remastered and last overdubs april '24

originally recorded upstate for our demo, then J&R's music word in 2005, by the time it was burned onto a CD-R it was part of our debut EP as A Black Tie Affair alongside 'Summer v. Winter', 'Plan B', 'Clean Disease, 'Pornography', 'Tragedy' and the 'Daze of Our Lives'

the Daze of Our Lives was the first to go.
A foul smelling 16 year old replied to my craigslist ad for bass
he showed up, and stunk up, my chair and instrument in Park Slope
but this kid, (he said he was just turning 18- when in reality he was soon turning 17. Worked out to his advantage, we didn't hesitate to play with him and a photo of our first show with him became the centerfold of the VERY FIRST book and project to be crowdsourced by Kickstarter. Yes, the JSE was in kickstarter № 1. As bad as he smelled, (a friend once complained of a hug that stayed on her for days following) it all worked out for him as he got to celebrate turning 21 with us twice, two years in a row and we, of course, celebrated with shows, gigs and parties at open bars. His bass playing was not to be fucked with. The day I met him is the day he tracked the bass for "the Daze of our lives" and as uncertain as it is at times (that i can hear, at least... the tiny hesitations and uneasyness of not being quite 100% confident in a new environment, auditioning for a band - of ADULTS - while you're in a strange, gay mans bedroom- I'm sure it was all a little daunting for him, despite how easy or uneasy I may have been trying to make him in the moment. Still, he shone, and I used that take and never replaced it. I feel, to this day, you can still hear all of the above baked into the digital RMS and peaking amplitudes and it does nothing but make me smile- at the time capsule or time machine that recorded music is, after all.

Nappy wanted to play in A Black Tie Affair, being the metalhead that he is, but when we turned my GarageBand in my new brownstone bedroom apartment into Aphex Twin, Nappy knew exactly what to do and he laid down a few takes, but exponentially increased their value by a few HUNDRED when he EQd, effected and tweaked some six or seven basslines, overlayed, overdubbed and over done, one after the other, to make the final lead-ending sections of "Afterall" the first song, on the first JSE album, really something special.
Actually, Afterall would wind up releasing on the 2nd album, but at the time, we had no idea. It was still and always was designed to be part 1 of a 12 part story and just because we (Nappy, Natalia and eventually Joe and I) finished up the 20-song b-sides record "the Trouble with Neith" (which includes, or rather, NOW includes, it always should have, a definate mistake and glaring omission if ever) first.
So, when all is said and done, Alex "Nappy" Gonzalez was basically bribed and blackmailed into being the bass player for my precious JSE, as it was the only way HE COULD also be our bass player in A Black Tie Affair. This situation, unfathomably so, would remain effective until his relocation to Kissimmee, Florida some several years after his aformentioned 21st