Music videos are fun... aka... memories from Friday Night is for the Drinkers

I was going to write about the events of this past week which will likely be burned into my brain unless/until I get dementia, but I feel like thinking about something else for a few minutes. It’s now been 4 days straight of this encompassing almost my every thought and I’m starting to go mad. Plus, we still don’t know enough about why law enforcement leadership allowed this to happen. To be continued…

So, let’s talk about something much more fun. To round out the music video blog trilogy, below are my favorite memories from the making of the Friday Night is for the Drinkers music video. Which, if you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing yet, can be found literally, and I mean “literally” in the literal sense, not in the ironic “literally” sense which really means “figuratively,” right here:

In sticking with my theme of not really having bass players in music videos, neither the bass player that was on the record nor my bass player at the time were involved with this video. I don’t remember the precise nature of why, but so it goes. So, ever at the ready, Mr. Jon Fickes once again filled in. I had forgotten that he’s been in my “band” for every music video so far. Strange.

Without further ado, here are the top memories I took from this video shoot:

• Getting to play to an empty Alberta Rose Theater - I had seen a few shows here in the two or three years I had lived in Portland, OR up until that point. It was a pretty cool venue. With a capacity of around 400 or so, I figured it would be a while until I got to play there myself. So, I was delighted when they graciously made us a very fair offer for us to shoot there for the day. The boys, and Jon, suited up (again, literally) and took the stage. I got to hear my song being played over the PA system as we mimed along. It was one of the first times I felt like I was a real professional musician. We had a small crew of people to help out, and we were all working on a project for my music. I love that shot/reveal at the end of the empty room. But, the highlight of the day was when Jon finally revealed his jump splits. All day he had been hyping up how he had been practicing his jump splits and we had planned on putting a slo-mo shot of it in the video. Then, the cameras came on and…well, let’s just say it isn’t in the video. Did make for a good chuckle though. Apparently, he didn’t wear the right shoes or something. I guess we’ll never know…

• The party entrance scenes - Going back through the video, which I haven’t watched in a while, was quite the experience. Really took me back to those two days we shot this sucker, which at this point, is a while back. I think it was 2013 or 2014 maybe. Anyways, I immediately remembered how these entrance scenes were just going to be perfunctory people showing up at the party but they ended up having a some funny moments I still got a chuckle out of just today. The middle finger on the doorbell. Brian popping his head back into the shot after Nick slams the door. The presentation of the Miller Lite and champagne when Nick opens the door. I think the unexpectedly funny moments are sometimes my favorite. The other thing I remember is just how flaky Portland people can be. Maybe it’s just people in general. But, we initially were looking for about 20 people for this scene and had as many or more RSVP’s. But of course, day of, we started getting the cancellation calls. “But we have free pizza and booze.” Still no. Oh well, very thankful to those who did come through for us so it wasn’t a total bust of a “party.”

• The motorcycle wheelie shot - This was fun because it happened so randomly. We were outside Nick/our drummer’s house shooting the Brian/our guitarist’s scene wear he comes out from under the van. Some neighbors were out riding motorcycles since it’s a mostly dead/empty street. One popped by and asked what we were up to. “Shooting a music video. You wouldn’t want to be in it, would you? Maybe do a trick or something?” “Hell yeah,” he replied and we were lucky enough to have that badass shot. Right place, right time and a friendly, willing neighbor. I think it took two, maybe three tries and we had the shot. Thanks again!

• The guitar solo scene - This was fun for a variety of reasons. I love smoke and lasers. I love guitar solos. Mostly though, it was because Brian was a little too drunk to play guitar by the time we shot this scene. Some backstory: as I mentioned, we had originally planned for around 20 or so people, enough but not too many to wrangle when necessary; which means we bought enough booze for around 20 or so people. Being a poor musician, I couldn’t afford anything besides the cheap stuff. It was Miller Lite, Jim Beam, Smirnoff and, by the suggestion of Brian, some Trader Joe’s Almond Champagne. Well, sparkling wine, to be exact. We needed it for the shot of Nick spraying it in slo-mo (up next) but Brian seemed to really enjoy the stuff. In fact, probably a little too much. Since he had requested it, he felt dutifully obligated to make sure it didn’t go to waste. When the guitar solo shots were coming up so we got the bathroom and hallway ready (yes, that’s the bathroom behind him). The lights went out, the laser lights came on, the smoke machine got cooking and…Brian couldn’t fake play the notes. Now mind you, it’s a dark hall and he’s just “finger-syncing,” if you will, so it just has to be ballpark close. But, the first few takes were definitely not. He said it was weird to play without hearing himself, which I get, so we turned his amp on. No dice. So, the amp gets turned up and it’s pretty fucking loud. Still no dice. The amp gets turned back down and now everyone starts to feel awkward since it’s taking longer than anticipated. Finally, around take number 18 or 20 we finally get it close enough. A shot we thought would take like 15 minutes took, well, much longer. I’m not sure if that’s an endorsement for Trader Joe’s Almond Sparkling Wine but it did feature prominently in both the filming and the final cut of the music video.

• Nick spraying champagne - So, this actually starts a little earlier in the evening when Nick was running around the house worried because we didn’t have a corkscrew. We assumed someone had brought some wine and he was trying to help them open it. Nope. He was worried about the champagne spray shot. Did we need one? I questioned myself. Which, to be fair, neither of us had ever opened a bottle of champagne (or sparkling wine) before. I just knew it would explode when you shake it and that would look cool in the video. Nick volunteered to be the the champagne sprayer and since I had never done it before, I was perfectly OK with that. Well, once we figured out that no corkscrew would be needed, we got ready and headed outside for the shot. We all got excited. This was the final shot of the music video. A literal celebration would ensue once we had it. As we all stood back and watched, Nick shook up the champagne, popped the cork and…nothing. It sort of fizzled out. Shit, luckily we got extra. I think we had three bottles left when we started (I’m pretty sure Brian ended up drinking two with only a little bit of help from the rest of us), now we were down to two. OK, make it count. Here comes number two. He shook it up, popped the cork and…some spray but not a slo-mo-penultimate-moment-in-the-video spray. It was crunch time, we were down to the final bottle. He gives it a good shake, pops the cork and…well, you can see it in the video. Success! But unfortunately, and this is a tip to all the people who have not successfully sprayed champagne before, we found out that you cannot, or should not, rather, try and shoot it straight up into the air because…it will come right back down into your eyes. I was glad we got a good champagne spray shot but I can’t imagine that felt good. I cannot say with confidence I wouldn’t have done the same. Neither of us knew how to spray champagne but Nick stepped up and sacrificed to make it happen.

So, that’s what I got for the Friday Night is for the Drinkers video. If you haven’t already, check out my memories from the “LOOKIN’ AT LUCKEY” and “LET’S GO OUT TONIGHT” music videos. Oh, and from that ORIGINAL PHOTO of the Thriller jacket, flask, fake gun and wine bottle; the flask is from this video shoot. I love keeping mementos when doing shit like music videos. I tend to favor that over a bunch of photos on my phone. I just like to have one thing that holds all the memories. And, as a wiser man than myself says, “memories make us rich.” Vic Ketchman, you are quite right. You are quite right, sir. Memories do indeed make us rich. So, I hope you enjoyed me sharing some of those memories from the making of my music videos. Until next week!

Ah, to be young and sitting around a carefully lit table while lip-syncing along to one of your songs while someone films it… Good times…

Music videos are fun... aka... memories from Let's Go Out Tonight...

A week from Christmas and I have a riddle for you: what does a Thriller jacket, an empty bottle of wine, a flask and a toy gun have in common?

OK, fine. That’s not really some fancy riddle. But, the answer is: memories. Specifically, memories from the making of my music videos.

I love making music videos. I can’t wait to do more, though, without shows going, it’s a little tough to save up the money to make them. Making a music video is probably my favorite part of the whole creative process when putting out an album. Long since finished are all the tough decisions about parts and tempos and song selection and mixes and track sequencing and album art and publicity companies and t-shirt logos, etc. It’s finally time to do something creative that I don’t have to think about 24 hours a day. And yes, it is 24 hours. I dream and have fucking nightmares about making albums. It’s so stressful. It doesn’t have to be. I know plenty of people who love recording. Some even prefer it to playing live. I don’t understand them, but I do appreciate where they are coming from. No, I make it stressful upon myself. I do that with a lot of things, but especially with recording albums. It’s the legacy I will leave when I’m gone. Yes, people will have memories of me, but my music is the best of me. Yes, it’s still flawed just like I’m flawed, but it’s the purest form of me as a human being. Those songs contain everything I have. So many people compare them to children and I used to think it was dumb. But, I get it now. You do birth them, shape them in your image, give them everything you can, then release them into the world to do whatever it is they are going to do and you have little control over when they do good, bad or whatever. Songs are also meant to be commoditized and generate income for me, so I guess that’s where the analogy falls off. But, the first part works.

But, making music videos is amazing. Someone else is in charge. I just have to show up and do my part; which also doesn’t require learning lines, which I would be terrible at, I think. I just have to show up, look good and sing my own songs, which I presumably know the lines to already. Someone else tells me what to wear, where to stand, where to look, what to do with my hands; you know, everything. So, in honor of that, I want to go chronologically backwards and talk about my favorite memories from the making of each video. This week I’ll do my latest video which was for Let’s Go Out Tonight.

So, the genius behind the video for Let’s Go Out Tonight was my friend and super-talented director Kevin Pietila. If you haven’t seen the video yet:

A) What the fuck?!

B) You’re in for a treat

I think I wrote about my favorite memories from this video shoot once but I couldn’t find it relatively quickly so I gave up and here’s my new list:

• Night shoots. Turns out if you want to make a movie that takes place at night, you have to shoot at night. That meant showing up to set (set being an Airbnb in SW Washington state for the house/interior shots, the home of a very generous friend of Kevin’s for the graveyard shots, a movie theater and the music venue Holocene in Portland, OR for the performance shots) around 5:30 or 6pm to start setting up/getting into makeup. Starting to shoot around 8pm and wrapping around 4:30 or 5am. Getting makeup taken off/packing up and leaving around 6:30 or 7am. And that was three nights in a row. It was so much fun though. Especially when you get late into the next morning and people start getting loopy. Things get really funny really easily. I think I did my shitty version of the Thriller dance in the abandoned barn like 25 times in a row. It was like 3am and I’m pretty sure Kevin just needed a laugh to keep his energy going. I’ve never been more exhausted at 7am before this shoot and the only thing that would keep me energized for the drive home was blasting Kanye West’s song Waves (from Life of Pablo) and singing along at full throat. I probably listened to that song 100 times in those three days.

• Digging my own grave. Turns out the soil in the Pacific Northwest fucking sucks to dig in. It may be great for growing wine grapes but that clay-filled, rocky bullshit is a royal pain in the ass to try and dig a 4’L x3’D x 3W’ hole into. I just remember how bad the space between my thumb and forefinger hurt afterwards. I’m not joking when I say I’m pretty sure it took Kevin and I about 5-6 hours to do. But, we needed it for the the shot and Kevin’s supremely generous and amazing friend allowed us to dig it on his property and then even helped us with the shoot later that week. I’m sure he had better things to do than to run lights or the smoke machine from 9pm-2am, but I’m extremely grateful to him. I swear I’ve never tasted a better Coors than the one I had after those 5-6 hours of picking and digging up that clay.

• Being stuck in my own grave. Of course, once I dropped down into the grave, crouched into position, the plastic was draped over the top of the grave, the dirt piled on top of that…that’s the exact moment when the generator died. No generator means no lights, no smoke, no nothing. So, I was stuck in there. It was only gonna be few minutes to get it back online so I figured it was a waste to re-dig me back out, rip out the plastic roof, etc. only for me to go right back in. So, we decided I would just hang for a few until we were back online. Well, a few minutes turned into a few more and a few more and it was starting to get a little harder to breathe since I was mostly sealed up in there. My foot fell asleep and my leg cramped up. But, it was only gonna be a few more minutes. I could wait it out. Plus, the asleep foot would probably make my zombie walk more realistic and my cramped legs would make my grave rise more haggard and believable, which maybe it did. Or, I was just trying to convince myself that I was actually any good at this acting thing. Who knows? Anyways, after like 15 or so minutes (or 2 hours; at least that’s how it felt to me) everything kicked back on and we got the shot. Worth it.

• Finally, being a zombie. When Kevin came to me and said he had this crazy idea for a “zombie love story,” I asked him, “do I get to wear a Thriller jacket?” He said “yes” and I was in. Then, I got nervous as I’m definitely not an actor and this concept would require I play a believable zombie. In my other two videos, I mainly just had to look good and sing my songs, but with this one I actually had to kind of do some acting. Turns out, it was really fun. Can’t say I found a new calling in life but it was quite enjoyable. It’s funny actually, I was talking with another musician not too long ago and he too said acting in his music video was his favorite thing to do. Weird how we all want to do what others are doing… Another fun memory about being a zombie was injuring my hand while practicing being a zombie and rehearsing those Thriller moves for the video. An injury as a good memory? Why yes. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in my shitty, little apartment in Portland, OR. It was a tiny two-bedroom that was basically a one bedroom apartment where they chopped the living room in half to make another tiny bedroom. So, there wasn’t a lot of space in either of the bedrooms. I was in the “office” bedroom, the smaller of the two, and I had the Thriller video up on the computer while I tried to emulate a few moves. I finally picked two of the easiest ones, as you can see in the video around the 1:50-2:20 mark, and started practicing. I got really into trying to do the dance moves like a zombie might and didn’t realize I was a little too close to my printer and slammed my hand into its sharp, plastic corner. I tore off a pretty sizeable chunk of skin. In the video, if you look really close, you can very briefly see a band-aid on my left hand. Coming out of the grave and getting dirt in a very fresh and very much still wide open wound wasn’t fun, but again, worth it... My final good memory about being a zombie was the two hours into and the hour spent getting out of makeup. Being an Aspie (Asperger’s/”Aspie” refers to someone on the autism spectrum that is generally still high-functioning), the thought of someone touching my face and head for an extended period of time was not something I was looking forward to (haircuts are a nightmare for me. Luckily, because of Covid, my wife now has that responsibility which makes it less stressful on me), but the person who did it made it such a great experience. It’s always fun for me to watch people who are passionate about what they do. The only part that was rough was the last day when we were shooting the on-stage performance scenes. Normally, to remove the makeup, it was a slow, steady process of using makeup remover wipes and some alcohol for the tough spots since the makeup was alcohol-based. We used alcohol-based so it wouldn’t need to constantly be retouched as I sweated or crawled through the dirt. But, on that day, we were in kind of a time crunch, in part because I had locked my self out of my apartment that morning and in part because shoots are just always on the edge time-wise, so we had to move even faster. We started with the makeup on for the zombie performance shots then had to get it off as quickly as possible. But, since it was alcohol-based makeup, “as quickly as possible” meant we had to basically drench my face in rubbing alcohol and scrub. Needless to say, my face was on fire when I went back up for the “normal” Bradley shots. But, again, totally worth it.

So, the jacket and fake gun are from Let’s Go Out Tonight (the venerable Jon Fickes had the distinct pleasure of ending this zombie’s life). I hope you maybe learned something fun about the behind the scenes. If you have any questions about the video you’d like my thoughts on, feel free to leave a comment. Next week we’ll talk about Lookin’ at Luckey and a funny story about a wine bottle. I’ll see you then.

Here’s to hoping I never have to dig a grave in the Pacific Northwest ever again…

Track #4 - what are we supposed to do now that we've wasted our youth?

OK folks, here is the final blog about this record. I promise I won’t keep talking about it. Well, I will but it won’t be the only thing I talk about. There’s a lot going on these days in ol’ Bradley Wik’s head, especially since there isn’t a lot going on anywhere else. Hell, this might not even be the only EP I record during these coronavirus times. Not announcing anything yet, but we’ll see. Not playing shows and not leaving the house is starting to wear on me. Like all of you, I’m starting to go stir crazy but if staying home is the worst this gets for me, I’ll feel pretty damn good about that. Besides, I found one of my new favorite TV shows (“What We Do in the Shadows”) and am finally catching up on another (“Killing Eve”). So, swings and roundabouts. Also, I made a delicious chicken and artichokes with cream sauce the other night, so yay for getting creative in the kitchen. Wait, what the hell am I talking about? Oh yeah, music. Read below, I’m tired…

“what are we supposed to do now that we’ve wasted our youth?”

we traded our bodies for stories

that we could tell our friends

every night might have been a journey

but we always knew just how it would end

what are we supposed to do now that we’ve wasted our youth?

there’s no need for goodbyes

we never really met

moments of truth flashed in your eyes

but we both knew better than to believe any words we said

what are we supposed to do now that we’ve wasted our youth?

there was no great reward

no revelations to find

so we poisoned our bodies

to forget the best years of our lives

what are we supposed to do now that we’ve wasted our youth?

Music Notes:

The longest song on this record still only has like ⅓ the amount of lyrics as a typical song of mine. This song is last on the album but was the first song written for the record. Some of the parts on this song were recorded two years ago. As this song is the final piece, it had to be grand enough to close the record but still be intimate and ruminative amongst the chaos. This noise (which can happen when you combine too much alcohol and Meniere’s disease. Meniere’s, which I have, is an inner ear disorder which can cause hearing loss, vertigo, tinnitus, nausea depending on the severity of the attack. This type of noise would come from a really bad one...), though it still contains various melodies, is a type of sound bed (if that makes sense) that I’ve long wanted to build upon. I weaved together up to 5 different melodies/harmonies at one point to create the foundation for this song. I also wanted to put myself and the simple, plaintive beauty of the song at odds with the noise. It’s why the vocal and guitar are recorded together through one mic. I did this for each song, to present myself alone, fighting against the music/chaos/noise coming from my own head and/or the outside world, which my Asperger’s wouldn’t allow me to be a part of. I’m always on the outside looking in. Recording that way makes it a little harder, but it was the only way I could get it to sound how I wanted it. I want you to feel like you are sitting across from me as I sing. You don't hear guitars and vocals separately in real life, you hear them all together. If you focus solely on the guitar/vocal in this song, at least for me, it’s almost like those old Magic Eye books where the chaos slowly disappears and the picture comes into focus. There’s beauty in the struggle. Sometimes, at least.

Anyways, a whole record like this song would be tough to swallow and would lessen the effect. A couple of the other tracks (and one of the tracks that did not make the cut for this record) had a similar sound/noise which I removed. It didn’t build the record the way the songs should, culminating with the beautiful chaos of this song. The record, as alcohol is referenced in the title, is supposed to simulate getting fucked up throughout. The first song has little accompaniment and sounds very clean and open. The second song has a bigger sound, let’s say this is after two drinks, and a driving energy. The sound is full and constant. Things are feeling good at this point. You needed a couple to really get things going. The third song, we’ll say after four or five drinks, is a bit more sparse. It still has a good rhythm but you’re starting to go down into the backside of the night. You alternate between getting quiet and yell-talking to people. The alcohol is starting to make that turn from fun to making you sad. You’re glad your friends are still out and you tell them how much they mean to you. The last song is the end of the night, however many drinks is way too many for you. It is meant to sound chaotic, ears buzzing from the alcohol and the noise (and the Meniere’s, if you’re like me), vision blurred after stumbling home. It’s quiet in your lonely apartment but it’s not quiet in your head. You’re at that sentimental, way-too-drunk part of the night and you wonder why you do this to yourself all the time. You don’t want to anymore but you know you still will. You have one more, why not at this point, and put on some music to fall asleep to. You know the words by heart but it sounds all distorted and angry. It doesn’t matter, the alcohol has taken over and your eyes get heavy. There’s a strange comfort in this moment, as the music softly fades while you slowly fade off to sleep.

Story Notes:

As I mentioned above, this song was the first one written for this record and contains all the themes I would explore throughout the other three songs. Thematically/lyrically, I wanted to build towards this one so I told smaller, vignette-like stories in some of the other songs. They all collide in these 4 minutes and 44 seconds (4 is my favorite number thanks to Brett Favre, but it actually is coincidental that this album ended with a song that was 4:44. I always close my eyes when I mark the fade outs and that’s just where it landed. That there are 4 songs on this record is also coincidental. I started with 6 and narrowed it down based on fit, function and story. The way I put together records is very intentional. Each song has to have a purpose, move the story forward and fit sonically into what I’m trying to achieve. I could talk about my reasons/theories behind putting albums together for hours but this is about this song and this parenthetical notation is already too long…). This song is meant to sort of reflect on the events of the prior three songs. Both the song and the title are the longest on the record. As in a lot of my songs, there is no conclusion to this song, it’s just an open ended, semi-rhetorical question. Life doesn’t often offer closure, and rarely offers guidance. And when I was going through the thick of what made its way into these songs, I wouldn’t have heeded any advice anyways. All I wanted was to be understood and not feel alone. I wanted to know I wasn’t alone in wasting so many of my “good” years. It’s a very specific brand of hopelessness that you feel when you're 24 years old. You’re ostensibly too young to feel hopeless and that makes it all the worse. It’s a weird cycle to get into and a very hard one to get out of, since you feel like shit all the time. “What’s the point? You’re a stupid piece of shit anyways…” is what you tell yourself every day. And, part of you feels like Rob in High Fidelity, “it’s brilliant, being depressed; you can behave as badly as you like.” Which is terrible advice as that just feeds back into the whole monster once again.

There’s also a lot of Asperger’s in this song. In addition to the hopelessness and apathy, there’s the distinct notion that this is all temporary and it’s best to save our emotions for another adventure. I remember having this feeling more than a couple times throughout my life. I can’t speak for the other person in the “relationship” but I would venture to guess they felt the same based on their actions. Having Asperger’s, I was never really the Tinder meet up-type. I felt more at home in comfort/routine of long term relationships so it was hard for me to pretend I cared much about these types of things. I sort of fell backwards into these sexual interactions being the (cliched) hard-partying-and-troubled-but-with-a-sensitive-side singer of a Rock N’ Roll band. Although, I seriously doubt many found my shenanigans charming once the hangover hit the next morning. Sometimes, it didn’t even take that long. I have a pretty clear memory (surprising for that time in my life) of sitting in a hot tub next to a girl who went on and on about how much she hated the awful guy who was the singer from the band they saw earlier, too drunk to realize that was me. I listened, got up, left, and thought it was funny at the time, not realizing how much of a dick I had become. I think some people are attracted to that don’t-give-a-fuck mentality (which was sometimes the Asperger’s and sometimes me just being an asshole) but, unfortunately for me, that just made me not care even more, even about myself. I don’t really regret any of it (I don’t feel like wasting energy on things I can’t change), but I definitely could have been kinder to myself, my liver and those around me during that time, that’s for sure.

You see, I’ve always sort of had that writer’s spirit and wanted to dive in headfirst to most things in life. I came to rethink that years later after realizing that was also a great way to drink away your depression for as long as possible before blowing your head off with a shotgun. There was nothing to be gained from diving into drinking, drugs and depression. But, I was young and thought it might be “cool.” I wanted the scars, and I got ‘em. Both literally and figuratively. Making this record has been kind of tough on me as I’ve had to revisit this older version of myself. I had to climb back into this fucked up brain. I had to picture myself going through these things all over again. Once the songs were done, I could use my Asperger’s to just tell myself it was another person, a different chapter, it’s not me anymore and all that, but while I was writing and recording, I had to live in that world. I had to be them once again.

While I was beginning to mix the record, I noticed an issue and was going to have to re-record one of the guitar/vocal parts (since, as I mentioned, they were recorded together). Redoing a synth part, no problem, just focus on the task at hand, hit the right notes and get it done. But, the vocals require performance. I have to feel everything (and sing/play guitar to a click track since the synths were programmed/played right, or very close to, on time, also not my favorite). Since mentally I thought I was done tracking, I almost had an anxiety attack and shut down for an entire day. I just did crossword puzzles and compulsively read about coronavirus. I didn’t want to do it. I felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to sing anymore. Obviously, I did it and it all turned out alright, but that’s what it was like making this record.

So, if what you’ve read about above has interested you and you’d like to purchase/donate to the cause, there are a few options:

1. Go to https://bradleywik.bandcamp.com/. You can stream the record for free or purchase (hint: you can also donate a little extra past the $4, if you like)

2. As I know these are trying times and people could use some entertainment, you can also download the record for FREE (CLICK HERE to access the google drive link with mp3’s of the record) with optional donation to: https://www.paypal.me/bradleywik

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Track #2 - the promise (please don't die tonight)

As a reminder, every Thursday (for the foreseeable, quarantined future) at 8pm EST, I will be going LIVE on Facebook to play music, talk, and deep dive into various topics like how/why I write songs (up on replay now), how Asperger’s affects my songwriting and storytelling (next week, on 4/23), how to write a Rock N’ Roll song like Bradley Wik, and more. Go follow the Facebook page, or however that works, at: https://www.facebook.com/BradleyWikMusic/

I’ll also be doing some music recommendations and other short videos on there. So, if you’d like that, be sure to follow along. There also may be a video series about songwriting in the not too distant future… Stay tuned.

But, today, I would like to introduce track #2 - the promise (please don’t die tonight). Below is a short synopsis (trust me, I could write way more if you’d like but I think the below covers it pretty well), of that song. I wrote about the recording/production and about why it’s on this album. The story behind it, if you were. I know, I’ve said a few times I’m not really interested in back story but I thought some context might be helpful. Again, I don’t want people to think I’m writing depressing, fucked up stories to sound “cool” but to expose how stupid and asshole-y I was back in the day (I’ve gotten way better, though not totally “better.” Sort of like that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry and the acupuncturist. Better, but not “better.”). It’s one of the things I really wanted to do with this record, make sure that I don’t try to abdicate responsibility for my actions. Depression, drugs, alcohol, etc. don’t exempt you from blame and I try to allow myself to be the villain of my own piece with these songs. “I started killing myself…,” “I drank til I was numb…,” “WE were too fucked up to care…,” “What are WE gonna do now that WE’VE wasted OUR youth?,” “WE poisoned OUR bodies…,” etc. It’s either my fault or at worst there was someone joining me. I never wanted to blame anyone for my stupid actions. At best, I was aided and abetted but no one forced me to do stupid, shitty things; I chose to. My hope is that after hearing these tunes, people might choose not to do shitty things to each other…

Also, just random note: this song is the exact same length as “i started killing myself years ago…” Not sure how that happens, but it did. I initially thought I had mislabeled the file since it was exactly the same size so I panicked after I uploaded it to BANDCAMP. But, just another weird thing that happened with this album.

Anyways, enough of my blathering. On to the song!

“the promise (please don’t die tonight)”

“i might love you” she said, with tears in her eyes

“so, promise me that you won’t die tonight”

Music Notes:

This song is so basic in both structure and story that I really wanted to keep it that way so nothing would overpower the simple yet powerful message. Everything in this song is super repetitive (that’s the Asperger’s in me) and I love it. I wanted to make it sort of trance-y to really let you live in the world for a bit. It’s a very full, rich sounding song. There’s very few gaps in the frequencies on the instrumentation so that the song will fully envelope your senses. I always try to break my songs down into highs, mids and lows and see what’s filling out those spaces. Normally, that was lead guitar in the highs, snare/toms and rhythm guitars in the mids, kick drum and bass in the lows. It’s so different for this type of music and it was fun to play around with a totally different sound palette. Adding in highs, like the harmonica, make the song feel like it’s opening up into something grander. Taking away bass makes it feel less intense. Removing some mid frequency parts make it feel more naked and like it’s missing something if you’d like to build anticipation. There’s so much more I can do in this realm, which was very overwhelming at first but eventually helped me get to where I wanted to be with these songs.

I tried to make this song fairly driving in the rhythms and production to simulate how it would sound to hear these words while being under the influence. You know, that sort of tunnel-vision, fuzzy-sounding thing that happens after a few too many where sounds sort of overwhelm your senses. And there was probably more to the story and more words that were spoken but the only ones to cut through the din were those two, simple lines. The rest drowned out in your drunkenness, exemplifying the immediacy of those words.

I actually considered making this song just the one verse which was like a minute and a half long and just leaving it at that, but that didn’t feel as impactful somehow. Made it feel more like a vignette than a story. It felt unfinished, which sort of makes sense given the context, but I wasn’t sold. It’s almost as if I was too drunk to understand the words the first time so I needed them repeated so I’d remember them. So, you get second verse same as the first. 

Story Notes:

So, after the first song (“i started killing myself years ago…”), this felt like the most logical continuation of the story. The songs weren’t written too far apart, maybe a week or so, and the same characters and thoughts were likely occupying my mind. In the first song, the characters were “too fucked up to care,” but here is the introduction of the female character which would reappear in “what are we supposed to do now that we’ve wasted our youth?” She did care (at least a little), though I still did not. And, by not caring about myself, it meant I didn’t care about her since she was invested enough in me to at least care whether I lived or died. Wow, what a great couple. That’s true romance...

But, these are words I’ve heard before, in various forms, over the years. I feel like such an asshole that someone had to say these words to me. Back then, I thought “why do you care? I don’t even care…” But now I realize how selfish that was. I made them care because I couldn’t muster up the courage to care at least a little bit about myself. I had grown used to others doing that for me. I’m sure part of it was the extra attention. I’ve always loved attention, whether I was playing sports, trying to get the best scores/grades in school and now in performing my music. Luckily, however, I’ve never become dependent on the attention. I love it, but it’s one of the few addictions I’ve never had...

I thought a lot about those words a couple years later when I started writing this record. As I mentioned, this song was written second for the record (would’ve been cool to write them all in order… But, not sure if you noticed the tracks are in alphabetical order on the record, which was actually just a happy accident. I didn’t plan it that way, it just felt the best in this order.) and I wanted to go back in time (Back to the Future Huey Lewis style) to before when “what are we supposed to do now that we’ve wasted our youth?” took place. Did these people have any sort of real connection? Did they truly not care at all like in “i started killing myself years ago…?” Was there a time they weren’t just wasting away their days/months/years together?

And, the answer is: kind of, but not really. Key word in the song (all two lines of it) is “might.” “‘i might love you’ she said, with tears in her eyes.” Turns out she probably didn’t actually care that much. And I probably would have said the same thing had the roles been reversed. Maybe I had at some point and just forgotten, whether by drink, drug or just the passage of time. So, I guess we both cared, at least a little, but, likely, only a little.

Which brings me to another tenet of my songwriting: I try to never write how I “feel” and never try to speculate on how someone else might “feel.” I try to just tell the story. I can’t even pretend to understand how I actually feel most of the time (thank you, Asperger’s) so I wouldn’t try to pretend what someone else is feeling. So, I try to stick to the facts and let other people fill in the blanks. If there are feelings or emotions involved in a song they’re always ones that were explicitly told to me. One of the (Asperger’s?) triggers I have is being blamed for something I didn’t do or told that I meant or felt something I did not (just ask my wife, Brianne...). So, I would hate to characterize someone or assume they were thinking/feeling/etc. something they were not. It would drive me crazy and I try to respect that in others.

After I wrote those two lines, I struggled with what else to go with it. The lines were so powerful and painted such a story that everything I tried to add paled in comparison and didn’t really add much, if anything, to the story. But, surely the song couldn’t be just two lines? This is Bradley Wik we’re talking about. Writer of epics like “Just Like Jon Fickes.” The same man whose words are more important than singing the same vocal melody for each line, who sings over all his bridges to get more story in, and whose favorite songwriting trick (crutch?) for fitting in more lyrics is the double verse/double chorus. Eventually though, I gave up trying and just left the song as is. It said everything I wanted it to. Those simple words were all I needed and all this song did too.

But, again, like I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t sit down thinking all that and then poop out a song. All that was milling around in my subconscious until it came out on paper. It feels like magic when it happens, but that probably also shows you how out of touch with my thoughts/emotions/etc. I am due to the Asperger’s. No, this is me trying to reverse engineer all these tunes and hopefully put them in context on the record.

So, if what you’ve read about above has interested you and you’d like to purchase/donate to the cause, there are a few options:

1. Go to https://bradleywik.bandcamp.com/. You can stream for free or purchase (hint: you can also donate a little extra past the $4, if you like)

2. As I know these are trying times and people could use some entertainment, you can also download the record for FREE (CLICK HERE to access the google drive link with mp3’s of the record) with optional donation to: https://www.paypal.me/bradleywik

Thanks for reading and listening. I’ll be back soon with more info on track #3 - “we are not alone”

-30-

Track #1 - i started killing myself years ago...

As I mentioned in my album introduction blog (which you READ HERE) which talks about the album as a whole, why I made it, why it’s called “music for depressed alcoholic autistic people,” amongst other things, I am going to be writing about each individual song as well. Each of these songs is tied to my having depression, alocholism and/or Asperger’s, and was either a traumatic experience I needed help in understanding myself or something I wanted other people to know they’re not alone in experiencing. It’s been an exhaustive process of diving back into this world and reliving these events while recording these tunes but I felt it was important for me to make this record. Both for me personally, and for those who might need to hear something like this, especially in these uncertain times when I know there is a strain on people’s mental health.

I will be talking about the songs both from a story/inspiration standpoint and also a musical standpoint (i.e. why it sounds like it does, choices that I made that represent other things like being alone, my Meniere’s disease, being drunk, etc.) and any other things I think are relevant/interesting. I wanted to give a little peek behind the curtain of what goes on in my mind when I make a record, especially one this honest and personal. If you do have questions/comments that I do not address, feel free to comment below and I will do my best to answer them. When it comes to my music, there are some things that I think about way too much and some things I never really think about, so I may or may not have a great answer, but I’ll do my best to be as honest and straightforward as possible. Anyhow, on to the song!

“i started killing myself years ago…”

i sing these songs for you though i’ve sang them for others

and every word rang true, at least for a moment

we were too fucked up to care

we were too fucked up to care, anyhow

most nights, i wish we never met

i started killing myself years ago, i just haven’t finished yet…

some nights I still dream, though i’m always dying

before i can save you but i’ll never stop trying

we were too fucked up to care

we were too fucked up to care, anyhow

most nights, i wish we never met

i started killing myself years ago, i just haven’t finished yet…

Music Notes:

This is the only song on the album that features none of the Moog synth featured on the other three songs. This is sort of how all the songs sounded when I did the initial demos. Since I can’t actually play keyboards/synths, I would write and quickly record all the different parts on my guitar and then clumsily notate and translate them to the Moog synth to replace the scratch guitar tracks one at a time. It was a tedious process where I’d come up with a part, record it, figure out what notes it is, then figure out how to play those notes on the synth, then figure out how I wanted them to sound and, finally, record what you hear on the album. I have pages of notes from these songs that have every note scribbled out, e.g. VERSE: A, B, C, B, A, D, etc. and on and on. But, no matter what I did with this song, the original demo always sounded better. Something always got lost in the translation. I finally gave up trying to rebuild the song and what you hear in the naked, original demo version of the song, with the original scratch lead vocal and the guitar parts that I recorded almost two years ago. For those who don’t know, a “scratch” track (vocal, guitar, bass, etc.) is a hastily recorded part that is mostly for timing of the song. You don’t really focus on levels, how it sounds, how you performed, etc., you just record it so you can play the other parts along to it and then re-record it later. This song is all “scratch” tracks that never got replaced. That seemed kind of fitting for a song like this. It felt right, like I didn’t care enough to go through the process of making it sound like the other songs, it just is what it is. I like that about this song. The song doesn’t care, both from a lyrical and musical standpoint. It’s very Asperger’s/Autistic in that way. The more you try to change it, the more it’ll fight to stay the same.

Story notes:

One of the things I’ve noticed about myself over the years is I don’t look at my past like most people. Once I’ve moved, had a breakup or any other big life change, I feel like a new person. I don’t feel a connection to the previous versions of me. They feel more like chapters in a book that I’ve read dozens of times, so I know all the beats but I’m just recounting their stories, not my story. I don’t know if that’s an Asperger’s thing or not, I suspect it is, but it’s certainly a strange feeling. And, because of that, I tend to do the same things over and over (definitely an Asperger’s thing) throughout my life, which, also means I make the same mistakes over and over, like, say, getting into bad relationships. Not necessarily with people who are bad but with people who are bad for me. Like people who accentuate my worst tendencies. People who like the worst aspects of me. For me, that’s people who enjoy chaos. I love living in chaos, but in the worst way. It’s a very destructive place for me to dwell in. I also enjoy drugs and alcohol. So, when someone pushes me to stay in that chaotic, drug-filled world, they don’t have to push hard. Over the years, I learned how to go into that world enough to fill my darker desires, but how to also avoid going there each and every day. But, it doesn’t take much to get me to want to live there. and a pretty girl is more than enough motivation.

One of the side effects of living in that world, for me at least, is night terrors. The deeper down the hole I go, the worse they get. I’ve woken up with bruised or bleeding hands and feet, black eyes, hell, even a broken ankle once because of night terrors. The worst part of the night terrors was that each time I died in the dream (usually very viscerally, I might add), the dream just started over. And, even when I thought I’d woken up, I was often still in the dream. I’d awake in my bed and everything looked normal. But, then I’d notice something is off, like the clock said it was 8:10am but it was still dark out, and I’d be magically whisked away back to the beginning of the dream to die a few more times. Then, I’d finally wake up again and get up to pee, but the bathroom light switch didn’t work and… back to the beginning of the dream, again. It was like a cruel video game. I got to remember my progress so I could get a little further each time or try new strategies. But, in the end, it just keeps going and going. It's why I love the movies "Happy Death Day" and "Inception" so much. For once, I thought maybe it wasn't just me who experienced dreams like this.

Here’s an example of a recurring dream I have: I’m standing outside a 5 story brick apartment building that is likely located in New York City, even though I’ve been having this dream long before I lived in New York City so I’m just now realizing it’s probably based on April O’Neil’s apartment from the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie, and the building is on fire (again, probably from the TMNT movie) and it’s my job to save as many people as possible. I race into the first floor and help the 2-3 people who are trapped on this floor. Then, I move to the second floor, there’s a family of three, mom, young son and younger daughter, which I help out of the building. The fire is growing and spreading and some of the ceiling starts to fall around me. I know it’s getting worse. The girl I’m trying to save is on the fourth floor (this probably because 4 is my favorite number). If I go to the third floor, I might not make it up to her, so I go straight to the fourth. I race past a few screams for help on the third floor and I find her and couple other stragglers. We head for the stairs (it’s a walk-up, not that we would opt for the elevator). The fire is now crazy out of control and debris is falling everywhere. As we get down to the second story landing, a large piece of debris falls on us and kills us all.

Back to the beginning. I’m outside the building again. This time, I’ll try working top down as the top floors seem less stable than the bottom floors plus I’ll get to the girl sooner. So, up to the fifth floor. I find and help a few people all the way down. Because this takes longer, the fire is already spreading further than before it seems. I find my girl on the fourth floor, but this time there’s more people in the apartments around her. Apparently, the first time they either died before I could get there or a few others managed to escape on their own. So, now we have a larger group headed down the stairs. As we pass the second floor, the girl sees the family and races to help them. I decide to take the group I have downstairs and come back for her. It’s on the second floor and I think I still have time. After assisting the group outside, I race back into the building but the fire is out of control now. I can see the girl on the second floor stairwell with the family but some debris has damaged the stairs and the landing is on fire. She lowers the kids down the side of stairwell to me and I race them out of the building. By the time I get back, she and the mother are gone and the building is falling apart all around me. With her gone, I just stand there and await my fate. Back to the beginning…

Wait, maybe not. I wake up sweaty and a little sore in my bed. But, for some reason I can’t fully open my eyes. I only get fleeting glances at the room around me as I struggle to wake myself up and get out of this dream so I don’t have to play again. After struggling for a few minutes, I realize I’m not really awake and I slowly drift back into dreamland. Back to the beginning…

That could go on all night, and because of all that, it was easier for me to drink until I passed out than to risk dreaming at night. If I drank enough, I wouldn’t dream. Seemed like a simple choice: risk injuring myself while also torturing myself with dreams where I continually experience painful deaths OR just get fucked up, black out and come to the next morning not remembering anything. So, I chose the latter most nights. I knew the things I was doing to my body were unhealthy but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. I knew I was putting myself on a path that would eventually kill me but I was OK with that. That would take years and I wasn’t worried about years from now, I was worried about being able to sleep for a few hours each night. If all this ended up killing me years from now, I could accept that trade off. I had to get to work the next morning and I was still only 24. There was still plenty of time...

Of course, I wasn’t thinking about any of that when I wrote the song. Those are all things I’ve come to realize afterwards. I’m going to talk about my songwriting process in a short video this week, but the songs typically come out quickly (I think the longest I’ve ever worked on a song is about forty five minutes), usually come in sets of 2-3, and they just flow out naturally. It’s like an out of body experience. So, I don’t sit down and think “I’ll write one about night terrors.” I’ll just find a few chords I like and a couple songs will pop out. There’s actually a sister song to this one which is completely about the night terrors that will be on the next “music for depressed alcoholic autistic people” record. Yes, I already have written the next record, but let’s enjoy this one for a while first, shall we.

So, if what you’ve read about above has interested you and you’d like to purchase/donate to the cause, there are a few options:

1. Go to https://bradleywik.bandcamp.com/. You can stream for free or purchase (hint: you can also donate a little extra past the $4, if you like)

2. As I know these are trying times and people could use some entertainment, you can also download the record for FREE (CLICK HERE to access the google drive link with mp3’s of the record) with optional donation to: https://www.paypal.me/bradleywik

Thanks for reading and listening. I’ll be back soon with more info on track #2 - “the promise (please don’t die tonight).”

-30-

Music Video Notes and shit...

So, the Packers shat the bed once again. Just like last week, they had the chance to dethrone one of the best teams in the league and decided to fuck themselves over. I don't want to rant and rave about it (I've done that for at least 4 or 5 hours over the past 24 hours) but it's so goddamn frustrating to give games like this away. It's also weird that our defense is playing better than our offense, which has Aaron Fucking Rodgers. Color me confused as fuck. That's a phrase, right? Anyways, some good/music news...

Many thanks to Adobe and Teardrops (click HERE or on the image below):

And to Americana Daily (click HERE or on the image below):

For supporting the release of our newest music video for “Let’s Go Out Tonight.” Here’s a few thoughts I had about the making of the video:

“Turns out it’s not easy to make a zombie-themed music video.  From finding the right DP and makeup artist to bring our zombie rom-com to life, to finding the perfect “Thriller” looking house, the director and I digging a real grave in someone’s backyard (Oregon dirt is mostly clay with lots of rocks in it…), the 2+ hours of having alcohol-based makeup, since it was still raining in July (God bless Oregon), slathered on my face, neck and hands plus the 1+ hour of washing my skin with alcohol to get it back off, practicing “Thriller” dance moves in my apartment and injuring my hand so badly that I now have a scar for the rest of my life (long story), to all the overnight shoots, it wasn’t your typical music video.  I was buried underground for 20 minutes while we waited for the lighting, effects and weather to all play together for the perfect shot, and I loved it; which was good since that was only the first of many takes…

But, God bless Kevin Pietila, the director, since he had the vision and the passion to keep the cast and crew focused and performing at our best, not an easy task at 4 or 5am when everyone is starting to feel the lack of sleep and we’re trying to beat the light for one last shot. And God bless the crew, keeping the generators, lights, effects, makeup and playback going while moving everything in and out of tents due to the intermittent rain.  And the Holocene in Portland was great and patient as we shot for much longer than anticipated there.

And damn, did I look awesome in that “Thriller” jacket or what…”

NEW MUSIC VIDEO AND VIDEO RELEASE PARTY!!

AHHHH, REAL MONSTERS (anyone love that show as much as I do?)! Why do I say that?? You’ll find out if you check out the WORLD PREMIERE OF “LET’S GO OUT TONIGHT” THE MUSIC VIDEO AT SURVIVING THE GOLDEN AGE BY CLICKING HERE OR ON THE PICTURE:

Also, our music video release party will be held at the Lake Theater in Lake Oswego, OR Friday, November 9th. Music from Sara Morris, Brianne Kathleen and Bradley Wik will start at 8pm followed by commentary from director/writer of said videos, Kevin Pietila, before we show both “Lookin’ at Luckey” and “Let’s Go Out Tonight” on the BIG SCREEN!!! Fun is guaranteed to be had by all. Music, booze, amazing music videos, what else do you need?! Oh, a sexy host, you might say. Well, don’t you worry, Bradley will be there and may or may not take his pants off… Just sayin’…

It's here! It's finally here!! aka... "Lookin' at Luckey," the video...

As promised, here it is fuckers:

This brings back wonderful memories of:

- How perfectly Sonora embodied "Luckey" for those three days of shooting.  I felt as if I was back with the real "Luckey" the whole time

- Brianne and Sara shining lights past the Thunderbird while Nate rocked it up and down, over and over and over...

- Sonora sitting perfectly still, take after take, for those shots in the living room of me rocking out

- Sara hitting her (not plugged in) keyboard so hard it made her fingers hurt trying to get noise out of it

- Sharing those wonderful bottles of water-wine on the roof

- The lady in the park who repeatedly demonstrated how many times Bill Withers says "I know" in "Ain't No Sunshine"

- Those Fucking Jibs

- The wonderfully weird boat parade on the Willamette River that night

- How much Kelly's Olympian didn't give a fuck

- How smoking way too many cigarettes in a row feels

- How many times someone commented on how I look like Ryan Adams

- How I loved it every time someone commented on how I look like Ryan Adams (one of my favorite artists ever)

- Getting to sit in an actual Thunderbird and how unworthy I was

- Thinking of how many fucking talented people were in that apartment that night

I could never thank Kevin Pietila enough for taking my Asperger's, non-visual memories of Luckey and somehow creating this.  It is beyond my comprehension how talented he is.

I am so grateful to all the talented people involved:  Kevin Pietila, Sara Morris, Brianne Kathleen, Jon Fickes, Sonora Mindwerl, Nate Ernst, Colby and, of course, me (just kidding, kind of).  They say it takes a village, but we did it with less people, more hard work and more skill.  But most of all, we did it...

Millennials are annoying as fuck... aka Millennials choose to be Millennials (at my age, anyways)...

Bradley vents about Millennials vs. Millennials by choice

Childhood Asperger's aka... We don't lose a fight, no matter how stupid...

Bradley discusses having Asperger's as a child and the symptoms to look for in others.

Aaron will be OK, won't he? Won't he? aka please, let him be OK...

He can't really be hurt, can he??  Depression and loss and Aaron Rodgers collarbone...

I'm not sure what the proper word is for, as our friends in NorCal would say, "Hella Devastated."  Thoughts and Prayers, of course, to all the victims of the wild fires.  Far more devastating than the Packers season but Aaron's broken collarbone is also causing a large amount of grief back in the great state of Wisconsin.  It's not as important but nevertheless...  It's been such a fucked up year with all the injuries.  In my 24 years of watching football, I can't remember (the drugs and booze probably don't help) a team this ravaged by injuries, at the same positions nonetheless, as the 2017 Packers.  I know, I know, Vikings fans mention they've lost their starting quarterback and running back as well, BUT we all know losing Sam Bradford is not the same as losing Aaron Rodgers.  Only the Patriots losing Tom Brady can compare.  But he's gone.  There's nothing we can do now except trust the process, get better every day, overcome adversity, yada, yada, yada.  I watched Brett Hundley's post game presser and I feel OK about our prospects.  It would be mental to torture myself and expect the worst (as I do with most of the things in my life), and he does seem like a very smart, confident, talented kid ready to make the most of his opportunity.  I think we will be OK.  I really do.  It may sound insane but I feel we'll be in good hands and ready to compete for the NFC North.  I'm not ready to give up, especially to the Vikings.  Fuck that.  We're coming for you.  When the 2013 season ended with Rodgers and Cobb coming back to re-enact the ending of "The Natural," I decided no season was ever really over.

Anyways, as I sit in the Marriott Springhill Suites in Bend, OR (a very nice hotel, I might add), I can't help but feel hopeful.  I want to thank all those who tuned in to my Periscope Live "Friday Night is for the Drinkers" Concert Series on Friday the 13th.  The theme was "Girls," as in the 2nd of my 4 part series about the things I write songs about:  Cars, Girls, Drinking and Rock N' Roll.  It ran longer than I anticipated but the topic of "girls" is so broad and covered 2 of my favorite songs ("Lookin' at Luckey" and "Just Like Jon Fickes") plus a live favorite that never made a record ("Johnny and Mary part II" sorry, no link as it's not released) that I couldn't cut down the stories and emotion of playing those tunes.  Also, I know, I know; Wild Turkey Bourbon?  Well, when you're traveling you can't buy the top shelf stuff as you need to buy smaller containers of alcohol, hence, the Wild Turkey; which I am finishing off tonight.  No, it does not have anything to do with those fucking god awful Matthew McConaughey commercials.  I just like decent, high-proof bourbon and my local liquor store doesn't have Knob Creek in pints.  Anyways, it was a fun show and I know I talked more than usual, but fuck you, that's my prerogative, and I'm the only one in the room for the shows, so I get to DO IT MY WAY.  Next PERISCOPE LIVE "FRIDAY NIGHT IS FOR THE DRINKERS" LIVE SHOW IS:  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH AT 9PM EST/6PM PST.  Search "Bradley Wik" (@bradleywik) on the Periscope app or follow on your PC by clicking HERE.

As I've mentioned before, putting out this record has been one disaster after another.  Now, that I'm playing shows to promote this fucker, it's no different.  I was concussed for the month before and at least 2 weeks after my official album release.  Couldn't practice, couldn't play for that time.  Then, of course, I injured my left index finger (main guitar playing finger) playing pick up basketball with some younger kids (note:  don't play pickup basketball with younger kids.  They're much more spry and athletic).  I haven't been able to make a barre chord ever since.  Then, last Tuesday, I went to sleep OK and woke up not being able to move my wrist, which, it turns out, is important to playing guitar.  Bad dream, weird sleeping position, who knows, but it still fucking hurts.  My last Periscope show was excruciating and would have been worse without the Wild Turkey 101.  I still can hardly drive, open a bottle, take a shower, etc. without terrible pain in my wrist and finger.  It sucks not being 21 anymore and able to bounce back from any injury in 24 hours and having to deal with this shit.  But, I've no choice.  Hopefully, all this bad luck (the countless fucking disasters and horrible things during the recording process, mixing and mastering process) will yield an amazing reverse karma deal and will end up with me becoming famous, well, more famous than I am.  Hope-fucking-ly...  Speaking of Hope, nope, that's another blog.  Long story...

Still, I feel blessed to even be able to record and release my music.  Some fucking kid from Horicon, WI is getting radio play in Milwaukee, Denver, Anchorage, Vancouver, BC, San Antonio, Las Cruces, Boise, Murfreesboro, Piscataway, etc.  It's unbelievable.  If you like the record, don't forget to buy it on iTunes or get an actual CD or VINYL on CDBABY.  And buy one for a friend, or a fucking enemy, I don't give a shit.  Just support independent artists so we/I can keep making wonderful, amazing, fucking mind-bending, soul-fulfilling music.

By the way, if you're ever in Lebanon, OR, you should stay at the Boulder Falls Inn.  It's fucking awesome.  Great bar and even better bartenders (skip the restaurant and grab food on the second floor bar).  It has a Japanese Garden, which I love, the rooms are big and comfortable, the toilet capable of handling a big shit, it's brilliant.  Although, the Japanese Garden in Portland, OR refused to hire me because I didn't have non-profit experience, though the job was for a management of personnel position, which I had done for 3-4 years.  Fucking assholes.  They're so much better because their company doesn't make money for shareholders, though they make money just the same as I.  Oh, wait, they're the same.  Dickholes.

Fuck it.  It's still a shame that THIS VIDEO only has 19 million views.  Should be 1 Billion.  Or, at least, more than however many Justin Bieber has.  At least Shakira get her due, just watch THIS VIDEO.  Not sure how that is related, outside of the fact that I really like her, and she's ungodly beautiful.  I read in an article how one of her favorite bands was AC/DC, which immediately made me cum.  Just imagine this beauty rocking out to (my favorite AC/DC song) "Big Balls."  In love, hard.  So hard...

Wait, what was I talking about?  Not sure and don't care.  I'm just going to watch Shakira videos for the rest of the night.  Bye y'all...

Wait, if you're in the Salem, Keizer, Albany, Lebanon, Oregon area, I'll be playing a show at Conversion Brewing Saturday November 18th from 8-10pm.  If you're not, then check out my next PERISCOPE LIVE "FRIDAY NIGHT IS FOR THE DRINKERS" LIVE SHOW on:  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH AT 9PM EST/6PM PST.  Search "Bradley Wik" (@bradleywik) on the Periscope app or follow on your PC by clicking HERE.

Peace Bitches!

ALBUM RELEASE AND PERISCOPE LIVE SHOW

First off, I would like to thank everyone who joined in and watched my first ever PERISCOPE LIVE CONCERT!  I appreciate all the kind words, hearts, funny comments and especially the interaction between those who tuned in live.  It was amazing to see @jakebecker make fun of my disheveled (and, I think, sexy) looks, all the people saying "clap, clap" and tapping hearts at the end of songs to make me feel less like a guy with a guitar alone in a room playing music to my phone and a mic, and, of course, @mattysauza with my favorite comment of the night:  "Tommy Stinson loves you."

I realize that I'm still learning how to do this and make it as fun as possible for everyone.  I missed a lot of comments during the show, caught myself watching myself on camera and trying to read what people were saying and missing a chord (which not being able to play guitar for the month and a half before because of a car accident didn't help either, but still) and am getting used to playing and talking to myself; which I do all the time, but that's usually only after a pint or so of bourbon, a couple episodes of BoJack Horseman and an hour or so spent wondering how I'm not as famous as I think I am...  Or, what I call "Friday Night."

Which leads me to my next point:

I am calling these Periscope Live shows the "Friday Night is for the Drinkers Concert Series."

Those in the know will get that reference, but for those who don't, stop whatever you're doing IMMEDIATELY and CHECK THIS SHIT OUT!  The plan is that I will do these Periscope Live concerts every other week, with new songs and stories, and various amounts of drinking before, during and after the show, themed to what I am drinking that night (mostly different types of bourbons, but also some scotch, wine and beers as well).  I will be broadcasting from different locations, bringing on some of my talented friends to play/talk about their music, opening up about my personal life, some of the crazy shit I've done while traveling around the country playing music, my struggles with depression, my struggles with Asperger's, and anything else I think of and want to discuss with friends, family and complete strangers via the internet.  Hell, there may or may not be giveaways to live viewers.  You'll have to tune in and see...  Future plans include an accompanying "Friday Night is for the Drinkers" podcast that offers deep dives into and expands on some of the songs/stories, goes back over the previous concert with a look ahead to the next one, and more of the one thing everyone loves:  Bradley Wik.

Sidenote:  I love people who love my music (I'm easy) and want to congratulate @mattysauza on being the first to request a song!  I was only playing songs from the new record for the album release so I wasn't able to fulfill it, but @mattysauza rest assured there's a song coming for you on the next one...  Now, it's not TRL but I will pick at least one request (of my songs) per show (maybe more depending on how generous/drunk I feel) to play.

Thanks again and I'll see you all soon!  Well, I guess you'll all see me and I'll occasionally see things that you say about me.  More comments, more interaction, more hearts, more making fun of me and each other, I love it all!

Remember follow @bradleywik on the Periscope app to stay up to date or CLICK HERE to sign up and watch these shows on your computer.

What others are saying about BWC... (Also, many thanks for all the support!)

"Bradley Wik's "Some Girls (Still Love Rock'n'Roll)" is a really excellent example of what I have controversially (apparently) called the Tragic Woman. As the song unfolds, Wik's deep empathy and understand for the character is evidently clear. The subject isn't a source of objectification or moralizing. Whether or not this woman is real, in the song she is a complex and fully realized human. Straight cis male singer-songwriters of the world, take note: this is how you write a song about a woman."  - Rachel Cholst | Adobe and Teardrops (see full post HERE or click the image below)

"Today, Bradley Wik & The Charlatans are proud to release their first single, “Some Girls (Still Love Rock N Roll).” For those thirsting for a fresh rock n roll sound, Bradley Wik is the answer. Raw and unpretentious, the sound harkens back to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and the Replacements. No gimmicks, no frills. Just pure passion."  - Skope Magazine (see full post HERE or click the image below)

Also, I'd like to thank AMERICANA DAILY (click HERE) and our international friends at Leo Swiss Radio (click HERE) Velvety (click HERE) for supporting and promoting BWC!  Thank you all so much and I can't wait to release this album!!  September 15th is coming quick!  Big announcement early next week regarding how all y'all can catch moi, Bradley Wik, and see/hear moi (me?) perform live...  I'll be closer than you think...