These initial exercises are all derived from simple proven methods to help us better gather whether you suck at your job
Please agree so we can monitor you closely
In each exercise, place an asterisk where your soul has been sucked out

(See aggressions we eat, they're like a crowbar to the jaw)
In the cage on the stage are the places where the hands fall together
In the lines on the page are the places where the hands fall together

(Why don't you stay and fuck up everything)
When you know it don't matter
If you will or you won't
Endure or cower
There's no sinking the boat

We think that nobody's home
We can assume that someone like you is alone
Didn't you abandon everyone and still expect to be treated like a superstar
The golden behaviors are all derived from number one: be successful
It is placed first because it's something you'll never be
So pay attention
Listen closely
In each exercise, place an asterisk on what might have been

When you know it don't matter
If you sink or you float
Punch a hole in the hull, smash the mast with your skull
There's no sinking the boat

When you know it don't matter
If you win or you choke
Take it out for a ride, tear it up from inside
There's no sinking the boat

When you know it don't matter
If you quit or you cope
Tell yourself it's a trap, make a mess of the map
There's no sinking the boat

When you know it don't matter
If you will or you won't
Kiss the captain goodbye, throw him over the side
There's no sinking the boat

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

michael ambro: guitar

paul ambro: guitar

dennis harvey: keyboards

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar | voice

michael ambro: guitar

paul ambro: guitar

dennis harvey: keyboards | noises | voice

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar | voice

michael ambro: guitar | voice

paul ambro: guitar | voice

dennis harvey: keyboards | voice

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mixing | production | recording

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

michael ambro: guitar

paul ambro: guitar

dennis harvey: keyboards | noises | voice

composition/production:

michael ambro: composition

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

notes:

... And Sauron. He's like a translucent cloud all around me, a seeping darkness that's impossible to see, much less fight, but I fought, and I still do. He was suddenly here when my memories become complete. He welcomed me and said he'd been expecting me, said my name. I knew who I was, knew I'd transcended dimensions just like he had and possessed just enough mystical power to take him on. He taunted me, thinking those cheesy diabolical threats would still have some impact, but I'd lived through the slime and grit of the city I'd just left, and I could take that jazz and slap it right back in his amorphous face. We sparred. To fight me, he had to materialize some kind of physical form and even summoned some of the dark riders my friends and I had so easily dispatched in the other dimension. They didn't last long, and I countered the dark lord's spiny jabs and deep, crushing hammer blows until we were both worn out. We panted in exhaustion, and I knew what I had to do, waiting until the moment was right. Rastanefarious had spliced something into me, a carrier for the chalupa vortex, and Sauron's ridiculous plan of embedding me with the power to open a transdimensional wormhole was going to be his own undoing, and my own. We rose against each other again, his physical hammer form launching out of the shapeless void above me. I closed my eyes, feeling the chalupa vortex burst from my chest with a simultaneous contracting and expanding sound, like all the air in the world had contracted and exploded outward with a deep "ketwehhhhh" sound. I grabbed the dark lord's screaming physical form as he plunged through the vortex. We both tumbled into oblivion, fighting and clutching at each other in a balance of power that was to keep the universe in balance forever. He realized his mistake. His rage shook the fabric of reality. The epic Battle of Æverwar had begun, kids. ...

First, insert key, then start the car you never liked, and back into a deserted 3 a.m. street, then accelerate until the engine hums music as fast as orgasm, then faster, the highway, the curve, the cliff, and then only the night. Make sure you notice the stars. Think about the moon and the people on the moon. Also, make sure you notice the gravity, how it pulls you into yourself. Remember the names of people who've forgotten your name, and then open the door, fall free, watch the car crash below. Notice you hear nothing except the wind and the words you never said.

step #1: insert key into ignition, pull vehicle into street
step #2: turn on headlamps, activate atmospheric music
step #3: take entrance ramp onto deserted highway
step #4: take exit ramp onto remote mountain road
accelerate into sharp curve on narrow ledge
lose control

did
did i
did i meet
did i meet you
at
at that
at that par
at that party
the
the o
the other
the other night
when
when we
when we were
when we were drunk
i
i could
i could have
i could have sworn
we
we fell
we fell in
we fell in love

step #5: unfasten seat belt, crash through steel railing
step #6: calmly open door, eject self from falling vehicle
step #7: fall slowly through night air, gaze up at lunar body
step #8: feel in wind in hair, close eyes, smile distantly

you
you dreamed
you dreamed of
you dreamed of air
un
under
under your
under your skin
please
please com
please complete
please complete me
what
what was
what was your
what was your name

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

extra performance:

w. scott whitlock: voice

extra composition/production:

w. scott whitlock: lyrics

notes:

Scott Whitlock wrote and spoke the intro narration.

performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar | noises | voice

paul ambro: guitar | voice

michael ambro: voice

dennis harvey: keyboards | noises | voice

composition/production:

paul ambro: composition

jason harvey: composition

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

all sounds by various artists

extra composition/production:

dennis harvey: mastering | mixing | production | recording