Done Fun was written in May, 2009 and uses the chords Bb, Eb, C and F (although it’s probably in a different key on the demo).
This was the first or possibly second song I wrote after relocating to Chicago. I thought that life was about to get serious but instead it became more fun!
This song is about succumbing to doldrums of adulthood only to ultimately rebel against them.
Matt Riley helped us record it as his apartment and we did a funny pitch change thing on the vocal.
I Wanna Die Young was written in January, 2008. It uses the chords G, C, D, and Em, plus Gm, E7 and D7 in the introduction.
This song was first released by Talking Mountain as “Stolen Kisses Die Young” on the LP “The Nature of Magic/The Magic of Nature” (Slumber Party Records 2010). Stolen Kisses played it first.
The theme of the song is trying to live a full and meaningful life and avoiding the common thought that growing up means growing boring.
I Just Wanna be a Baby Now is a song written in May of 2010, a collaboration between Max Epstein, Chris Kramer, Alex Mentzer and Ben Haley when they were the band Slushy. Max came up with most of it. Ben contributed the line “I don’t want to be so small.” Alex suggested changing the original chorus “I Don’t Want to Be a Baby” to “I Just Want to…” which really made the tune.
We recorded it once in Ira’s garage for the Enigma/Blue Pearl tape. If you come over to the house I’ll play it for ya.
The Lemons recorded a version of I Just Wanna Be A Baby Now, and released it on their first set of demos, “Fresh Squeezed”. This was limited to a run 7 of hand-dubbed tapes on the Tripp Tapes label.
NYC Girls was written in May, 2003. It uses the chords A, D, E, and F#m. There’s a Beatles E in there too, like maybe E7sus4. It was first recorded by the Stolen Kisses and released on ONE CDR by I’m Drinkin This tapes in 2008 (now out of print).
NYC Girls is a featured track on Slushy’s 2nd cassette, “Five Little Leaves”. Fun fact! It was the first song recorded of that bunch.
The song tells the story of a small-town boy who meets a titular NYC girl, and is enchanted by her, but she longs to return to her former life. And dancing. It’s based on a true story and I only changed the details that make me look like a putz.
Hey, here’s a song I really like! Wrong Words was written in October, 2009, and is comprised of the chords D, G, and A.
It was later included on the “Five Little Leaves” cassette on Tripp Tapes, as produced by Shimby McCreery.
The themes of the song are poor communication and self-depreciation.
I had a job as a writer at the time and thought it would be funny if all of my writing job friends saw me and I had a song about being bad with words. The joke was on me because none of my coworkers ever came to see me play and I didn’t have any friends.
Elephant written by Max Epstein and originally performed by Boshus. I made a lil recording of it because I like it and put it on a CDR in the early days of Slushy. The Slushy recording of it uses the chords F, C and Bb.
Elephant was later recorded by The Lemons and featured on their debut, “Hello, We’re The Lemons”.
Candy was written in December, 2007, and features the chords D, A, A7, G, and Gm. This songs was originally performed by the Stolen Kisses, and was released on an extremely rare cassette tape by I’m Drinkin This tapes in August, 2008. (seriously maybe 10 copies? It’s very out of print.)
Two recordings of Candy were officially released by Slushy. The first of these is the Randy Records 7″, which was recorded by Nathan Johnson in the summer of 2012, and released in 2013.
The second to be released was actually recorded first, in January of 2012, by Shimby McCreery. This version features Doug Boldon on drums, and backing vocals by Ronnie, Ted and Jack of the Bingers, aka the Bing-Aires. It is included on the cassette versions of “Five Little Leaves”, released by Tripp Tapes in 2013.
The themes of Candy are obsession, self-restraint, insomnia, sweets, and dogs. Mostly dogs.
SF Girls/Gals was written in October, 2009 and uses the chords G, C, D, and F, with a passing F# in the chorus (daringly placed under the letter “F” in the vocal). On the demo all the tones are a whole step lower because I had a funny guitar tuning back then.
The theme of the song is a typical longing for a girl on the west coast, and the scenery and lifestyle that goes along with that type of girl: sunsets, sand, surf, and smooches.
Fun fact!
See the way they comb their hair
See the way they just don’t care
See the way they drive me wild
See the way they look so cute
See the way they point and shoot
See the way they drive me wild
I’m going out west where the sun’s the best
Going to the coast where the sun’s the most
Gonna walk around until the sun falls down
Gonna walk around with my SF Gal