This became a staple of our live show (including a break dancing bit and a trombone addition during the breakdown), but here is the original recorded version done in 1996. I remember getting ready for this recording and just working the rest of the band silly going over and over the six songs we had written. This was recorded with all of us playing at the same time (which is kind of unusual these days). To my knowledge, there are no overdubs at all except some vocal tracks. This recording still has quite a bounce in my opinion. Playing this live in Florida I replaced the line “There is nothing to this song so now please play along” to “I (or we) drove all the way from Kansas to get a phone call the other night”. This was recorded at Red House Studios in Lawrence KS by the legendary Ed Rose who did his best to make a bunch of amateurs sound somewhat good. We booked two days…and ended up staying until 3AM the first night working on things. It was quite the experience.

“Is This Thing On” by Bring Back Joel

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitars
Mike Wahlmeier – Guitars and Vocals
Marshal Kruse – Guitars and Vocals
Mike Moore – Drums

Recorded in 1996 at Red House Studios in Lawrence, KS by Ed Rose

Titled “The Latest” because it literally was, this track was a nice indication of where things were going with TW.  I remember this song mostly for the chorus/interlude part which was kind of like an anti-chorus, i guess.  It’s a couple little moments where I could match the kick drum to the main melodic bits of the song…something a drummer doesn’t often get to do.  There’s some really fun stuff Brad and Tyler did at the end of this song with their respective instruments…

“The Latest” - Trophy Wife

Brad Register – Vocals and Keyboards
Dan Stone – Guitar
Tyler Gray – Bass
Tyson Deines – Drums

Recorded at Kitty Kat Studios in Orlando FL 2003 by John.  Mastered by Jon.

“Trainwreck” by Heroic Lane Change

This is one of those rare songs that actually ended up sounding like it did in my head by the time it made it onto tape. On the first mix there’s a clean guitar intro that I had Jon cut because I thought it would be more effective to launch right into the “swing” of the song, if that makes any sense. Of all the songs recorded during these sessions, this was the most “tyson-y” sounding of the bunch…and I guess it’s still my favorite. I always thought this turned out really nice with very solid musicianship from the gang.

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitar
Travis Adams – Guitar
Chris Sapone – Bass
Matt Bloodwell – Drums

Recorded in 2003 at Kitty Kat Studios in Orlando, FL by John

This song is interesting for a couple of reasons (to me). It was recorded during the “let’s make a Bring Back Joel hit record” sessions at Full Sail. It is also one of the few songs from those sessions that actually got fully mixed. (it’s not mastered…but listening to it alone you might not notice that except for a few moments where the audio drops out) This was one of my first “mess around with structure” songs I wrote. There are only 3 chords played the entire length of the song…all of the changes come from dynamics or lyrical structures. I remember bringing this to the band and them sort of laughing at the entire idea…but they embraced it and created nice dynamic bits that solidified the moments. Dave and Joey especially pushed the last section into something better than I ever imagined.

The other bit that I remember is that this was the only song that we ever did that leaked onto the internet and actually built us a fan base. It was on napster, limewire, and who knows what else. Occasionally I still see this song out there more than any other one…with the possible exception of “Evaporation Boy”.

The lyrics were intended to make a girl I liked feel bad…and it worked.

“Where’d You Go” by Bring Back Joel

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitar
Joey Fink – Guitar
Marshal Kruse – Bass
David Messina – Drums

Recorded 1999 in Orlando, FL at Full Sail Studios by Garrett and Tom.

I have no idea where this is actually from…but i suspect it’s a board mix from a show at The Backbooth. They were always super supportive of Trophy Wife. I didn’t even know I had this track until I was rooting around for something to post from TW. This song never made it into the studio, but was one of the first songs we worked up. I’ve always really liked it…i’m glad I have a recording of it. :)

“(not sure of the title)” by Trophy Wife

Dan Stone – Vocals and Guitars
Tyler Gray – Bass
Brad Register – Guitar
Tyson Deines – Drums

recorded in 2002 or 2003

The entire recording of “The Golden Ratio” was basically an experiment after spending a couple of years trying to record a “hit” record with Bring Back Joel. In my head I was planning on doing 3 Eps – an art-fuck record, a pop-rock record, and an acoustic-ish record. After running into delays doing the work on the first one I basically started working on all three at the same time. I was also working on a Wheelchair EP and the Trophy Wife EP all around the same time as those, and usually in different recording studios around town. They were interesting times. In my head I wanted “The Golden Ratio” to be a cross between Pavement’s “Slanted and Enchanted” and Archers of Loaf’s “VS. The Greatest of All Time”. The resulting record doesn’t bring either of those records to mind. Heh. “TSE” (which stands for “Tropical Storm Erin”) is one of the better songs I’ve ever written, in my opinion. I guess the fact of how easily the changes came when I was writing the song and how intuitive it felt always left a mark in my brain. Plus the guys really did a nice job writing their bits I just think it turned out really well. I should also point out the spectacular engineering done by Davey Schweiter and Jon Marshal Smith.

“TSE” by Heroic Lane Change

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitar
Steve Garron – Vocals and Guitar
Chris Sapone – Bass
Matt Bloodwell – Drums

Recorded at Ricther Studios in Orlando, FL in 2001 (?)

This is a demo version of “Radiation” from the HLC “Golden Ratio” EP. Recorded in our garage on a 4-track cassette machine, it’s a much cleaner version than what ended up on the EP. Two guitar tracks were recorded (playing the same thing) and panned left and right with the vocal straight up the middle. The first four tracks on the Ratio EP were a narrative of sorts chronicling falling in and out of love…and this song was the fourth so it’s about (I suppose) unrequited/fleeting love and moving on. But it could mean whatever to whomever hears it. Such is the beauty of music. :)

“Radiation” by Heroic Lane Change

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitars

Recorded in a garage on Princeton St. in Orlando, FL around 2001.

I wrote this song when I was a freshman in college. I had just started my first “real” band and I was just throwing out songs left and right because we needed songs. The first thing that I came up with was the little two string guitar riff you hear at the beginning. From that starting point it was about 2.5 years until it evolved into what you’re hearing here. Initially there was none of that “start/stoppy” business and no real bridge either…just the core of the song and the lyrics (sort of based on the break-up with my high school girlfriend). About six months before going into the studio to record “Deep Within” we dredged it back up and added the stop/start, the bridge (which sounds an awful lot like a bit from “Monkey Business” by the Foo Fighters), and the key change at the end (something I was proud to have finally included in a song). The Metallica sample was the Marshal and Joey’s idea and the fact that it fit perfectly after the song was recorded was basically a happy accident. That sample always perked up the metal fan’s ears and probably resulted in some reluctant cred we otherwise would not have received. We just thought it was funny. There’s a lot going on in this song that sort of hit you…and one of our more popular songs to play live.

“In the Desk” by Bring Back Joel

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitar
Joey Fink – Guitar
Marshal Kruse – Guitar
Mike Moore – Drums

Recorded in 1997 and on the album “Deep Within The Irrational Behavior Ward”.

This is from a bootleg made during one of the last Bring Back Joel shows. Sound quality is pretty poor but…you know…it is a bootleg. Our cover of “You Be Illin” (by Run-DMC) in all it’s lo-fi glory. This was only occasionally ever pulled out during a show so I guess it’s cool there’s a version of it on tape. Marshal on vocals, John on trombone, and myself on bass. And then whatever guest MC hopped up from the audience. :)

“You Be Illin” by Bring Back Joel

Marshal Kruse – Vocals
Joey Fink – Guitar
Tyson Deines – Bass
John Gnuechtel – Trombone
David Messina – Drums

Recorded live at Barbarella’s in Orlando, FL 2001.

This song was originally written as a little burst ala Guided By Voices…just a “you suck” song “done in one” style. It was also intended to be more of an 8 count kinda driving rocker as well…but when I needed another song for this EP (it was never released and thus never named) I added a bridge to it and repeated the second chorus. The strange timing the song has it a result of rehearsing it with the gang. As many songwriters/band leaders know, the more the song is touched other players the less likely it’ll end up sounding the way it did in your head when you wrote it. Generally I enjoy the process…mostly because I like to play with musicians I trust musically.

“Eff You” by Heroic Lane Change

Tyson Deines – Vocals and Guitars
Travis Adams – Guitar
Chris Sapone – Bass
Matt Bloodwell – Drums

Recorded in 2003 in Orlando, FL at Kitty Kat Studios (I think)
Mastered by Jon Marshal Smith