Noisy Nocturns by Art School Dropouts

This is the 2nd in our ART SCHOOL DROPOUTS archival series: Noisy Nocturns (Recorded 2013)

Hot nights in our Bushwick basement rehearsal space, often patroning the taco truck just outside the building beforehand, we would gather once a week (at best) to practice the sounds we'd been cultivating with the now classic lineup of John, Brian, and Chris. By that point we'd been a trio for about 3 years and our album, MILKSHAKE MONDAYS (2012), under the belt the year before.

Friends and folks at our shows would be familiar with our music, but few had witnessed us in our other environment, a tiny rehearsal closet—it was literally a closet, with brooms and mops n' things... in the basement of a building off the M train. We shared the space with the great, yet short-lived, Valved Voice, a band John also drummed in.

When we were tight with our set there was room to stretch. Trying something new, I somehow convinced the fellas we ought to start our practices warming up with an improvisational jam. Full on, no prompts, just start. Way back in my mind was the idea that doing this would cultivate a kind of unspoken language, strengthen us as a unique sound machine, a unified singular muscle of music, if you will.

Not too extatic for the experiment, John and Brian were still kind enough to entertain the idea and doing so yielded some interesting surprises. Some of this "language" was part of our live shows when given the opportunity to improvise. Like when we'd open the show with Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive and then lead that into We Get On. Or the breakdown jam in the middle of Baby's Burning Blues—a song born out of a jam. Nonetheless a notion worth exploring with a power trio.

Luckily a small handful of these experiments were recorded on an iPhone, using the Mikey by Blue Mic. One day I had hoped to compile a full disc of these, but I can still dream... Up until now they sat dormant on a hard drive, of course. But here we are, 10 years later with another excavation of old ASD artifacts. And so, another tiny offering into our little closet—I mean world! Thanks for listening!

Best,
Chris

And for a good idea of what our rehearsal closet space may have looked like, look up our Short Way Down video.
And while you're at it seek out the Valved Voice EP, too.

Audio messings by 3 guys in NYC who somehow find the time to do so.

artschooldropoutsband.com