PAPER BAG: Radio Sets 7/87

What are radio sets?
Radio sets were something we started doing when we were still unsigned and flailing in obscurity, which we continued after we were signed and flailing in obscurity.

We didn't have the money to tour. But we were recording our rehearsals to Kenny's 4-track reel deck. We'd been sending out tapes to various radio stations around the world for a while by then. Why not offer them each a set, improvised just for them, with us announcing their call letters, as if we were in their studio? We tried it, and it was well received. ("Airwave Rituals", a compilation from those first sets, is available here.)
gregsegal.bandcamp.com/album/airwave-rituals
When SST signed us, they liked the idea and paid for us to keep doing it.

The material for this release was recorded on the three nights following our set for "A Land Without Fences". We left the equipment set up, and did two half-hour sets a night.

There were the inevitable technical glitches which seem to be a part of most radio shows I've done, regardless of band or station. Recording live to 2-track in the studio isn't really much different. It's a fluid, risky medium and unforgiving of mistakes. We always felt that the music was worth releasing if the quality of it outweighed the gravity of the glitch. There was only one instance where the severity was great enough to drop a track from this release. And the clarity of the basic recording, throughout the majority, is wonderful.

No mixing was possible after the fact. You will hear multiple instances of the guitar nearly drowning out the rest of the band. I do NOT like this, would love to change it, but I'm stuck with it.

You may notice a similarity in flow, and types of pieces, shared in all the sets. We tried to structure sets so that there was an up and down flow- a "rollercoaster effect"- in order to avoid too many similar pieces cropping up in sequence and boring the audience. If the previous piece was fast and heavy, the next one should be a contrast, or vice versa. There were also usually at least one poetry reading each from Kenny and Mark. None of us knew in advance when in the set these might happen, and I think I can include the poets in that. It was a matter of feel. This was all originally developed with live sets in mind, but since the radio sets were essentially that, it pertained to those too.

One thing which I think comes across well in these sets is the band's sense of humor. I think there were some who thought we took it all way too seriously. We did take making the music seriously, but the music itself was another story. The humor was sometimes caustic, and sometimes absurd, but it was there and it was integral not just to the band's approach, but to the personalities of the musicians themselves.

There are repeated references in the poetry to Ollie. Oliver North, rugged star of the real drife llama, "Iran Contra: What's In Your Wallet?". For those who are not aware of this travesty, go ahead and look it up. You won't believe what they got away with. Reagan pioneered teflon presidency, well before Trump.

Together with "A Land Without Fences", you can now have an idea of what the band did over four consecutive nights in July of '87. I speak for the band when I say, thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy it. -GS, 7/21

A personal note from GS:
After about 8 months of work on two highly complicated, micro-produced pieces, where the misplacement of a part by milliseconds could ruin the intended effect, returning to the wild, seat-of-the-pants world of PB was jarring. I was listening to the music with the wrong set of ears, in the wrong mindset, and that first night of transfers, I was miserable.

The next day, I returned to it, and after some heavy ruminations the night before, this time I got it. I needed to remember the constraints of that situation, the reality of musically streaking across the aural landscape. Nothing to hide behind, not even rehearsal, this is what happens when making things up on the spot. And not just that, but doing so in a pretty wide mix of styles, usually several at once. Nothing was off limits. Whatever the weak spots are in your abilities, rest assured, they WILL be seen. And they will be seen every time you play. We put ourselves through this for six years. And I think it was worth it.

Some people might have done better at it. Many certainly would have done worse. But it would have sounded different. Many Jazz musicians are expert improvisers. But it wouldn't have sounded like this. Many noise/sound artists improvise. But it doesn't sound like this. Some rock musicians improvise. But it doesn't sound like this. There are elements of all those and more in here. We all brought our own influences in. And we were always trying to add more. So.....It may appear on first listen like you know exactly what we're doing, our fallback positions are obvious and our approach is too. If you listen again, you may realize there are things you overlooked or didn't think of the first time. I WAS THERE HELPING MAKE IT and that happened to me. I ask, from me to you- whatever your reaction, listen to a few things more than once. You may find it rewarding.