THE SPORES "[Don't] Kill Yourself -people were pulling their hair out over it, saying we had a hit that couldn't be played because of the lyrical content. So instead of doing a ton of bleeps or re-wording it to "Kill Your Cell" or something stupid, we tacked on the "(Don't)" and voila! Instant airplay! Isn't show business wonderful?" The Spores, featuring Molly McGuire, released their self-produced debut album, called "Imagine The Future" on Sidecho Records. Who is Molly McGuire? The name sounds familiar, but maybe you can't quite place it... She's played on some of your favourite records and toured with some of your favourite bands. Still not ringing a bell? We'll give a few hints: She played on Queens of the Stoneage's "Songs for the Deaf", The Mark Lanegan Band's "Here Comes That Weird Chill", Brant Bjork's "Local Angel", and Mondo Generator's "A Drug Problem That Never Existed" and "Live at the Troubadour." You may have seen her playing bass with Mondo Generator throughout 2003 and 2004. The Spores is Molly's brainchild -a bedroom project gone marionette- turned-live trio, and now with a self-produced album to their name. Words | Molly We originally called the music "songs from down the hall." Greg "Stunbunny" Biribauer was my elusive roommate who was only home a few weeks out of the year. We lived on Satsuma Ave. in North Hollywood California. He had invested in Reason [sequencer software] and Pro-Tools [digital audio software], and had transformed his bedroom into a recording studio. After many weeks on the road doing live sound for bands like The Vines and Queens of the Stone Age, it was his chance to experiment with his own musical ideas. I didn't know him very well. I would always wonder what he was doing in there when he was home. His room had a very 'mad scientist' appeal. Always dimly lit, curtains drawn and other-worldly sounds emanating from within. I spent most of my time in the garage out back making puppets and New Orleans-flavored artwork. I was the bass player for Mondo Generator and earthlings? during that period. One day Greg asked if I had any songs that I'd like to record with him. Particularly anything that I wouldn't use with any of my bands at the time. Together, we created "Entwined Like Lovers." We were so blown away at the collaboration that we became highly inspired to make more. The next day, "El Matador" was completed, then "Kill Yourself", and so on... IMAGINE THE FUTURE> On to the songs... Mandibles The theory behind this concept is that all insects are actually super high-tech observation units that have been placed on the earth by aliens to document the human race. Greg had come up with the signature loop out of a bunch of other stuff I thought wasn't that great. But once he added that beat to it all, I went into another room and recorded a bunch of organ ideas into my mini-disc recorder. Luckily, Greg picked out a few bits that were in time and in tune and built the main organ melody chords by just flying them in freestyle, right off the mini-disc. This was one of those songs that I recorded a bunch of vocals for it with lots of words, and Greg just reduced it down to it's essence and best hooks. After a slight touch of reverse vocals and a harmonized guitar solo, we knew we had the perfect 1st song for the album. [Don't] Kill Yourself Greg completely misinterpreted the vibe of another song I was trying to write called "Dr. Rhythm." He came up with the music top to bottom thinking it was what I had wanted. Honestly, it was too happy sounding for me at the time. I told him the only lyrics I'd like to write for it would be "Kill Yourself." Sarcastic as it is, the rest of the words and melodies came in an instant. People were pulling their hair out over it, saying we had a hit that couldn't be played because of the lyrical content. So instead of doing a ton of bleeps or re-wording it to "Kill Your Cell" or something stupid, we tacked on the "(Don't)" and voila! Instant airplay! Isn't show business wonderful? Moon Shine Down A local mockingbird came up with the keyboard tag-line in this song. He'd sing this melody amongst an array of car alarm imitations. I thought it would make a great dance-tune. I went to work that day and pondered the bass line and the vocals for the chorus. When I came home that night Greg had laid down a drum track that fit the vibe perfectly [without either of us discussing it], and I recorded the bass synth as a foundation for the melody and mockingbird notes. The bird is mentioned in the first line of the song. Heat Seeker Methamphetamine changes people like nothing I've ever witnessed. I was lamenting about a friend I lost over this drug and how it makes one act like a heat-seeking missile. They know who their friends are and they know where the love is, but they seek you out and try to destroy you. Hence, the metaphor. What rhymes with "seeker"? hmmm... Greg had the signature guitar figure for a couple of weeks. Once I got lyrics together, we fleshed out the other bits. We eventually cut about 2 minutes of intro out to tighten up the arrangement. My first recorded guitar solo ever comes during the fade. Imagine the Future Originally two songs that had nothing to do with each other that were random entities in Greg's vortex of Reason files. The two combined makes the song feels like a pivoting perspective of past and the future. When we did the vocal, we just let it loop in it's own time against the two halves of the song. It practically arranged itself. He tried a version with the vocal more in a 4/4 feel, but it didn't have the same magic, so we stuck with the free form version. Not the longest lyric of sorts, yet this song has a scope and feeling that goes well beyond our normal pop sensibility and into a realm held only by the likes of Brian Eno, Pink Floyd and other artists that were more about art than consumerism, [at least in our minds]. So, at the very least, we feel like we're on the right track as far as our future recordings go. Love My Mind I used to work for Human Emulation Robotics. David Hanson, my boss is a visual artist / inventor who is currently trying to make the world's first visually accepted humanoid robot. He's trying to single-handedly defy the uncanny valley theory. Check this link. We had many (joking) discussions about how David could become a robo-pimp in Las Vegas once he perfected his creation. This song is from the robot's perspective. Greg wrote the basic track on one of those shoddy clamshell G3's while he was on the road during Lollapalooza, listening to a lot of Kraftwerk and trying out the various vaporizers floating around. He wrote a companion piece to it called "F**k the Machine", but I snagged the concept and used it for my robot lyric with this music instead. We eventually changed the title to something that connected the song's lyrics in a twisted way. Veal The feeling of having your heart hammered into a thin fillet. The music is all Greg, the heart is all mine. Before we mastered the song, the sub-bass synth blew our label president's speakers up. He was mightily impressed, none the less. This song has some of our most simple parts, yet is probably the hardest to play live. It's so barren, there's absolutely no room for mistakes. Big Brother We are all losing our freedom every day that passes. Since writing it, the song has taken on a life of it's own, expressing how I feel about New Orleans and how the government screwed that town after Katrina. Greg had the signature riff for a few years, surfacing on another project before the Spores time. But he kept it around and whipped it into this jam just in time for me to come in with a plastic ray gun. The slap on the vocal sometimes makes it sound like it's coming from the other side of the room. You can barely hear Pete Stahl's [earthlings?, Wool, Scream] dog Dallas barking in the background if you isolate the tracks. We had to stop for airplanes and leaf-blowers all the time, since we were in an non- isolated room, but somehow kept the faith and marched on. Yum Yum Feeling hungry and sexy at the same time. I had the bass line, Greg whipped up a track around it, then I threw in the ingredients. People who know me well know that I'm a foodie. Oh, yeah, and that,too. El Matador The second song Greg and I wrote as the Spores. It's really about sex. Somehow, for our live show, I figured out how to sing, play bass and hand-control a puppet named "Da Buul" at the same time for this song. Don't ask... if I think about it too much I'll start screwing up. Entwined Like lovers The first song Greg and I ever wrote together. Since he asked me to donate songs that I'd never use in any of my other bands at the time, I had often fantasized about having a guy / girl call and response rap band called the "Jolly Wiggers." The girl would be super sweet and romantic, where the guy would be saying things like, "bitch, I'll f**k your s**t up!" So after singing the sweet girl vocals, I told him we needed to add the nasty boy part, saying "bitch, shut-up!" between the lines in the chorus, i.e.; I wanna make love bitch, shut-up! I wanna get married bitch, shut-up! I wanna have children bitch, shut-up! I want to grow old with you Greg refused to desecrate the song. Daffodil We did a set as an acoustic 2-piece in New Orleans as our second gig ever. It was Halloween, and I needed to use the accordion, so the song was made up on the spot one night in preparation for that gig. It started off more traditional sounding, but I pushed Greg to come up with something more f**ked up. When he came in with the Commodore 64 drum blips, we were off to the races. We actually put cloth around the bass strings to give it a dry oom-pah feel. Greg still can't believe that he played the acoustic guitar figure on it, but I was there, and he did. This song was also good for us as an expansion on our normal pop consciousness and might be a keyhole to our musical future.