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No More Masterpieces (2002 - 2013)

by Ho-Ag

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1.
2.
Exegesis 03:51
3.
4.
Kuzka Mom 03:19
5.
6.
About to Rot 03:59
7.
8.
Storming 03:16
9.
CTR-112 02:06
10.
Nevada 04:28
11.
12.
Unreal City 04:27
13.
14.
Toyland 03:40
15.
P.P. Pants 02:53
16.
17.
18.
Liberal Arts 01:45
19.

about

Compilation of tracks spanning the whole Ho-Ag lifespan from dank dirty basement rehearsals in Jamaica Plain to ever more dank rehearsals in Watertown. B-Sides, castaways, covers, hard-to-finds, demos and field recordings.

Cadavers On Trial
This was the first song we wrote when getting material together for World-Destroying Zig-Zags. Seemed like a sure bet until it came time to sequence that record, when we suddenly found ourselves saying “nah.” Inspired by the 2005 selection of Pope Benedict XVI, which we listened to on the radio in the van while finding a desert campsite in New Mexico on tour, plus some chapters in Philip Plait’s Death from the Skies! Rec. May 2012 by Keith Souza and Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets (Pawtucket, R.I.). Brown (bass), Derryberry (vocals/keyboards), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar).

Exegesis
Never performed live or even in practice after the day we recorded this. Wrote it in two days around the time we were finishing up recording sessions for The Word from Pluto, then drove all night to Columbus and recorded it in a sleepless stupor the next morning before a big New Year’s show we were doing that night with 1.Point.3, The Husher, and Salvage. This recording has pretty much been buried ever since. Rec. December 2005 by Brian Simakis at The Alter (Columbus, Ohio). Derryberry (keyboards), Kim (guitar), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar), Ward (bass).

Seal the Room
Wrote this one with Kristina Johnson Parish the same day as “Burn to the Ocean” from Zig-Zags, which she also wrote most of the lead parts for. One of seemingly dozens of songs about being on the subway. Rec. March 2010 by KRM at Kissypig Studios (Boston, Mass.). Brown (bass), Derryberry (keyboards), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar).

Kuzka Mom
This was called “Tyler’s Sick” for years because, guess what, Tyler was not at practice the day we wrote this. Some old Air Force nuclear arms testing stories are butchered here. The ending worked wonders live, since we could play it forever and ever and ever and ever... Rec. March 2010 by KRM at Kissypig Studios (Boston, Mass.). Brown (bass), Derryberry (keyboards), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar).

Everybody’s Got a Clue
We came so close to putting this on Zig-Zags. Rec. March 2009 by Matt at Lincoln Street (Boston).

About to Rot
In the instrumental parts for this song, every pitch is always given the same rhythmic value - a “C” is always a half note, a “G” always a dotted quarter, etc.., Picked a weird scale, threw a bunch of riffs together, and voila: a song that was hard to play. Who knew? Rec. September 2009 by Matt at Hive 35 (Boston). Brown (bass), Derryberry (keyboards), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar).

Drawing the Boundaries of the Night (Zoig-Ma-Noig)
Tyler spent the month of September in 2007 playing a show every single night (sometimes more than one a night) in Boston as Zoig-Ma-Noig. He did tweaked-out covers programmed into Game Boys and run through nasty effects pedals, which he sang over through a megaphone. Stuff like “Wild Sex in the Working Class” by Oingo Boingo, “Ill In the Head” by Dead Kennedys, “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS. Here’s a Ho-Ag song thrown through that ringer. Rec. October 2006 by Tyler at Oakdale (Boston).

Storming
For a long time, we’d worked on a song called “Lofty” (because its chart was pinned on the edge of the loft) that was rewritten a hundred times. We’d take it on tour, watch it fall on its face, then throw it back in the “fix-me” pile. At one point it was almost eight minutes long. This was the last stab at it, with most of the tangled up mathy parts conspicuously gone. Rec. November 2006 by Matt at Lincoln Street (Boston).

CTR-112
Can I tell you a story? Rec. August 2006 by Matt at Lincoln Street (Boston).

Nevada
From a collection of demos Matt started in 2006 when he was cooped up in his apartment with his jaw wired shut for a month, that eventually became the basis for Doctor Cowboy. “If the light of day would ever see the brain, that’s most likely some bad news for the brain.” Rec. November 2006 by Matt at Lincoln Street (Boston).

Let All Things Be Terrors
For a couple years, this was the default song to pull out whenever someone broke a string in the middle of a show. Written with Dave Dines and Jon Ruhe. Rec. November 2005 by Keith Souza and Seth Manchester at the old Machines with Magnets (Providence, R.I.). Derryberry (theremin), Kim (guitar), Meyer (drums), Parish (guitar), Ward (bass)

Unreal City
The lyrics to this ominous song were sketched out one day when Matt was attending a seminar for a new file management system. “She types in that wildcard asterisk operand, Set to Contain: s-u-s-p-i-c-i-o-u-s.” Also one of several songs throughout our life shouldered with the working title “Dr. Dre.” An outtake from the session for The Word from Pluto. Rec. November 2005 by Keith Souza and Seth Manchester at the old Machines with Magnets (Providence, R.I.). Derryberry (vocals/keyboards), Kim (guitar), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar), Ward (bass)

Holy Hopes Do Require Greater Find
You know, there really should have been more room for things like this over the years. Rec. July 2012 by Tyler.

Toyland
Recorded one night in December by Nicklaus Hubben (of Certainly, Sir and Ivory Coast fame), this actually did go out on a super limited CD-R that we only sent to pretty close friends and some local media as a message of holiday cheer after a year that involved a lot more touring and exposure than we’d ever seen to that point. Rec. December 2005 by Niklaus Hubben at Klaus Haus (Boston). Derryberry (vocals/keyboards/theremin), Kim (guitar), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar), Ward (bass).

P.P.Pants
Another song about the subway, this one done in the lull before Eric Meyer joined the band on drums and Matt occupied himself with a big round of demos using an Alesis SR-16 borrowed from Eric Dill (Thunderhole). Rec. November 2003 by Matt at Woodlawn Street (Boston).

Into the River (Live in the Van)
Sometimes on tour, songs seem to fall apart in slow-motion, over a few nights. We found that the best corrective for this was a very stripped down in-van a cappella pop quiz. Rec. April 2005 near Chicago by Tyler in the van (dubbed “Handsome” after we bought from a dealer near the Midway in JP, right down the street from Matt and Dill’s apartment in ‘02-’04). Derryberry (vocals/keyboards), Kim (guitar), Meyer (drums), Parish (vocals/guitar), Ward (bass).

Our Man Just Dodged Six Bullets
Same round of demos as “P.P. Pants,” though this one takes a decidedly more Ween approach. Written on an acoustic guitar the same night as “The Hoodoo Sea.” Rec. November 2003 by Matt at Woodlawn Street (Boston).

Liberal Arts
In the earliest of early days, Matt, Dave, Jon and Patrick practiced in a basement apartment in a big building in Allston with no band name and no idea how to get shows. We made one set of recordings on a four-track in the spring of 2001 a couple days before the building had a big electric fire that consumed the entire second and third floors. The building was owned by the same landlord who eventually shut down Great Scott in 2020, as it turns out. This recording was mixed down later on and used as a demo to beg for the band’s first few shows in 2002 with bands like Young Sexy Assassins, USAISAMONSTER, Officer May, and The Phantom Limbs. Rec. March 2001 by Matt at Shorty’s (Boston). Dines (bass), Kim (guitar), Parish (vocals/guitar), Ruhe (drums).

You Will Be Eaten
One last toe-tapper. Rec. May 2006 by Matt at Lincoln Street (Boston). Parish.

HO-AG | NO MORE MASTERPIECES (2002-2013)
with Matt Parish, Tyler Derryberry, Eric Meyer, Ryan Brown, Dave Dines, Patrick Kim, Kristina Johnson Parish, Jonathan Ruhe, Nkls Ward.

THANKS: Deb Nicholson, Dan Boucher, Mark Pearson, John Manson, Jason Sanford, Duncan Smith, Eric Dill, Carl Lavin, Bryant Williamson, Mike Albanese, Ryan Walsh, Keith Souza, Seth Manchester, Scott Craggs, Ken Avery, Kevin Micka, Skot Thomson, Brian Simakis, Mike.3, Jae Kristoff, Kairsten Theis, Nick Hubben, Andy Abrahamson, KRM, Mikey Machine, Ifihadahifi, Dixie Jacobs, Jello Biafra, John Geek and Triclops!, John Ling, Jeff Lipton, Brian Church, Conan Neutron, Joel Roston, Eric Penna, Dan Shea, Ernesto Gianola, Tristan Trump, Kevin Hoskins, Andy Bodor, Mark Sarich, Gina Kent, Collectif a Tant Rever Du Roi, Baptiste Motenai and Jordan, John Boilard, Ben Sisto. All the Moms & Dads.

credits

released September 3, 2013

Recorded at various studios across New England.
Mastered by Scott Craggs at Old Colony, South Boston.
www.oldcolonymastering.com

Art by Tyler.

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Ho-Ag Boston, Massachusetts

Ho-Ag is an experimental "noise rock" band based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known for melding fast-paced math-punk and metal with the creaky musical worlds of 50s and 60s sci-fi, Ho-Ag occupies a strange place in music that's both thoughtful and utterly crazed.

Matt Parish | Tyler Derryberry | Eric Meyer | Ryan Brown | Kristina Johnson Parish | Patrick Kim | Nkls Ward | Dave Dines | Jon Ruhe
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