John Krane: News

My friend Bradley, who's in a great band called The Palace Flophouse, sent me a nice note today that I thought I'd share with you.

Hey,
I have a quick anecdotal story. I was listening to your CD (which is fucking good) in my car while driving around with one of the autistic people I work with and this is the conversation that took place...also he speaks in a thick Cajun accent which is somehow important.

Him-who is this?
Me-John Krane
Him-Oh, this is John Krane. I didn't know this was John Krane.
Me- You like it?
Him- Yeah. John Krane's singing for the good.

Keep singing for the good, man.

Thanks, Brad!

John Krane and Fred Friction play next Tuesday (August 31st) at Cummel's Cafe in the U-City Loop in STL. We start around 9. As I've said before, it's a Fred show--I'm just backing him up. If you haven't heard Fred Friction and you live in St. Louis, then I don't approve of the choices that you've been making in life, son.

I'm going to get better about updating this page, since I'm paying for it. I see on my big ol' traffic counter that we're getting a very, very decent number of visitors every day, and I appreciate that.

But as for tonight, it's late, so, well, fuck you. Shoot me an email at johnkrane@gmail.com if there's any specific type of content that you'd like to see up here, and I'll do what I can.

Oh, and I'm looking for a drummer and bassist in St. Louis, so if you read this and you're one of those and you've got some serious time to devote to playing, email me.

I rarely post other people's music on here, but that might change soon. This one's too good not to share.



I love how his bravado just kind of degenerates during the song. Buy Cee-lo's stuff.

I've got a track from Sun Dog for everyone to hear. I know I've been talking about this album on here for over a year--some of you care, some of you don't. I'm firmly in the "I don't care" camp, to be honest. But it's getting close, and I thought an update would be a wise thing.

The track is called "Stop Leading Me On."

Musicians:

Garrett Schmitt - Trumpet, fake drums (he mainly hit a banjo head)
Emma Tiemann - Violin, vegetarianism
Katie Jones - Violin, yelling the word "Go"
Jason Koenig - Bass
Nathan Jatcko - Organ
John Krane - Vocals, Guitar

Before you ask, everyone wrote their own parts for this, meaning that Katie and Emma arranged those intricate violin parts and Garrett arranged those fantastic trumpets. I'm really thankful to these fucking awesome musicians who took the time to come play on my silly song. In particular, Garrett, Katie, and Emma spent about 6 hours each recording, which ain't always easy to budget into a week, y'know? And Nathan traveled from goddamn Chicago to play on this and another song (well, he was in town for something else, but it still counts). Jason learned the song at night and plugged in the bass line in at most 3 takes, and two of them were spent on one particular 8 second section. Anyone who has recorded before knows that to record that quickly and accurately requires enormous musicianship.

So yeah, I'm kissing ass, but that's because I'm very happy with how this one is turning out. I think it's due, don't you? By the time that this album is done, it's going to be incredible, and I say that without arrogance because I'm able to work with these fucking geniuses.

Here's what I know about the album:

- Lots of strings & horns
- Very few electric instruments, even fewer electronic instruments
- It's a theme album (but every decent album is sort of a theme album, really)
- It will be divided into two sides, and feature lots of tracks that run together and all of that theatrical stuff
- It might be on vinyl? Depends on whether people would buy it. Let me know if this is something you'd want. Email me at john krane @ gmail. Then put a dot com, or something. Look, you'll figure it out.

I hope some people listen to this and enjoy it. I'm going to try not to get over-excited and keep putting demos up for listens/downloads until the whole thing's done, so this will be the last thing up for a while.

And if you want to support this album and help it get done more quickly, donate on the "Buy Stuff" page.

Or, buy my acoustic album, Acoustic Songs That Kill You If You Don't Buy Them, off of iTunes or your favorite online music store.

Later!

Hey, all. New shows will be listed soon, so be sure to check the calendar.

The album's moving along at a slug's pace. A slug is a small bug thing.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates~

Haiti needs help right now, and if you're not Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh, you've probably got enough of a heart to want to help. For whatever reason, though, you might not have gotten the opportunity. I know how it is.

But check it out, here's a website you can go to in order to make a donation: Operation Smile.

Go there and donate anything--anything at all--and forward the receipt to johnkrane at gmail dot com, and I'll send you a track from my upcoming album and add your name to the liner notes. Just to make it fun, the amount you donate will correspond to the size of the text. So if you donate $1,000, the entire album cover will pretty much be your name.

Please help the people if you can.

Part of my routine with this website is to check for new links, as they let me brag about good reviews and cry in the shower about bad ones.

I ran across a Spanish website today that linked to the main page here. One poster copied the DB album cover (without the title of the album, of course, no sense in crediting an image you're stealing):



And another promptly posted:




As one commenter put it: "ajjajja, qué brutal, Scrapp".

But that is so awesome. I just wish I knew who the water-drinking guy is. My hope is that he's the Spanish, water-drinking, tubby form of Brad Pitt with a longer wiener who makes more money.

Alas, I unfortunately look a lot more like the kid from Bruce Almighty, a movie made famous by nobody seeing it. I give you Johnny Simmons:

And me:



_{Lettuce pray.}

I decided to fly out to Johnny Simmons house this week. Our exchange:

JS: Did you have to knock so hard, Jesus, my mom's gonna...holy crap, you're ugly!
ME: Hey, same to you. I'm you from the future!
JS: What? No you're not!
ME: Yes I am.
JS: Prove it.
ME: OK, fine, let's see...you're going through awkward times and you have acne. You have sex in cars and you don't like your parents.
JS: Oh my god...it's uncanny...
ME: Also, your penis is enormous.
JS: What? Not really.
ME: Then you must tell people that it is enormous. Start thinking of metaphors.
JS: This doesn't make any sense...
ME: Like, my penis is like the swine flu on super-steroids, because it's big enough t---
JS: Ok, ok, why are you here?
ME: I'm here to warn you, Johnny Simmons.
JS: Is it about my pubis?
ME: No, that is fine. In fact, it is enormous, too. I have come here to warn you about starring in Evan Almighty. You must not do this.
JS: Uh....I was already in that. I didn't exactly star. But that was 2007.
ME: Then I am...too late...oh, Lord, let my enormous penis save me from this!
JS: You're not really me from the future.
ME: Yes, I am! Now away, in my Back To The Future style car!
JS: That's not a DeLorean. That's not even your car. That's one of mine. Give it back.
ME: Did you have sex in it?
JS: No.
ME: Then goodbye! Away I must go! To, the, Future!
JS: And I saw you slip your album into my mailbox. Take that out. I'm not listening to that crap. I saw what they wrote on the Spanish discussion boards.
ME: Maybe you should go star in more family-friendly Apocalypse films.
JS: It's, like, so obvious you didn't see the movie.
ME: It's so obvious you don't read your scripts.
JS: At least I can book time in a real recording studio.
ME: Well, it's been nice chatting with you, Mr. Johnny Simmons. Any last words?
JS: EVERYONE SHOULD BUY YOUR ALBUM BECAUSE IT'S SO AWESOME! ALSO NILSSON COVER!!

Meanwhile, new album's on track for a possible December release. We'll keep you updated.

Not like the Staind song.

So, what has I been up to? Studying grammar of mine, to be sure. Also, working on my new album, Sun Dog, which will have a killer song up here very soon.

I'm also issuing a call: anyone who wants to be on this album can. You don't have to be very good at an instrument (hell, I'm not), you just have to have an idea. Email me at johnkrane at johnkranemusic dot com if you've got recording equipment and you want to be part of an epic CD, or if you're around the St. Louis area and want to drop by to record something.

Of course, I have final call on how the sounds are used on the CD, but no one cannot contribute. I'm especially looking for a good female singer and any concert instruments.

The response so far on my Facebook page (add me by searching John Krane on Facebook) has been pretty spectacular. Tentatively, this album will involve a full set o strings, numerous bassists and guitarists and drummers, Polish lyrics, Polish singers, clarinets, flutes, odd ambient sounds, and more. Get in on it.

King Of Pop

Michael Jackson is dead at 50, no doubt due to some weird circumstances or a medical condition that will be clearly detailed by the media over the next few months. Jokes are rolled out--he's starring in Thriller 2, little boys' pants are being flown at half-mast, etc, etc.

The thing about this is, people should not mourn the passing of the man Michael Jackson. Dude was, at worst, a pedophile, and at best a weird dude with some goddamned kids. He can be pitied or hated, or if you're feeling really empathetic you can blame that noise on his dad. Not my game, but do what you'll do.

The music should be remembered, though. This was a dude who made Free Willy 2's soundtrack shine. He was the best child prodigy since Mozart, yeah, I said it, bringing soul music to new heights when it was already at new heights, and the dude could barely piss in a toilet. Thriller and Bad were completely brilliant. He may be the only pop artist to become as popular as the Beatles while still being artistically valid. Sure, he was commercial, too, and weird as hell, but that doesn't affect the music.

When I heard that the King of Pop died, I could have cared less. He's not making another Bad. I have no desire to buy his new products and endorse his fucked up ideas and fucked up life. My first feeling was relief--awesome, he's done. He can't do anything else. No more Jacko.

It made me go watch the Thriller video again, though, and somewhere during those electrifying 14 minutes I thought to myself, damn, we should have been mourning for the last 20 years. Because somewhere along the line, a musical genius died, and it sure as hell wasn't of heart failure yesterday.

You got guys like John Lennon, who was by all rights an asshole, and you can say, "it's alright, because he tried to better himself and helped move peace forward." And that's completely true. And you've got guys like Phil Spector, who is an asshole, and you can say, "looking back on his contributions, they really weren't that great, and we realize that now that he shot a woman." Fine.

Michael Jackson, though, was a genius who spun too far out of control, and he may have been a terrible, awful, or simply misguided human being in his last few years, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying when he looks up at his date with cat eyes and yells "GET AWAY!". It doesn't stop your feet from moving involuntarily, tracing out invisible light-up flooring. It doesn't stop your mind from instantly queing up the music, including every single instrument down to the most minute detail, when you read the words "I Want You Back," in this article, little Michael's voice swooping up to hit the high notes and making little girls swoon all over the country, back when it wasn't all creepy for him to want that to happen.

And yeah, there are the trials, the masks, the balconies, the fires, the Pepsi, the Jesus juice, the monkeys, but let's keep that in a different annex of our little culture, okay? Let's mock the man all we want, but don't miss out on the music just because the dude was weird.

First demo from the new upcoming album, Sun Dog:

Thanks to the British podcastDalecast for playing three of my songs in a row on the show the other night. If anyone would like to put my music on your podcast, please feel free.

One of my favorite songs that I've written, very old, though. Another live one from The Wedge in St. Louis.

Speaking of St. Louis, anyone in the area should be sure to check out my band, Japanese Bat Bomb, playing this Thursday at the Stagger Inn in Edwardsville.

Here's a Leonard Cohen song, from a live set in St. Louis.



Leonard Cohen writes the best songs, is all.

Doris, Buzz and Friends Digital Download is on sale on this here website that you're on right now, only $5. Buying it helps me get the new album done.

Just click that button, and be sure to put your email address in the "comments" space. You'll get a link to download the album in your email shortly. Paypal is the most trusted online purchasing company in the world, so your information's safe.

Well, thanks to you guys, Doris, Buzz and Friends has had a very successful run since I'd released it last summer. There are thousands of downloads on torrent sites, and sales have been solid, too.

I figured it's time to start something new, something way more acoustically centered and bigger, and something that can be performed more easily live.

I've begun writing a new album that will hopefully be finished sometime in March. No working title yet.

Getting it duplicated will take some extra time (apparently CDs cost money), but check back here frequently--I'll start posting mp3s and demos, and if you're subscribed to the mailing list, you'll get a free single soon.

Thanks to all of you that come to the site--traffic's been really spiking. Especially from China, for some reason. To the Chinese viwers, 嗎/吗!

Note: I got bored, so I wrote this to help the writers of Scrubs save time when writing their television series.

(Cure something from Iron and Wine, or Feist, or The Shins, or Iron And Wine Featuring The Shins and Feist)

JD: You know, sometimes, friends will be there for you...

(cut to shot of Turk frowning. A hand appears on his shoulder. He smiles.)

Sometimes, they can't be.

(cut to shot of Turk frowning. No hand appears on his shoulder. He is a very sad surgeon.)

Sometimes, they want to be, but can't.

(cut to shot of Turk frowning. That one asshole doctor looks over. You can tell that he wants to comfort Turk. He doesn't. Both of them look sad.)

But in the end, what really matters is that they support you.

(cut to shot of Turk frowning, then smiling, then walking away. JD does the same. Outlandish last joke inserted right at the end to mix it up in some episodes. Other episodes are far too serious. Cut to a shot of someone dying instead, or Zach Braff finding something serious out and saying, "Oh, damn..." right as the music hits the last chord).

(Fade to emo)

Some ads have been added to the pages to help pay for the costs. You can help out by buying a CD for one of your loved ones, eh?

New music coming soon.

(buy my record)

All kidding aside, I'm completely OK with the fact that a walrus playing a saxophone will make more money than I ever will.

Some people don't have $10 to spend at iTunes, or think that 192Kbps sucks. So, I've added this option: for only $5 (via Paypal, the safest money-exchange platform on the Internet), you get Doris, Buzz and Friends in high-quality mp3 with newly written liner notes and CD art. You'll also get an exclusive track, not available ANYWHERE. Not even at your mother's house.

Click this button to buy with any debit or credit card.

And if you've already bought the album, and you don't want to pay for it again, shoot me an email (johnkrane at gmail dot com) and I'll hook you up.

As many of my hits are coming from For The Love of Harry, a Harry Nilsson blog, and much of the coverage of Doris, Buzz and Friends centers around how I'm wearing Harry Nilsson's robe in the cover of the iTunes version of that album, I thought it'd be appropriate to post a few words about the one and only Harry Nilsson--mainly for those of you who haven't heard him.

In the summer of 2006, I bought a copy of Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson after reading a good review of the re-release. The album was all over the place. The first two tracks are Beatlesque pop that are as catchy as anything written by the friggin' Beatles themselves, followed by a quiet blues number, a very Beach Boys inspired lullaby, hammering rock, the blueprint of the modern rock ballad (Without You), novelty songs, everything.

I instantly loved it. I listened to it while walking to school, while dropping out of school, while in love, while my band broke up. Every time my life changed, Nilsson had a song for it, always in good humor, always beautiful, always perfect.

I bought Son of Schmilsson, soon after, and I realized that humor has a place in serious music. This cat was different--he'd sing, "You're breaking my heart, you're tearing it apart / So fuck you!", but without any of the venom that the lyric would indicate. And he'd make it real.

I own nearly every recording that Nilsson ever made, and when his treasured robe went up for auction, I bought that too--partially because I was drunk, yes, but mainly because I'm unashamed for my affection of the man's music. He embodies everything I've wanted in music; humor, love, perversity, hedonism, sweetness, pop. Perfection.

In his later years, his recordings got rougher, his pristine voice began to fail, but his personality always came through. Nilsson isn't all that I listen to, but he's absolutely a crucial find for any musician who hasn't yet discovered that the heart of a song lies in the heart of an artist.

So Nilsson is important. That's that. I hope you find the time to check him out.