The Collapse of a House Party
I wrote hundreds of pop songs in my teens and 20s. I put out 30 DIY cassette albums during those years, hand distributing them to friends. (Hilarious side note: A record shop guy in Chicago discovered them decades later and thought the whole thing was real.)
And it is real in the sense that I have music samples no one else has, perfect source material to make an ambient electronica album of splices and loops. It’s a project I’ve been daydreaming about for the past 20 years. Luckily, I met local Seattle musician Rob Joynes, a kindred spirit who I quickly realized could help with this idea. We’ve been working on it for the past two years now. And using samples from my decades-ago original tunes to conjure electronic experiments, we released a 6-song EP called The Collapse of a House Party this week.
I lean dub and atmospheric. Rob leans industrial and maximalist. Settling into a cozy back and forth, we created a musical mix that I couldn’t have imagined on my own; though there is one bona fide dub ripoff, 100 Batteries, a version remake of my 1992 song, 10 Batteries. It has a King Tubby piano and bass line written by me and some 1970s dub reggae drum crash programmed by Rob.
I knew Rob was the musician who could make my remix project come true shortly after I met him three or four years ago at the burrito dive bar on the Drag where I’m a regular. He happened to be playing a homemade jump blues mix on the sound system one night. Not only did we speed bond over music (I too have a jump blues mix), but shortly after that, he helped me pull off another personal musical daydream: Having an electronic musician open at my book release party (back in May 2023) with a set of classic transit pop tunes remade as ambient techno. In sync with my mass transit poetry, Rob covered a batch of mid-1960s jams such as the Hollies’ Bus Stop, the Beatles’ Ticket to Ride, and the Impressions’ People Get Ready (There’s a train a-coming). That success led me to ask him if he’d team up with me on my fantasy remix project.
With a legit crowd in the house, we released The Collapse of a House Party on Sunday night (10/26) at Tailwind Cafe, the coffee shop affiliated with Goodweather bikes.
We were supposed to do the EP release show at Mosswood Loft, a clandestine arts spot for DIY shows, but they recently got a complaint; probably from a nosy mom who saw her kid’s band play there if I had to venture a guess.
“There is an apartment …. it appears to be a residence that also serves as a DIY events space, I have concerns related to capacity and…safety ….”
True mensches, the Mosswood folks nonetheless came to the rescue by booking us last minute at Tailwind and even running sound. Expertly.
EP release show & TED Talk, Tailwind Cafe, 10/26/25.
It was a magical night. For continuity, Rob reprised his ambient version of Ticket to Ride. And we played a couple of my old tunes together live on guitars and keyboard (ones we sample on the EP), Black Sabbath Boots and Anne & I. Rob also gave a charming TED Talk, using clips of my original samples and snippets from the project-in-process to demonstrate how we built the new tracks. To start the show: Rob opened with some of his own low-fi crunchy electric guitar pop songs. And I read some new poems.
We also cued up and listened to some of my old recordings, including an adorable high school song (where I sneered with a British accent) and a live track from my early-1990s band. The later started with a little stage banter, echoing exactly what was happening right there on stage at Tailwind. It wasn’t planned. I put my hand on my heart and pointed to my old voice in amazement. The crowd seemed agog too. …
Here’s the EP: The Collapse of a House Party.
And we’ve also released the original tracks that these new tunes are based on: Source Materials.