'Silly String III' Bandcamp (purchase) CD (purchase) Individual Song Breakdowns --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the record: The undertaking of this record was inspired by a confluence of events. There was the plain-and-simple condition of feeling stimulated and inspired, coupled with a back catalog of bass riffs, along with my wont of outclassing previous efforts and concluding an established series of releases. I had the opportunity to again work with most of the personnel from Projects III, as well as access to Gabriele, who upon wrapping on our previous session (for the self-titled record), remarked, “Maybe a little more chart next time?” Well, he got his wish! Finally, after many years of being fond of the sound of hammered dulcimer, I had purchased the compact, Persian rendition of this instrument: the santoor/santur. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits 1. The End of Everything 2. Cachinnating Fulgurations 3. Lunacy 4. Knotted Saccade 5. Sine Qua Non of Inscrutability 6. Parvenu 7. My Umbra 8. The End of Anything  · Travis Orbin - Drum set, Percussion,    Bass, Santoor, Synthesizer, Theremin,    Programming, Vocals  · Rafael Trujillo - Guitar, Acoustic Guitar on 7  · Pete Peterson - Guitar Solo on 6  · Alexander von Hagke - Saxophone on 1, 3, 5, 7  · Sophia Uddin - 7-String Electric Violin on 1, 5, 7  · Gabriele Balsamo - Marimba on 1, 5, 7, 8  · Sinha Fürbeck - Vocals on 3, 5, 7  · Gabriel Riccio - Guest Vocals on 1  · Sacha Mullin - Guest Vocals on 5  · Tomas Perez - Guest Vocals on 6  · 7-string electric violin engineered by    Gabriel Riccio at his home studio  · Sacha Mullin’s guest vocal engineered by    Gabriel Riccio at his home studio  · Vocal editing on 1 by Gabriel Riccio  · Piano VST Production on 3 by Gabriel Riccio  · Everyone else self-engineered at their    respective home studios  · Guest vocal arrangement on 1 by Gabriel Riccio  · Guitar solo on 6 by Pete Peterson  · Saxophone solo on 7 by Alexander von Hagke  · Marimba solo on 8 by Gabriele Balsamo  · Spoken word on 8 by Anusha Salimi  · Composed, Produced, and Mixed by Travis Orbin  · Lyrics by Travis Orbin  · Mastered by Taylor Larson at MixWave Studios  · Cover Art by Violetta Váradi Thank you to my fans, friends, associates, and family; especially my mother for her perpetual support and my neighbors for putting up with all of the racket. Also, thank you to my endorsements: Pearl Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo drumheads, Vic Firth drumsticks, RTOM drum accessories, Vratim drum shoes, and E-Pad! Practice Pads. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cover Art Construction I had planned to commission Violetta again, after having such an easy, delightful experience working together on Projects III. This time around, rather than MP3s of the MIDI demos, I actually had some early mixes with which to inspire her. In my initial e-mail, along with these mixes+the lyrics, I sent the art for all three previous ‘Silly String’ releases—with a caveat to allow for it to “inspire” her but not “influence”—along with some buzz-words: zany, absurd, surreal, abstract, psychedelic, and ostentatious. Violetta picked up on the subtle environmentalism theme, and delivered a large handful of digital works, as she did with PIII. I quite enjoy this method, as it has a parallel to my own when doing session work for bands: deliver a simulacrum of the finished product, then get cracking on the ideal rendition. Violetta’s digital works were so great that I commissioned two pieces, one for the front cover and another for the back. As before, she also shipped them from Hungary, arriving safe and sound. Consummate! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silly String III Gear List: “The End of Everything” · 12”/16” Pearl Reference Pure tom-toms with Vintage Emperor coated batters/Emperor clear resonants · 6.5”x14” Reference brass snare drum with Controlled Sound X/Ambassador Hazy snare side · 20” Reference Pure bass drum with Powerstroke III coated batter/Ebony Powerstroke III ported resonant · Cymbals (from left to right, player’s perspective): 20” K Heavy Ride, 19” K Dark Thin Crash, custom hats (14” K Constantinople bottom (top) / 14” K Custom High Definition Bottom (bottom), 8” A Custom Splash, small ‘stack’ (8” FX Trashformer / 10” A Custom EFX), 13” A New Beat Hi-hats, 19” K Custom Hybrid Crash, 18” K Custom Special Dry China, 19” K China “Cachinnating Fulgurations” · same setup as “The End of Everything,” except with a regular ‘stack’ (14” A Custom EFX / 16” Oriental China “Trash”) in place of the 8” A Custom Splash “Lunacy” · same setup as “The End of Everything,” except with an 11” FX Oriental “Trash” Splash in place of the 8” A Custom, and an 8” A Custom Splash in place of the small ‘stack’ “Knotted Saccade” · same setup as “Lunacy,” except with a 20” K Custom Flat Ride in place of the 20” K Heavy, and an 18” K Dark Thin Crash in place of the 19” K Custom Hybrid, 15” K Light Hi-hats in place of the custom hats, and a 6.5”x14” Sensitone brass snare in place of the Reference brass; bass drum is played with a VicKick fleece-covered beater “Sine Qua Non of Inscrutability” · same setup as “The End of Everything,” except with a 6” A Custom Splash in place of the small ‘stack’ “Parvenu” · same setup as “Cachinnating Fulgurations” “My Umbra” · same setup as “Knotted Saccade,” except with a 22” K Constantinople Renaissance Ride in place of the 20” K Custom “The End of Anything” (first appearance of drums) · same setup as “Sine Qua Non of Inscrutability” (middle/improvised solo section) · same setup as “Knotted Saccade,” except with a 20” K Heavy Ride in place of the 20” K Custom Flat, no small effects cymbals or 13” hats, a 22” K Constantinople Renaissance Ride in place of the 18” K Dark Thin Crash, the 18” K Dark Thin Crash in place of the 18” K Custom China, and a 4”x14” maple piccolo snare in place of the Sensitone (outro) · same setup as “Knotted Saccade”; bass drum played with regular beaters

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