Leigh’s rehearsal monitoring system: All instruments mixed and patched into a wireless in-ear monitor with a headphone booster. The best way to fix bleed-through is to drown it out.

Many alt-metal and grunge piano pieces are planned to be composed and included on the b-sides disk for our next album release. This is an antique piano in EXCELLENT condition – aside from some minor aesthetic repairs, cleaning, and a tune, it is ready to go. The company that manufactured it disappeared in the 1930s – and virtually nothing is known about them – aside from the fact that after 100 years, it’s still a masterpiece.

I miss Andy. Not Andrew, our new bassist (or Neehall, as we call him, because he’s a rock star), but Andy Israelsen. During his short time with the band in 2013-2015, he left an incredible impression. He was taking his masters’ in composition at the U of A, and he specialized in “noise” – yes, that’s right, there is a genre called “noise” – and now his influences left us simultaneously richer for who we are, and wishing he was still here.

To this day, we still wonder a few things, such as “What would Andy do” (in application to certain situations that might require some absurd form of musical creation). Or, we wonder how we can incorporate “noise” into our pieces – even now, as I embark on the next chapter in this journey with House of Pines, I wonder how I can make “noise” part of the piano I’ll eventually compose.

But even more than that, it was meme-like some of the ways he perpetuated his humor – such as “it rained and we got soaked, it was great”, “my installation just keeps breaking, it’s great,” or “yeah then we all died, it was great.”

Neehall is really a bassist that I feel lucky to have – so don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining that Andy isn’t here and Neehall is – and Andy did have his timing issues, which I think may have been related to the fact that he always got about 2 hours of sleep every night – but let’s just say I’m happy we were able to immortalize his participation in House of Pines through his contrabass work on the acoustic tracks.

So Andy, wherever you are, happy retarded birthday – and we will never forget you.

I’m thinking about a piano a lot lately. There are a ton of them on kijiji for free – of course, on the condition that the “buyer” comes and takes it away themselves. The “seller” doesn’t point out that they weigh 800 pounds. Only $350 to pay a moving company though. For a relatively in-tune piano, not bad… it’s all equal temperament anyways, so nothing is ever actually in tune.

I think I’ll be picking one up, and applying some absurd time signatures and muddy lows to a piano market otherwise dominated by popular garbage. No one does something original with acoustic piano any more.

No one will like it, but hey, as the best (only?) upcoming alternative metal band in Edmonton, if you’re not getting shot at, you’re not doing your job right.