Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Not all heroes wear capes.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The lights are all blinking red.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

I really should read my own blog.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

This really is a full service blog.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

You are here: Home / Artists In Our Midst / PhaedrusOnBass – Murdering the Classics!

PhaedrusOnBass – Murdering the Classics!

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If you would like your talent featured in Authors in Our Midst or Artists in Our Midst, just send me an email message and we’ll make it happen.  Don’t be shy!  I have no more Artists or Authors posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.

Let’s give a warm welcome to PhaedrusOnBass!

Hello! This is PhaedrusOnBass (Ethan McCaffrey), inveterate lurker and occasional commenter on this wonderful site. I’ve been invited to share details on my music project’s latest release, so here they are.

Audiot Savant grew out of several bands in the Sacramento CA area in the late 1990s-early 2000s. In 2006, my vocation took me away from home often, so I had to give up the bar band thing. A couple of years later, my guitarist friend Chris Plescia and I started messing around recording songs in Chris’s garage. By 2010, we had enough material that we decided to self-publish a CD called “Work in Progress,” an all-instrumental album.

We worked through the 2010s producing more music, learning the techniques of record production and getting better at songwriting. We enlisted the help of a few friends as well to round things out. The biggest change for us was going from working together to always working apart, since I moved away from California five years ago. We now use Dropbox and Zoom to collaborate, and still create good music (at least we think so). “Murdering the Classics” is the fifth release from this project, released March 1, 2024.

Our musical influences are all over the place, and Chris and I are different enough that the music draws from both our eclectic tastes. We don’t do this for money. We just want to learn more about music production and continue to have fun exploring songwriting and playing music. We are not a “playing” band* due to our separation, but we still have a good time.

You can find our music on all major platforms worldwide. Here are a few links:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5QAa43IB5QqfweFFI4B2q7

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3h4qUIkfBTPBClQpDn6jxA

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/artists/B00D3HX8II/audiot-savant

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/audiot-savant/655153810

Website: https://writeethan.com/music/

If you subscribe to Spotify, Amazon, or Apple, the music is included with your subscription. YouTube plays are free to all. Yes, I did say we don’t do this for money, but if you feel inclined to throw us a few shekels, you can purchase the full CDs on Amazon or Apple.

Please check us out, and we hope you like what you find!

* Well, we did play one gig…with the help of some friends…in 2017…in another friend’s backyard…

 

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  8. 8.

    Phaedrusonbass

    @WaterGirl: Yes, the new one became available today. It’s my first real foray into lead vocals. Please be gentle 😁

    Chris wants to let everyone know that we’re big in the US Outer Islands.

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    I love your music, PoB!  I’m interested in your musical influences.  I’m hearing a really cool fusion of different genres, but I’d love to know what you listen to and what inspires your music.

  15. 15.

    G00fbro2

    Thanks for sharing Phaedrus. Quick shout out to my immensely talented wife Sharlene Plescia ([email protected]) for the album covers for WIP, The Cage, IV and Murdering the Classics.

  17. 17.

    Phaedrusonbass

    @MomSense: Thank you so much! Chris and I have varying influences that mesh well together.

    Chris: 70s guitar rock (you should hear him play Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes), Frank Zappa

    Me: Prog rock, metal, and new wave.

    We completely bonded over a band called Porcupine Tree, an English prog band. We’ve been stealing from them for almost 20 years 😁

  19. 19.

    Steve in the ATL

    @WaterGirl: absolutely!  My list wasn’t intended to be exhaustive, obviously, but that was a big omission.  I regret the error.

  22. 22.

    Phaedrusonbass

    @Steve in the ATL: We’ll, I think I would be referred to as “an acquired taste.” Setting expectations, it’s a lot like the large Peter Steele of Type O Negative.

  23. 23.

    Phaedrusonbass

    @WaterGirl: Thanks so much. DLP is a tribute to Rush, using the initials of their favorite nicknames for each other: Dirk (Geddy), Lerxt (Alex), and Pratt (Neil).

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    @Phaedrusonbass:

    YES! I can hear those influences.

    I never listened to Porcupine Tree before – definitely will check them out.

    Any other bands or musicians in particular that speak to you?

    Speaking of Stevie, I feel so honored to have met him.  When I was in college I was a work scholarship student.  My sophomore year his band played our Spring Fling concert.  My friend Gene and I were the new members of the Dining Services student management team so we were the two who had to work the one dining hall that was open while all the upper classment went to the concert.  One guy in particular was a major Stevie fan.  Anyway, Gene and I were inside an empty dining hall and after the concert THE BAND CAME IN!!  Gene and I were sort of standing near the dishroom and he invited us to sit with them.    We sat with the band and Stevie was so sweet-genuinely interested in us and wanted to know about our lives.  Gene shared things about his life that I hadn’t heard and we were really close.  Gene was 6’8″ or so and from Nigeria.  I share that because the two of them sitting close together were quite the pair.  Gene and his family had been through some major trauma in Nigeria and during their escape.  I think Gene shared those things only because Stevie was such a compassionate person especially given what he had been through getting sober, etc.

  31. 31.

    PhaedrusOnBass

    @Steve in the ATL: Here goes:

    Physical:

    Chris: Guitar (Les Paul, a Gibson SG, a couple of Strats, and a semi-acoustic Telecaster); Keyboards (Nektar controller)

    Me: Bass guitar (Yamaha 6-string, Ibanez 5-string), keyboards (M-Audio controller)

    Synths (computer-based):

    Mostly NI Kontakt, Auturia Pigments, and IK ModoBass, with various sample packs and other goodies. Mac computers.

  33. 33.

    PhaedrusOnBass

    @MomSense: That’s such an awesome story. You are blessed. I was lucky enough to see his last tour with Jeff Beck – he had one of those plastic dancing flowers on one of his amps, and it was boogie-ing along all night!

    I have a very eclectic musical taste. Some of my faves are Dream Theater, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Metallica, Rush, DEVO, Rage Against the Machine, and King’s X. I look like a banker, so some are shocked at what I listen to,

  36. 36.

    trollhattan

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Heh, will allow.

    Honest to god we thought they were a parody band ala The Tubes when they first appeared.

    Singer like Donald Duck, overwrought arena guitar, bagpipes? Epic prank!

    At some point realized no, they really meant it.

  39. 39.

    Yutsano

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m sorry I hadn’t said anything previous to now, but I hope he does get better. And honestly I’d insist he stay there until you guys have some more concrete answers. My love and healing light to you both!

  49. 49.

    Dangerman

    @PhaedrusOnBass: Some of my faves are Dream Theater, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Metallica, Rush, DEVO, Rage Against the Machine, and King’s X.

    Only time to sample, not listen now, but definitely Progressive. Genesis and Rush shine through. Not big into King Crimson but KC and bass means Tony Levin (I wanna learn how to play the Chapman stick!), and TL and Progressive means you must enjoy Peter Gabriel.

    Bookmarked for listening when I have time. Which sadly, is not now.

  51. 51.

    Dangerman

    You know who you sound like? Travis Larson Band. Been around forever (25 years?). Local boys (and girl, sorry, Jennifer, definitely didn’t forget you; BTW, Jennifer is the bassist, she does a mean impression of Victor Wooten, meaning she’s good, hell they are all good). Anyway, check them (especially her) out.

    Jennifer, this is my proposal of marriage if you read Balloon-Juice

    ETA: All recommendations greatly welcomed. I love listening to Paradise Radio (maybe it is Radio Paradise; I can never recall) which came from a recommendation here.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    @PhaedrusOnBass: This thread may go on, on and off, throughout the evening, but I am heading out.

    So I just wanted to thank you now for doing this and suggest that you check on the thread again tomorrow for any new comments.

  57. 57.

    Dangerman

    Jennifer covering Victor Wooten (when are Bela Fleck and the Flectones coming around again?), who did the record with TLB.

    Famous song.

  58. 58.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Thanks for posting all these links to your music…I’ve bookmarked it for a deeper dive.

    Your love of Genesis…Foxtrot…Selling England by the Pound vintage? I still listen to those!

  60. 60.

    Phaedrusonbass

    @Sure Lurkalot: Awesome! 70s prog is always in heavy rotation for me. Such biting social commentary for such young men.

    ”Some of you are going to die, martyrs of course to the freedom that I will provide.”

    Thanks for the kind words!

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