[Kevin] When we recorded this song at Q-Division, I didn't have all the lyrics written, so I just mumbled my way through the verses. The engineer thought I was singing about magic beans and wrote that down as the song title. I sang the "real" lyrics at the next session, but it still sounds like I'm mumbling. Kevin sings. Josh plays bass.
Recorded at Fort Apache with Brian Dunton. One of our oldest songs. It was once called "Beach" and had a wave-like opening, which we abandoned somewhere along the way. Dave sings.
Recorded at Q-Division. Dave sings. Josh plays bass.
Loosely based on childhood recollections. Our unpleasant neighbors left a gun on our porch one night. Dad had to come home from work to pick it up, and we all were a little frightened. Kevin sings. Michelle plays bass and sings backup.
[Kevin] I started playing the chords to this song one day at practice (yeah, we used to practice) and we kind of liked the sound we got so decided to build it into a song. I didn't have any lyrics at first, but I had a thing for "Louie Likes His Daily Dip" by the Tall Dwarfs. That was the placeholder lyric until it became "Keddy loves her short wave kit". The name of the song had stuck by then.
Seana Carmody sings backup!
Dave sings. Please — let him make you cry.
This song was recorded for the unrealized Nancy Drew project for Handsome Records. That's Chris Daltry singing at the very begriming and "interjecting" at the end. Each band in the project was assigned a chapter from a Nancy Drew book to use as the basis for a song. They'd all be assembled to make an album version of the book. Too bad it was never finished.
[Kevin] I was really excited to get the chapter title "The Frightened Fancier". Later I found out it was really "The Frightened Financier". I like this title better.
Kevin and Dave sing. Kevin Sweeney was visiting and stopped by the studio when we were recording this song. We recruited him to shout "Utah", even though he didn't know what the song was about. Neither do we.
Only band members get to hear Dave sing this song in the style of Jello Biafra.
This is another song recorded for a Handsome Records project — More Hot Rocks — which was completed. Each band was assigned a song title from the Rolling Stones album and asked to write a song with the same title. This one is a little less celebratory than the Stones tune.
[Kevin] I have a thing for nuclear weapons. And secrets.
Dave sings this song about the teenage kid who used to be on TV. Recorded at Fort Apache. Blake Hazard sings backup. Kevin plays the trumpet and sounds like a teenage boy who's voice is changing.
When we first started playing together, we played a lot of simple pop songs. We also had a few song that required us to remember a bunch of different parts. If we didn't play those songs enough times, we all forgot our parts. This one we managed to remember.
Brian Dunton plays the Rhodes. Seana Carmody sings backup.