New member, album & gig news ... oh my!!!
Current mood: creative
Category: Music

Greetings to friends of Pesky J. Nixon! Strap in, we've got LOTS of exciting news for you!!!

NEW Member - We'd like to welcome the newest member of Pesky J. Nixon, our new bassist Zack Root! You've probably seen him play with us before, and thus understand our excitement that he has finally "officially" joined the band!

NEW Album - Yes, we are still hard at work on our studio effort, but to hold you over until it's ready ... let us announce our first full-length live album will be released in the next few weeks!! Named "Good Grief" (for reasons too numerous to go into here), this will include tracks from PJN's performances at The Paradise Lounge and WUML (UMass Lowell Radio). We will be sure to let you know how you can get a copy as soon as it's available.

NEW Website - A new website is nearly ready!  We've got new soundclips, photos and other fun stuff just waiting to be surfed.

Upcoming Events - PJN is hard at work planning some big gigs and events in the next few months. We hope to be playing out a lot, so stay tuned! We'll be posting details here, but if you want to be SURE not to miss a thing, head on over to ReverbNation and enter your email address in the "Join Our Mailing List" box.

NEW Friends - We just got back from the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (July 24-27) where we heard some amazing music and made some fantastic new friends. Run, don't walk, to check out Red Molly, Anthony da Costa, Abbie & Anthony (Abbie Gardner of Red Molly & Anthony da Costa), We're About 9 and Jason Spooner.

As always, feel free to email us at info@peskyjnixon.com with any questions, inquiries or booking requests.


- Jake

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Updates from PJN-Land
Category: Music

Greetings and Happy Summer Solstice, Pesky J. Nation!  Jake here, and I'm thrilled to have summer upon us, the Red Sox holding their own in the AL East, and lots of PJN news to share!!

We just started in the studio last weekend on our as-yet-unnamed full-length album.  It took us a little bit to get our feet under us, but we are really excited about the direction it's already taking.  Unfortunately, I did not get to sit in on as much of the recording as I would have liked ... our studio got extremely hot during the course of the day, so the fewer bodies in there the better.  The downtime did afford some songwriting time, though, and Ethan and I both have new stuff in the works.

PJN is looking to do a bit of busking this summer, both in Boston and Cambridge, and we'll try to update our website/MySpace with dates and times.  We know busking isn't exactly the thing you invite folks to, but hey, if you happen to wander by .....  And speaking of inviting, we've got plans in the works for a huge show this fall.  We hope to have the details firmed up in the coming days, and we'll post them as soon as we can.  Stay tuned!!

If you dig folk music and happen to be looking for something to do the last weekend in July, you should plan on coming down to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.  PJN will be there in force with a bunch of our friends, and we hope to see you there!

New gig dates, new sound clips and big news are all on the way ... you'll be hearing from us soon!!

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Don't you worry, we're still here ...
Category: Music

Hey all, Jake here.  Not to worry, Pesky J. Nixon faithful ... we have not folded up our tents and gone home.  We have taken down our soundclips from here and from our website, and with good reason ... we posted those clips to give you all a taste of what PJN was all about, and we have been jazzed with the feedback.  

But now for the good news, we're in the studio working on a full-length album.  This promises to be one hell of a ride.  Yes, all of your favorites like "Wildflower" and "Day By Day" will be there, but we've got a bunch of new stuff in the works, and trust me when I tell you this album will have more than a few surprises (and perhaps a familiar face or two). 

Jake & Ethan may learn new instruments! 
Dan may learn new drums! 
Yes, my friends, it's all true!   

You can check out a video of our harmonies on "Anna Lee" here (link should work), and we'll be posting some rough mixes as we go.  Just to keep everyone interested, but in suspense, of course.

Of course, if you just can't wait to hear the album (we understand, late summer is a long time away), you could come see us play live where, if you're very lucky, we might play some new stuff!!  We do understand that coming to see us play live would require to post some show dates, and we promise to do that very very soon, so stay tuned!

So to recap ... new album coming, new show dates to be announced soon, new video posted online, new photos coming soon ... so much to be excited for, and Opening Day at Fenway is only ~35 days away! 

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Gig Reminder - 11/11/06

Greetings, Pesky J. Nation!  Just a quick note to remind you all of something that should be on your calendars already ... November 11th, PJN's first co-headlining gig!!!

Make your plans now, set up your carpools, and get yourselves out to Easthampton for a two-fer ... Pesky J. Nixon and Andrea Coller, live and on-stage!!  It should be an AWESOME night of music and we may well have some new tunes and other surprises up our sleeves, so don't miss it!!

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PJN Blog .9

Greetings, Pesky J. Nation!!  Jake here, just dropping a quick blog on you.  Ethan has been busybusybusy in the studio working on a couple of different projects (more about those soon), but PJN is getting back in the swing of things and ramping up for our November 11th gig at PACE!!  We're going to have at least a couple new tunes for you guys by 11/11, so we hope you're all there to hear them!  PJN is sharing the stage with Andrea Coller, a good friend of ours and an outstanding singer-songwriter ... should make for a great night of music in a darn good venue.  We know it's a hike, but start making your plans now, we look forward to seeing you out there!

Our demo is available (email info@peskyjnixon.com), and you can show your PJN pride with a hat or t-shirt (www.cafepress.com/peskyjnixon)!  Tell your friends about us, take a listen to our stuff here, and help us spread the word!

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PJN Blog .8

We've heard tell that it might help for y'all to know who is writing, so I'll tell you that this is Jake.  In fact, all of the blogs have been written by me (except where I say that I'm turning it over to Michael or Ethan).  We're thrilled that so many people are checking us out and reading the blog ... please spread the word & the music!!

Well, lots of goings-on in Pesky J. Nation!!  PJN played a show at PACE (www.pioneerarts.org) a couple of weeks back in memory of Bob Moynihan, a much-beloved singer/songwriter.  We were honored & priviledged to play this show, and we shared the stage with some amazing performers, as well.  It was really a moving evening.

We also played at a birthday party up in Maine.  Normally, I wouldn't mention a birthday party, but this one was on the docks at a seafood restaurant on the coast ... nice ocean breeze blowing, lobster for dinner, it was awesome!  We shared the stage with a great VT-based band called The Flames, and backed them up on vocals for a couple of tunes. 

Funny note from the evening ... we were getting ready to kick off our set with a slower tune, as Ethan figured it would work well.  Just as we started off, Ethan noticed three bikers ... Harley t-shirts, leathers, the whole nine yards ... sitting right in front of us.  Now, we'd love for everyone to love our music, but we never figured ourselves for being a biker band.  One table, three bikers, two demo's sold.  Who knew??

For upcoming gigs, PJN will be back at PACE on Saturday, November 11th.  We're truly psyched to be sharing the stage with Andrea Coller (www.andreacoller.com), who graced the memorial show and our past coffeehouses with her amazing voice & songwriting.  We know it's a hike, but PACE is a great venue, and we promise to make the evening well worth the trek!!

We've been hard at work expanding our repertoire, and hope to have some new songs to unveil for you at the PACE show ... and now that I've mentioned it, I suppose that means I should sit down at my keyboard and actually WRITE the things that have been floating around in my head.  It's very difficult to explain the songwriting process, and I know that it's different for everyone.  Let's just say that I envy the folks who can just sit down, focus on some experience and start writing ... for me, it often comes down to flogging my muse into submission so she'll allow me to actually transfer my mental musical musings to paper.  Once in a while, I get hit with something like Testament which just pours out of me, but usually it's more like pulling teeth!

PJN is always looking for gig opportunities, so if your band is looking for someone to play with them, email us at info@peskyjnixon.com!  You can also drop us an email if you'd like to join our mailing list or get your hands on our demo.

Thanks for reading & thanks for listening!!  Spread the word, Pesky J. Nation is growing!

(By the way ... we've talked about posting a podcast ... is that something you would dig?  Leave a comment to this blog and let us know!  Question for the band?  Leave a comment!  Have a suggestion for the blog?  Hey, you know what to do!)

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PJN Weekly Blog .7
Current mood: hot

WOW, have I been slacking!  To our dear readers who have been waiting with bated breath for our next "weekly" blog, I extend my most humble apologies.

News on the PJN front has been very good (& quite exciting) of late.  We are proud & honored to report that our business card has been delivered by a band member directly into the hands of one of the band's namesakes ... Mr. Trot Nixon.  In fact, he could be reading this blog at this very moment, and if so ... Trot, you're a gamer and you rock.  That's why we named the band after you.  Seriously!

We have had some very well-received private shows lately, and are working on some PUBLIC shows so you can all come out & show PJN some love.  Want to spread the word?  Go to www.cafepress.com/peskyjnixon and order a hat, or maybe a t-shirt!  Slap a bumper sticker on your car and add ANOTHER acronym to the euro-sticker alphabet soup that is bumper sticker-dom these days!

OR, you could check out our brand-spanking-new website at www.peskyjnixon.com!  Tell your friends, tell your neighbors!  We've got sound-clips built in, too ... you can rock along to Wildflower (sorry, that's about as hard as we rock!), or sway & light a lighter to Testament right from your very own web browser!  If you like what you hear (and we sincerely hope you do), you can order a demo CD or join our mailing list ... email us at info@peskyjnixon.com!

I'm excited to tell you that we've been hard at work in rehearsal, in the studio and in songwriting sessions.  Ethan & I sat down this week (while Dan & Michael were in the studio) to work on some new stuff, and I've got to tell you ... there's some slick slick stuff in the works.  We've really got a pipeline established now ... some songs are in the rehearsal stages (where we're finishing formulating them), some are in the brainstorming stages (which is driving me batty, personally, but SO worth it) and some are in the mostly-finished stage (we've performed them, we like them, we just polish from time to time.)  I've got to tell you, though ... NOTHING is ever set in stone with us.  NO song is ever finished.  At each rehearsal, we play our finished stuff in a different way, different rhythm, different feel.  It's a TON of fun and keeps our collective creative juices flowing!

Okay, okay, enough from me.  I'll leave you with some of Ethan's thoughts ... thanks for reading!!

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Organizing a band is like dragging rocks at times ... organizing our band is like herding winged kittens.  I hope the rest of the group doesnt mind me sharing our combined attention span problems.  It would be hard to clarify as to who is really the worst.  At times wed all point the finger elsewhere, at other times Id be pointing the finger at myself and then Id wonder what my finger was doing, and then Id check my email.

Its a whole lot of nervous energy that sometimes is harnessed marvelously and other times is like bareback riding a mechanical bull naked.  In case that allusion didnt quite come across clearly enough, its painful.  Very, very painful (stupid bachelor party bets).

We all have our niches.  Dan as the one person not afflicted with an attention span issue, and as such tends to be our taskmaster (stop playing that, we need to run through the song!, Ethan!, JAKE!, MICHAEL!!!!!).  Poor Dan. 

Jake is our energy ball.  On the slow nights (generally), Jake is so hopped up on Everlasting Gobstoppers, Pixie Sticks, and any other form of cane sugar with added food coloring that he does the job of moving us forward.  Come to think of it, Jake, your attention span might be fine, its just your sugar highs that may be a problem. 

And then theres me.  I dont really know how my band mates would categorize me.  I have a way of being in two places at once.  Which brings me to the actual focus of todays story song writing style.  Now, I know a slew of singer/songwriters.  Some people go to Church.  I go to Club Passim.  What I have taken from my favorite writers is a dedication to shared and universal feelings.  I write for an audience, I dont write for myself.  In "Day by Day", which I consider to be my most personal piece of writing thus far, I try to frame the situation; namely losing a friend in a car accident, in a universally understandable way.  The first verse establishes a time frame, introduces and asks the audience to listen Dont forget what we learned today.  It's not very subtle.  Ive always liked the fact that the word subtle has a silent b in it.  Its a shared experience. 

Now here are the general things Ive noticed thus far I write from the third person perspective.  Generally speaking, I am afraid to make it too clear that I am the narrator of my own songs.  Luckily when writing prose I have no such problem using the word I.  That was a joke. I am also not all that funny.  Jacob is less about the audience perspective and more about capturing a moment in time.  He takes harmonic snapshots of where he is, what he is thinking, what he is feeling.  Again, none of these are absolutes, these are just the things that Ive noticed thus far.

Tune in next week ... same PJN time, same PJN channel.

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PJN Weekly Blog .6

My humble apologies, I missed a week ... but hey, we had five consecutive weeks of "weekly blogs" and knowing us, that's a great accomplishment!

We had just a great Coffeehouse last weekend. Lots of friends old & new came out, and a number of PJN's friends played some sets, as well. PJN played four sets, and even did crowd requests. (It's a dangerous thing, but we promise to have the lyrics to "Sweet Home Alabama" next time!)

New sound clips posted!
Yes, I have just posted three sound clips from our brand-new demo we released at the coffeehouse. I know, we're all very sad that our "from the studio" blogs are no more for the time being, but we're quite happy with the results of all that time spent! Take a listen & let us know what you think!

This week in PJN-land has been pretty quiet, as we took a week off from rehearsing (though bbq'ing and watching a Sox game together is a worthy substitute). We're very jazzed to jump back into it next week and get some new songs together! PJN is working to line up some public gigs so you guys can come out and see us, and we've also got some more exciting things in the works ... we'll let you know when/if they pan out.

Please be sure to give us a listen and if you like what you hear, send an email to info@peskyjnixon.com or peskyjnixon@gmail.com ... demo CD's are only $5 and make great Christmas gifts!! Get 'em while they're here, only ... ummm ... only 180 shopping days left (give or take) ... or Father's Day, they make great Father's Day gifts!

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PJN Weekly Blog .5
Category: Music

So the demo is done. Almost. It's really really close, I swear ... just a couple things need to be cleaned up and it will be ready for public consumption. Ethan has done a damn fine job mixing it down, and as of our listen last night, it's sounding awesome ... and we think you will agree!

I'm going to turn the play-by-play over to Michael this week, and wrap up with Ethan's thoughts. Enjoy!! Remember, we'd love to hear your comments on the blog, and please refer us to your friends! Quick plug for our 5/20 house party Coffeehouse ... drop us a msg here or on peskyjnixon@gmail.com for the details!!

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(Editor's Note: I apologize for Michael's falsely-professed ignorance of the game of baseball. We have been drilling him on baserunning, clutch hitting and the infield fly rule. He really is getting it, I promise.)

Hey all, I'm gonna "make my bones" as real PJN'er; I'm going to a Sox game Friday night (thank you Rich Band for the tickets)! I can't wait to see the Sox face the Texas Rangers on the grid-iron... yes, I know that's not what they call the ice. Hey, laugh if you want, but I'll be there on the side line and you
won't!

After recording the demo (Ethan and I still have to do the final mix and
mastering), we sat down to play through the set. Ethan chose a more "electric" guitar sound on "Day By Day" and totally changed the sound of the song. Gives it a more driving feel, hence Dan's quote (see Quote section).

We shook the dust off the songs we haven't done since starting recording the demo. A few have more dust on them than others, but some good ideas were born, especially as we start work on "On Sunrise/ISOIA". This is one of Jake's older, more introspective songs (on the verses, with Ethan's lyrical work on the chorus). All I can say is that it's going in a different
direction than when Jake and I worked on it for our old a cappella group (shout out to 706!!)

Quote of the Week
Dan (after working stops into "Day By Day"): "Holy shit, we sound like a rock band!"
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Listening to: Utadas Sanctuary
written 4/25/06

This Wildflower song has finally been committed to paper. We're still working through it as a group, but the lyrics are penned and I have walked away. It is difficult finishing a song you half wrote while dating your high school sweetheart and half wrote eight years later after you heard through the grapevine that she was engaged. The final concoction owes more to a separate ex (coincidentally named after a flower). Again, coincidentally I received a letter from her yesterday. Now whether to tell her it was written about her. Hmm .... Probably shouldnt. Probably will.

Jumping back into songwriting after a six-year hiatus has been at times much easier and other times much harder than I had imagined. Co-writing with Jake and Dan is a pleasure. Jake is very good at presenting lyrics, I am not so bad at taking them and quickly giving the group a song structure for those lyrics ... at which point we all flesh it out. He gets the lyrics - I get the music. Very easy process. It is a forced humility exercise to write at home staring at an English degree (I was a double major!) and continually falling back on A/B/A/B and A/A/B/B rhyme schemes.

Coffeehouse in Mid-May (5/20 to be exact, come on out!!!) should be blast. It is a house party, but if youd like to come drop us a line and well get you the info. Demo should be fully put together by Memorial Day. I see Falcon Ridge Folk Festival as a bit of a testing ground for us. For one, it will the first band overnighter, which may not seem like much but it lets you know who you're in the trenches with a bit more than studio rehearsals. Two, it's three to four full days of us interacting together with other musicians, getting our names out a bit, and getting ideas on where we are heading.

Jake penned the lyrics for our first ballad, Testament. We co-wrote the music. I am quite jazzed about it's possibilities within the set. I have to jet, but next time Ill talk about PJN's two other contributory factors Michael, our sound expert, and Zach Root of 50 ways, our sometimes bassist.

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PJN Weekly Blog .4

I know, I know, you've all been waiting with bated breath for PJN's weekly blog, and I apologize sincerely!

Today's blog picks up where our Demo Blog left off. Wednesday night we were in the studio again finishing up Testament. As Michael & Jake slogged through Rt. 1 traffic for 2 hours, Dan & Ethan worked out some great percussion for the track, and started to lay it down. With Michael & Jake's eventual arrival, we layered the toms & cymbals in and it sounds *great*. We fixed up some keyboard chords and laid down the final harmonies over the ending, and demo recording was officially done!!

Now, Ethan works his magic ... and trust me, it is magic. This guy does some AWESOME stuff in the studio, so we're just waiting for him to do his thing!! He has promised us (and you, good reader) to have sound clips mixed in short order, and we're hoping to have the final product by the end of the month!! We're all TOTALLY jazzed by this demo project and by the sound that's coming out of it. I love it when a plan comes together.

A quick thank you to all of you who are reading our blogs ... we're making this music for us, but we want to share it, as well.  We're so collectively enthralled by this creative process that we decided to blog it and share it with our friends & fellow musicians here.  If you have any input or insight you'd like to share, please post a comment or send us a message.  Also, we want to share all of this with you but don't want to over-do it ... is one blog a week enough?  Is two okay?  Let us know!!  And now, for something completely different ... more musings from the mind of Ethan ... ...


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(Listening to "Cathedrals" by Jump Little Children)

Hmm so maybe I should actually just type these instead of scribbling them. It may make Jake happier if I eventually give him our blog entries no?

You cant go home again I hear. Which is true developmentally, however I am sitting at my parents kitchen table scribbling this now because of the mental block of trying to finish Wildflower, a tune I began writing in 1998 for my first girlfriend (not as sappy as youd think I promise). I am at home. After three years living on my own and migrating across parts of Western, MA, I was able to get myself transferred back to Eastern MA and my folks were able to put up with having both of their sons move back home. I am comfortable enough here to enjoy the minimalist rent scheme and spending time with my family who I am very close with, especially the little brother; but uncomfortable enough to know that this is a non-permanent place to be and Im already scanning the Waltham, Chelmsford, and Stoneham areas for apartments that may make sense come August/September.

Home is a hard thing. While Jake, Dan, and I butt heads to come up with material it is, at this point, our most common theme. Pesky J. is a new exercise for me. Ive spent two decades performing with orchestras, as a solo singer/songwriter, classically in school and in a cappella groups all over the place but Ive never really done the band thing. But honestly, Ive never been happier creatively, musically, or just socially. When the three of us talk about direction and planning we have been universally on the same page. Three is a great number, when we vote there are no ties. JBoS (Jake) and Dan are my musical co-workers, my friends, and my companions . Not to get all emotionally fragile, but do you know how rare it is to work with other musicians and to enjoy (a) them, (b) the process, and (c) the results?

So while were tuning up and getting ready for the demo recording I wanted to give you an idea of what to expect (sonically). Dan is a drummer and a vocalist. Hes going to be doing (vocally) mostly harmonies for us. But in him we have a hand drummer, kit drummer, and orchestral percussionist. While Im scoring ideas, our rhythmic backbone does not restrict the process at all. This is a blessing for me. Jake (JBoS) is an award nominated vocalist, Ive worked with him before as part of my college a cappella group. Hes also our trained ear. You hear something on the radio and hes plugging it out on piano and breaking down the harmonic background before hes heard it a second time. Hes also our resident conservative, but no ones perfect you know?

Me, Im mostly a guitarist, and resident tenor wannabe. But I do play piano, viola, and cello some. I spent some time doing the singer/songwriter thing in the late 90s and have spent most of the time since getting into composition, arrangement, engineering, and production. My musical interests are primarily folk and world music, although I see PJN as able to collectively produce anything from BNL style sound, to Evanescence style grit. The sound clips youve been listening to are mostly our acoustic efforts. In early May were going to be working on a demo with Glowdog Studios and stretch that sound a bit. Stay tuned, and thank you for any constructive crit you can throw our way!

Ciao
e.

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