We are mainly me, with fantastic help from long distance collaborators on many songs.


These include: my brother Don, my son Bryan, Bailey (probity), Diane (Mrs. probity), Guillermo (mechanicaluse), Julie Payne, shankarji and kulu (Chillum Brothers).


I once thought I was a rocker, and I still do, even though the current definition seems to be too constricting for what I do, which is whatever I am inspired to do. Most of my music is what I call non-fi, a term I had to just make up to describe what I do, which means I do not adhere to rules of song structure or production, although sometimes you might think otherwise as nowadays, with nice computers and midi and even cheap mics, some songs sound surprisingly good.

The big notable exception is No Peace in La Paz, which is really the Chillum Brothers rendition of a song I merely wrote the lyrics and basic tune for, and ji and kulu are relative perfectionists about their product, not to mention pros performing and recording.

Usually, however, I do participate, which means singing and/or keyboard duties as well as chief mixer, and since I am not trained to do any of those things, well, suffice it to say I am as good as my low budget equipment and limited experience allows.

And yet, and yet, you can sense the freedom of expression, the riskier attempts at creativity/originality.

I'd like to consider it rock-based, but it is all over the place- spoken word, wry humor, loads of social commentary, very much on the side of contractually protected individualism, that sort of thing. Anti-war. Anti-drug war. Goth, avantgarde, experimental, electronic folk, psychedelic, and humanistic.

Oh, I am part of another collab band with probity called Expresso Stebo, which is slanted similarly but much more probity. I'll put a page up for that soon, too. Meanwhile, you can visit the competition at Garageband (which I regard as simply another wonderful virtual storefront, and where I ran into my fellow collaborators, too).

I'm thinking I'll include 3 or 4 songs right away which are indicative of the range. Most likely very few of you will enjoy them all, and that's OK. Yes, it's OK to love one, hate the one, and feel nothing at all for the rest. Alas, such diversity bodes poorly for attracting a fan base, although I think those on a quest for something out of the box might be quite pleased with the unpredictability.

So, peace, enjoy, and comments (and checks) welcome!

Steve

No Peace in La Paz

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