5/7/99
Springtime! This is a charming little ditty that somehow remains largely unheard. Writing positive, upbeat lyrics was something I had started to do around this time. So was using big three-part harmonies.

All Broke Down -5/31/99
We punched this one up in the studio but there's a charm in the original version that I like just as well. Was playing with a very old Roland synthesizer around this time. It's what I used to create the jet sounds in "Jumbo Jet." The spirit of this song continued to shape the positive attitude I wanted for P*S*K.

Crush of Oil -6/4/99
It's a cute and utterly nonsensical song.

Nine Lives -7/12/99
This song has a vicious, stomping vibe that I enjoy.

Ashes in the Air -11/21/99
This is the first song I wrote after the completion of This Is pOp*stAr*kiDs. It's also the first song I wrote after moving to my current apartment. It sat around collecting dust for four years and then we used it on the third P*S*K album. It's a crafty little tune, inspired by Jellyfish and Self.

Do You Ever Wonder -12/5/99
A sad little song of heartbreak. One of the loneliest guitar solos I've ever played.

Solid Gold -2/1/00
A bitter song, from a bitter time. Bitter, bitter, bitter!

Supa Satellite -2/4/00
I changed the chorus this one a little before re-recording it for the second P*S*K record. I think it's better now.

Let's Get Ready! -2/6/00
I wrote this in my head one afternoon, walking around the 'burg. Ran home and threw it down onto the 4-track very quickly. When I recorded it for The Rise and Fall record, I added a bunch of crazy drum programming and other bells n' whistles, which I love -- but the guitars are a bit more in-yer-face on this version, eh? Anyway, I felt like I'd written a winner. It wound up being the opening track on the CD. Five years later, we're still playing it.

Yer the $ -2/17/00
There are things about this lo-fi, original version that I like better than the "studio" version. I distinctly remember my inspiration for this song: I'd just finished listening to the new Cure album, "Bloodflowers," and it was so depressing, I reacted by writing the most whimsical and ridiculous thing I could come up with. "Yer the $" came out in about ten minutes. To this day, it is still ridiculous. I can't believe how much people love this song.

Saved My Life -2/22/00
Ooh, check those new wave keyboard sounds! Seriously, I've always loved this chorus, even though it is disturbingly reminiscent of Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time." Perish the thought!

We Can Turn It Out -2/22/00
Wrote this in my head at a friend's house in Pennsylvania and jotted down some notes on a piece of paper so I would remember it when I got home (I can't write music). Somehow the idea survived. It's inspired by a song on Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie album Can you guess which one? Do you care?

Do the Crash -3/17/00
Here's your pop song in under two minutes. The version we did on Rise and Fall is way better, with the sequencer and all. But it holds up ok here, too.

Yo Yo -4/8/00
A sweet song, with a chorus that can be sung in any language. I like how, again, the song sounds like its title.

Grey Days, Techno Nights -1/3/01
This, of course, became "Black Days Techno Nights," and got a lot slower, too. This is the very first song I actually wrote for the band itself -- by now, pOp*stAr*kiDs the live band was only about two months old, and I wrote this with the specific concept "set opener" in mind. It was inspired by the Veruca Salt song "Straight." We still open sets with it.

Fan Club -1/5/01
This is a song that really became another entity when we recorded it for the Revenge album. But I fell in love with it as soon as I heard it in my head. Sort of a Gary Glitter-by-way-of-Daft Punk kind of thing. Three chords, one melody and an unrelenting groove.

Ripe -2/7/01
I didn't pay this song too much mind until early 2005. Now it's become a staple. I love the piledriving, AC/DC quality of it; it is so much fun to play live. It'll be fun to re-record it, too. That's me playing with the EQ on the outro rhythm guitar.

Flowerbeds, Broken Heads -2/01
The embryonic original version of Flowerbeds has a slightly more trippy feel and slightly more ridiculous lyrics. Enjoy!

Time Bomb -2/18/01
I wanted to write a bunch of songs based on fuzzed-out, single-note, unison bass-n-guitar lines, no chords. This was the first one. Would love to work it up someday. The heads on my mix-down deck were totally fucked at this point in time, which you can hear in the swimmy distortion. Kinda adds to the ambience, really.

Love Is Burning In Yr Garden -2/19/01
You probably know this one from the Revenge CD. Of course we've got G$ singing that bridge now, which is way cool. Playing this song live always makes me wanna break stuff, and I usually do. Poor guitar.

Losing My Mind -2/20/01
The third song in my "no chords" trilogy. Another one I'd love to whip up for public consumption someday. The lyrics were inspired by a guy I knew who, at the time, was losing his mind, not to mention all his money, his friends and livelihood, to a nasty cocaine addiction. Thankfully he eventually got his shit back together.

So Bored -7/01
More hairy single-note riffery. Really love the guitars in this song.

I Live Alone -8/01/01
I love the guitar sounds on this. The big unison riff section after the solo is something I always get a kick out of hearing. A bit heavier than what I normally do.

The World in My Eyes -8/01/01
Not a Depeche Mode cover! This song was written in about 30 seconds.

Get Up and Fight -8/01/01
This ditty was written very quickly (hmmm...now that I think of it, the verse sounds quite like the verse from "Saved My Life 2Nite"...). The chorus is nice and sturdy, though. We thought about adding this to the live set for a minute, but then opted for "Flowerbeds" instead.

Drive Into the Sky -8/01/01
Another heavy one -- I imagine this would be fun to play live. The line "be careful of the witches in the clouds/ someone's gonna die, drive into the sky" kind of freaked me out a few weeks later when 9/11 happened. Just a weird coincidence, but freaky anyway.

Dance Like the Dead -1/02
We gave this a sonic makeover for the "Revenge" disc but I knew it was a winner as soon as it fell out of me.

Shoot Me a Shotgun -2/02
This one was a candidate for inclusion on the Revenge CD but didn't make the cut. Would love to revisit it someday. It's an explosive little hand-grenade of a song.

Did You Do Something Good? -7/6/02
Can you guess which JAMC song this was inspired by? I wrote this really quickly. I came up with the verse melody on the guitar, then flipped that melody around backwards for the chorus. The best ideas are the simple ones.

Tonight -7/16/02
I remember singing this as soon as I got up, hoarse voice and all. A fun little firecracker, clocking in at an economical 2:15.

I'm Smokin' -7/02
I have no memory of recording this song. The intonation is all over the place! But kind of a cool pile-driving vibe to it.

Best of You -7/02
Another one that was up for possible use on The Revenge of P*S*K, but didn't get enough votes to make the final cut. "Spin On, Fuschia!" was written right around the same time.

Spin On, Fuschia! -7/31/02
Some serious tape drop-outs on this recording. When we worked this one up for the Revenge CD, I went back and tightened up the lyrics, which I like a lot better now.

Kiss of Death -8/1/02
A song composed almost entirely out of harmonics. It's got its charm, but I doubt I'll do much lobbying for it in the future.

Honey Gets Around -8/02
Purely a throwaway that I like anyway.

Insect Night -8/02
I'd just started checking out the band Japan around this time, and "Insect Night" was my way of writing a Japan song. I wrote it and recorded it between lunch and dinner one day. When P*S*K re-did this song for the Revenge album, I gave some of the verses to Glenn and Clancy so I wouldn't have to sing the whole thing live. It's so much cooler now! Like most of my solos, this one was the very last thing I put on the song, improvised in one take. I just learned it and played it a bit better on Revenge record. I'm really happy with it and with this whole song.

Kelly Scale Down -8/12/02
It was a pretty prolific summer, considering how much drinking I was doing! I remember that, on this day, I had a few hours to kill before G$ and I were to leave for the Berkshires (we were gonna hang out for a couple days at his parents' place). I thought it'd be cute if I could write a song before we left; "Kelly Scale Down" was the result. Glenn and I listened to it in his car that night. I was pretty psyched about it. When we recorded this for Revenge, I remember it was a bit of a trick recalling how I'd gotten some of the weird guitar sounds. I love the vaguely "Chinese" feel of the signature melody.

Drag Me Off -8/02
I'd nearly forgotten about this song. Hearing it now, it doesn't sound half bad!

Shimmer -8/26/02
Ah, the beauty of tape saturation! Can anyone tell how much I love Jesus and Mary Chain? I threw some Beach Boys harmonies into the chorus. Love that dirty fuzztone guitar. Mmmmm. I like how the instruments bow out one by one at the end.

Life Is Misery -9/02
More fuzzy fuzzy guitars in the verses. I dig the chord progression in the chorus. Would really like to do this song with P*S*K some time. JB always liked it.

Animal Wars -9/17/02
Here's another song that has some potential for future use. There's something about it that hits a nerve for some reason. It's all just pop music, but hopefully it can be transcendent sometimes as well.

Come On, Dear John -9/27/02
The invigorating first weeks of autumn '02 definitely inspired this breezy piece of musical sugar. It makes me smile.

Steamroller -10/10/02
Clancy and I talked about adding this as a hidden track to the Revenge album but then decided against it. It is a nice piece of hypnotic mood music, though.

You're Never Gonna Win -6/19/03
It's a sad song, but a true song. I deliberately went for more "conventional" chord progression in the chorus of this one. I like the way it came out.

Cats and Cockatoos -6/19/03
A simple confection, made up entirely of nonsense lyrics. Inspired by Def Leppard's great song "Photograph." Can you hear that?

Written Out of the Plot -7/31/03
P*S*K were hard at work on the Revenge album at this time and I wasn't writing much. But this little gem fell out of me one night. Definitely a bit out of character, this song has something of a roots rock flavor, with a chorus that sounds a bit like R.E.M., circa Life's Rich Pageant.

Kiss the Ground -11/03
The first song I wrote following the completion of The Revenge of P*S*K. I'm crazy about it. We added it to our live show earlier this year and I can't wait to record it "for real."

Paper Dolly -12/7/03
Inspired by German dance act 2Ramwohnung, this is about a girl I know. It's not a fluff piece. She's really shallow and annoying.

They'll Chase Behind -12/11/03
This was inspired by Marshall Crenshaw, a master pop songwriter. I love his mobile melodies, so I tried to write one here.

Screamin' Like an Animal -1/6/04
"We like to swallow graveyards/ we bathe in broken babydolls"...yep, more nonsense lyrics. But I like the chorus and caffienated vibe.

Pretty Child Don't Break My Heart -1/9/04
I don't remember too much about writing this, and didn't think too much of it at the time, but I kinda like it now.

Girls Gone Wild -1/10/04
Trashy new wave disco music. We added this baby to the live show earlier this summer ('05) and so far it's been a blast to play. People in the audience flash us during this song, apropos of its subject matter.

Bad Times -1/12/04
After ignoring this song for a while, it's grown on me a little bit. All the guitars recorded with a tiny, battery-powered amp.

Drag Out the Dead Tonight -1/20/04
I like the spacious verses. The main hook is pretty cool, probably won't change the world...or will it?

Winter -1/19/04
I'm really proud of this chorus. Overall, kind of a slow-burning, moody song...sounding a bit like winter itself.

Stupid -1/22/04
A healthy moment of self-loathing! "Reckless and stupid/ sorry and stupid." Ever felt that way?

Fear Breeding -1/25/04
In George Dubya's America, fear is a valuable commodity. But this isn't a "topical" song; it's just about the fear and loathing that pushes humans through their day-to-day lives.

Marching Time Armies -1/27/04
More dark ruminating on the human condition: "oh, the horror of the peaceful mind/ the ritual kindness/ the same disguise, sincerity in lies." In the winter of '04, I was clearly not in the mood to write party music. Sorry.

Take It All Apart -1/28/04
I normally don't go for the acoustic vibe, but it just seemed to work for this song. As the Iraq war dragged on, this lyric occurred to me: "mothers everywhere/ can never repair/ all the damage done/ by your selfish sons." Anyway, I really like this song -- it reminds me of Bob Mould's old band Sugar.

Pete, Sally and Me -2/3/04
I was deep in the clutches of Nirvana nostalgia in winter of '04 and this song amply reflects that. I basically took the song "Dive," threw a disco hi-hat on there, and a thick vocal harmony sandwich in the chorus. I like it. And I don't think it sounds like "Dive."

Selfish Wishes -2/4/04
This song was inspired by the gorgeous early-to-mid-80's Cure b-sides. I just love all the space, texture and imagination of those recordings. Listen as the guitar solo gets rudely yanked offstage to make way for the lead vocal (as usual, the lead guitar and lead vocal are on the same track, which means that the end of the solo -- and sometimes the first syllable of the following vocal part -- often get clipped. Keep an ear open and you'll notice this a lot in my demos).

Gotta Be On Top of Me -2/20/04
Such a simple song, simple sentiment. It's one of my favorites. We've been playing this one in the live shows since last summer (summer '05) and it's really starting to take shape. This tune wrote itself very quickly. I was probably eating stale Valentine's Day hearts at the time.

Here They Come -2/21/04
This is creepy, isn't it? Probably no one but you will ever hear this, but it's a kick to share it just the same.

People Only Let You Down -3/10/04
My attempt to write a Chiffons song, but with the lyrical sentiment turned upside-down. Don't hold your breath waiting for this to show up on a P*S*K record. Witness another rudely interrupted guitar solo!

My Melancholy Blues -(Queen cover)
I recorded this at about 3am with one mic in front of me and my guitar. God, I love Queen so much...but now's not the time to get into that. Anyway, I always adored this piano-bass-drums-n-vocal song from the News of the World album, so I figured out an arrangement for the guitar, played it a bunch of times and recorded it. Forgive the flat notes; it was late! I also performed this one --sans guitar -- at a Queen tribute show at BB King's a little later. That was alotta fun.

Baby Let's Burn -4/19/04
I don't know where this song came from but I dig the bouncy, B-52's-ness of it. It is a song clearly filled with the excitement of springtime. "Go-go dancing on toxic afternoons..." sounds fun, doesn't it? By the way, that's not a bass guitar -- just a Strat thru an octave pedal. Most of the songs from this period have that going on; my bass was broken for months.

We Gonna Fight -7/04
Another one that has grown on me slightly even though the performance is a bit ratty. I wanted to use more exotic voicings in this since at the time I was immersed in learning lots of far-eastern and middle-eastern scales.

When U R Alone -7/04
Obviously a Prince homage; no surprise, since I had just seen the man perform live the night before writing this song. I sure like the way this one came out. Would love to do it live sometime; it's really fun to sing. Would also love to record it right, with the proper orchestrations -- imagine violins doing all those melodies in the chorus. Mmmm!

Time Ruins Everything -7/04
A little Massive Attack, a little Prince by way of Outkast.

The Big Lie -7/19/04
Again, it's hard not to think about lies and such when you've got President Bush at the wheel of your country's ship. This was a quickie, hard-charging punk song that came out real well, I think. This song may have a future in P*S*K.

The Devil's Music -7/20/04
I think this was one of those songs that came out of forcing myself to sit down and write something -- anything. No divine inspiration, just an exercise in forced creativity. Alot of these tunes came out that way.

Love Is Taboo -7/21/04
God, the intro vocals are out of tune!! Still, "Love Is Taboo" is one of my favorite recent songs that I've written. This one was influenced by the beautiful simplicity of Marshal Crenshaw's "Favorite Waste of Time" single. Like that song, this one contains only two real parts, a verse and chorus. I can't say it enough: for my money, simplicity rules. P*S*K have been playing this song for a few months now in the live show. I'm starting to learn how to sing it right.

Jump the Gun -8/7/04
This is kind of a by-the-numbers song for me. Nothing to write home about, but it's catchy enough.

Victory -10/24/04
A hard electro vibe. Dig this song. For some reason I decided on a classical-sounding acoustic guitar solo. It may be my favorite part! I also think it's nifty how the last chorus gets reinvented.

Hotter Than the Sun -10/24/04
Another really straightforward song -- basically one melody carries the whole thing. My singing was inspired by Josh Hommes from Queens of the Stone Age. I love the fragile, ghostly quality of his vocals in many of the QOTSA songs.

Lost on a Highway -10/04
I don't remember what inspired this song. I really enjoy the second verse, totally different from the first. The whole thing has a slinky, smoky vibe that I like a bunch.

This Is My Song -12/6/04
The chorus lyrics could be used as my M.O. for life: "this is my song/ I know it's wrong/ but it's the only thing that keeps me carryin' on" I like the urgency of this tune.

Run With the Dogs -12/7/04
I believe this song came out of one of those, "ok, sit down and write something" instances. Still, it came out pretty cool. A guitar solo that you can hum along too easily enough.

Life on the Sly -3/05
I wrote an early version of this song in March of 2002 and decided to revamp it a little bit two years later. I stuck a new chorus in it and dressed it up in its Sunday best. I normally don't try to rewrite songs (they're either good when they first come out, or forget about 'em!) but this one seemed like it had potential -- just didn't seem to get written well enough the first time around. Now I have no idea if it's good or not. You tell me.

You See Me Now -3/21/05
This kind of chord progression always gets me excited -- lots of opportunities for great vocal harmonies. I also enjoy the mobile melody in the verse -- melodies that bounce around a bit make me happy.

Survival Song -3/05
One groove, one melody, two chords. Are you a misfit? Have you ever felt like a failure? This song is for you. Everything's gonna be fine.

Liquid Lightning -3/05
Feel-good music. The main riff sounds a bit like some old Gary Numan song but I'm sure Gary would never dream of singing sunny harmonies like this.

Reunion -4/05
Some American writer -- was it John Cheever? -- wrote a short story called Reunion and it described a depressingly bleak meeting between an estranged father and son. This song is about having to go out for drinks with someone you find vapid and uninteresting. I am really proud of this song. It may have a future.

The Mating Ritual -4/05
I suppose this song could be about the same sad soul who starred in "Reunion" -- the tragically clueless barfly bimbo who's desperate to fulfill her biological imperatives by getting wasted and trying to pick up dudes in clubs.

Scream Angel, Scream -8/3/05
This is based on a single-note riff from an old song. Around that riff, I tried to create something that sounded dark and epic -- the kind of thing that you could open a show with. I think it turned into something pretty interesting. It's a little dark for P*S*K, but then...is it?

Kill This Night -8/4/05
Songs like this are a dime a dozen for me -- not exactly borne out of any metaphysical inspiration, but nice enough to listen to anyway. I hope it doesn't bore you for the next two minutes.

Pretty Pet -1/15/06
This song kicked off a solid week of songwriting productivity that produced no fewer than ten tunes! I like this lyric: "warriors broken by the cause; slaves to the medication, the occupation." That last word could mean a few different things, eh?

You Won't Survive When You Let the Girlfriend Drive -1/16/06
I was pretty excited by this chord progression when I came up with it but I can't say it blossomed into the song I wanted. But it sounds ok and has plenty of mel-OH-dee.

Flying High -1/17/06
My eternal quest to write the perfect pop song probably doesn't reach its ambition here but I do like this tune. Plus, I used the word "aerosol" for the first time in a song! I think..

Final Exhibition -1/19/06
This song is reasonably catchy. The second verse is cool and the solo came out nice too -- when in doubt, pick up a slide!

Dressed and Desperate -1/19/06
When I initially came up with this main riff, it didn't interest me much at all and I nearly abandoned the idea. But then I figured I should try to see where it would take me, and I wound up with one of my favorite songs in this batch. This is about all the humans swarming out amongst eachother at night, in the clubs, parties and bars, done up to the nines, hoping desperately for something good to happen to them...

Dust Upon the Ground -1/20/06
I am fond of this song -- anything with cool chords usually gets me interested. Sample lyric: "attaching to your betters can't be any harm; second-hand expression begs your counterfeit charm."

Bangin' the Door -1/22/06
This came out real easy and I like the ones that do that. Another song with no chords -- just single notes. Love that sound for some reason. The ghost of Glenn Danzig is all over the vocal melodies, isn't it?

Shattered By the System -1/23/06
I radically reworked this one for the band -- rewrote the main guitar riff, some of the lyrics and the outro -- and shortened the title to "Shattered." Clancy's menacing, tribal drum parts on the band version are really wicked and very different from the simpler beats found here. I think the song's better for it. "Shattered" is a much meaner beast now, dripping with righteous anger!

The Better They Know You -1/24/06
The January streak continues! I'm really pleased with how this one came out -- I'm always really happy when I can stretch two chords through an entire song and still make all the parts sound different. And the slide guitar solo is just icing...yum.

Over and Done -1/25/06
This song is simple enough. Nothing to get too excited about, although I do like how the solo melody gets a slight reprise at the end -- these little unplanned events are so nice when they work out!

Broken Promises -6/22/06
A somewhat average song but fairly listenable anyway. A nice Beatles-esque bridge. Or maybe Fleetwood Mac-esque...

Run Together, Die Alone -6/28/06
Sorry that the beginning of the song got taped over accidentally -- I can be clumsy in my haste to get a song done. The lyrics are about the jaded and bitter types who crowd around each other and commiserate about "kids today" and pretend the sky's falling because the world isn't exactly like it was during their own halcyon years. Every generation does this.

One Day -6/28/06
I really like this recording and the song. It came out one night after checking out some live Ladytron on the internet. So I guess I have to credit them as an influence! No problem, I love that band. Anyway, lyrically, I suppose this song is about karma; "some day the pain will kiss you, when it's your turn..."

Unhappy -7/7/06
I originally wrote this song in spring of '95 -- it was one of my first. I recently listened to it and thought it was really nice but I wanted to change the chords a bit and re-record it, which I did, and here it is. Very simple but does the job. You can hear me talking to my cat at the very end -- she gets very agitated when I sing! Maybe you do, too...