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trytofic · 8 months

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Stuffed Animals

A lovely continuation to day 14's bad luck (finally).

Ao3

Day 18: Stuffed Animal

During a stressful time, Amy gives Shadow her first stuffed animal.

Heavy breathing and subtle crying filled their bedroom. Blankets and pillows haphazardly lie across the floor. These panic attacks never last long but they are very intense. After his nightmare and waking Amy, he gripped his quills so tightly that Amy thought he would rip them out or even embed his claws into his scalp. Amy slowly moved across the room, Shadow's eyes snapping to her, watching every step she made. She reached into her closet and high up on a shelf was an old stuffed bear. There were plenty of stitches on its arms and ears. She slowly returned to the bed, kneeling in front of Shadow.

“I’ll go make you some tea to help you calm down. I think this might help a little bit to ground you.” She hands him the bear and he hesitates before he slowly reaches for it. He runs his fingers over the face, matted down fluff in spots, a smooth set of eyes, and a stitched nose. He focused on the feelings under his fingers as Amy slowly left the room.

He pulled the toy to his chest and buried his face into it. It smelled of Amy’s favorite fruity laundry detergent. It felt comforting as he squished the toy with his hands, slowly feeling his heart rate finally beginning to lower. He didn’t realize Amy had walked back into the room until he heard the ceramic mugs she held, being set on the table. He looked up to her and she had the sweetest smile on her lips. Her eyes filled with love and concern. She was perfect with her messed-up quills and messy pajamas.

“Did he help?” She quietly asked. He didn’t feel ready to speak just yet, so he nodded to her. “I’m glad. I’ve had him since I was a baby apparently. I used to carry him around all the time. But when I started to adventure with Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails, I never took him. I would get home exhausted and talk to him as if he were my only friend.” She chuckled and she grabbed her steaming mug.

“Did it make you happy?” He asked with a scratchy voice.

“It did.” She took a sip. “He would always be a comfort when I was scared about something. When Metal first captured me, when the typhoons were extra loud and the power went out, even when I decided to stop chasing after Sonic. He was there to help me through it all.” She smiled at Shadow and slowly leaned her head onto his shoulder, barely pressing her weight on him, testing how he was feeling.

“It’s a very soft stuffed animal.” He says rubbing his cheek against it. “Thank you.”

“Would you like your tea?” She asked him, sitting upright.

“Please.” He set the bear down next to him and gingerly took the cup from Amy’s hands and took a small sip. The flavor was gentle and comforting, just like Amy herself.

#shadamy #shadamytober #shadamytober2023 #sonic the hedgehog fanfiction #angst

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lunas-slave · 21 days

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Okay gonna post this here cuz I don't think anyone I know here and irl will care, and I don't think I gave anyone my Tumblr this weekend. So ima rant under the cut about a boy I met this weekend that I fell in love with

So this weekend I went to sonic temple, a music festival in ohio. First day, this guy compliments my outfit (cuz I was looking bangin) and we ended up talking about a few things and before I knew it, my next band started to play at the stage one over. So I run over cuz I love these guys, and the crowd is huge and I won't be able to get up. So I accept that and go back to the guy and his friends cuz I can still hear it but now I can be with people and talk. I tell him I'm sad I can't get closer and he just smiles and says "you want in? Come with me", holds out his hand, and drags me into the middle of the crowd. We stays with me and were jumping and dancing and he doesn't know this band but he's vibing. And then they play a cover of Everytime We Touch. He looks at me "they are not". I laugh cuz he's so shocked "they are!" We both start scream singing the lyrics and it's amazing. The band ends their set but I don't wanna leave the guy, he's real nice and cute too. And he let me tag along for the day.

His friends wanted to see other things so me and him kinda went off on our own for the rest of it. We ended up sitting for the last band of the day (Disturbed) and talking and he says "I don't wanna sound like a dirtbag, but do you wanna make out?" Ofc I say yes, cuz he's cute as fuck and we just rocked out to Judas priest together. It was a really fun way to listen to disturbed, gotta say. Really hard to stop myself from singing along. At one point he pulls away and in the softest tone possible at a metal show, goes "woo" after a song ends. It was adorable and hilarious. I did make an offhanded mention of not smoking (bitch lungs) or drinking beer (cuz of the taste), so he gets a fucking white claw so he doesnt taste like beer when we kiss. Considerate asshole. We end the night at the car he came with his friends in, and I got his insta and we had a kiss goodbye with a promise to hang the next day.

The next day, we find each other and it was spent with the friends a lot more but they still let me tag along, and I was super grateful. They were trashed and I helped the guy look after them and we had a lot of fun seeing the different bands and talking between sets. At this point I'm like 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘋𝘏𝘋 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩, 𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘥𝘦, 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘥𝘶𝘥𝘦, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 but that didn't work because that night we saw The Misfits, a band he loves, and he was so damned cute jumping around and singing and head banging and I couldn't stop smiling and watching him. He went crowd surfing and I just watched with a smile and I couldnt even see that well but my eyes were looking for a glimpse of him over the tops of the mass of people. Full blown crush at this point. By now we already established that he's poly and some flavor of fruity thats attracted to my flavor of fruity so my delulu little brain said 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, no bitch it can't. Anyway, after the crowd surf, we find out one of the friends lost the guys wallet. We look and ask, but no luck. The friend feels awful and works herself up so bad she throws up. We talk it over, we'll look at lost and found and check in the morning too. We go to leave and this time the friends offer to take me back to my hotel so I go with them. Me and the guy spend the whole time making out in the back seat (after he asked if they minded). It was so fun. A very fun time was had.

The next morning I check the festival app and they have the wallet, I message the guy and he's so relieved, we don't know whats in it but the ID at least since his name is listed. I'm already there and he's out tailgating and when he says he's on his way in, I meet him by the L&F and he gets his wallet back (with everything in it, we were so amazed, metal and rock fans are so damn good) and he grabs my face and kisses me and calls me an angel and I just ☺ I died. It was great. We don't meet up with his friends right away, we go to a different couple places, kiss a few times, the day goes on in a similar way of me following him to where he wants, except for when I wanted to see sleep token. He doesn't listen to them I don't think but he stayed with me even though we had a small group of other people at this point. I was really happy. (And my delulu was feeling validated). Again, they take me to my hotel after a late night drive thru snack, and I get a sweet little goodnight kiss. I'm floating at this point, full adoration.

Last day of the festival, I'm bummed cuz this is my last day to make out with a fucking hottie. But so excited cuz fucking slipknot was the final act and you can't be too bummed when you're gonna see fucking SLIPKNOT. So we again, spend the day walking around, drinking, kissing. Slipknot starts and we're in a thinner section of the crowd when he lights a cigarette. He was blowing the smoke up, to be considerate again, and he was been looking so damn hot all day, and I was a little drunk at this point. He puts out the cigarette and I grab him and aggressively kiss him, like, I was not able to resist his stupid little face. He seemed a little taken aback since he 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 put the thing out and I lean up to say (arguably the hottest thing ive ever said) "I said I didn't smoke, I never said I didnt like the taste". I think I killed him for a second, and if that didn't do it for my ego. We aggressively made out for like half a song before getting pulled by the friends deeper into the crowd. The music was great, the people were loud, we were dancing and singing and screaming. The one friend just fucking takes off so we go running after her and she finds the pit. We join in. Some more than others. The guy hands me his glasses. He's off. A second pit joins, people are doing figure 8s between the two and I see him running and pushing people and laughing and my heart is so fucking done over this guy. The band ends their set, the crowd disperses, we make our way to their car. They can't take me back this time (NBD) and this is my last goodbye with this guy. We softly kiss and hug and hold each other and say how happy we were to have met each other, how thankful he was that I helped wrangle his friends, how much better he made the experience for me, sappy shit like that. And off they went.

Now, why is this such a sad thing? Just date the guy! Well I would but he lives in Canada. As I have stated before on my page(I really don't think anyone is reading this wall of garbage it's just for me) I live in Indiana. The USA. I have not traveled more than one state away, let alone another country. I'm weak dude, Ill die. And also, LDR don't work with ADHD. But then I discovered, he's aro! So like, does he even date? Idk and I'm too scared to ask cuz this wasn't anything serious and I don't wanna make it seem like I misunderstood what he was looking for. I knew from the start. This is his slut boy summer and I was just a fun start. But still my damn brain decided to latch onto this one. I know I could have been up front about the obsession forming and let him decide on his own, knowing that I was gonna be weird about it in my head. But I didnt wanna deal with possible rejection, so I kept it to myself, knowing fully well that it would hurt me in the end. And it is hurting. I miss him. I'm glad it happened tho.

I just didn't have anywhere else to put this so im just gonna shove it out for the world to see. (And if he sees this like he saw the message I sent him instead of my discord lamenting how it was my last day to kiss the cutie and I needed vibes, I will perish)

#no one read this lmao #its too damn long #no one cares about my shit

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marcosoropoet · 6 years

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Lemon Cake ~

1. The way it works is I want a cup of hot black tea... not falling slowly, in reverse augmented reality money banquet begging rose vortex prizes in this cataclysmic rose-gold trick u look like a new weirder snapchat filter, wasn't it some high-up guy that stopped everything ((( the other day ))) to fix a cheeseburger emoji? legit muted chatter on the other moon @green geo-political stupor attracting pivoting magnetized crosshairs freezing blood cold, sangfroid, stalking the horror victim relentlessly — and I'm stuck in a trapezoid alone inside this very weird dream, and I don't want you to look at me... but at, this, in its place. "it's safe, you can show yourself now" —... is it me? that I can't see? a crackingly crazy dog with the animal terror look in (((the eyes))) bites down on cumulus cirrus myth, rains blood down configuring liquid glass fireball hush in place of a goofy smile myth you think you knew me you think you have a print-out of the dna blueprint... 2. Glock Terror Noir: "I beeped to you twice loud, right? That means I'm here, right? FUCK YOU YOU SHOULD BE OUTSIDE ALREADY! You stupid fuck!!!" "You got the gun?" It wasn't a lucid dream yet very vivid, hyper real. Everything cut out with sharp edges of colour. Everything cut out with a crimson jewel tone refraction of myriad bursting colours. 3. A thousand rabbit coins for one violet kiss. Goes to my head. Flipping through a magazine, seeing my name in black velvet lights. buzzkiller butcher spin. I took too many lashes. Clouds of dice, sky of black velvet. Humans made of pliable molecules, in upward sky and forward time prettiness trying to understand everything like always.stop. You can spot civilizations on any street. Cymbals erupt in metallic sonic splash. The fragrant steam of food. Hot sun in tearing eyes. We are navigated by the sun. Solar matrix. Solar head-trip. Solar juvenile expectations. 4. a crackingly crazy dog with the animal terror look in the eyes (((the eyes))) bites down on cumulus cirrus, rains blood down configuring liquid glass fireball hush of silent fire roar in place of a goofy smile you think you know me you think you have a print-out of the world ending in the cataclysmic baking of white light. Baking soda, YouTube. Everyone kept talking with no questions.questions simply wiped with a bright nano-sizzle. Lovely Laundry can do bright nano-sizzle for you no extra cost lovely laundromat is re-processing tape loop for you with no language so blank 5. I have cast iron bells and indigenous whistles. Cracks, fissures, broken bones cannot compare with a broken brain. The pop-open scenario of a greeting card is my 3-D gig. Yours you'll have to find.My dogfoot bathtub fills with ocean water, and reflects a useless boring world. Second-hand smoke and cracked mirrors. personality buzzes? A sucker punch kills the show. When we were just about to land on Jupiter, as injured caricatures of a newer generation. As mind-boggling freaks under my direction and fresh algorithm. artificial but our intellects welcome you to warm lovely laundry* As gallons of tutti-frutti body-wash explode from the tv screen. As silent, screened double agent doppelgangers clockwork entering the zero dome court, are announced in digital voice. As rocknroll would cool my warm forehead. As the black clouds came down a blanket. I am a liar and kept saying that they were violet. A street connection finally made, each party sauntered away in rain coming down hard. I stayed incognito, a complete unknown, some don't know jack about the public eye. But honeychild I'm on my own, on my best behavioral electrode. I don't talk so loud because nobody cares, and soft yellow applause is a small yellow bird, which gives me clunky goosebumps. anonymous content. white eyes, red sun. Can we cut a deal? I look upon the wavering reflection of my face in the pool of crushed light and abandoned darkness There I see myself so close to the eye it causes hallucinatory thought-speech. Knocking! ... I bought a big bouncing ball and soft yellow applause is a small yellow applause is a small yellow bird, White eyes, red sun. Can we cut a deal? I look upon the packed bowl of five alarm chili with a broken brain. The pop-open scenario of a greeting card is my 3-D gig. Yours I'll have five stores to find. My dogfoot bathtub fills with ocean water, and reflects dumpster cracked crackling gardenia candles... Mad thought-speech. Knocking. I'm bringing you a lemon cake, since I found out that you had just moved in the streets slant and distort because nobody cares, and some bubblegum welts. I bought a big bouncing ball and some shit for you when you was under the radar so don't fuck with me, next morning the liquid police rolled you away, I safekept your belt in the backpack with the interstellar interstate fused wet grey clouds dripping inky newsprint. Standing frozen, still, waiting for the newsprint and a cracked mirror. personality carries the buzz? You are naked in digital voice. As rocknroll would cool my warm forehead. As the black clouds came down a blanket. I am a liar and kept saying that they were green-gold. But they wasn't. A street dogs stands up.Gas station coffee, hazelnuts, driving through the tricky narrow brick-lined cobblestone alleys ))) kill the show. When we were just about to land on Jupiter, as injured caricatures of a newer generation. As mind-boggling freakshow, I stop the world to continue my friendship with ((( myself ))). You'll run for ointment, and take the bloody curtain with myself. I have no sense of time but have overgrown myself. I have cast iron bells, indigenous whistles, and fresh green pinwheels for y'all. Cracks; I stop the world ended in the street. Cymbals erupt in metallic sonic splash. The fragrant steam of food. Hot sun in tearing eyes. for a long time now. I ((( uh ))) actualize myself in the center of nowhere how is that? around the rusty tectonics of the picture in vivid blades of green country grass under brown cattle sinew, focus bright beam polished pyrite black shale mile Running on auto pilot projection of artificial gelatin intelligence resists rendering mass malfunction tremor gaping swallows. vacuum. blackhole. microcosm. more rapid imagery. helicopter. red propeller swings hard very quietly not making too much noise. too much scratch selfhelpbook many please tonight no. Not ever! Never in a million years. Cigar touting clowns, in formal barbed wire attire, and fiberglass Bow-Ties. Entire walls and windows covered in aluminum foil glaring eye of metallic skin; a searing spotlight blasting white rays of simple pure technology, propeller swings hard, hums loudly, large white-hot light hit /up! yes, fake-out in The Lovely Laundromat. very quietly not making too much scratch selfhelpbook many please tonight. solo bassiest sitar floated out from the quantum illusion, so I will display all of my pieces in the q u a n t u m i l l u s i o n of filmic boundary universe knife-edge time, timelessness evolves into the wind — I went to the portion where sparkling dust motes, in bright beams of day: no no I've ate already officer — ...these comments/moments.repeating fruity dripping reds ...would you like the egg soft boiled sir? The spy motions with his long 24K pinky nail. Bad mother persona places bitch's sister's sheltered elite urban mutation basement sector composite. Do not find me there please yesyes 451...451...451..., the siren shuffled its screeching fast — I went to the show instead of the money-crave zombie industry brand week, with its truly myriad iterations, a million jealous flashbulb moneyshots screeching fast. dry-ice frozen three dimensional pop clusterfuck strobes pulsating on grinding grin trashcan collage alley moneyshots of dry-ice frozen three dimensional strobes pulsating on grinding grin trashcan collage alley moneyshot font/color graffiti to boot grind down to grey ash, silt slides off of the sociopathic shelter, don't gimme no free-as-the-air mama depersonalization, baby forge a very practiced, precise, dark sycophant; thus having left many with a deep amazement, and an addiction to their smooth hiding inside whole icing not defaced, baby. A public building in the sea-tang background of a hallucinatory black shadow puppet eyelash one-off vortex, Radio:...day and night I sit at home and I cry, (1234), wonderin' maybe if this is too telling of the money-craving for some peripheral excitement. Choppers swoop down low with a searing spotlight blasting white rays of simple pure technology, propeller hard-flung repetitive sound, blue siren screech around the zombie We are controlling you away, I safekept your belongings in the street. Cymbals erupt in metallic sonic splash. The fragrant steam of food. Hot sun in tearing eyes. Inside, the gold mine candles, Prehensile party sauntered away into the goldmine's sweet cool air As gallons of tutti-frutti body-wash explode from the tv screen. As silent, screen.piano.blue smoke rising in the projector's beam.cyclops. As silent, screened double agent doppelgangers entering the liquid police rolled and navigated by the sun when you walk very gently you will see and define the desire to rise above grey rocks and sedimentary boulders, to hit and get cracked gardenia candle-flash hit of reminding flesh, the delicacy and myth. But if you storm through me, and stampede, you will be messing with me and lovely laundry takes great pleasure in you our lovely wet customer. I'll fall far to the other side of the room, and the screened double agent doppelgangers were entering volcano freeze-hold. perfume zoom flipping through cymbals erupt in metallic sonic splash of street festival band playing in fragrant steam of food. Hot sun in sparkling eyes. My dogfoot bathtub fills with ocean water, and reflects a useless boring world. Second-hand smoke and cracked mirrors. gallons of tutti-frutti body-wash explode from the tv screen. As silent, screened double agent doppelgangers entering the zero dome court, are announced in digital voice. I don't talk so loud because nobody cares, and soft yellow applause is a very small yellow bird, which gives me clunky goosebumps. anonymous content. white eyes, red sun.youtube.time jumps and dilates... Can we cut a deal? I look upon the wavering reflection of my face in the pool of crushed light and abandoned darkness. I'll cry stone tree myth, for every glittering blackeye unguent. There I see myself so close to the eye it causes hallucinatory thought-speech. Knocking. Why hello there"!" fake af, I'm bringing you a lemon cake, since I found out that you had just moved in today. Uh-huh, yeah (turns around and points) right there across the street, uh-huh, r i g h t t h e r e.

#lemon cake #marcos oro #abstract poetry #surreal collage poetry

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teramelos1 · 7 years

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Nick Reinhart Interview // Marcel’s Music Journal

Big Walnuts Yonder–an incredible supergroup featuring Minutemen’s Mike Watt, Wilco’s Nels Cline, Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, and Tera Melos’ Nick Reinhart–just put out one of the most powerful and marvelously eclectic rock records of the year. Even though the band formed way back in 2008 and didn’t record the album until 2014, it still sounds raw and fresh as hell. The dirty funk of opener “All Against All” accurately portrays the LP’s unique blend of lo-fi math rock and noisy, throwback ‘90s skate punk, while the energetic “Raise the Drawbridges?” gloriously flaunts ear-piercing guitar licks and groove-heavy percussion.

Aside from recording seriously great music with Watt, Cline, and Saunier, Nick Reinhart has proved himself to be one of the most strikingly innovative guitarists in recent memory with his countless other bands and side projects. He is best known as the frontman of Sacramento-based experimental rock trio Tera Melos, who explored complex, mind-bending indie-math zones on their most recent release, 2013′s X’ed Out.

Reinhart has also worked with drummer Zach Hill in Bygones and Death Grips; played live in Rob Crow’s band Goblin Cock; and performed a series of engrossing, entirely improvised live sets with Dot Hacker’s Eric Gardner as Swollen Brain, all of which are discussed in our interview below (the power of collaboration is definitely key here).

You and Eric Gardner from Dot Hacker just played some shows as Swollen Brain. How did this whole project come about?

I met Eric through my friend Jonathan Hischke, who plays bass in Dot Hacker. When I originally moved down to Los Angeles I lived in a duplex next door to Eric. I would house sit his Vietnamese pot bellied pig, Francis, a lot. I was a big fan of his drumming in Dot Hacker and at some point it came up that we should play music together for fun. We had a pretty immediate chemistry in playing free, improvised stuff. We played our first show in September 2015 and we had a nice response, so we figured make it a regular thing. No intense band practices, no songs, no rules. It’s a really fun musical project to be a part of.

How do you feel playing improvised sets?

I really enjoy improvising. While I’ve done solo improvised sets, it’s a lot more fun having someone else to connect with on previously unpaved musical roads. With my band Tera Melos we take practice and preparing for a set/tour pretty seriously. We usually need around 12 full days, give or take, of long band rehearsals before we’re comfortable enough to play a show. We even dump lots of brain power into designing the set and which songs or transitions go where. For me practice is usually fairly stressful, as I wear a few different hats- playing guitar, singing and running some sort of sampler/keyboard rig all while doing the pedal tap dancing thing, and I want it all to sound cohesive and thoughtful. there’s a lot of work that goes into that. So as far as improvising goes- it’s amazing to ditch all the preparation and just play music without preconception. It’s very liberating. With Swollen Brain we do play together in our rehearsal studio, but it’s less “practice” and more just playing little sets. We’ll generally do 20 minute bursts of sound just to keep our improv brains fresh, which after 2 rounds of bursts our brains are actually very not-fresh haha. To get better at improvising it seems you just need to do it often. So in a way it’s sort of practicing, but not really… “Practicing” is also a way of familiarizing ourselves with whatever gear we happen to be using at the time. In my case it’s usually a freshly constructed pedal board. I like to have time to see what works sonically and what doesn’t before we play a show. The other thing I like to consider when playing a free-form set is how to keep things flowing and interesting- for me and the audience. Obviously you can’t force magical moments to appear in that context, but I want to set myself up for those moments to occur. Generally that means having the tools that will allow me to make little musical stories with dynamics and tension. One of my favorite parts of an improvised performance is when someone walks up to you afterwards and asks, “so how much of that was improvised?” and the answer is, “well, all of it.” I’ve been the person asking that question and when you get that answer it’s a magical moment in and of itself.

Do you think Swollen Brain will remain solely a live band? Would you ever be interested in recording studio material?

We actually just started making a record. The process of how to go about capturing our vibe was hard for me to envision. It took me a second to wrap my mind around how we could best accomplish a recording. Because it’s very much a live, organic process of improvising it would make sense to just set up some mics and hit record on a bunch of sound bursts, but we felt that it should be sonically more interesting than just drums and a single guitar track. When we play live I end up looping layers of sounds and then repurposing the loops to relate to what I’m doing with the live guitar sounds. Then once we land on something that works we turn that into a little mini song. So one of the recording methods was playing until we landed on some interesting loops, then capturing the performance of drums + loop action, and then overdub myself improvising over that. We did variations of that method for a couple of days. The next step is sifting through all of that and making sense of it.

You also played in Rob Crow’s band Goblin Cock on a tour of theirs late last year. What was that like?

It was great. I love Rob Crow. He’s one of my favorite musicians. Tera Melos toured with Pinback a couple years ago and it was one the my favorite tours we’ve ever done. He’s super thoughtful and just a really great person all around. I was stoked when he asked if I wanted to do the Goblin Cock tour. It was challenging because i had to learn a style of music that I wasn’t really familiar with- whatever brand of metal Goblin Cock is I guess. He uses alternate tunings and B.C. Rich Warlock guitars exclusively. So I had to relearn chord shapes and which notes went where on a really weird guitar, then apply all that to a kind of music I’d never played. Oh and we wore cloaks and face masks that were very hard to see out of, plus all fog machines and strobe lights raging. So there’s actually just about zero visibility on stage. But yea, it was strange and really fun.

You’ve mentioned before that Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and Underworld rank among your top influences when it comes to electronic music. What drew you to the sound of those artists and what impact did it ultimately have on your own playing style?

When I was 16 a friend showed me those artists. At that point I was really into punk rock. The electronic music that I was hearing had this relentless energy and all these really melodic sounds mixed with abrasive sound effects. That was really new and exciting to me. I had a super natural, positive reaction to it. The same friend had a Playstation and a game called MTV Music Generator. You could make your own songs by placing pre-recorded samples onto a timeline. It was a very dumbed down way to make something resembling the electronic music that we were listening to. So I’d mess around with that at his house after school. A couple years later I got a desktop computer and found the program Fruity Loops, which was the next step up in music programming from the video game. A couple years after that I got a program called Reason, which I have worked out of ever since. At that point I hadn’t really gotten into guitar pedals and sonic exploration. I mean, I had some pedals, but I was still playing in a punk-ish band and bedroom moonlighting as some electronic music poser. Eventually Tera Melos was created and the guitar pedals section of my brain expanded. I started to recognize the ability to recreate some of the sounds I had learned to make on the computer. Incorporating that sort of stuff into an outside-the-box rock band became really exciting, and still is for me. I should also mention that my knowledge of electronic music in general never really reached beyond those three artists. I think there was just something really special about them that opened my mind at the right time.

Do you think collaborating with other people allows you to think outside the box and push the limits of your own sound? I can sense an almost cosmic force from these Big Walnuts Yonder recordings.

Yes, 100%. Musical collaborations that take you outside your comfort zone are crucial for growth and creativity. When I began playing music with Zach Hill it was like my musical brain got super charged and started wandering in different directions that I previously hadn’t really explored. Rob Crow and I have been batting ideas back and forth for awhile now as well that will hopefully take shape soon. I’m excited to see where that collaboration will take me in terms of new musical territory. And yes, of course the Big Walnuts Yonder thing had a lot of cosmic force going for it. Those guys are all very big inspirations for me, so making that record was a big part of my creative timeline. I think it’s too soon and close to the album release to be able to recognize the greater impact it had on me, but what comes to mind immediately is exercising the ability to to maintain creativity and keep up with these musical giants, and for them to be stoked on what I was bringing to the table. It would be like an indie game dev that grew up playing Nintendo all of the sudden getting to work on a new game with Shigeru Miyamoto. And not only that, but Miyamoto is excited about your ideas and he’s reacting to them with new ideas. It’s sort of like that. Pretty crazy. The other thing that comes to mind is that I had never written guitar parts to pre-existing bass parts in this capacity. 8 of the 10 Big Walnuts Yonder songs were born in Mike Watt’s brain and started with his bass as “song forms,” as he calls them. In other words, I was having to figure out how to write interesting guitar parts to songs that consisted of only bass. In Tera Melos I can probably count on one hand the amount of times where even just a small portion of a song’s construction started with bass. I can recall being very frustrated trying to come up with guitar parts that way because it’s so foreign to me. Of course out of that frustration comes great things. I was well prepared for this challenge though. It took me a while to understand Watt’s compositions (they’re pretty wild) but once I was comfortable with his approach to song writing I think some really cool, unique stuff came out of it.

What was it like recording the album in just three days?

When we started the process of creating Big Walnuts Yonder Mike had been sending me songs that were just bass compositions. So I would sit with them and contemplate different ways to compliment what Mike had written. Now Nels and Greg on the other hand- they had heard what Mike and I had worked on, but I don’t believe they had fully composed “parts” like me and Mike, that is to say I think they had “ideas” and then brought them to life in the studio. It was so crazy and inspiring to see it happen like that. So when we were all set up and ready to play we would jam a song through a few times, talk about the sections, iron out a thing or two and then hit record. It was 99% live. I was actually a little nervous because I hadn’t recorded live like that for many many years, since being in a crappy sounding punk band as a teenager. I mean, my bands usually record live, but then guitars are scratched and then redone. So this is truly a live record with all of us in the same room reacting to each other. I think that nervous energy really helped me pull it together personally.

I think Zach Hill is an artist who compliments your musical style and approach really well. You played on the last two Death Grips albums, Jenny Death and Bottomless Pit. Was that a particular collaboration that gave you the chance to explore new themes and ideas? What were the recording sessions for those records like?

Zach Hill is a very big inspiration for me. He’s one of my favorite musicians of all time and I think he’s contributed some really important things to music. The way I play and perceive music is directly related to him, so it makes sense that what we compliment each other. Contributing to Death Grips’ body of work was really special for me. I respect that band so much and to be able to help them shape their vision is a really cool thing. I think the reason it works well is because I understand where they’re coming from and where they want to go. I haven’t worked with anyone else in that context, so in that sense there are new ideas that appear that otherwise wouldn’t. A lot of the time our creative ideas are simpatico and feel really natural. It’s like as soon as I’m around those guys my brain’s bluetooth automatically connects to their system.

Aside from the recently announced tour with CHON, Covet and Little Tybee, does Tera Melos have any special plans for this year?

I think Tera Melos will probably start doing fun stuff pretty soon here.

Reinhart has a new band with Mike Watt (Minutemen), Nels Cline (Wilco), and Greg Saunier (Deerhoof) called Big Walnuts Yonder. Their self-titled debut is out now on Sargent House.

Via Marcel’s Music Journal

#Tera Melos #Sargent House #Big Walnuts Yonder

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