WE'VE BEEN SO BUSY, WE HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO JUST SIT DOWN AND PLAY TOGETHER.
Hey all,
It’s Sean (Shrub, if you’ve figured out my Rat Chat alias 😛).
I know you’ve heard a lot of talk about how busy we are building website stuff and launching the album and planning a tour and paying our debt and managing our feelings AND while things are exciting, the boys and I have all said at one time in the last couple months…
“We gotta play some f’in music again.”
We’ve been doing this long enough to where we try to listen to our gut feelings (they’re always right), so we decided to have a creative day.
SOUNDS GREAT, RIGHT?!
Until I pick up my guitar and sound like Johnny Depp desperately trying to impress Eddie Vedder by slamming power chords on his pre-war Martin that cost more than the UTR’s total debt.
Yeah, it totally happened…YOU CAN SMELL THE EGO
But I digress…
I’m learning how hard it is to switch hats from marketing guru/website developer/social media presence to being a free-minded creative artist all the time.
There’s no good way to do it other than how UTR gets the rest of their stuff done . . . SHEER WILL AND DETERMINATION!
So after a couple hours of takes, we had taken out all the stops by process of elimination:
-Try playing without coffee ✅
-Trying playing with TOO MUCH coffee ✅
-Try playing with empty stomachs ✅
-Try gorging ourselves ✅
-Try playing after a dip the pool ✅
-Try playing after getting in touch with god 💨 ✅
-Taking a break ✅
-Try playing 15 different songs ✅
-Try taking it way too seriously ✅
-Try playing it as if we didn’t care ✅
Keep in mind that, in order to record in your mobile home, you have to turn your noisy A/C off. Good thing Texas has that nice cool breeze!
SIKE! Do people still say that? Whatever. It’s basically the 2000’s in here.
Anyway, after some time (and sweat) an acceptable run of Stuffed Monkey Farewell came out and the feeling like we could never be artists again faded.
In fact, this was our fist time doing it in this arrangement and hey! It’s kinda nice!
One time we met Leland Sklar, bassist to the stars (if you don’t know…go find out) and Casey ended up messaging with him afterwards and one thing Leland said stuck…”Gonna keep on going til I get it right.”
It’s like the cool guys “just keep swimming.” I love it and that’s just what we’re doing.
This new club is too much fun. I’m having a blast getting to know ya’ll better.
Can’t wait to make more stuff for all of you in here!!
TWD,
Sean 
Sooooo, what do you think? Comment below!
I’m glad you made time to do this. Love your acoustic sessions. 💛 Vocals are ridiculously good. 🔥
Omg Sean 🤣😂🤣😂 I almost couldn’t finish reading this because I’m laughing so hard I can’t breathe….”sound like Johnny Depp desperately trying to impress Eddie Vedder…”
I love you so much! 🤣 💛🌻☠
You guys are incredible.
And this arrangement is gorgeous 🥰
Your acoustic videos are my favorite!!
Casey, your vocals are IT! Love you guys! 💀💛
The post is hilarious and self deprecating which we can all appreciate haha! The arrangement is beyond great and I especially enjoy the intimate eye contact at the end there, Sean
Sean, I just want to note that I somehow stared directly at you right as you glared at the camera the first time 😅😳🥴
Love this so much. The “Well” part always gives me goosebumps! Casey, your voice makes my day. Everyday.
🌻🐀💖
I really really enjoy these more intimate sessions. Thanks for the feels 💛 as always. Also, my BBBBB 😍
This song has been stuck in my head all week! how did you all know?! Haha sounds amazing as always!! Also…. I still say sike….. lol
That was a really good version! But then, I am a sucker for acoustic, unplugged kinda sounds.
And your note, Sean? I could barely breathe. I needed the laugh!
Melodic gold as usual. 🥰🥰 I hope I can see y’all live. 💛💀🌻
Yeah…nice! It’s so hard to pick a favorite but I catch myself singing this song a lot…I love this. I clearly don’t know how musicians work and stuff but I guess I’m surprised you guys don’t play together every minute of every day, lol. Listening to the demos is pretty cool…maybe sometime you could record (video) some of that stuff…not worrying about it being presentable. Is that too personable? Like I said I’m clueless about this stuff, lol. Thanks for doing this, it’s wonderful. 🙂
It was just earlier today during my post-work-drive-home-listen-to-your-CD that I decided this was my current favorite, and then I find this video waiting for me 💙💙💙 It’s made an awful week end on a far more positive note 🐁🐁🐁
Great art comes only from those willing to be vulnerable, and what is vulnerability if not being in close proximity with two other dudes in a hot box Texas mobile home with the A/C turned off while trying to belt out some tunes?
Your suffering shows in your art, which is to say: I fucking love these living room videos.
Sean/Shrub, thank you for sharing this and your story with us. I’m so happy to be here and to be getting to know you talented dudes a bit better. Creative companions are exactly what this monster is ALWAYS looking for. TWD
I LOVE the sound the music and Casey’s voice. Still trying to get the lyrics clear. But I enjoyed it. I heard Casey’s heart and soul, as usual. I need a little nap so I’ll listen again later when the fans and AC aren’t drowning out the details of the lyrics. I’m in TEXAS as of last night. Waco, to be exact.
Talk to you guys later. Keep up the wonderful work and don’t forget to care for your selves as well as one another. Your Rats aren’t pressuring you. Not if they all love you. I know they do, so be confident that we are in for the long haul. TWD
Your description of the recording session reminds me of my band rehearsals and makes me miss them a lot (the part with the need to turn off the a/c really sparked that for me. We don’t have a/c but we tried recording on a hot Washington State afternoon in a small attic apartment and the fan noise kept overwhelming everything so we turned it off and soon we were dripping with sweat but we got the recording done!)