Thursday, October 25, 2007

they call me Mau-rice . . .

Okay, no one calls me Maurice. And this, um, song bears little relation to the Steve Miller Band. Press the play button below (or click here) and we'll continue . . .

Grunt Grunt Pig



(UPDATE: Grunt Grunt Pig is out on Bengal Burlap, available at Bandcamp.)

One old friend, Dom, suggested I make a t-shirt for myself that reads "I am the author of Grunt Grunt Pig".

Sometime back circa 1982 after:

--an even older friend had convinced me to take up the electric bass to play in a band he & I never actually started

--I had heard the records of Fred Frith, Laurie Anderson, Wm. Burroughs, Brother Dave Gardner, the Go-Betweens and heaven knows who else

--I got a Panasonic cassette boombox at Best Products to go with my trusty all-in-one record/cassette/AM-FM stereo

I thought I was some artsy hipster type ready to record some music.

This I believed even though I was actually a twenty year old college student who was spending the summer where I'd grown up--on my parents' hog farm in rural southeastern Virginia. Rows of peanuts, soybeans and corn stretched out to dusty lots where the sounds of metal hog feeder lids clanging shut echoed in the trees beyond.

I was a hick from the sticks. Armed with some obscure records (mostly those of my friend & never-to-be bandmate), aforementioned consumer electronics, some stray musical instruments, and sheer delusions of grandeur.

Many of my friends from around this time who heard the resulting din still think Grunt Grunt Pig is one of best things I ever did. Well, it's certainly one of the first things I ever did. And yes, I like it.

All these years later, no matter how near or far any new bit of music may be to this first thing, I am still the author of Grunt Grunt Pig.

And no one calls me Maurice.

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