Give Blue the Bass

The willing victim of a canibal.

[beachdeath]

[hardtimesnews]

FULL STORY HERE

[marcitlali]

THE NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL ALBUM LMFSOOOJ

[gabrieldreyfuss]

Here’s my unofficial soundtrack for Wii Croquet

[leafcrunch]

this genuinely rules

[tinypi]

i’ll be honest i’m not even sure half of these are vines but here we go

[zubinswaghi]

So I was bored at work today and instead of doing something productive I made a mockup of a MMMM vinyl re-release instead.

In my mind the vinyl itself is the Red, Blue, Yellow, Gray and Green layered equally, even though I feel like that would be pretty difficult for an actual pressing plant to do. My other idea was an individual release for each member, so Joe’s would be:

And so on.

We now return to your regularly scheduled silence.

[nelson-and-murdock]

Reblog if you play an instrument or sing

I wanna see how many musicians are on tumblr!

[rarebritney]

@ boys with curly hair and dark brown eyes : stop

[zubinswaghi]

Did you mean @ Joseph Robert Hawley?

[xrvmoved]

tag yourself tally hall edition i’m joey (thank you @welcome-to-tally-hell for helping me make this fine meme)

[zubinswaghi]

Highly recommend checking out One Week // One Band this week (well, really all the time, but especially this week) because this week the focus is Tally Hall and the blogging is being done by @tally-hall-of-shame.

The first two posts are A+. Really hitting me right in my Tally feels.

[zubinswaghi]

A Band Comparing Shitpost

If you’ve seen my Other Bands page, you’ve probably seen a link which leads to the Spotify page for a band called Darlingside.

Now, I’d hate to jump to any sort of conclusions here, but that’s what I’m doing. Without further ado, I’d like to submit my theory that Darlingside is the indie folk reincarnation of Tally Hall. In particular, I think their general quirkiness and media (including their music/music videos) as well as some aspects of their appearance and their general band dynamic lends itself to this theory.

(Or maybe I was bored and I’ve been in to Darlingside for a while and I just like to imagine that all bands have a little Tally Hall in them...)

1) The quirk aspect...

Our beloved Tally Hall was always been notable for quirky and humorous skits, interviews, songs, website bios. Now, while Darlingside does not quite match the intricacies and pure radiance of Tally Hall’s quirk and humor, they do have their instances.

For example, the bio page on their newest website:

On the name of the band: “A former teacher of ours used to say ‘kill your darlings’...we like that idea and we thought a good name for it might be ‘darlingcide’, but we changed the ‘c’ to an ‘s’ because we’re not super into death.”

On the bond the band has formed after years of working together: “We’ve become intimate with each other’s childhoods, families, fears, goals, insecurities and body odors.”

“Adolescence came and went in its unflattering way, leaving Don with a repository of skillz including guitar, juggling, and uncanny Dr. Claw impressions.”

“Auyon Mukharji's lack of athleticism and physical prowess prompted his parents to enroll him in music classes at the tender age of three in the hopes that he might one day be a well-rounded college applicant.”

“Auyon has been referred to as ‘naïve, without financial wherewithal, and most probably very anxious to return home’ in the LA Times, and as ‘an embarrassment and a hooligan’ by his mother.”

“Regarding music, Harris is like a horse that drinks substantial amounts of water whenever it is available. And regarding other things, Harris is often like a horse that is very thirsty and would you mind taking it back to the water, please?”

“(Harris will also happily drink a pour-over, or scotch, or a nice pu-ehr if you were to lead him to one of those.)”

“In college, Dave chose his extra-curricular activities based on which organizations seemed to need a new website.”

Humor works its way into other areas of the website as well, such as the merch store:

“A perfect shirt for wearing, putting on, walking around in, and/or referring to as your "favorite shirt ever". You'll potentially get a lot of compliments if you wear this shirt, but please understand that's really not something we can control.”

And while videos like the ones below don’t reach THIS levels of comedic genius, I see some potential:

2) Media, artistic stylings, and themes...

MUSIC VIDEOS

Tally Hall also graced the world with some pretty kick ass music videos. In terms of originality and quality, I’d say Darlingside comes close.

“Still” utilizes sock puppets...so.

“The Woods” uses Flash-looking animation, slightly reminiscent of the “Turn the Lights Off” music video.

The “Terrible Things” music video is one of my favorite music videos of all time (concept wise), and if you’ve made it this far I highly suggest watching it.

Excellent song. Excellent video. (“The Ancestor”)

“The God of Loss” reminds me a lot of “Ruler of Everything” (really just the style of the characters) even though it’s really not the same...

LYRICS, THEMES, ETC.

Much like Tally Hall, some Darlingside tunes are fairly straightforward love-type songs (a lot coming from their first EP).

“As ways to go go I wouldn’t have thought it would end like this/Things I did yesterday I’ll do tomorrow again and again...” -Malea

“But still you’re in a still-life she’s drawn/And it’s nothing like the places she’s gone/And you’re hanging by the line that she’s walking on..” -Good Man

“I said too much too late, and you don’t feel it...” -Surround

And then there’s some self-reflective, “I’m an asshole” tunes that make me think of “Just Apathy.”

“You weren't the first to call me an arrogant son-of-a-bitch...now I spend my days alone and stay up all night with a picture of whiskey to my left, a bottle of you to my right.” -My Love

“Floor where I kissed my brother’s wife...all of the terrible things I have done Hell is a place where a horse cannot run.”

Songs about death and life and stuff.

“Go on, bury me/Under stone or under sea/Silent pictures/Keep the fishes company/There is little else for me now...” -The Ancestor

“Yes, we will leave here without a trace/Take a new name and an old shape.” -The God of Loss

“Even when we lost her, she was all we could find.” -She’s All Around

Weird, whimsical bullshit.

“He doesn’t say a thing, just nods and pulls out a sword...” -Harrison Ford

“Don’t know what the birds say...birds don’t know what you say.” -Birds Say

Really just the entirety of “Harrison Ford” to be honest.

3) Band dynamic, appearance, and other random stuff I’ll throw in...

Why not just start with this piece in The New Yorker (which is, unfortunately, too short)?

One of my favorite things about Tally Hall was--don’t you just hate having to talk about them in the past tense--how clearly the guys enjoyed hanging out with each other, goofing off, and just generally paling around (see: Boralogues, interviews, stage banter, THIS, etc.). I’d like to imagine most bands have good chemistry, and I’d also like to imagine Darlingside’s brand of friendship is in the same realm as Tally Hall’s (albeit less prominently documented).

For your consideration:

This quote from guitarist Don Mitchell: “Our friendships play an enormous role in how our music sounds, and they’re also what we lean on when the van breaks down, when we lose our voices, or when we advertise the wrong show time and no one is there to hear us...”

To be honest the entire interview that quote is taken from is pretty swell, would recommend (here)

And also this cool piece which includes a haiku describing the band’s sound:

Strings smothered with sings: Mandolin rocks, cello shocks, Face-melting drums—-POW!

The same piece has this gem from bassist David Senft : “There is simply nothing more rewarding than getting on stage with your best friends and showing a crowd of excited people something you just thought up in your living room.”

Other random stuff:

Darlingside’s bespectacled guitarist/vocalist has a biology degree, just like Tally Hall’s bespectacled guitarist/vocalist (the similarities more or less end there).

Both the members of Darlingside and the members of Tally Hall met in college and subsequently formed their respective bands.

Senft had not played bass prior to being in Darlingside, just like Zubin hadn’t played bass before Tally Hall.

Both Darlingside and Tally Hall feature badass ethnic men* with cool names (Auyon Mukharji and Zubin Sedghi respectively).

*(I do realize that there is really not way to make a point of pointing out someone’s race without seeming inherently racist. I apologize for that, just pointing out the similarities here. Didn’t mean to make it seem like Auyon and Zubin are the Token Minorities™)

Like Tally Hall, Darlingside parted ways with their first drummer (unlike Tally Hall, they did not replace said drummer with a small, silver-haired cinnamon roll).

David (second from the left) kinda looks like Joe in this pic maybe it’s just me and maybe I’m just crazy and maybe I just think every good looking, curly-haired man is Joseph Hawley:

(It’s also worth mentioning that he only kinda looks like Joe in a couple of pictures, disproving my theory greatly)

4) A weird series of disclaimers to end this shitpost...

No band will ever again reach the personal impact and underrated genius of Tally Hall. 

Everything Tally Hall produced was top notch and sometimes I just get really depressed and angry thinking about their absence.

Darlingside is really, fundamentally, not super similar to Tally Hall, but once I started on this train of thought I just couldn’t stop.

(Darlingside is, however, a Band Comprised of Cool Dudes™ and I’m inclined to compare all Bands Comprised of Cool Dudes™ to Tally Hall)

I don’t know if this post was serious or not, just roll with it.

Links and stuff that have no other places to go:

Another interview (slightly wackier than the previous two)

A Beer with the Band interview

Cool Huffington Post piece featuring a Darlingside album review/interview about halfway through

Audiotree Live session

And their Instagram, featuring gems like this one from 42 weeks ago (I really dug for this shitpost):

[zubinswaghi]

Probably going to compile a page full of non-Tally Hall bands I like, just ‘cause. So...look for that, I guess.

[zubinswaghi]

Sometimes I think of Tally Hall performing an Audiotree Live Session (like) or an NPR Tiny Desk Concert (like) and I get really emotional...

[zubinswaghi]

Tally Cocktails

A few months ago I asked tally-hall-of-shame what she thought each Tally Hall member’s signature drink would be. I forget the results of said ask (and I can’t seem to locate the original post), but the gist is since then I’ve become more knowledgeable about alcoholic beverages, so, without further delay...Tally Cocktails.

Joe 

The obvious choice for a Hawley-inspired mixed drink is a pina colada (because, ya know, Hawaii). To make it more Joe-esque I’d substitute half of the rum for absinthe (because Joe Hawley is essentially absinthe personified). It would be served in a pineapple with the stella octangula symbol carved into it. It’d probably be garnished with a cherry (because something has to be red), or I’d throw a splash of grenadine in it to change the color.

Rob

Rob would be a sophisticated yet wacky yellow cocktail. I’m thinking a mix of a citrus flavored vodka, Strega—this Italian herbal liqueur that’s yellow because it contains saffron, some banana flavored liqueur and lemon juice. It would be served in a cocktail glass and garnished with a lemon peel—cut to look like a tie—and one of those drink stirrers that looks like a flamingo.

Andrew

My original thought for Andrew was “Irish coffee” (because “green” and Andrew makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside), but that seemed uninspired. Then I remembered the edu song “Lemons and Pears.” I cheated a bit and looked on a drink recipe website and found a drink called a “Sweet and Good” (which is Andrew in a nutshell), which has vodka, cognac and pear cider. It would be served in a highball glass and garnished with a lime wedge, again carved to look like a tie.

Zubin

Zubin always struck me as a pretty high energy guy, so it only makes sense that his drink would include Red Bull (or, alternatively, blue Monster). Added to the Red Bull would be vodka and—obviously—Blue Curacao to achieve the desired color. It would be served in a highball glass and garnished with some monstrous thing that looks like his fabulous—and unfortunately short lived—scene hair.

Ross

Ross deserves something as simple, classy and elegant as he is. I’m thinking gin is a good base…gin just screams “silver fox” to me. I’m thinking a simple martini: just gin and some dry vermouth. Now I personally despise olives, so I’d make my Ross-tini with a zesty twist of lemon instead, but something tells me Ross is a purist. So, in his spirit, the drink would be served in a cocktail glass and garnished with an olive (which would be on a skewer that looks like a drumstick). It is mandatory to talk about science whilst drinking this.

Bora

Bonus Bora! Keeping with the colors, it would obviously be orange. I’m thinking a tequila sunrise (because I’m a tequila fan). Just some silver tequila, a splash of grenadine and orange juice. They’re traditionally garnished with an orange slice, but for Bora’s I’d use a slice of lemon from his lemon tree instead. You are required to drink this in fifteen seconds or less.

So, yep, there you have it...Tally Cocktails. Drink these (responsibly) to numb the pain you feel whenever you remember that Tally Hall isn’t an active band anymore...

[stopthisnow]

[tally-hall-of-shame]

Seriously, *bluck* Coz...he's baby. He does not have sole ownership of Tally Hall; those things were compiled on HITS, sure, but they're not ~his~. They were compiled there by fans to share amongst a loving community, and now he's pissed because the community has expanded and consequently outgrown him as a figurehead. He's demeaning the "fandom" and "obsession" fans have for Tally Hall while simultaneously being weirdly obsessive and possessive over their content. What an asshat.

i think you hit the nail right on the head there describing that very strange contradictory attitude he’s got going on— like, we’re the weird ones for being obsessive while he’s expending enormous amounts of energy arguing with teenagers on the internet and ranting his head off about how offended he is about a totally innocuous and completely justified action from the band? like……. ok dude………….. sure

[playfulpunch]

Y’know, I gotta say somethin’.  Hopefully I’m not the only one getting this vibe:

This whole deal reeks of hatred for teenage girls.  I know, there’s a good variety of ages/genders in this little community (I’m not a teen girl, f’rinstance), but Tumblr fans are often characterized as teen girls, who are perpetually mocked and dismissed on and off the internet.  And Coz seems eager to dismiss the real enthusiasm present in this fandom, and I believe he is applying totally backwards standards of who “owns” content/who “runs” a fandom largely due to this kind of prejudice, even if it’s unconscious.  Though I doubt it is.

It’s like how when teen girls are enthusiastic about a band, it’s either A) not a real band, and they’ve been brainwashed by the media into squealing over “talentless boybands,” or B) a band that they must like for wrong/superficial reasons, because it’s too good for girls to genuinely appreciate.  You get grown men feeling the need to “defend” things they like against the dreaded Teen Girl Enthusiam.  It’s misogynistic as well as ageist, and though he’s careful with his words in an ugly parody of courtesy and doesn’t explicitly refer to gender in this community, I’m getting the vibe pretty strongly from Coz.

And while it’s the shift in social media (in favor of a less fenced-in community, hence the onslaught of new younger fans) that he’s openly moaning about, his disdain for fangirl-esque enthusiasm isn’t new.  There’s always been a variety of Tally Hall fans; there were young teens on the Atlantic forums as well as folks in their 20s/30s.  And even then, in this idyllic community that we supposedly exploited/destroyed, I remember one or two occasions where Coz would try to discourage forum discussions that seemed too…fangirly?  This was years ago and I have no screencaps, but I remember things rubbing me the wrong way.

Having lived through being a teenage girl, I’ve grown all too aware of how ridiculed, patronized, and outright hated that demographic is, how cynically marketed-to they are…and it’s so pervasive that teen girls do it themselves (pretty sure that’s when the “I’m not like other girls” is strongest, rejecting femininity is cool, trash-talking boybands feels necessary, etc.), and other who should know better backhandedly mock them by attacking fandom culture.  So it’s a demographic I want to fiercely defend.

Not trying to derail the conversation or anything…the main point is still that Coz is a bitter, self-serving fuck!  But this angle hasn’t been covered yet and I have strong feelings about it, so…there’s my rant.

[ranbouya-deactivated20171011]

did you know? tally hall is actually an abbreviation for each of the band members’ names!

rob cantor AAAAAAAAAAaaajoe lzubin let’s talk about ross why andrew… why

tbora bora boralogue love this man, his name is bora bora?? yes

[zubinswaghi]

Zubin Swaghi Interprets: The Weird HITS Farewell Rant

Because it is late and I am livid and bored and yep this is happening.

Welcome to Hiddeninthesand.com (HITS). The Ultimate Tally Hall Fan Headquarters! Or, at least it was for almost 10 years, until I shut it down.

Very passive. Much aggressive.

Hi, I'm Coz.  I started HITS in April, 2006. It was a place for fans of Tally Hall to contribute to a community. Fans of Tally Hall had a place to write up their concert reviews, editorials, submit fan art, photos, videos, and communicate with other fans.

Translation: Hi, I’m a manchild. I started HITS in April, 2006; I keep saying the word “community,” but I only mean my community. No other fan community can compile Tally Hall content. That’s not allowed.

For 9 years, it was all in one place, as intended. A "one-stop shop" for everything you needed to know about Tally Hall.

Translation: I had a monopoly on the Tally Hall fandom for nearly a decade and now I’m mad that a younger, hipper, safer and more accessible community has been formed.

The fans of Tally Hall have changed, though. And that's not a bad thing. The core community have mostly all let their love for Tally Hall simmering on the backburner, stirring it once in a while for the sake of nostalgia. Again, not a bad thing.  But there's simultaneously been an entirely new generation of fans discovering the band over the last couple years. It would be wonderful, except…

Translation: The fans of Tally Hall have realized I’m a selfish asshat. I’m mad younger people enjoy the same things I do.

The landscape of the internet has changed. Internet culture has changed as a younger generation inhabits it.  For one thing, it's all about "The Stream". Younger users do not have a need for a single website dedicated to a single band. They have become more enclosed in The Stream to appreciate what's outside of it. The community of Tally Hall fans HITS once had was strong. There was no divisiveness; no competition, no selfishness.

Translation: The Interwebs are changing and I am sad because now there’s competition and I have no idea how to deal.

(ALSO WHAT THE FUCK IS THE STREAM JUST SAY TUMBLR OR TALLY HALL OF SHAME SPECIFICALLY WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT!?!?!?)

No longer does it appear there is a sense of appreciation for the years of hard work that I and many others put into building HITS. The content therein has been raped and pillaged long enough, without even a source attributed, and spread out into The Stream.  In fact, many newer fans of Tally Hall are led to believe most of what's been rehashed lately is "new", when in fact, most are things that have been sitting within HITS for many years.  But people don't care to go to a website anymore. If it's not in their stream, it doesn't exist.

Translation: People aren’t collectively--metaphorically--sucking my dick and praising me and that makes me mad. I’m pissed because a new generation is enjoying something and I’m getting little to no credit for it.

Also here he a likens redistributing content from HITS to raping and pillaging which is just...insensitive.

Indeed, the content we put together has laid stagnant, since the band is inactive. I liken it to a museum, still with open doors, but collecting dust. But rather than pointing people in the direction of the museum, it's relics have all been taken. The foundation and bricks have been taken, one piece at a time, and thrown into The Stream; sometimes even with an attempt to re-build some sort of structure using our sweat and our bricks & mortar.

Translation: I can’t really put intelligent thoughts together, so I’m just going to use metaphors.

Fun fact: museums are open to everyone to enjoy and I assume--like other business-related things--they change management if the prior proprietor becomes...problematic. 

That being said, the Internet is NOTHING LIKE A FUCKING MUSEUM because stuff is made to be shared and redistributed and appreciated on a global scale THAT’S THE POINT OF THE FUCKING INTERNET.

This is the main reason I've decided to shut down the website. Simply said, there's a complete lack of respect for what we've done. Though it's too late to save the majority of the community's content, at least I can make an attempt to not look like I'm just letting it happen anymore.

NO ONE INSIDE THE BAND IS COMPLAINING THIS CONTENT BEING REDISTRIBUTED. NO ONE FROM THE NOW DEFUNCT HITS COMMUNITY IS COMPLAINING. JOE--the Tally Coz claims to be “closest” to--HUNG OUT WITH THE APPARENT SHE-DEVIL/MUSEUM THIEF/PROBLEMATIC MILLENNIAL tally-hall-of-shame. NO ONE ELSE CARES. 

Furthermore, I just don't understand the new generation of fans. It's an age thing, for sure. I'm 35 years old. I can't be expected to relate to an audience that falls mainly between 12 and 20. But I never expected there to be a generation gap in relation to celebrating a fantastic band.  Oohhhh but there is.  There is a level of obsession expressed in social media that, to me, seems wildly unhealthy. "Fandom" to the core. I'm uncomfortable witnessing it. It makes me uneasy. It makes ME not want to be a part of it anymore.

Again:

Translation: I am admitting to be a grown-ass man with a weird vendetta against children/young adults. I don’t understand how fandom works in the newfangled age. What’s a meme? What’s irony? I don’t know. I’m uncomfortable because I can’t relate.

(Oddly enough, Coz makes ME uncomfortable)

Through my personal dedication to celebrating the band, I've been lucky enough to develop somewhat personal friendships with the guys. They let me behind the curtain on a number of occasions and I will always treasure that. I will always enjoy looking through my collection of Tally Hall memorabilia, including my prized "#1 Tally Hall Fan" trophy.

Translation: I think I’m better than everyone else because I have a trophy that was given to me because the band is cool.

This site was, of course, never about me. But I gained a lot from it. It gave me purpose. To an albeit small portion of people, I was important. But that's gone.  For now, at least.

Translation: the site was never about me, but I’m mad when people don’t credit me for the site’s work. I used to be important but now I’m realizing I can be replaced and that bothers me.

So that's where I'm at. But then this happened:

(STUFF WITH JOE)

A purposefully malicious takedown strike against the HITS YouTube account by Joe, who previously had expressly given me permission to share old demos at my discretion. And my heart, in this matter, was broken.

“Purposefully malicious.” Or, ya know, just Joe Hawley being Joe Hawley.

There is so much you guys don't know. So much you don't need to know.  But you should at least know that what you don't know could fill up an entirely new website.

Translation: I’m being vague because I have no logical basis for for argument.

So, what happens if they become active again as a band?

I don't know. I'll make a decision if/when the time comes.  Maybe I'll put everything back up. Maybe only a portion of it.

What about HITS' Streams?

I'll keep the Facebook and Twitter going for sharing news and stuff. Tumblr is probably not going to get used much, if at all. That's a world I do not belong in, nor do I want to.

Translation: I know I’ve lost.