Bio Playlist - Disc Two

Disc Two:

1. Roboflow - Pomeroy: I still think "P-O-M-E-R-O-Y" when I type that. Pomeroy was a band from KC that played a lot in Omaha when I was in High School. They were a GREAT live show, and Matt Marone was one of the first guitarists that I saw live and thought, "jesus, I'm never gonna be that good." These guys, Grasshopper Takeover, Mandown - they all played at the Ranch Bowl a lot and we almost never missed a show. Late night stops at Taco Bell after the show and the red eyed drive home from Omaha... good times. The eskimo pie does, in fact, hit you right between the eyes.
2. Fake White Van - Short of 1st: This band featured my best friend's sister's future husband as a lead singer and songwriter. I bought the CD without really listening to it as a gesture, but then I put it in and.... I still listen to this album. I only got to see one show, but it was effing phenomenal. "there must be a million words to say to make sense of right now, and I can't even buy a vowel..."
3. American Girl - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Another song that got a lot of playtime on gravel roads with the Imogene crew. And at The Dead End - our high school party house. Classic.
4. Promise - Eve 6: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't into this kind of pop/rock ballad. Same goes for....
5. Graduate - Third Eye Blind: Man, this album was nothing but radio hits.
6. Woke up in a Car - Something Corporate: I got this song on a mix cd from a girl I worked at Hy-Vee with who turned out to be the only girl that I think I've ever truly been in love with. Aside from being a great song/band - this girl and her taste in music transformed my entire appetite for music for the rest of my life. So even though its a little bittersweet, it has to be on this playlist. It was really the turning point in my life from radio music and "Wal-Mart rock" to indie music.
7. Pardon Me (acoustic) - Incubus: This was the first song I ever learned how to play on the guitar. It was my senior year of high school and I was visiting friends at Iowa State and learned how to play this song on my friend Tom's guitar - upside down and backwards. I realized two things that day: That I wanted to learn to play guitar, and that I would learn to play right-handed.
8. Garden Grove - Sublime: I got into Sublime more after I got to college. I always knew What I Got and a few others from Jake, but the rest of the self-titled album really grew on me my freshman year.
9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - Police: I'm still into the sappy ballads. That much hasn't changed over the years.
10. Love Soon - John Mayer: This song got me into John Mayer, and he later became my guitar hero. But at this point he was just a killer acoustic singer/songwriter. The songs are fun to play (crazy chord voicings and percussive strumming) and the songwriting is pretty dang good.
11. F-Stop Blues - Jack Johnson: Jack Johnson was also some of the first music I learned to play. His voice is in my range, too... I listened to this song a lot on campus going to and from classes.
12. Stealing Happy Hours - 311: I also got into... this... in college, and this song stood out to me because of the cool guitar Tim is playing over everything. It made me want a delay pedal. The solo @ 3:49 is also one of my favorite 311 solos - Jazzy and melodic, it showed off how good Tim Mahoney was.
13. Nice To Know You - Incubus: Incubus' guitarist Mike Enzinger was a huge influence on my guitar playing. The effects that he pulled off on one guitar are insane. The volume swells and atmospheric sounds in this song are a great example of where some my own tricks come from.
14. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground - The White Stripes: Jack White has become my newest guitar idol. The crunch of this songs chorus and the howling feedback of his overdubbed 2nd guitar are just too awesome. The song is so simple, but rocks so hard. Listen to the feedback at 1:56! Man. That's bad ass.
    
15. The Ocean - Led Zeppelin: I got into Led Zeppelin later than I probably should have. Still, once I had an electric guitar, the next pilgrimage you have to make is to learn some Zeppelin. This song shows off the hard rock riffs in the beginning and the jazzyness Page was capable of in the outro.
16. Wait Till Tomorrow - John Mayer Trio: I had realized that JM was a great electric guitarist during "Heavier Things" but this live album with his blues trio made me (and plenty others) realize that he was a modern guitar god. This song is a Jimi Hendrix cover and it shows in his playing. Its just a great pop song up until 2:57 - then John starts melting your fucking face off.
17. The Mixed Tape - Jack's Mannequin: This is the same guy from Something Corporate and I associate it with a lot of the same things. This song has got me through good times in that relationship as well as the heart wrenching parts of it too. I've made quite a few mixed tapes of my own and the sentiment that Andy depicts is just right on. The piano break at 1:40 made me want to learn piano again. Andy MacMahon is effing great.
18. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service: Another genre-enlightening track. I've been into electronica ever since.
19. Atoms - Cashes Rivers: This needed to be on here as its what all these other songs eventually got rolled up into. Listen to my part - you can hear a ton of my influences. Minor Pentatonic blues riffs in the verse solo... The volume swells from Incubus in the chorus and bridge... maybe I shouldn't point that stuff out, ha.