Episode 2: "rejoice" with Mother Love Blone
This week, Aoife interviews Mother Love Blone about “rejoice” from storm’s coming. “Like most garages’ projects, it started as a joke,” Blone says about her first lead song with the garages. “Wouldn’t it be really funny if a grunge band did a country album? … We started taking it super seriously after that.”
Mother Love Blone is trans, bi, and tired. She has an MFA in Poetry, 4 delay pedals, and no job. When not making music with the garages, she’s making music with her non-blaseball band Noiseland and writing about music for various online publications. Google “Max Cohen Poetry” if you wanna see some of her old poems. Follow her on Twitter @lastyears_model if you don’t value your time.
This episode of idol board was hosted by Aoife, directed by Tangereen Velveteen, edited by zack.ry, transcribed by SigilCrafter Aya, and written by Aoife and Tangereen Velveteen. Find all episodes and transcripts of idol board at fourth-strike.com/podcast and follow @idolboard on Twitter for updates. Get all episodes plus bonuses by supporting Fourth Strike on Patreon.
Listen to “rejoice” by the garages on Blandcamp:
Episode Transcript
[musical intro plays]ANNOUNCER:
You’re listening to a Fourth Strike production.[The first chorus of ‘rejoice’ plays and fades out]
AOIFE:
Hello and welcome to idol board! I’m Aoife, and I use she/her pronouns. In this podcast, I will be interviewing members of the garages about their songs, their creation process, and possible inspirations. My guest for this episode is garages’ band member Mother Love Blone. Thanks for coming on, Blone! Can you tell us your pronouns, your presong ritual, and what song you’ll be talking about with us today?BLONE:
Thanks for having me! It’s very weird to hear that name said out loud. Um, my pronouns are she/her, my pregame ritual is frittering, and the song we’re talking about today is ‘rejoice’ from ‘storm’s coming’.AOIFE:
So, first off: When and why did you join the garages?BLONE:
Hmm. So I- I started blaseball in season 2 and I was a Jazz Hand, because I thought it was funny for them to have a team in Breckenridge, but then I think around season 4 or 5 I got kinda sick of that scene and joined the garages ‘cause I had already been kinda into music anyways and by that time they’d started recording. So I was like “I want to join a band”, my current band is on hiatus so I joined the garages and then kind of immediately tried to get in with the band folks.AOIFE:
Yeah, I-I can certainly relate to that. I, um, started… Well, I started pretty recently, honestly, on… season… ten, I believe? And I went to Hades Tigers and then immediately fluted over when I could to the garages just because they’re pretty rad, and I wanted to be involved with the band myself.BLONE:
Yeah, it’s funny. If – if – if you don’t know the context, the garages seem like kind of a boring band, and then once you know about them you’re like “I want to be in that”.AOIFE:
Yeah. So, next up: What’s your musical background?BLONE:
Yeah! So, I guess I’ve been playing music for- oh god, 20 years now? I- I started when I was 12, playing bass, and I- and since then I’ve mostly kind of self taught on like bass guitar, I play a little bit of drums, and I just got into it ‘cause I really wanted to write songs. Um, and so I’ve been in a bunch of bands since then. I was in a short lived band in college called PopMartyrs. More recently, in Chicago, I was uh in this band called Noiseland that was doing really well! Then the pandemic hit and so we’ve been on hiatus ever since. So, it’s been kind of nice to have, like, an outlet for all that creative energy when I can’t be in like a- a physical human person band.AOIFE:
Yeah, that’s what’s so incredible about the garages, that they’re able to be this band that can still play despite the fact that their players are like all over. It’s pretty incredible.BLONE:
Yeah, it’s pretty neat. I-I mean I know like there are a few members like rain and sloth that are like… have regular bands and just can’t play in them right now and there are some people who wouldn’t play in bands, who wouldn’t have a band to play in if it weren’t for this ‘cause they’re like in a remote location or whatever. So it’s been a cool way to just really, like, network creatively and collaboratively.AOIFE:
Yeah, so, back to ‘rejoice’. How did this song start in particular?BLONE:
So, like most garages projects, it started as a joke because I think I was- I was depressed, and fall was coming, and I know like em, I think just like floated an idle idea of like “Oh the garages need to do a country album next” and it was all a joke. I think ‘cause she had done, like some bluegrass harmonies for some song and we were all like “Hell yeah, wouldn’t that be really funny if a grunge band did a country album”. And so like everything we were like “Oh this project would be really funny” We started taking it super seriously after that.AOIFE:
That definitely sounds like the garages right there.BLONE:
It’s a big garages mood. Um, and tegan had mentioned something about, like how the- the concept of rejoicing, um ‘cause you know the commissioner for a while whenever the first game of the season starts, you can’t bet on that. So the commissioner would always tweet “Remember, we can’t bet on the first game- on the- on the first day we rejoice and then we start betting” And tegan brought up that that was like a very, like, southern gospel country kind of idea, but they didn’t want to do anything with it? So I was like “Well I’ll take it!” [laughs]AOIFE:
Well, there you go! [laughs]BLONE:
So, it just kind of took shape pretty easily from there. Like this idea of- the idea of rejoicing in a game that is horrifying, where everybody is suffering all the time, is very funny to me. And also very country, which is just songs about how sad and desperate everybody is. So I thought “Okay, so I’ll just do, like, what is the- what are the sad country topics of the world of blaseball” and I would just cram them all into one song and say “Well let’s rejoice anyways”.AOIFE:
So, what were your inspirations for this particular song? Like musical inspirations?BLONE:
Yeah, so, I don’t write country songs! Um. Ever. This is the only country song I’ve ever written. But I was- you know I was listening to a lot of like – like I said I was listening to a lot of Townes Van Zandt I was listening to a lot of John Grind. You know, that sort of era of like, the country singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams and I think it was- it was a combination of that and also, like, just aesthetically like the vibe of you know am radio country, like you’re in a beat up truck listening to am radio country. Like the whole first part of the song before the instruments come in there’s like a- there’s a high pass filter on the guitar, um, to try and make it sound tinny, like it’s coming out of a bad radio.[the intro to ‘rejoice’ plays for a few moments before Blone continues over the music]
BLONE:
Um, ‘cause I grew up in Texas, so that was just like what happened a lot, is you’d be in a truck with only an AM radio, and all the AM radios in Texas play country and gospel. So it was kind of like pulling back on that feeling and applying it to more of the singer/songwriter-y Grand Ole Opry-ish country stuff.AOIFE:
Yeah, that’s- I would never have got that. That’s really interesting. So, next up: ‘rejoice’ is the song that names the most blaseball players, by a long shot.[a verse of ‘rejoice’ plays, naming many blaseball players consecutively for a few moments before fading]
AOIFE:
Is there any particular reason you referenced every single incinerated player?BLONE:
Uh… It started as a joke, and then we took it really seriously. Um. I had that couplet with Boyfriend Monreal at the end, right, like the – ‘the death of Monreal’, ‘cause it rhymed, because Monreal made people sad. But then I was like “Why am I just focusing on that one death? you know? A lot of people die in blaseball!” And I think I just posted in the garages discord “Hey, would it be funny or stupid to have a verse that’s just entirely every incinerated player in blaseball up to now?” and everybody- including something MQ- and this is gonna be important later- said “Yeah, that would be hilarious!” And so I did it. [laughs] Yeah, and it ended up taking a full verse and a chorus to get through all of them, but. Yeah, I just pulled up a list and got everybody’s names- Everybody’s unique names, ‘cause there’s a lot of shared names. So, it was only one name for each player, it was whatever was the most unique so it’d be easily identifiable.AOIFE:
That’s really incredible. I gotta say, on the first listen it was really interesting to just hear that over and over and over again. For just, it felt like, hours.BLONE:
Yeah, one of- one of my favorite kinds of jokes is the joke that goes on way too long and that feeling you get, you know, a little bit in, and then a little bit longer where you’re just like “Oh no, they’re still going! Oh. This is… wow they’re really… this is still happening.” And so the idea of the list going on so long that it kind of breaks the form of the song is innately very funny to me.AOIFE:
So ‘rejoice’ is your first original song with the garages, but you also have a track on a whole different genre from that, on ‘TRIBUTE ACT’ you did ‘mike townsend (knows what he’s gotta do) (blone mix)’. What was it like, switching genres for this song?BLONE:
Yeah, so the- the- the cover of ‘mike townsend’ is probably closer to my normal style. It’s a little more Postal Service-y than I usually get, but you know, that was how I got into the- that was my first song for the garages, because ‘TRIBUTE ACT’ was coming up and because I thought it would- I hadn’t written songs in a while, ‘cause we’ve been on hiatus so long, so I was like “Well, why don’t I start with a cover? That’s easy, I don’t have to write this song, I can just write an arrangement.” You know, and you know, everybody loves ‘(knows what he’s gotta do)’. ‘(knows what he’s gotta do)’ is like, was at the time my favorite rain uh song, although I think ‘forecast’ on ‘storm’s coming’ I like a bit more, now. So that, I kind of just figured like, this is how I would, kind of generally go, if I kind of sang in my own style, and ‘storm’s coming’ was just such a funny idea. It’s weird, I- like I said, I’ve never written a country song. I like country a lot, but I’m not an experienced country songwriter, and this song has a lot of country cliches in it that I’m just kind of putting together. So like, the um, what is it, I think it’s like ADE is a very like country chord progression, and the, sort of alternating bass notes, is a very country thing to do-[the bass track from ‘rejoice’ plays briefly before Blone continues]
BLONE:
Um, you know, eventually you get in like, the honky tonk piano from em is- is such a country cliche at this point-[the piano track from ‘rejoice’ plays briefly before Blone continues]
BLONE:
So, so instead of, like drawing on, like “Ah, I will be a good- like a Ry Cooder, like a good country songwriter”, I was like “Why don’t I just pull every country cliche I know and put it in a song?” and then easy, you get a country song… Whereas I think with other songs, I try really hard to avoid cliches as much as possible, because I’m really self-conscious about it. You know, country’s not quote unquote ‘my genre’ so I could just, kinda go wild with it. Of course, now that’s spiraled out ‘cause we’re doing all these genre experiments now, and so, I feel like every song I’m working on now for the garages is just about- is a genre pastiche.AOIFE:
What’s interesting about the garages is they don’t really have to take themselves too seriously when it comes to their music and I think that opens up like a lot of creativity there.BLONE:
Ye- it’s funny, we don’t and we also- we do, right? Cause the funny- one of the cool things about the garages is, like, it’s not a joke band. Like, it’s a band that everybody takes their songs, if not seriously, then they put a lot of work and craft into them. So it’s like, it’s a way to put a lot of like, work and craft into something without being like “Oh but this is my missive to the world” which I feel like, puts a lot of meaning into something that can make it harder to do. The garages make it easy to like, have fun with the craft side of songwriting? But I think- I feel like it surprises people a lot when they listen to the garages and they’re like “Oh no, these are actual songs” [laughs] and not… you know, Weird Al parodies.AOIFE:
Yeah, definitely. It’s really unique, and that’s what makes me so happy to be a part of it, especially with em grace, other members of the garages. How do you make a song with other band members who you’ve never met, or played with in person?BLONE:
Um… It’s a lot of trust, I think. So this was before the live shows, when we started collaborating more often, but… you know, em- em grace, and MQ uhh MQ were… I- you know, we were friends on discord, and I- they- I was familiar with their songs, you know? MQ is like, one of the original garages, you know, sings on a bunch of stuff, has… um… did ‘about a squirrel’… MQ had… I think 3 or 4 songs under her belt at that point, so I knew what they were capable of. At the time, and I think still, my singing voice is just shot ‘cause of some meds I’m taking, so I needed a singer and MQ, we were already working on a different project that like, fell through, so I was like I- I knew she could sing and she would be perfect for this kind of like dramatic country thing, and she was even better than I thought! Really what it ends up being is, you know, I wrote most of the song, I had a scratch vocal to get the melody down, and I sent that to MQ and was like, you know, “Do your thing”, with it- which- you know, takes a certain amount of trust in like, somebody’s ability, but it’s fun in a way too, ‘cause you end up getting surprised by your own song. Right? You know, parts of your own song that you didn’t write and you get it back and it’s like this completely new… much better thing and I think… uh, with em I was talking about how – “God, I wish I could play like, piano ‘cause this I would love some like, Honky Tonk saloon piano on this”, and em was like, “You know, I heard the words ‘Honky Tonk piano’ and I’m here” Um [laughs] So I ended up sending it to her, and I think she did it- she did it in like two takes, like, in between taking care of her kids. [laughs] So, it was all like, pretty wild how well it all turned out. You know, since then our, you know, collaboration process is a lot more communicative but at the time I mean, basically it’s “I’m sending you the track, do what you want and we will have what we have”. Uh and it just, you know, thankfully like MQ and em are- M&M as it were – are just super talented, great musicians, so it just came back great.AOIFE:
Yeah, I- the vocals are just incredible, like, I was listening to it earlier today and I just couldn’t get over it.BLONE:
They’re- they’re- they’re so good. MQ like, and I gave her a ridiculous task, right? ‘Cause along with everything else, I was like “Okay, now take this list of 75 names and sing it musically” which is a terrible thing to do to a singer! But she took it with like- she did it so well like, she did a lot better than the scratch track was! You can kinda tell she’s running out of breath at the end, but like I like, feel like that just kind of makes it better?AOIFE:
Yeah. Like it’s a very realistic angle to it. Of the song, as a whole, what do you think your favorite part is of it? What are you most proud of?BLONE:
I love the aside at the end, where they’re uh- where MQ’s like ‘tomorrow brings the darkness and there’s that awful screeching noise’ and there’s like the aside ‘that no one can explain’ that feels so- that feels the most like country songwriter, the idea of adding asides between verses and I felt really proud of that, like, cast off joke, and also like the way that MQ took it sounded really kind of natural and good. That’s the part of the song that still makes me laugh, of all of it.AOIFE:
Yeah, It’s just incredible. So, you’ve also played lead guitar for most of the garages live songs. What does the future of live songs for the band look like?BLONE:
More people… Ideally. Uh, The- the thing about the live shows we’ve done so far is they’ve all been really last minute. So it was usually like, rain being like “Okay, who’s available and can do this, this, and this” and the reason I’m on lead guitar on like 9 of the 10 live songs we’ve put out this far, which is… dumb. Like, I shouldn’t have volunteered for that, and we shouldn’t have done that, but it’s ‘cause like, there weren’t that many people available who could do lead guitar at that time, it’s the same reason MQ’s on all the drums. So ideally, what the garages liveshows look like from here is more planning and set up, and a more like representative of the band live line up. You know, rather than like, “Oh these are the same like seven or ten people both times”, like it’s the garages you know the joke is that we’re twenty plus members,right? Always and forever. But there’s… dozens of us. Like that’s what’s great about the garages, is there’s so many different people of, like different skills and different backgrounds and different ideas coming into it, so the idea that both of our live shows had a lot of the same people, kind of bummed me out. Although I thought they were great, I think the live shows turned out well, that part kind of bummed me out a bit. Also doing it last minute puts a lot of strain on like rain and tegan who did all the editing, of the music and the video respectively. And there were talks about this, ideally the future is like a garages planned live show that is more representative of like everybody in the garages, more representative of different songwriters from the garages, and is more of a showcase for just how kind of like wild and sprawling this song writer collective slash band is.AOIFE:
Yeah, I can’t wait for the next one. Um, for the song, what has the community reaction been like for you?BLONE:
Very… very validating? I think in a way that usually you don’t get as a songwriter, because usually you just put your songs out there and very few- you know, unless you’re like, famous, like very few people listen to it and they’re mostly your friends and family. Or it’s like the other bands at a show you’re playing who give you the requisite “Oh yeah, good show”. So the response to ‘rejoice’ from a bunch of like fans and a bunch of people has been really heartening ‘cause it’s exactly what the response I kind of wanted but didn’t think that like I had the skill to pull off. Like the idea of people being like “Oh no, this is- like I don’t even like country and I like this song, like this feels like a really good legit country song” you know, finding the jokes funny, being really in to the sort of vibe and like, enjoying listening to it beyond like just the joke of it, and considering it a good song regardless. You know like, I think uh Joel from The Game Band when I was interviewing him for a completely different thing said he liked ‘rejoice’ and that was insane to me. “Oh the people who make this game I like, like a song I made” it’s this weird like, oroboros of validation that’s just really sweet.AOIFE:
That’s fantastic. It- It’s really like what I love so much about this podcast is being able to like talk to people and see how this art that they have created affects them and it’s just- it’s really nice to see that we can use this amazing community around blaseball as a writing prompt to make incredible music.BLONE:
I- yeah. Absolutely. I mean the community’s the biggest thing. The- this is a community that’s very supportive of each other and, like helps a lot of people with writing songs that wouldn’t be writing songs otherwise. But I think the- the other really cool thing about the garages is that- is the fans. One: that there are fans, because what? Two: like, that, you know, they always show up and they’re always, like enthusiastic and supportive, and like, you know what the Live at Desert bus made so much money just from fans like supporting that cause and- it’s- it’s really- really sweet. You know, the blaseball community as a whole is just so cool.AOIFE:
Yeah, absolutely. So, thank you so much for going on and I have one last question for you, before you hit the road. What do you think the most underrated album of the garages is, outside of your own music?BLONE:
It’s the- it- it’s not because ‘rejoice’ is on it, but I think ‘storm’s coming’ is actually super underrated. ‘Cause I think it has a lot of the best work from a lot of our songwriters and it’s got like, ‘forecast’ is my favorite rain song, you know, ‘steal home’ is my favorite em, you know em grace song, ‘relief pitcher’ is such an insane thing for somebody to have done. It is so cool, and I feel like it holds together really well as an album? But it’s kind of a sleeper ‘cause like “Oh it’s that country album”. It’s probably the album that like you know, I usually skip my song ‘cause I, I don’t think there are many songwriters that like to listen to their own stuff, but it’s this album that I listen to the most.AOIFE:
It’s an incredible work and it’s certainly one of my favorites when it comes to the albums. Thank you so much for joining us on idol board, the podcast where we interview members of the garages, an anarcho-syndicalist blaseball band, from the fictional location of Seattle. We make songs about being gay, the apocalypse, and fighting the gods. And you can find our music at blandcamp.com, with an l, spotify, or on youtube. We’ll see you next week! Now, here’s ‘rejoice’ by Mother Love Blone, MQ, and em grace of the garages.[rejoice plays in its entirety]
ANNOUNCER:
Idol board is directed by Tangereen Velveteen, edited by Jennifer Cat, Nerdy Sims, and zach.ry, hosted by Aoife, transcribed by Sigilcrafter Aya, and written by Aoife and Tangereen Velveteen.[outro music plays]