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on September 25, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #14Download cards! Finally!
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on July 8, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #13We Lag
Post CommentDid we say the digital copy would be ready in June? Sorry, we meant to say "soon." It's taking just a bit longer than we expected. We really want to get those postcards and download codes out to you (not to mention the physical album), but it's not quite ready yet. We are making some changes in the mastering process, so it's very close. Thanks for bearing with us. Yes, we lag.
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on May 26, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #12A Progress Report
Post CommentDear Sir or Madame,
We are writing to you in order to give you an appraisal of the progress being made by your sponsored children, The Sad Bastard Book Club. It's been just over three months now that you have generously funded their development, and in that time I'm happy to report, we have seen a considerable growth in their activities and general well-being.You have already received a letter regarding their week long field trip to the California coast side in February where they ate from campfires, learned survival techniques to keep warm in harsh conditions, were taught to identify rabid animals (rats and bats mainly), and role played as "recording artists." This trip brought them immense amounts of joy. They still talk about it.
Since then, we have returned them to their natural city environment where they have been learning other practical skills. First was audio mixing. This went relatively well. One of the boys threw a temper tantrum, but outside of that, they mixed an album all by themselves without much bloodshed or unending feuds. We can't tell you how proud of them we are for that. There were, however, a considerable number of "your mother" jokes that tainted the activity with a juvenile air. But it doesn't show in the work thankfully. It would seem they also learned how to compartmentalize "play time" from "work time," and for that we are glad.
For the past week, we have created a writing workshop for them to construct a book. We are happy to inform you that they have produced 21 pages of text revolving around the theme "Another Family Dinner at the Saturn Residence Ends in Tears." We will admit to finding some of the contents of these stories slightly distasteful, but it is not for us to censor their creativity.
Using that text, we now have them learning the art of book layout and binding. Materials are being delivered as we speak to make the books. The layout is just about finished. Once it is, they will crank up the printer (it's an old model) and start cutting paper until they can't feel their fingers anymore. Which will be the perfect time to hand them a needle and thread to get to work with the binding. With luck, only a few pages here and there will have some bloody fingerprints from a careless needle poke.
One of the boys has been given the task of "engineer allocation." His job is to find a mastering engineer to finish the CD. The hunt is on. He seems to have found some contenders.
Once this is complete, another of the boys will upload the tracks to a website where they will produce download codes of all the songs in their finished state. It's at this point that you will receive the first fruits of your generosity. While the physical CD will yet to be complete (art classes haven't begun due to some scheduling conflicts), you will be able to hear it all the same. These codes will be sent to you, all things going to plan, sometime in June.
It is our hope to perform duplication, art, and letterpress instruction in June. The children are looking forward to sending you a completed project in July. The time line is a bit wonky at the moment, but that's the new goal. We think it's doable, but we will keep you informed of any changes in that plan. They have their little hearts set on it, and we'd hate to disappoint them. They are so looking forward to showing you what they have been doing over the past few months.
Again, thank you for your support. We hope you won't regret your decision.
Sincerely,
The Management of the George Decker House for Emotionally Depressed Orphans of a Bookish Nature.P.S. Enclosed you will find a picture of the boys at play.
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on April 29, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #11Professors T.E. Cate and Fullers Discuss Genealogy
Post CommentLast night, Mr. Screams and I found ourselves at a bar in the Mission discussing genealogy and the Saturn family. We are exciting like that. Napkins were scribbled on, Heritage Quest was consulted, beer was consumed. In the end, we think we got everyone accounted for with the exception of the LeBrock family. While this is merely the prototype, we’ve created a quick reference family tree to help you keep all the people you will be meeting in the upcoming album straight. Hope it helps.
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on April 11, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #10Six Down, Four to Go
Post CommentHello all,
Today was our first real mixing session for "Another Family Dinner at the Saturn Residence Ends in Tears." By the end of it we all looked like zombies, the kitchen counter was more beer bottles than kitchen counter, and the entire thing was punctuated be lengthy discussion regarding the archaic art of heraldry (I'm not kidding). We also got six out of ten songs finished. Here's one of them. It's called "The Pauper Choir of San Jose, CA." We're pretty fond of it. We hope you might be too.xoxo,
The SBBC -
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on March 9, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #9The SBBC Holds the Most Depressing "We Are the World" Sing Along Ever
Hello Everyone,
Things are progressing around here. The apartment smells a little like heaven baked at 350 degrees, there are scraps of paper everywhere with novel ways of killing people jotted down on them (fictionally of course... no need to call the cops), and the sound of latin-y dirges blasting away on speakers with the band yelling over the volume, "Can you turn the tambourine up?! MORE EGG SHAKER!" In other words, we're busy.
However, just the other day our friend from Ascender Descender dropped off a few videos he took from our recording session. The one below (which admittedly is a little dark) is us recording the vocals for "After 20 Years of Pouring Gasoline Into the Soil, the Time to Harvest Has Arrived" with the help of the Pauper Choir of San Gregorio. At one point someone quipped, "This is like the most depressing 'We Are the World' ever." To which someone else responded, "Have you heard the new 'We Are the World?' This isn't even close."xo,
The SBBC
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on February 23, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #8What we were doing while you were working
Post CommentHello All,
It is 5 o'clock PM on Tuesday February 23rd. Roughly 24 hours ago we finished breaking down the Saloodio and moving everything back to its right place. Which was no easy task. Over the course of five days we pretty much made the saloon our home. And like anytime one has to move, there is a lot of "did I grab the..." and "where did I put the..." Though instead of "spoons" or "Yadro figurines," it was "glockenspiel" and "100 year old cornet."
I was going to break down the recording experience day by day, but truth be told we kind of lost track of the time. So here is a stream of consciousness version of what happened:
- Mr. Boom and Mr. Sings arrive to the studio and enjoy the absolute silence that occurs out in those parts. As they are commenting on the quiet, an extremely loud "MOO" carries across the valley we are in.
- Cap'n Shap (engineer/ninja) plays the theme for Taxi on a 150 year old pump organ... and it surprisingly sounds good.
- A veggie dog and Boca burger BBQ leads to extreme (and unexpected) lethargy. Though our heart rate is increased when we learn that we are sharing a space with bat who likes to swoop out of the rafters while we are playing "Choir of Knives."
- Rats use Mr. Sings amps as a place to relieve themselves. It was uncalled for and rude, but ultimately forgiven.
- 12 people came down to sing and clap and share food with us. This was by far the highlight of an already spectacular couple of days.
- Mr. Sings and Mr. Thud constantly complain of being cold and dirty while Mr. Boom and Mr. Screams look at each other and scoff, "fucking city kids."
- After five years, female voices are finally heard on a SBBC record. And the beauty of their harmonies make us sound like a bunch of grunting cavemen.
- Lentil Stew!
-Somewhere within the five days we realized that we are absolutely, without a doubt, not a folk band any more. Folk bands don't have 8 minute songs that end in bone crushing distortion.
We could go on and on, but it's probably only interesting to us. What might be interesting to you though is a sneak peak at the song "We Build Ghost Towns from the Ground Up." What you find here is merely a clip of a rough mix (give us a break, we just stopped recording yesterday). But it will give you a sense of what the album will sound like (kind of).
Enjoy!
The SBBC -
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on February 17, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #7Success!
Post CommentHello friends,
It is just about midnight. I am jacked on a number of conflicting cold medicines and just a smidge of wine. You can’t fault me for celebrating though. As of this moment, our Kickstarter project has closed and, thanks to your generosity, it has closed with the word “successful” next to it. That is terrifically exciting to us. To be honest, some of us (I am shamefully raising my hand at the moment) didn’t think this was going to work.
However, it did and now we have work to do (lots of it). On Thursday we will be heading up to the saloodio (saloon/studio) to get this whole recording thing underway. Over the course of five days we will be hammering out the album and hopefully finding some time to get started on your stories while there (Moleskin journals for life!). If it’s okay with all of you, we will be keeping you posted on our progress. Perhaps some early mixes or videos will even come your way if we can break the technological jinx that’s been haunting us lately.
We are really looking forward to creating this record/book and sharing it with you all. There are many facets of it that we are still ironing out (like most of it). Our time line, due to a number of “real life” factors, puts a finished product towards June. Hopefully it will be sooner than that, but at the moment that is a safe assumption. We will have a better idea next month when our graphic designer gets back into town and the interns learn how to type on manual typewriters (one of them actually said “Where’s the monitor?” when looking at the Underwood we sat him in front of… sad, really).
Again, we cannot thank you enough. This is going to sound sappy, but we are honored that you would be willing to help us with this. Seriously. You all deserve big, crushing, awkwardly long hugs, but due to the limitations of the internet, a heartfelt thank you will have to suffice for the time being (unless you live locally, then you get a crushing hug voucher for the next time you see one of us).
We will be in touch,
The SBBC -
on February 17, 2010Funded!
The Sad Bastard Book Club- Recording Doom in the Woods, Making Books in our Apartment by The Sad Bastard Book Club
The Sad Bastard Book Club goes to the woods, records doomy/folky/latin-y dirges, makes a CD and creates a hand bound book to accompany it for you!
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106% funded $2,128 pledged
- 43 backers
- Funded Feb 17, 2010
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on February 14, 2010
The Sad Bastard Book Club
Posted project update #6Thank you kindly
Post CommentHello all,
We just wanted to write a quick note thanking everyone that has backed this project. A few days ago we crossed into the "successfully funded" category. Forgive the delay in writing this, but honestly we were a bit shocked and spent Friday and Saturday pinching ourselves and double (and triple and quadruple) checking the site to make sure we weren't just seeing things. We weren't. Thanks to your generosity and support, this record will be happening.
There are still two days left until the project closes. So if anyone still wants to get in on any of the rewards, the option is open.
We will be writing more soon.
Thank you (a billion times!),
the SBBC
The Sad Bastard Book Club
San Francisco, CA
Is it a book club or a band? Is "folky latin dirge" a legitimate musical genre? Do they fancy themselves musicians, writers, or hacks? Are they serious or is this an elaborate joke? The answer to all questions is yes.
i like how some of the chorus are reading the words from paper and the others are reading their palms....