63 replies to this topic

[twistedkite]

[Dear murmurs.com, the following is a bit of a faux press release, but the information is all true. I’m very excited to share this with you! Please note that, ideally, this would be posted closer to the project’s completion, but if Ethan really is going to shut down the site at the end of the month, well, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to announce this here. And if Ethan doesn’t shut down the site, consider this an early preview!]

Indie band Owenshire reveal massive R.E.M. covers double-album

Canadian indie band Owenshire today released a trailer on their YouTube page announcing a massive R.E.M. tribute project entitled Remember Every Moment. The trailer contains snippets from 11 R.E.M. covers as well as details about the project, all filmed in a style reminiscent of R.E.M.’s videos.

The project will contain 40 songs spanning R.E.M.’s entire career. Of particular interest are fully formed studio versions of some of R.E.M.’s rarest uncompleted songs such as “Ha (We Get Paid For It)”, the first single released from  the project, as well as other gems like “Title,” “That Beat,” and “Theme From Two Steps Onward,” the  latter containing a new Mike Mills inspired background vocal.

Owenshire founder singer/bassist Robert Muhlbock explains the idea behind the project. “I’ve loved R.E.M. since I was 12 years old,” Muhlbock says, “and I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a covers album for some time. R.E.M. mean so much to me that, to be blunt, it’s been kind of a life goal to do this.”

As Muhlbock tells it, he was surfing Youtube looking for R.E.M. instrumentals to put his vocals over when he discovered Clive Butler’s R.E.M. covers channel. “But these weren’t just covers,” Muhlbock explains,” these were amazingly detailed tracks—incredibly brilliant, as if the band released full instrumental versions of all of their songs! I just couldn’t believe such a thing existed.”

As the story goes, Muhlbock emailed Butler, who lives in the UK, about the possibility of a musical collaboration under the Owenshire name. Butler accepted and, after drawing up a rough track-listing with an emphasis on some of R.E.M.’s lesser known songs, the two have spent the past year and a half emailing MP3s to each other--across two continents, no less—completing each song bit by bit.

“It’s a slow process,” remarks Butler who plays all instruments on the tracks as well as does all of the production, “but it really is a labour of love, and the whole project seems so fitting now that R.E.M. have called it a day. What better way to honour our favourite band than to pour our love and admiration into a creative project that hopefully the real hardcore fans will enjoy.”

Muhlbock elaborates, “our goal always was to announce the project’s completion on Murmur.com; however, with that site slated to shut down at the end of December, we realized we were about to lose a large portion of the R.E.M. community’s attention.” He adds, “R.E.M.’s disbanding, while tragic, at least makes the project that much more poignant for us.”

Remember Every Moment’s anticipated completion date is late 2013. All songs will be available for free download from Owenshire’s bandcamp page.  Check Owenshire.com for details.

[Okay, murmurs, I'm back. The sad truth is that owenshire.com won't be done until the end of the month (I hope). Nevertheless this project is moving forward day by day. If you are interested, subscribe to owenshire's twitter and youtube accounts...facebook coming soon. Best, Rob (AKA Twistedkite)]

[thomas08]

trailer looks pretty cool thanks for the info

[sashwap]

i didn't have high expectations, but the recordings of the unreleased songs sound fantastic. great idea, seems to be well-executed too. only complaint is... album out in 2013?? hope it sees the light of day sooner

when's the single out?

[fanfan]

Fine covers! All the best for your project, keep us updated.

[thomas08]

sashwap, on 03 December 2011 - 04:09 PM, said:

i didn't have high expectations, but the recordings of the unreleased songs sound fantastic. great idea, seems to be well-executed too. only complaint is... album out in 2013?? hope it sees the light of day sooner

when's the single out?

I thought that seemed a bit odd too, like there's so many songs in that video, and they're not planning on releasing the album for 2 years? Seems a bit looong, unless the songs in the trailer are just rough demos??

[Discoverer]

Wait murmurs is set to shut down at the end of December???????? Ive been on this site for 10 years now at least it seems. Nooooooooooooo

[elkokolores]

Nice idea, ambitious realization. Hope for some post-punk-R.E.M-ish renditions of their later material. Thanks for posting this.

But: The visuals in the video are horrible! They just look like a bleak parody of the aesthetics used in American experimental films and of course the early R.E.M. videos. Sorry to say that, but as a visual artist myself I woud advice you to reconsider this part of the project.

Regarding Ethan freezing the forums of murmur.com: While I certainly understand why, I don't think that it's such a great idea. I'd love to come back here to get a little oldschool vibe. Good ol' days when someone could anticipate a new R.E.M. recording while reading hundreds of pages of drivel about it. And I certainly would like to come back to get in one of those old discussions once again. Even in 2030 it should be able for me to delare my love for "Airportman" on here.

[Driver Nate]

Discoverer, on 03 December 2011 - 07:43 PM, said:

Wait murmurs is set to shut down at the end of December???????? Ive been on this site for 10 years now at least it seems. Nooooooooooooo

elkokolores, on 03 December 2011 - 08:15 PM, said:

Regarding Ethan freezing the forums of murmur.com: While I certainly understand why, I don't think that it's such a great idea. I'd love to come back here to get a little oldschool vibe. Good ol' days when someone could anticipate a new R.E.M. recording while reading hundreds of pages of drivel about it. And I certainly would like to come back to get in one of those old discussions once again. Even in 2030 it should be able for me to delare my love for "Airportman" on here.

Since this topic keeps coming up perhaps it could be made a "Sticky" but EThan no longer plans to freeze Murmurs in time as of December 31st.

[Discoverer]

Driver Nate, on 03 December 2011 - 08:47 PM, said:

Since this topic keeps coming up perhaps it could be made a "Sticky" but EThan no longer plans to freeze Murmurs in time as of December 31st.

Good I quite like this place

[twistedkite]

Well, if you've read this far, then allow me to explain:

#1) The whole point of posting this on Dec 1 2011 was to get the word out before the site "shuts down"--otherwise I wouldn't have said a thing! Where was it posted that Ethan changed his mind? In the original forum way back in Sept when REM broke up? [...checks "The week that was" thread and sees nothing] Anyway, I'm over-joyed that the site will be alive, but it kind of makes my announcement rather...out of time.

#2) Why 2013? Because I have a career (English professor), a wife, 2 kids and it's just the two of us doing this project. Clive and I finish a song a week. I'm a big fan of releasing things "all at once"--not a song at a time. The goal was/is to do 40 songs. 13 are basically finished, about 3 are almost done, and the other ones I still need to sing (and Clive then has to mix). When the whole project was/is done (and all volumes mastered to the right level) I'll post them all to Owenshire's bandcamp page and you can all rejoice/criticize as you see fit. In the meantime, I may release certain songs on youtube as previews...why not?

#3) What/Who is Owenshire? It's my band that has 2 studio albums and a zillion rough demos. A while back I decided to finally do something with my music--a life's goal. Ideally "all the pieces would be in place." Unfortunately, my website's not done (BUMMER) and none my own songs or videos are uploaded...again, I understand that's a little sad from a marketing standpoint. But this was never supposed to make me rich or famous. And, as I like to say, "all information is forthcoming"--I'll get there. I repeat--this was merely to get the word out before Ethan (supposedly) froze the boards on Dec 31st!

#4) Is it any good? Well, in the first 8 replies I've got my first taste of compliments (someone likes the songs...yeah!)--and criticisms (someone called my video horrible...something I still very much disagree with) My voice is my voice, and Clive, well, he's just fantastic.  In the end, you stick your neck out with something like this. It's exciting and nervewracking all at the same time.

#5) I'm in the middle of marking a million essays right now, but as soon as I can, I'll finish the promo clip for Ha (We Get Paid For It) and post it--yes, it's in the same style as the footage in the trailer, but the video isn't meant to be anything spectacular--just something to watch while the song plays. The song, on the other hand, is one of my favourites in the REM "unreleased" vault. It was a pleasure/honour to complete this. I plan to post the single in a week or so. Not sure if it should be "front page news" or merely a thread in Pop Songs....

[sashwap]

twistedkite, on 04 December 2011 - 06:27 AM, said:

#5) I'm in the middle of marking a million essays right now, but as soon as I can, I'll finish the promo clip for Ha (We Get Paid For It) and post it--yes, it's in the same style as the footage in the trailer, but the video isn't meant to be anything spectacular--just something to watch while the song plays. The song, on the other hand, is one of my favourites in the REM "unreleased" vault. It was a pleasure/honour to complete this. I plan to post the single in a week or so. Not sure if it should be "front page news" or merely a thread in Pop Songs....

can i ask how you approached the vocals on this one? seems like you had to do some heavy re-interpreting of singing that probably never entered the realm of language in the first place. was it like writing your own lyrics, or did you find syllables that worked and just go with that? guess the same question can applied to "title" too (can't wait to hear that one!)

[twistedkite]

I'll post my lyrics right now:

Secret circle
All arise
Myriad fallen reagal
Searching, couldn't find

Ha! Oh, my. Oh my-hi
We get paid for it.
We assume
We get paid for it.
We haggle.

To gather their kind
Since they've, since they've renewed
Now they call you over
Picking who is who.

As you can see, it's a bit of a combination of my own interpretation and some of the "official" stuff floating on the internet. When it comes to singing the songs "without" lyrics, I basically did a stream of conscious type interpretation: a mixture of poetry while still adhering to the basic sounds and syllables sung by Stipe.

I, um, refused, however, to sing "in a who!"--that's just stupid.

The song is sung in what I would call my "normal" voice free of any Stipe association. I mean, the other covers have certain Stipean qualities---not that I "try" to sound like him, but of course certain aspects are mimicked. I sing "Ha (We get paid for it)" in a soft, dreamy, subdued, passionate way. Yikes--how's that for a description? It's not mumbled per se, nor is it over-sung. Boy--now I wish the blasted video was posted already! I don't want to give short shrift to Clive here either. He has re-interpreted the opening by a note and added an amazing bridge that the band played once in an Athen's soundcheck.

Truth be told, I was and am most excited about the covers of the unreleased stuff since those songs are the ones that can be judged on their own merits without too much "REM bias" hindering acceptance by the community (one would hope). If all that comes out of this project is minor recognition for an unknown band who completed a few incredibly rare REM songs (and there are a good 4 more in the pipeline not in the video that people won't be expecting at all) then so be it. I couldn't be happier. Clive and I both are huge fans.

By the way--thanks for your interest.

[Kimo]

Those covers sound really good !!
Out of curiosity, how did you name the "Unknown" song, the one that contained lyrics from Pilgrimage (0:24) ?? Did you manage to figure out the lyrics ??

[twistedkite]

Thanks my friend! Appreciated.
The "Unknown" song is called "Fall Above"--that's what I sing in the chorus (with the background vocal as "looking down") Again, it is a combination of Stipe's lyrics in the real song, and my own based on his syllables (mostly) and what seemed appropriate.

[Kimo]

twistedkite, on 04 December 2011 - 08:46 AM, said:

Thanks my friend! Appreciated.
The "Unknown" song is called "Fall Above"--that's what I sing in the chorus (with the background vocal as "looking down") Again, it is a combination of Stipe's lyrics in the real song, and my own based on his syllables (mostly) and what seemed appropriate.

Okay, I like the sound of that !! Good job!

[Driver Nate]

twistedkite, on 04 December 2011 - 06:27 AM, said:

Where was it posted that Ethan changed his mind? In the original forum way back in Sept when REM broke up? [...checks "The week that was" thread and sees nothing] Anyway, I'm over-joyed that the site will be alive, but it kind of makes my announcement rather...out of time.

He's mentioned it in several threads but they would be impossible to find. Once the initial announcement was made, a few people expressed a desire for Murmurs to continue on. EThan concurred and said it would be possible only if some members would be able to step forward to help out that have programming experience. More recently, Robert Andrews started a thread about how he would like to index everything about the band here at Murmurs. EThan and some other members have since contributed some ideas of their own to that thread. You can read it here.

[twistedkite]

Thanks for this Driver Nate---actually you make me feel less bad about revealing this project too soon. I always thought it was a silly idea to shut this site down--I mean, I'm a huge Nirvana fan and the NIrvana Internet Fanclub is a great website:  well-organized and still going strong. There is no need to shut down a thriving fan site just because the band breaks up...none at all.

Personally I love the idea of a COMPLETE REM site since, it's true, so many of the pieces are spread out: lyrics here, photos there. I've said it before, but it annoys me to NO END that the official REM site isn't organized as such--that's just...sad. I use the Pearl Jam website as the holy grail of fansites: all lyrics, setlists, concert dates, forums, etc...all in one convenient (and fucking obvious) place!

The gist I get is that Robert Andrews and a few others will begin the long task of indexing everything, and quite possibly the shape of murmurs.com will be forever altered with fan forums taking up a small part of a much larger collection. I can handle that...but one would assume there would always be a "front page" displaying the latest news (mirrored from REMHQ) .

In the end, I'm quite happy that things will move along in some fashion. But the pace, style, and convition are in the air enough for me to post Remember Every Moment here and now and not feel too badly about letting the cat out of the bag early. In a perfect world, everything Owenshire-related would just "exist" at once....however, I'm building something here.  Trying to anyway.

[Remixomatosys]

Looking forward to the project, it sounds very interesting

[Discoverer]

I actually thought it sounded great and though i dont normally enjoy REM tribute's yours I'm very much looking forward too. Hopefully you'll release a couple songs before 2013! What if the world ends on Dec 2012?

[cjr67]

Sounds like a great project - definitely looking forward to it!

p.s. - And I prefer "Fall Above" as the title to that song than "I'm In Love" (which is a title that's been floating around).