(same melody as First Song pt.2
(single) Compost Yuppie Scum aka We Are All Compost In Training
FEBRUARY 2016:
I recorded this album almost a year and a half ago with my old friends the DIY Bandits. (Releasing vinyl takes forever these days.) The lag time between recording and release is why some of these songs have already been put out on other albums, although these are different recordings of those songs with different instrumentation. It also explains some of the incongruity between the perspective represented by the songs I wrote for this album and the content of the album notes I am writing now.
The DIY Bandits were true rebels banging on the system when I met them 11 years ago, and they still are today. They were the first group of people to distribute my music, and that was sometimes a liability for them because I was an obnoxious drug addict/alcoholic teenager who made obnoxious music that a lot of people in the punk and radical political scenes really did not think was a good thing for the world. (In retrospect, I side with my detractors.) The DIY Bandits had my back anyway, even though they might have been more successful if they hadn't.
Years later, when I stole money from them to shoot heroin, they stood by me again, in a real way. They didn't say it was okay, so I could get away with it and do it again. They said they were angry, but they were willing to work on it. They said they didn't trust me anymore and they weren't sure if they could again. They said I needed to pay them back.
I got sober, and they were still mad, and we worked on it bit by bit, and over time I paid them back the money, and I still try to give them something extra whenever I can. You'd have to ask them if they trust me yet, six years into my sobriety. I don't know if they could answer. I don't know if there is an end result to a process like this.
Redemption stories are nice, but I think the reality is more like sweeping the floor. In our bare feet we notice that the floor is dirty, and then we can sweep the floor or not, but either way it will be a new situation tomorrow. We can't treat this as a problem; there is not a solution to it. But a clean floor is nice to walk on anyway, and someday we may even be able to sweep the floor because we respect the dignity of our feet and not because we are afraid of the dirt. Some days, that's why I sweep now.
While the Bandits are still true rebels banging on the system, I am not really one anymore. They treat me with kindness and generosity anyway, because as well as being true rebels they are also true friends, who care about people beyond abstractions like ideology or subculture.
I have grown into a basically ordinary person, albeit a somewhat strange one. Nothing I write feels very skilled at communicating whatever it is I am trying to say, but it just seems important to tell you that I am not really an anarchist or a punk anymore. My viewpoint has changed dramatically in the last 6-9 months, and this kind of politics and music is just not where my heart is anymore. I have no interest in convincing anyone of anything, so that's all that's important to say about it. I just don't want people to feel tricked when they buy or listen to my music.
Love and respect to the DIY punk and anarchist scenes. I put 14 years of my life into them, and did my best to contribute to them and make them better. Plenty of times I failed, but sometimes I probably succeeded.
Those scenes made me who I am, relatively speaking. I'm not hating one bit. And in real life all this isn't so dramatic, even if the inherent weirdness of communicating with strangers about going through significant life changes might make it sound that way.
The music and merch will stay up for people who are interested in it. In the next year I will be transitioning into donating all the money that this project generates to groups that I believe are making the world better. (This has been my "career" since I was 17, so shifting out of that is going to take some time.) As that happens the Bandcamp page that sells this music will start to list the groups that the money is going to. Out of respect for my anarchist roots, I will not give this money to groups that seek to achieve their goals primarily through government policy.
For people who don't want to pay for my songs anymore because they're made by a sellout poseur or whatever, all of my albums will remain free to download from the Internet Archive project at archive.org. Links for the free downloads are in the album descriptions on the Bandcamp page. This split record is an exception because DIY Bandits wanted to make an album that wasn't on the internet, because the internet controls our lives and it might be worth trying to intentionally make something that isn't on there.
These days my music project is to learn the trumpet. "Hot crossed buns" is about where my skills are at right now. I have no plans to release or perform music any time soon. If I do perform music sometime in the future it will probably be significantly different than my previous work*.
If you are looking for music to like I recommend that you continue following the ongoing career of Ceschi (the other musician on this split record). He's truly a fantastic human being and great musician.
May we hold warmth in our hearts for the dignity of all. May we not fear being fools. Really,
Pat (no bunny, at last)
The newest picture of pat I could find, Christmas 2018
Due to distance in both geography and time, I never got to meet Pat.
This is my way of paying tribute to his music and his person.
Also credit to the guy who made this sheet
If you’re a Spotify person, here’s a playlist of the relatively few Songs available on it.
Songs that I can find nowhere:
2022 Update!
Gigantic thanks to Luke, The Folk Punk Archivist.
In December 2021, nearly two decades after first release, he not only found, but also reprinted the very first album by pat the bunny. It has been some time since I’ve been so enamored by Pat, but I was still excited about this.
You can find Lukes Website here