First off:

>If Steve did something similar on the recording of "Fist On Fist" that you
>have, I think we'd essentially have out "Slaves and Bulldozers," which, as
>you know, I think is an amazing tune...the best of Soundgarden's catalog
>and, perhaps, the best piece of work in the Grunge cannon.

If you like the song that much (I rank it high as well, though not on top) you should hear the live version on the BadMotorVision video Pat has that was a promo for the album. They end the show with it, and stretch it the way I always wanted to stretch Fist On Fist. At one point in the very vamped-out bridge he starts singing the first verse of Pearl Jam's Alive.

Now, more importantly:

>I'd expect that my musical pursuits would be a continuing part of my life,
>though they certainly seem to be at a low ebb here. In any event, I imagine
>I'll take another whack at the tunes at some point in my life, just 'cause I
>think they're pretty cool.

This got me thinking about briefly getting us back together some day....
Followed by:

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY RIDEAUX:

>... I remember one day when Pat was around and Drummer Dave was working, so he
>took a crack at some of those old tunes....it was really quite interesting,
>because we got to the point of playing this tune (Sweaty Worm). Since it w
as >new, we basically had
>to show it to Pat and it seemed like something worth working on, anyhow,
>instead of playing "Women" for the 80,000th time. And I was just wholly
>impressed with the way he played the tune....it was cool listening to the
>tune swing a litle more, with a few extra knocks here and there. It was a
>little more like I visualized it, and I'm sure a good recording of what we
>played that day would be one I'd really like to hang on to.

>... that day in the garage underscored a few things. That
>Pat and I actually got good togther was obvious. That is, we both developed
>individual sounds, but we developed musical vocabularies (at least in a rock
>context), for the most part, playing with each other.

>...listen to that
>very first version of "Aces High" on "Aggregate Sum Vol. I,"
>...move forward
>a few volumes, Pat's kicking everyone's ass around. He developed a style
>that I would call "jazzier" than a normal rock band drum sound. And my
>playing wasn't that far from there, really. his
>improvisational streak gave me a wonderful direction to take my
>hyper-aggressive jazz interests....which worked because I was hearing
>something similar from Pat. The nuance and delivery of the tunes was very
>jazzy, even though the songs were most clearly in a rock/metal vein. There
>was a rhythmic and harmonic sophistication going on that just didn't exist
>at the beginning of the band.

>And Pat was always fun to watch. One thing I never REALLY noticed until I
>played with a few other drummers. He's tremendously fluid and he plays really
>musical ideas, which always made playing with him a blast.

You know, seeing him again recently (Mike and I went to his pad in Venice a month ago for a party they were having, we met his wife, etc.) made me realize how little I knew him. He was always the quieter member, asserting what he wanted for his drumming, but never getting in anyone else's way. We talked more in the two hours I was there than probably the whole time we spent together in the band.

I'm an engineer, not a musician, and I know that! I never considered my singing worthy of what you guys were doing, though I stand behind my lyrical skills. I honestly think of the Adam/Pat/Sam core of Premonition to be one of my all-time favorite bands, and not because I was in it!!! The way the personalities conflicted on how to approach the music was why those songs were so good, but at the same time the lack of any "image" orientation, and any real drive for pleasing others more than ourselves musically, doomed us to non-success and non-popularity. That wasn't our goal, or at least we all percieved such a goal in different ways.

But as for pleasing ourselves, I'd love to stick the four of you (yes, even Plunkett) in a room together again, even if everyone would be scared of handing me a microphone. I'd just kick back and listen to you jam!!

>And, since I wrote part of the song, I think I have to defend "Women." I
>mean, it's OBVIOUSLY the most "LA Rock" out of all the songs we wrote.
>BUT....I found a song that
>was a little more sophisticated than I'd first thought, especially for Day
>Two of Sam and Adam as a (real) songwriting team
>... And it actually sounded far less dated than I
>thought it would....but it all ties back to that delivery issue. Pat and I
>took the song in a slightly different direction, and, I think, really
>annexed the tune, which was originally VERY guitar-driven. If Daynon had
>the son of a bitch, I think I'd likely be embarrased by it.

Like I said, even at the lowest points, all the Premonition tunes are GREAT songs that I'm proud to have been part of.

>Which brings me back to another point. I'm still not sold on your lyrics.
>... I feel
>very strongly that homophobia is a bad thing. A very bad thing
. >I'm up for laughing at any good joke and
>appreciate the wordplay in the song, but the joke sits on a philosophical
>foundation I don't agree with.

It was 1989, I was 20, new to California AND urban living. From that perspective, my argument stands up and I wouldn't call the song homophobic.

But...

The listener wouldn't know any of that, and YES it's fucking homophobic!
And more importantly, I'M NOT!!!
It's 1997, I'm 26, married with two children, settled in a domestic setting, and can no longer justify those lyrics. So, in essence, as great as the song is, it's still dated, both musically and lyrically. Ironically, it's also the only one I have a FINAL mix of that I can truly be proud of how it sounds.

>"Epoch" is a hell of a song, but I think I forgot how indulgent the song
>must sound to someone who's not a fan of the band. It works well, has a
>few different lyrical and musical ideas to chew on, features some pretty
>intense playing, and it
>really takes you on a ride. And it doesn't really let up.

From the day we played it at Chexx, that has been by far my favorite song! Not so much because there was anything special about that performance. It's just that we had just recently finished the thing, and that show really confirmed for ME that we were an actual band that people would listen to, not some guys jamming in a garage for ourselves. For me, Epoch is a song that needs to be presented, to be PERFORMED for an audience. With all it's complexity, I think it really had (has?) the potential to emotionally move people. I can't say that for Traveler or Women or Lonely Girl. Those are songs. Epoch is a composition!

>"The Premonition" really slays. It's also a little bit stuck in place and
>time, too, though. I hear Megadeth, circa "Holy Wars"...and I really used
>some Steve Harris-like lines in the song. So it's a late-80's/early-90's
>heavy tune, to my ears. I still like that stuff, and prog bands like Altura
>and Shadow Gallery are still playing music that sounds a little like that,
>so I don't really think it's dated as such. But it IS something whose most
>receptive audience probably existed in 1991 or 1992.

True enough, I guess. I just think that with all the time changes and such, it's pretty progressive for as heavy as it is. Justice is a progressive album, but not as heavy as Kill 'Em All, so to speak. The Premonition manages to capture both the Slayer agression and the Rush detail, which is very cool to me.

>... I think they ALL
>actually stand up pretty well. That's the one thing I came away with.
>That aggressive but melodic framework still appeals, I think.
>Premonition was a band that wasn't much about image,
>and, in fact, celebrated the composition of music that reflected what we
>were into, rather than some attempted cash grab. And integrity, I think, is
>timeless.

I think everything else I've said clearly agrees.

And that last statement deserves repeating:

Integrity is timeless.

The Guru....

Excerpt One -- Excerpt Two -- Excerpt Four
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