Tone Deaf Teens

Tone Deaf Teens--Brian Tashima, composing

Prime Time Kumquat - Real Audio
(Brian Tashima, Tone Deaf Teens)

I drink this beer 'cause it makes me sexy.
I drive this car 'cause I'm feeling groovy.
Play her my songs but she still rejects me.
That kind of thing always works in the movies.

Articles in magazines teach me all about my own identity.
Now I will want to be the one to rub my hands all over it.
Wear the hat, although it doesn't fit.
I could never be what you want to see, so lick my psychic wounds and feed me something new.

I could be getting bombed in Baghdad.
I could be starving in Somalia.
I could be getting mugged in New York.
I could be stranded in Hawaii.

Is it some defective gland that makes you spend your weekends trying to understand?
Then I saw it on the screen...a kumquat on prime time TV.
It just sat there, taunting me,
and it's coming to your town next week.

RR: How do you get ideas for your songs? (event, line, emotion, etc.)
The Tone Deaf Teens get their ideas from their own lives. They grew up with "metal"--Metallica, Exodus, Anthraxx, Megadeath, Iron Maiden--bands of the 80s. Brian said that their songs do not contain a lot of "social commentary or political stuff." They're mostly personal, what Brian laughingly labels "snide commentary."
RR: Describe your composing process.
Brian said that there is no one set process that they follow. Some songs start with the music; some with the lyrics. If the melody comes first, he will record the riff or snippets of the tune on a tape. He later goes back to the tape; sometimes it will be "99% junk" but he often ends up with one or two portions he can use. Sometimes he pieces parts together.
He gets his lyrics by letting this thoughts flow "stream of consciousness style" and edits them later to capture the essence of this idea.
Brian acknowledged that a few songs do come as a whole. He cited two songs from the group's first CD: "Shampoo" and "Wonder of It All."
RR: How long does it take you to compose a song?
Sometimes it takes Brian one sitting to compose a song...sometimes it takes years. He has some songs that are not done yet.
Sometimes, Brian will compose a melody, then go and match it with a set of lyrics that he has saved. Sometimes, it will work the other way.
RR: Why do you compose?
Brian considers composing a sort of catharsis, self-therapy (catharsis? that should dispel any myths about brainless rockers).
He started out trying to write like Metallica--Brian describes it as "cheesy Metallica"--but eventually moved on to trying to find his own voice. He admires Billy Joel, jazz, and "old school rock."
How many songs have you composed?
Brian has been composing songs since he was in high school and has over 100 compositions.
As far as songs performed by the group, Tone Deaf Teens perform about 25-30 original songs, about 20 of which have been recorded on their two CDs.
Do you ever get inspiration from other pieces of music?
Brian gets inspiration from many sources. And not all are musical sources; one of his latest compositions was inspired by the hit television cartoon, the notorious "South Park."