Month: August 2026

You can listen to me read this post on Soundcloud or Youtube, or as Bliss and Drumming wherever you get your podcasts.

The Stars Turn Me On song “BellLike” is on the album Goldrush from 2012. It was written with Justin Caucutt, who plays guitar on the recording. Judah Collins plays bass, and Jim Bove plays drums on this one.

When I wrote this song, it was during a period in which I was reflecting on the past. I had been in San Francisco for about 10 years and was sort of making sense, and trying to make peace, with the different iterations of Clem. I’m happy I don’t spend much time doing that anymore, even if while writing the blog posts for these re-released songs it might seem to the reader I am stuck there again. I’ve released a lot of my past from causing me too much angst, thankfully. Continue reading “The Re-Release of “BellLike:” I Swear I’ve Moved Past It”

You can listen to me read this post on Soundcloud or Youtube, or as Bliss and Drumming wherever you get your podcasts.

The Beaux Cheveux album Ro Sham Bo came out in 2018, and while it’s not a re-release, while I’m speaking about previously released material, I think it’s worth mentioning. I really love this record. Guitarist Adrian Conner and I wrote the songs together, and the writing process was fun and effortless.

Basically, I created ten drum tracks. We sat at my kitchen table, and I would hit play, and Adrian, a master of improvisation, played to the drum tracks until she felt she’d said enough. Then, I took the guitar parts and picked out verses and choruses and other parts and arranged them and wrote lyrics. Then she took those instantaneous melodic ideas and honed them into real parts. Then we recorded the songs with Rob Preston and made this little jewel of album. Continue reading “Reflections on the Song “Holiday of Love””

You can listen to me read this post on Soundcloud or Youtube, or as Bliss and Drumming wherever you get your podcasts.

“The World and You” was written for the Stars Turn Me On album Goldrush. I redid the version above with a full band, my songwriting partner Justin Caucutt and Judah Collins on bass, and the audio is on the album The Collection from 2014. I wanted to do a couple videos of songs where I was playing drums and singing at the same time. People would ask me if I ever sang back there, so I thought I’d record me doing it.

There are two problems with singing from behind the drumkit. First, it’s kind of a nightmare to get the vocal mic to not pick up the drums without some experienced and dedicated sound person to have your back. The bigger problem is I feel dorky, or more dorky than usual back there when I sing. I feel like all drummer jokes ever uttered descend on my head. There are a very few drummers who have pulled this off and looked cool doing it: Levon Helm, Brann Dailor, Trinidad Leal from Dixie Witch. I am just not that cool. Continue reading “Old Material, New Release: The World and You”