It's true!
Jonathon took lead vocal chores on this song:
"Im Pathetic"

Actually, he took ALL vocals on it, and contributed a great vocal arrangement, as well.

You asked if I was gonna let the other Obs hear this, Jon. So, why not?
At least for a couple of days, eh?

The album is a bit closer to completion now, as you can hear.

Thanks, Jon!

Also with Nils St. Cyr (Urge Overkill/Nash Kato) on lead guitars.

Was this a Sendspace - Garage Band File sorta dealy?

No. Just streaming audio at the HoP page at IACMusic.com.

...not the finished file you posted here for us to listen to, Todd, I'm asking how you shared the tracks with him, given that he lives a state away.

I sent him an mp3 of a rough mix, he recorded his vocals, sent me his (AIFF) tracks via a zip file through sendspace, we dropped them into the session in ProTools, and mixed it here.

did not know this

He's a friend of Dave's (the drummer), and was not an original UO member — he was the replacement for King Roeser when King left the band.

Oh shit, an mp3 eh? So he had nothing but Volume to play with. Busty and I have talked about swapping garage band files back and forth to maintain the tracks all the way through.

thanks again for the opportunity to do this, dad the boarder

I've told you before, and now I'll say publicly:
You are a vocal STUD. That arrangement kills me. It adds a LOT to the song and I really appreciate you lending your talents to the project.

Thank you.

Me likey.

That's a thumbs up right there.

bump for the non-early crowd.

Nice tune. A couple personal observations:

1) I'd bring the vocals more up front in the mix.
2) The ending sounds like everyone just lost interest in the song.

Yeah, I'm digging it. Its actually really nice for a Monday morning.

I like it. Good vocals, melody, lyrics.

The vocals are really good. Seriously. Best thing about the song by a country mile.

The verse guitar (clean, probably your squire strat Todd?) is miked too close. Makes it sound like Electric Bedroom Studios. Everybody's up in everybody else's bidness too much. Back up and shout:

1. Back that mike away to about 6 feet in a room with some hard surfaces in it (kitchen?).
2. Turn the amp up a good bit, let it breathe. Sorgee, neighbors.
3. Play the guitar a little harder. Loosen up. Drink 2 good beers first, perhaps. Make it sound more fluid, if you can.


Easier said than done I guess. But them's my 2 cents. And yeah, Toots ran away with that one. Good impression of 60's pop vocals and harmonies.

I agree. Toots and Steve (bass player) ran away with it.
As far as the rhythm sound... I'm not crazy about my tone either.
We played with that a whole lot in mixing. Tried to warm it up a bit. Bottom line is, we recorded it in a rehearsal space, with a death metal band playing next door, and were forced to close-mic everything. That part is fairly hopeless.

Working with limited resources sucks, but I think that we at least did the song justice.

And, again, Toots hit it out of the park.

some death metal bleed might've been cool

i want to make love to toots now.

song is actually pretty good overall. well done.

I'll be honest with you, Todd. I'm just not feeling it. I'm no recording expert so I can't speak on the production, but as far as songs go, it's not great. It's actually a bit dull.

fuck I was gonna say that.

That's okay.
I like the song.

And, it's the point of the record to be all over the place, so I think there's gonna be plenty of other stuff on there that I think that you will like. Thanks for listening, though, Chris. And for the feedback.

actually I was gonna say that too.


<-- lil chubby

pretty catchy song. the vocals are hot. there are some instances of the rhythm needing to get a bit tightened up (ie the guitar at the beginning of the song is a bit behind the beat, drums are a bit shaky at times). but yeah, good song.