I like garage rock because it’s all about DIY, which is perfect for me because I’m cheap and lazy. That’s why I started the band Picking Out Islands back in November last year.
Listen to the EP while reading the text.
Later that month I recorded and put out an EP (Little Diddles), it only took around two weeks to make. All the songs were written as I recorded them, all very linear and low quality. Nothing really happened for a while after that, so I made another EP (Quick Ones), which wasn’t much different from Little Diddles. I recorded all the drums first for that EP, which has really just a floor tom, snare, and tambourine. So I suppose it made me think differently about writing, not that much thought went into it anyway. Shortly after that, I booked a show.
Putting a band together
When I booked the show, I started putting a band together. The band was initially just me on guitar and my buddy on drums, but it wasn’t really a band due to my impatience, not wanting to wait on other people to record and basically having nothing to fucking do but try to book shows. So when I booked the show, then I got a bassist and a friend to play tambourine for the first show, but he hasn’t played with us since. The drummer was up for playing considering this was actually something solid. It was finally a real band.
I’ve always liked the Idea of big bands like King Gizzard, The Dead and many of Zappa’s dense line-ups. All those different elements working harmoniously together, that shit is fucking kismet. I haven’t been able to get that many different players into Picking Out Islands yet, but I really hope to expand this band, maybe two drummers, keyboards, and a tambourine player. Though I’m quite happy to record alone and just play live with people.
Groove
The new EP “Groove” came to together pretty organically over the past two months or so. I’ve been pretty full on recording and demoing shit, basically just grouping songs together that I think suit one another.
Usually, when I write songs like the ones on this EP, I try not to take them seriously, mainly because they’re real simple and silly. Though I did take a little more time with these, mostly making sure the mix sounded somewhat decent even though it’s not that great, hey I tried my best! I’m not big on thinking too deep into lyrics on these types of songs; I’m just trying to have some fun with it.
The only song I really thought consciously about on this was “I Know, I Don’t Know” which is loosely inspired by a time two of my buddies went on a night out alone in the city and got into a fight over a fucking cigarette, well rather for saying “No” then whispering “Ya cunt” when some guy asked for a cigarette, should’ve just given him one.
More to come
More music to come! I’m re-recording some new and old songs on this old Fostex cassette recorder I recently picked up. There will be one or two singles released over the next few months and hopefully an album before the end of the year, so keep an eye out for them. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Be Well
DH.