The Burholme Tapes: "Steady, as She Goes"

"Steady, as She Goes"

originally by the Raconteurs

First thing's first—both Kev and Mike saw that second "In the Flesh?" video from last week, at the supposedly "unknown" location, and immediately indicated that it was the Roman Catholic High School Battle of the Bands 2007 (or or maybe Fall 2006, but definitely senior year). This was after I originally told them that I remember the Roman thing, but that this definitely was not it. I've been outvoted, and I'll take the loss. But that really puts me at an unease, because I fucking remember the Roman Battle of the Bands, and in my mind, it does not look like that. In the sixteen years, my brain warped so many details about that afternoon, to the point that I saw it on video tape and was completely unaware that they were the same event. That's kinda scary!

What this really means is that I am an unreliable narrator when it comes to this shit. The idea of Burholme has passed through my thoughts at least once a week during that whole time, sure, but only in service of a quip like "my old band covered this song that we're listening to right now" or something like that. 95% of the details have been sanded down to the nubs. And so part of the joy of this project (yes, there is joy, and not just constant horror and perpetual cringe) is how much of a refresher it's been, to be able to relive some of these memories that have been dormant for so goddamn long. Certain parts of my brain are clicking and firing synapses that were thought to be dried out completely, yet here we are. Feels good, man.

I remember playing "Steady, as She Goes." It was definitely a relatively well-known alt-rock song at the time. I'm looking it up now... the single dropped in April 2006, and was on Broken Boy Soldiers, which was released the following month. It probably picked up speed that summer and hit my parents garage around the same time, the three of us becoming familiar with it in one way or another (I guess people still listened to the radio at that point?). I don't remember who brought it to the table, but it feels like one of those rare songs that Mike, Kev, and I each had an equal interest in. Complicated enough that it felt fresh as far as garage rock songs go, but simple enough that three amateurs could pull together a competent version of it.

The video we have of that final show is not crystal clear. You can see our faces, but they are a little hazy and pixelated. If Kev's dad had used a better camcorder, or we hadn't allowed sixteen years' worth of wear and tear to happen to these tapes, then you might see a drummer's face flushed with concentration. From what I recall—and, once again, don't take my word for this, I don't remember anything correctly, apparently—"Steady, as She Goes" was one of the drum rhythms that took the longest to sort out for me. It's surprisingly complicated. And it's not like I had sheet music. You could find "drum tabs" online, but in 2006 and 2007, they were crude dashes and circles made in Notepad. I was going mostly by what I heard, and attempting to replicate it. (I know less about guitar and bass tabs, but from what I can hear on this video, Mike and especially Kev fucking crush their respective "Steady, as She Goes" parts, so it doesn't even matter whether that was borne of online tabs or pieced together by ear.)

The tricky part of the beat is that the brief open hi-hat hit replaces the snare hit on the fourth note, which goes against basic instincts as a drummer. You usually hit the snare on two and four. But on this, the snare is on two and the and of three, followed a half beat later by that open hi-hat, which requires you to lift the left foot, and then close it on the and of four, which means when the bass drum is kicked on that same and-of-four, you're bringing both feet down at the same time (but then only the right foot gets another kick for the following measure's one). The solution to all this, the skeleton key that unlocked the whole fucking thing, was that the right hand is only clicking the hi-hat every quarter note, instead of the standard eighth notes. After figuring that out, it kinda fell into place.

I hate describing drum rhythms in words, because it makes it sound like I know what the fuck I'm talking about, and I don't. And that's kind of my point here—I had a tough time with this thing, unlike, say, Raconteurs drummer Patrick Keeler. And if any video of any other Burholme take on the song existed (it doesn't, as far as I know), then you'd probably see even more of my struggles. This August 2007 show was the pinnacle of my abilities as a drummer, and even then, you can see the flopsweat.

But I'd also argue that we pulled it off. Yes, the choruses speed up a little bit (drummer's fault), and yes, the backup vocals are extremely shaky (drummer's fault again—the hubris involved in dipping a microphone stand behind the drum kit!), but overall, I think this is a great song done ably.

Mike Responds

Mike: Really highlights the lack of stage monitors lol. Not sure if my vocal cords ever recovered...

Joe again—I think Mike would be okay with me saying that there were no world-class singers in this band. But I also think that he handled "Steady, as She Goes" really well here. And if that means we had to sacrifice his vocal cords on the second song of an almost-30-song set, then so be it.

At this stage in the game, I'm walking away from these two songs pleasantly surprised at how tight they sound, at least in their final form. I know I don't remember what it took to get to that point, but we got there. They are far from perfect, but so far, we're heard songs that don't embarrass anyone (don't worry—we'll get there). And I really don't remember any specific memories of rehearsing this song or playing it in any other venue, so when I watch this two-minute garage rock song, all I see is this one moment, three friends bashing it out as best they could, this one single moment trapped in amber, nothing before or after it, just a three dudes having some fun.