Shortwave Dahlia dot org

So the songwriting machine has cranked back up, and already we’ve (as a group) generated two strong song ideas! It’s a nice feeling, coming off the experience of making The Wilderness.

Actually, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel when we were working on it last Spring. “Dot Dot Dash”, the last song written for the album, came together very quickly. That was a rejuvenating moment, as we were a pretty prolific bunch in ‘07. I was coming away from recording that album feeling kinda deflated, since 2008 and 2009 were rife with setbacks, and then this little ditty comes along and sort of hits the reset button.

During that time (well, part of it…late 2008 and early 2009), I’d written some material for the purpose of playing solo shows. That was a lot of fun, as most of it was written on acoustic guitar…and the ‘guy with a guitar’ mode of operation had quite a learning curve for me! Of course, when I sat down to actually write arrangements, they magically turned into Shortwave Dahlia-sounding songs. Not such a bad thing, but definitely something to reconcile. (and yes, never say never…some of those songs might make it into our catalogue at some point)

So that six months I needed in late ‘09 to take stock of things led me to the conclusion that I truly was married to this project, or that it was a part of me that was alive whether I was trying to acknowledge it or not. It’s as much a part of me as I am of it. I’m learning, too, that if you nurture something like this the results are beautiful.

More soon…
Jack

Goofy blog dashboard…I can’t seem to get my rich text editor back.

At any rate, massive thanks to those who came to the show on the 24th, and big thanks to Adam for working the door…and Seth from Rainy Day Manual for loaning us that gorgeous Gibson amp. Saving pennies as I type this to get my own.

Taking the next month or so to write some new songs, but hoping to get some gigs together for July and possibly go out of state in August.

Gig attendees: have you redeemed your download code for The Wilderness yet?

xo
Jack

Hey!

Good gravy, what a week. I’ve got show details for you as well as links to two (!) articles published this week about the band.

First off, the gig. It’s a dual record release party with our friends Grupo Jobu at one of our favorite venues, Nocturnal (1588 Madison Ave.). You can either pay $5 to merely get in to the gig, or you can pay $10 and get a voucher which you can use to download both our new album (The Wilderness) and Grupo Jobu’s debut Mytheme. Here, while I’m at it…go listen to both:

http://shortwavedahlia.bandcamp.com/album/the-wilderness
http://grupojobu.bandcamp.com

So, that’s the story on the gig.

We had a couple press opportunities this week also - unprecedented! Mark Jordan wrote a piece for gomemphis.com and J.D. Reager did one for the memphisflyer.com music blog.

Before I give you the links, I do want to make sure I say this: there are a few items in the gomemphis.com piece that are…I don’t want to use the word ‘deceptive’ as no malice was intended or even used. Maybe ‘distorted’…let’s see…it’s like this…

My personal matters from that period are private and are extremely unimportant in the here and now, and were only a small part of the album’s delay. A lot of the delay involved playing shows, writing the songs, re-writing the songs, learning how to properly record using the technology we had at hand, and approximately half a year’s hiatus. And yes, the hiatus was at my suggestion, as several of the songs had become extremely personal and therefore a bit uncomfortable to listen to or perform. Oddly, these were songs that I had written without anything personal on my mind - I guess it sorta seeps into your work whether you intend it to or not. This album is far less autobiographical than the article suggests. It’s personal to me, but not a narrative of any one part of my life’s story - these songs were intended to be impressionistic, amorphous and cryptic. Just so you know.

And initially I was concerned over the importance placed on my own personal stuff, even though there wasn’t much disclosed. Mark Jordan is a wonderful guy and he wrote an incredibly exciting and complimentary piece. The band and this album…that’s what’s most important. Not my stuff.

Also, for the record, I wasn’t exactly ‘chased’ out of Arkansas, and that girl really wasn’t ever my girlfriend. lol

Enough of my yappin’, here are the links:
gomemphis.com article by Mark Jordan
memphisflyer.com article by J.D. Reager

See you tomorrow night!
Jack

Sitting here in a pile of sleeping cats, puttering away on a laptop, it dawned on me to post an update on the band.

Yes, we’re still together.

There was a time (last year) when I didn’t know if we’d be doing it anymore. The record (it’s finally out if you haven’t heard it yet) was heavy on my heart and there was a lot of personal pain involved in its creation. I personally needed to get away from it, so we put it aside for a bit and tried that whole living thing.

To their credit, the guys have been patient and accommodating beyond words in this process. Maybe we all three needed a break, just to realize we missed it. I love those guys.

So in January, Grimsy and I got together to track a couple more guitar parts and discuss the final mix…and in listening to these songs with a bit of distance, it dawned on me how important it was that we continue - that we get this record out however we could and see what happened next.
Things are different now. It took us three years to make this thing, and we involved a fourth person for a while but for so many reasons it didn’t work. We started on it as a trio, and inevitably we completed it as the same (but very different) band. Insert blathering on about journeys and what-not here.

So now it’s time to speculate. What next?

Well, first…listen to The Wilderness. Enjoy it at our new music distribution page (http://shortwavedahlia.bandcamp.com) where we are also offering a free companion EP called Remainders and a newly-remastered “Loose Arrow” single. In this uniquely-challenging 21st Century musical climate, bands like us need you listening and supporting us more than ever before. But yeah, give it a listen. Shoot us a note at shortwavedahlia@yahoo.com and tell us what your favorite track is.

Next up, shows…we’re playing this Friday night at Neil’s with a band called Rainy Day Manual. Should be a great gig - our first since last July. In April we will be having a ‘release party’ with another band, Grupo Jobu, who are also releasing their album. You’ll be able to pay $10.00 and get download codes to both albums, or just pay $5.00 and enjoy a night of live music. Along with all this gigging, we are honored to be playing out with our friend Woody Wall accompanying us on keys. Rehearsals have been very positive and promising.

And as for more music? Count on it. I’ve demoed a couple new things and have a third which I haven’t worked out yet. Working titles and a few lyrics here and there, but nothing solid to report yet. Don’t know if Grimsy’s worked on any new songs or not - he’s been talking about solo work which is very exciting to hear. It would be really cool if we have at least one new tune for the April gig but that depends entirely on rehearsal time.

If you’re still reading this, thank you. This project started in earnest in 2004 and the fact that I’m even typing this out is somewhat amazing to me. Thank you - from those who’ve worked creatively with us, to the smiling faces that have taken the time to come to shows (especially you lot who’ve traversed state lines - how flattering is that?)

Onward and upward, friends!
Jack L. Alberson
3/24/10

For those of you lucky enough to be in the area!

Saturday, March 14, 2009
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Memphis Roller Derby at the Mid-South Fairgrounds

Shortwave Dahlia will perform at Halftime!!!

Upcoming gig!

Shortwave Dahlia is back out and performing! New album is imminent!

Here’s the show details–If you’re in the area, make sure to come on down and enjoy an incredible show!

The Full Moon Club
1718 Madison Ave
Memphis, TN
With Clouded Son and Black Max.
Friday, January 9, 2009 at 9:00pm

If you can’t make the gig, check out the merch!
Cat Room Records Merchandise

Now that the album is in it’s final stages, stay tuned for order information, track listings and maybe the occasional taster!

In anticipation of the new Shortwave Dahlia Album coming out, I sent some questions to guitarist/programmer Ethan Grim and he was kind enough to answer them. So here you go, 10 questions with Ethan Grim!
1. When did you first pick up a guitar? I started playing bass at 15. the more I played + wrote songs, I realized how limiting the bass could be for songwriting. Since the guitarists I played with never seemed to play what I heard in my head, I began to teach myself guitar chords to help show them what I wanted. I never performed live on guitar until about 5 years ago when I did so to help out some friends in need. And who were your first influences? as a kid, I liked new wave. but musically, the players I first emulated were predominantly heavy metal. for bass playing, it was all Iron Maiden + Rush songs that I learned to improve myself. on guitar, I have a completely different aesthetic. I really like guitarists who have a certain atmosphere or texture to their sound, like Johnny Marr or Robin Guthrie. for the more straightforward songs, I gravitate more towards guys like Johnny Ramone or William Reid.

2. When it comes time to add your guitar work to a song, do you try to puzzle piece your tracks into what’s already there, or do you try to mold the song to the riff? for the songs already written when I joined, I added on top of what was there, working around the existing song structure. as we collaborate, the song may evolve directly from any idea that’s introduced, including guitar parts or keys or bass or vocals.

3. I can hear the Cure-style influences in your playing, but who would YOU say are the main guitar styles that you enjoy playing? Ringing chorusy stuff? Metallic Shredding?  Buzzy Jesus and Mary Chain riffs? I love them all! to be totally honest, I am limited in my guitar playing. I believe my talents lie more in knowing what sounds best for each song and working around that.

4. What types of effects do you feel work best within the Shortwave Dahlia construct? And which ones would you like to toss into the mix? the guitar effects don’t really stray too far from what’s been done before, but you may notice some of the newer songs have effects tweaked into the programming and even the percussion.

5. What other musical avenues would you like to pursue within the band, apart from guitar and programming? that’s really what I signed on for, and I am perfectly satisfied with the role I play in this band. I do have another project I have started outside of SD where someone else is playing all the guitars and I handle the programming, bass + vocals. more on that as it progresses…

6. You added some programming to the latest tracks. Do you find programming more creatively flexible than guitar, or is it just another instrument to express yourself? there’s definitely more range in programming + sequencing, but at the end of the day, it really is just another instrument.

7. Having been in a a few bands before Shortwave Dahlia, do you find that the friction  within a band makes for better music or worse? it may give some extra fire here + there, but too much tension without a common goal will kill a band. the bands where one half hates the other tend to have a lack of balance in the entire sound.also, who wants to work with people they do not like?

8. What songs from Shortwave Dahlia’s catalog do you like performing live the most? What covers would you like to do live? “Vara” is  one of the few not ’set in stone’ that we actually improvise on live. I programmed a cover version of Charlie the Unicorn’s “Candy Mountain Cave” song and printed the lyrics up for Jack, so maybe we’ll sneak that in  one day… [interviewer’s note–SQUEE!]

9. What would you like to see happen for Shortwave Dahlia with the next album? I’d like to expand our reach, promote ourselves further out. we obviously have the internet to shop ourselves around. maybe if we could arrange more performances in more areas, like at least a weekend trip out of state, all the better as well.

10. Just for the gear-heads like me– What guitar would you kill to have, if money was no option? I like the ‘fishbone’ guitar Andy Summers had in the Synchronicity II video…

Thanks again to Ethan Grim for talking to me.

Directly from the proverbial horse’s mouth, and by horse I mean JACK!

“Okay, so here’s how this is going to work.

The Wilderness is expected to be rolling out in August or September.  A pre-order price of $10.00 gets you:

1. A compact disc of the album (remember those things?  shiny platters of digitally coded music?)
2. A selection in the weeks before the album’s release of downloadable practice sessions, in which we roll through the new tunes as well as some old favorites.
3. Inclusion on a special e-mail list with which we give you news on the album’s development.
4. Last but not least, your very own shortwavedahlia.org e-mail address!  Now your spam has somewhere new to go!

PayPal your money over to shortwavedahlia@yahoo.com OR to send it by snail mail, contact Jack at jack@shortwavedahlia.org for the mailing address.
So what do you say?  Ready for the next phase of Shortwave Dahlia?”

From the mouth of Jack….

Shortwave Dahlia has another gig coming up!
Saturday, July 5th
The P&H Cafe
1532 Madison Ave
Memphis, TN 38104

Shortwave Dahlia
with our friends
J.D. Reager & the Cold-Blooded Three (http://www.myspace.com/jdreager)
~and~
The Original Cyndi (http://www.myspace.com/theoriginalcyndi)
$5 and shit goes down at 10:00 PM.