Day 2: It's You
This song is a parody of Taylor Swift, who, while being a very capable songwriter, seems to have a common tone of “I’m awesome, and you suck, and we were together, and now we’re not” in a lot of her early and mid-period songs. I say this as someone who has actually bothered to listen to much of Taylor Swift’s catalog, and has a modicum of respect for her work, and isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Maybe.
Simultaneously, the production elements of this song are a tribute to songwriter Max Martin, from the poppy guitar tone, to the relatively sparse instrumentation, to the drum patterns, to the simple yet funky slap bass. Speaking of bass…
That’s right, today’s character profile is on Zac “The Champagne of Beers” Howard. Zac is actually the most recent addition to the band, with a rather interesting origin story.
Ryan and I were gearing up for the single launch show for our song “Loveseat” back in May of 2016 any way we could. We put up flyers, did livestreams, and above all else, played as many open mics as possible around Orlando. One of these open mic nights was (and still is) known for letting just about anybody onstage, and we do mean ANYBODY. Naturally, the evening is always a cavalcade of interesting, and often bizarre characters, but none stood out more to us that evening than Zac.
Eschewing the standard open mic setup of an acoustic guitar, Zac played all of his songs on an acoustic bass, with an incredibly fluid slap style. What’s more, his sense of humor and musical perspective were unique and wonderful. While he slapped and spoke/sang his way through Primus’s “Tommy the Cat”, Ryan leaned over and whispered “We should get this guy play bass for us!”. While I loved Zac’s style, playing, and temperament, we already had a bassist, though both Ryan and I agreed that Zac would be a great choice for a sub, should we ever need one.
Talking him up after his set, we got acquainted with Zac, then parted ways. 2 weeks later, we had just finished a successful single launch show, when our bassist told us that he had to leave the group for financial reasons. While we were fine with his decision, we had a big show less than two weeks from that evening! Zac learned 8 songs over those two weeks, nailed his first show, and has been with us ever since, with his slap style at the fore of our sound. His background as a drummer gives him incredibly consistent rhythm, and keeps our crowds dancing.