Sonorous Diacoustics – An Experiment in Music and Sound
by Craig Nybo ~ March 17, 2010
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New Acid Holiday Nearing Completion
by Craig Nybo ~ March 17, 2010
I am completely excited today. I’ve been struggling with one of the tracks for the new Acid Holiday album. The song is one of Scott’s; it’s titled THE YELLING SONG.
It has been interesting because, where I thought this song would be straight forward due to its repetitive nature, I was thrown a curve ball. To make the song more interesting, I have broken it into sections and roughed in different rifs for every part of the song. The final result sounds much better to my ears.
I’m not finished even with a rough lay of YELLING SONG. But I am happy to have it break free finally. There is a sense of musician’s worthlessness when you struggle with an arrangement and a sense of relief when a song finally breaks out.
I delivered an audio disc of 9 minus tracks to Scott for him to get familiar with so we can start laying down vocals. That will be when the project gets really fun.
It looks like the final track list for the new, untitled Acid Holiday album will be:
- The Yelling Song
- Genesis: The Book of Sedgwick
- Life After Proliferation
- We Are the Rock
- A Dog Named Kloar
- Celebrity Girlfriend
- Ripe for the Picking
- Metal Asphyxiation
- Death Sandwich
- Head Butt
I don’t know how much, or if, people will like it; but I am having a blast working with Scott.
The New Album Has a Name
by Craig Nybo ~ March 11, 2010
Last night, we settled on a name for the new and third RUSTMONSTER album; it will be called THE TREACHERY OF DANTE’S FORGIVENESS.
We are in the midst of scoring the music to go under the spoken word parts of the album. Last night we roughed together the scratch tracks that will go under Act I.
In listening to the readings, I was pleased. They sound better than I remember. If you are not familiar with the other 2 RUSTMONSTER albums, they feature a running story that occurs in three acts, spread out through the album.
RUSTMONSTER’s second album, Flight of the Filthy Vicar, featured the first half of a story that will resolve on Treachery of Dante’s Forgiveness.
You can buy RUSTMONSTER’s albums right here, right now.
 Last Voyage of the Black Betty $10.00 (free shipping) The story of Captain Stark and his nemesis, Captain Henry Ramos. |
The Flight of the Filthy Vicar $10.00 (free shipping) The memoirs of a condemned pirate, rotting in his cell, awaiting his time to hang. |
Recording Difficulties
by Craig Nybo ~ March 10, 2010
Last night, I was working on one of the new Acid Holiday songs: YELLING SONG. Scott wrote the lyrics and emailed them to me along with some reference tracks that he liked and wanted me to emulate.
It’s funny, but I’m having some trouble with this song. It seems on the surface that it should be easy to score, but this is not the case. I tried a funky bridge, smack-dab in the middle of a heavy metal bed, and didn’t like it (although I might steal the bridge and use it somewhere else). At the height of my frustration, my midi controller keyboard broke down. I don’t know what happened; it just gave up the ghost and stopped working. Thoroughly frustrated, I had to shut everything off and go to bed.
On a better note, RUSTMONSTER rehearsal happens tonight. There are 2 items on deck: Rick’s song, and the backtracks for the spoken word parts of the album. Either way, I expect to have a blast.
A Long Lost Radio Play Script
by Craig Nybo ~ March 3, 2010
After some digging, I finally resurrected a lost teleplay I wrote a couple of years ago. This script was supposed to be a RUSTMONSTER project, an outer space pirate odyssey. But it looks as though the band might be heading in a different direction after our 3rd album, which is coming soon. I’m cool with the band’s direction; it will be a blast anyway it goes.
The problem is, I still want to produce this script. I’m thinking about wrangling together a few actors and putting down the VOs then scoring it myself. It feels a little bit like the art rock, filk classic, War of the Worlds.
If I decide to do it, It will be a pretty big endeavor. It will probably span 2, or maybe even 3 albums. One reason I want to do it: I love collaboration. I think it would be a kick to work with some actors in producing it. I have a lot of talented friends that I’m sure would help out. Or maybe RUSTMONSTER might kick in if I show them the script. It needs a bit of revision before I would allow anyone to read it.
The other thing to consider is: I have two side projects on the table right now. I’m working with Scott Brough on a comedy heavy metal album, and I’m still planning on getting a Halloween themed album out this year. I can’t open another project and expect to close all three in a timely manner.
Gangrene Movie of the Week
by Craig Nybo ~ March 2, 2010
This week’s movie was written and directed by Larry Nybo, drummer for RUSTMONSTER. It is a hilarious film about a pair of alien documentarians who visit earth to catalog and report on Earth’s technology and achievements.
We hope you enjoy it.
Scoring for Voice Over
by Craig Nybo ~ March 2, 2010
At last week’s rehearsal, we did a couple of things: 1, we worked on Rick Nef’s new song, It Can’t Be a Mutiny if you’re Dead; 2, we began to score the background music for the spoken word parts of the album.
I have to say, I love Rick’s new song. It’s the first song Rick has written outright and brought to the table. Rick, of course, brings a ton to the creative process with his brilliant sax chops, but its nice to work on something that he has written. His song has kind of a tango feel to it, which is really fun.
As for scoring the music behind the spoken word parts of the album, I am always afraid of this process. I feel like we are going to bomb out. Then, as we begin fiddling around with different riffs, it comes together. I end up saying to myself, oh, yea, I forgot, we CAN write music.
Scoring to the spoken word parts of the albums has a different flavor of pleasure. Nobody in the band can claim writer ship of these grooves because they are so collaborative. Someone will lay a melody or a riff on the rest of us and we will all just jump in and see what happens. In the end, I feel that these grooves are, in some ways, the strongest parts of the album.
I’m excited about the third album. We have redoubled our efforts and hope to have it finished pretty soon.
WHAT INSPIRED RUSTMONSTER?
by Craig Nybo ~ February 22, 2010
Today I thought I would write about what inspired RUSTMONSTER. First off, the RUSTMONSTER band lineup, Craig, Rick, Larry, Rob, Mike, Aaron, and Nate, have worked together in music and film projects for going on 25 years now. We are all lifelong friends. Ages ago, when most members of the band were in a funk outfit called Funktoast, we talked about doing some pirate themed music. We thought it would be fun to dress up and do sort of an apocalyptic pirate thing.
A very short scene in an obscure Rutgar Hauer film called THE BLOOD OF HEROS inspired this discussion. This film came out in 1989. It starred Rutger Hauer and Delroy Lindo as part of an apocalyptic sports team that travels from city to city playing a death sport that involves shooting goals with a goat skull while beating the ever-living tar out of each other. It really is a great film. I would recommend it. It feels like Hoosiers meets Mad Max.
In one scene, the whole town parties after a particularly bloodthirsty match. In a single shot, an apocalyptic band plays some music. The instrumentation is a combination of found percussion, scrapped together instruments, and an accordion player. When I saw the band in the film, I said to myself, someday, I want to do that. The result, roughly 6 years later, was RUSTMONSTER.
I feel I have to say that RUSTMONSTER is much more than my vision. There are 7 fine musicians that make up the band. Every one of them brings his talent and perspective to the band. I am only 1/7th of the creative process. But, from my perspective, this is what inspired RUSTMONSTER into existence.
Acid Holiday Returns – A new musical project from members of Rustmonster
by Craig Nybo ~ February 19, 2010
After a 25-year hiatus, Craig Nybo, of Rustmonster, has gotten together with Scott Brough, lifelong friend, to revisit their high school musical project, Acid Holiday.
Acid Holiday was a heavy metal band that released one album in 1987. Their album, This is the Devil, was duplicated in Craig’s basement and distributed to over 30 (35) eager fans. After receiving a scathing review in the Davis High School newspaper, both Craig and Scott descended into depression and vowed that Acid Holiday–with its accompanying mascot, an iron jawed monster named Sedgwick–would never return. As if to seal the deal, Scott set himself on fire at their solitary performance of This is the Devil for a room of fans.
To the delight of over 30 (35) fans, Acid Holiday is back, and this time, they know how to play instruments.
Scott Brough said: “We knew if we were going to come back, we would have to come back big. So we decided to chum the fan base of over 30 (35) fans with a few Acid Holiday classics. We have rebooted some of the hits like, We Are the Rock, and Life After Proliferation. But don’t worry, we have a new book of songs, including Fecal Explosion, and Death Sandwich, slated for the new album.”
When asked for a comment, Craig Nybo only growled a little and tried to bite the microphone.
No doubt, fans are salivating to hear from Acid Holiday once again, but they will have to wait, because it takes the band at least three weeks to write and record an entire album.
A visit from a long lost friend
by Craig Nybo ~ February 19, 2010
Funny how this digital world works. I have been working with an old friend of mine, Scott Brough, on a new heavy metal project: A second Acid Holiday album, after a 25-year hiatus. Throughout the whole process, we have never had a face-to-face meeting. I have recorded tracks and emailed them to him. He has emailed me lyrics. We have spoke on the phone a couple of times.
Yesterday, out of the blue, Scott showed up at mediaRif unannounced. We rehashed old times. We talked about our philosophies on art, farting, and the cuts of people pants. I got to spend 2 whole hours with him. It was a delight.
I’m excited about the Acid Holiday project. Like all other projects I get involved with, this one is for laughs. I don’t think we’ll have too many sales with song titles like Death Sandwich and Fecal Explosion.
-Craig Nybo