Blog Posts

Tour Blog: Chapter 2 – The Case of the Missing Drummer

6/18/2012

Meanwhile in Seattle, Matty had picked up his brother’s vehicle at a neighbour’s house and spotted a drumset in the window. This is America after all, and not any time to be too overcome with timidity. Matty knocked on the door and figured out the drums belong to a guy named Davie. As Matty and Gina waited for Davie to come home, they began to realize that the house was more of a collective, sort of an international hostel with an open door policy. Friends were made, drinks were had and roasted chickpeas were devoured until Davie arrived- a pony-tailed easy-going dude with calm eyes and a handsomely genuine smile.

At 7:00PM, Davie arrived at the Seamonster Lounge for soundcheck. He helped us unload, got a quick rundown of all the songs and we began. The venue is small, but lucky for us it seemed full and the crowd – a mixture of friends, friends-of-friends, occupants of the collective house, a redditor and a boyfriend – listened not just with their ears but with their eyes. What a relief as a musician to have an audience that cares about music as much as we do about performing.

What could have been a disaster was in fact a borderline success. Sure, some of the songs ended up pretty botched but the majority were surprisingly good and nobody really notices mistakes if you smile enough. Davie did a remarkable job at improvisation and following the axe-chopping action of Matty’s bass in the abrupt endings of some of our songs. Even though we can barely afford this adventure of ours, we paid him for his work because he deserved it and because it’s the right thing to do.

We made a net $12, and that night we pulled up our socks and drove all the way to Portland.

Next, will Sam make it across the border on his second attempt in time for show in Eugene? Look out for Chapter 3 – The Gatekeepers of Freedom and Eagles

- Andrew

Tour Blog: Chapter 1 – Borderline Disaster

6/16/2012

He doesn’t look like a vagrant, does he?

As a preface to what I’m about to write, I declare to the Internet and to the United States of America that all actions conduced by “The Riff Raffs” are in full cooperation with federal, state, provincial, county, municipal laws and the laws of physics.

In my academic life, I would normally be very happy with 80% on any assignment or test. However, 80% of us made it across the border which is a bit of a disaster. I won’t beat around the bush – our dauntless drummer Sam was denied entry into the land of freedom. Why? Well, they thought he was planning on taking his seemingly nomadic life permanently south of the 49. They didn’t even search his bag. A border officer took about half a minute to come to that decision. It usually takes me about fifteen minutes to figure out if I want to go on a second date with someone, so I can only gather that this officer is quite the efficient lovemaker.

While the band was scrambling to salvage the situation and somehow figure out how to play our first gig that night in Seattle, I was sitting on our bus holding a frond of wheat in Minecraft and gathering the pigs, cows, sheep and chickens from the surrounding biome. We all have our coping mechanisms.

Next chapter, The RFs try to solve the case of the missing drummer in time for the Seattle gig in The Case of the Missing Drummer.

- Andrew

oracles 12: Astoria

4/2/2012

LYRICS
(by Matty Jeronimo)

Riding high on the back of a shadow
You knew the names of the trees on the trail
And when I fell
The earth received me

Oh oh oh

On that old path in the dead of winter
It was a race against time and ourselves
Sound of a gunshot the reins burn our hands
Kicking and rearing

We saw our ghosts...

See the clearing where I fell
When I broke my legs you carried me home
The grass is tall
the gate is gone

You know the way
Oh oh oh...

The Astoria bass

- Matty

oracles 11: the ghost of bear creek

4/2/2012

LYRICS
(by Andrew Lee)

You say I’ve got somethin’ that you want
so why don’t you tell me what you need
from me
it’s on the tip of your finger
haunt me
an insatiable banshee
walking the line
between sailor and siren
shifting eyes on the portrait of the baroness

You say I’ve got somethin’ that you want
so why don’t you tell me what you need
from me
shattered crystalline chandelier
haunt me
through dimensional tapestries
walking the line
am I awake or dreaming
shifting eyes on the portrait of the baroness

Shivers passing through me
voices coarse, hair-raising
Footsteps
Staircase is creaking
spent one night in a haunted house

You say I’ve got somethin’ that you want
so why don’t you tell me what you need
from me
just let your beauty linger
haunt me
a phantom’s fantasy
walking the line
between corporeality
shifting eyes on the portrait of the baroness

Just let me be...
The ghost of bear creek...

The Ghost of Bear Creek is one of our strangest songs… and we love it. We have devised a somewhat unique way of presenting it – as a little interactive Flash adventure coded by yours truly (and not without a few frustrations I assure you :P)

Once the song starts in the game, you will have just over 4 minutes to explore a haunted house… if you dare. It’s kind of like a scavenger hunt. See if you can find all of these things:

6 portraits
A ghost in a mirror
A cat
A ghost by a creek
Eyes beneath a staircase
A piano that plays itself
A diary with strange entries
A spider
A skeleton
A headless suit of armor
A dungeon map

Have fun! If nothing loads below, you may need to download a flash player: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

- Sam

oracles 10: lose my soul

3/20/2012

Photo by Gina Loes

LYRICS
(by Sam MacKinnon)

Well how come
We never talk anymore?
There’s a hole in your head
At the back with a door
Am I an illusion
Or anything more
Than a shout in the dark
That you fight to ignore, oh I know

I don’t want to
lose my soul
It left me alone
In the night, I was hollow
Oh I don’t want to lose my soul
I followed it down to the the docks
Where the crows go

So wake me from
A rolling dream
And take me down
Where the wind is screaming
All for the pull of the tide
I’m so filled with time
But I never feel full, and I know

Well I don’t feel
Like I’m ready today
So I folded my heart
And I put it away
I’m losing myself
And I’m losing my mind
I’m a rock,I’m a shell
I’m a song over time, and I know

I don’t want to
lose my soul
It left me alone
In the night, I was hollow
Oh I don’t want to lose my soul
I followed it down to the the docks
Where the crows go

Lose my Soul, in a general sense, is a song about feeling disconnected.

Moving to a new city comes with a mixed-bag of emotions. It can be exciting and stimulating, but it can also be lonely. When I first came to Vancouver, it was easy; I was already familiar with the city, and I had plenty of contacts, both friends and family, so it felt very natural, at least at first.

I made it my personal duty to explore Vancouver, tried to see a different part of it every day, jogged around the seawall, looked for obscure restaurants, and generally just wandered around aimlessly. I didn’t have a plan (clearly). I was fresh out of music school, where I was a drum and composition major, but I never truly entertained the idea of playing music as a career.

Drumming certainly wasn’t the first thing on my mind. I wanted to be an animator. Or a composer. But for a year or so, I didn’t do much of either of those things. I just worked – enough to get by, but not enough to save anything, and I became increasingly depressed. I volunteered for various things, but it always felt somewhat empty. I just felt tired, constantly. I stopped exploring the city.

I needed do something. I applied for animation school, got in, and then dropped out the first day, realizing that I didn’t want a job that required me to sit at a computer all day. I decided to try something completely different, so I began taking first-year science courses, and discovered that I loved ecology. I also started playing music again, and quite fortuitously, ended up in The Ruffled Feathers.

The video for Lose My Soul is not really a video, in that it wasn’t filmed; it’s an animation – specifically a series of photographs (around 1500) that I took while walking around the city. I probably looked insane doing it – taking a picture, walking a foot forward, taking another picture, walking another foot, etc, etc. I ran them together at 8 frames a second. The result is a little jarring… it looks like a shaky camera. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not

The process of taking the photos was quite nostalgic. It reminded me of moving to Vancouver for the first time, back when I was compelled to explore its crevices. It felt good to do it again. It connected me to the geography of where I live, and it reminded me of the fact that newness, and novelty, and exploration, are all things that stimulate me, that connect me to life, that feed the empty spaces.

- Sam

ORACLES 9: OUR BEAUTIFUL HEARTS

3/20/2012

LYRICS
(by Gina Loes)

Everyday I try to let you know
What you mean to me
Face to face or even on the phone
It’s your choosing baby oh

Cause I can’t get enough of your eyes
Doing their dance over me
I’m sick in bed, I’m loosing my head
Every time you leave

How do I begin to tell you
Everything I’m going through
Without you thinking
I over do it

CHORUS 1
I get lost in your house, in your arms, on your couch
I can’t think from the thought of everything we did only this morning
Shine on me, honesty, in this dim lit fantasy
All I need is some time to acclimatize
In this language of letters, I am choking on my feathers
Falling further from the sun and it’s only begun

I would choose time with you
Over anyone else
I get scared when it’s too quiet and now when I’m by myself
Like I’ll never have enough

Every day I have to let you go
Untie all of my strings
And what a waste of energy
Cause loving you is a good thing

(CHORUS 2)

Our Beautiful Hearts praises our desire for daily connection in our relationships and confronts the energy that is misplaced when it is remains unreceived.

Constantly consumed by possibility, probability, and compromise; Our Beautiful Hearts lays aside the consuming vacillations of the mind and makes a request for understanding while emphasizing a need for tangibility and consistency.

To celebrate the release of tracks eight and nine, “Our Beautiful Hearts” and “Lose My Soul”, we will be giving away three pairs of hand made ceramic heart shaped tumblers made by myself.

- Gina

ORACLES 8: ROOFTOP GARDEN

3/6/2012

LYRICS
(by The Ruffled Feathers)

Grow, grow, grow
Oh brave seed
The earth can be tough
Maybe too rough for you and me

I don’t know, I don’t know what it is you need
I don’t know, I don’t know what it is you need
Give me one time just this one time
Give me one time just this one time
Give me one time just this one time
Can we hold on and see...

Rooftop garden, oh oh oh oh
Crumbs for the birds
City of bulbs
Plans a metropolis
Oh oh oh oh
All I got is weeds
All I got is weeds

Dig, dig, deep
Break of dawn
The earth is drying out
And all my energy is gone

I don’t know, I don’t know what it is you need
I don’t know, I don’t know what it is you need
Give me one time just this one time
Give me one time just this one time
Give me one time just this one time
Can we hold on and see...

Rooftop garden, oh oh oh oh
Crumbs for the birds
City of bulbs
Plans a metropolis
Oh oh oh oh
All I got is weeds
All I got is weeds

Last week saw the inauguration of the studio we’ve slowly been setting up. We’re calling it Sky Lantern Studio in honour of the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. You may remember them from the video we made for “When You’re Ready“.

The first tracks recorded here were for Charley’s side project, Axelrad (formerly Gunshot Wounds), with Ian Sellers and Galen Elfert (of Murder Castle). Matty engineered the recording, and is looking for more bands to record in the future.

Drop us a line if you’re interested. Maybe one day The Ruffled Feathers will have our own label. Although, right now, we’re just hoping you guys are enjoying the music we make.

- Matty

ORACLES 7: MOCKINGBIRD

3/6/2012

LYRICS
(by Gina Loes)

Hey baby it will be alright
I don’t care where you went last night
Times ain’t easy and I know it’s been hard
I left you standing in the old school yard

Hush baby it will be just fine
Spring is coming and it’s just in time
I’m going to pick you up and spin you around
There’s nothing like this love we’ve found

Hey baby just don’t you cry
I can’t bare to hear the tears in your eyes
There’s nothing left in my own place
Nowhere for you to make your great escapes

Hush baby don’t you say a word
I’m bringing you back a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird don’t sing
I’m going to get you a diamond ring

Video by Palais Nouveau.

- Gina

Oracles 6: Rosin and horsehair

2/21/2012

Fan art by Tong Zhou

LYRICS
(by Andrew Lee)

My canteen is full of candour.
but that’s something I cannot contain
I had fun when you had me once
but your cup is downed and drained

I know I’m a wild young thing
dark horse that no man can tame
I had fun when you let me run
but you couldn’t grasp the reins

you had me once in those thirty months
you had me once in those thirty months

all the weed that you could muster
our conversations so sedate
I had fun when you showed me once
but I miss your sober face

All our fields were fit and fickle
but you took your sickle to make hay
I had fun when you had me once
but you left our fallowed plain

you had me once in those thirty months
you had me once in those thirty months

It came down to you or the fiddle
and I chose wisely I chose fair
There was no room to meet in the middle
so I chose the rosin and horse hair

you had me once in those thirty months
you had me once in those thirty months

It came down to you or the fiddle
and I chose wisely I chose fair
There was no room to meet in the middle
so I chose the rosin and horse hair
credits

As we see our songs grow and change, we often forget their humble beginnings. For our song Rosin and Horsehair, we meticulously saved and recorded all the versions of this song, from a honky-tonk MIDI file to the final mastered product. Doing this, we came to appreciate how much work we put into the song after each step.

Here it is! Please follow along with the description below while you listen this compilation. Hint: whenever you hear a hawk screeching, that signifies a change in version!

Rosin and Horsehair: A Compilation of All Versions by The Ruffled Feathers

0:00 – 0:05 – Final Mastered Introduction
0:05 – 0:13 – Original Version in Sibelius
0:13 – 0:28 – MIDI Version in Logic
0:28 – 0:59 – Scratch Track
0:59 – 1:37 – Roughly Mixed Version
1:37 – 2:10 – Revised Mixed Version
2:10 – 2:54 – Final Mixed Version
2:54 – 3:41 – Final Mastered Version

…and now just to reiterate, here all all the versions in chronological order again.

3:41 – 3:49 - Original Version in Sibelius
3:49 – 3:57 - MIDI Version in Logic
3:57 – 4:05 - Scratch Track
4:05 – 4:13 – Roughly Mixed Version
4:13 – 4:20 - Final Mixed Version
4:20 – end – Final Mastered Version

Hope you had fun listening to the different versions this song has endured.

-Andrew

oracles 5: blueprints for our failed revolution

2/21/2012

LYRICS
(by Charley Wu)

Tell me visions of the fall
Say, "Brothers and Sisters let's stand tall!"
Well we had a plan--it was right,
It was right, it was right.
We thought we knew the Heart of Man.

Poverty and destitution brings,
An army of soldiers that can't sing.
Well give me your hand--they're crying
And dying to no end...
History will bury all my friends.

Obstacles, obstacles,
They're laying barricades of Soviet-made
Disposable, oracles
We're taking to the streets
Marching to defeat!

It was a blueprint for
Our failed revolution!
Blueprints for
Our failed revolution!
It was a blueprint for
Our failed revolution!
Blueprints for
Our failed revolution!

You may remember this image from the music video for this song, where it made a brief appearance shortly before it was set on fire.

Despite the short amount of screen time, this is an illustration that took my good friend Mike Ellis a whole week to complete.

Last spring, he came to Vancouver to visit a girl, but in a classic story of heartbreak, he was locked out of her apartment, and spent a night sleeping on the floor of a bank. He finally got in touch with me (Charley) the next morning and stayed at with me instead, during which time he realized he didn’t even like her anyways.

While showing Mike around town, I told him my idea for the blueprint and he agreed to draw it. Though the original was burned during filming, Matty had a chance to photograph the 36×36 blueprint with a medium format camera before the shoot. After spending many many hours on photoshop, we can finally present you with The Blueprint in all its glory. Now you can have this sweet image on your very own T-shirt for $15, including a digital copy of Oracles.

The concepts wired into the blueprint are meant to reference an earlier age of scholars who thought they had discovered the natural necessities of human development. ”We have mapped out the human soul, and so it must be”, they said. They thought the success of their revolutions inevitable, and their motives common across all peoples of the Earth. What is the lesson to be learned from them?

There is something called the “Principle of Revolution” from an old, old book called the Dao De Jing. I want to talk about it, but first, let me put on my robe and wizard hat.

Somewhere on the internet, there's a picture of the whole band dressed as wizards

The Dao De Jing was written at a time when civilization was in decline and it seemed like the best of days were already in the past. There is a reference made to a tilting vessel (Ch. 9), that sits on a hinge underneath a constant spring of water. At the moment when the cup fills completely, the weight of the water makes it turn on its hinge and empty out all of its contents. Once empty, it springs back up, to be filled once more. This is the Principle of Revolution (反 fǎn). If you try too hard to reach one extreme, you will soon find yourself at its opposite. To revolve is the way of the universe.

"The injured will be made whole,
And the crooked will be straightened.
Emptiness will be made full,
And that which is broken will be remade.
The poor will be made wealthy,
And the wealthy will be deluded." (Ch. 22)

This is a philosophy that has been used by generals and artists, by kings and their prisoners. Not only do opposites tend towards each other, they rely on each other for their own existence, linguistically and metaphysically. ”The good are the teachers of the bad, and the bad provide means for the good.” (Ch. 27)

On the blueprint, you’ll find many dualistically opposing terms, such as empathy/greed and fate/freedom. These are all aspects of our human nature and connected through the complexities of our psyche. There will be no triumph of one side of our nature over the other, because if one side is destroyed, the other will in itself have no more meaning. Those who ruthlessly try to bring salvation to the World through blind ambition will only accomplish the opposite. These failed oracles of society think their cup full, but in turning around to show the world, the cup has emptied once more and they are left with nothing.

Note: All passages from the Dao De Jing are translated by Charley Wu from the original classical chinese. Yes I am a nerd who spent a whole summer learning a dead language while my friends were hanging out at the beach. Deal with it.

- Charley