Naming shit.

So my task for today is titling the 7 demos we have so far. At the moment they are titled pretty randomly.  This isn’t something we suffer alone with. Having spoken to many artists we know this is common ground. It’s just so easy to come up with some stupid throwaway name than actually put thought into whatever it is you’re currently working on. Especially when some ideas aren’t worth two shits in the first place. Here’s a sample bunch of garbage you’ll probably never hear.

That being said some of the ideas were in fact worth more than two shits which leaves me in the position of giving them some sort of respect. Respect in the form of a title that is not on the list of the following names gleaned from my current songs in production folder:

Trackassno
gayass166 (alluding to 165 gayer-asses)
fuckbag
moodypoos
slimslam2-noshitty
Ladyjamz

And so on and so on. My problem comes from a lyrical standpoint. 99% of our older material was instrumental which left the song names to be beaten up and subjected to our worst ideas which was fine and dandy to us. If there had been lyrics who knows if Vag. 2021 would have been called so. However all the new material up to this point has vocals on it. The vocals and lyrics are of my own styling and because the lyrics were left to me I went down some weird avenues. There is a concept behind everything an an idea that holds the themes together and to just call a song something like “ShitDaisyeatsMamasbattlefart*” doesn’t seem to do it any justice.

This album is different in tone from our others and I don’t want it to feel like us rehashing something we’ve already done. The lyrics were written in a serious manner and the music is presented in a similar fashion. It’s only fair if we’re taking something serious to not crap out on it in other areas. In a way we’re a little more grown up, which going by our maxim means we’re now in training-pants. Anyhow, it’s time to grab the word-processing mop and bucket and go to town on this turd mess. If everything goes well you should be able to see yourself reflected in the output.

*That song title will be used so if you were thinking about it fuck off.

A tale of two albums

In 2008 we released our third album Giants From Far Away. It was a a genre mashup thrown into a blender that somehow came out with people really enjoying it.  We liked the album but figured it would confuse the shit out of most people. Luckily we were right because while it did, it kept them pretty interested and provided enough tunes to bounce along with and kept them positive with us. Giants, while the most professionally done by our standards, also took the shortest amount of time to write. We were inspired enough to go a bit nuts on it and luckily it worked in our favor. We later went on tour for the album supporting Nachtmahr on a rather beefy US leg of what eventually became a 2 part tour.

Our live show on this tour really came into its own. Our sets had a lot of energy and  got the crowd going, to a point where it really felt we had done something right.  The nights came and went and with each show we had a new intensity growing that really made us want to push things further (this is something most bands go through I’m assuming, but up until this tour we hadn’t really felt anything this powerful).

When we got back home we were drained physically, emotionally and financially. The tour took a lot out of each of us but the end result was a very positive experience. We went our separate ways for a while to settle down and in that time we started writing ideas on our own. Eventually when we got back together and threw the sketches around we realized that while some of the material sounded very much the direction we were already headed, some of it veered off into areas we hadn’t dreamed of going with Alter der Ruine. It was a new intensity for us, one that was just bones waiting for blood and guts to be thrown at (NOT IN THE LIVE SENSE).

I’ve always seen ADR as a group searching for an identity. Sure we look and act how we do but album to album we’ve never had a unified message or attitude. We’re scatterbrained with ideas.  That may have been why we kept writing the directions we were going. I am personally glad we did because if anything I think the new material  actually speaks volumes about us. It was rediscovering what we were capable of and finding that exciting energy to push things again. But with that we realized we had two VERY different sounds on our hands. On one side there was the hardcore/techno/noize whathaveyou while the other  was a different sounding creature altogether (we’ll post more about it as it develops).

Eventually it reached the point where a decision had to be made concerning just what the fuck we were doing. We’d kind of crafted a style of our own (which in this day in age means you sound like 40 other bands) and knew we had superfans who liked what we did. We also knew that there would be backlash if some of this stuff got out due to how different from us it sounded. What it came down to in the end was we had two very different albums in front of us and we didn’t have the desire to can one of them or start a side-project or whatever. The end decision was basically fuck it, we’re putting out two albums. We figure the energy is there for both and we know we can pull them off live so let’s just do it. That and we can’t keep making the same album over and over again. We haven’t done it yet and if anything this gives us a wider berth to frolic in later.

If people don’t like it, that’s fine. No one is forcing their ears to the speakers. If they do then of course we’ll be pleased as punch. These next two album are another few babysteps towards something we haven’t even thought of yet. And we sure are proud fathers at the moment with what we’ve created.  We’ve been happy in the past, but this go around we’re really moving towards something else, another piece of our puzzle that I’m sure will please people as much as it pisses them off. Which is perfect!

A brief intro

My name is Mike T. and I am part of the band Alter der Ruine. This blog was started to detail the progress made on our next two albums that we are currently writing at the same time. It should be noted that this will only be my perspective on things and that my thoughts don’t necessarily reflect the group’s outlook unless it is mentioned. It also should be said that this isn’t going to be a big whiny blog about things being shitty or whatnot. Writing an album has many ups and downs and this is just a way to inform those interested about our output as well as my thoughts on the process. That’s all!

Cheers, Mike T-