I made a choice to publish some kind of creative project every day in 2020. These projects are recorded at home. Often in one take. Usually improvised, and always in a single sitting. There are exceptions where I instead release an old track from the vault and those are noted.
No doubt it is an odd year to release entertainment between general political chaos + election year noise, the global pandemic, and protests against violent police. Throwing out something creative now gets lost in a din of division.
In the end, the project moves forward as chaotic times demand expression and distraction, and how can I resist the gift of time? Click the headers to go to project-specific pages with more information.
This was as the title implies a freeform warmup. No preconceptions, just sit at an instrument and hit the record button. I needed this as a warmup for out-of-practice hands, but also as an exercise against overthinking.
Recommended for fans of Grateful Dead SPACE sections, and early Pink Floyd. Bong responsibly.
The month of February was devoted to my wife and dear friend Stephanie. There was a direly underserved muse who had certainly earned a whole month of silly love songs, sincere poems of the heart, and literal story songs.
Recommended for fans of Neil Young, Lou Barlow, and Sufjan Stevens. Keep your heart on the outside.
I knew I wanted a palate cleanser from the romantic tones of February, and initially expected to roll out some angry anti-war anthems in the vein of John Lennon and Roger Waters, but March 2020 had other plans. Then our Dog of 13 years died, and Covid 19 brought with it a blanket of paranoia, doubt, fear, and confusion that morphed the theme into an internal WAR.
Recommended for fans of Darker songs by the Residents, Tom Waits, and Sonic Youth. No happy places here.
I took a break from the daily improvisations to highlight songs from my past. These tracks rangle from the mid-nineties through my time in Athens, GA.
Recommended for fans of Beck, Primus, Frank Zappa, The Minutemen, The Ventures. Eclectic and electric.
MAY 2020: THE MAD STABERCROMBIES SHOW
I devoted the month of May to produce a variety show with my family. This was a great chance to learn the ins and outs of video editing and dream up 30 days of entertaining content. Definitely the most time-consuming of all the projects, but also the most fun since my family was helping in the production. I realized months after the fact that my character Lamar Fartnax’s voice is a direct rip off of Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove.
Recommended for fans of The Muppet Show, improv sketch comedy, and being ridiculous in public.
JUNE 2020: THE DIARY OF COUNT RIBULA
This is an idea that goes all the way back to High School. A vampire who gives up blood in favor of BBQ sauce-Count Ribula. I had recently enjoyed a documentary on Texas rap pioneer DJ Screw, and decided I would take a stab at a Chopped and Screwed release. The concept was an initially complete comedy, but the dark overtones of June’s news cycle crept in, Civil and racial unrest exploded across America and suddenly Count Ribula became about rejecting violence and hateful tradition.
Recommended for fans of DJ Screw, the Residents, Frank Zappa, and Tradition Smashing.
JULY 2020: THE TRUE STORY OF RACE APE
Here is another character that has origins in High School. I fabricated stories of apes driving go-karts in Hiawassee, GA for many years, and here was my chance to really build up the myth. Unlike Count Ribula I wanted to have an emotional tenderness to the music of Race Ape. So, I composed most of these tracks on the piano with the goal of maintaining tragic tonalities. I did each day in a different key to both stimulate my brain and keep the music from being stagnant or repetitious. In the end, these are some of my favorites of the year. I finally broke out of folk/rock pastiches that I had been milking for years and made something fresh.
Recommended for fans of Nils Frahm, Minimalist Composers, Angelo Badlamenti.
AUGUST 2020: HIDE YOU’RE MONSTERS
I had two agendas for the August release. I wanted to make songs about cryptids both well-known and rare. I also wanted it to sound like what prog rock sounds like to people who don’t like prog rock. In other words lots of overzealous bass playing and herky-jerky rhythms. I made this release a challenge to users by literally hiding the monsters on the web page with no visual link cues. https://stabercrombie.com/hide-youre-monsters/
In the end, this feels like the lamest of the bunch. Maybe time will reveal the value of these, or perhaps they should have stayed hidden?
Recommended for fans of Rush, Primus, Frank Zappa, Yes, Cryptozoology.
SEPTEMBER 2020: METEOR IN THE CROSSHAIRS
My daughter started churning out these cool electro beats with an online drum machine. I was impressed at how easy and fun the interface was. I decided I would use it on my next project. The concept was inspired by a headline that a meteor would be passing Earth near election day. It was also inspired by the fact that like many kids I LOVED DINOSAURS! I added a secondary creative element to this by making a sketch of each day’s Dinosaur. https://theall-starhorsemeatband.bandcamp.com/merch/meteor-in-the-crosshairs-coloring-book
I thought it was kind of cool to make a bunch of electronic beats about dinosaurs. Note that the dinosaurs are listed by era with early tracks for the Triassic period and later tracks for the Cretaceous period.
Recommended for fans of Drum machines and Dinosaurs
OCTOBER 2020: CHASING A STAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN
I devoted February to songs of devotion to my Wife Stephanie and intended to do the same for my Daughter Stella in October. Initially, the songs were all literal folk style, but few of these survived to the final version of the project.
I honestly can’t remember where it shifted, but all of a sudden it was a Science Fiction narrative about a Man seeking his Starlight Princess. The man gets trapped in a Black Hole while searching for his star and requires rescuing himself. I performed the songs from Man’s point of view in my standard folk style, but then the tracks where the Starlight Princess responds are voiced by Stella. To make them distinct, the Starlight Princess tracks have a music bed of the drum machines used previously on Meteor in the Crosshairs. Stella jumped into the project with lots of ideas and even wrote the lyrics for several pieces. It was still about Stella and how she saves my life EVERY DAY, but it now had some really unique Sci-Fi window dressing that I am super proud of.
Recommended for fans of Electric Skychurch, Bob Dylan, and The Flaming Lips.
This album was a happy accident that branched off from my project Chasing a Star at the Bottom of the Ocean. The aforementioned album was the October installment of my creative 365/2020 project which demands on myself some kind of creative release. Chasing a Star at the Bottom of the Ocean was a tribute to my Daughter Stella who turns 10 in October. Stylistically it was space folk with lots of star metaphors, and vague insinuations of a space opera plot. During the second half I asked Stella to submit a voice over on a track and the results were so special that it spawned an entire album!
OCTOBER 2020: THE MAD STABERCROMBIES SHOW SEASON 2
October comes to a close with the second season of the Mad Stabercrombies Show. Follow Steve, Stephanie and Stella as they find creative ways to stay spooky in the era of social distance. Subscribe to the Youtube channel here.
I was rather spent after the last few creative projects, so I took November as a chance to dip deeper into the vault. Many of these fall under the category of Worst of/Greatest sHITS, but don’t let that deter a listen. There are still some creative moments hiding amongst the unsightly barnacles.
Recommended forfans of: Uncle Tupelo, Grandaddy, Mike Watt, Ween.
DECEMBER 2020: CAMEL TOE BOX SET
One last vault release to wrap up 2020. This one is devoted to the creatively unhinged Camel Toe CIRCA 1994-1995. These guys are my best friends for life. The music we made was a mess and not an easy listen. What is available here though is a picture of friends making music for fun above all else, and fun is an essential ingredient on any creative project that separates it from WORK!
Recommended for fans of: Weird Al Yankovic, Mike Watt, Ween, Nirvana, Fugazi, Mr. Bungle.
