oldbestfriend

[oldbestfriend]

Between Almost and Done

Firstly, thank you for your patience.

Almost has been done for a little over a year. I don’t really have a good reason as to why it took so long to get it to your ears.

I think that, at its conception, Almost was one thing. Then, over the course of writing, demoing, recording, revising, and holding it very close to my chest, away from the ears of anyone who could pass judgment on it, it became another thing.

Almost was called Done for most of the time that I was making it, mainly because I had it in my head that it would be my last record, at least as Old Best Friend.

Living Alone came out in 2015. It was by no means a grueling release, but it did take a lot of the wind out of my sails. I did some of the things that I thought needed to be done to make a “successful release” and learned that even the smallest amount of momentum is not easy to build or sustain.

I also learned about myself, that there were things I would have to sacrifice that I wasn’t ready to give up. The fact that the process was difficult wasn’t the issue, it was really that there was no part of it that felt good. Some of that had to do with me, and some of it had to do with the nature of the game.

In early 2016 I realized that I still had a lot of half-done songs, some of them I’d started back in 2012. It didn’t occur to me to leave those songs unfinished, and making another record was something I knew I wanted to do even before Living Alone was released. 

By the time I actually got around to putting together the details of that follow-up, my outlook on it had changed entirely. It went from being something I looked forward to sharing to something that I had to purge from my system in order to get on with other aspects of my life.

When Steve delivered the masters to me, I was still very much between two mindsets about releasing the album. A lot of me wanted to just put it on the internet and let it be nothing. Another small, dying voice inside of me wanted to put myself through everything I did the last time around. So I sat with it for a year, making plans to do something, but ultimately doing nothing.

A colleague at my day job asked me how music was going. I told him the truth, that I was afraid to release the record at the risk of it being deemed nothing by default. He put it simply, that the record was doing nobody any good by rotting on a hard drive. It just needs to exist in the world. I was fighting myself for no reason. 

So I thankfully overcame my nearsightedness. Done became Almost, because that’s what the record ended up feeling like in the course of holding onto it: very close to being what I want, presented very close to the way that I want. It’s very close to me feeling finished.

I owe specific thanks to the following people:

Producer, engineer, drummer Steve Sopchak, to whom I feel like I owe the biggest apology for taking so long to release this record. His unending positivity about this record has been my fuel, and if there’s anything sonically remarkable about this record, it’s thanks to him. 

Jacob Tender, the person who always makes the time to give feedback on every single stupid thing I bounce his way. He’s acted as an entire hemisphere of my brain throughout the making of Almost. I talk to him more than I talk to myself, and that’s a lot. You can hear us talk about this process weekly.

Marinda Martin, the amazingly talented artist who painted “Caught”, the Almost cover. That image gave the record a face and made it something tangible.

The handful of people that reached out to ask when the next record was coming out, or who’ve expressed excitement towards even the smallest announcement I’ve made. I feel like I’ve met most of you at some point or another in my travels, and the fact that I’ve stayed in your music rotation, that you have even the mildest curiosity about what I make is the most heart-warming feeling. Truly.

I don’t know what comes between Almost and Done. I do know that this feels better than last time, and that everything I was worried about that made me not want to release this record is actually not a big deal. There doesn’t have to be a big business plan. It can just be music for me and all of you. 

Listen to Almost anywhere that you listen to music.

[oldbestfriend]

new old best friend. incoming.

[oldbestfriend]

Bandcamp and the ACLU

Hey, everyone. Since the first Old Best Friend EP, I've considered Bandcamp to be the best place to sell my music. On Friday, Feb 3, Bandcamp will be donating 100% of their share of album sales to the American Civil Liberties Union, who are working to oppose last week’s Executive Order barring immigrants and refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries from entering the United States. In solidarity, I'll be donating 100% of OBF's Bandcamp proceeds from digital and physical album sales through the weekend. Selling albums has never been a priority for OBF, but if you've been holding off on owning an album in favor of streaming it, this is your chance to pick it up while donating to a worthy cause. http://obf.wtf If you already own the albums and still want to support the ACLU, please make a donation at their website. http://aclu.org/donate

[oldbestfriend]

White Picket Fences Chords

Alex requested chords for White Picket Fences, so here they are.

The most important part to remember about playing this song is...

TUNE YOUR G-STRING UP TO A

A (the note) drones throughout the whole song, and tuning your G-string up will give you that without having to actually do anything. If you don’t tune up, the chord shapes I put down below will sound off. 

Don’t worry about the stupid chord names. They’re there just in case someone wants to play it on piano, and if you look them up for guitar they’ll be unnecessarily complicated because of the drone string.

Just follow the chord shapes at the bottom, and trust your ear. The D and G-strings are open for the entire song, meaning you don’t have to move anything but the A and B-strings. Watch out for that one A-augmented at the very end of the bass break, and try to mute the low A-string during the bridge.

At the end, just make as much noise as possible, bend the B-string a little bit to make it a sound unhinged.

And post covers if you get together! 

White Picket Fences Chords

Tuning is E A D A B E

Verse (four times) Dm C6add2 BbM7 C6add2

Chorus (twice) BbM7 A Dm C6add2 BbM7 A Dm Dm

Bass Break Dm Dm A/C# A/C# C C G/B G/B Bb Bb A (A+ A)

Bass Part

A--5------5-4------4-3-------3-2------- E----5--5-----5--5-----5---5--------3--

A--1--5-5--7-8--10--8--12\ E------------------------------

Verse (Drum Only First Half)

Verse (twice) Dm C6add2 BbM7 C6add2

Chorus (twice) BbM7 A Dm C6add2 BbM7 A Dm Dm

Break (build on Chord) Dm

Bridge (four times) Bb6 Bb6 Bm7b5 Bm7b5 C6sus2 C6sus2 Bm7#5 Bm7#5

Chorus (twice) BbM7 A Dm C6add2 BbM7 A Dm Dm

End on a whole lot of heavy Dsus4*

How I Play the Chords

Dm {x 5 0 0 6 x} C6add2 {x 3 0 0 5 x} Bb6M7 {x 1 0 0 3 x} A {x 0 2 0 2 x}

Bb6 {6 x 0 0 6 x} Bm7b5 {7 x 0 0 6 x} C6sus2 {8 x 0 0 8 x} Bm#5 {7 x 0 0 8 x}

Dsus4 {10 x 0 0 10 x}

[oldbestfriend]

What he said.

Bantha Fodder Presents: "Rebellious Landino"

As mentioned previously, my Bantha Fodder cohost Mike Comite and I love audio production. I’d say that our podcast is about 75% about the Star Wars universe and the remaining bit is about trying new things with our format, mixes, and extraneous things to collaborate on. This week, along with our latest episode, Mike and I put together a remix of Childish Gambino’s “Freaks & Geeks” from the perspective of Lando Calrissian, a Star Wars character being brought back to the screen by Gambino himself, Donald Glover.

I wrote and performed the song and Mike mixed and mastered it for cohesion and clarity. I think the result is pretty cool and can be found for free on either Soundcloud or Bandcamp.

You might be asking, “So Jake, this song is hot fire. Does this mean you’ve entered the rap game?” Not really, but don’t expect this to be the last song you hear from Bantha Fodder. We’ve got some ideas.

[oldbestfriend]

"Now I Don't" Chords

Got another request for chords, this time from Justin. This song is super basic, and it relies mostly on coloring outside the lines with other instruments, especially that loud organ break after the third verse.

I honestly don’t remember how to play one of the background guitar chords in the bridge. I tried, but I literally can’t do it without breaking out the first demo from 2014 and breaking it down note by note. It’s really fun to play, I remember it came really naturally to me at first, but not so much after two years of not playing it. Sorrrrrry.

Now I Don’t Chords

Verse A C G C C F G C C

C G C C F G C C

Verse B F G7 Am7 C F G7 Am7 Am7

F G7 Am7 C F G C C

Break (Double Time) C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C F C C C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5

Verse A

Verse B

Break 2 (Double Time) C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C F C C

C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C F C F C F C F

Verse A

Verse B

Break 3 (Double Time)* C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C F C C

C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C C7 Fmaj7 FmMaj7b5 C F C F C F C F C F C F C F C F

Bridge C C C C C C C C twice

Then four bars of each of these chords, repeated for a long time with single note part C CaddF#

Then eventually Gmaj7 Gmaj7 G G Gmaj7 Gmaj7 G G

C C CaddF# CaddF# C C CaddF# CaddF# Gmaj7 Gmaj7 G G Gmaj7 Gmaj7 G G twice

Single note part b—–8—8——8——-8—8—–8— G–9—-9—9—–9–11—11—11—–11

(Quiet) C C C C C C C C

Verse A

Verse C F G Am C F G Am Am

E7 E7 Am G F G BIG OL’ HONKIN’ C/G

how i play the chords C {x 3 2 0 1 0 } C7 {x 3 2 3 1 0 } CaddF# {x 3 4 0 1 0 } C/G {3 3 2 x x x } G {3 2 0 0 3 3 } G7 {3 2 3 0 0 1 } Gmaj7 {3 x 4 4 3 x } F {1 3 3 2 1 1 } Fmaj7 {x x 3 2 1 0 } FmMaj7b5 {x x 3 1 0 0 } Am7 {x 0 2 0 1 0 } E7 {0 2 0 1 0 0 }

*on second repetition a second guitar part plays the notes C - Eb - D - Db as octaves

[oldbestfriend]

Hey OBF, is it okay if I use your music in my YouTube videos as like an outro? It's fine if not. Big fan by the way, hope you keep rocking it.

Just link to it when you post!

[oldbestfriend]

Living Alone Chords

Got an email from Mal after we played “Living Alone” at the Julia Nunes show in Buffalo, NY.

She was looking for chords for the song, so I figured I’d post them here in case anyone else was looking for them.

Living Alone

Verse 1, 2 G Cadd9 G G G G/B Cadd9 Cadd9 G G(Cadd9)

G Cadd9 G G G G/B G6/E Cadd9 G G Turnaround*

Chorus G6/E Cadd9 G G G6/E Cadd9 F#m#5addb9 G G G/B Cadd9add#11 Cadd2add4 Cadd9

Break E E Cadd9 Cadd9 G G (Cadd9) G G (Cadd9)

Verse 3 G rest G G G G/B Cadd9 Cadd9 G G (Cadd9)

G Cadd9 Turnaround* G G/B G6/E Cadd9 G G Turnaround*

Chorus

Bridge G G Cadd9 Cadd9 :II

*Turnaround (one measure of 6/4, all over a G chord) A——0-2-2-3-2-0——- E–3-3————–----3-2-3

how i play the chords G {3 x 0 0 3 3 } Cadd9 {x 3 2 0 3 3} G/B {x 2 0 0 3 3} G6/E {0 2 2 0 3 3} F#m#5addb9 {2 0 0 0 3 3} Cadd9add#11 {x 3 2 0 3 2} Cadd2add4 {x 3 2 0 3 0}

[oldbestfriend]

Mike arrived with 3 seconds left on the self timer

[oldbestfriend]

^ all that 

TOUR TOUR TOUR

Julia Nunes is bringing me along as bandmate for her December Living Room Tour. 

For the uninitiated: Living Room Shows are small, intimate, normally unamplified performances in a living room (or similar). From what I’ve gathered, string lights will be involved. 

Get Tickets Here

Nov 29 - Buffalo, NY Nov 30 - Syracuse, NY Dec 2 - Portland, ME Dec 3 - Mansfield, CT Dec 4 - Brooklyn, NY Dec 5 - Berwyn, PA Dec 6 - Columbia, MD Dec 7 - Washington, DC Dec 9 - Winston-Salem, NC Dec 10 - Charlotte, NC (Concord) Dec 15 - Wilmington, NC Dec 16 - Winchester, VA Dec 17 - Rockville, MD Dec 18 - Newark, DE Dec 19 - Long Island, NY (Port Island Station) Dec 21 - Arlington, MA Dec 22 - Rochester, NY

[oldbestfriend]

I’m basically Rocky Balboa in this montage, making the record of my dreams with Joanna Katcher in the music video for “Something Bad”

[oldbestfriend]

Gig at The Trocadero in Philly coming up

[oldbestfriend]

My Favorite Things 2015: Music (The First Half)

Another year, another list of albums I liked. I’ve only been doing this for like five years, but it only took that long to realize that I’m not making these for approval or blog hits, but so that I can remember this shit when I’m old.

Anyway, it’s July and that means six months of 2015 have passed and six months of 2015 remain. This is the half-way point and these are the records I liked or listened to the most.

LPs

Old Best Friend - Living Alone - iTunes

Hop Along - Painted Shut - iTunes

Walk The Moon - Talking Is Hard - iTunes

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly - iTunes

Runaway Brother - Mother - iTunes

Wolf Alice - My Love Is Cool - iTunes

Death Cab For Cutie - Kintsugi - iTunes

Purity Ring - Another Eternity - iTunes

Tommy Boys - Tommy Boys - iTunes

Smallpools - LOVETAP! - iTunes

The Maine - American Candy - iTunes

The Early November - Imbue - iTunes

The Wombats - Glitterbug - iTunes

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - iTunes

Leon Bridges - Coming Home - iTunes

Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn - iTunes

EPs

The Japanese House - Pools To Bathe In - iTunes

Shapes & Colors - On Display - iTunes

Vallis Alps - Vallis Alps - iTunes

Wlfpck - Vol. 1 - iTunes

YMAEWK Dogged - iTunes

Owel - Every Good Boy - iTunes

Aquilo - Calling Me - iTunes

Anthony Raneri - Sorry State Of Mind - iTunes

That’s it. I admit that I haven’t been listening to much as far as new artists go, so I’ll work on that for the second half of the year. As always, if you dig the artists above, grab their work on iTunes to support their careers and this blog.

Related: My Favorite Things 2014: Music

[oldbestfriend]

the old best friend merch store is now active

posters, stickers, pins, shirts, cds galore

have at it, kids

[oldbestfriend]

Tomorrow this comes out. I don’t know what happens after, but I hope that it means as much to you as it did to me while writing, recording and performing it.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this project. There’s a long road behind me and an even longer one out ahead. Stick around.

[oldbestfriend]

Unsigned Brooklyn rock band Old Best Friend counts much respected Philadelphia band Hop Along as an inspiration for their music. Hop Along even acknowledged and complimented the band on their piece they wrote about this influence. Helmed by musician Mike Comite, Old Best Friend is indeed compelling on King Of Nowhere, a gritty indie rock song off debut album Living Alone, out on Tuesday. It’s a driving song that reminds me of a scuzzier Death Cab For Cutie, with an abundant dose of angsty punk.

[oldbestfriend]

new album pre-orders shipped today. comes out Tuesday!