Trumpet Boredom - Song History

Song History
Here is where you can find the history behind some of the songs TrumpetBoredom has done over the years, along with any useless trivia that goes with it. Pretend that this is the "DVD commentary" to our music.

And yes, I know I slip a lot between mentioning that I am the author and mentioning my name in third person. Live with it. Matt rules like that.

Got a question about a song not mentioned here? Drop me an e-mail and I'll add it!

Rubber Duckie - I'm honestly not sure what compelled Joe to write this song out the first time he did it. The first time we recorded it was when we had only 4 trumpets and no CW... and it was the song that we sounded really good on that session. Even from the beginning we decided to have fun with it. We had so much fun with it that it became our theme song. In my mind, I think this song is perfect for TB. Not just the lyrics, but the overall feel... and how strange of a subject matter it is.

Now I'm a Believer - I remember when Joe came up with the idea to do this song. I was at work when he called me all excited about the next TB tune he was working on. He told me he gave CW the coolest part imaginable, and he wanted me to listen to it right away. He was right, it was awesome. This was a turning point in TB's sound, as CW went from playing the 4th harmony (TB began with 4 trumpets and no bari-sax), to being the foundation of our sound.

Exodus - We had heard this song for a long time, but it wasn't until we heard the German Brass version that we decided we should try to record it. We were already at a TB recording session when we decided we wanted to do it. We were taking a dinner break, and while CW and I went to go get the pizza, Joe wrote out this tune. It took us 40 minutes to get the pizza (the good pizza place is far from Joe's house), and by the time we had returned, Joe had written this out. We've recorded it so many times because we want to get it to sound good one of these times. One day, we might.

The Godfather Theme - The first song TB ever played at a live show.

Hey Jude - Oddly enough, despite the fact that I had collected dozens of Maynard recordings, I'd never heard Hey Jude. One day Joe told me that it was his favorite song of the moment. I looked it up, fell in love with it, and immediately decided TB had to cover Maynard's cover of the most famous song in history. Joe wrote out an awesome version of it, and I believe this is the first time Byro ever had a written Double A. After Byro hits the A in the song, we go into the "Nah Nah Nah Nah" sectoin... right after Byro hits the note, you hear a *SLAP* sound. No, Byro did not pass out, it was Joe giving him a high 5 for nailing that note. We played Hey Jude live several times, but it always fell flat... the ending wasn't spectactular enough -- it doesn't work when you aren't singing the Nah Nah's. So Joe re-worked the ending and we re-recorded it... the problem was, the magic of Byro's original A was gone, and CW was a little to liberal with the extended solo break we gave him. So, you've never heard it. We will re-record it one day... but right now, as a band, we're Hey Juded out.

Legends of Zelda - This is actually the second version of this song. The first is just the Hyrule Castle theme... for this version, Joe added an extended dungeon theme (I think -- I've never played the game. Although I am always Link when we play Super Smash Bros). The video that came from this is all over MySpace. We were just messing around when Joe started to wave about like a moron... and then we all did it. The best part is, Joe had no idea the camera was recording. Stupid stuff like that is why I started to record us on a digital camera when we play.

La Virigin De La Macarena - Joe had purchased the Mendez version of this song, and decided to write out backgrounds for us. The funniest part was Finale trying to interpret Joe's part -- too many black notes, as we like to say. The measure would be over, and there would still be 32 notes for Finale to play back. It made the song sound like some crazy jumble -- kind of like how we sound normally.

The Main Street Electrical Parade - This is easily one of the hardest songs Joe has ever written out, which makes it so odd that we nailed the entire middle section in one take. It was the finale that took us about 10 takes to get right. In my mind, this song shows how amazing of a picc player Joe is, because playing all those runs for that long is really difficult, and he makes it sound easy.

Under the Sea - I lied. This is the hardest song Joe ever wrote out. We've attempted it several times, and we've only ever made it sound about 50% as good as it does on the Finale file. The funny part of this song is in the recording. Before we hit record, I told everyone to make sure they didn't fall in the hole at the end of the song. I must have said that like 10 times. So, when we came to the end, who fell in the hole? You guessed it - Matt (me). That's why you hear Byro at the end going "I KNEW IT!"

The Circle of Life - The first TB tune to ever include dynamics - and we did them, too! This song was one of the few times that we played a song start to finish and felt it was perfect on first try, without any edits necessary. I still get goosebumps during CW's solo.

Suddenly I See - the first time TB played a song that was still charted in the Top 40. (It was #11 when we recorded it)

A Few Cents Short - This song was the title song on a CD by a SKA band that our Brass Instructor played trombone on our freshman year in high school. When we played this song, I got an e-mail from the instructor, where he said, "You still remember that !@#$?" Which is odd, as I think that CD is one of the best SKA CDs ever.

Walk Like a Man - This session was the first time that Josh had played with us. Josh didn't know that the dynamics Joe writes on the music are for playback purposes in Finale only… they are not to be taken literally. So when we started this song, Josh is making these loud as hell farting low G's. We stop, and he looks at us like we are wrong. "What's the problem, it says 6 F's!!!"

Let It Be, Maynard - This song was originally written by Matt to be a satire on the life of a trumpet player in non-lead settings. I sang it live once, but we didn't hit the record button, so it was lost forever. Once Maynard died, Joe re-worked the lyrics to be a Memorial. The themes that came out in the final lyrics were similar to the original I had written a year and a half before. Instead of blaring a Double C out of jealousy or anger, the song now asks for guidance from Maynard in various situations a trumpet player would face. So, of course, we had CW sing it. He is a much better singer than I am. This is one of the few songs we've recorded in 2 sessions, as well. We did the piano and vocals one week, then added the trumpet solo and backing trumpets a week later. Also, Joe played the song from memory without any music. I still hate him for that.

An Ode to a Third Player - Once we devoted the "Let it Be" parody to Maynard, I tried to find a way to adapt the themes from my original parody into a new song. After listening to the Beatles' "Yesterday" for the 10 millionth time, I decided to write the parody based on that. I tried to match McCartney's style, writing the lyrics about the plight of a Third trumpet player. I think any third chair musician can understand the feelings brought out in that song. It is the deepest TB ever dived into Emo. We still feel dirty.

Rubber Duckie: Vocal - This is another example of a song I had the idea for, but when Joe got his hands on it it became 10x better. This song quickly became our theme song, and it was another one of those spontaneous moments that make music so much fun. We only had a vague plan before we started, and once we were in the middle of the song, we knew we had an amazing hit. The long fade out solo section was completely unplanned, as was CW's rant at the end. His rant still contains one of my personal favorite TB moments, "Ladies, buy your kid a clarinet."

Always Play on the High Side of the Horn - This was written by Joe with the last verse added on by me. This infamous Monty Python song (THEY SWORE IN IT!!!) was perfect for a TB parody. During the recording, the idea was to have Byro play high only during the "whistling" portion of the song. I could never tell if Byro did not get the concept, or got tired of waiting for the right moments to play in the over-dub, and just kept going. My idea was to just play the "whistling" part once and dub it in over and over, but Byro played 100 A's in a row, it seems, to get it to work. Once we finished the song, Byro quipped, "This took 2 years off of my career."

Friends in Low Places - This song was a direct request of Matt's mom, as it was her and her late fiance's song. The first time we ever played it was when we sight read it at a live performance. To practice the song (without spoiling the surprise), we sang our parts before we played it.

O Canada - Another song that we sight read at a live show. The fact that we nailed the song shows our talent, in my opinion.

Little Surfer Girl (live) - We were playing this at a live family party, when my Uncle Jeff decided to back us up on drums. A drummer his whole life, he fit in with our sound perfectly (it helps that he was ALIVE when it first came out). It was this song that made us realize how much a drummer adds to our sound…. So we didn't use one again for 2 years.

Dance Dance Dance - One of the songs Joe does not play lead on, Carlos is playing lead. Byro plays the solo. This song really became popular with us when we played it for a live show back in 2006. The addition of drums to the song really led to a big driving force, and it worked great. It is now a TB live show staple.

Hawaii 5-0/MacGyver - Another of the songs Joe does not play lead on, Carlos is playing lead.

Bring Him Home - A third song that Joe does not play lead on, as the second part is considerably harder than the first part.

Last Kiss - A song about a horrible death after a car crash - So Matt played lead!! Every now and then, the third player gets to have some glory. I got to play this song as it did not go over a G. I take what I can get.

Nahing - Nahing started out around the awkward years between late Jr. High and early High School. It was started by Joe and a friend of ours named Mitchell. Joe and Mitchell got together one day and recorded 45 minutes of nahing, nahing every song imaginable. It is one of the funniest, yet incredibly stupid, things I have ever heard. After a typical TB session, Joe plays piano and either CW or I sing along. This time, we didn't know the words, and Joe began to Nah the melody. The magic that is Nahing was born.

Twist and Shout - One of the few TB songs not written by Joe. I pulled this out of a fakebook and I thought it would be a great TB tune. I was right… but it needed a lot of work. The TB sound and style is not easy to write for, and it took Joe a little bit of work to make the song great for TB. I consider this the first Ferruzzo/Mullen partnership.

So in Love - This is a song from the musical "Kiss me, Kate." It was arranged by CW. The groove and feel of this song really shows CW's writing style. Well, that and the crazy Bari part.

Other TrumpetBoredom Lore - There is more to TB than just our songs, there is also the random events we have been involved with and other endeavors that fell through.

The CD - I call this moment in TB history a mistake because the whole idea was very ill-timed. It was at the end of our second summer that we got the idea in our heads that we should record a CD of our music and attempt to sell it. Joe left for college in Illinois, and CW, Byro and I attempted to put together the backing tracks and have Joe fill in his part later. The problem was that recording a CD is hard. Very hard. Especially when we intentionally wanted to put our hardest songs on the CD, the ones that were the most intricate and most difficult to perform live, let alone record perfectly. There were other problems: Joe wasn't around, and could only hear what CW, his brother, and myself did after it was done. Unfortunately, I had misinterpreted a song or two, and we had to start all over. Lack of rehearsals, the difficulty of recording, and 11am start times were what did us in. Since those tragic days, Joe has re-recorded over some of the songs to add in his part anyway - despite the fact that they are not balanced….. It is still our goal to record a CD, but it may be a while off yet. I think that if we tried to record a CD the same way now we'd have more success - Joe is around, and we are much more skilled at multi-tracking.

The Shirts - This idea was tied in with the CD idea. I had created some shirts at a local T-shirt place, and while they were awesome, they weren't cheap. The total cost of the shirts, including shipping, was going to be near $30. I figure I could have gotten a lower price if I lowered the quality and upped the quantity, but I wouldn't lower the quality on anything I'd sell. We'll put up bad music, but if you ever pay for anything TB does, it will be spectacular. So, I made shirts for the guys, and that's it. 3 years later and the shirts still look awesome and the logo has not faded or worn away. I told you they were high quality.

The Logo - I cannot take credit for the amazing TB logo that was created by our friend Ryan. TB had a contest a while back asking for a logo design, and the winner would get a shirt. The results were less than spectactular. So I bugged Ryan to work on something. I had the idea that a 3-D Rubber Duckie would be incredible. And he pulled it off. We spent the better part of 4 hours going over ideas for that Duckie. The final addition, throwing the reflection of TB's OTHER logo in the Duckie's glasses was a nice touch -- but I've never posted the image big enough for the effect to be seen. Now, that logo is a hanging up on all of our walls framed and sized to be a movie poster. It's awesome.

TBRadio - This idea was entirely CW's, and it is a brilliant one. We were walking down the street on a mid-summer afternoon. I brought up the fact that TB had recorded a crapload of songs this summer (the prolific summer of 03), and I wanted a new way to introduce them, that would allow me to vocalize the long tirades I usually write, and have a new way of entertaining our fans. CW said we should do a radio show as a way of introducing new songs, and a way for us to hang out on non-TB days. I scripted the first 2 shows, which is why they are so dry, but for the third show, CW forced us to improv…. And from then on, we never scripted a thing and just went off the top of our heads. Sometimes this worked brilliantly, and sometimes we sound like morons, but the legend was born.

A Day in the Life - Just for fun, I thought I would write out what really happens during a typical TB session.
1. Sessions start around 11am, so we can maximize our time before someone has to leave for a gig.
2. I usually arrive at Joe's house first, because I have the most amount of equipment to set up - digital camera, occasional recording equipment (before we went direct to computer), and of course, cookies. It's a tradition for my mom to make us fresh baked cookies for our recording sessions. Sometimes I think it is the only reason why we have them.
3. Joe prints out all of the music, and I split it out by part. Around now, CW and Byro show up and begin to set-up and warm up.
4. Joe messes around the piano while the rest of us warm up. Normally he warms up when he wakes up. By the time a TB session has started, Joe has already played for 2 hours.
5. We all gather around the computer with our parts to listen to the Finale file of the song we are doing - this way we can hear how our parts line up and get a chance to discuss any notes or lines that we have questions about.
6. Next, we line up in the hallway and record into a single mic.
7. If we make it through okay, we move on to the next song and repeat the process. If a part sucks, we argue over who blew it the worst, then we start again, either from a certain section or from the beginning.
8. After 2 or 3 songs, we take a chop break and head to a local Burger joint for Burgers and Fried Zucchini. It is heaven.
9. We return and record some more, in between going through Joe's CD collection, messing around on the piano, playing video games and/or poker, or playing some basketball.
9a. Before anyone is allowed to leave the recording session, we do a complete "listen through" of everything we've done that day. This is always a good laugh, and it is another way we can feel attached to what we have done that day.
10. I pester Joe for hours on end to export the songs and send them to me, so I can work on a TB update. Usually around this time Joe's parents are back home (they've learned to escape on recording days) and we all go out to dinner and watch TV as a big family.