Project 27: 27 Club

Project 27, will focus on the infamous 27 Club, those unfortunate folks who passed at age 27. We will cover songs from those artists for Project 27.
Submit your song to Basement Sketches via email and include a brief write-up and image by Saturday, September 23 at 9pm CST.
All songs will be posted Sunday, September 24.

Thomas Stromsodt

I’ve always loved this song. It’s reminds of growing up on a farm and just disappearing. I meant to re-sing it but I spaced out. J plays an E-bow.

Noah Warren

Janis and her pal Bob Neuwirth, along with Geraldine Page, Patti Smith and Rip Torn all stop at Vahsen’s bar in Port Chester, NY for a pre-show drink. Janis tries to recall a song by beat poet Michael McClure that has a line “Come on, God, and buy me a Mercedes Benz.” No one can remember the song so she starts riffing, belting out lyrics like a sea shanty as everyone bangs their beer mugs in unison. As they improvise she tasks Bob to write down the lyrics on various cocktail napkins. That night at her Capitol theater show she decides to perform it saying,

“I just wrote this at the bar on the corner. I’m going to do it Acapulco.”

She sings it once more at a show in Boston and then calls Michael McClure saying,

“I’m singing a song with your ‘mercedes benz’ line in it.”

Michael makes her sing the song to him over the phone. He then plays his own Mercedes Benz song on an autoharp that Bob Dylan gave him and says,

“I like my song better.”
“…well, I like mine better," Janis laughs,"Do you mind if I use it?”

“No, go ahead.”

Despite Michael ignoring any discussions of money or credit, Janis and Bob gave him a writing credit.

In September of 1970 Janis and her band were close to finishing their album Pearl when the gigantic 2 inch 16-track tape machine they were utilizing broke down. During the delay, the band gets antsy and sour. Janis says “have you heard my new hit?” and proceeds to sing Mercedes Benz to lighten the mood. Producer Paul Rothchild captures this moment on a tiny two-track quarter inch tape recorder. It’s a device he always keeps running in the studio to capture on-the-spot improvisations that the band can later reference. This was the version that ended up on Pearl and ultimately the last song she recorded before her demise in room 105 of the Landmark Motor Hotel. This song would go on to afford Michael McClure a house in the Oakland hills of Butters Canyon.

I felt most comfortable keeping this cover as stripped down as possible, so I recorded the percussion of my feet on gravel outside- I also limited myself to one take outside in the wild. There are some car effects I added later, as well as Janis' laugh. There's this subtle, desperate melancholy that runs underneath the childlike exuberance of this song- it's simple, it's fun, it's silly- all things I love.

Kelly Duclos

Grant Eull

When the idea of covering 27 Club songs for project 27 came up I was incredibly excited. I am just disappointed I didn't get around to doing more of the selections I had picked out. I simply couldn't find time for more than one this month. It was a very difficult choice, but of all of the talent that left us at this age I was personally most affected by the loss of Kurt Cobain. He was a big influence on the music I played at the time and to this day I still love to crank up the volume and get that energy kick from the sound that Nirvana gave the world. Technically, this was one of the most efficient covers I have attempted. It came with ease over just a couple hours and I left the production simple and raw. I choose not to dwell on what Nirvana would have done; I am just happy Kurt gave us what he could when he did.

Colby Heston

Andrew Charon

I'm uncertain whether this piece for Basement Sketches feels final or perhaps just another experiment. Nonetheless, it was an absolute blast to create. From the moment the idea of covering songs from the 27 club, I couldn't contain my excitement about tackling "Celebration of the Lizard" by The Doors. However, I had no inkling of how the project would unfold. The original track comprises seven distinct sections, yet I managed to make it through just over five of them: "Lions in the Street," "Wake Up," "A Little Game," "The Hill Dwellers," and "Not to Touch the Earth." I pulled this off in a mere two days.

I've been toying around with Logic in my recent submissions and, this time around, I finally felt like I was getting more out of it by pushing its boundaries. Plus, I had to get inventive after my microphone decided to call it quits. There's something exhilarating about not knowing the destination of a musical journey when you start it.

My inspiration for this project dates back to my high school days in the late 80s. During that era, I was enamored with music from the late 60s, including The Doors and Jimi Hendrix. "The Lizard King" always piqued my curiosity in relation to Jim Morrison, until I stumbled upon The Doors' live album "Absolutely Live." It was then that I realized their live performances were an entirely different realm, and that's where I encountered the epic "Celebration of the Lizard." I suppose the song's length made it impossible to fit on a single side of an album.

K.C. McKee

So here is my version of "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. Coincidentally, her 40th birthday would have been on the 14th of this month.

I was born in 1987, and while I eventually got into most of these "27 club" artists as a teenager, they were pretty much all before my time in one way or another.

Except Amy Winehouse. I distinctly remember where I was when I learned she had died (7th and Cedar in downtown St Paul, I read it on the MPR building's news ticker). Moreover, I think she's probably the only musical artist of my generation (people born in the 80's) who might actually be considered capital-i *Important*.

Also, I love singing this song at karaoke. Cheers!

Instruments played on this recording:
Vocals, drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric piano, hammond organ, cello, saxophone, various percussion instruments. I mixed it down to tape, and as much as possible tried to make it sound like a 1960's soul/r&b recording (a la sam cooke).

Mike Bettison

Peace Frog - The Doors

This was a fun little jam to recreate! I mostly tried to keep the sounds simple. My buddy Ryan Brosious channeled Jim Morrison and I spent way too much time trying to find an organ sound. Geek stuff: Ableton, Ozone 10, NI Session Guitarist Electric Vintage, 40's Very Own Keys. RIP Jim Morrison

The Killing Moon - Echo & the Bunnymen

I was surprised to see the drummer from Echo and the Bunnymen in the club. I took a very brief interest in them in college and remember hearing this song once or twice. After I heard it again, I kind of became obsessed with covering it. Besides the original I was captivated by Chvrch's cover and was hoping to get a slightly heavier feel (than the original) into the piece. I'm not sure I got there. Ryan Brosious's vocals really came together nicely and I spent way too much time effing with the guitar hits. Geek stuff: Ableton, Ozone 10, NI Electric Sunburst, Pharlight, Strummed Acoustic II, Session Strings Pro 2. RIP Pete de Freitas.

Bill Fricke

All Apologies – Nirvana
27 Club Member – Kurt Cobain (Suicide)

This is one of the very few Nirvana songs I could handle. This was a last-minute creation. I was working on “She’s a Rainbow” by the Stones and made good progress, trying to be faithful to the original, but I had to concede that it wouldn’t be done in time. So, I just threw this together over a couple of sessions. It ended up sounding like a bar band of 50+ year old guys trying to be hip, yet still stuck in their early rock-n-roll influences. Sort of have a minor Martin Zellar vocal going on.

Mother’s Little Helper – Rolling Stones
27 Club Member – Brian Jones (Death by Misadventure)

This is a cover of a cover that I’ve been dying to do. The original cover was by a Belgian group called Polyphonic Size and I still have the EP this came from. I thought it was brilliant with the monotone vocals. My old band used to do a version of this as well. We were pretty esoteric in those days. No one ever got it. But we did.

With a Hip – Echo & the Bunnymen
27 Club Member – Pete Defreitas (Motorcycle Accident)

I kind of had this one locked and loaded from a few years ago. I was going through a period of covering songs by my favorite underrated guitar players, and Will Sergeant is one of them. I can’t sing as high as Ian McCullough, (to be honest, he can’t anymore either), so vocals are as best I could do. I also waited to do all the vocals on all the songs at the last minute.