Indeed, Madonna. Indeed.

The only thing better than good music is good friends. Well, I suppose there are better things than either of those, but for the sake of needing a cliché to fill out this blog, that one will do nicely.

Rock n’ roll is here to say, at least that’s what Joey D. and the Starlighters said, but that was in the late ’50s, and it was, forebodingly, their last hit single before they became plumbers and carpet lairs and stuff.

But if you need any evidence of the aliveness of said musical genre, there was no further to look than the Terminal last Saturday. Fist up was the always fun Crazy Chester. Their energy was through the roof. Fun guys, fun times, one fun version of “Give Back the Key to my Heart.”

Nate Houge’s Welaware, who played second, is currently a vehicle for his newest musical endeavors, the coolest of which is his new CD, “Reform Follows Function.” Nate is always pleasurable on stage, and Saturday night did not disappoint. Let’s hope Welaware has more shows coming up soon.

‘Round about midnight came the long awaited debut of Erik Ritland and the Best Days. The full line up at least. What a wonderful band this is: metal band refugee Jake Brown admirably keeping the beat thunderously and creatively, and Water Colors members Marshall Nystrom and Chad Arnold keeping things together on guitar and bass. Unlike myself these guys are true musicians, which is a great balance for my slapdash sensitivities (or lack thereof).

Our setlist felt great. My favorite two things about this band are: 1. The musicianship of the musicians and 2. The songs we play. There’s a cohesion somewhere in there, in the spirit led distorted electric guitar and energy that I bring, in the solid modern rock backbeat that comes from the guys around me.

But then there’s a variety that keeps things interesting. “You and Only You” is a jaunty country number. “Drifting Apart” a straightforward pop/rock song. “Stay Inside” is an expansive, epic rock song. Old Negro spiritual “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down” is given an electric guitar makeover, and the 19^th century ballad “Wreck of the ol’ 97” is sped up like crazy, leading up to the wreck of a coda. “Aching Heart,” one of my first songs and formerly a fairly laid back country/folk rock tune, is now all punked up. Marshall’s guitar playing shines.

Music is really cool. I love it. I love to listen to it, to play it, to make it. Too bad people don’t love music a lot anymore. I’m not sure when this band that I love will play another show. People don’t like going out to shows. I want to make CDs of these songs that mean a lot to me, but nobody buys CDs anymore, either. Lost cause, uphill battle, insert cliché here, etc. etc.

Either way, we’ll keep rockin’, you keep rockin’, and lets live our lives to the best of our potential while we can. Amen.

In 2004 I formed my first band, Faded Suede, a country rock outfit influenced by Uncle Tupelo. The same year I also formed my second band, Floating Bridge, named after a favorite Sleepy John Estes song. The idea was that they would be more rock oriented and varied in sonic textures than the country rock of Faded Suede.

Faded Suede never played a full band show together, (some would say) unfortunately, but Floating Bridge became me, or at least the best parts of me. The band was the outlet for my creative self. It expanded my breadth and depth as a songwriter. I even learned a little bit about organizing a band, booking, and promoting. Granted, it was only about enough to realize that I could really use a manager, but it was an amount nonetheless.

Floating Bridge had quite a few recording sessions over the years and even made a complete album that got mixed and mastered and everything. Yet we never released anything but short run homemade CDs. By the time our album was finished I knew the band wouldn’t be around much longer and figured I’d want to use the songs sometime in the future. Since our break up I’ve kept up with guys from the band – especially drummer Chris Ritland, seeing as he’s my brother – but I haven’t tried anything musical with them since our final show in October 2009.

I’m happy to announce that, despite no demand, my brother and I are forming a new band with Floating Bridge lead guitarist Ed Hart. I promise only one thing about this side project: that it’ll be really, really fun. Our first show will be on Thursday, March 31^st, at the Terminal Bar. I’m excited for it because we’ll be playing all the old Floating Bridge songs that I haven’t played live with a full band for years. They’re a lot catchier and more upbeat than the stuff I’ve been writing and playing lately, so it’ll be a good experience.

So, if you have nothing better to do – and even if you do – you should try to check us out. It’ll be an experience like no other. In mostly good ways.

(Seeing as the always user friendly Wordpress has decided that it won’t let me upload a picture, just pretend like there’s a picture of icicles here or something) 

For those who haven’t experienced the deep freeze in Minnesota, it begins sometimes in late December and lasts intermittently through January and February. Highs hover around 10 degrees, if we’re lucky, for sometimes weeks on end.

You’ll never hear me complain about such trivialities. Not strong enough to handle cold temperatures? Good luck dealing with the cold realities of living. Good luck skating on the thin ice of modern life.

And, yet, there is something of a psychological/emotional toll that is taken during the deep freeze. Unless you’re motivated, it’s harder to concentrate and get things done. The deep freeze is perfect if you really have your heart focused on something; what else do you have to do than slave away at your goal, right? But the dark, short days and subzero temperatures can have adverse effects on the soul.

And so, amidst a deep freeze of distractions, I haven’t had nearly enough time to concentrate on my music. I had one show, at the Acadia in December, and it felt really good – good crowd, good feedback, good performance. Look for some video from it up at some point.

I’ve also sold a few copies of my “Firelight” E.P. I’ve kept up working on my debut CD, “To St. Jude with Desperation,” having a few quality recording sessions. Bass and drums are done for all 10 tracks and recording will continue through the spring. I hope to release the CD by September/October.

Also, I’m finally looking into booking some more shows. Look for a few shows a month in the summer, both of the acoustic and full band variety.

Until the next one, enjoy the coming on of Spring, my fellow Minnesotans. Only we have truly earned it.

John was the most interesting Beatle because he was the least endearing; he was the least endearing because he was honest, or whatever he thought was honest, regardless of what people thought of it. He didn’t play by the rules, not because he wanted to be a rebel, but because that’s just the way he was. He let himself be himself, and most people are not strong enough to do that.

Occasionally this sense of self and honesty dragged him down into an intense megalomania, but most of the time it just made him loveable and witty. His “protest” period in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s represents this tension in his personality well. His passion during this time was an intense, visceral, real passion for what he saw as the ‘truth.’ To get there he sifted through a lot of bullshit, called a lot of bullshit out for what it was, and swallowed a large amount of bullshit himself.  But agreeing with his points is wholly irrelevant. What made John respectable, and loveable if you know what deserves to be loved, was how honest to himself and to life that he was.

There are a lot of ‘rebel’ clichés out there. James Dean and all that garbage. But the real rebels in life, of course, are those who don’t call themselves rebels, or consider them as such; they’re too busy being them to think of themselves as one. And John Lennon was a rebel. Growing up in the ‘50s will probably do that to a kid, specifically in the English school system back then (though it was the same only different in America).

In this sense, the influence of John Lennon still, and will always, linger. He’s a pillar of my growing up. He taught me how to be true to myself and how to be real, however imperfect he was, and he was. But, without his influence, I would not be who I am today by any means. His attitude, his wit, his visceral real-ness, is an inspiration to anybody who cares to be real.

The talent that John had shouldn’t be shoved in the background though. That often happens, John’s attitude and politics gets emphasized and how much of a genius he was gets shoved aside. And yes, (CON)temporary cynics, I used the ‘g word’, that special word that you loathe so much because you are so envious of those who have it. Well, fuck you.

For the rest of us who have common sense, we know that John was a genius, a special human being who had the ability to literally move music forward. How he was able to progress music from the place it was in the early ‘60s into what it became – McCartney deserves equal credit here, too – is something that has not been equaled in popular music since the Beatles. And here we are, however many years later, and the Beatles aren’t losing fans, that’s for sure. Endurance and popularity rarely mix.

John’s solo career isn’t to be dismissed, either. “Plastic Ono Band” is as good as any Beatles album, period. “Imagine” is filled with great songs, but we desperately need a ‘stripped down’ version of it, certainly far more than of “Double Fantasy.” “Mind Games” contains some filler, sure, but it’s fun to listen to, and well done. “Rock n’ Roll” is filled with the passion John felt for the songs he was covering. John’s most unjustly ignored album though is “Walls and Bridges”, a perfect piece of simple, complex, dark ‘70s rock and folk. It’s original version is much darker and could possibly be the ultimate John Lennon album; but we’ll have to wait to get that stripped down version as well.

Ever since I was a kid I filled the week leading up to John’s birthday – and the day he was shot – with listening to Lennon records, reading books about him, listening to the Beatles, and meditating on all the reasons I love him. This year is no different, but I’m very happy that, thanks to the undying efforts of Yoko Ono, this time the whole world is doing it with me.

Bless you, John Lennon.

I Can See the End of Everything

Playing this song was a no-brainer. It’s not on the E.P., I’m not working on it for my first album, but it’s the song that I feel the most comfortable playing without an accompaniment. The riff is in the chords, and the lyrics are the most important part anyway. It’s also pretty driving.

I felt pretty confident playing this song. It was by far my old band Floating Bridge’s best song, even though we only played it with a short-lived version of the group and only played it live at one show – when we played the 331 in November of ’08.

Throwaway Nation

This song was a more blatant throwback to my old band, a song which we played as early as our first session back in summer ’05. One of the hardest things for me with the new band is to decide what to do with my old songs, which I still believe in. This one will have a place on a future release, and look for a full band version of it in shows next year.

203(k) Blues

This was quite possibly the last successful song I’ve written. Last June I wrote and recorded 6 songs in a couple hours one night. The spirit really moves you when something like that goes down. Sometimes the less you think the more you get.

Woody Guthrie is a huge influence of mine. His way, his aesthetic, his creativity, his embodiment of Americana – it all adds up to be something very meaningful. “203(k) Blues” is a shout out to him in a number of ways, a story-song in his style, picked in his style, tongue-in-cheek humor in a way I’d hope he’d appreciate. A solo version of it will be on “To St. Jude with Desperation.”

Tune in to the next blog for my wrap up of the wrap up of the show, 4 full band numbers. Remember, I’ll be blogging regularly every Tuesday and Friday from here on out

Here’s a rundown of the setlist with a little background on each song. We played 4 songs as a full band, I played 3 old school acoustic things, then we finished up with 4 more full band tunes. This first blog will be about the first half of the band set.

Wreck of the Ol’ 97
A classic folk song from the 19^th century gets a folkypunk facelift. My E.P. is largely acoustic, with some flourishes on electric guitar and the electric mandolin. It is the influence of songs like this, and how important they are to me, that largely informs the E.P.

However, how hard hitting this arrangement is – including the intro drum riff and the crazy guitar lick in the middle that turns into the ‘wreck’ at the end – shows the more rock oriented direction the band is going in. This song is a good balance of my past and present, and of my musical direction in general.

Drifting Apart
My poppiest song. Will most likely be the first single from my debut LP, “To St. Jude with Desperation”, which I’m currently in the middle of recording. Catchy riff, catchy chorus, interesting chord progression, pleasantly upbeat.

You and Only You
This country shuffle has the oldest origins of all the songs I play. I started writing it when I was 15, and it’s been in a state of flux since then. It’ll also be on “Jude” in a very full country form; live, it’ll continue to be an upbeat, electric country rock shuffle with a little more ass kicking.

Stay Inside
The last song of the first band set is the first song from the E.P. that we played. I, and the rest of the band, feel strongest about this song than any that we have. I’m confident with the coherence of the apocalyptic lyrics, and I believe that shows in performance. The band is also confident in their parts, and extraordinary. The bass line is fluid, the drumming is tight and freakishly furious. The almost Beach Boys-like ‘suite’ quality of the arrangement, I’d like to think, makes it unique.

All in all, this is a quite different song live than it is on the E.P., where it’s an acoustic guitar/tremolo electric arrangement.

Next blog I’ll go over my shout out to coffeehouse shows acoustic sides.

The CD release show at the 331 Club was a great success. Always love playing that place, very good turnout, we played well, and it felt really, really good.

I’m very pleased with how the CD turned out, and have sold a fair amount of copies. If you’d like to buy a copy, email me at erik@erikritland.com and we’ll get the wheels rolling. It’d help me out a lot.

I’m going to begin a series of blogs next time, first about how the E.P. release show went, and then about each song on it. I’m also excited to give some band updates, with info on my new lineup, our new rock oriented direction (with, of course, my natural affinity for subtlety, acoustic guitar, and the folk tradition), and the releases I’m working on for the future.

Thanks for your support, everybody! Look forward to much forward movement with shows, releases, sessions, photos, videos, and more.

Love you all!

Music is so elusive these days. And oversaturated. It’s hard to get anywhere or care.

I’ve played a couple sweet shows recently. Last month I played Amazing Grace Bakery in Duluth. Due to a rainstorm my walk up crowd wasn’t great, but I played my heart out. And sweat a lot.

Last week I played the very fun Mars Café on University Avenue in Des Moines. The Mars is a sweet venue – great coffee, food, and local beer.

I also got to play with a great Iowa songwriter who goes by the moniker Finn Miles (his real name is Paul). I actually got to know him and talk to him before the show – he plays a creative brand of folk rock, he was personable, and he actually cared about and loved music. I’m grateful to have met him!

My performance was pretty good, too.

I got the word yesterday that my debut E.P., “Firelight”, is done being pressed! Just in time for the E.P. release show tomorrow night, Thursday August 12, at the 331 Club in Minneapolis. It’d be nice to see you there…whoever you are reading this.

In my coming blogs I’ll be going through the E.P. song by song for your delight, in addition to sketching my plans for the future, and commenting on the current music scene and such. You won’t want to miss it. So don’t.

It’s one of those genuine, romantic small towns. Well, as close as you can get these days. They do have Red Lobster and Famous Dave’s and stuff, but there are enough independent shops and real people to classify it as a classic small town.

It’s also got Lake Superior. There is nothing I could say about Lake Superior that hasn’t already been said better and more creatively, so I’ll just say that it’s damn majestic. Speak in that real person form of speech.

I’ve only been here a little over 24 hours and I’ve already seen a lot of cool places: mom and pop stores, coffeeshops, a lot of restaurants and bars. Unfortunately I’ve only been able to actually go in a few, but between Central Street, Grand Ave, First Street, and Superior Street there’s a pretty decent amount of cool stuff to check out.

Currently I’m communing with my brothers, the pigeons, on the patio of Amazing Grace Bakery, where I will be playing a show in a couple hours. I already love this place; the atmosphere, the food, the employees. It’s got a great, home-y feel. I couldn’t ask for a better first show out of the cities.

Speaking of shows outside the cities, I have my first out of state shows coming up in a couple weeks! In two different states and everything. On Friday July 30 I’ll be invading Iowa with a show at the Mars Cafe in Des Moines. Then it’s Missouri’s turn as I play The Gramophone in St. Louis on Saturday, July 31st.

Then there’s my E.P. release show at the 331 Club on August 12! I’ll have more blogs soon about my E.P., plus some videos and other fun things.

Until then, rock on Duluth, rock on St. Paul, Maxwell House: good to the last drop.

I went to college to become a high school English teacher. It was partly a practical thing; the only academic things I enjoyed were reading and writing. They were even passions of mine, which helped my ambition to get a degree at least exist, in the lazy mind of which very little practical did indeed exist at all. It was easy for me, it was fun, I liked doing it. I could get a job with it. Why not.

Less practically, though more importantly, I wanted to become a high school teacher so I could expose students to thoughts that they would not otherwise think. I had a few teachers and professors like this and they meant the world to me. A hundred teachers can tell you what to think, or how you should think; few teachers can show you how to think, how to discern, how to at least make strides to be your own person in a world overflowing with bullshit and artificiality.

When I started my degree I did not realize how much of an emphasis was going to be placed on literature. I had hardly read any literature in high school. I didn’t have anything against it, but I didn’t know it’d be so emphasized (I must not have noticed the whole “literature emphasis” part of my degree title). Such was the naiveté of my youth, which I still largely have. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into at all. I just wanted to influence thought and do things I loved doing.

I didn’t leave college with a degree to teach English. My heart wasn’t pulling me in that direction enough. I didn’t want to be that shitty student teacher who didn’t have his heart completely in it, who the students could see didn’t have the faintest idea what he was doing. Not having the faintest idea what I’m doing; the unfortunate story of my life thus far.

I did leave college, however, with a degree: a bachelor’s degree in English, with a literature emphasis. I didn’t become a teacher. I didn’t become equipped to have a practical job and live a practical life. I did, however, leave college with a heart and mind love affair with literature and words that I did not have before college. It has shaped me and my life and my mind in indescribable ways. I would pay a million dollars in student loans for the rest of my life for the revelations I received, and how much it has affected my life.

Most college students, even English students, revile their text books. The literature may be exciting, it seems, but the presentation in stuffy, dry books is undesirable.

I can understand this point, but I don’t agree with it. When I took my British and American literature courses in college, each one opened new worlds for me. Reading the bios of the writers, reading about their times, reading their fantastic imaginative works. Entering into each author’s world. It was thrilling for me. New worlds opened up. I’ve since bought each text book I used in college and still often devour their worlds and mysteries.

Many authors and eras intrigued me. Faulkner, Hemmingway, perhaps even Fitzgerald; the earliest writings in English, Spenser, Chaucer, early limericks and riddles, The Dream of the Rood; the immeasurable genius of Shakespeare; Homer, Virgil, Ovid; Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake; Emerson and Whitman; Pound and Eliot. Each era has a spirit, a world, a heart, a soul, that is much more real than anything in the present.

I could now rant about the deception of time; about how each generation thinks they’re the most important; about how the past gets pushed aside for new fads that never last; about how creativity and the human spirit (and indeed the Spirit of God) have become overrun with capitalist greed and consumerism; how our generation sees the past as “old and dated” with little to learn from, while in fact all knowledge can be found in the past; about how watered down and meaningless our present mindset is; about how “change” and “newness” and “time” are all illusions, fabricated ideals that don’t exist in the realm of reality; that ideas and thoughts and ideals and Spirits never die or become old, and that the thought that they do is a false human hubris; and on and on and on.

Instead, I’ll just turn up my 80s KISS album and say that I hope everybody is having a kick ass summer.