about HOW THE SONGS WERE RECORDED:

Steven Schultz plays Vocals, drums, Roland XP30 synthesyzer, turntables, a little bit of guitar, the 60hz hum, the tin kazoo, the I-can't-believe-they're-not-windchimes, the harm-onica, the grindcore clown-horns (both of them) and samples

.Jason Kocol plays Heavy-metal guitar, wacky fretless guitar, vocals, the Kurzweil K2000 synthesyzer, the Korg AX1000G, bass, the plastic kazoo, the 'virtual glockenspiel', the mandolin (with whammy bar), the accordion (also with whammy bar), and the whistle

Kocol recorded WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING and YOU BELONG TO THE SEWER. Schultz recorded everything else, and did the final mixdowns. CD packaging by schultz too.

Cover photo by the volatile Marianne Schmidt.

THE PUNY HUMANS SONGWRITING PROCESS

Generally speaking, Schultz would have some sort of overall plan in mind - meaning a series of rhythms, moods, textures, etc. - deliberately arranged for maximum dynamic fun: riffs should either build nicely from previous riffs, or they should be something absurdly different, but either way it's intentional. Then he'd lean over the drum kit and yell at Kocol, "Hey, the next part should be a really syncopated, death-metal version of that intro folk riff, but a poly-rhythm this time. So make up something that sounds like that!"
And Kocol would somehow pull that riff out of his ass!
And Schultz would say, 'ok, but in a flat.'
Then we'd spend 3 hours practicing the song, record it, and then forget how to play it.

And then repeat this whole process several times a day.

This frenzied pace was dictated by the fact that Schultz's mom was coming home soon, and they had to have the house back in order by that time, and prog lasagne on the table for her.

TIMELINE:

All songs written and recorded between Jan 2001 and February 2002. for those of you with no jobs and/or lovers to occupy your time, (or those of you who would simply PREFER to have no jobs and/or lovers, which we can also arrange for you, click HERE), we present an in-depth timeline for the creation of the album:

Jan 2001 (at Grandma's house…) we compose our first songs…

Wouldja look at the ass on that Mummy?
"Thorax, HO!"
Decide at their Mom's house

Sometime in February: Schultz comes up with the name.

May 14-15, at Schultz's Family Mansion in Santa Rosa we have our first recording session, and compose the following tunes:

Sweep-picking the flugelhorns . . .
Eaughh Glih NAHHWWWW!!
la la la la la la la Bull Shit Walter

May 19, at the S.F.M, we have our second recording session. We compose another three songs…

Theme from "Puny Human$"
Holy Driver
"Oh, a flesh-EATING virus"
Also, at this time we decide to adopt a Lebowski-centric worldview for this project.

August-Jason does bass parts and guitar overdubs.

September 15th, @ jason's house, he composes music for
What's Really Happening To Me

November 2001 @ jason's house, we, uh, 'compose'
You Belong To The Sewer

January, 2002, @ Jason's house: we do the vocals and keyboards for the whole album. . . A YEAR AFTER WE RECORDED IT!

February: I do the mixing and the following blatant filler material:
Intro
Outro
"Hey, there's always urine!"
These would be the 'house beats' you spoke of

Album finished on February 16th, 2002.

Postscript:

Late February: the 'official' song titles were picked to replace the 'working' song titles, and we have yet to remember what title goes with what song. . .

And thanks to the internet, you too can join in on the song-naming confusion, I mean 'fun'... by PLAYING THE SONG-MATCHING GAME!

WHICH HUMAN WILL YOU BLAME FOR WHICH SONG?

INTRO by T. Iommi, O. Ozbourne, G. Butler, S. Schultz & B. Ward

THORAX, HO! by PUNY HUMANS

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA BULL SHIT WALTER: lyrics by Ethan & Joel Coen, music by PUNY HUMANS

DEICIDE, AT THEIR MOM'S HOUSE: Composed by J. Kocol

EAUUGH GLIH NAHHWWWW!!: composed by J. Kocol

"HEY, THERE'S ALWAYS URINE!": Composed by Schultz

SWEEP-PICKING THE FLUGELHORNS. . . . individual parts written by J. Kocol, to fit an arrangement written by Schultz

THESE WOULD BE THE 'HOUSE BEATS' YOU SPOKE OF: Composed by Schultz

YOU BELONG TO THE SEWER: Music by G. Frey and Tempchin. Lyrics by Schultz, except 'after several wipes' gag, contributed by Kocol

THEME FROM 'PUNY HUMAN$': Composed by Kocol

WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING?: lyrics by Schultz, music by Kocol

"OH, A FLESH-EATING VIRUS…" composed by Schultz

HOLY DRIVER : lyrics by Ethan & Joel Coen, individual parts written by J. Kocol, to fit an arrangement written by Schultz

WOULDJA LOOK AT THE ASS ON THAT MUMMY? : individual parts written by J. Kocol, to fit an arrangement written by Schultz

OUTRO by T. Iommi, O. Ozbourne, G. Butler, B. Ward & S. Schultz