Release date: 1994

This album is not yet for sale

Let's start out with a positive statement: I Need, Narcoleptic Mary, and You Will Heal are all valued parts of my live shows. Now, as for the rest of this record... You would think the natural progression for a writer would be to get better, but personally I prefer my earliest album Idiot Express over its' successor Big Energy Dream, which I think is too folky (and my voice sounds weird because I was sick right before we made it).

Any time I hear a skinny white guy with an acoustic guitar singing a song as preachy as God Of Fossil Fuel (even if it is true) it makes me want to stuff an ether rag in his yap. But hey, I was a young, troubled, justice-oriented, apocalypse-ushering type of guy, and it seemed a good song at the time. Before I became a monk, I did a lot of preaching to the converted. I'm still almost young (26), I remain a frequent host of trouble, justice is as important as ever, and I continue in my apocalyptic expectations, but, the way I approach a song has changed dramatically. That is to say, I have become a good songwriter (before Self Untitled I had written some good songs, but I was not quite a good songwriter. Now I am, but I still write bad songs, which is how it will be until I ascend and become a Perfect Holy Monk Songwriter in Heaven). I have the Divers, Peter Mayer, and Carl Menk to thank for much of what is cool about Big Energy Dream. I haven't seen the Divers or Carl in years, so if you see them tell them I said hello. I'm still in regular contact with Peter Mayer, so I'll tell him myself. Let's just say BED was an interesting milestone.

Release date: 1993
Price: $9.90

Writing this album was an abusive affair. I was living alone in unit G-15 at the beautiful Devonshire apartment complex in Mankato, Minnesota. Drop by and see it sometime, all ye slum seekers. Anyhow, it was around this time that my passion for ferrets developed, and I decided I would find one for a roommate.

I succeeded, and upon returning home with my friendly quadruped I locked the door, got drunk, and wrote songs for a week. I did not go outside, I did not take calls, I did not answer the door. I drank, got to know my ferret ( he shits in corners, bites the toes of passed out dipsomaniacs, and crawls into appliances with surprising ease ) and made up lies with melodies. At the end of the week, I had Idiot Express. I still have the ferret, his name is Allegro (although I renamed him Tragedy when I became a monk, more on that later).

Of the songs on Idiot Express, I still play Idiot Express, Never Love With You, Giving In, and It's All Just Because. In my opinion the other songs on the record are best left to die, with the exception of Goodbye To Me, which was just the victim of dumb production ideas. Particularly unbearable for me to hear now are The Free United States, and Working At Burger King. I think Love Is A Punch In The Throat is ok, good drinking music for people who aren't monks. This was my first album, with that in mind I'm pleased with how it's aged. It is not boring, and that counts for a lot.

TRACKS