This might end up being just the four NY-area fleshers, but I hope people from all over the world will meet up and rock out! I'm the bass-playing flesher from the NYC area who is swamped until September. :D:

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I too hope that there will be worldwide rocking! :DDDDD

I am back in NYC probably sometime around the fifth of September, so your timeline sounds good to me, bb.

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Awesome! And remind me, you play guitar and your roommate is learning drums? I have two friends who have mentioned to me that they'd like to sing if I ever got a rock group together, and they will be around in September. So if we wanted additional vocals-only people we're probably set (one of them prefers to sing soprano and one prefers to sing alto). We totally have the right people for a rock band if we want one. \o/

We can always have more though...where are you, lolnecticut flesher? And the southern and western fleshers? :D

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Here I am! :DDD I can play anything for the most part (piano, guitar, bass. My drums are a little sketchy, but moastly okay), and sing kind of not too too terribly, plus I know enough about theory and mixing that I can write music and mix it. So whatever you need I'm pretty much good for. The only problem is that I'm in eastern Connecticut, so it would be kind of a drive for me to come up to up.

-the lolnecticut Flesher

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That's ok, bb! I am not sure if my drumming frand is interested. We have been talking about a band forever but when I was all :D? :D? at her about it she went DDDDDDDD:, so I will keep you updated. I play guitar, but I am a failbot at it. I can do the rhythm parts, though, and I swear I will be much better by the time I'm back in the area. I also write a little, but I'd probably be more useful lyrically than musically. I am generally of the simple chord progressions + fingerpicking + hammer-on! = song! school of music writing. /o\

We could start sending each other snippets of stuff now, if you wanted/weren't too busy. Ben Gibbard totally pulled it off through snailmail. We can do it through the power of DW/e-mail/IM/whatever at whatever pace works for us! Then when we're all free again, we'll have a head start. This could also work generally since I know it's a long drive for you, lolnecticut flesher, and perhaps our fleshers in other lolcations could join in then. Hobviously we need to practice together in person, but this way we could stay connected in between. How busy are you, bassist!flesher? I don't want to put any more pressure on you at all, so putting a hold on everything until fall is fine too, bb. Or, if you aren't that invested in the writing process, perhaps lolnecticut flesher and I can start working and whenever you get less busy, you could check in? IDK, I don't want to leave you out of anything either. Most indecisive and unhelpful, I know. /o\

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Unfortunately I am really not available until September. After that my schedule will be flexible, but until then I can't take on any more real life commitments. I like the idea of keeping in touch here and trading audio/video, though.

Do you guys use iChat? We might be able to video chat some "rehearsals" with people in different locations. Not ideal, but we could try.

If you guys want to write, go for it! I was thinking we could also pick a couple songs to cover, and I could practice those when I had little bits of time available between now and September. What do you think?

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That is totally, totally understandable, bb. Would trading audio/video be too stressful? I am going to come off as a total loser here, but I know that when I get really busy, sometimes even the thought of needing to email someone can add to my stress. So please do not feel as if that is the goal of any of this!

I don't have iChat- will it run if you aren't on an Apple? I don't even have a webcam. However, I've been meaning to invest in one- I do have skype! :D? :D? And I am more than up for vid-chatting rehearsals. I tried to practice with a flesher via skype, and I think we'd need to make sure we had headphones for everyone else's audio and then it might work. Uh, I can ask some of the sound techs I know if they have any suggestions?

That would be good! What bands were you thinking, bb?

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Yeah, after this weekend I will pretty much not resurface until September. I'll check in here, but I can't promise to do anything that would take more than 10 minutes.

iChat works with AIM, so I think PC people can do AIM video chat with iChat people. I'm not sure though. All the people I chat with use iChat on macs. We could try Google talk instead - I haven't tried that so I don't know how fast it is. I haven't used Skype but I'm willing to try it (in September). :D

For song ideas, I will make a new reply since this one is getting smooshed over to the side.

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Like I said, don't worry about it, bb! We understand. :D

Aha! I can try that. Google talk would work too, as would skype video. We'd have to figure out conference calling and such on google talk, though, since I don't much use it either.

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I came up with a really long list of songs I've always wanted to play with a group, but then I thought about it, and we should choose something fun and easy to start with, so we don't get frustrated.

I think a couple Hey Monday songs would be good - they are pretty simple but fun to play. I'd suggest Candles, Run Don't Walk, &/or How You Love Me Now.

I also kind of love The Sounds - Tony the Beat, and that one's pretty easy.

We could also try the lullaby from Folie a Deux as a guitar duet/trio if you guys were interested...?

Crookedspin, I don't know if you've said, do you play acoustic, electric, or both? And keyofg, we might need you for percussion, but Candles and Tony both have keyboard parts if you would be interested in those.

Just suggestions...what do you guys think?

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I love playing Hey Monday. They really are simple songs and a ton of fun. Question- are we going to yank tabs from ultimate-guitar or something or are we going to work up our own versions? Sometimes the tabs online will randomly be transposed into a different key or whatever, so we should try to make sure we're all playing the same version of the song, if that makes sense? I haven't heard much of The Sounds, but I am more than willing to give it a spin.

I am most definitely interested in that lullaby. :DDDDD

I play both, though I practice most often on my acoustic and am thus better at it. I also play classical, though I've only just started and I'm not sure what use we'd have for a classical guitar.

I might also suggest some other FOB songs. I think it would also be lolzy to cover Gives You Hell, in the event that we ever played for other fleshers. >:)

Do we want to work on any non-bandom songs? I would not be opposed to a Third Eye Blind cover or a Bright Eyes cover or whatever. There are a few Tegan & Sara songs I always wanted to play with someone else, too. I am a bit of a genre-hopper and always up for new music, so whatever you both want to do is awesome.

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Hey guys, I'm pretty much away until September now (you didn't see me here if anyone asks!), but if you'd like you can leave the names of any of the other songs you were interested in, and I can try my best to check them out. I think we can work out Gives You Hell, but to achieve the full effect, someone has to play shaker and look really bored while doing it!

The Lullaby chords on UG sound fine to me (G/Cadd9/D/Cadd9, C/G/D). We should definitely play that one together on acoustic.

If you need to contact me by email you can use effcleff at gmail. I hope you guys are able to get together this summer! :D

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IA with playing Hey Monday songs. I'm a big fan of their music too, so I'd love to play some of their stuff. As for The Sounds, I don't listen to them too much but I'm up for it. I think at first maybe tabs at first, just so we can feel each other out? I'd probably take keyboard for those too, because as far as drums, I don't really have a reliable kit to practice on at the moment. My keyboard is less reliable but it'll do, and I've been playing for 8 years and I'd probably feel more comfortable. But if we need a drummer more, I can become an amazing drummer for you guys :D

&Lullaby idea; :DDDD

I'm totally up for any song. How do you guys feel about the Beatles? I know lol The Beatles. But I know most of their catalog by heart (/o\), and most of their songs are really easy. A lot of chords and easy strumming and such.

I second the FOB songs, and the Gives You Hell cover. The lolzy qualities alone are reason enough.

Maybe we can all make a list and then compare and pick and choose maybe? :D? That way we can see where are musical preferences lie, and at the same time learn some new songs to cover :D

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I am so sorry I haven't been around! But yes, those all sound like good ideas. I am always up for the Beatles. ALWAYS.

Also, would it be easier to take it to gmail or possibly gchat/im/your client of choice should we be able to get on at the same time? My sock is sockymcsocker@gmail.com- for some reason I feel as though it would be easier/faster to figure this out in real time. (We can either post here what we end up deciding or forwarding chatlogs to effcleff, if that sounds okay?)

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So it's almost September and I figured I'd check in with you guys! I didn't get as much writing done as I wanted this summer but I have been working on some of the songs we were talking about. I'm set on Hey Monday stuff and the lullaby though I admit that I haven't had a chance to check out that Sounds' song yet. (I will do that tonight, though!)

I'll be back in the area soon. Do we want to maybe get together and jam so we can check how we mesh?

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Hey! I have good news and I have bad news...the good news first? I had an awesome opportunity offered to me and I'm going to be traveling a lot in September and December! The bad news...I'm going to be traveling a lot in September and December. So when I said I'd be back in September, it looks more like October now. I'm still interested, but I'll be away most of September. I also haven't been playing much, but hopefully I can take my wee little mandolin along with me and not be totally out of it when I get back to NYC. Let me know if you're still interested in getting together later in the fall, but I understand if you all want to see other people. :)

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