u/Jumpy-Host-2615

I was going through some old band files and wanted to share a couple of short clips from a really special memory. Back in 2011, Mike Herrera came through Anniston, Alabama on a solo acoustic tour. My band (Motel Matches) was lucky enough to open the show.

After his acoustic set, Mike wanted to play a few full-band classics, so we hopped on stage with him to act as his backing band for the night. We ripped through "Doing Time," "Andrea," and "My Life Story."

It was an incredible honor to lock into those songs with the man himself. I threw the clips up on YouTube just to keep the memory alive.

Thought some fellow fans here might appreciate a look at a rare tour moment. I’ve posted the links to the two clips below.

1. Doing Time

https://youtu.be/undaySehkgs?is=Bt1Cr8iddImVR1S3

2. Andrea

https://youtu.be/tNOel2ffNEo?is=tPEt0NUsQOWJU4SO

I was digging through some old hard drives from my mid-2000s band days and found the final MP3 of my entry for the "Non-Dairy Creamer" remix contest that Third Eye Blind hosted on Indaba Music back in 2008.

Like a lot of people in the community, I always felt the original arrangement was a bit chaotic and erratic compared to the band's classic melodic strengths. For my entry, instead of just tweaking the stems, I wanted to see if I could ground Stephan’s vocals into a more cohesive, serious indie-rock space.

I ended up throwing out their original guitar/bass tracks and re-recording everything from scratch at home around a dynamic C#m / B / A / E chord progression, keeping only the original vocal and drum stems to restructure the song's flow.

At the time, the mix actually ended up holding the top spot on the Indaba popular vote for the duration of the contest before the band went with a different official selection. I just threw it up on YouTube to preserve the audio from that era.

If anyone wants a weird trip down memory lane to the Ursa Major era sessions, check it out here:

https://youtu.be/G6Gmpsf4EP8?is=VYHmYOOfTl7tEips