1 of 8

A few months ago HHBTM did a pre-order for the new Keith John Adams record "Unclever" in which for $25.00 Keith would write a personal song for the first 40 people to preorder the album. We are currently waiting on 3 people to send in stories still for their songs still, but it's okay as Keith is in Cuba on vacation this week anyway. He hopes to have the stories in and songs finished next week. We are working on artwork for the bonus CDR for all the people who preordered, and we have the buttons all ready to go. The plan is to ship the new album on the release date of February 12th. But before we ship out the CD, the bonus CDR, and the buttons you will be able to hear all the songs via 8 different blogs over the next two to three weeks. I would however like to say thank you to everyone who sent in stories and preordered the record. I still can't believe Keith has written and recorded nearly 40 songs in just over 2 months. Keith will be over to support the record on a small 3 week tour with Andy from Denver in March and April.

A little back ground on the songs below. "Do the M.M.T." is a song about myself and the all the things I tend to work on. "Wondeful Friends" is about Eric Hernandez and his aweful luck and how if it wasn't for his friends he should just give up. "Ouch Couch" is about our friend Pierre and his couch which will poke you in the ass if you sit on it wrong. "Sloppy Loppy" is about my wife Leslie and our little amazing dog that rules our world. "Double J Day" is about Jason Jones who does Yum Yum Publicity, and a day Keith, Jason, and I spent in New York City.

Keith John Adams - Do the M. M. T.

Keith John Adams - Wondeful Friends

Keith John Adams - Ouch Couch

Keith John Adams - Sloppy Loppy

Keith John Adams - Double J Day

At this point some of the songs are better than others, but there is talk of taking some of the best ones and releasing a real CD, and some of the folks on the E6 Townhall are considering having a limited double LP pressed by getting everyone who has songs to chip in on a lathe cut pressing.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

If I were making a top ten favorite bands in Athens list, the Titans of Filth would make it on that list. The Titans of Filth are fronted by one of the most unlikely front men if there ever was one named Sam Grindstaff. Sam has a way about him that is very shy, nervous, and almost embarrassed to even be on stage. He is always polite thanking the audience for being there between every song, and apologising if a song has the slightest error, even though most of the time you wouldn't really know if there was one. His stage presence is awkward, but so engaging. You hang on to each word closely, and the shyness just draws you in hoping that nothing will go wrong, and maybe just maybe confidence will wash over him. It never happens, but with funny stories, and the overly gracious thank yous, you realise it's just his good nature. The songs are very minimal with just a handful of chords, and bare-bones guitar, bass, drums, and vocals line up let's the lyrics become the full focus of what the band is about. Sam writes about being southern, being raised religious, the trouble religion can get you in, and the normal love wanted and love lost that the best pop music has been based around for ages. The Titans of Filth mainly play Athens, but those lucky few at the New York City Popfest were able to see them outside their hometown last year. If you get the chance you should check them out.

MySpace link

UPDATE: After trading messages with Lost Penguin, I recently found out they have called it quits, but I also found their awesome zine blog Toy Pirate. It covers life in the UK, American politics, and music.

Liechtenstein, 'Stalking Skills'

It's a lazy Tuesday, and I'm busy with tour booking, singles clubs, and popfest. So please watch this cool live video from one of my new favorite bands from Sweden Liechtenstein. They only have a 7" single out so far, but they just sent me two tracks in demo form for an upcoming release on HHBTM.

Flink

I am starting this Monday with the first post from the HHBTM archive. Flink was a solo project at the time of this guy Paul who was friends with the Gwens. Paul sent in this cool 7 track mini album in early 2000, and I made up about 200 cassettes which sold out pretty quickly. So quickly in fact that somehow I even sold my copy. I only have the original CD-R that was sent in that I made the cassettes off of, but my copy with the artwork, contact info, and such is long gone. I lost contact with Paul, but I think I found him on MySpace, so I'll send him a message and know soon enough. So for the HHBTM completest, grab these songs now while you can.

Flink - This Ghost Is So Busy
Flink - Panaphobia
Flink - Canoe
Flink - Now It's Out
Flink - The Better Life
Flink - Icon of My Block
Flink - Have You Seen Me?