The Jackyl

From Musician Dictionary

Contents: Top - 9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] The Jackyl

The Jackyl is an Experimental/Metal project and the solo project of Jeff Kroeger from Puro Soviet. It was started during the summer of 2006 and since then The Jackyl has released two EPs and three LPs.

[edit] A

AMVGTFO: Track 11 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx. The song title is an acronym for "Anime music videos: get the fuck out."

Anyone Who Listens To The Pussycat Dolls Deserves To Be Shot In The Fucking Head: Track 17 on The Jackyl and the 3rd song ever written for the album. The minimalism and avant-garde nature of the song matches the original plan for the album.

A Cause (In Effect): Track 17 on Jackyl 2. The song's title is a play on the term "cause and effect."

[edit] B

Beneath: Track 10 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

Brightfield: Track 12 on Jackyl 2. Brightfield is a microscopy term referring to a situation in which a solid cone of light illuminates and enters the objective lens.

Boo! Hiss!: Track 6 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

[edit] C

Cacophony: Track 7 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx

Call On Me: Track 20 on Jackyl 2. A cover of the Eric Prydz song. Jeff wanted to cover a pop song and strip everything that was "catchy" from it and see what the end result would be...and also becuase covering pop songs as heavy metal will never cease to be entertaining. Call On Me was chosen becuase it's really simple and was easy to cover.

Cheating At The Internet: Track 4 on Jackyl 2. The opening percussive rhythm was created by Jeff tapping out two separate rhythms on his (computer) keyboard and then laying them over one another. He doesn't own a metronome and didn't have the song playing when he was playing said rhythms so they ended up a little faster than the tempo of the actual song...but who's counting.

CN-: Track 9 on Jackyl 2. "CN-" is the chemical formula for Cyanide. Officially, and in compliance with proper chemical nomenclature, the minus sign is supposed to be written in superscript, but few programs allow for superscript in their text fields.

[edit] D

Dance Party!: Track 22 on Jackyl 2. Written becuase Jeff had the lyric "1, 2, 3, 4, everybody get on the floor" going around in his head for some reason and decided to make it into a song.

Darkfield: Track 26 on Jackyl 2. Darkfield is a microscopy term that refers to a situation in which a "spider stop" placed below the condenser blocks the center of the beam of light to produce a hollow cone of light and thus the light does not directly enter the objective lens.

Darkness: Track 21 on The Jackyl. Jeff used to like it a lot but now he thinks it's stupid.

Darkness Eternal: The Jackyl's first EP, released during the summer of 2006. It was written over the course of a few short hours in the early morning and all of the parts are on each track were improvised on the spot. Also, the three songs on the album are linked by a few short musical ideas, probably due to the fact that all three songs were written in one sitting in rapid succession.

Dick Cheney Has A Gun: Track 6 on Jackyl 2, and a recycle of an old Cum Dumpster song that never got recorded. The lyrics on the song are the original lyrics. It's almost like he started this album years ago and didn't even realize it. Weird huh.

[edit] E

Electric Snake: Track 25 on Jackyl 2. Inspired by a game of Street Fighter 3 with Jamie where Jeff kept picking Necro becuase he think it's entertaining when Necro yells "electric snake!"

Emo: Track 2 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx and the first single from that album.

Erin Esurance: A Love Song: Track 6 on The Jackyl. Oh shut up, you would totally bang her.

Everyone Likes Sex Jokes: Track 13 on The Jackyl. It's true, you know.

[edit] F

Fan Service: Track 12 on The Jackyl. There are three distinct instruments on this song, but they are all part of one patch. Pretty neat huh.

Fat Chix: Track 5 on Jackyl 2. The song was inspired by a woman in one of Jeff's classes.

Fuck Advertising (Part 1): Track 7 on The Jackyl. This song is was birthed when Jeff fucked up while playing the B Section of the original version of this song (Fun Fact: The original version of this song appears as "Fuck Advertising (Part 2)" on "Jackyl 2: Return of Jackyl"!)

Fuck Advertising (Part 2): Track 27 on Jackyl 2. One of three songs on the album to feature a keyboard solo (the others being "A Cause (In Effect") and "Hey America"...during the end..it's mixed really low). The original first line of the song was "fuck advertising and fuck you."

[edit] G

[edit] H

Hey America: Track 13 on Jackyl 2. The lyrics suck and the only reason they were written is because Jeff liked the groove so much, especially the bass line. The drum rhythm was stolen from the Eagles of Death Metal song "I Gotta Feeling (Just Nineteen)."

[edit] I

Idling: Track 9 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

If I Did It: Track 19 on Jackyl 2. The title comes from the defunct OJ Simpson book (and TV special or whatever) of the same name.

If You Find Someone Who Celebrates Columbus Day, Shoot Them: Track 11 on The Jackyl. The inspiration to write this came after Jeff found out that Washington Mutual was closed "in observation of Columbus Day." One of Jeff's favorite songs on the album.

If You Voted For Bush Or Kerry You Need To Seriously Reexamine Your Life: Track 5 on The Jackyl. Every part on the song was entirely improvised, starting with the piano track.

Ignorance Is Patriotic: Track 14 on The Jackyl. For all intents and purposes, this song and "Truth" are two parts of the same song. Jeff wanted a song that was two parts and that "cut" to the second part in a really random place. The title of the song comes from a bumper sticker that read "Ignorance is patriotic. Truth is treason."

I'm Going To Find Ben Gibbard And Punch Him In The Vagina: Track 18 on The Jackyl. This song was another attempt to provide contrast to some of the more complex and lengthy songs on the album. Ben Gibbard is the singer for Death Cab and Postal Service, so you can see why Jeff might have some hostile feelings toward him.

I'M GOING TO FUCK YOUR BRAIN: Track 1 on Darkness Eternal. Features a short musical idea toward the end that is echoed in the track "Emu".

Incident at Powell Library: Written at the last minute for The Jackyl, but never ended up making it on the album, because Jeff felt like he was "cashing in." Jeff was gonna put it on the second album but it really doesn't fucking fit there. It's probably gonna end up going on some EP or something.

Inner Nets: Track 4 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

Introduction to Destruction: Track 1 on Jackyl 2. Was written solely because Jeff really wanted to start the album with a song called "Introduction to Destruction." One of Jeff's attempts to write a song with "serious" lyrics.

Intermission of Submission: Track 10 on Jackyl 2. Jeff has a habit of ripping off songs on accident and sometimes he even rips off his own songs. How ironic?

I Want To Punch Marylin Manson In The Face: Track 3 on The Jackyl. Every part was improvised, starting with the bass guitar part.

[edit] J

Jackyl, The: The Jackyl's first full length album, released in January of 2007. Primarily features weird, pretentious, pseudo-experimental, self indulgent prog jams...or something.

Jackyl 2: Return of Jackyl: The Jackyl's second full length album. The music on this album is primarily heavy metal, with the exception of a few weird instrumentals. Many of The Jackyl's fan's find humor in the fact that the music is fairly legitimate Heavy Metal, but the lyrics are mostly about mundane or trivial topics, like pennies, Starcraft, or the movie Primevil. Jeff has stated that musically it's the "answer to my first album."

Jamie Owes Me $40: Track 15 on Jackyl 2. The inspiration for the song came after Jeff mentioned to Tommy that Jamie hadn't paid back the money he owed him and then Tommy said "probably because you're not some chick he wants to bang."

Jessica Simpson Really Needs To Fucking Die: Track 8 on The Jackyl and the second song written for that album. Originally, every song on the album was going to be this kind of minimalist, atonal, avant-garde kinda stuff....but that changed pretty quickly.

Justice?: Track 9 on The Jackyl. This song "stole" the name "Justice Is Dead" from what we now know as "The Meltening" after Jeff decided that it fit the name more. The title was later changed to "Is Justice Dead or Just On Break?" until finally becoming know by it's current title after Jeff had to shorten it to list it on the WAKKA! Records music player and he decided he liked the way it looked. The original version didn't feature drums. After the second A section (the first part of the coda....right before that really heavy guitar takes over), every guitar is in a different time signature, but it's hard to hear becuase Jeff sucks at mixing. It remains one of Jeff's favorite songs on the album.

[edit] K

Kill 'em All And Let God Sort 'em Out: Track 1 on The Jackyl. The organ during the symphonic middle section is supposed to be a pip organ, but Reason doesn't have a pipe organ patch. The low drone that opens the song was inspired by the opening of the Godspeed You! Black Emperor song "Moya." One of Jeff's favorite songs on the album.

Kill Everything: Track 24 on Jackyl 2. Inspired by Tommy's first game of Starcraft where he built a bunch of Goliaths becuase he said they looked like they were yelling "Kill..EVERYTHING!"

[edit] L

Lamb And Lynx Gaede: Track 10 on The Jackyl. The only track on the album to feature vocals. Lamb and Lynx Gaede are those two young girls who sing for the white supremacist folk duo Prussian Blue.

Let's Pretend That We're Friends: Track 21 on Jackyl 2. Inspired by a bunch of dumbfucks that Jeff puts up with on a daily bases becuase he's a nice guy or something.

[edit] M

Madness: Track 2 on The Jackyl.

Marijuana Suppository: Track 23 on Jackyl 2. Inspired by and technically co-written by Jamie while TTGF was at the Fieldbrook gig (the very same!). Jamie said he wanted to write a song about a marijuana suppository and have the lyrics be "just a bunch of gibberish and then someone screaming 'and then I got high'"...but Jeff wrote it instead. How's it feel to get SuperOwned?.

Meltening, The: Track 22 on The Jackyl. The first song ever written for the album (not counting the Darkness Eternal material). The original version was entitled "Justice Is Dead" and did not feature the melodical synth part. This original version was actually up on The Jackyl MySpace page for a short time, until it was rewritten as "The Meltening."

Metropolis: Track 8 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

Mosaic Crotch: Track 1 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx. The term "Mosaic Crotch" was coined by some guy on an internet forum to describe the minimalist censoring found in Japanese adult videos.

MSG: Track 11 on Jackyl 2. Dedicated to and sort of co-written by Marisa and Kate.

Music: Track 5 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

Musical Influences: Jeff lists King Crimson, Radiohead, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, John Zorn, Philip Glass, John Adams, The Locust, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Mastodon as his major musical influences (for this project at least). Obviously, the degree of the influence is based upon which album you're talking about.

Mystery: Track 13 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

Myth Of Murray Road, The: Track 14 on Jackyl 2. The inspiration for the song came from an incident where Jeff had a gig in Fieldbrook with his ska band and he got lost getting there because he was supposed to take the 101 to get to Murray Road (and thus to Fieldbrook) and he took the 299 instead and then Jamie made a joke about Jeff writing a song about how Murray Road doesn't exist. So he did. Sure showed that guy.

[edit] N

Nelly McKay Is A Joke: Cut from The Jackyl because Jeff decided it was too self indulgent, as it was essentially just a 2 minute jazz piano solo. It was written in order to somehow discredit Melly McKay as a musician.

[edit] O

OMFG: Track 20 on The Jackyl. Jeff wanted to write a song that was one second long. He also envisioned there being a very clean transition between "Wang", "OMFG", and "Darkness", so that it sounded like it was all one song (note how the tone that begins Darkness is the same one that runs all the way through "Wang"). Obviously, it didn't quite turn out that way, in part because every CD burning program out there insists on not only inserting breaks between songs but not recognizing songs that are less than 4, 5 (iTunes), or even 10 seconds (I think Roxio?) long. The closest Jeff could get was Nero, which recognizes songs that are as short as 2 seconds (which is why Jeff compromised and extended the songs to 2 seconds). Unfortunately, Nero is also an unreasonably tedious program to use. What a bunch of bullshit.

[edit] P

Pennies (Too Many): Track 2 on Jackyl 2 and a fan favorite. One of the few (metal) songs on the album to feature keyboards.

Pirate: Track 3 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

...Plays The Hits!: Unofficial EP, released on March 23, 2007, as a birthday present.

Primevil: Track 16 on Jackyl 2. The lyrics for the song were taken from a trailer for the movie. Jenifer Aniston does not actually appear in the movie in any regard, but Jeff does think she's stupid.

Pterodactyl-Face: Track 8 on The Jackyl. There's a story behind this one but it's boring. An artistic rendering of Pterodactyl-face is featured on the "Jackyl 2" album art. Kind of pokes fun at "The Thing That Should Not Be" and similar metal songs.

[edit] Q

[edit] R

Raptors: Track 7 on Jackyl 2. The whole "raptors" thing is an inside joke between Jeff and some friends that was inspired by the movie Jurassic Park (which is also the source for some of the lyrics.)

Reason: If this program didn't exist, there would be no Jackyl albums.

[edit] S

Suckin' On My Wang: There's Never Been A Better Time To Start! Call Now!: Track 19 on The Jackyl. The title comes from a commercial that Jeff heard at like 5 in the morning on some night a while ago when he woke up at like 5 in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep. The announcer said something like "..if you've never tried (some bullshit product) before, there's never been a better time to start!" and Jeff, in his 5 in the morning delirium, substituted the name of the product for "suckin' on my wang!", which he thought was hilarious.

Surgery Song: Track 18 on Jackyl 2 and (probably) the first Jackyl 2 song ever written. Jeff has no idea why the fuck he decided to write a song about surgery. The mixing on this song is bad becuase Jeff accidentally erased the Reason file (luckily he had already converted it to an MP3)

[edit] T

Talk British To Me: Track 4 on The Jackyl. Was written shortly after "Marilyn", "Voted", and "Kill 'em" were written, in an attempt to write something simpler and wierder (a la "Pussycat" and "Jessica"). The title doesn't mean anything, Jeff just thought it sounded funny and the song needed a title.

Tannenbaum: Track 3 on The Jackyl.

Tension: Track 12 on xxRazorbladeKissesxx.

The Coming Of The Emu: Track 2 on Darkness Eternal. Features musical ideas present in both tracks 1 and 3.

The Reckoning: Track 3 on Darkness Eternal. Features an expansion on a musical idea that is present in track 2.

To Have Or Have Not: Track 16 on The Jackyl. One of Jeff's favorite songs on the album, although he regrets giving it such a goth name. The original version was supposed to be performed by a (synthesized) sax quartet.

Truth Is Treason: Track 15 on The Jackyl. For all intents and purposes, this song and "Ignorance" are two parts of the same song. Jeff wanted a song that was two parts and that "cut" to the second part in a really random place. The title of the song comes from a bumper sticker that read "Ignorance is patriotic. Truth is treason." In the original plan for the album, all of the songs were going to cut in really random places and they were all going to be weird ambient sounds and shit, so as to make it hard to discern where one song ended and another began. That didn't really end up working out, but fuck that was gonna be hard to do.

[edit] U

[edit] V

[edit] W

[edit] X

xxRazorbladeKissesxx: Third official LP. Is sort of a concept album in that Jeff wanted to create an album that was under a minute long. The entire album was conceived of and created over the course of two days.

[edit] Y

You And I: The secret track on Jackyl 2. Jeff thinks this song is hilarious but everyone else probably thinks it's disturbing and weird....and it is.

[edit] Z