Any Questions? - GB+VX (1991)

In January 1991, shortly after the start of the first Gulf War, we were very prolific with our musical output.  The deluge of 24/7 war footage and chemically-fueled all night recording sessions garnered many new song ideas.

Though many of those ideas never progressed further than the cassettes they were recorded on, a few like this one, GB+VX, ended up being produced more and recorded on our Tascam 38 1/2" 8-track reel-to-reel machine.

This one started out simply with a very repetitive drum beat and synth parts.  After adding a round of Gulf War audio samples, MC2P4 delivered his apocalyptic vocals and then I spent the rest of the night (and into the morning) recording multiple effected, electric bass parts before mixing the final song that we share with you now.

Enjoy...


P.S.  This photo was taken on 11/24/90 at the very first Any Questions? live performance.

In The Pools Of Blood

The Summer of 1991 was another very fertile period for Any Questions? and for me personally. After purchasing our first computer (an Atari 1040STe) for music production in March of 1991, we had left hardware sequencing behind and been working almost extensively with Steinberg Cubase software for music sequencing. This software allowed us much more flexibility in music editing and song arrangements. It also allowed us to quickly and easier save and load our song ideas so we were no longer burdened with the arduous task of manually setting all of our instruments up for each song.

This previously unreleased demo of In The Pools Of Blood is a good example of how quickly it was to sequence the music for a song idea and then work on it. For this idea, I programmed a very basic 4 bar drum pattern. Next, I layered a synth bass line, some string pads, and a reverse cymbal effect. This 4 bar pattern was repeated ad infinitum.

What makes this song idea very unique in the Any Questions? canon is that it is the only one ever recorded that captures me completely improvising lyrics. Even to this day, all Any Questions? lyrics are written out (electronically or on paper) first and then rehearsed with the music. It was very early in the morning (around 3AM) at FFS II when I began to sing (term used loosely). As usual, my Korg A3 provided me with just the right vocal effect and set the mood for me to expel my dark, introverted thoughts. Some of the classic lines from this include... "Liquid tears from placid eyes mix tranquilly", "Slowly gnawing on your flesh", "Spiraling downward you and me", and "In the pools of blood".

The vocals were purposefully recorded farther back in the mix since they were just improvised ramblings. They may be hard to decipher but, if you're up to the task, write them out and e-mail them to me at troll@floatingfish.com. If they are correct, I'll send you a ***FREE*** autographed 18" x 24" Any Questions? - Prey For Death (Special Edition) poster. Act soon, this offer ends 10/31/10.

P.S. This photo of Ttam Troll was shot at Floating Fish Studios in 2000 (approximate date).

Dan Jam 1/91 Revisited

Back by popular demand, here is another classic from the Dan Jam 1/91 recording sessions. This song, entitled Operational, was recorded near the end of our second day of continuous recording. Fatigue was starting to set in and our improvs were becoming more and more abstract. This oppressively, repetitious sample laden track was built upon a simple sequence that I programmed. The line up on this song is Ttam Troll - Synthesizers, Samplers, and Programming, MC2P4 - Synthesizers and Electronic Toms, and Dan "The Man" Fiber - Roland GR-77B Bass Guitar Synthesizer.

Come and follow us down the rabbit hole...

P.S. This photo of Dan "The Man" Fiber (right) and MC2P4 (left) was taken on 12/12/09 at the 2nd Annual FFS II Gathering by Dave Chandler.

Dan "The Man" Fiber Comes to Town!

In honor of the return visit of Dan "The Man" Fiber to Floating Fish Studios for the 2nd Annual FFS II Gathering this upcoming weekend, I would like to share an unreleased track from the FFS Vaults.

In January 1991, shortly after the start of the first Gulf War, Dan "The Man" visited Floating Fish Studios from the icy northern wasteland of Albany, NY. Our mission was to enter the studio and see what we could create. The result was two days worth of completely improvised music. The personnel for these recordings were Ttam Troll, MC2P4, LTJTHC, and Dan "The Man" Fiber. We alternated instrumentation so, on any given song, any of us could be playing synthesizer, sampler, electronic drums, bass guitar synthesizer, or even singing.

From those legendary Dan Jam 1/91 recordings, here is the epic 12+ minute bonus track entitled Foopher Pain. The line up on this song is Ttam Troll - Roland GR-77B Bass Guitar Synthesizer and Drum Machine, MC2P4 - Synthesizers, and Dan "The Man" Fiber - Vocals and Synthesizers.

P.S. This photo of Dan "The Man" Fiber was taken on 11/24/90, M Scott and Jackey McConnell's wedding day.

Any Questions? - Scrape The Pus (Live)

Tonight's Floating Fish Studios Holy Grail Week entry is an "insensitive" one.  To protect the innocent, I've altered the image of the protagonist in this story and, instead of explaining the back story of the song lyrics, I'll simply say that they were inspired by a medical procedure and a Ho Magos comic (aka Kenny's Cartoons).  I challenge the listener to try and decipher the blasphemous words.  Those in the FFS inner circle know the story well so you need no explanation.  

This live, improvisational jam was recorded in 1991 by the three member line up of Any Questions? which consisted of Ttam Troll - Vocals, MC2P4 - Synthesizers/Samplers, and LTJTHC - Electronic Drums.  Musically, this is one of our most inspired improvs.  After months of nightly improvisational jamming during and after the first Gulf War, we had become a very tight and cohesive unit and it shows on this track.  The song intro slowly pulls the listener in before erupting at the 1:48 minute mark with a barrage of electronic drums, synthetic warfare, and vocal shriekings.  The sonic terror that ensues is some of our finest music!

All that's left to say is...

"This is your dance remix!"

Any Questions? - Oil In The Gulf (1991)

We start off the Floating Fish Studios Holy Grail Week with some absolutely "classic" raw video studio footage. Only the FFS inner circle will realize the full "classic" nature of this but, hopefully, everyone else will at least be entertained and amused by it.

This chemical-fueled video studio footage was shot at FFS II shortly after the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. MC2P4's lyrics for this song were inspired by the fiery oil rigs that littered the Kuwait desert and sprayed their precious crude all over everything and everyone. His one-man, one take performance was captured by Brian "Who" Black and has long been hidden in the FFS vaults.

The audio for this song was recorded shortly before the video shoot and was our first (and last) attempt at multi-track recording using the Ensoniq ESQ-1 tape sync feature. As you can hear, the angular and disjointed music has a visceral, jerking quality that can't be blamed solely on the "altered" sub-humans that recorded it.

For the collectors out there, here is the original never-before-released audio recording for Any Questions? - Oil In The Gulf. Enjoy...

Sharing The Plasma Pool

Sharing The Plasma Pool is our very first music video. It was assembled using footage that we shot ourselves interspersed with a couple of scenes from the horror movie The Evil Dead. Up until this point, we had been shooting a bunch of video footage but didn't have anyway to edit it together. As luck would have it in the Spring of 1991, Tim Harrell (my roommate at the time) was attending MCCC and was majoring in Communications. One day, he let me tag along with him into the MCCC video editing suites and, a couple of hours later, I emerged with a VHS tape containing our first music video.

This song also has the distinction of being the last one we created using a synthesizer sequencer (Ensoniq ESQ-1). After this, we moved onto computer sequencing using an Atari 1040STe running Steinberg/Jones Cubase 2.0.