John Krane: News

It's been a long time since I started this album, and the other day I realized that it's always going to be imperfect, and that if I screwed with it too much it'd actually get worse. I'm happy with it, although I do want it mastered.

Here's Sun Dog in its entirety on Bandcamp. Pay what you want.
I'm setting daily goals for this thing, starting with just 5 sales or 600 song streams today. You don't even gotta pay to help out if you don't have the scratch. Just click the link above and listen to a few tunes. I recommend "Fire Winds" and "Falling Off The End Of The World."

Thanks to everyone involved in this project--several of whom have actually bought the album, and rest assured, I'm giving your money back to you with interest next time I see your punk asses--and to everyone who had encouraging words.

Special thanks to Tony Pellock, who's an amazing artist. I used one of his sketches for the digital album cover, and if a physical version ever gets made, it'll be his art on the front of it. Tony's a great actor and his drawings are one of my favorite things to look at other than my own penis.

If you like the album, PLEASE share this link: http://johnkrane.bandcamp.com/album/sun-dog
I don't have fancy-pants marketing gurus working for me, and I'm relying entirely on word of mouth. More than anything else, the best way that you can support this album is just by emailing it to a friend or two.

Thanks, guys.

John Krane

UPDATED: A CD option has been added, for those of you with stereos less than 20 years old. It's an extra $5 because I'll be recording to cassette first and then transferring that to CD.
This is a little Fisher-Price tape recorder I bought at a Goodwill. I bought it because it looks like everyone's first tape recorder: small, ugly, and awesome. I've been using it to record song demos, and I love the intimate sound I get from it. I take the tapes with me in my car and listen to them when no one's around. It gets pretty creepy.

Of course, it's a single track tape recorder, so it's not much use for anything other than acoustic recordings. But here's the thing: I've always wanted to make a really good, cheap recording of my acoustic songs, and every time I've tried to set up the expensive mics, I get frustrated and quit. Low fidelity makes you listen harder.

I was driving around the other day listening to Dave Lee Ronk when a similar tape-recorded demo of his came on. I was thinking how cool it would be if I was the only one with that particular recording--it sounded like he was singing right to me, and what if he was? It would be like going to a Dave Lee Ronk concert every time I turned on my car.

I slammed on the brakes. The car behind me fishtailed to avoid slamming into my rear, and was quickly hit by a semi hauling oil. A massive fireball engulfed a good portion of I-64.


"That's it!" I said to myself as the screams of children filled the air. "Private cassette tape concerts!"

I'm phasing out my acoustic shows, because it's weird to ask people to be quiet while you play in a bar for two hours, but a lot of songs need the extra attention. What if you made recordings that were little concerts--not live recordings, but actual concerts intended just for the person hearing them?

So starting today, I'm offering cassette tape concerts. I'm pricing them at $25, which is less than you'd spend for a night out and less than I'd normally charge for a solo gig. For $25, here's what you get:

1. A completely 100% unique cassette recorded on that little Fisher Price guy up there. Each cassette will be made-to-order. If there's certain songs of mine you want to hear, let me know and they'll be on it. Each cassette will have 10-15 songs, recorded on acoustic guitar and maybe another instrument or two if they're hanging around. I'll put care into recording each cassette concert and vary the song choice, aspects of each performance, and do anything else I can to make each cassette different.

2. A custom-made cassette sleeve.
3. Handwritten liner notes (pretty brief) with the names of each song and few notes about what i've recorded for you (what I ate that day, how nude I was, etc.)

For $25, you get a lot of cool stuff, and I get to try a cool experiment to give people my music in a unique way.

I really hope you'll give it a shot. Remember, you spend more than $25 on a half-tank of gas. Support my music instead of driving to the doctor's office to have that thing checked out.

There's a link below to order one!

Oh, and if you don't have a cassette player but you'd be interested in a CD version of this, send me a message. It would require some doing, but if enough people are interested I'll try to put something together. And another note: I'm not going to be doing this for very long, so if you're into it, please order right away. It's going to be a ton of work, so I'd like to get all the orders in ASAP.

Thanks dudes!

SHIPPING: Don't worry about shipping. I might add a shipping charge if these tapes become super-popular, but right now they're covered by your $25.

International orders are welcome! Please add another $5 USD (extra shipping costs). International orders will ship at the end of each week; I'll send you a tracking number once they're on their way.

Choose an option

Cassette Concert with standard shipping $25.00 Cassette Concert with international shipping $30.00 CD and Cassette, standard shipping $30.00 CD and Cassette, international shipping $35.00

"I Run St. Louis."

If you haven't watched yesterday's, that one's better than this one.

Accompanied by a cat, at 4:00 in the morning, and dammit.

Only Natural. Sorry for getting these up late, but I've been on the friggin' road.

"New Mexico"


Recorded in New Mexico, with lots of poorly delivered lyrics due to the looks we were getting at that particular truck stop.

"Left Behind"

"Sane"

"Back in the Box," inspired by something my father said about some of the bullshit sitting around everywhere.

This song is about a tunnel staircase that went under a road in my town that smelled like piss and vinegar.

This one's got some coarse words.


Hey, at least I made it to the fourth day with a Christian tongue.

Also, I wear the same clothes as the last day and maybe the day before that. I promise that I'm a slob, I'm not cheating on the challenge.

Song #3 is called Death Blues, even though it's not a blues.


Reminder that if you write songs, you can start this challenge at any time, just start posting up your stuff and try not to get so frustrated that you murder a shopping mall.

The second song of this experiment is up on the YouTubes, it's called "This Year's Stuff."


I explain in the video how I wrote it. Basically, a Canadian guy was talking to his grandson, and it was confusing. I thought it was kind of funny, too. Enjoy.

I’ve been thinking about writing thirty songs for thirty days for a long time, just to kind of compel me to write more. My friend Stephen Morris and I used to try to write a song a day when we were about sixteen, and I remember that it was fun, challenging, and that most of the songs were not very good.

Well, I decided to start this project last month, then I procrastinated, and I’m starting it now.

It’s more of an exercise in songwriting than anything else, so I’m inviting a bunch of fellow songwriters in this to challenge them to join in and make this a challenge.

My first song is up, it’s called Epilogue. I’ll put up a song a day for the next thirty days.



Rules:
1. Do not talk about 30 Songs and 30 days (or do, actually, whatever)
2. Songs can be any length, and instrumentals are OK, but don't just post a note or something and call it a song
3. No posting songs that you wrote before starting the challenge
4. However, you can write two or three songs in one day if you want and then post them once per day

If you take up the challenge, just start posting videos or audio when you can and be sure to note which song you're on out of thirty. We'll all learn and grow and all of that stuff.

I'm honored to cohost the Chippewa Chapel open mic night on Thursday night. It starts at 9 P.M. at the Iron Barley Eating Establishment in St. Louis.

As one of St. Louis's most legendary open mics, the Chapel started at Frederick's Music Lounge. It's now under the Iron Barley at Fred's Six Feet Under, which is ran by Fred Friction himself.

Each performer gets two songs, so if there's someone you like, pay attention. And if you dislike someone, you only have to hear two tunes before they disappear from your eardrums.

All musicians encouraged to show up, play with friends, and drink a few cold, cheap Stags.

Also, there's a new blog section of this website, which contains nothing but this post right now. My stupid musings will be over there in due time.

Sun Dog is nearly complete, with two tracks waiting to be finished.

The tentative track order is below, although this could change by the time the album is released this Spring.

1. Sun Dog
2. Falling Off The End Of The World
3. Fire Winds
4. Stop Leading Me On
5. Brother
6. It's Alright
7. Very Bad Thing
8. Beach House
9. Elijah
10. Catch A Train
11. Moon Dog
12. From A Mourning Husband

There are a lot of strings and horns, a ton of piano, a little synth and very few drums. It's a really dark project, but I think at the core the songs have some optimism and humor in them.

Like my last album, I tried to make sure that every tune told a story, and this is a much better realization of that idea than Doris, Buzz and Friends. With that being said, it's an album about being alone from several perspectives, and it's ironic and appropriate that so many wonderful musicians have been involved in it.

I'm very sure that it will be the best thing I've ever been involved with, other than that time I saved a baby from a flaming baby-exploding machine.

There will also be segues and instrumental tracks, but we'll see how that comes together. I'm focusing on a good set of songs that's consistent from one end to the other.

Stay tuned for some exciting stuff this Spring, and check out the first released track, Stop Leading Me On, in the downloads section.

Also, a quick reminder--buy my stuff from here or iTunes. It helps me pay the bills.

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.