Mr. Sippy - Chronicles of Hoarsebox Week 3

Week 3: Falling off the wagons. Monday: It snowed quite a bit, enough for Dennis to fall on his arse while acting the maggot playing with his son Sam. Sam also hit him twice in the same ear with snowballs. I’m not sure Sam is aware of just how expensive his dad’s ears really are. Did a little reworking of “Rosey” and tried to figure out the lyrical content for “You lie, you get more.” Several herbal teas, toilet trips, carrots, celery and hummus breaks, attempts at reviving poor aul Rosey and a few laughs later and it was time for our usual late dinner. Two Stick for fresh and delicious Japanese. We eat there so much we may be turning Japanese, I think we’re turning Japanese...No, seriously, I really think so...or whatever, who cares! Tuesday: Got to the studio early to go through the new songs with Space Monkey. Trying to practice for our upcoming weekend gig in Parrish’s. We wanted to gauge the locals’ reactions to our new material and see if Hoarsebox were still making old people dance and young people laugh, or if we could now make young people dance and old people say things like, “these flamin’ kids and their drum machines and colourful t-shirts and crazy drugz culture and their Santa Gold and their M.G ‘n’T and En Dubs...I just don’t get it...these Hoarseboxes used to be so happening...then they went all electric, like Dylan!” Anyway, as it turned out Dennis had done some proper damage to his back from the fall the day before and had to go to the doc for anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants and other fun stuff and wasn’t going to make it. We had plenty of other Hoarse-related work to be doing. Johnny took a trip to City Grocery bar to sip wine and write lyrics, while Max updated photos and sent diary entries and ideas to Girvan Gilhooley, your willing and honoured Blogger and massive Hoarsebox fan. Phil was busy designing gig posters for our forthcoming Work Party tour of Ireland and the West of Ireland. Kieran was sorting out online content and organizational bits ‘n’ bobs. Johnny returned sweetly pickled and happy with his day’s work and we ran through the songs a few times in the studio. Late late dinner. Sarah, the lovely waitress in Proud Larry’s, made sure we were fed after the kitchen had closed. Pizzas and burgers and beers and wines and off to City Grocery to have a quiet drink before retiring for the evening. Wednesday: Max woke up at 7pm to find his knees and hips bruised, a cut over his right eye and a nasty graze over his right ear, not to mention a distinct feeling of unease and nausea and a pair of broken spectacles. We had met some pals outside the bar the night before and gone to a party nearby and then another and ...maybe another? People are very friendly here and they always invite you for a drink in their homes. Nice and old-fashioned. Max had looked really cool standing on the porch with his hands in his pockets and then he looked less cool with his face flat on the ground and his hands still in his pockets. His glasses took one for the team and saved his face from extensive damage. The glasses were broken into several pieces but will never be forgotten. Thankfully Philip and Kieran were on hand to take good care of their fallen friend, even though they were close to oblivion themselves.  We had lost Johnny to the night hours before. The house key was also lost along the way so a little breaking and entering was done. We should really have stolen something from the gaff but it was all our stuff and we were tired so.....Anyway, Wednesday was a write-off but Dennis was recovering and it was our day off so.....SO THERE! Thursday: Broke the back of “Rosey.” It now has something new and it’s good. Worked hard and long. Not much to report. The same ole working day spent drinking teas and going to the toilet. Oh yeah, it was roasting on Thursday. The snow was replaced by blazing sunshine and warm air. From heavy jackets and frozen faces to t-shirts and nature’s vitamin D. We were happy but such shifts in weather made for some dull chats about global warming. Who cares, pass me my cool sunglasses so I can look cool in sunglasses. YEEEEOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!!! Friday: Worked on “Meet the Meat Puppets.” It has potential and will probably be called something else when it’s finished. Something classier like “Say hello to my meaty friend” or “Meat me in the lobby of Destiny.” Went through “Rosey” a few times to see if we still had feelings for it and we did. It’s still all fun and squishy and boppy an all. Talked about our top 5 choices to record straight away. It looks like 4 certainties: 1.       I won’t worry 2.       Up 3.       My Grey Pilot 4.       Add it up The 5th is up for debate but we don’t seem to care which one is picked as we like them all. It seems as though “You lie, you get more” is making a break for it. Lying is cool. Johnny and Phil went to Power Station to check out a gig. A local band of young fellas called “Young Buffalo” were playing and because it was some kind of launch for a magazine they had free cheese and wine...except it’s Mississippi so there wasn’t any cheese or wine, just  pizza, doughnuts and beer. They got themselves a good spot at the front only to be visually assaulted by a “burlesque” dancer. Less burlesque and more burley, less dancer and more stripper. She was in her underpants but had the common sense and decency to sport tassels on her nipples. They giggled and shot some video and then enjoyed Young Buffalo before heading outside to watch two girls do tricks with fire sticks only to set fire to their own hair. What a funny place. Anyway, Johnny and Phil went home and went to bed. AAAAAHDDDD   SSSAAAAYYYYYYYYY  SOOOOOO ....NINE TIMES NAY NOVER...RAAAAASSSHHHEEEEEE   HO....AAAAAHHHHDDD SAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!! Saturday: Seeing as we had 8 or 9 songs firmly in the bag, Dennis felt it was a day for less stressful work.  We needed to sort out the backing tracks for the gig so Phil and Kieran got all computery and nasty with Michael, Sweet Tea’s wonderful tech/engineer dude, plugging things in and out and at and with and talking click tracks and inputs and stereo splits and robots in swimsuits and all that other cool stuff while Dennis, Johnny and Max popped up to City Grocery to brainstorm more ideas for “You lie, you get more.” Dinny and Max threw ideas and red wine at, of, for and with Johnny to see if anything would stick and sure enough some stuff did, or at least made them all laugh. Dennis let Max eat the olives from his dirty martini cos he was starving and clearly desperate.  Begged and borrowed and stole gear for the gig. Lots of our pals turned up to support us. Played old skool Hoarsebox in the first half and then hit them with new rave HoBox in the second. They were drunker, we were too, but Space Monkey had impregnated Max’s i-pod with drum beats that kept us on our toes and the fans on their dancing feet. There was even a tip jar that was filled by appreciative folks with an ear for a good tune. Went to the most generous party of all time and played pool and ate chicken wings and sipped on peppermint schnapps like gentlemen and the rest of that is history. Sunday: Max had a weird dream that he floated home in the sunshine on a large white feather only to hear the sounds of singing and laughing coming from the back porch. He jumped over the fence and was greeted by the lads, except Phil’s head was three times the size and bright red like a giant fresh tomato with a face, Kieran had no eyes and 8 arms and was growing out of the ground and Johnny was a marathon runner who could only run on the spot and he was wearing all this really expensive running gear and a headband...They all sang songs with Space Monkey who was now a snare drum with arms and was hitting himself on the head with drumsticks. They hugged and turned into one large hamburger with fries on the side and a pickle ...and maybe some barbecue sauce and some chicken nuggets and ummmmmmm...and then Max woke up feeling good and ready for a relaxing day. We had an even more relaxing evening gig in Taylor Grocery Restaurant where we played an acoustic set in exchange for our dinner. Blackened catfish, blackened chicken, lots of sides like coleslaw and brown rice and salads and fries and lots of hot sauce and yum yum and then home. Beddy bies. Monday we begin the recording process. Making real things is always good. Please stay tuned.

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