Showing posts with label kevin cubbins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kevin cubbins. Show all posts

Friday, June 4, 2010

A Beginner's Guide to Trench Warfare: Mr. Kevin Cubbins-Part 3 of a 4 Part Series

"Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further."
--Soren Kierkegaard

"I don't know."
-- Kevin Cubbins


Note: Please allow me this one potential misstep. I just watched the final episode of ‘Lost’ last night. Quite honestly I literally cried myself to sleep (then cried some more in the shower after I woke up today). I fully acknowledge the effect it is having on me and the myriad ways it may have effected what I wrote. Right now I really don’t give a flying fuck. And I think that’s a very, very good thing (though I’m fully aware of the likely possibility it’ll wear off soon - but I kinda hope it doesn’t). And yes: I watch television and enjoy it very much. I also often sincerely enjoy big budget Hollywood movies. And I don’t like Nick Drake (even if I’ve told you personally that I do). There. I said it. I feel a great weight has been lifted.

It took me a long time to write this. Not because I didn’t want to write it. Not because I’m lazy (though I am, of course). It took me a long time to write this because it isn’t inherently funny. It’s almost impossible to make it a joke, a knowing nudge of the elbow, a “blog post”. It took me so long because to write it in that manner would do a grave disservice. Not to Kevin Cubbins but to myself. It’s not that Kevin isn’t a truly funny person. Or entirely undeserving of ridicule. He is, but all that is very much beside the point. If I write about Kevin as I’ve written about everything else I would be lying to myself. Lying to you is fine by me. It’s entertaining. And I have always done that well (not entertained you - lied to you). I’d be lying to myself because I care too much. Working with Kevin has meant a great deal to me, has made me love music again, has taught me something bigger than I am entirely capable of understanding. And all that makes me look like a fool because today, in the era of irony-to-avoid-sincerity it means we (and me - all of us - that includes you) actually do feel, I become the potential pun at the end of a joke I never wrote, the asshole that cried in the theater at the end of a movie I took my five year old to see, an absolute idiot. I give up: enjoy my foolishness, revel in it, because it won’t come around again anytime soon. Kevin Cubbins is worth it. And no, Ashley: I am not going to steal your husband. Not yet anyway.....

There’s a reason it’s hard to write about Kevin Cubbins. Sure: if he was interviewed by TapeOp,  it might very well prove itself to be the most boring interview in the history of their useless, masturbatory, narcissistic, savior-making, cocksucking, shitty magazine (I hope you read this, Mr. Larry Crane - you suck ass). And yeah: Kevin is a weird guy. Not in the “I’m incredibly eccentric, please bring me my copy of (insert little known book - but known amongst the hippest and most discerning, self-involved, boring assholes) and try not to scratch my new Italian-made English riding boots”. No, Kevin is weird in the simplest (and ultimately the only honest) fashion (he wears sneakers and loves Gabriel Garcia Marquez - and writes short stories that are blindingly great). He isn’t obsessed with the idea of himself. Nor is he terribly interested in the obsessions of others. His obsessions don’t expand outwards in a way that makes him an easy target for a blog post. And I know, without a doubt, among all the other people I could have or already have written about, he could give a good goddamn.

You see, Cormac McCarthy’s “eccentricity” doesn’t come from McCarthy’s actual behavior. It comes from others’ ideas about Cormac McCarthy the person (as related to their “experience” of Cormac McCarthy the writer). It is born of their NEED to believe in his eccentricity, their perverse desire to live vicariously through the socially-constructed madness they’ve created for him (in lieu of studying their own). They do it because they are boring. They do it because they themselves are “mad”, as well, but are too afraid to face it. Cormac McCarthy has done virtually nothing to deserve the label of “eccentric” placed on him by readers, critics, and academics. Like Freud said, “We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment from a contrast and very little from the true state of things.” If one wanted to they could do the same with Kevin Cubbins. They could call him an eccentric, an obsessive, an oddity. But they could just as easily call him a technician, an engineer, or (maybe the worst of all, the most mundane and un-musical of all, the most masturbatory, the words used by asshole music gear peddlers old dudes at shops who played in a band 20 years ago and are holding on desperately to their "record that would've hit big if the label had pushed it right") a guitar player.

I seem to write, over and over, that “so and so person” is an “enigma”. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren’t. It’s really beside the point because implying or saying something like that says more about the writer than the reader. It’s boring. And useless. And a lazy trick. Everyone is an enigma. But me? I’ve used the word so often it’s lost all meaning (at least for me, anyway). It’s become a lie. I like hiding behind lies. And generalizations. And quotation marks and parentheses. And bullshit conversations with bullshit conversationalists just like myself. If “all the truth in the world adds up to one big lie” I am basing my self-ness, my stupid freedom-induced “essence”, on the hope that the opposite is true as well. So I’ll use the word one last time. Just because it’s lost it’s meaning to me doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a carefully considered definition as a word brought to you by the 1913 Edition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: “an inscrutable or mysterious person”. I just wrote a lengthy and overly-wordy paragraph to do the opposite of what I’m about to do now. Because I know in this final use of that word it's true.

Kevin Cubbins is an enigma.

I talked to Kevin before writing this, talked to his long-suffering and generous wife Ashley, and talked to people I know much too well into writing things about Kevin or saying things about him so I could insert them into this blog post. It was all wildly entertaining. But I think I have (and had before I spoke to anyone) plenty to say about Kevin without using any of it. In most cases, as my wondrous and perfect (but sharply straightforward, caustic psychotherapist truth-spitting - painfully so) wife pointed out, I was looking for other people to say what I wanted them to say, and in some cases led them (by creating incredibly pointed questions) to say exactly what I wanted them to say. Because it would've been embarrassing to say it myself. Because I care too much. The stories I didn’t know, though, are definitely worth telling here.

Ashley told me how awkward Kevin was when he attempted to woo her. Amazingly, against all odds, he was successful. They decided to get married (I was really hoping to hear about Kevin’s bumbling proposition - there wasn't one) and they picked out a ring. To ensure that it was bought (only Christ himself knows what additional obsessions were controlling his riddled brain at the time), Ashley looked in his wallet one day when he was out of the room, saw that he had enough money in it to buy the ring, and said to him, “Why don’t we go get the ring today?”. It worked, of course, because Kevin is seriously crazy about his wife, but also because being the “mad professor” he is (Ashley’s words, not mine - though I entirely agree) it was the only way to redirect his attention towards it. Only their wedding was stranger. That in itself is another post (or more likely a lengthy short story published in The New Yorker that readers assume is a joke but is, in fact, entirely true). Noteworthy tidbits of the ceremony include:

1. Dokken was played so slowly on acoustic guitar, as to resemble classical music, until some musicians gathered in the church (one being myself) realized what it was.
2. A trumpet “wedding march” that, once the trumpet player missed a note, ended in the ubiquitous “battle charge” most often used at football games.
3. A small fox (apparently widely believed to be a “good omen” during a wedding) appeared through the floor to ceiling glass walls behind the altar that looked out over the Mississippi River. It was an incredibly adorable fox. Until it came closer to the glass and took a shit.

All of this took place before the reception that, though not as perilous for the couple, proved itself to be almost as funny (mainly because of Kevin’s perfectly compiled cd’s given to the DJ being replaced by the DJ’s own choices, beginning with the reception standard “Brickhouse” - primarily hilarious because of Kevin’s frantic and bewildered reaction). The wedding and reception stand, to this day, as the most amazing I’ve ever been to. Both because they so clearly adored one another and because it was so fucking hilarious. But I digress (and it was so worth it)...

I interviewed Kevin over the phone and recorded the entire thing. Do not be concerned: I have edited key portions and they will soon be available for your listening displeasure. Initially I attempted to play “bad cop” (though my wife has often said that not only would I make an awful cop but would most definitely make an awful “bad cop” because I imitate movies and television too much - and she says I often do this with many “characters” I attempt to play - she lies, of course). I thought I was rather good. Kevin did not. Lori thought it was awful. Kevin called back and asked me why I was being a dick. I came clean. I told him about playing the “bad cop”. He was relieved. Relieved!

Seriously: think for a moment about his reaction. Virtually anyone else would consider my behavior to have been utterly absurd; absolutely ridiculous. Kevin was relieved that I was only playing a part and not being a asshole. As the re-tread adage goes, “It takes one to know one”. My wife has accepted that I am certifiably insane (though I have not). It has taken many years of living and putting up with me for her to come to this conclusion. It took Kevin two seconds. Because he is crazy too. Not melodramatic (this is a common accusation thrown at me), not entirely absurd (I am often entirely ignored by my closest friends and family - unjustly), or hysterical in the classical sense (also aimed at me - also incorrect, of course). Kevin got it because he is “mad”. His brand of madness does not resemble mine in the least. But they are somehow half-siblings. And he instinctively knew it; organically accepted it. Magic! We are both unjustly ignored and scolded by our much better and far sexier better halves. We have discussed this. The common experience is so uncommon it comes full circle: it is our common. Oh the satisfaction (oh the confusion?)!

 I created a carefully considered series of questions for the second portion of the interview. These questions directly involved music (or some attempt at it on my part). Though it required a great deal of pulling teeth (and many root canals), eventually Kevin answered the questions as I demanded they be answered. But towards the end I felt interviewed and uncomfortable. I’ve tried jokingly to do this same thing with Tim Mooney, Bob Frank, and James Finch and have been entirely successful. This was not the case with Kevin. His answers were beautifully strange. And beautifully Hemingway-esque-ly direct and final. It was disturbing and comforting at the same time. None of the other interviewees ever made me uncomfortable; left me at a loss for words like Kevin did (and you who know me know that if I am ever at a loss for words I will make words up). Sure, it was disarming. But as before it proved something: some odd kinship and a shared madness. Though the madness’ are dissimilar they know one another; they communicate. So it was uncomfortable and disarming which, for me, was comforting and revelatory.

Then Kevin did something truly strange. He called back to add one more fact to the conversation. Kevin told me he had been the boxing champion at The University of Memphis, a school in a city filled with people at home with violence, people quite good at it. He wasn’t bragging. He was adding lost information. I thought this was hilarious. Because I assumed it was untrue until it was confirmed by a number of people and ultimately Kevin’s best friend of many years, Mark Stuart. Yes, in fact, Kevin was the boxing champion. And just as others I’ve known who are truly good fighters, I look at Kevin and believe I could easily beat his ass. I’d be very, very wrong. And a lot of people were. Partially because (largely because) Kevin doesn’t appear to be anything remotely close to a “street fighting man”. And it’s not that he’s stoic or “knows his strength” in some ridiculous Zen way. He just doesn’t ever think about it. Doesn’t care. Because it would take up too much space in his brain reserved for too many other obsessions. But I really would like to see him kick the fucking shit out of some truly arrogant and useless cocksuckers in the Memphis music “scene”. For my own satisfaction. It’d be a brilliant fight between good and evil and good would win out. And I love the underdog (or the person who by all appearances is the underdog).

None of what I’ve mentioned up to this point has involved anything related to my record, to the part Kevin has played in making it what it has become, or to the process of working with him. And I don’t care. There’s more time for that. And Mr. Kevin Cubbins is more than deserving of more than one blog post. If you haven’t noticed, this blog post is by far the longest I’ve written. And I like it best. And it’s just the first part of it. Kevin has recorded additional music for the record, has mixed it, and has co-produced it. He’s in many ways made it what it is today. But more than anything he’s made me like it again. I didn’t listen to it for almost a year. I’d convinced myself, for a number of reasons, that it wasn’t worth it’s weight. And it’s not that Kevin Cubbins sat me down and told me it was great. He didn’t really say anything at all. He just made me believe again. He made my own shit exist for me again. Not just in regards to this record (a record I know now is good -and believe in it- whether you will think so or not). I don’t need anything, really. And don’t take this as some enlightened bullshit. I still hate myself. Don’t worry. I’m kinda not kidding at all.

I don’t know what Kevin did. Any asshole with a board full of faders and knobs can do something with a record. That’s not what happened. Any charlatan engineer or producer can convince an idiot musician that they are “brilliant”, that they are a “genius”, that something that’s never happened before is happening right here, right now. Kevin didn’t do that either. Those blessed with real magic don’t need endless racks of outboard vintage gear. Fuck your Neve.Those capable of true magic don’t need to lie. A Neumann doesn’t change shit. That’s why it’s magic. And believing in magic is for fools and children. God bless fools and children. Lazarus walks, the Virgin shows up at Lourdes (and that’s in France of all places), and people in Arkansas don’t get bitten by poisonous snakes. Kierkegaard advocated a leap of faith saying, “Because it is absurd I believe”. I believe. I do.

I don’t know why. So that happened. I guess. Ask Kevin. Ask the living disembodied disappointing ghosts of the perfect “Layla, and Other Assorted Love Songs”. Just don’t ask T-Bone Burnett, Tony Visconti, or Glyn Johns. And definitely not Joe Chicarelli. Because the charlatans and gurus and uninteresting motherfuckers are still running their mouths to Larry Crane (and he prints every interview and every letter to the editor those goofy bastards write) and to any fuckwad that’ll listen (and that’s a lot of fuckwads). Ask Kevin. He’ll tell you he just does it and he doesn’t know why you keep asking so many stupid questions. Insinuating it’s more than that will only make him uncomfortable. My record is Kevin’s, too. Because I said so. Fuck you.

Footnote: Ashley is four months pregnant now and it’s a boy. Today Kevin told me the name they’re going with right now, temporarily anyway, is Jack. I was so touched, of course, because naming your child after me (though it makes perfect sense) is always touching. Then it occurred to me after we got off the phone: she’s thinking about Jack Shepard. Damn. Regardless, we’ve come full circle back to ‘Lost’. And that’s a beautiful thing. Because it’ll make you cry. Unless you’re too amazingly hip to own a TV or watch a mainstream television show. In that case, go fuck yourself. 

Monday, April 26, 2010

A Beginner's Guide To Trench Warfare. Part 1 of a 4 Part Series: Mr. Tim Mooney.

"They teach you there's a boundary line in music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."
--Charlie Parker

"If it's good then it sounds like what it's supposed to sound like, not like somebody else's record."
--Tim Mooney




Since the mastering date of my record The Graceless Age is quickly approaching (May 5th), it occurred to me that discussing the two people (aside from myself) most responsible for the record was a novel idea. Honestly, it's more than a novel idea as most of the time the engineers and producers receive little credit for the music they craft (outside of the bullshit world of musician-speak). The relationship between musician and engineer/producer necessarily becomes blurry (if you're doing it right) and the record created is the product of a neurotic relationship between two people intent on creating art (or, even better than that, rock and roll). It's a battlefield, a war, a minefield of opinions... And when the producer is as strong-willed as the musician, unless it all implodes, sometimes magical shit happens.

Tim Mooney is perhaps the most aggravating man alive. He is the Marcus Aurelius of recording; the Clint Eastwood of the mixing board. I am a rambling and easily bored walking bag of neurosis. Though Tim is one of my dearest friends (inside and outside of the studio) and we share very similar musical aesthetics, psychically we couldn't be more different. This is 75% of why we work so well together.

Let me elaborate: over the last 5 years since I began working with Mr. Mooney (whom I have desperately tried to create an obnoxiously sassy nickname for - any ideas?) I have never once heard him say things like "that's brilliant" or "you absolutely got it on that take, man" or "I think this record is gonna be truly beautiful". Instead, you only hear things like "that was good" and "wanna come in [the control room] and hear it" or "that was fine". All spoken with no emotion, no difference in inflection, no Oscar Wilde-ish romanticism. Over the last five years I've learned that the previously mentioned "Mooney-isms" are actually high praise. On occasion (and especially if you're a misguided and often wrong reader of conversational subtext like myself) you catch on to the nuances. If he raises the pitch of the last two words of "that could be good" it means "that was shit". If he says "I dunno, wanna hear it back [while cocking his head a little to the left]?" that means you should put a bag over your head and punch yourself in your own face. "That was better" means "it still isn't good enough". But if he says " wanna come in and hear it back" it means "that was spot on, you nailed it". If he says he went home, listened to the rough mix, and has a couple of ideas it means he fucking loves the song. For the hopelessly emotionally needy like myself, this can be incredibly aggravating. Eventually the uncontrollable waves of neurosis began to lap against my brain.

It all began with World Without End, a record I had convinced myself was good before we even started recording (I was still green to the whole studio thing to some extent - everything still sounded amazing to me on big studio monitors). I pretty much made it through that record without losing my shit. I didn't know at the time that I was a little Dutch dude unconsciously holding my finger in the dyke to stop the flow of madness.

With The Gunplay EP the shit began to hit the fan. Like a little kid who'll take any kind of attention they can get, when I became bored during mixing I would act like I was humping the back of Tim's head while he had his hands on the mixing board, desperately trying to ignore me. He could only contain his anger for 15 minutes or so at a time. When he stopped the playback and told me to cut it out the first time I was thrilled. I'd never felt such accomplishment. Needless to say, I faux-humped the back of his head daily (until he became seriously furious) for the rest of the mixing process. I felt triumphant and guilty all at once. It was like getting one over on my mom and then getting grounded. Worth it? I still don't know (about Tim or Tootie).

Soon after recording The Gunplay EP Chuck Prophet and I came up with the idea to record Waylon Jennings' Dreaming My Dreams from top to bottom in a far kinkier way. It was all done completely live and there were a minimum of five people in the live room at any given time. all playing together. No overdubs. J.J. Weisler was the engineer. Tim's only duty was to play drums. Being only a guitar player in the midst of actually talented guitar players (Chuck and Max Butler) my own self-loathing and paranoia reached it's pinnacle. The live headphone mix was muddy as hell because so much was going on. I began to believe my guitar was being intentionally cut out of the mix. I started saying I couldn't hear it between takes. Finally, mid take, I threw them off and started screaming "I can't hear my fucking guitar! I can hear everybody else. Turn my fucking guitar up! Are y'all even recording it, assholes?!?!". Chuck went back to the control room to talk to J.J. and see if it could be brought up. Chuck said, "don't worry, I can't hear mine either". I called him a liar. Tim got up and I assumed he was taking a piss. A year later Chuck told me Tim had in fact come into the control room and told Chuck not to try to turn up my guitar or to baby me and told him, "this is good for John". When Chuck told me that I knew Tim loved me. I had already fallen for him. Head over Redwings. Schoolgirl shit. It was still later that I heard the stories. Never from Tim himself, though I'd always ask him to tell me the whole story himself later.

At one point during the recording of Brinkley, Ark. & Other Assorted Love Songs I simply decided to light into Tim. I told him he was a dick, told him he was disconnected, told him I respected him and he showed no respect for me. I did all this in front of the studio intern. Tim smoked and barely avoided laughing. I told him he wasn't responsible for shit, that I was the tortured genius here (wow, what a lame and obvious sign of self-hatred and the deep-seated belief that I'm completely untalented), and that he needed to 'fess up to it. He needed to fucking TALK. I quit after about thirty minutes. We went back to mixing. The next day I told him I was sorry. He said, "Well maybe you just had to get it out. It's alright. I believe in ya.". I got pissed all over again. Why wouldn't he fight correctly? I sat for days wondering what was wrong with me. See? That's what Dr. Tim Freud does. Goob? Bad? I don't know. Thinking about it now I wonder if it's genius or if I should be upset still. That's the brilliance of it all with Tim: total ambiguity.

Here are a few of the more interesting tidbits. I will now disclose a few things in the hope that it doesn't embarrass the Mooney. At the same time I hope it does. Either way he'll have to get emotional with me.

1. Tim dated a pre-Cobain pre-completely-psycho Courtney Love. At the time they lived in Portland. They moved back to the Bay Area and were planning on living together. When Tim's momma met Courtney she told him in no uncertain terms that the bitch was crazy. Tim, always the family man (no shit - he loves his kid, his wife, and his parents and is a seriously involved father), listened to her and promptly dumped Courtney. Good move, as she mighta killed him later while dressed like Nancy and worse, he have seen Hole formed. I found out second hand at least a year after I'd known him.

2. Tim has been in a multitude of bands over the years. Since leaving American Music Club he has only played live with one person's projects - mine. When I figured that out I knew our marriage would make it through thick and thin. Tim has shared the stage with some of my heroes, namely The Clash, Bob Dylan, The Gun Club (while dating the slide guitar chick from that band), and The Bad Seeds. He never told me. He has played with an innumerable number of infamous people. You would know them all. Again, Tim never told me any of this. Others told me.

3. While at a show in England Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, coming off the release of Pablo Honey, announced to a dismissive Tim that Radiohead had a new record coming out called The Bends and that they had intentionally written a song imitating American Music Club and, in particular, Tim's drum and percussion stylings. Those songs were Nice Dream and Planet Telex. Once again, The Mooney-a-nator DID NOT tell me this necessary to know information. And again, I found out from someone else and verified with Timbo later.

4. Timmy learned recording from Mitchell Froom via Tchad Blake. Holy fuck.

5. Perhaps this personifies him best: When a certain Memphis troubadour (who will remain unnamed) was recording a record in San Francisco and attempted to impress Tim by showing him Joe Chicarelli's phone number in his cell phone, Tim replied, "It's been in mine for too long too, but who'd wanna call that guy?" with absolute deadpan seriousness. Tim isn't a namedropper. He's also not a popular-music-making-people hater. He's an enigma. He simply doesn't care. Not "I don't give a fuck". Just doesn't care, either to impress or to insult. It's very frustrating. When I wanna get my hate on he'll kinda chuckle and talk about how it'll go away when I get older (which only makes me crazier). When I wanna talk about the same record over and over, though, he'll become as engaged as me.

.There's a shitload of other stories, but I'm afraid to embarrass the guy. You'll have to find them out for yourself. Or wait for someone to comment on this post and tell some more of 'em.....

Another important piece of understanding Tim comes from understanding his diet. Tim has retained his perfect indie rock fighting weight his entire adult life. He ingests almost solely Fritos and black coffee. Lots of Fritos and coffee. And even more cigarettes. I believe myself to be a heavy intake nicotine dude. I smoke and dip. I go through a can and a half of Skoal and 18 or so cigarettes a day. Tim, without causing himself bronchial distress, can smoke three times that many cigarettes in 12 hours. And he does, everytime we work together. But at home he only steps out to smoke occasionally. He can suffer self-abuse and endure self-inflicted pain more than anyone I've ever met (and not just for those reasons). He's the St. Joan of production, mixing an odd purity of self with non-self-aggrandizing martyrdom. If you order pizza he'll eat one piece. He'll eat a burger but no fries. He's never on a diet. He just doesn't eat anything regularly but Fritos and coffee. When it's a particuarly funky day in Mooneyland he'll spring for some Fifth Avenue candy bars, which only adds to the weirdness. Bob Frank loves to bring whole bean coffee to Tim. It seems to be the crux of their relationship, the bond that holds them together. They both light up over that first pot of new coffee, more so than they ever do while making music. I don't drink coffee. I have always felt left out.

I could describe the process of creating The Graceless Age now, I suppose. It's too involved and frankly too insane to discuss now. It's a post of it's own primarily made up of an interview Chuck Prophet did with me over the course of the recording of the record. Look for it four posts down the pike. Coming next is an audio post of a discussion between Tim and myself about Tim and myself. It is sure to entertain. Look for it Tuesday.

What I will say is this: without Tim everything I've written, every idea I've come up with, every note I've played in the studio wouldn't be what it's been. And, with no hint of arrogance, I can honestly say it's all been good. Though Tim will never tell you so. Certainly not if I'm in the room. Maybe he believes that by forcing humility; by forcing me to embrace my own self-loathing, I will do what I can do as well as I possibly can. Of course, that may all be based on my subtext reading Freudian bullshit. Tim's an enigma. I began in awe of him. I'm still foiled psychically by him. When he means nothing I look for what's hidden. When he means something I don't listen; I don't hear it. It's the neurotic mismatch that allows for the struggle. The struggle makes you bleed. And you have to bleed to make anything of any worth. How I'm allowed the struggle and the friendship I don't know, but I'm grateful for both.

You've read part one of this four part series. Up next is the previously mentioned audio of the discussion between time and myself. Next, look forward to part three, an in-depth profile of the equally strange and neurotic Kevin Cubbins, the man reasonable for the mixing of The Graceless Age. The final post, the hilarious part four, will consist of audio recordings of voicemail excerpts from Kevin to me, excerpts of emails between the two of us, and text messages sent back and forth between us.

Following this series, after the mastering date of May 5th, I will post (along with two streaming songs from the new record), the story of The Graceless Age with the interview between Chuck and myself and the opinions of both Tim and Kevin regarding the things I said in the interview. Honestly is not always the best policy, but sometimes it is the most hilarious. This is one of those times.

Until then, enjoy these Mooney-related youtube clips:

Tim as young and shirtless drummer with The Sleepers, playing the great "Sister Little":

A ridiculous video made by some random dude for American Music Club's "Patriot's Heart", from the only American Music Club record produced and recorded by Tim (w/Tim on drums):

The video for "Boss Weatherford, 1933" off of Bob's and my record World Without End. It was produced and engineered by Tim, with Tim playing drums.