John Weber, ‘Drunken Failures’

The Drunken Failure’s old publicist, rags, recalls: “They were a band of old friends (Ehtue, John C, John W, Ian and Nick) who made beautiful music, till one of them got married, the main players got pissed off with each other, and eventually after a glorious final offering, they just disbanded, some of them still playing solo. Some never talk to each other without squabbling, some still play together from time to time. They all try never to look back at their days together, but recently they’ve started to admit that heritage, and even say kind things about what they did back then …”

John Weber concurs: “Very well put, rags. Currently, I have no problems with my bandmates. We are a stubborn lot, you know. I don’t think we shall make music ever again with the original lineup, but one never knows, does one? johnny c. and I do not have much verbal discourse, however, we have never gotten in a row ever. Ehue has always been a gentleman, but i regret that our side projects took a back seat do to my own little “personal problems”, if you can follow the nub of my gist, mate. Mr Ian Hammond (heir to the hammond organ franchise) and I have had our differences, but I consider him generally to be a decent bloke. Nicky, well, Nicky is the more vocal one in the group. Sometimes brutal honesty is tough for a band such as ours to take. Rather like david crosby when he was at Monterey with the Byrds, and he started gettin’ all outspoken about the Kennedy assassination conspiracy when Roger McGuinn wanted to seal some duct tape over his mouth. That’s our Nick - gotta love him though. When he’s good, he’s good. when he’s bad, he’s bad. myself? Yes, I do have regrets. I believe my sobriety has caused me to go rather mental. “Because” by the failures was our musical high point i believe.”

JOHN DISCUSSES HIS INPUT

• BECAUSE (Recorded: October - December 2001) We (the Drunken Failures) set out to do a faithful re-make of the entire Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ album. Our first offering was ‘Because’. When you hear the harmonies come in, I swear you’ll freak. Beatles fan or not, this is one awesome tune. John C. (Camatelfoo) and Ehtue are on vocals; Steve Hawk plays guitar and bass; Ian (paramucho) is on ’moog’ keyboard; and I’m on the harpsichord. The first track laid down was the harpsichord. I should point out that I didn’t use a real harpsichord. ‘Because’ was the Drunken Failures musical high point I believe.

Ian says: “Webby started this one with a harpsichord track; Cam and Ehtue added vocals; Steve’s on bass; I did the synths.”

• LET IT RMB (Recorded: July-August 2000) ‘RMB’ stands for the newsgroup rec.music.beatles. At a time of great negativity in the newsgroup, I rewrote the lyrics of the old Beatles classic, ‘Let it Be’. Whatever is troubling you or consumes you that is negative or makes you feel down. Let ‘it’ Be, and move on. That’s the way I’ve always interpreted the original song anyway. I initially started out with the piano part, then added drums and organ. Nick is on the lead vocal and does the guitar solo. Ian (paramucho) added brass and strings. John (Camatelfoo) added harmonies and mixed it. RMB has done so much for me in terms of interaction and information about the Beatles, and I feel I owe rmb something in return. Some day I’ll pay rmb back - with interest.”

Ian recalls: “Webby wrote the new lyrics; Webby started with the piano part, great sparse drums and organ; Nick did the lead vocal and ripped out a great guitar solo; Cam added some great harmony parts; I added brass, strings and crummy bass part; and Cam mixed this one (and tried to fix my bass part).”

• HERE COMES THE SUN

Note: I don’t believe John played any part in this recording.

Ian says: “Apparently this has been completed. The fact that a DF member isn’t aware of that kinda defines the band in a nutshell. Bliss is ignorance.”

• YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY (Recorded: May 2002) Unfinished. Piano and percussion track laid down by John Weber.

• YOU CAN’T DO THAT (Recorded: December 2000)

Ian recalls: “Cam wrote the new lyrics; It’s Nick’s band track - i.e. guitars, drums; I’m still not sure about the bass - but it kicks ass; Cam did all the vocals; I added saxs and trumpets, including a solo section. Putting down the Stax horn section was a lot of fun.”

• MEMORIES Ehtue says: “It’s obviously too high for my voice. John wanted to do it in the original key that Lennon played it. The lyrics came from different recordings of the song by Lennon, both when it was called ‘Tennessee’ and when it was called ‘Memory’ or ‘Memories’.”

• LOVE (Recorded - April 2001) John remembers: “RMB brought together an online musical collaboration between myself and the ‘Lost Lennon Tapes’ expert and respected RMB’er, Ehtue. John Camatelfoo also joined in with some great additions, and we recorded two great John Lennon tunes - ‘Memories’ and ‘Love’. If it wasn’t for RMB, I never would have recorded anything like this, and I never would have met such wonderful people and talented musicians. RMB rules!”

Ehtue recalls: “Here’s another one that John added to. Cam (ie John Camatelfoo) and I did a version of Lennon’s ‘Love’ (the main guitar and vocal are mine). Cam did the backing vocals, rhythm guitar (which is pretty much burried in this mix) and the bass). Webby heard it and added the ‘accordian’, which kind of gives it a ‘French along the Seine’ sound, imo. It’s a nice little touch.”

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‘BECAUSE’ WAS THEIR HAPPY HOUR

More reflections on their masterpiece

Ehtue recalls: “John Weber got the thing started in earnest when he did his incredible harpsichord piece to start things off. Until then, we’d only been talking about it. Then Cam added some INCREDIBLE harmony vocals, which got everyone’s juices flowing, thinking that this could be a stellar recording. So I added the Lennon vocal on the kind permission of those involved (eternal thanks to Cam for fixing them to compliment his!), then Steve added the bass, then the guitar, and finally Ian perfected the track with his moog. It existed for some time in various “boots” as we awaited for Cam’s gathering of all the tracks and official mixing into the song that you hear.

Actually, not unlike the original, it’s many vocals “double-tracked”. Camatelfoo does six of the “harmony” vocals, and I do the “lead” two. Of course, the Beatles did a total of 9; we did only 8 (amazing that you said 8!) because I chickened out on the last one (two seemed enough.). We didn’t do the fake ADT thang, those are actual separate vocals you hear… and Cam does the INCREDIBLY perfect harmonies which MAKE THE SONG, imo. (pardon the shouting, but those harmonies are one thing worth shouting about!)

Not that I know of, but the Drunken Failures did a damn good job of covering Because, with or without the scores, if I do say so myself.

As I said, Cam did an incredible mixing job! The final sound is due to some first rate mixing and editing…. take a bow, Cam!!! (not to mention bows for 6/7 of the vocals!)

Credits: that’s JohnnyWeb on “Harpsichord” keyboard, Steve Hawk on Guitar and Bass, Camatelfoo and me on Vocals, and Ian on “Moog” keyboard. Mixing and Production and overall keeping on top of things by Camatelfoo.”

Ian remembers: “Webby got very close for a memory job, only one bit is significantly different, which is that D to Ddim, where the Beatles play D Ab D F# Fnat and Webby plays, something like, D Ab D Fnat. That missing note threw me and I thought the bar was short. But it wasn’t ‘cos he made up for it in the pause.

Anyway, the harpsichord part is as solid as a rock and drives the whole thing. It doesn’t really matter what chords I play, what words I say or time of day it is, as it’s only a Failures song. =)

I originally thought Webby had dropped notes out of the band track he put down, but he hadn’t and it forms the whole base of the thing. Solid as a rock.

Then I think Cam and I had words because I didn’t have the dub synched the way he wanted it. We always had troubles sending tracks to each other.

Great singing.

The best change Cam made was holding the first “ah” chord longer before the bridge (”love is old…”). That really works.

The mix (By Cam) cleaned up lots of things too — great job. End works particularly well with the a capello bit. The fade in at the start is nice as is the transition to the final choral verse.”

John Weber fondly reflects: ” ‘Because’ was the Drunken Failures musical high point I believe.

I’ve been told I missed a couple notes. It’s odd that I couldn’t find a copy of “Abbey Road” anywhere in my house!! I must have at least 6 copies floating around on loan and maybe at work, so I tried to download “Because” from Morpheus. At the time, not a single Beatles tune was to be found. So I did it strictly by memory. Oh, and a $200 casio keyboard is the “harpsichord”. heh!

Of course, when I heard Cam’s vocals, I almost fell out of my chair (not because I was drunk). Then Ehtue layered over it, and it sounded so chillingly like The Beatles, that I couldn’t stop playing it for my friends.

My cat, Jaspur, clicked on the “magic midi button” while I was taking a piss, and he did a splendid job. That piano sounds so McCartney-ish, you’d almost think a human actually played it!!

It was fun to be a part of a group effort and not just myself wanking at the keyboards all day. I’ve never even met these guys. We just emailed each other our parts.

The earlier version of ‘Because’, was a little rougher than what I had expected. This is a different mix than what I’d heard before. In the earlier version, the beginning didn’t fade in, and the earlier ending normally had instrumental backing and not just vocals. Call it ‘experimental’.

By the way, Mark Lewisohn just contacted me, and wants to write a book called “The Drunken Failures Recording Sessions, 2001-2002″. We’ve finally made it guys! Nick pitches the book along the lines of: we came….we drank….we failed….we left.

John Camatelfoo remembers: “Well my first stab at the ’sample’ vocals off of Webby’s harpsichord bit, was in early November 2001 - so all in all over 2 months? Geez. Glacial indeed, huh.

I mixed with all my vocals on two tracks opposite Webby’s one, Ehtue got another one, Steve got one for bass and two for guitar, Ian got one for the ‘floating’ moog bits. So that’s eight. Of course counting all the triple-tracked vocals, the grand total is fourteen.

I did a mix of nine vocal lines with all three parts panned center, left and right. Then I wiped the center ‘melody’ vocals to be replaced by Ehtue’s ‘melody’ line, which was primarily single-tracked. So, in fact, it is nine guys singing with two voices.”

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“Failures No More!”

All Rights Reserved 2001
Assassinated Press
19/12/2001

The legendary long lost first verse of the DF’s critically acclaimed song “Let It RMB” has been unearthed by a drunken hobo in who was involved in a bizarre gardening accident.

The segment of the song has digitally restored and edited onto the hitherto incomplete DF’s early recording, long considered by critics to be the “Unfinished Symphony of Pop Music”.

Critics have long hailed this tune as one of the lad’s early masterworks, made all the more important by the infamous missing first verse. It was rumoured to have been sold by the American management arm of the DFs to pay for a three week beer and crack cocaine binge by the band in the late part of last century.

The verse is in poor condition sonically, as the only remaining version was found in the boot of an abandoned car and was covered in mud, stale beer and desiccated vomit. and despite the latest technology, the missing section is still severely inferior in terms of sound quality than the surviving
remainder of the track.

However, restored to its rightful place at the start of this epic piece, the added segment gives us yet another intriguing glimpse into the creative process and methods of this supergroup. While more introverted and less commercial than their later years records, the track still sounds as fresh today as the day that it was recorded and insiders say that the performance is among the best the band ever put down.

Responses to the finding have been enthusiastic, with some of today’s biggest stars hailing it as a miracle.

Eric Clapton ( who was rumoured to have been asked to play on the tune, but declined, stating he could never top the exquisite guitar work already recorded by the DFs) has reportedly lapsed into a swoon after he heard it, saying “I never thought I would ever get to hear this again( he heard it
when the DFs played it to him in the studio), but now I can die a happy man”.

Madonna has reportedly gone into immediate retirement, lashing out at media gathered at her home, smashing one crew’s camera and saying that she is finally embarrassed into giving up pretending to be a pop singer.

Sting apparently has stared talking Swahili and Bono has left U2 to enter the church, saying after hearing the track, God appeared to him and ordered him to give it a break.

Paul Mcartney has reportedly offered to buy the rights for the entire DF’s catalogue for an undisclosed sum. He is openly speculating that the new release will ignite a revival of the DF’s music that will dwarf the Beatles “1″ album of last year.

While some critics are sceptical of the timing of this release and are saying that it is a blatant attempt to cash in on the pre-Xmas sales rush, the fans are voting with their feet, and downloads for the track have topped the 1,000 mark in under two hours.

~Copyright 2001 Assassinated Press

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“WHO WANTS TO BE A DRUNKEN FAILURE”
by Sir George Martini OBE. MBF. EMI. MFI CBS
Copyright 2002 Assassinated Press UPI
7/5/2002 EST

Good evening ladies and gentlemen of Rec.Music.Beatles,

I would like to say few brief words concerning a new and exciting RMB community musical project.

“The Drunken Failures” are RMB’s house band, a group of internet musicians that like drinking heavily before, during and after playing The Beatles’ music. Sometimes they try to play note for note, sometimes they can’t be bothered to do that and play their own distinct interpretations. IN any case, after a particularly intense binge session of beer, bourbon, a few cones and a rail or two of some pretty average Bolivian marching powder, they hit upon the at-the-time brilliant idea of making their own version of Abbey Road, and in keeping with the band ethos they have started on Side 2.

So far, the lads and lasses have recorded “Here Comes the Sun” and “Because” and work is about to begin on “You Never Give Me Your Money” .

The Drunken Failures are now canvassing new members to help them complete the Herculean task they have set themselves, and this page is an invitation to all and sundry to apply to join the band.

All that is required of a band member is an affinity for booze and the Beatles in vast amounts, so obviously that will mean virtually all of usenet is eligible to join(There are some small technical requirements that will soon be listed on the logistics page) .

This CD will differ slightly from the lasts RMB -CD in that it will be a collaborative effort on a single project, Abbey Road.

The base tracks will be recorded and then participants will be encouraged to elect a part or parts they wish to perform (eg, piano or guitar or vocals or percussion or recording engineering etc), and then record those parts in their own studios. Those performances will then be “flown in” by the
producers and the track will be assembled and mixed before being added to the album. All file transfers will be conducted thru a special DrunkenFailures FTP site to be announced soon.

At the conclusion of the project, the album will be available to all who are interested, and some who are not.:)

So if you want to join, and you are prepared to go thru the arduous entry requirements ( involving a six pack of Victoria Bitter and a few haystack cones) then the website will tell you the best way of going about it.

Please take the time to visit the website and listen to the tracks so far.

In closing, I would like to wish you all the very best of British and look forward to seeing the talented people of RMB involved in what is shaping up to be one of the landmark recordings of the new millennium!

Chocks away chaps!

*hic*

Sir George Martini
OBE - TUC - EMI - MFI - CBS