Thanks, Bastards! (Early Demos, Roughs, Outtakes…)

Limited release available at Bandcamp.com for a short time:

“First off, thanks for downloading and contributing to… whatever it is we do. We’ve been meaning to put something like this together for a while, but it involved going through a ton of CDR’s and sorting the bad from the…kind of bad.

It took a snowday in the middle of one of the worst winters in Philadelphia history to pull the box out of the garage and pick out 16 tracks that we thought were worthwhile (curious, funny, interesting) enough to unleash. The fact that we live in an era where an album can be created out of thin air and spontaneously put online for free/pay-what-you-want, instantly reaching hundreds to thousands of people, should be enough to convince you that we live in the best era for independent music, maybe ever.

Hopefully it goes without saying that this stuff isn’t for everybody. If it pops up on the shuffle setting on your iPod at a party, you’ll probably be met with a lot of “what the hell is this?” type questions. Yet I don’t think it’s necessarily for only diehard fans. In the middle ground, hopefully it provides a window into how our songs develop into the versions you know and love. It’s a long, arduous, at times sickly and cringe-worthy process. From the acoustic guitar in the living room to the 4-track, or the pre-production stage in the studio, to the early rough mix, to the final mastered versions, to the vinyl on your turntable, there’s a lot that goes into this crazy lifestyle that somehow keeps us jumping into a van in our mid-30s and traveling around the country, playing punk rock for you smelly bastards. We’ve said thank you a thousand times. Here’s another way of saying so. We hope you enjoy it, and laugh along with us at some of the early lyrics, the false starts, and the weird twists-and-turns that the songs nearly took.

And yes, “Busker’s Wages” nearly name-dropped Pez.

Thanks, bastards!

-Erik. 2/13/2014

Track info:
1. Busker’s Wages (Acoustic Demo) – An early acoustic take at the very studio where the album was later recorded, featuring some of the early lyrics.

2. Dirty Penny’s Pogo (Studio Demo) – With Doc on drums, this was the demo that was given to Guignol, so everyone could learn it for “Fight Dirty.” The original title of this song was “Yiddish Coffee.” A little trivia: the second half of this song is a nod to “I Will Survive.”

3. Bury Me In Analog (4-track Demo) –One of those “joke songs” that became an actual song, recorded by Drew Petersen (Orphans bassist) on the fly.

4. Thanks, Bastards! (Rough Mix) – There was an even rougher mix with harsher vocals that I can’t find. But this is still pretty cool. You can hear the piano and mandolin tracks a little clearer. A neat alternate view into the final version.

5. All Our Comrades (Rough mix) – This was kind of a test run… maybe seeing how “acoustic” we could make this song. We opted for the noisier, electric version, thankfully. But again, it’s neat to hear one direction the song might have gone.

6. The Lowly Carpenter (Acoustic Mix) – Tamir Muskat (engineer) kept insisting that the final mix should sound just as we tracked it: me, an acoustic guitar, in a big room. No bass or guitar overdubs. I always want to muck things up. After we mixed the version on “Smash The Windows,” we did a simpler, alternate pass. We finished, and he said, “Well, maybe the first mix is better.” I may have won that one… but you can decide for yourself.

7. Ten Thousand Fleas (Demo) – RAW four-track demo. We bounced the tracks to add backing vocals, acoustic guitar, etc… so that’s why it sounds so raw. But this is the most listenable track from this session. It’s neat to hear how slow and Tom Waits-esque the song was originally.

8. Jobs In Steeltown (Early Solo Version) – This was recorded in the same session as the “Loved, But Unrespected” songs (split 7″ with Bread & Roses). Randomly did it, and we treated it as a demo. It might have been intended for a compilation? Well, most comps don’t happen…

9. This Girl (Acoustic) – A Chumbawamba cover. No date on the CD, no info, no recollection as to why this was done. But a great song either way, that was performed acoustically back in the day.

10. Three Chord Circus (Studio Demo) – This, and the next three tracks, were part of the “walking pneumonia” demo sessions. The broken toy guitar at the end was spontaneous (it was on the floor nearby as I was tracking vocals), so I picked it up and strummed the outro. Luckily it was in tune. And we decided to do the same thing for the actual album version.

11. The Tardy Barker (Studio Demo) – Originally intended as the opening track on “The Stone Operation,” it ended up on “Fight Dirty.” This was the demo I gave to Guignol.

12. Pompous-Ass Manifesto (Studio Demo) – It’s neat to hear some of the original lyrics. Even if they don’t really make sense.

13. The Barrel (Early Version) – This was recorded in the same session as the “Two Boxcars” songs (split 7” with David Dondero). It was a little sloppy and the vocal mix too tinny for me. So we re-did it for the “Jobs In Steeltown” single. This is one of those conundrum songs… never knew if it was a hit or a B-side. I still don’t know.

14. My Hometown (Studio Demo) – This was recorded as a demo for a WXPN compilation that never happened (either that, or it did happen and they didn’t like this version)… they were going to do some kind of tribute for Bruce Springsteen’s 60th birthday. I forget. But we ended up with this. I fucked up the guitar at the end and decided not to fix it because, “ah, it’s just a demo.” I really wish I took the two minutes to fix it. Nowadays every punk band in the world seems to do a Boss cover. But nevertheless, you can’t deny a great song, and this is one.

15. Goodbye Under God (Alternate Mix – Outtake) – A slightly different mix from the version that appeared on “Two Boxcars.” That’s David Dondero on an answering machine (remember them?) at the end. In case you can’t hear, he says, “I want to use ‘Burn It All Down’ on a split 7” with you guys.” The song he is referring to was great, and supposed to be on “Two Boxcars,” recorded during “The Transient” sessions. But the final mix was defective, and every version skipped, so we couldn’t put it on there. It was such a cool, raw, fast, pissed off song… I hope it ends up on some David Dondero album, some day. As a tribute, we threw his voicemail at the end of one mix of the song, but used the one without it…

16. Punx Win! (Acoustic Demo) – From an undated CDr. Threw this on there for fun. Never could quite record this song adequately, in a way that kept the true live spirit. Maybe someday. Or, perhaps for the better, not…”