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a'tris: blogGo to Artist's profile |
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Hey everyone,
I just saw this post on Pitchfork and couldn't resist passing it along. Our fellow Boston rockers, Pixies, know how to put on an incredible live show. Don't believe me? Ryan Dombal has the scoop on how to download four live recordings for free so you can hear for yourself :)
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Hey everyone,
Speaking of coolness, our friend Angie made us a fansite! If you click
you'll be directed to a'tris Nation where you'll find some of the many awesome banners and glitter graphics she's created for us over the years. If you like them, she's made it easy for you to embed them on your site to share them with your friends. Thanks Angie!
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Hey everyone,
I just got back from a week-long vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and boy did I have a blast. For those of you tweeps who've already seen this on Twitter, I really don't mean to boast but I can't get over the place where I stayed. Check out this view from the back porch:
It really doesn't get any better than that! I can't tell you how many hours I sat there and soaked in the hot tub. But I can say that, in that time, I was able to catch up on my reading. I've been on a legal kick lately so I turned to John Grisham and read both The Brethren and The Broker. I have no why these both sit at 3/5 ☆s on Amazon's reviews. Grisham's books, in my opinion, are not crafted to be works of art; they are designed to provide escapist entertainment. And, in that respect, they worked for me. When not reading or playing a round of Wii golf (I'm far better in the virtual world) I had the great fortune of having a wonderful experience fishing with some friends of mine. I say that it was a wonderful experience because I actually caught something (a rarity for me) and I have photographic evidence to prove it:
Yeah, this little guy is nothing to boast about but I'm the frontman of a rock band. What do you expect? I was just proud that I caught him within 30 seconds (no joke!) of casting. Regrettably, I did not continue to have that kind of luck. But I was able to brag that I had the first bite :)
This was a day-long trip and, as you can see, it got a little colder outside. With the drop in temperature though came a spike of luck. It's a little difficult to make out in this picture, but I'm actually holding a small shark! Trust me, reeling him in was a lot more difficult than you might think. This was, by far, my coolest catch!
I hope you won't mind me reliving a bit of my trip here. I had planned on sharing some news with you about some cool things concerning a'tris I found in my inbox and on my answering machine upon my return; but, as I sat to write this, I found my mind wandering and thought I might as well trace its movement in this post.
Do you have any vacations planned of your own? What did you do for Halloween while I was away? Drop me a line in the comment section and let me know what you're up to!
Hope this finds you feeling healthy!
-Mason
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Wow. Whole lot of news this week: First of all congratulations to you! Because of your votes a'tris won the first round of the Indie Show Contest! I've seriously lost count of how many of these we've won thanks to you. This win will allow us to advance to The Indie Show's finals round, so as soon as we have more information about that I'll post it here. Thanks again!
Tomorrow's going to be pretty crazy for me. Our friends at Urban Outfitters have invited me to play a solo show at their Baltimore location and we're talking about putting some more dates together at other Urban Outfitters stores. I'm pretty stoked about having the opportunity to share some of the piano arrangements I've created for some of my favorite songs so, if you're in the Baltimore area, I hope you'll stop by! After the show I'm going to be dropping by Cyclops to share some more tunes and hopefully to get to know you! If you'd like to buy me a caffeinated beverage I will not turn you down because I'm getting up at 5AM. Why? You might ask... I'll let this thread from Twitter do the talking:
Yeah... I think I need to have this looked at. It's a four hour drive to the show tomorrow too so, if I'm to fit this into my schedule (and I believe that would probably fall into the good> category) I have some work to do! Hopefully I'll be able to update this post with a before and after. For the moment here's the before:
Warning: the following photographs are graphic and may offend some viewers - who are musicians - who play keyboards.
-Mason
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Would you like for Reza's music video for "Dark Lotus" to be on TV? If so, will you do two things for us?
Hope this finds you feeling healthy,
-Mason
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Check out the video at
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<DIV align="center" both; text-align: center;"><SPAN 0pt auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;">
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</SPAN><SPAN 0pt auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;">That Mitchelle and Webb Look - "Proof of no God"</SPAN></DIV><DIV both;">Hey everyone,<BR/><BR/></DIV><DIV both;">Our friends at Fame Games had some <B>great things </B>to say about "Chasing Rabbits" and I have a clip of their review to share with you "after the jump"</DIV><DIV both;"><BR/>
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<BR/><BR/></DIV><DIV both;">Regularly I don't comment on these, but I feel that this deserves a few words. First, <B>I'd like to clarify</B> that we are not necessarily condemning religion. People need to <I>think</I>, make up their minds, and form their own opinions.<BR/><BR/></DIV><DIV both;">How does "Chasing Rabbits" make you feel? What do you believe it is about? Why? Sound off on <A href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS9wYWdlcy9hdHJpcy8xOTQ0MzYzNTQ4OD9yZWY9c2VhcmNoJnNpZD0yMDgwNTgxMS4zNDgyMzgzODI5Li4x" target="_blank">Facebook</A>. We check our artist page frequently and would love to get your thoughts!<BR/><BR/></DIV><DIV both;">And don't forget to use the following links to <A href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm1lZXJtdXNpYy5jb20vY29udGVudC9yZXZpZXdzL3Jldmlldy5hc3A/dGlkPTMzMjIxJmVkPTIzNyZzdWJ2YWw9MCw=" target="_blank"><B>vote</B></A> and <B><A href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm1lZXJtdXNpYy5jb20vY29udGVudC92b3Rlcy92b3RlLmFzcD90aWQ9MzMyMjEmZWQ9MjM3JnN1YnZhbD0w" target="_blank">review</A> </B>if you'd like to keep the conversation going on Fame Games!</DIV><DIV both;"><BR/>-Mason<BR/><BR/></DIV><DIV both;">P.S. Thanks to everyone who called in to request this song when it was being played on <B>College Radio</B>. ;)</DIV><BR both;"/>
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Last time I blogged I asked you guys if you'd like to help us get another tune of ours back on Fame Games by voting for your favorite song. Thanks for responding in a big way! "Black Bird's Song" is now going to be receiving some major exposure as, thanks to you, it will be appearing on Monday's Q show! I'm so glad to see that you like "Black Bird Song"; it's a personal favorite of mine.
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Hey everyone,
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<p both">A couple of days ago I blogged about Susan Peter's comments on our lyrics. In response the guys and I received some messages asking if we'd made them available and, if so, where they could be found. The short response could have simply been "no," but - because we try to be a little less curt in our replies, I <br />thought a more thoughtful answer might be in order: </p>
<p both"><br />No. </p>
<p both"><br />There is a reason behind this though :) When I sat down with my writing partner, Mike Kreher, years ago and first started talking about what we wanted to do with a'tris we immediately agreed that an emphasis should be placed on the lyrical content as we both felt that much of the landscape of popular music at that time was dominated by acts whose works were seemingly calculated to touch upon every conceivable cliché in order to solicit a response which would lead to quick record sales... In other words, boy bands. And that needed to be fixed.<br /><br /></p>
<p both">The two main acts we sited as influences as we began thinking about how to create music that we believed would be accessible but more relevant were Radiohead and R.E.M. We were both big fans of those acts and each of us believed that they embodied what we were looking to do both sonically and lyrically. Radiohead's song forms and structures were different and their harmony could at times be complex, but everything they did had a clear focus and purpose and, for that reason, it just worked. Many of these same were embodied in Michael Stipe's lyrics as well. A lot of his stuff was pretty esoteric and often I would spend hours when I was growing up listening to his records and wondering what he was saying. At some point though, I stopped focusing on what his meaning could have been and started thinking about what the meaning had become. Mike expressed that he felt the same way and suggested that we avoid publishing lyrics in the future.<br /><br /></p>
<p both"><a href="http://atris.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/picture_1__10-2-14.png" src="http://atris.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/picture_1__10-thumb-2-14.png" height="250" width="380" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" /></a>I could see where Mike was coming from because I had a difficult time understanding Michael Stype's words and could never get what Thom Yorke was saying. (Anyone else find they have that problem, too?) But that was cool because I made up my own words to fill in the gaps. <br /><br /></p>
<blockquote both"><p>On a side note - I always wondered if those guys, along with many of the other artists whose works I respected, slurred their words intentionally to make their performances sound cooler or to throw me off or something. Now that I've been accused of making similarly incomprehensible sounds though I believe that this has less to do with intent and more to do with the often spasmodic nature of self-expression. </p>
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<p both">To try to articulate each word would rob the work of one of its most indelible traits. At the same time, releasing the lyrics would similarly rob listeners of the ability to apply the music we would create to their lives in much the same way that we had both done with R.E.M. and Radiohead's material. But I was (and still am) ridiculously perfectionistic and so I wanted to share them because I would be spending a lot of time creating them. I don't mean to sound self-aggrandizing here but that's honestly how I felt. And would releasing the lyrics really take away from our future listeners' experiences? We were split; but that was okay because, aside from a couple of tunes I'd already written, ("Black Bird's Song" and "Compassion"), we really didn't have any other material.</p>
<p both">After a few more chats and many weeks of writing Mike and I finished up the songs, put what was to be the first incarnation of a'tris together, and brought Chuck Sokol on board to engineer <em>appeal</em>. It was in 2004, as we began to plan how to release that album that Chuck settled our debate about the lyrics by siding with Mike. A future publishing deal cemented it and that's the story. As of this time, for the above reasons, no lyrics have been officially released.<br /><br /></p>
<p both"><s>Thankfully it looks like I'm not the only one who would like the lyrics to be made available. I just noticed that someone posted lyrics to "Automatic Doors" on </s><a href="http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858763507/" title="" target="_blank"><s>SongMeanings.net</s></a><s>. And it appears that they made up some of their own words to fill the gaps like I used to :) Whoever you are I support you! If anyone wants to build us our very own </s><s><a href="http://www.greenplastic.com/lyrics/" target="_blank">Greenplastic.com</a>,</s><s> while I can't supply you with our lyrics, I'll gladly send you my blessings and gratitude. <br /></s></p>
<p both">-Mason</p>
<p both">P.S. Care to hear more about our early years? Tune in to <a href="http://www.paradizeradio.com" target="_blank">paradizeradio.com</a> this Saturday, 29 August at 4PM EDT and feel free to ask me some questions in the chat room! </p>
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<p both">I stumbled upon this article a few days ago about how a Senator named Bob Graham from Florida successfully disputed claims leveled against him by the CIA. From what I recall, the CIA had alleged that he attended four briefings in which the use of waterboarding during the Bush administration was discussed. As some of you may remember, not more than a month ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was also accused of having attended those meetings. Here's the kicker: three of them where never held... and the fourth was discussing another matter. How was that brought to light? Life Tracking.<br /><br /></p>
<p both">It turns out that Bab Graham meticulously jots down what he does, as he does it throughout the course of his entire day. Doing this makes a lot of sense, especially for a politician right? One who is in that position - at the very least - has a lot of names to remember. Graham takes down far more than just contact information though; he charts everything from brushing his hair to the rooms in which he has stood throughout the course of any given day. Some might believe this to be eccentric but I think it's brilliant. I'm sure he would agree because, when the CIA came knocking he combed through a few of his (I can't recall the number but it was pretty ridiculous) books to find that they had their information wrong :) I wonder if Pelosi sent him flowers.<br /><br /></p>
<p both">While that's a fun story I highly doubt that many of us will have such a need for this type of obsessive journalling. I am confident though that the daily logging of actions could help me to have a better understanding of how I manage my time. Songwriting is very much a process to me. It usually starts in the afternoon because I'm not the biggest morning person - years of touring have probably irreparably damaged my ability to keep a regular schedule. Lyric writing takes research so I might take a trip to a library, or - when I'm feeling lazy - launch Safari and do some googling. Crafting melodies that fit with the content I'm creating also does not come from the heavens it comes from intense focus and concentration. Sometimes hours pass without a single note being sung or word being written. Why is that? When creativity strikes are there external or internal factors at work? I've taken a page out of Bob Graham's book to see if I can track down some of the reasons behind my creative processes. Move over Jim Collins :) Give me a few years and I'll publish a book to let you know how that goes!<br /><br /></p>
<p both">Here's a selection from the log I made yesterday: </p>
<blockquote both"><p>____<br /><br />Aug 18 1:36 PM EDT - I believe we're close to finishing "Behave Yourself"! Mike e-mailed me four points that he and Nate would like to discuss further before moving forward.<br />____</p>
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<p both">I can't wait to share this one with you guys! It's going to catch you off guard. </p>
<p both">If you'd like to track my life please find me on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/atris" target="_blank">@atris</a><u><br /></u></p>
<p both">and you can catch me on the <a href="http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=61089&cmd=tc" target="_blank">Klicicious</a> show tomorrow, 8/20/09 at 7:30PM EDT</p>
<p both"><a href="http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/61089" src="http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7636/atrisbannert.jpg" height="355" align="left" width="770" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br both" /><br /><br />Thanks for reading! If you'd like to check out some other great blogs please visit </p>
<p both">Erika Jessop @ <a href="http://www.erikajessopdesign.com" target="_blank">http://www.erikajessopdesign.com</a><br />Tobin Fisher @ <a href="http://www.singalongapp.com/index1.html" target="_blank">http://www.singalongapp.com/index1.html</a><br />Shawn Smith @ <a href="http://www.radioexile.com" target="_blank">http://www.radioexile.com</a></p>
<p both">They've all won free copies of Blogo thanks to our friends at <a href="http://www.drinkbrainjuice.com/blogo" target="_blank">brainjuice</a>!</p>
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