I’d been writing a weekly blog about seeing how far I could take the Egg Eaters, make them famous, manipulate the levers of power, all the ways to be charming and pushy and brave and game the system. Radio. Label. Press. It kind of worked. But it didn’t work. On February 28th of this year I wrote a blog post labelled “band mismanagement.” A lesson in being domineering. Then everything closed down. Music venues. Recording studios. Darkness descended. It hasn’t been a pleasant time. I have lost friends and I have witnessed friends fall apart. We lost someone recently. I didn’t sleep. Each night I waited for dawn in a stiff plank of anxiety, searching for something to push against, something to fight. I don’t know – searching for a metaphor – whether music was at the bottom of the well or that music is the rope that leads back up into the light. I do know that I have been making remote music, sneaking into dark basement jams, managing online music shows, making some porch music, listening and listening, talking and talking, texting and texting about music. It has taken on a greater importance. A lot of collaborations. And there is no better feeling than to collaborate with someone, share a song with someone, and have them respond through their art. That is like becoming brothers. I don’t like the weight necessarily. That music can lift me so high, laughing as I play – and then other moments when I feel excluded… I am sure it is not just me. I try to let everyone know, who shares music with me, who collaborates, that everything is gentle and kind and easy. A phoenix is the bird that rises from the ashes. A crow, a raven, is the bird that feeds on carrion, that spiritually can travel between the underworld and our world, that can fly into the darkness and return to the light.
Oh hell – this post went dark – and then stayed dark. I just want to write dance music. Nothing is worth writing unless you can dance to it. So how do you do it? How do you write dance music?

For half a year I’ve managed “Band A” as an art project / investigation of the music industry. Band A did pretty good – played on 4 radio stations, reviewed by two music journals, on a minor minor minor label, and had two songs on compilations. Then The Styrofoam Turtles announced that they were releasing their single “Pipe” on our label – Holy Crap Records – and as we love Tristen Colby, Josh Davis and Colm McKeon so much and think so much of their music we released their single and sent it around to radio stations and music magazines. The Styrofoam Turtles became “Band B” in this narrative.
During this time Cinnamon and I started thinking about how much we care about and love all you bands and musicians, that we have seen live, played with, and played on our podcast. And we launched Musicians For Overdose Prevention to get narcan in all bars and music venues.
Now we are collecting songs about use/abuse/recovery. We’re still working this out – but we want to create a space for these songs on our podcast and we want to find a major minor label (Rough Trade, Merge, Third Man…) to partner with us and release an album of the best underground music songs on this theme.
In the meantime, we want to collect all your songs and put them out as a massive compilation on Holy Crap Records, adding to the collection as we get more songs. It would just live on bandcamp and every five songs (or so) we’d do a media blast about this project and these bands and these songs. We’re still working this out, but this is what we’re thinking for 2020??? As usual we’re just fumbling forward in the darkness, making it all up as we go along… If we screw anything it’s due to stupidity not malice… Here we go Band C, Band D….

This year I am managing “Band A” and the single “Pipe” by The Styrofoam Turtles.
While the mainstream doesn’t even know we exist and the corporate music universe pays us no attention – here in the darkness and cold damp the mold and fungus is growing, the first one-celled organisms are crawling out of the primordial swamp.
Since I started this blog I have discovered so many great underground music labels and underground music publications. So many great underground bands. I love the DIY ethos – no one is stopping me – so why not do it?
We’re helping the revolution in the smallest most innocuous way possible. Holy Crap Records has released one single by The Styrofoam Turtles and one single by “Band A” – you can find them at bandcamp: https://holycraprecords.bandcamp.com/
– or you can find them on the www.hlycrp.com website.
I’ve sent out these bands’ releases to 30 indie/underground/local radio stations and to 11 underground music publications. “Band A” got played on 98.1 The River this week.
And on this Sunday evening these two bands will be playing at Static Age-Records.
The Styrofoam Turtles are the best, kindest, most talented, most passionate rockers around the Asheville scene. At Holy Crap Records we celebrate “song” – the art form of song – and these kids can write songs. They’ve produced two albums that are busting with hits. We’re lucky to be able to share their single. Their live shows are also insane. Tristen Colby has a family background in the semi-professional rural wrestling circuit – and he brings all that drama and madness to the stage. Josh Davis is very well behaved…
And “Band A” is the worst kept secret in the local underground music scene…
See you all on Sunday night…