At this point I had amassed quite a collection of rejection emails and letters. I made a little folder for them so I could keep them all together. I am not totally sure why. The oldest entry in the collection was a letter from the Purdue University Physics department stating that I had been dropped from the honors program for getting a 'C' in a math class. That was a nice gift at the beginning of my senior year. The next letter was also from Purdue. It was my rejection letter from graduate school. This ended up being a good thing. Had I stayed in school I would have had much less free time to work on music and I would not be where I am today but at the time it was kick in the pants. I have a dozen emails from area companies telling me that I didn't have the skills they are looking for. Nothing can make you feel quite as worthless as job searching...

While my collection of rejection letters was maturing quite nicely it was difficult to find anyone who would exchange goods or services for them so I was going to have to find a job soon. With all other options exhausted for the moment the only avenue left was retail. I was going to stock shelves again. Fuck.

So I started applying around to every retail place I went. A few weeks passed and no one had contacted me. Then all of a sudden I received a letter in the mail from Bass Pro Shop saying that they regretted to inform me that they would not be able to hire me at this time because I did not posses the core qualities they look for in an employee. This became my favorite rejection letter of all. I kept reading it and saying to myself "you have got to be fucking kidding me. I studied high mass x-ray binaries, and quantum mechanics but I can't stock fishing poles". Humbling things like this happen from time to time in life. I think its important to identify and learn from the experience.

Yes I had tons of school and I thought I was really clever and smart and people should be indebted to me for even taking time to apply for the positions they needed filled. But when it came right down to it I was just a person who needed a break in a world of people who need a break. It seems like such a simple idea now but it took a while to get use to. People are pretty good at convincing themselves that they are better than all those other people out there who are lazy and stupid and just no good. In reality we are all pretty much the same. Some people get a head start in life and some don't. Some really take off and some have their wings clipped early on. As much as some like to tout the idea that we have equal opportunity and anyone who works hard and makes good choices will succeed it isn’t true, upper and middle class lifestyles are maintained by holding lower class people down. That is the reality of unregulated (modern day) capitalism. It is a race to the bottom line. We tie a weight to some people and ask them to swim and take pleasure in mocking them when they struggle.

When I decided to become a musician and not take advantage of my college degree I was in some ways abandoning the inherited wealth of my parents. The wealth that encouraged me when I was in grade school, that told me I could do anything I wanted, who was there after school to make sure I did my homework, that bought me a car when I turned 16, that paid for my college... Once I gave that up what was left? Just a person in need of a break...in a world full of people who need a break.

It was April and I was running out of money. I needed to find a job, any job, and I needed to do it quickly. Things seemed fairly bleak until I got a phone call. It was a temp company hiring for a food manufacturing place and they needed a quality assurance person.

I had to wear a hair net, a beard guard and a white lab coat because we were working around food that was sealed in plastic. It is an FDA thing I guess. There was also some optional overtime. In my area of the factory there were probably 25-50 people coming and going; floating from one place to another like zombies. I noticed when they went on break they hung their white lab coats in the back of the room by the door. When it was my turn to go on break I took off my lab coat, hung it on the peg, then took off my hair net and beard guard and put them in the lab coat pocket. All of a sudden the zombies came to life. About 15 people started shouting at me in Spanish. I stood there in shock not knowing what to do until a lady came running over to me and said that I had to keep my hair net on until I was in the hallway. I guess if the FDA had been there that day it would have been a $10,000 fine (and probably my last day on the job).

The break room at this place was like the freaking United Nations. I thought it was a really cool thing. I had no idea what language people were speaking or where they were from so I just sat in the corner and punched at my cell phone like I was checking text messages.

All in the entire factory experience was terrible. I had been told in my interview that there was some optional overtime...which turned out to be mandatory 9 hour days and 7 days a week. The guy that trained me had not had a day off in a month. Truth be told the pay was kind of crap too.

I promised myself going in I was going to stay there for 2 months, I lasted 4 days. Didn't make a whole lot but it was enough to keep my head above water for a few more weeks.

I hear a car start next door. For a moment I forget where I am. As my eyes adjust to the light and my brain starts to process the burning sensation on my face I remember...Ohio. My face is freezing cold and I can see my breath. I look down and see my cat buried under the covers with me. I am wearing two pairs of socks and my winter coat to bed. I remember that these amenities along with a heating blanket kept me alive last night. The house is about 40 degrees. Cold enough that guitar practice is inhibited by stiff finger joints and turning in for the evening means dressing up like you are about to hike across the Arctic tundra.

The half of the house containing my bedroom was built back in the 1950's and is insulated about as well as Swiss cheese. Because of this the heater basically runs non-stop which means the heating bill is astronomical which lead us to turn it off which then lead to the dramatic sleeping conditions. On the weekends we boarded up the old part of the house and made a fire to stay warm. During the week we tried to avoid being at home as much as possible. This worked well for Chris who had a job. I however was unemployed. I left the heating blanket on during the day so my cat could stay warm while I went out in search of warmth.

I suck with directions. I usually have to drive some place 3 or 4 times before it is cemented in my memory. In those early days in Ohio I only knew of two places to go. Cincinnati Mills shopping mall, and the Meijer that was across the street from it. To avoid being at home I visited both daily.

Those are my earliest memories of Ohio, staying up late at night watching B-horror movies and walking around Meijer and Cincinnati Mills during the day to avoid freezing to death. I was on the hunt for a new job. With P&G and GE in the area I thought I had a good shot at landing something. People work for reasons like security, to provide for their children, so they can buy neat toys, so they can save for retirement...I just wanted some heat.

Oddly enough this was not the first time I had lived in less than favorable conditions. My apartment heater broke my last year of college. I was about ready to call for maintenance to fix it when I noticed that our $150 dollar a month heating bill was down to $45 bucks (even with our space heaters running). So for about a month and a half we just let it stay broken and saved cash.

There is nothing quite like taking a hot shower just to warm up...from being inside your house all day. Crazy times they were!

“I think I found us a studio”. Those words were, no pun intended, music to my ears. They came from my life long friend and bass player in The Mondegreens Chris McAfee. The studio Chris was talking about was the basement of a house he was about to buy.

Everyone has heard the term “garage band”. It summons some cliché image of a bunch of drunken stoner types fumbling around on an oil stained cement floor making loud noises and saying ‘man’ a lot. The problem with practicing in a garage is obvious…noise. To sound proof your garage cost a lot of money that could be better spend on other music related stuff (aka gear). I don’t know of a single band (and I know of a few) that practices in a garage. They either have a dedicated practice space they are renting somewhere or they practice in a basement. Practicing underground means you are covered on 5 sides by thick cement walls that keep the music in and noise conscious neighbors out. I don’t know if the term ‘basement band’ or ‘basement rock’ will ever catch on like the ‘garage’ prefix did but in my opinion it is much more descriptive and accurate these days.

Chris and I had long talked about setting up a studio and maybe even our own label to put out our music and also other area bands that we liked. This basement was where it could all finally happen. As important as the basement was to our future in music and as excited as we were to get started, an equally important and exciting fact was the existence of a spare bedroom. I felt my third shift days near an end.

So December 17, 2005 I retired from overnight stocking (or so I thought) and took a long Christmas holiday with my family. I spent the month of January taking small loads of stuff from Westfield to Fairfield Ohio just north of Cincinnati. I spend the early weekends in Cincy setting up what stuff we had down in the fledgling studio and then helping Chris with renovations to his house. After a few trips the basement was actually starting to look like a real studio. A low budget one…but hey we were just getting started.

The big move came February 5th 2006. I remember it well. My Dad helped me drive my car and the moving truck the two hours from my old home to my new one. We unloaded all my stuff and then I drove him back to Indiana. That next day I drove back out to Ohio. I was officially a member of the Buckeye State!

There are some things I don't understand and probably never will. I don't understand why people assume it is responsible to go to a job they hate for 40+ hours a week to make money to buy things that pacify their mind because they have to work at a job they hate for 40+ hours a week. So I suggest they quit the job and find something they like to do and they come back with...."Oh no, I can't quit my job. It pays well and I need the money to buy things". Having said that I know all to well that there is a big difference between choosing to work at a job you hate so you can afford crap you don't need and working at a job you hate so you can afford food. The ladder is understandable.

Summer was moving right along. I looked for work from time to time with no luck. I made plans and changed them. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. It was becoming clear that I was probably going to have to move back in with my parents when my lease ran out. I had nowhere else to go.

So towards the end of July (about 3 years ago) I moved from my crappy run down apartment in West Lafayette back to my parents house in Westfield. While moving off to college seems like a huge ceremonious right of passage, the move from college to home feels more like tiptoeing through a crowd with your head down hoping no one notices what you are doing. Not that I am ungrateful for my family or their support for whatever I do, but there is a level of shame that comes with moving back to your childhood home after being out on your own for so long.

After moving home my days didn't change much. I still got up and went for a long run. I still drove around in the evenings looking for things to do. I still spent most of my days playing guitar. I even built a guitar out of pine shelving material from the hardware store. Being back in a house allowed me to start learning drums on a set that my friend and bass player in The Mondegreens bought.

The job search continued as I was slowly running out of money. Finally, after no luck finding a 'career' job I got a job working overnights at Kohl's. I applied for day shift but they put me on nights because I had really long hair and a beard and they were slightly scared of the way I looked.

Third shift jobs suck. That is all there is to it. Every time I have had to work third shift it has ruined my life. Daytime people can't understand why you are so tired when they are call at 1:00 in the afternoon. Your days off are spent sleeping. Your body does not know when it is supposed to be hungry. It's just not for me.

So I had spent five years in school, hundreds of hours in a classroom, hundreds more studying and the only job I could find with a BS in Applied Physics and a minor in Astrophysics was....a 3rd shift stocking job at Kohl's.

There is a great interview with U. Utah Phillips on the Democracy Now website. Watch it if you have a chance. In fact buy it on DVD and help support Democracy Now and the independent media! It's a great interview. He talks about giving up the privilege he was born into so he could be free (my words not his). Kohl's in a way helped me begin to do that although it was not an intentional decision at the time. There were aspects of myself that had to be stripped away before I could really start to live my life. It was this experience that cemented the Progressive ideals that I was just beginning to discover. At a time when my peers were graduating college, getting high paying jobs or going to grad school, getting married and buying houses, I was stocking picture frames similar to the one housing my college degree.

I think I started going to school when I was 3 years old. I finished when I was 24. People who have been in jail for long periods of time often complain of being institutionalized upon release. They realize when you are free no one is there to tell you when you have to eat, when you can walk around outside, when you can talk to friends, and when you have to go to bed. When you get out of school you realize that no one is around to tell you what to learn, there are no course outlines, no two month long summer breaks, no semesters and no end to the monotony in sight. In the interest of total disclosure and honesty I will tell you that these realizations really fucked with my head for a while and to some degree still do.

So I was a college graduate and I had the piece of paper to prove it. Now what? That was the question and it required an answer that I didn’t have. The days of my last summer in West Lafayette were very consistent. I would wake up around 9:30 and eat a small breakfast. Around 10:30 I would go on a 3 mile run because I had decided that I was going to get in shape again. After the long run I would come home and jump in the pool to cool off. After a quick lunch I would play guitar and record songs. In the early evening I would go somewhere. The ‘somewhere’ was always different. Most of the time I would just start driving, the destination was irrelevant. The point was just to be someplace other than where I currently was. I would go out to eat. Sometimes I would go walk around the mall. Sometimes I would go to the bookstore and just sit in a corner looking at magazines. I would drive to campus and walk around. I would go sit on a stone retaining wall lining the strip of bars and clubs in West Lafayette. I would drive around in the country to look at old run down farm houses. Sometimes I would even go on a second 3 mile run.

After returning from my outing I would usually relax and pop in a movie and maybe rearrange my room. This was not a daily pattern but it is defiantly something I did often. If I was lucky I would get to hang out with my roommate and his girlfriend. Those were the happiest times I had all summer. The rest of the time was spent alone in my ever rearranging room or on morning runs or evening drives that ultimately let me right back to where I began, a lonely room with no answers.

My last final exam in college was for a Meteorology class. A class I rather enjoyed. I spent most of the morning of the exam in the basement of the Union pretending to study. I flipped pages, scanned over notes and old exams; half heartedly highlighted important concepts, and even made little quizzes but my mind was to preoccupied for proper retention. I took long breaks from my faux studying session to watch people buzz around the union food court. I wondered if each one of them had a plan, knew where they were going, had really sat down and introspectively thought about who they were and what type of life they wanted to have. Some were probably about to graduate like me. Some were about to get engaged, some, like me, were not. Some had job offers lined out the door and some, like me, had none. I imagine most of us shared the idea that a college diploma in hand laid the world at our feet. We could do anything. Our whole lives we had been told that college was our gateway to happiness. Once we passed through the arches of the colligate experience and received acknowledgment of our triumph we would become seamlessly woven into the tapestry of civil society. Our reward was a spouse, a house, two kids and a pet to teach them responsibility. Our entitlement was presumptive.

I remember that last final well. I remember sitting down and worrying that I had not prepared, this was typical. The entire exam took about 20 minutes. It was one of the easiest exams I had taken in college.

A few days later I walked across the stage of Elliott Hall of Music. I was, after 5 long years, a graduate of Purdue University.

One similarity between art and science is you try to look for themes. Since I am on the verge of a life transition I thought I would write about my last big life transition graduating college.

It was the middle 2005 and I had no idea who I was. I was however 35lbs heavier than I am now so who ever I was, there was more of me.

Ever since my freshman year of school in 2000, I had planned on going to grad school but as the time for applying approached I was very torn. Not really sure what to do but not wanting to close any doors I ended up applying to some type of joint biology/physics/medical program but I applied to late and the program was already full. I took this as a sign that I was supposed to be doing other things with my life.

It takes about 10,000 hours of practice to be an expert in something, which works out to about 5 years of practicing 40 hours a week. Now most pro musicians you meet will tell you that they knew it was something they wanted to do their whole lives. They will tell you cute stories of playing the piano or banging on drums when they were just 2 years old. I was 23 when I started playing guitar and I am more that willing to admit despite my best efforts I have never averaged 40 hours a week. The musicians that started when they were just tots had a big lead in their musical development, a point that I am constantly reminded of. So deciding that I wanted to become a musician was more that a little overwhelming. In fact looking back on it now I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

To be continued....

Ohio, from what I have seen, is a fairly conservative place. Case in point: the people two doors down from where I am staying put a 10' tall cross in their yard every Christmas and cover it in red lights to symbolize the blood of Jesus. When you are driving on the interstate from Cincinnati to Dayton you pass a huge mega church with a huge sculpture of Jesus’ torso that rises out of a pond (so much for using tithing dollars to feed the poor). Okay, no more social commentary to come, this is just backing story for the following...
Yesterday on my way out to lunch I did something I should never do in times of financial strife, I went to a bookstore. To a degree I can justify my purchase because it could qualify as research for the new book I am working on but I should still probably limit my exposure to bookstores until I get to Austin. I made my selections- two small books that I thought would have interesting perspectives. The two titles were Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell and The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels.
Knowing that these were eyebrow raising titles, more so in this hostile con-ultra environment, I walked quickly to the register as to avoid the Fox News inspired evangelical hit squad whose existence is rumored in these parts. As I am walking, my titles in hand, a bolt of panic races up my spine and convinces me that the legends are true. I imagine them repelling down from the ceiling, bibles in hand prepared to assault me with 'dirty commie' and 'Jesus hates you' chants and picket signs.
My fears go unrealized as I arrive at the register to meet a short rotund woman in her mid 40’s. Her Books-a-Million green apron is covered in curious grease-like stains that would lead one to question what her function was at this bookstore. As she activates the register I slide my selections across the counter (face down). She begins her ‘Do you have a frequent shopper’s card with…..”- she notices the titles. “Twenty three-ninety eight” she snaps.
As I am digging in my wallet another employee passes behind the counter. The woman ringing me up, without ever taking her eyes off me, grabs her arm. The rest of the transaction took place in absolute silence with the two Books-a-Million employee’s stares burning holes in my head. Their expression was a mixture of horrified disbelief, and unrelenting anger- as if I had some how condemned them to hell by forcing them to acknowledge that these titles existed in their store.
I left the store quite satisfied with myself. Not only did I have two new books to read, but I got to piss off some close minded assholes. It was shaping up to be a great day!

I decided to write a book. I have always wanted to write a book so I am just going to write one. Ya have to do these things when the mood strikes and the mood my friends, it has struck.

So in my book I am going to be looking at the idea of self interest. There are people in the Ayn Rand school of thought that subscribe to the idea that the world would be a wonderful place if everyone just did what was best for themselves. They also champion the idea that altruism is evil (and you thought you were doing a good thing by helping out a friend but as it turns out you were being evil...at least from Rand's point of view).

There are lots of different angles to talk about on the subject of self interest and I am still working on a general thesis right now (and getting ready for the huge amount of research that needs to be done). Since this is a background project (music being first) I am guessing it will take a few years to research and write but thats ok. It is an interesting subject to me and I look forward to exploring it.

In other news... my date in the studio got pushed back which is a bit of a good thing. I added two more songs to the list....so assuming that I get done everything I would like to get done the offical song list is.....

1. Radio Fall Out (new version)

2. She's Inside of me

3. Around the Corner (new)

4. Reeducation (new)

5. Move (new)

6. Freak Out (new)

7. Everytime (new version)

8. Red Rose (new version)

Plans for the move to Austin age going ok. Not everything is locked down yet but I am keeping myself way to busy to worry about it. Thats the nice thing about 19-20 hour days....not a lot of time to sweat the small stuff.

Hope everyone is doing well. One of these days I will take on less projects and actually have time to go out and say hi. :)

Life changes are difficult but sometimes they are needed. The two and a half years here in Cincy have been good. I have met some cool folks who have taught me a lot. The few friends I have here in Ohio and Indiana will make it hard to leave, especially since I will be moving to a town where I won't know anyone at all. The idea of a fresh start is kind of bimodal. On one hand a clean slate seems like a great thing. On the other hand it is totally overwhelming. One thing I am sure of is you can't let fear of the unknown keep you from doing something you want to do. I could easily stay here in Ohio and keep doing what I am doing but sometimes to grow you need to find new ground to plant seeds in.

So to that end I will be moving to Austin Texas as soon as I find a job and place to stay. I am applying for Political and Environmental Activists jobs now (I can furnish a copy of my resume if you have any contacts haha). If I don't have anything lined up by September I am just going to pack up and go and figure things out once I get down there. Once I get settled I will get a band together again. I will have my new EP which I am going to send out to some indie labels. I have already been in contact with a few musicians in the area. In Austin you can't throw a rock without it hitting 3 or 4 singer/songwriters so I think I will be in good shape.

So yea kind of scary but I think it's the right thing for me.

...and if your cool and want to help me out with money for the studio you could buy a cd and a poster and I will love you forever.

wish me luck :)

Hey people!  I have been bad about writing stuff and updating the site regularly.  Sorry about that.  My inactivity here does not mean I have been sitting around with my thumb up my bum doing nothing, quite the contrary.  So what have I been up to?  Well for one thing I have been reading lots of books.  Here is a partial list for this year.  I recommend all of these.  A few of them have, no bullshit, changed my life.

• The Andromeda Strain – Michael Crichton
  
  
  
  
  
• Little Red Book of Selling – Jeffery Gitomer
  
  
  
  
  
• RenGen –Patricia Martin
  
  
  
  
  
• How to Win Friends & Influence People – Dale Carnegie
  
  
  
  
  
• Mind Hunter – John Douglas
  
  
  
  
  
• 80 Readings – David Munger
  
  
  
  
  
• An Assault on Reason – Al Gore (read this twice actually)
  
  
  
  
  
• Screwed, The Undeclared War on the Middle Class – Thom Hartmann
  
  
  
  
  
• This Is Your Brain On Music – Daniel J. Levitin
  
  
  
  
  
• Media Control – Noam Chomsky
  
  
  
  
  
• The Uprising – David Sirota
  
  
  
  
  
• The Political Mind – George Lakoff
  
  
  
  
  
• Walking Your Blues Away – Thom Hartmann
  
  
  
  
  
• In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
  
  
  
  
  
• Blackwater – Jeremy Scahill
  
  
  
  
  
• Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris
  
  
  

   

  
  

  As well as various music and non-profit law books and currently an HTML book so I can learn to program my own web pages. 

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  Also…I have been writing lots of music.  In fact plans are underway to get into the studio and record an EP.  Yes a real studio and a real EP.  I am really excited, but a little scared too.  I would say 55% excited and 30% scared and 15% overwhelmed.  Yea, that's about right.

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  I really think you are going to like the new songs.  They are probably the best I have written to date.  I am totally stoked about the studio too.  It happens to be the same studio here in Cincy where The Greenhornes recorded their whole Sewed Soles album there and the White Stripes recorded a single.  Yes friends, I am not just tugging on your dicks, I am actually going to be recording in the same Studio as the White Stripes and The Greenhornes.  How exciting, scary, and overwhelming is that?!?  Well I guess I broke it down already.

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Idea

  
  
  
  
  

  Let's just have a revolution already.  We are due right?!? A good populist, anti-corporate, anti-globalization, anti-materialism, pro independent, pro environmental take over of the country.  Who is in?? 

  
  
    
  
  
  

http://www.myspace.com/themondegreensband


We have some shows coming up and we will be putting some new songs up pretty soon.
Updates to come.

I am doing well again on ourstage.com!!!!!  My song 'She's Inside of me' is 5th right now!

If I am in the top 20 still on the 23rd, I get to move to the next round and then I will start begging everyone I know to go vote for me.  Back in November I finished 8th in indie rock and Paste Magazine selected 'Red Rose' for their podcast (which has not aired yet, I will post something when it does). 

Below is a picture of the magazine we are in this month.  They are at most Barnes and Nobel stores.  I understand there have been a few around the country that don't carry the magazine any more but I will scan the teeny tiny blurb about us and post it up here at some point.

I am recording a new demo right now.  A demo I will send to some indie labels to see if there is any interest.  As my songwriting friends know this is a hair pulling, stressful, 'can I borrow some of your pain killers?' type of experience.  I am also starting to book some shows for my band 'The Mondegreens'.  So if there is anywhere you would like us to play send me a message and I will try to get us a show there.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement.  By far the best thing about this job is the people I have had the chance to meet along the way.  Fellow artists, new friends, people who like my songs (or at least don't think they totally suck), you are all great and wonderful and awesome and it has been totally rad getting to know you all.  Thanks for everything!  I don't say that enough but really thank you.

Hope everyone has a great week.  Say hi if you have a second.  I love hearing from people and it gets pretty lonely recording all day in this cold basement!

Love you all!!  

C

Below is a new review of Lo-Fi from Disslolver Magazine. You can find the full article at www.thedissolver.com


CALEB SCATES
Lo-Fi Audio Circle
(Self-released, 2007)
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by Steve Brachmann --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every once in a while throughout my lifetime, a few certain people have come along who have caused me to second guess my existence on this planet, as well as no small amount of self-loathing.

As a hockey fan, I hate Sidney Crosby for being on track to smash most offensive-related NHL records, as well as being three months my junior. And although I am a huge fan of Charles Dickens, reading the descriptive prose and subtle genius of both Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities has resigned me to the fact that my work probably isn’t worth much more than honorable mention at most smaller short fiction contests. So when Caleb Scates’s bio information tells me that the first time he even touched a guitar was three years ago, I make plans to go to the store and buy some confetti for the pity party I’m going to throw myself.

Scates started writing music a few months after getting a 25 year old Yamaha acoustic from his mother, and has just released Lo-Fi Audio Circle, his sophomore album after 2006’s Free Lunch. I took piano lessons for much of my early adolescence, and all it’s taught me is how to plunk out some waltz that I still happen to remember. Ask me how I feel.

Lo-Fi Audio Circle, a post grunge record featuring Scates on lead guitar and drums, along with friend Chris McAfee on bass, is a tempting offering by an unabashed young musician who sounds confident in searching for his own sound, as well as having some fun in the process. Many of the tracks have the same type of dragging heavy guitar riffs that I first grew to love while listening to Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. A Nirvana vibe also permeates the album, Scates’s gritty-yet-slightly-nasal tones bearing a slight resemblance to Cobain. Or at least enough that I thought it was noteworthy.

Scates, in what can only be deemed a major “Fuck you” to procrastinators everywhere, proved his musical passion in the creation of Lo-Fi Audio Circle, working two jobs from 4 AM to 3 PM, then recording tracks for the album from five to nine every night. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s:

Caleb Scates
- 11 hours workin’ for the man
- 5 hours recording an album
- 5 hours sleeping
- 1 hour eating hard tack and gruel (or Ramen, which is actually probably cheaper)
- 2 hours saving the world, one orphan at a time

Steven Brachmann
- 8 hours working (on the days I’m actually scheduled)
- 8 hours sleeping
- 6 hours intentionally making the world a bad place to live in (especially for orphans)
- 2 hours putzing around in a drug-induced haze

This man even found the time to graduate from Purdue with a degree in applied physics, and an astrophysics minor. Like, seriously? Astrophysics? What the fuck, dude?

Track highlights on Lo-Fi Audio Circle include "Radio Fall Out", a song that, honestly, probably means jackshit, but makes me want to smash mailboxes with a 2x4 when I listen to it. Which is sorta cool, I guess. "Love Underground", a 90's alternative rock-inspired number that smacks of Spin Doctors, was also pretty entertaining for a kid who gets a nostalgia kick whenever he hears "Two Princes" on the radio. Any fans of good ol' fashioned grunge would do well to at least check out this album by Scates (clips of "Love Underground" and "Radio Fall Out" can be found on the Sounds section of www.calebscates.com, as well as full versions of songs off of Free Lunch). It would be interesting to own this album while Scates is still finding a sound that works for him, marking his artistic progression.

Well the holidays are over. Which stinks. I spent two weeks visiting my family down in Dallas/Austin/Oklahoma City and it was great. It was much better than last year when I didnt get any time off for the holidays and I ended up spending Christmas alone in a cold house watching Water World and Basketball. I liked Basketball much better.
Despite the fact I no longer work in retail, it still managed to change holiday plans as my sister was suck working a retail job. This lead to a lot of driving back and forth between Dallas and Oklahoma but it all worked out ok and we had a good time.
Retail sucks and I hope that everyone working retail survived the holidays in good order. I sure as hell dont miss it.
We have two shows coming up. One Feb. 29 in Cincy at the Northside Tavern and one in Georgia. Neither of these are locked down for sure so as soon as I have more details I will pass them along.
Our issue of No Cover magazine comes out this month and should be available at Barnes and Noble. If they dont have it ask them if they can order more. We are in the issue with Seether on the cover.
My song Red Rose is going to be on Paste Magazine's Podcast coming up. Not to sure when that will be but I will post something as soon as I do.
Hope everyone is doing well. Talk to ya soon!
Peace,
Caleb

We made it to the ourstage.com semi-final round. This round only last today and tomorrow. The finals are just one day...Friday. So PLEASE click the link above. Listen to the song and vote if you have a few spare minutes.
When you vote you will get two songs and you pick which one you like better. After you listen to the songs one time you dont have to choose again. So voting goes pretty quickly. Thanks a TON in advance.

I will be posting some new stuff up on ourstage.com in the next month or so. It will be there for your listening pleasure.

Thanks for the support.

Caleb Scates is funded by listeners like you :)

Cheers

We played our first show last weekend at a YMCA Oktoberfest in Blue Ash, Ohio. It was nice to finally get out of the basement and play in front of some people. Granted it was mainly a crowd of 30+ with their small children (not my dream venue) but it was fun nonetheless. A big thanks to Sherri and the YMCA for letting us play.

Everything went smoothly for the most part. We only forgot 1 bag of gear which turned out to be non-essential and we did manage to set up the PA and get ourselves through sound check ok.

The YMCA offered hay rides for the kids, and every few songs a tractor would pull right in front of where we were set up. We thought it was funny. How many rock bands get to say they had a tractor break in the middle of their set? We ended up playing our 8 songs set twice. The first time was much smoother (despite the tractor breaks). During the second set I broke a guitar string on one song and our drummers kick drum pedal broke on another but we recovered well and got through the songs. The show was really laid back and we were basically background noise.

All and all I am pretty happy with how things went. We could have played better, but then again we could have played much worse too. We got to watch little kids with their costumes on dancing to our music which was fun. An 85 year old woman waved at me and told me I was a good singer. I blushed and ask for her number……ok just kidding.

We have some other things coming up. My song ‘Radio Fall Out’ is going to be on the Groupies Suck 13 compilation CD. It will be packaged with No Cover magazine and should be available at Barnes and Noble stores nationwide. The listing will be under my band’s name ‘The Mondegreens’. So if you see Radio Fall Out by The Mondegreens…its ok. No one is ripped off my song. I decided it would be a good chance to promote the band.

My song ‘On the Brink’ was nominated for ‘best international rock song’ by Toronto Exclusive Magazine. Awesome! You can check it out here http://www.torontoexclusive.com.

I was also a featured artist this month on indie-music.com. Two of my songs seem to be hanging in the top 10 in the rock genre. http://www.indie-music.com/charts

We are working on building our set list up a little bit. I would like for us to have 45 minutes worth of material tight and ready to go by December. We will probably start booking some tune-up shows soon and we are planning a trip to Georgia to play a show my friend Mindy is setting up.

Hope everyone is doing well. Holidays are right around the corner.
(To those of you who work in retail-Hang in there!)



Cheers,



Caleb

Hey everybody. Thanks for checking out my new page. This is just a little test of the journal thing to make sure its working-so I will be brief.
Right now I am working with drummer Matt Norton and bass guitarist Chris McAfee in a band called The Mondegreens. We are working on a set right now and hope to be booking shows this fall/winter. I will write more about the band a little bit later.
Lo-Fi Audio Circle is now available on the iTunes music store. Reviews and comments are always welcome.
Hope everyone had a great weekend.