Renegade Road

Renegade Road

Inspired by Frank Millers The Dark Knight Returns

Nate:

Each time we do Bushwick Book Club is a new adventure. (If you've not heard about the Bushwick Book Club click here: BWBC) This time around we got the chance to write to a graphic novel, the first I've read all the way through and it was a very different experience from reading a regular ole book. I found it hard to follow at first, but when as the deadline approached I found myself quite enjoying it. Usually, Annie and I have long conversations out on our porch about the books we read for BWBC. It is there we discover what want to write about, what style or genre, and any "hook" ideas we have for the tune or tunes. This time was much different. Annie had a very clear idea what she wanted to write about, and even what kind of song it would be. I guess I was the same when it came to The Princess Bride: I knew I wanted to write a rap battle between the man in black and Vincinni. Her idea was a sad country song.

I guess given that I was going through a break up at the time, and was in a hurt-y place, I was into writing a sad song. Plus, I thought Annie's idea was awesome and it was easy to get on board. The chord progression was easy enough for me to get going, and I certainly helped with the idea of renegade, (Annie kept saying outlaw, and finally I suggested renegade) but mostly Annie took the lead on this one. I think she had about two songs under her belt when we met and this was really a coming out for her. Not to say I had nothing to do with the song, but certainly the majority of the verse and even most of the chorus is her writing, both lyrically and musically. It was a busy time for me and I needed to have some of the song writing burden lifted, while Annie needed to see that she is an awesome writer. Win/win. Now, it is one of my favorite songs to play even though it's terribly sad.

Annie:

Wow. Can I just say how much I love this guy? Truly, I can't put into words all Nate has brought into my life. To a smaller degree, I feel similarly about the book club. It has been a wonderful writing exercise for us providing motivation and structure, offering specificity in inspiration. Now The Dark Knight Returns is one of my favorite books. What better way to celebrate finishing a novel that has truly moved you than to write a song about it. I still feel the same emotional pull I felt reading that last chapter every time we sing our song, Renegade Road. Though it is sad, it is so much fun for us. I would say, just as exhilarating as reading the book.

To purchase the song: Renegade Road, go to our website and click on Audio.

AK Tour 2011 *LIVE Radio Interview!*

So, Annie and I headed off last weekend on our first Alaska Tour! The instant we landed, we were met by the owner of the first venue we were playing (The Rendezvous, Juneau, AK) and taken on a tour of town. Not a long trip mind you, as Juneau has a very short stretch of road, and none that leave town at all! Shortly after we were dropped off at our host house, in keeping with rock star fashion, we were invited to play at the local radio station. I should say, one of the local stations. Juneau has a nice choice of radio stations, with what seems to be a good following. In a player below you can listen to the interview we did live on KXLL. Although we had quite a trip, I have to say this was one of the highlights for me. The sound in the room was very alive and we had a blast talking with DJ Andy Kline. In between the first and second song Andy jokes about Yacht Rock! Huge bonus points to him for even knowing what that is!!

I just wanted to get this up for all our peeps to check out! Please enjoy! More to come on Alaska!

Nate b

Dreams Can Come True

There are a lot of reasons I like being in a band with Nate. This is one of them. I spent my entire friday hunched over the sewing machine cackling and cursing trying to make these ridiculous pants a reality. The deal was that if I made them, he'd have to wear them (on stage!) I can't wait.

The original idea wasn't to embarrass him. No, quite the opposite. I was convinced that we needed these gold track suites, that they would be sick. I remember saying to Nate, "You know, we spend so much time and energy trying to present a professional sound, why shouldn't we appear as professional?" Oh God. I spent many hours searching the internets and came up with nothing. I even scowered the cheer leading websites. So, naturally, I decided to just make them.

I am in the midst of constructing a pair for myself. Can't wait/dread the show we decide to dawn them. It will happen, I have made this dream a reality.

What an incredible marathon of a holiday season. I hope, when reading this, most can agree with me in the sentiment of feeling so blessed, so lucky to be surrounded by wonderful friends and family. One of the things that made it so special were the two amazingly creative and rockin' ladies that came to stay at the Bucket of Honey house, Nate's sisters, Sam (left) and Mariel (right.) If you've listened to our music at all, you've heard me sing Sam's lyrics and melody on "Tip of My Tongue." We were so blessed and honored to have her travel all the way from Nashville to perform with us this New Years Eve at the high dive and celebrate Nate's birthday. Here's a pic we took the day before at the market (I'm behind the camara.) Miss you already girls, can't wait for next time!

Shout out to MJ and my little bro Calebwho's birthday's fell right into the holiday madness.

-Annie J.

"The Umpire Strikes Back" New Diva Hand Gesture to be Unveiled Tonight!

So, tonight's a big gig for Bucket of Honey. I've already papered facebook, but today is my day to blog so here's a little more paper. Nothing much going on other than that. Some things I have been working on lately as a musician are diva hand gestures. Yeah, Nate's been on me about having my hands in my pockets all the time. You know, as an actor, it's a little challenging being up there onstage and not be playing a character. So, I guess your the first to know, tonight I intend to play a character. Been doing a little research on the net, Mary J., Celine, Mariah, Whitney, the list goes on. Found a couple articles with some helpful suggestions, head dresses, bling, arching the back. Well, I've been perfecting my own move. I plan to try it out tonight on stage. I call it, the umpire strikes back. It's kinda like a great big "Yooooourr OUT!" hand gesture that I hope will really emphasize whatever I'm singing. I'm a little nervous about it. Wish me luck.

While doing some research I came across this bar graph which clearly depicts popular diva's levels of emotion while singing. I'm gonna be on this bar graph someday, I just know it.

The Players

As I'm sure you know by now, Bucket of Honey will be playing this Friday night at ToST with a couple other bands. We are hosting this time, and it's a good thing because Satellite by Night has been our host on more then one occasion! Also on the bill is a band we have not yet played with, Laguna, but are very excited to meet. This group is going through some changes from what we've heard, and we are excited to hear their new sound.

To add a bit of flavor to our sound, honey if you will, we have asked a couple ringers to come sit in with us. Here are the

additions:

Dan, the man, Milam

You may remember Dan from our last full band gig at Nectar a while back. He's a rippin' Bass player who really knows how to have a good time. His band, Mean Recess, is a duo like BOH and we are looking to mash our two groups up in the near future to make a Bucket of Mean Recess... Look for that soon!

We love playing with Dan... wait, that came out wrong, but you get the picture. It's so nice to have our good friend back with us. It is always a good time when Dan is around!

If you see Dan at the show, please, feel free to buy him a shot or a drink... he likes those!

Mark, I got the gear, Mattrey

Completely new to the BOH crew, Mark is no stranger to the music scene. If you like to frequent the Seamonster, you have seen Mark. He plays Bass in one of our favorite bands, Haiku-chi, and does a damn fine job if you ask us! You may also have seen him playing with me at our monthly open mic at the Seamonster, as he sits in for funsies quite often. Mark is a mad man on the kit, and we are confident you will love what you hear!

If you see Mark at the show, please, feel free to buy him a shot or a drink... he likes those!

Michael, fingers, Owcharuk

Also new to the BOH crew, Annie and I met Michael as fellow band members of 14/48 The Worlds Quickest Theater Festival. In fact, he wrote some of the songs we will be performing on Friday night with us at 14/48! We had such a blast with him, we simply had to invite him to come play a show. Michael is simply in too many projects to mention them all here, so instead I will point you to his website if you are interested is hearing what this creative cat is up to: Owcharuk Music.

If you see Michael at the show, please, feel free to buy him a shot or a drink... he likes those!

I hope you are as excited as we are about this show! If it is anything like I expect it to be, it will be a packed house too. So get there early to make sure you get in! It will be a hoot!

See you Friday!

Nate b

Bucket of Honey

21 Songs in Twenty-One Days

In November every year thousands of writers take on writing for a month and entering their work in a competition. NaNoWriMo is a non-profit group that hosts a contest every year in November for novel writers to test their skill against other novel writers. Unfortunately, I am not a novel writer and therefore will not be entering said contest. However, I am a writer.

I used to have this friend named Leroy (some names may have been changed to protect the innocent.) Leroy and I played music together in college a bit, and then both ended up in Seattle and found ourselves making music together on a fairly regular basis. At the time (2002, ouch I'm really dating myself now) I was living with him and some other friends at this house in Fremont affectionately named, the Pink House. Leroy and I lived in the back part of the Pink House and often went upstairs to make music for our friends who lived there.

Sometime in the beginning of November '02, Leroy asked me if I had heard that it was national writers month. I had not, and told him so. He went on to explain the contest and that it was not something we could do, but he had an idea of his own. Leroy wanted to write a song every day for 21 days, and each day perform what we had written. I thought two things: 1. why 21 days? and 2. I never have 21 days in a row I can commit to writing a whole song.

Well Jonn...I mean Leroy, convinced me to try this project out and away we went. Now, I can't say that we actually wrote a song a day for all 21 days, but at least 12 songs came out of that project for me. In fact, you can hear one I recorded with Blake Lewis (then Bshorty) on my myspace account: Nate b Music Check out the song, "I Said It All." Blake did all the production, I did the guitar and vocals.

Now, this is not the best music I've ever written, but it was an awesome exercise in writing and pushing myself to overcome writers block. I really only bring this up because Annie and I are working on our new album, "Songs We Wrote for Something Else" by writing for all sorts of other projects. Namely, the Bushwick Book Club.

So, whenever I get super down about the song writing juices, I remember pushing out those tunes day of and barely making it. Even if, "The Stalker Song" always got more credit then all the songs I wrote.

Miss you Jonny...ooops! I mean, Leroy.

Nate b

Bucket of Honey