Stanley Ross :: MN-EP

The first hi-hats were called “clangers”, small cymbals mounted on a bass drum rim and hit with an arm on the bass drum pedal. Next came “snow shoes”, two hinged boards with cymbals on the ends that were clashed together. Then came the “low-boy” much like the modern hi-hat but the cymbals were close to the ground. When disassembled, drum parts look alot like bicycle parts. The steel tubes are about the same diameter and small bits of bicycle chain is usually used to trigger the hi-hat and kick drum.

Young Nicholas Meiers rode a Diamond Back around his hometown of Bizmarck, North Dakota. Vintage security cameras caught him from many angles, on a perpetual sugar high, zooming from the art deco shadows of the capitol building to the banks of the Missouri on a constant lookout for something new to light on fire. He did the usual things with his time that any kid would do, he just did a lot more of them. His energy was / is unparalleled, some would call him a dynamo and some would call him a spazz.

hy·per·ac·tive adj.
1. Highly or excessively active
2. a. Having behavior characterized by overactivity. b. Having attention deficit disorder. Not in scientific use.
3. Nick Meiers

The multiverse (meta-universe or metaverse) is a theory that multiple universes exist comprising the entirity of space and time. One theory exists of a hyperactive universe in which a mirror of our universe is accelerated or “spun” to blinding speeds. Typically these theories are illustrated with large discs, representing each parallel universe, clanging against each other.

When hit while closed, the hi-hat gives a short, muted percussive sound. However, by adjusting the gap between the cymbals a performer can alter the sound to a shimmering, sustained tone.

Tracklist: (right-click to download)
Do With Our Days (7.7MB MP3)
Have It All (6.8MB MP3)
Bicycle (Take So Long) (8.4MB MP3)
Lost in the Stereo (10MB MP3)
Dream On (5.6MB MP3)
Sympathetic Sounds (10.1MB MP3)




Notes:
drums: Jim Duffy
guitar/vox: Nicholas Meiers
bass: Domenico Ferri
slide guitar: Jim Miller
trumpet: Tim Cronin
bg vox: Dan Duffy, Sarah Stefan, Ariel Bolles

engineer: Kris Poulin
asst. engineer: Gary Burger
mastering: Carl Saff

recorded at Gary Burger Audio / Video in Turtle River, MN and at Love Shanks in Chicago, IL

all songs Nicholas D. Meiers (c) 2010
Paid To Sleep (ASCAP)