As is the case with every year, I always reflect back through the music. I make about 4 mixes a year, filled with new music and new music discoveries, and at the tail end of the year, I collect them all into a "master playlist" and include bonus tracks! (Comes to 100 songs total! Over 6 hours of listening.)
89. Winter Wonderland / Don't Worry Be Happy by Pentatopnix (Featuring Tori Kelly) 90. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Bruce Springsteen 91. Old Man by Beck 92. Strung Out Johnny by Iggy Pop 93. Shut Up by Alan Walker & UPSAHL 94. Otherwise by Julia Wu 95. Lux AEterna by Metallica 96. Pistol by Cigarettes After Sex 97. (You Made It Feel Like) Home by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross from the film Bones and All 98. Remember Me by Schuyler Fisk 99. One More Try by Crosses 100. Go To Hell by Bayside
I've been fortunate enough to see Nine Inch Nails perform live several times over the years in multiple iterations. Everything from the Downward Spiral tour to their co-heading stadium tour with David Bowie, and beyond. But lately, I'd been going down the rabbit hole on YouTube for a series of videos I remember being posted on their official YouTube page. Live performances shot by their friend and collaborator Rob Sheridan directly on stage. The frantic nature of the footage, bouncing from band member to band member, coupled with the excellent sound mix straight from the soundboard makes for some of their all-time best performances!
I also found some recent uploads from their drummer Ilan Rubin; a drummer cam, if you will, and these performances of "The Perfect Drug," "March Of The Pigs," and "Piggy" were next level.
I started collecting a bunch of these videos into a YouTube playlist and realized I was basically putting together the ultimate live Nine Inch Nails setlist! Since there are plenty of fellow NIN lovers out there, I thought I'd share what I consider to be the best NIN gig we were never at!
Nine Inch Nails: Live
1. Somewhat Damaged live from on stage Roskilde Festival, Denmark 7.3.09 2. March Of The Pigs / Piggy Live from The Santa Barbara Bowl 9.13.22 3. Last live from on stage in Holmdel, NJ 6.06.09 4. The Becoming live at Sasquatch Festival 5.24.09 5. I'm Afraid of Americans live from on stage in Toronto, 6.02.09 6. The Perfect Drug live from The Santa Barbara Bowl 9.13.22 7. The Fragile live from on stage, Adelaide 2.28.09 8. Burn live from on stage, Melbourne 2.25.09 9. Survivalism live w/ Saul Williams, Atlanta 5.10.09 10. The Big Come Down live circa 2013 11. Closer from the live CD / DVD "And All That Could Have Been" 12. Wish live in Cleveland 9.24.22 with NIN alumni Richard Patrick, Chris Vrenna, Danny Lohner 13. Head Like A Hole live circa 2013
I love, love, love the new trailer for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: VOLUME 3. And I also loved the way James Gunn incorporated the Spacehog song "In The Meantime" into the trailer's score.
It reminded me that several years back I had made a mix that kicked off with that track, but also celebrated some of my favorite one-hit wonders from the 90s. I'm not talking about any of the now-classic grunge era hits, but most of the big radio & MTV hit singles in a post-Nirvana world.
I couldn't resist also using a few tunes in the same vibe from the early 2000's, including a few tracks from the Spider-Man soundtracks, and so instead of naming it something 90s-centric, I went with "Turn Of The Decade!" I guarantee there will be a few of these you haven't heard or thought of in years!
1. In The Meantime by Spacehog 2. Sex & Candy by Marcy Playground 3. Down Baby by Loud Lucy 4. Monster Slide by Addict 5. Laid by James 6. Believe by Dig 7. One Headlight by The Wallflowers 8. No Rain by Blind Melon 9. Groove In The Heart by Deee-lite 10. Superman (It's Not Easy) by Five For Fighting 11. Save Me by Remy Zero 12. Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger 13. The Distance by Cake 14. Torn by Natalie Imbruglia 15. What It's Like by Everlast 16. Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry 17. Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind 18. Out Of My Head by Fastball 19. Breakfast At Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something 20. Closing Time by Semisonic 21. Your Woman by White Town 22. Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve 23. The Freshman by The Verve Pipe 24. Hero by Chad Kroger featuring Josey Scott 25. Learn To Crawl by Black Lab 26. Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional 27. Float On by Modest Mouse 28. Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol 29. Natural One by Folk Implosion 30. Low by Cracker 31. Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Quite a lot of these bring back fond memories. (And melodies!) The Addict track "Monster Slide" comes from the movie DISTURBING BEHAVIOR. Couldn't resist the one-two Superman themed punch of the Five For Fighting song with Remy Zero. (The theme for SMALLVILLE!) I was actually at Woodstock 94 (an awful experience I'll save for another blog) and I have a distinct memory of getting there early in the evening of the first night, setting up our tent and hearing in the distant James performing "Laid" and later slowly drifting to sleep as Deee-lite performed their big single "Groove Is In The Heart."
Fastball, Third Eye Blind, Snow Patrol, Marcy Playground, Eagle-Eye Cherry! Remember these names?! Kick back and let's go on that ride....
I just wanted to illustrate how pivotal Christian was at shaping the ideas I had for what would become the Pike Project album, and how he heard a demo and brought out the absolute best in it. For starters, shortly after we released the self-titled "The Great Below" album, I started demo-ing a few new song ideas. One of them was titled "Break Down." It was one of 4 demos I played for Christian when we first started discussions about making the album. So you can now hear that original demo, embedded below, that I played for him.
That's all I had. A chorus and a opening/closing riff. I heard it as, kind of, a Nirvana song, and he turned it into a Nine Inch Nails song. (Or a perfect combo of the two! After all, they're both among my all-time favorite bands.) The mono opening on the final version was something we dreamed up together after the first playback. The song had a very dark tone to it. Something you'd never pick up on otherwise is a weird bit of dialogue in the middle of the track. Christian read random quotes by serial killer Richard Ramirez, and then played them backwards. So that's what's subtly happening during that acoustic break down in the middle section. I was also thinking a lot about Dexter and his (at the time) inevitable return in New Blood. Producing the official podcast, I got the opportunity to read some of the scripts in advance and it influenced the lyrics for this song.
In the last few years, I've gotten into the habit of recording all my music ideas on my iPhone. Either a melody, a riff, or both! These ideas are usually incredibly raw and under normal circumstances, I'd never, ever share these. But I found this second example on my phone recently and it was fun to hear now with context. I'd say the last song I wrote for the album was "Love For The Loveless." And it started simply as this iPhone demo below. I played that for Christian, and in lightning time, we came up with the quirky, pop punk song you hear on the album. (In a higher octave, but the basic melody and riffs are the same.) The title came first. "Love For The Loveless." Thinking of all the awful people that make it their life's mission to weaponize Twitter to hurt others. And I wondered if they had any love in their lives. If they did, would they be this desperate for attention? That they'd lie just to hurt someone they don't even know? Surely, someone out there must show love for the loveless, right? Well, that was just the title. The actual lyrics are more about two people looking for love, wandering the streets, and constantly passing each other by. (A very goofy version of which became the basis for the music video.)
Not every song is about what you think it's about. But that's what I love about music. It's up to the listener to fill in what the song means to them. But sometimes, it's fun to pull the curtain back just a tiny bit and reveal something about the creative process.
Back in July, I released a brand new album, my collaboration with Christian James Hand, under the moniker of "Pike Project." But where did this name come from? We started recording sessions back in November of 2020, and around that same time, I was in the middle of a Star Trek movie marathon. On this rewatch, the character I kept gravitating towards was Captain Pike, in particular the version played by Bruce Greenwood in the "Kelvin" trilogy. Maybe it's the father figure-to-Kirk aspect, given that I'd just lost my father. But it made me take a deeper look at that character's history in the Star Trek lore, something I admittedly am only a moderate fan of. I love the tragedy of Pike. And considering my most prominent band was "Pretty Polly," I liked the idea of naming this new project something with the similar Two P's name. Hence... PIKE PROJECT. Had a cool ring to it. Low and behold, something must have been in the air, because just as we were finally getting ready to mix, master, and release the album, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered, focusing on that great, rich, and tragic backstory of Captain Christopher Pike, this time played by Anson Mount. I'm proud of the Pike Project album, and happy to share the inspiration behind the name! Now give it a listen with this new tidbit in mind! PIKE PROJECT “To Auld Acquaintances… Vol.1.”
I wanted to wait until after Halloween season 2022 to share the latest mix, but I'd been listening to these songs, rearranging, and thinking about them for weeks. It's truly amazing how new music can provide the ideal soundtrack to our lives.
The new singles from Blink-182 and Filter have been on heavy rotation since they dropped and I've listened to them over and over again. A long-lost Queen track recently surfaced with "Face It Alone," and it's like time travel getting to hear Freddie Mercury's voice again. I've got two from Long Island local bands Playing Dead and Smoke the Light (featuring former Pretty Polly drummer Stevie D!) on here.
My favorite new band discovery is AL1CE, a moody electronic-based band; a few members of which support the live version of System Syn. Alisa Xayalith from New Zealand's The Naked and Famous has been releasing some solo singles, including the latest one on this playlist "I'll Be There." I watched the movie Meet Cute recently and they used this Damien Jurado track.
I was nervous there weren't enough "rockers" on this mix, and then Iggy Pop went and dropped a rad new single. Iggy always returns when we need him to. Same for Crosses. Of course, I snuck on two tracks from my own album with Pike Project. And I initially opened and closed this mix with two new ones from Death Cab For Cutie who inspired this Volume's title. But I love the Van Andrew tune so much (sent to me by my buddy Johnny) and felt like it had to be the opener.
Lastly, like most people, I grew up a huge fan of THE KARATE KID movies, and have been loving COBRA KAI on Netflix. I stumbled upon a video using a new version of Peter Cetera's "Glory Of Love" cut to a deleted scene from COBRA KAI Season 3 with Daniel and Kumiko. It's so beautifully edited together, using clips from KARATE KID 2 that I just had to include it on this mix towards the end. Here's that video:
So without further ado...
2022 Vol 4 - I Don't Know How I Survived
1. Sad Cowboys and Rock and Roll by Van Andrew 2. I Don't Know How I Survive by Death Cab For Cutie 3. EDGING by Blink-182 4. For The Beaten by Filter 5. Break Down by Pike Project 6. Time by AL1CE 7. Frenzy by Iggy Pop 8. Vivien by Crosses 9. This Is Why by Paramore 10. Face It Alone by Queen 11. boy by The Killers 12. Take Me Back by Playing Dead 13. I'll Be There by Alisa Xayalith 14. Place Your Debts by Jimmy Eat World 15. Wolf by Yeah Yeah Yeahs 16. Noise by The Devil Wears Prada 17. The Heroic Dose by Smoke the Light 18. The Shape of a Storm by Damien Jurado 19. Running From The Ghost by Billy Idol 20. Glory of Love by Michael Omartian & Peter Cetera 21. Everything Is Just Fine by Pike Project 22. I'll Never Give Up On You by Death Cab For Cutie
In pre-pandemic times, Analog Love was scheduled to make it's world premiere at the Phoenix Film Festival at the end of March of 2020. The same week, LUCKY, the horror satire I produced, was scheduled to premiere at South By Southwest. And that would've kicked off the festival tours for both films, which in a lot of ways I spent my whole life prepping to make. I was so beyond proud of both and the incredible crews that were responsible for making them both a reality. And I was so, so thrilled to finally put positive things out into the universe. And then... Covid happened and derailed it all.
Had those premieres happened and we weren't in lock down, I don't think the smear campaign against me would've happened. At least not in the unfair and cruel way that it did. But this is, sadly, the time line we're stuck in. And all we can do is focus on the day ahead of us, not the past. Two years after our original intended premiere date, and one full year after the release, we finally got to screen Analog Love in Arizona, the state it should have premiered in in the first place.
Both this screening, and the NY one, came about totally organically. In this instance, I have a small group of friends that have been successfully hosting some incredible genre related screenings in the Phoenix area. Aaron Hudson and my old friend from the NY days Samantha Hurdich. And once I learned about Zia Records regularly scheduled Sunday Soundtrack Series, it seemed like the perfect fit. And it was!
We screened it at the Majestic, located in Tempe, AZ on Sunday, September 11th and it truly felt like a homecoming. More so than even the NY screening in a weird way. Aaron and Sam had waited until the night of to actually watch the movie, despite me having given them Blu-Ray's months earlier, and I really appreciated it, because I got to sit next to them and hear their genuine laughs and reactions. It was a slightly smaller space than the NY venue, and hence slightly less people, but the people that were there truly got it and were responding with extreme enthusiasm, and I could feel it.
Aaron and I did a Q & A afterwards, but it turned more into a general conversation between the group of people that stuck around and ourselves. I particularly found it heartwarming and sweet when a couple started telling us about their great mixtape story, but both disagreed about the details surrounding said tape. It's one of the things I love about our little film - it always instigates conversation and inspires people to share their mixtape story, whatever it might be.
I know some friends in attendance walked away inspired to make mixes!
And I'm just so, so grateful for the opportunity to share this documentary whenever I get a chance. It means a lot to me. It took my crew: myself, Buz Wallick, Joe Maddrey, Travis King, about 6 years of our lives to complete, and while its bittersweet that we didn't get to screen it for more festivals during what became one of the oddest times in our human history, seeing it these two times this year was a beautiful gift and reward in itself. I truly hope people keep sharing it with loved ones and it continues finding an audience.
I'll be sharing more playlists / mixes that tie more directly into the film on this blog in the near future. But for now, I'll cap this off with a recent song by Liam Gallagher of Oasis that really has helped put things into perspective this year, "Too Good For Giving Up."
