leftovers

This video is so good I just have to share it.

My other band, Invisible Material, recorded our first EP last night at Freedom Studio in Granada Hills. In this band, I play live drums, which is a new and fun thing for me. Now you may be thinking, how can Devin be in another band when he already does so much? Ha ha. Well I have to make time for everything in my life but I've always done that so it's nothing new. The thing is, my brother Brandon has been in every band I've ever been in. I love writing and performing with Brandon better than anyone else. He has such a natural sense of music and he's not at all egotistical or possessive of music, and he has worked so hard at it. He taught himself guitar and production and live sound tech type stuff that I have no clue about. Brandon was the brave one who decided we needed to form our first band back when I was in college, and had it not been for him, I don't know if I would have ever made the leap from wanting to be in a band to actually doing it. So, Brando...

In keeping with (a new) tradition, here is my 2 nd annual top 10 songs of the year chart! 2008 was a weird year for me, musically. I focused a lot on old music, what with the reissues of all the Thompson Twins albums (including the little-known first two) being released, and mining the catalogues of Boy George and Deborah Harry on some whim. Also, the dramatic changes happening within my own band lead to a lot of friction with our new album which we have been recording since December of 2006. Add to that the arrival of the first new studio album from The B-52's in sixteen years, and my being open to listening to some new, current bands this year, and you'll see that the result is an eclectic and varied list. Honorable Mention: Panic at the Disco - Nine in the Afternoon I had to cut out a few songs off my initial list to get it down to 10, and while this one ended up being cut, I had to give it honorable mention, not so much on it's own merits, but because of the alb...

I can't say I'm going to miss 2008. Not to be a bummer, but it was a really difficult year. Lots of crappy things happened. Some really cool, great things happened too, but often they were overshadowed or marred by the bad. I don't let it get me down, though; I keep moving on. Some years are amazing, and those years wouldn't be as special if it weren't for the years that are bummers. It's funny too, because "8" is my favorite number. Anyway, between my brother and I, we have pretty much blogged about all the highs and lows of 2008 already, so I'm not going to go into detail here. What I do want to do is write about how I spent the holidays, with my family back home in Kansas. Dylan and I flew out on the evening of Dec. 23rd and we stayed through New Year's Day, returning to LA on Jan. 2. So, it was a nice long trip and a great vacation. Christmas Eve was spent with my entire family, enjoying our time together and watching a video I had...