Dear Love/6 Tales of Danger.

The first in my album essay/notes series

This is a new series where I breakdown all of my recorded albums into mini essays and ramblings, I’ll start from the beginning. Feel free to listen along too.

6 Tales of Danger/Dear Love 2004

6 Tales EP was hand built, spray painted covers etc. All of the songs were later incorporated into Dear Love except “Between the Lines” which longtime fan/friend Tim Green still jokingly bugs me to play. Maybe someday Tim…

I first met Tolan Mcneil at The Sunday Afternoon Hootenanny At the now defunct Logans Pub on Cook Street in the Fernwood neighbourhood of Victoria B.C.

He was the guitarist in notorious Victoria singer-songwriter Carolyn Mark’s band and a legend in the Victoria Punk scene.

He had heard I was in into Whiskeytown and Ryan Adams and that I  had started writing my own songs, I had just gotten home from touring with Hot Hot Heat and was looking at making a record of my own. He encouraged me to get enough songs organized for a record and to stay in touch with him.

I was welcomed into the Victoria Roots music community with open arms, there wasn’t a drop off suspicion at my died black hair or my leather jacket, after all, these folks came from and started the punk rock scene on the west coast.

The scene was all based around the Hootenanny on Sunday afternoons at the now defunct Logans Pub. Afterwards we would gather into the smoky wee hours at Carolyn Mark’s House up the road on Chambers Street in song and food and cigarettes and booze. Lots and lots of booze.

Tolan and and Carolyn were roommates at the chambers street house, Lucky Mouse Recording studio lived in the basement. It was a glorified Furnace room with carpet on the walls, filled with great instruments and microphones, ashtrays and the washer and dryer in the corner. We’d usually smoke outside during the day but in the evening when the cans of pilsner came out we would smoke in the studio, the thought of doing that now sends a hilarious shudder down my spine. Im not sure how I sang through the blue clouds but I did. I drank so much Pilsner that I can still taste it clear as day, even after 15 years of sobriety.

I believe the band I recorded with, consisted of two iterations, one included Tyson Maiko on Bass and the other with Leigh Grisewood. Leigh was in my touring band for a few years as well.

If memory serves it was Matt Skilling on Drums, for all of the sessions. My friend Melody Wey on Piano (The Upright Piano was stationed upstairs in the smoke free living room, meaning we hardly saw Melody and she was protected from the smoke show downstairs) Tolan did double duty on engineering and lead guitar, my dear friend Dan Weisenburger would stop in after his shifts doing sound at Logans to play some rhythm and lead guitar,

(Update, after seeing the attached liner notes, it looks like Luke Renshaw played on two songs as well)

“Two Day One Night Stand”

Carolyn Mark singing Backup Vocals on this one. Tolan with a great solo.

“Paint a Picture”

Features a classic Dan W solo right off the top. You can clearly hear that I wasn’t done with Punk Rock just yet.  My vocal chords hurt just listening back to this.

“Slowly Sinking”

This was recorded at The Hot Hot Heat Apartment 101 on Richardson St., where I lived on the couch and then took over after they moved off island.  It features Paul Hawley on guitar and Vocals as well as Steve Bays on Keys and Vocals and I believe our friends the Fine Options stopped by to sing some gang vocals. Once again, an alcohol and drug fueled situation that I don’t remember fully. Its a pretty cool track with a catchy little hook but clearly I was stumbling around in the dark trying to find a voice, clearly it wasn’t my own. Well I didn’t know who I was then so how could I have my own voice? I was trying on many coats I guess.

“Worn Out Welcome Home”

I haven’t listened back to this stuff in so many years, Its really great to hear. Very raw singing and writing. I was obviously in a lot of emotional pain and turmoil. Those early relationships can be a real mess of confusion for the tender hearted. Im a little fuzzy on timelines but Im pretty sure a lot of these songs are about one girl that spun my world into a firestorm of culture, sex and music. I took my time getting over her, years in fact.

Some childhood muck in here too.

“Hide The Knives”

The first time I had heard about the concept of taking ones own life and really understanding it. I remember a friend telling me of his struggle,  that his roommate had to hide all the knives. I have always had a knack to inhabit others worlds. I suppose this is me crawling into his pain for a few moments. I seem to recall this one going really easy in the studio, Its beautiful listening back, Some really pretty music here. Tolan’s Pedal Steel, Dans Nylon String Solo. Melody’s Beautiful playing. Not far off the music I’m making now I’d say. I can hear my struggle with Faith even here, “Jesus Christ I’m sorry, And Everybody knows but they dont say a word”  hmmm, I must’ve been discontent with our apathy even then.

“Broke and Broken Hearted”

Pretty much sums it up don’t it? “Seems all I can do is sit around and pout” This was written by a different person that the one I am now completely. The idea of sitting around and pouting now with kids running around, lunches to be made, albums to record and produce, studios to build, is laughable. The boy who wrote this feels foreign to me now.

“John Lee”

Drunken Garbage. Just skip this one.

“In Lost With You”

Great slide playing by Dan, and great drum groove by Matt here. My Broken Hearted boys club here it seems.

Some good lines in here, the sun through the window and the bedsheet disguise is good!

Listening back to this makes me wonder what a Dear Love revisted show would sound like!? Might be really fun, probably would be actually.

“Little Black Book”

The girl was moving away,  It seems I wasn’t ready to let go even though she was. This sounds like Leigh Griswood on Bass. Love Matt Skillings Drumming on this!

“City Lights”

Written on the spot on the back of a pizza box. Tyson on the acoustic guitar. His riff inspired the song. I was obviously listening to a lot of Kathleen Edwards at the time and I can definitely hear “Hockey Skates” in City Lights.

“Arms Again”

The slightly out of tune Piano is charming as hell. The more I recall the more I understand this album really was about one relationship. Breaking up, getting back together, intense emotions, rinse and repeat.

Broken people leaning on broken people. Love Dan W’s Slide guitar and the drums groove. Bass playing is great too, can’t tell if that’s Tyson or Leigh? The Reprise is pretty fun on this one too. Through all the heartbreak lyrics, its fun to hear the band having fun.

“100 Million reasons”

More heartbreak and early 20’s angst. Live and out of tune. Lol. The story of my live, lol. I guess you can maybe hear me starting to realize I may have had a drinking problem and all that goes along with that. Burning bridges, lost relationships etc. Lots of Beer and Ciggy’s in this one. I don’t think I had discovered the Drive By Truckers yet but there’s good reason here to think would’ve loved them.

“Bloody Guitars”

Might have been my fav of the bunch to play live. “I’m getting sick, of living this life” ahh yes. I was starting to reckon with my alcoholism. My life for the next 6 years was this song. tens of thousands of miles on the road, cigarettes and countless hang overs, bloody guitars and busted up hearts. Oh wow, the slide playing and pedal steel playing is so good on this! Nice work Dan and Tolan. This drum groove feels a little different than the rest, as in it kind of swings differently? I wonder if this is Luke Renshaw on drums on this one?

“White Picket Fences”

I guess this is some sort of manifesto that I was not destined for the regular 9-5, white picket fence life. This was probably our most popular live song at the time.

I just realized that the white picket fence tattoo I have on my left wrist is because of this song. I had forgotten about it. This song was used in a 411 Skateboard video. That was quite something for me as I grew up skateboarding and  watching those videos.

“Bring it back”

Seem to be channeling some sort of punk rock version of the doors on this one. I think this one was used on a skateboard vid too! I remember loving this one a lot as it reminded me a bit of my favourite band the Black Halos, especially the guitar solo. The Organ Breakdown is a bastardized Early Hot Hot Heat thing by the sounds of it. Really cool. Great Reprise, Ala the Stooges.

“Hide The Knives Acoustic”

I believe this in an apartment recording form Apt 101 on Steve’s Rhodes but I believe its Indio Saravanja playing the Keys!?

Well It’s been real/fun listening back to this album. I have a feeling some of the others are going to be fun and painful to listen back to.

This album was my first recording experience, I really had no business making a record yet but it also represents my fearlessness to get my hands dirty and put my feelings out there for the world to hear for better or worse.

One other funny aside. Because Hot Hot Heat was so huge at the time, and me being their sidekick, Labels were interested in what I was doing. I’ll never forget a big record label guy from New York, calling my moms house trying to get ahold of me to talk about signing me based on this record.

God, I would’ve messed that up royally. Its scary to think what I would’ve done with a bunch of money at that time…..I guess we’ll find that out on the next record “Beautiful House”.

Also I would be remiss by not mentioning that “Dear Love” was in fact released by the great “Magic Teeth” Records out of Victoria, run by may friend Gareth Gaudin. We had a lot of fun chasing down the victories on this record and the next. Gareth funded a lot of this project, I didn’t understand that at the time but now I do. Thank you Gareth, you are a beauty! Cheques in the mail….

R-L(Nobody’s Darlings) Matt Skillings, Tolan McNeil, Tyson Maiko, Leeroy Stagger, Melody Wey. Photo by J. McLaughlin. circa 2003.