Burn That Word

Fall 1988.
* Burn That Word Forms Specifically In Sherrill Hall Hobart And William Smith Colleges Geneva Ny. * Steve And Josh Live Down The Hall From One Another. Each Realize The Other Has Brought An Instrument And The Keen Desire To Play In A Band Rather Than Pledge A Fraternity. They Compare Notes And Influences 80s Synth-Pop And Other More Ambient Sounds For Josh Classic And Progressive Rock For Steve. * A Plan Is Hatched To Combine These Influences Into Something New And Irresistible. Then Much Laughter Breaks Out And They Decide Instead To Find A Drummer...
* Benton Hall Joins. He Has A Drum Set. He Has An Attitude. He Buys Roto-Toms. Disgruntingly He Plays To A Click Track. * The Band Finds Practice Space On Campus At 'the Barn.' It's A Barn. Really. It Has Plenty Of Room. Even A Furnished Basement. The Band Hold Regular Practices There Until They Find Somewhere To Play...
* The Band Plays A Dorm Party As A Three-Piece Guitar Keyboards Drums With Sequenced Bass And Additional Drum Machine Parts . People Dance. People Shout. 'ball Of Confusion' Goes Over Better Than Expected. The Band Plays Many Originals. The Crowd Is Confused. * Benton Claims That He Could 'bench Press' Josh. No One Disagrees. * Benton Leaves The Band And School At The End Of The Semester. He Is Never Heard From Again. Some Say He Still Haunts The Barn With His Roto-Toms And Attitude. Spring 1989.
* After Unsuccessfully Auditioning A Guitarist And A Bass Player The Band Continue As A Two-Piece. * The Band Draft A Full-Time Drum Machine Rachel Who Never Threatens The Other Members Always Shows Up On Time And Has No Problem Playing To A Click-Track. * The Band Plays Various On-Campus Events. Various People Show Up. * They Record 'bias ' An E.P. And The Full-Length 'fetish' Cassette All On A Fostex Four-Track. Copies Are Given To Anyone Who Will Take Them. Few Are Sold. Some Are Even Played. Fall And Spring 1990.
* The Band Continues Its Residence At The Barn. Is It No Longer There? * They Record The 'burn That Word' Cassette Live With No Overdubs. Mistakes Are Made. Like Trying To Cover 'all Tomorrow's Parties.' As Noted Mistakes Are Made.
* A Few More Live Events Take Place.
* The Band Grows Resentful At The Emerging Popularity Of D.J.'s Over Live Music. A Manifesto Is Drafted But They Leave The Napkin On A Tray In Scandling Center. It Is Too Far Down The Conveyor Belt To Retrieve. The Revolution Is Cancelled. * Fans Grow Resentful Because The Band Refuses To Play Only Covers. Original Songs Sound Unfamiliar And Take Time To Listen To Etc. Rob Asher's Band Rigorous Mortis Takes An Opposite Approach And Books Many Paying Gigs. Even Lobster-Fest. Damn Them. Fall 1990
* Burn That Word Goes On Temporary Hiatus As Josh Attends A Semester Abroad. He Forgets To Pack His Guitar And Spends All Of His Money On Cds And Food. Various Attempts Are Made At Writing While In England But The Casio Vl-Tone He Brought Just Doesn't Do Justice To His Ideas. *steve Spends This Time As A Dorm Residence Advisor. He Saves Josh A Room Next To His Upon His Return To Campus. This Makes Practice Even Easier As They Don't Have To Go To The Barn When It's Cold. It's Upstate New York It Gets Very Cold A Lot... Spring 1991
* The Band Begin Work On A New Cassette 'misdirected Angst.' David Stinnett Runs The Band Fan Club. As Of This Point He Is The Only Member. This May Be True 15 Years Later... * Records Show That This Might Be The Time When Steve Became Addicted To 'the Simpsons.' * Steve And Josh Contribute Music To Koshare The Hws's Modern Dance Ensemble. They Perform The Music Live. Dancers Dance. The Audience Claps. There Was A Video Made Of The Show. It Is Somewhere.
* 'misdirected Angst' Is Recorded Almost Entirely In Medbery Hall Where Steve And Josh Reside. Headphones Are Used. The Recording Is Longer Than Usual And Contains A Number Of Instrumentals. * The Band Performs Outside The Barn. Some People Stop By. They Decide It's Perhaps A Good Time To Retire From Live Performances. * Burn That Word Records A New Song 'the Hollow Autumn ' And Includes It On A 'best Of' That Few People Know Exist.
* Steve And Josh Graduate From Hobart College. 1992-1996
* Steve And Josh Go Their Separate Ways With Hopes That They Will Record Again Soon.
* Steve Becomes A School Psychologist Josh Becomes A High School English Teacher. * Both Work On Their Respective Graduate Degrees Neither Attempts To Run For President.
* Josh Gets Married In 1996. Steve Attends As Part Of The Wedding Party. The Bar Opens Before The Wedding Ceremony Begins.
* 'soon' Becomes Two Years Which Becomes Four Years Which Becomes Well... Just Keep Reading. 1997
* With New Technology Now Available Josh And Brian Sales Remix And Edit A Number Of Songs And Create The First Btw Compact Disc 're-Designing The Popular 1988-1991.' Copies Are Apparently Still Available. 1998
* Josh Begins To Write New Songs For A New Burn That Word Cd.
* Steve Continues To Work On His Own Material. 1999
* The Band Reconvenes In Pittsburgh Pa To Record 'refrain.'
* The Cd Consists Of One New Song A Newish Version Of A Song Steve Recorded On His Own And Re-Recordings Of Songs From The Past. * A New Plan Is Hatched To Get Together Every Other Year To Record A New Cd. Legal Documents Are Never Drawn Up. Another Manifesto Is Written On A Napkin And Is Lost. 2000 * The Band Reconvenes In Arlington Virginia To Being Recording A New Cd. There Are Few Witnesses. 2001
* Overdubs Continue And 'ambient' Is Finally Released Unto An Unknowing World. Songs Appear Less Danceable More Ethereal. Not That Anyone Danced To The Music Beforehand Anyway. They Cover A Jazz Butcher Song And A Carsickness Song. The Latter Includes A Sample Of Themselves Playing The Song 11 Or So Years Earlier. 2002
* Keeping To The Unofficial Every Other Year Release Schedule Recording Begins On A New Cd. Actually Some Tracks Date From The Previous Year But As That Would Mess Up The Whole 'every Other Year' Thing We Won't Mention It... Too Late? Eh Just Keep Reading. 2003
* Steve Joins The Maryland/n. Virginia-Based Covers Band Stop Thief As Their Drummer. Somehow He Has Learned To Play Drums. He Also Drums For Alt-Country Indie Rockers Roscoe. Who Knew He Could Drum?
* 'careful' Is Released. Unsurprisingly It Contains A Tim Buckley Cover. * Josh Becomes A Father. Life Gets Interesting. 2004
* Another New Cd Is Written And Recorded. Actually Two Of The Songs Date From 1999 When Josh Was Working With Jason Titus On Some Material. Jason's Guitar And Bass Parts--Now Almost Five Years Old--End Up On The Cd. We Believe That He's Been Informed Of This Fact. 2005
* The Band Release 'strange Lullabies.' It Contains A Piece Written And Played Entirely By Josh's Daughter Emily Who Is 19 Months Old At The Time Of Recording. Josh Also Writes A Lullaby For His Daughter Which She Refuses To Listen To And Instead Makes Him Sing A Laurie Berkner Song Every Night Before Bed. Seriously The Same Song... Every Night. For Three Years Now... 2006
* In What Can Only Be Described As A Bold Move The Band Opts To Participate In A New Order Tribute Cd Contest Sponsored By Neworderonline.Com. Josh Ends Up Splicing Various Keyboard Parts That Steve Played On Previous Songs And Putting Them Back Together To Form Chord Progressions For 'as It Is When It Was' And 'this Time Of Night.' The Latter Also Contains Some Spoken Word Contributions From Emily. * They Produce Three New Order Covers Two Of Which Are Eventually Rejected By Voters And One That Doesn't Even Get Submitted For The Competition. That One 'cries And Whispers ' Features Steve On Drums A First For A Btw Song Albeit Sampled Loops From Other Recordings. * Feeling Rather Unsure Of What To Do Next They Release 'intellectual Songs Of Love The New Order Covers' Onto An Unknowing And Uncaring World. Catharsis Indeed. * Steve Continues His Not-So Secret Life As A Drummer In Roscoe And Stop Thief. During This Time He Has Refused To Get An Internet Connection At His Home. Such The Luddite!
* Josh Spends His Free Time Remixing Songs From 'blue Skies Above' By Matt And Shannon Heaton. They Didn't Actually Ask He Just Did It... You Really Should Give Their Music A Listen. The 'blue Sky'd The Remixes' Cd Is Available If You Want To Hear The Results. 2007
*waiting For Something To Happen... 2008
* Josh Forms Box Of Sky And Releases 'lavender And Cornerless' Tracks Available On Last.Fm * From The Ashes Of Roscoe And Bette Noir Steve Joins A New Version Of Bette Noir. * Josh Is Amazed To Find Burn That Word's Cover Of 'cries And Whispers' Scobbled On Last.Fm. Thanks To 'doubtsevenhere'. He Decides To Put Some Other Music Up... Soon. 2009
* Josh Becomes A Father Again. He Also Spends More Time Remixing Songs For 'the Matt & Shannon Heaton Remix Project.' Seriously It's Worth A Listen And Is On Last.Fm * Steve Gets Married. Josh Attends. There Is Much Rejoicing. 2010
* It Seems Doubtful That Burn That Word Will Record Again. Josh Has Recorded Basic Tracks For 'two Of Us' By The Beatles In Hopes That Steve Would Add Some Instrumentation/vocals. He Has Yet To Get A Reply.
* Steve Finally Gets On Facebook So That's A Step In The Right Direction... Welcome To The Modern World Mr. Jordan. - read less