Yes & No: Nonversations

My brother Dave and I have been writing songs together for a couple years now according to the Voice Memos app on my phone. I have been writing music since I was about 13 years old but it has pretty much always been just guitar parts. We decided that we wanted to create music purely for the sake of being creative having something we could be proud of. It was always meant to be something we did just for us. No rules, just whatever came out we would run with. Well, once we started doing this we started really liking what was coming out and decided to keep it going.

I have found that writing with Dave is pretty easy in that we are on the same wavelength most of the time. It might be the blood thing but we can churn songs out pretty quickly once we have the basic jist of the song down. He has a ton of lyrics that are sitting there ready to be put to music and I am helping out here and there when I can.

We decided, after playing some of our songs at the now legendary PlanoEast reunion show, that we should try and record them whenever we are in the same city together. One of our good friends, Devan, decided to offer up his time and engineering/producing skills to help us out. We were all in Nashville a couple weeks ago making music, which is always my favorite thing to do. Being creative musically/artistically with people I care about and who are good at what they do is where I wanna be. Dave is a great singer and an even better writer. Devan is an amazing guitarist/songwriter who has a great ear for making songs sound as good as they possibly can. We laughed a lot and made music we can be proud of. It's going to be mostly acoustic driven but we are going to try and get as weird as we can with some of the songs production-wise in order be different and just have fun with it.

We are calling the band "Yes & No". This name won out just barely by 2 votes over JC/DC. The EP (or LP depending on how many songs we get to put down) will be called Nonversations. The first three songs that have been recorded are as follows:

1. Means to a Beginning
2. This Old Town
3. Tell Me You Love Me

We are proud of this stuff and can't wait to start letting people hear it. So, in order to stay up to date on this stuff, you can follow us on twitter @yesandnomusic or on facebook at facebook.com/yesandnomusic.

This is a Capozzi family affair - Mike has been creating logos for us (see top of this post) and Tim was involved in some of the writing of "Tell Me You Love Me". Also of note, Joe and Ellen made us.

This pedal was inspired by this new musical adventure. In order to stay positive, "No" was not included.

*custom JHS TS9 + Mr. Magic (boost)

New Music - It's Not You, It's Me.

This fall was going to be a very exciting one for me because 4 of my favorite bands came out with new albums (Yes, I still call them albums. You don't?) in a span of a couple months. This rarely happens. Needless to say, I was pretty excited about this and I was at the point where I was actually listening to Nashville radio stations because I was sick of all the music I owned. By the way, if you live in Nashville you know how powerful a statement that was. Worst radio stations ever...this is not up for debate.

Here are the albums in order of release date in 2011...

First up was Gungor's follow up to Beautiful Things with Ghosts Upon the Earth. Now, I really liked Beautiful Things. I could listen to it all the way through while only having the urge to skip one or two songs along the way. It was the first album I owned by them but it made me excited for more. I even saw them live during their tour for this album and was thoroughly impressed. Not so much with the new one. Usually I give an album at least 5 spins all the way through before I pass judgement. This one I gave more than 5 because I couldn't accept the fact that I just didn't enjoy it that much. I saw them live a couple months ago and left early. Not good. Is it me? People seem to like this new stuff but I could never seem to latch on.

Next up was Switchfoot's Vice Verses. I am very biased with this band because I have been listening to them since their first album and I have truly loved everything they have ever released. This one was no different. Brilliant title, great guitar tone, killer lyrics and catchy melodies. I'm hooked from the opening riff.

The next week, MuteMath came out with Odd Soul. This was the follow up to Armistice, which was released in 2009. I enjoyed their first two releases, but where this band really shines is their live show. I can't really describe it but it is definitely something worth checking out, even if you don't really like their music. You will at least gain some respect for their musicianship and charisma afterwards (or you won't). This album just doesn't do it for me...either before recording this album, or during, their guitarist left the band for reasons I don't have time researching. That resulted in their bassist recording all the guitars and you can sort of tell. Just because someone can play bass, doesn't mean they can play guitar, and vice verses (see what I did there?). Anyway, I'm a little disappointed with this album but not too down about it because I will still attend any show by them if they are within driving distance.

Almost done...next up was Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto. Stop it with this title. Just stop it. Despite the fact that it is now "cool" to make fun of Coldplay, they consistently have put out music that I, any many others, have enjoyed. I jumped on early with them with Parachutes (validating my right to enjoy their music) and have really enjoyed everything they've come out with. I was fortunate enough to see them live at Starwood Amphitheatre (R.I.P.) about 6 years ago and they blew my mind with their sound and polished setlist. This album...not so much. I like some of it but it feels like they over-thought this one. It will probably grow on me over time but it is nowhere near their last three albums for me.

One out of four? Ugh. This was a bit of a let down but here's the point I'm trying to get across to myself: Just because one of my favorite bands releases an album that I don't necessarily love doesn't mean that I am going to swear off buying their stuff going forward. So what if I spent $10 on something that I'm not completely satisfied with? It's $10. Plus, this band took time to create art and put it out there for everyone to hear. I can always respect that since I have tried to do it on a number of occasions.

I guess the larger point is that music is subjective. You may love 3 out of the 4 or even all of them. I don't care. The only reason I am even writing this is to waste time before my first child is born.


- James

Back in Action

This is not surprising to anyone, I'm sure, but I haven't blogged anything in a while. Whatever. I'm sure the two people that read this (my mother and myself) will forgive me. The reason I'm going to give it another go is my friend started a blog about teaching her two boys at home...they are both under 2 years old. Point is, if she can find time to blog with two little guys running (and laying) around, than I certainly can as well. Her blog is cool and you should check it out if you have young kids or if you plan on it some day. Ok...the next blog will be written right after this one to prove that I am dedicated.