https://petercase.com/wp-content/uploads/05-Pile-Up.mp3 Another track from the Kool Trash sessions, this one recorded at about 3:30 in the morning, the last thing we cut at Sunset Sound. Rock and roll at it’s simplest, down to the core. Eddie’s guitar lick is cribbed from a Texas blues standard “Kinda Mixed Up,” but it fits perfect here, while my lyric reflects everyday tensions and frustrations in the Los Angeles area. Clem Burke is on drums, as on the rest of the album. Brett Gurewitz sings backing vocals with David-o. I put the words here, as the diction is pretty gnarly. For a long time this was my favorite from the sessions. “well they’re comin’ for miles/with beans in their ears/socked in/crocodile tears/dead set/caught in a cage/they’re flipped out/all in rage/it’s a pile up/it’s pile up/ they’ll slaughter the lamb/shut down and the road is jammed/help me/yeah we’re gonna be late well my baby called me on the telephone/imagine that/ she said I’m all alone/I went out/ frantic search for my car/jumped in didn’t get so far/it’s pile up/a pile up/try to dart in this roadster slam /some time we’re all in a jam/oh/ we’re gonna be late/ ah-oom-bop-diddy! the priest came down to bless

Here’s another track, from the Plimsouls album of demos, Kool Trash, recorded in 1995 and released in ’98. “Lost” slows it down a little, and was placed, along with “Pile Up” (which I’ll post later) in a Liv Tyler movie called ‘Heavy.” I remember this as a live performance in the studio, next to no overdubbing. It’s raw but maybe that’s how the feeling gets through…

This Plimsouls recording was released on the Fuel 2000 label in the nineties, and is now out of print. The drummer is Clem Burke. It was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles as a demo.  I’ll feature a few more tracks from this one in the near future.

https://petercase.com/wp-content/uploads/03-Down-1.mp3 Kool Trash (1998) Another in our series of Kool Trash posts.This song is about two kids showing up in the big town on the day of the riot. I’m playing the lead guitar on this one, as well as the rhythm. Eddie’s in there somewhere. I play almost this whole album in C tuning…

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Hi everybody! I’m back home in San Francisco after nearly five weeks on the road. That may or may not sound like much, but it was a trip, forty-five hundred miles in my pal Paul Luc’s Jeep, also plane flights, and an additional five hundred miles on the roads down in Louisiana for the South Louisiana Songwriter’s Festival, which was a blast. Let’s see,first, the gigs: Saint Louis at the new Stage at KDHX, a fun gig, a fresh venue, a good audience and a recently tuned piano. I ended the set with an instrumental, a version of John Coltrane’s Naima, which became a fixture of the show as the tour progressed. It’s the first time ever for me to feature an instrumental. It’s a beautiful tune, and reminded some listeners of of Jimi Hendrix’s more lyrical jams. Coltrane, people, “Listen to more Coltrane!” Paul Luc was opening the show with a set of his own songs, and went down great everywhere. Check out his new album if you can, he’s a strong writer with a unique voice, he’s really got it, if you know what I mean. I enjoyed the chance to hear him on this tour and began

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“Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager, stay eager.” A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.”  –Susan Sontag —— “Every hundred feet the world changes.”   –Roberto Bolano   1) ” WHOSE KID IS THAT?” songs language must be at least that powerful. 2) development: something happens 3) writing practice that draws from experience of the concrete world —– “Negative Capability”   ” I IS SOMEONE ELSE”   –from the second verse of “long, good time” Sweet little flowers called snowdrops in the backyard with the fresh mint leaves A cherry tree with a rope to climb & robins nests under the eaves My band was playing in the basement driving folks out of their minds Mother called down from the top of the steps “Boys, play that nice song about suicide”     Songs can be written so you can walk into any place in the country and sing them and people will “get it.”   Is songwriting an art, or a craft? Either way, the words have a double meaning.   Art is many things, but one definition would be: Art

Songwriter’s Workshop USE TOOLS 1)Notebook: collect titles and phrases flow: a) object writing, b) sketching c) journal d) people places times e) couplets—rhyming dictionary f) the bones g) words in keys, or suits—metaphors, imagery h) mining this writing for song ideas and lines, etc.   2) The Harmonized Scale I—IIm—IIIm—IV—V—VIm—VIIdim—I 3) Progressions, substitutions building blocks of popular music I—VIm—IIm—V7 (Rhythm changes)  or I—VIm—IV—V7   I—IV—V—IV—I   (La Bamba)   I—IIm—IIIm—IV—V  (Like A Rolling Stone)   I—VI—II—V7  (Salty Dog, ragtime)   I—bVII—IV—I   (rock, Gloria) I—IV—bIII—bVI)   (Nirvana) Im—bVII—bVI—V7  (Hit The Road Jack, Spanish, Latin American) I—III7—IV—I—V7—I   (Pallet On Your Floor)   substitutions, major for minor, minor for major bVII chord  (Bb in C)       •see substitution chart handed out in class •modes  “the scales on the white keys, starting at each note from C up”   4) Nonsense— “tongues”  as a key to creativity “I is another.” 5) Rhythm and melody 6) Listening for and recognizing inspiration. “Develop a friendly attitude toward your own thoughts.” 7)Desires and Fears  (are vision.) 8) Learn your favorite songs and sing them. 9)Work out melodies on the piano and accapella. 10) Absolute freedom in secret notebooks! 11)  Put what you love

https://petercase.com/wp-content/uploads/02-Lets-Turn-This-Thing-Around.mp3 talking louder than you & you never have his attention, it’s a no-reply zone & its hopeless, you can tell by the tics of his face, the turns of his head to watch anything but you, you’re not equals and there will be no conversation. Laws don’t apply & why should they I wanted to be your friend back when you presented the humble persona, lips composed in a tight smile, the one yr women like, you figure—egotism works for a living & sings for its supper but now theres no control—yr always helpless in the face of yr next whim—yr like a coach delivering a pep talk all day—you speak to people as if they’re an adoring crowd—belief in nothing is possible under special circumstances—the jungle powers effect—big beasts only need apply—scrutiny dampens desire—but its all about the performance—in bed devolving into a service job for someone—constant lies are necessary now—its all about the attenuated attention span—the inability to listen to another  to read the situation—its the end of the day so you do the little things you like to do—but sleep won’t come yr mind is racing from a sleight—brush yr teeth polish yr nails—or better yet—have