The Troy Westfield Experience was a going concern. It had the shreddingest guitarist in New York City, the Chopping Penguin, since outed as Steve Donnelly. It had versatile drum stylings from Brent Popolizio, who oh by the way could rock the hell out of any room, and usually did. Andrew Stillufsen was holding down the bottom end and taunting the ladies with his new wedding ring under the alias Norse Force D. Phil Ristaino, then (and possibly now) operating under the nom de nom nom nom of the Post-Relevant Movement, was fronting like he was fly. And over in the corner, whenever the others failed to successfully keep the gig's location from him, was Troy, doing ... er, something. He was usually sort of low in the mix, it was hard to tell.
This wrecking crew of heartbreak was playing such places as Brownies (R.I.P.), the Village Underground, and Acme Underground every few weeks or so. Something like 200 had shown up for the record release party for Tantric Scrimshaw, undoubtedly lured by the offer of free beer. Discs were made up and occasionally even sold. Fun was had by many if not all. Discussions began on the topic of becoming a touring band. These were the first baby steps toward world domination.
And then Troy ruined it all. But before he did (or possibly after he did), Phil and Troy, like thieves in the night who just this once happened to be up to legitimate business, found a copy shop in the Village and funded a very short run of lyric booklets for Scrimshaw. Like, I think it was 3 copies. They were just for us, see. Phil and Troy and me. And who am I? Brother, you don't want to know.
These lyric books were works of art. And lyrics. That was pretty much what they were, lyrics superimposed on top of Phil's art. But o, what art! And what lyrics, for that matter. What ho! You should have seen them.
And now you can. The TWE will be posting videos for all of the songs on Scrimshaw featuring the original 2001 lyric book. Ever wondered what Phil meant in a certain song? We can't help you with that. I mean, not even Phil can. But we can tell you what he sang.
We start with Two Sources. It's one of the songs that most benefitted from Allen Towbin's brilliant remix/remaster work, and some of Phil's best lyrics as well. And if you ask him what it means, he might even tell you ...
Watch that shit right here.
