Baby time, recording, and walking the dog.

Hey folks,
I haven't been blogging much lately because I've just been to busy. So I thought it was time to drop a little update on what's been going on.

First off, my wife Theresa is pregnant with our first child, Asheton Kiefer Taylor.



The little guy is due in late April and we couldn't be more excited! We've been doing a lot of nest building in preparation of his arrival. We've already got tons of baby clothes and the crib is all set up. We're going to be painting Asheton's room sometime in Jan. It's going to be blue with an ocean theme. A baby on the way means big life changes coming up soon.

On the music front, Blue Snaggletooth entered the recording studio this week at Metro 37 Studios. Kevin Sharpe was behind the mixing counsel. We did two marathon sessions on Monday and Wednesday evenings, starting at 8pm and going till around 2-3am each night. In that time we were able to complete all the basic tracks on 8 songs the first night. The majority of the overdubs were completed on the second night. The plan now is to mix down the Monday after x-mas. I'm really happy with how things have turned out so far and I can't wait to finish up the album and get it out so people can hear it.


^Matchless in the house! What a great sounding amp! Metro 37 has got that and more! I totally recommend recording there.


^Jess was rocking in style with this half stack. I wish we could afford awesome gear like this. That is part of why we went to Metro 37. Kevin had the gear and the skills to make us sound killer!


^Kevin doing what he does best.

My other group Mazinga will also be recording this month with our pal Jef Jenkins at his home studio in Ann Arbor. We've got enough songs for a full length right now. We'll see how the recordings turn out and go from there. I would love to see both bands release albums before the baby is born. So far so good on that plan.

Other then all that, my time mostly consists of working my day job and walking our dog Coco.



Having a dog has turned out to be a blessing and tons of fun. She is always happy and ready to play. Yeah she gets a little puppy crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ypsifest 2010 This weekend!

Howdy folks.

Ypsifest 2010 is going down this weekend at the Savoy in Ypsilanti.
My group Blue Snaggletooth will be headlining on Friday night.

Each night is $6. The doors will open at 6:00pm each night, and music will start at 8:00 (7:40 on Thursday). There will also be drink specials from 6:00 until 8:00. 18 and up are welcome.

Thursday October 14, 2010

The Muggs 1:00 ->

The Boys Themselves 12:20-12:50

Rust Country Electric 11:40-12:10

Electric Fire Babies 11:00-11:30

Ola Ray 10:20-10:50

Annie Palmer 9:40-10:10

Wrathgate 9:00-9:30

Woodman 8:20-8:50

Marc Cogman 7:40-8:10

Friday October 15, 2010

Blue Snaggletooth - 12:40->

The Satin Peaches - 12:00-12:30

Beggars - 11:20-11:50

JWPP - 10:40-11:10

Sharky and the Habit - 10:00-10:30

Buffay 9:20-9:50

Fur - 8:40-9:10

The Wolfs - 8:00-8:30

Saturday October 16, 2010

Lettercamp - 12:40->

Silverghost - 12:00-12:30

Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor - 11:20-11:50

Destroy This Place - 10:40-11:10

Red Iron Orchestra - 10:00-10:30

Marco Polio and the New Vaccines - 9:20-9:50

Err... - 8:40-9:10

Lawless Carver - 8:00-8:30

Hope to see you there!

Up next for the Tooth...

Howdy folks. You should consider coming out to the Lager house on Friday Sept 24th to see Blue Snaggletooth when we open for the Shakey Jakes and Lava Moth. It's going to be a real cool time.

Psych Out Fest Recap with Videos

Howdy folks,

Back on July 10th I organized a show called the Psych Out Festival. It was a real cool time. Here is some cool video from the show. All the video was shot by Jonas Sliuzas. You can see more of his videos over on his youtube page.

Up first is my group Blue Snaggletooth.



Then we've got Tokyo Sexwhale.



This is Lava Moth.



And finally here is Chapstik.



There was one other group, The Wolfs, but their video hasn't been finished yet.

Big thanks to Jonas for filming the show and thanks to all the bands for playing. I hope to do this again next summer.

The first annual Ann Arbor PSYCH-OUT music festival.

Hey there folks,
Are you ready to get Psyched Out?

SATURDAY JULY 10th at the BLIND PIG
Jukebox Productions presents,
The first annual Ann Arbor PSYCH-OUT music festival.

Featuring 5 of Michigan's best face melting, brain bursting musical acts,

Chapstik - The audio version of Napalm. Sonic Destruction.

Blue Snaggletooth - If wizards cast spells with guitars it would sound like this.

Lava Moth - ex 500 Ft of Pipe dudes show you the truth and the light.

Tokyo Sexwhale - Tripped out surf with a twist.

The Wolfs - two young dudes with a lot of spunk and tunes that burn.

Only $7 or $10 for folks under 21. Ages 18 and up are welcome!

Hope to see you there!

psych : also see

v. psyched, psych·ing, psyches

v.tr.

1.

a. To put into the right psychological frame of mind: The coach psyched the team before the game.

b. To excite emotionally: The children were psyched to see the circus.

2. To undermine the confidence of by psychological means; intimidate: "Depending on whose personality is stronger, one can more easily psych the other" (Harold C. Schonberg).

3.

a. To analyze, solve, or comprehend.

b. To anticipate or guess the intentions of: "Most others could never approach [his] ability ... to psyche out the opposition's thinking so consistently" (Steven Brill).

4. Informal To analyze and treat by psychoanalysis.

v.intr.

To become confused or mentally deranged.

n. psych

MCR Blue Snaggletooth video interview.

The Fine folks over at Motorcityrocks.com are currently attempting to video interview all of the bands that are playing the Merto Times Blowout.
Blue Snaggletooth headed over to Royal Oak on Sunday evening to conduct our interview. Here is how it turned out.


See you Friday night.

Blue Snaggletooth performing at the Metro Times Blowout!

Hey Folks,

My new group Blue Snaggletooth will be performing our first Detroit show for the 2010 Metro Times Blowout on Friday March 5th at Small's.


The band came together in July of 2009. I've had the idea for the band for a long time, but I never could find the time to start it, or a good group of people to put it together with. My goal was to start a stoner rock band in the vein of acid rockers like Hawkwind mixed with the pummeling doom riffs of Black Sabbath and other early hard rock/metal groups like Blue Cheer and Pentagram.
In 2008 my friend Jess moved into the spare room in our house. We got along pretty well before that, but we quickly discovered we had a lot of the same tastes in hard rock and psychedelic music. We ended up playing a lot of guitar together and jamming on some sweet riffs. I told him my idea for the band and he was into it. My wife had the idea to start a stoner rock band called Blue Unicorn. I love that name but didn't want to steal it from her. One night while Jess and I were partying in the basement discussing the project, the right name hit us. Blue Snaggletooth. It comes from the name of the most rare Star Wars action figure.


We thought it was a great name. Unfortunately nothing much happened for another year or so. Jess moved out, but we kept talking about starting the band. Around the time Jess moved, I was playing a lot of shows with my other band Mazinga. We were doing a bunch of shows in Detroit and one of them was opening for the Meatmen and Chapstik at Small's. I ended up talking with Ian, the drummer from Meatmen, about us jamming together. He had always been a Mazinga fan and was into my guitar playing. I told him my ideas for the stoner band project and he wanted to give it a shot. Again things didn't get going right away. It wasn't until 3 or 4 months later in the spring that we finally got together at the Bang workshop/rehearsal space. At first it was just Ian and I. I went over a few of the riffs I had with him and he got it right away. Over the next few weeks Ian and I jammed a couple more times and things were sounding cool. I told Jess about Ian and I got the three of us together. We talked about who we were going to bring in on bass. I told the dudes I had someone in mind. Enter Damon. He has been a pal of mine since high school. Our bands had played some shows on the same bills, but we never played in a band together. He always joked that he was the only person in town that I hadn't been in a band with. I told him about the group I was putting together and he wanted a chance to try out. He came and jammed with Ian and I first and it went really well. Then the following weekend all four of us got together. It all seemed to flow and we worked really well together. Within a few more practices, I had convinced everyone to agree on the band name. Since then we've worked up a handful of originals and some cool covers. We brought in our pal Richard to run our psychedelic light show. Damon had VG kids print up some t-shirts and stickers. We had our first show on Sept. 25 at the Elbow Room with Black Irish and the Crooks.

Jeremy Wheeler did a spectacular poster for us. For our third show Jeremy really out did himself when he crafted an actual black light poster for us.

We decided since we were projecting a light show on the band why not wear all white and have ourselves blend in with the show. Eventually we ordered matching white jumpsuits for each member.

It creates a very cool effect by allowing the psychedelic projections to actually show up on us, plus we get to wear cool band uniforms.

So far playing with the group has been a blast. A little buzz has been building about our live set. We've recorded some demos in Damon's basement that you can hear on our facebook page.
What is the next step?

I look forward to rocking Detroit during the Blowout.
We'll see where it goes after that.

Blue Snaggletooth, Feb 12th @ The Elbow Room.

This show should be fun. Only two bands. I'm not sure who goes on first. Mahoney is a two piece rock outfit hailing from the Ypsi/Arbor area among other places. Looks like they get around the country a lot. I mean tour. They play "modern rock" type music with guitars and drums and nice powerful riffs and people seem to like them.
Blue Snaggletooth plays tripped out heavy metal music with songs about time traveling drug lords, ancient warriors in battle against the forces of darkness, and Fireball Island.

The Bang workshop + band rehearsal space.

Hi Folks,

As some of you might already know, I work for Team Bang. That is the group that does the set up for the Bang!, the monthly mix tape dance party that has been going on for the last 8 years in Ann Arbor. It started out at the Halfway Inn then moved over to the Blind Pig where it's been packing the bar ever since. It's run by two creative masterminds, Jeremy Wheeler and Jason Gibner. I started working for them around Oct 2003 I think. Originally my brother Mike and I were brought on board to help amp up the over all Bang experience by building a light table and running overhead projectors and other light effects during the party. We also became the Bang carpenters and set designers. We started building sets to accompany the various Bang themes. For instance when we threw the Space Bang, we built a rocket ship cockpit that people could take photos in. We also began painting large backdrops and other assorted decorations to go along with whatever type of Bang was being put on. After a few years we had to rent out a storage unit to store all the Bang props and sets. Eventually after outgrowing two storage units and being in desperate need of a larger work space, we lucked into a nice warehouse space neatly tucked away in an industrial area of Ann Arbor.


My wife actually suggested the place to us. She works in real estate and had heard about a local business that was looking for tenets to rent a small warehouse space on their back lot. After taking a tour or the building, we had the space within a few weeks and we moved in by the end of that month. Part of the deal in order to make it affordable for the Bang, was that I bring in my bands to rehearse in the smaller of the two rooms that make up the space. That plan fit perfect for me since the bands were rehearsing in my basement and my wife and neighbors were getting sick of it.
When you first enter the space you encounter the office/lounge area.


On the desk to the right is the audio visual editing station where Jeremy creates parts of the videos that are played during the Bang. On the left is a nice table and chair set where we hold meetings and eat pizza.


This is a photo of the office ceiling, which is covered with Bang posters.


Here is the chalkboard that divides the room in half. As you can see we're going to be busy for the next few months.


On the other side of the chalkboard is the other half of the room which is set aside for band rehearsal space.


I hung up a couple of black lights and then brought in my vintage Third Eye Marvel black light posters and few other nice ones to decorate the band side of the room.


So far we've got City Center, Mazinga, Scott Morgan and Blue Snaggletooth all rehearsing in the space.

In the adjacent larger room is the workshop space.


This is the area where we build and store all the stuff we use to make the Bang happen. There is a bathroom and a mini fridge, fully stocked of course.


We also have a nice large garage door for easy loading & unloading. Here is what it looks like from the outside.

Yes, that is Clint Eastwood keeping an eye on things.

So last Wednesday night we started building mock ups of the decoration ideas for the upcoming Ann Arbor Film festival. The Bang crew has been hired for a second year to decorate the theater for the Festival.

First, we do some prep work before the actual work begins.


Warning! Don't climb the ladder to the loft after drinking!


There is a great loft space above the office. It's were we store big set pieces like the giant cassette tape.


My brother Mike enjoys some bread sticks. ?


Jeremy hard at work on a mock up of a hanging piece for the film fest.

Here is how it turned out.

It's going to end up being back lit somehow. We are still figuring it all out.
I'm glad we have such a nice place to work in.

So there you go. I hope you enjoyed this quick inside look at the Bang workshop.

January Rock 'N' Roll update.

Howdy folks,
Things are moving fast right now. Lots of music writing and recording going on.
Last Friday night Scott Morgan and I went down to Detroit, to Jim Diamond's studio. The band did basic tracks on 4 songs. We were all having a great time. The atmosphere at Ghetto Recorders is very laid back. Jim has some nice little guitar amps to record with. I played through an old univox.

I went for an over driven dirty amp sound, but one that would still allow me to lay back when needed. I didn't use any distortion pedals or effects. I did get to play some fun wahwah on one of the tunes. Overall the session went great. I was in a good mood until I went outside and found the window smashed out on the passenger side of my car. Luckily someone from the bar down the street heard the sound of the glass breaking and chased the thief away, so nothing was stolen. I called my insurance company and made a claim right then. While I was on the phone, Jim cleaned up some of the glass and taped a piece of plastic on the window for me. That was super cool of him. The ride back to Ann Arbor was LOUD! As soon as we hit the freeway and got up to speed, the plastic started to tear off and vibrate extremely loud. So loud in fact that Scott and I had to yell to hear each other speak. I kept telling him to just rip it down because the sound was becoming unbearable, but he refused. It was hilarious. He held the plastic over the window the whole way home. I swear I lost some hearing from the sound of the plastic shrieking. So far its ended up costing me $200 because my insurance company is fucking with me. They are about to lose a costumer. Tonight Scott and I will be returning to Detroit to record another batch of tunes. This time we're taking his car. The plan is to record for the next three days.

The rest of last weekend went better. Blue Snaggletooth had practice on Sunday. We've got two new songs we've been working on for a little while now. One of them, Jess and I wrote over a year ago, but we're just getting it finished off now. I'm still working on the lyrics to both tunes. I've been able to come up with vocal melodies over the last few practices but actual lyrics are tough. We'll be playing both songs tomorrow at the Elbow Room when we play with Ganon and the Octopus. I've heard nothing but good things about these two bands, although I have yet to see either of them play.


On Tuesday, I had Mazinga Rehearsal. We've mostly taken a little break since the Rock 'N' Roll revival show back in December. The goal is to have a new record out this summer. We've got some new tunes we've been working on for a while. Al came in last time with a great set of riffs. I added a riff for the chorus and it was sounding pretty tight. We don't have any shows booked for a while. Our next confirmed show is March 13th. We'll be rocking for the A2 Skate Park during their skate competition. We're really looking forward to that.

That's about all for now. I'll be recording and rocking for the rest of the weekend. I'll try to take some photos and post some more updates next week.