Lolita Nation 1

Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 22:13:03 -0800 (PST) From: Gil Ray
Subject: [loud-fans] Lolita Nation as threatened...
(Part 1)

This is the record that Game Theory went from being a cute pop band to an outright gorgeous bunch of rock stars (in our own minds). Just look at those photos! It had nothing to do with how young and beautiful we were. It's about the pack of smokes in my shirt pocket and Shelley's obscured tits. (can I say that?) They're there alright, but Robert was asked by the label(?) to darken 'em up. He took all of those photos except Donnette's. Lots of letter and word play going on here. Some of it I understand and some of it zooms right over my head. The head with the beautiful...hair.

SIDE ONE
Kenneth-What's The Frequency? - Didn't have to drum on this one. I think it's a great way to kick off the record. Enigma flew Dan Rather in to coach Joe Becker on the proper inflection.
Not Because You Can - I'm pretty sure the cool drum intro was a Scott idea. It's too messed up to be mine! A great tune to open shows with. I was thrilled when the LF got to do it on our last tour. Good Donny guitar and Shelley keys on this. The first introduction of Gui and Donny vocals too.

Shard - This song wore me out.

Go Ahead, You're Dying To - I love this song. I don't think Gui is playing bass on this and this may have been done without any of us at Mitch's. (We did not go to Mitch's for the mix-down. Just Scott. Most of the weird stuff was done there without the rest of us. As it should have been.)

Dripping With Looks - No real drums here, but I did get to play guitar on this. Scott has always been big on CONCEPTS. His concept on the guitar part was that Donny would stand on a chair (Not in the studio! Only when we played this live!), and finger the chords as I stood below and hit the strings with a stick. Now I don't mind standing with my head at crotch level for any beautiful woman, much less Donny, but it did creep me out and I think we only did it once. Thank goodness. In the studio I got to hit the strings AND finger the chords. Gui sings good backup on this and I remember after his take, I asked him how it went and he shrugged and said fine but he had no idea what he was singing about. This is a goddamn stunning song.

Exactly What We Don't Want To Hear - Whoa! Lots of Michael Quercio and Daddy In His Deep Sleep vocals. I'm not sure who is playing the keyboard parts. I guessing it's not Shelley. Another great song.

We Love You Carol And Alison - A really hard drum part that has always impressed Scott. My inspiration was Bill Bruford in the later King Crimson. During the verse I ride on the toms and not the cymbals or high hat. Fripp thought cymbals covered up some of his precious guitar frequencies. I just thought it was cool. I'm singing but you can't hear me. Donny sounds great. This is a very complex song and I admire Scott for giving us a chance to try and pull it off.

The Waist And The Knees - Lots of drum overdubs! Clicking sticks, tom toms, high hats. These were all Scott ideas. I would not in a million years think of these parts. Shelley gets to shine with her trademark Shelley sounds. I see that Zach did some guitar samples. I do not remember that at all. Cool breaks in the middle that lead into a very heavy, totally Crimson beat that was my idea (the drum beat that is..).The end is awesome. Scott basically said to go nuts, but keep coming back to the normal song beat. Bunch of fun there! And a great way to lead in to side two!
Gil