$8.99
Sold by music on Tradebit
The world's largest download marketplace
3,251,435 satisfied buyers
The world's largest download marketplace
3,251,435 satisfied buyers
MP3 drivenmore - real too real: '79 - '82
13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Hard Rock, ROCK: Progressive Rock
Details:
The year was 1982. Prussian independent label Sybil Records (The Dementia, TwelveGauge Lobotomy, MeMyselfEye) crossed the Atlantic to pluck from obscurity what would become the short-lived musical juggernaut known as drivenmore. Hailing from the city of Baton Rouge, LA, this one-man power trio overcame pathological prevarication, personality disorders, and a small town mentality to record the fastest-selling (at the time) record in Romania and the former Czechloslavakia, Woodworks. With over three dozen albums sold, drivenmore embarked on an Eastern European tour unparalleled in 1983: tens of people marching single file, filling the local paprikash houses wearing t-shirts emblazoned with "dŕvnmůŗ" and "Дривнмор"; sold-out performances at Ceaucescu''s Palace; festival performances on the Karlùv most (Charles Bridge).
But the days of ever-flowing Budvar and bypassing the bread lines were quickly coming to an end. Unrest in the group, dissention in the ranks, flies in the ointment-each of these contributed to drivenmore''s eventual downfall into musical obscurity. Sadly, there are fewer than two complete copies of Woodworks still in existence as many of the former fans of the band had no choice but to resort to the slow-burning comfort of their idol''s swansong during the bitter heating oil crisis of winter, 1983.
Twenty years passed somewhat uneventfully for drivenmore and its nonexistent legacy. That is, until one day, when former bassist Jason Robert Keller found an old 1979 8-track demo recording of "un-Afghanistanian." For once actually listening to the lyrics, Keller found many similarities between the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the restrictions on human rights in America post-September 11th. Knowing a good patriotic song when he heard one, Keller decided to update the lyrics, rent some studio time, hire a backing band, and tap one-time acquaintance Mutt Lange to produce. Once he found out that it actually costs money to do that (and that the number he had for Mutt was actually for Chinese takeout/delivery), Keller did the next best thing: he plugged in his trusty Radio Shack mic directly to the 8-track and recorded over the original track. Although one sometimes hears the word "un-American-istanian" due to tape bleed, the end result was passable. On a whim, Keller entered "un-American" in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest of 2002. Surprisingly, he was awarded an honorable mention.
More surprisingly, friends and relatives began once again asking, "didn''t you use to play in a band?" and "do you have any other songs?" This prompted Keller to take a step back and ask himself the true underlying question: could he possibly, at this late stage in his life, dare once again to pursue the dream of being a musician-no-of being a rockstar? With a newfound resolve, Keller crept up to the attic and brought down his trusty Korean-copy Ovation Balladeer-his songwriting weapon-of-choice, as it were. Replacing the rust-encrusted strings, he tentatively tuned to pitch (a half-step below standard) and set out to write the songs that would usher in his second coming.
About twenty minutes later, he gave up and decided to find old demo tapes and cash-in on them instead.
So, gathered here for the first time are the original "lucky number 13" demos recorded from 1979 to 1982 in their raw 8-track reel-to-reel form. None of that "cookie-cutter boy-band" production like staying in key, preventing over saturation of vocals, correct mic placement, charting song structure before recording, balanced recording levels, playing to a click-track, or "fixing" bad notes. Just lazy one-take rock ''n roll, the way it was meant to be done.
Enjoy!
-- Ali S., band historian*
*disclaimer - very little of the above is true
File Data