By: Cal Meacham
Year after year I become less interested in full length albums because frankly, there just aren’t very many good ones. Instead an album of 12 tracks will have 5 or so really strong ones and either filler tracks or bland, blah. For the first time in many years, I hard a hard time deciding on a top 10 because there were so many good tracks. So I present to you my favorite songs of 2012:
As mentioned in our last interview with Pete Davis (Invalids), he has begun the process of re-recording all of his old music and here is the first re-release. Titled Passing It Off As Art, the 14 songs were originally written and recorded in 2003 only to see new light this year. You can purchase the download here – Link
Listen:
I have been gushing over Invalids – Eunoia for much of the year and was delighted to hear that they have a brand new song out. Monary System is available on a 4 way, split 7″ on Enjoyment Records. I caught up with 1/2 of Invalids, Pete Davis after his recent move to New Jersey and he gave me a little bit of info about the release:
Cal – Can you tell us a little about the new song?
P.D. - The story is the liason/owner/possibly sole guy involved with Enjoyment Records, Dale, contacted me a while ago (probably like March) asking if I was interested in making vinyl, doing a hard-copy release on Enjoyment, and that sort of blossomed into the idea of doing a split. He had the idea for going two US bands with two UK bands, doing a total like old-school-punk-style 7″, and had specifically the other three bands in mind at the time (I think). He offered to take care of all the logistics of pressing vinyl, distribution, packaging/art, etc., all without any cost from us. The split is otherwise free/name-your-price for digital downloads, but I’m fairly certain the vinyl will be sweet as hell, especially considering it will be the only Invalids recording officially hard-pressed at the time of its release.
Cal - Was this a Eunoia B-side or a brand new track?
P.D. - He gave us a deadline of like mid-May, so I wrote the song specifically for the split. I wanted to summarize the Invalids style in as short a song as possible (since the playtime on a 7″ is pretty miniscule). I also tried to write a gnarly bass track for Nick, he added some stuff, did a playthrough video which is awesome and shows his wacky long fingers and ultimate stoic prowess. And the rest was up to Dale. Now we have a pretty swell 7″ with three other cool bands and I really dig all the tracks. A++ would work with Enjoyment Records again.
Cal - Any other news on the Pete Davis/Invalids front?
P.D. - I have a plan still to do a unique split with chiptune artist/personal friend an0va. That’s as far as we have planned right now, but there will for sure be more to come. Also I’m working on re-recording my old Pete Davis solo music (the acoustic stuff); the second album (chronologically) is almost entirely done and will be released relatively shortly.
Listen:
Over the past few days I have had the chance to really dig in to the Invalids disc Eunoia and find myself craving more. This Oregon/Pennsylvania two piece just released their debut on Tuesday and I have dug through all I could to find out more about the band including Pete Davis’ solo material. Needless to say, I have been pretty excited about Eunoia and jumped at the opportunity to interview Pete Davis (guitars/programming/vocals). Yes I exceeded the standard 5 Questions, but I had a lot to cover!
