A couple ideas, before I forget them… I know, I think, how to record the Southern Pigfish album. I can do it at Jim’s shop! What I need for recording The Band That Doesn’t Exist is a band that doesn’t exist. He’s got one—or at least the musicians that could pretend to be one. And I’ve heard them all—even heard them playing together—and they’re pretty good. Since they’re not a band (most of the time), they can record their tracks separately—which is how Jim does it anyway.

What’s necessary for each of those songs is for me to record “base†tracks—rhythm guitar and lead vocal—for each song, and then let Jim add at his leisure “layer†other things as he sees fit. I’d want to make sure each song has bass and drums, because Southern Pigfish is supposed to be a rock ‘n’ roll band; no need to be specific about the lead instrument(s), but it’d be good to have both a “whiny†lead (fiddle, harmonica, flute, &c.) and a “non-whiny†lead (guitar, keyboard, &c.) because I like arranging things that way. It’s okay if the playing isn’t top-notch professional (though most of the musicians Jim knows are quite good—I know most of them, too)—Southern Pigfish are supposed to be a bunch of amateurs.

And the songs? The political songs, of course:

For Their Own Ends (the “title cutâ€)

Love Trails of the Zombie Snails

Vampire Roumanian Babies

The Strange Saga of Quoth, the Parrot

50 Ways to Cure the Depression

All those are folk-rock. I could add a few others:

Test Tube Baby—rock ‘n’ roll

Born Again Barbie—rockabilly Gospel

The Resurrection Blues—fast blues

Angel In Chains—country death metal

The Dead Sweethearts Polka—deliberate polka (or fast bluegrass)

Last four of those were intended to be on the 13 Reasons Why Joe Is Going to Hell album. They still can (though they should be re-recorded with different musicians). Everything on the list is very non-country—as befitting a rock band. Could use a couple more to fill it out—emphasizing the original mantra, from Southern Pigfish’s famous first “live†recording (done by me, with me playing all the parts): “politically charged Arkansas bluegrass hip-hop sea chanties.â€

And the videos? All the Southern Pigfish songs were supposed to be videos. Unless the musicians (or most of them) are going to be playing somewhere together, I can’t film them as a group. However I could get footage of each of them recording in the shop, and mix clips together. I have seen videos done like that. My vocals, of course—but I don’t want me on screen. I did say in that original “live†recording that Southern Pigfish had a girl singer, who sounded “like Bob Dylan after the operation.†I’d like to find a female person—one who isn’t regularly performing, and isn’t trying to make a name for herself as a singer—to lip-synch the songs while I film her. I do know a couple of people who might be interested and I’ll have to ask them.

A couple of the Southern Pigfish songs require “location†shots. I decided “The Dead Sweethearts Polka†can be mostly shot on the banks of the Nehalem River; “Quoth,†mostly on the beach at Twin Rocks, with a little bit in front of the Ghost Hole Tavern or Garibaldi Pub; and the “Zombie Snails†song really should have snow (and that means driving somewhere ‘cause we don’t get snow here to speak of—and certainly not in Antarctic proportions). “Born Again Barbie,†of course, I had already scripted out as a variety of stop-motion animation (and I have the Barbies for “cast†out in the garage), and “50 Ways†actually already has an excellent “French style†video—I just need to substitute the new soundtrack, if that’s possible. Don’t need live actors for either of those.

Y’know, this could be a lot of fun…

Joe