Mr. Bonkers by Mr. Bonkers

Mr. Bonkers - Mr. Bonkers

BONKERS BANDMEMBERS
Dave Johnson - guitars, keys, bass, drums, hand percussion, synth
Ben Haley - guitars, hand percussion
Steve Maxwell - drums, vibes, hand percussion

BONKERS FEATURED PERSONNEL
Matt Gold - bass
Keith Kidston - guitars
Chris Maxwell - bass
Andy Schlinder - tenor sax
Madalyne Tregellas - flute
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin, handbells, didgeridoo

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TRACKS - SYNOPSES & INSTRUMENTATION
1. Harvest Moon
An old farmer in a rocking chair strums a banjo. Light from the harvest moon is shining down. Cold autumn winds blow across his front porch but instead of a sense of foreboding, the breeze carries calmness. He takes a swig of bourbon and feels its warmth, puffs on a pipe and watches it glow. Suddenly an overwhelming sense of wholeness overtakes his entire being. During this moment of self-actualization he sees how incredibly wonderful his life is, and, with this glimpse into the divine, his heart is filled with goodwill. He realizes that he has achieved the American Dream: he has life, liberty & prosperity. He remembers those who have gone before - the loved ones who have traveled beyond the stars. He knows that they will meet again when the time is right. His eyes well up with tears but he is wearing a smile. As he lifts his head to look up at the harvest moon, he is transported there instantaneously by angels.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass, cowbell, shaker, tambourine
Ben Haley - acoustic guitar
Steve Maxwell - drums, vibraphone
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Madalyne Tregellas - flute
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin

2. Sea Of Tranquility
Standing on the surface of the moon, he sees the beautiful shimmer and sparkle of the lunar dust and takes a moment to appreciate the peacefulness of the uninhabited crystalline landscape.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, electric bass, chimes, tambourine
Steve Maxwell - drums
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass

3. Noon Moon
Upon returning back to earth, he notices that the moon is clearly visible in the midday sky. This strikes him as a little strange but he shrugs it off and turns to enter his home. As he steps through the doorway, he sees and hears that his living room has transformed into an old jazz club. The tune seems familiar. He looks down at his hands and then quickly looks up, catching his reflection in the mirror. Astonishingly, he is young again. He surveys the room and his eye catches what must be the most beautiful creature he has ever seen. It is his wife and he realizes that this is where they first met. He asks her if she'd care to dance and without a word, she offers her hand. The surroundings are spinning and fade away, only the music and the two souls remain. He tells her that the last few years have been rough, he misses her deeply. She tells him that they will be together again, but it is not time yet. She says that she will be waiting.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass
Steve Maxwell - drums, vibraphone
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin

4. Chill Pill
Her presence dissipates and he is alone again. The sorrow is almost unbearable. He feels his chest tighten and his breathing accelerates. Luckily, he remembers his wife's old remedy - a good cure for anxiety is bennies & red wine. They miraculously appear on his table and after he takes a substantial gulp, his breathing slows and steadies and the tension in his chest releases. His environment morphs once again and he finds himself underwater, surrounded by happy little tropical fishes and breathing regularly as though he were on dry land. He chuckles as a school of what he thinks must be herring swims by and he sees the light shining off of their scales as if through a kaleidoscope. Two beacons of light emerge as stronger and brighter than the others and are growing larger - they appear to be approaching. They are the angels who brought him to the moon and back. They ask him if he'd like to come jam with their angel-band. He tells them that that would be awesome.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass, shaker
Steve Maxwell - drums, vibraphone
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin

5. Mr. Bonkers
The angels teleport the old farmer to a jam session in the heavens. They hand him an electric guitar and he looks confused - banjo is his instrument, not guit-fiddle. Worry not - the angels tell him - the truth is about to be revealed to you. He joins in with the melody line and to his amazement, playing the thing is effortless. Towards the last repeat of the melody, he glances over at the angels who had brought him there and they nod, as if to say, 'Go for it.' He is filled with the power of all the stars in the known universe and well beyond, he feels the breath of God and is compelled to wail. The solo becomes the guitar-equivalent of speaking in tongues. He offers his soul and experiences boundless grooviness. And then they reach the coda. The angels telepathically express to him: "This is the secret melody that is linked to all memory - ancient and future. Play with us and know truth." The omniscient beauty he witnessed cannot be captured in words. He saw that the microcosm and the macrocosm are one in the same. He saw that the key to anti-gravity propulsion is two concentric electromagnetic rings rotating in opposite directions. He saw that people will always like to watch the sunset. And, so, too, he caught a glimpse of the face of God. And God was grinning at him! Mr. Bonkers is Donna Pinciotti's cat.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, classical guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass, tambourine
Steve Maxwell - drums, congas, vibraphone
Keith Kidston - acoustic guitar
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Madalyne Tregellas - flute
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin, handbells

6. Jointillism
The old farmer finds himself floating around the Art Institute in a lucid dream. He has only limited control of his levitation but manages to drift over to the giant Seurat work. All those thousands upon thousands of dots of paint are all moving independently, vibrating like the strings inside of subatomic particles. Every single dot then transforms into a J. While hovering in weightlessness in front of the painting, absorbing the colors one by one, he looks into his own eyes from inside the canvas and falls asleep in the dream to awaken in reality. Back on the porch, it seems that no time had passed since he glanced up at the moon. Whether or not it was astral projection or special providence or just an acid flashback, he returns from his spiritual journey changed forever. Now he is determined to act only out of kindness and compassion. He believes, now more than ever, that righteousness will always triumph over evil. He has come to understand that every single moment in life is to be cherished. The old farmer in a rocking chair strums a banjo.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass, drums, tambourine
Steve Maxwell - vibraphone
Keith Kidston - classical guitar
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Madalyne Tregellas - flute
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin

7. Megasaurus (Babe)
We begin the second half of the record with this tone-portrait of a total fox. She is beauty incarnate. She is all that & a bag of chips. Her dance moves change the course of humanity. The guitar solo emulates her vocal patterns after she's downed a fifth of tequila. The first coda is that time of night when she passes out and the final coda is sleepy time - a lullaby I used to play for her.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass, synthesizer bass, drummachine, shaker, tambourine, handclaps
Steve Maxwell - drums, vibraphone
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Madalyne Tregellas - flute
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin, handclaps

8. Flightwheel
Once during high school, Mr. Bonkers was hanging out at Ben's house in Oak Park, throwing frisbee out in the cul-de-sac. We were having the best time ever and impossibly cool things started happening. The disc began to stretch both time & space as it would slow, hover and generally defy the laws of physics. And then the aliens attacked. The night sky lit up bright as day and we thought it was the end of it all. Explosions in the sky went off that would make you feel like Sarah Conner's dream in T2 is about to happen and you're powerless to stop it, that you expect your skin to catch fire and melt off in the next few seconds. But we didn't catch fire - we all ran back inside the house! We wondered what it was, if it had really happened - maybe it was a shared hallucination or something. The next morning at school, I was about to tell someone about our frisbee game that was interrupted by a UFO when they asked, 'Hey, did you see that meteor shower last night?' And I thought, 'Oh.' Flightwheel, then, is both a reference to frisbees and alien spacecraft.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, classical guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass
Steve Maxwell - drums, vibraphone
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Andy Schlinder - tenor saxophone
Roberta Wentling - ukulele

9. Spaceface
At the center of any galaxy lies a supermassive black hole. All those stars - 100 billion or so - are slowly going down the drain. We have no clue what is beyond the event horizon. The storyline for this piece examines the potential dangers of exploring the unknown and is borrowed from an x-file - 1x08. An astronaut on a spacewalk becomes possessed by an alien spirit entity who later compels him, without his knowledge, to sabotage the NASA shuttle missions he now supervises. From time to time, the alien entity shows itself by contorting his face into a ghoulish form, separating into two images that suggest his soul is being ripped apart. He finally jumps out of a window, which destroys the alien being inside and takes his own life. Accordingly, this tune is an all-out freakout. Its conceptual framework is what can be called a "schizoid embolism". If you find yourself detaching from reality at all, even just spacing-out a little, when you return, you say, 'I got a bad case of the spaceface.'

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, Hammond B3 electric organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass, guiro, African pod seed shaker, kalimba, beer bottle, broom, metronome
Ben Haley - electric guitar, dartgun, flutes, rattles, African pod seed shaker, handdrums
Steve Maxwell - drums, congas, vibraphone
Keith Kidston - Tibetan singing bowl
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Andy Schlinder - tenor saxophone
Madalyne Tregellas - flute
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin, didgeridoo

10. Anthropomorphism
A chinchilla playing guitar, an octopus playing upright, a velociraptor playing drums.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar
Steve Maxwell - drums
Matt Gold - acoustic bass

11. The Infinite Sanctuary
You might be wondering about the meaning of this title. The Infinite Sanctuary is the Holy Spirit -- The Infinite Sanctuary is LOVE. And, as you hear these tunes, may the peace, love & mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and forevermore. Amen.

Dave Johnson - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer organ, Hammond B3 electric organ, pipe organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, electric bass, fingersnaps
Ben Haley - fingersnaps
Steve Maxwell - drums, vibraphone
Chris Maxwell - acoustic bass
Madalyne Tregellas - flute
Roberta Wentling - ukulele, mandolin, handbells

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GEAR LIST
Electric Guitars: 2012 Gibson SG Special, 1975 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
Acoustic Guitars: 1995 Washburn D-10N, 1995 Taylor, 1995 Larrivée D-03, 1997 Córdoba nylon-string classical
Add'l Strings: 2015 Kala KA-PWTE tenor ukulele, 2016 Eastman MD505 mandolin
Basses: 2004 Horst Grünert Bel Canto doublebass, c. 1920 Mittenwald doublebass, 2014 Fender Squier 70's-Style Jazz Bass
Winds: 1958 Selmer Mark VI Tenor Sax, Sankyo Flute, Dartgun, Wood Flute, Recorder, Indigenous Didgeridoo
Keys: 1973 Fender Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano, 1960s Hammond B3 Electric Organ with Leslie Speaker, 2002 Yamaha S08 Synthesizer, 1961 Austin Organs, Inc., Op. 2361 Pipe Organ
Vibes: 1950s Deagan Travel Vibraphone, 1990s Musser Pro-Vibe Vibraphone
Drums: 1915 Leedy Peacock Pearl Mahogany single-ply 5x14 snare, 1995 Pearl Brass 6.5x14 snare, 1959 Gretsch Peacock Sparkle kit, 2015 Craviotto Maple/Walnut single-ply 12/14/20 kit, 2015 Craviotto Caddy Green Curly Maple single-ply 12/14/29 kit, 2009 Ludwig Bun E. Carlos Signature 13/16/24 kit, 2002 Bosphorus 22" Master Series ride, 1950s A Zildjian 22" ride, 1995 Zildjian 18" Medium Thin Crash, 1950s A Zildjian 15" hi-hats, a room full of cymbals
Perc: LP Galaxy Giovanni Series Congas, LP Cowbell, LP Shaker, Ludwig Tambo, LP Bar Chimes, Guiro, African Pod Seed Shaker, Rattles, Kalimba, Miller High Life Beer Bottle, Broom, Boss Dr. Beat DB-66, Schulmerich Handbells
Synth: Native Instruments Maschine Mikro groove production system
Stompboxes: Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Envelope Filter, Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Wah (x2), Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini, Greer Amps Sucker Punch Distortion, Boss OC-2 Octave Pedal
Amplifiers: Fender Twin 2x12", Fender Twin Reverb '65 Reissue 2x12", Fender Blues Junior 1x12" Tweed, Fender Princeton Chorus 2x10", Traynor SB112 1x12" bass combo, Trace Elliot 1110 4x10" bass combo, Peavey TKO 65 1x15" bass combo, Ampeg Heritage Model B-15N 1x15" bass combo
Recording Equipment: Yamaha M2500 Mixing Console, TEAC 80-8 8tk reel-to-reel 1/2" tape machine, TEAC A-3440 4tk reel-to-reel 1/4" tape machine, TEAC A-7030 2tk reel-to-reel 1/4" tape machine, TEAC DX-8 dbx noise reduction module, TEAC RX-9 dbx unit, Zoom R16 Multitrack Recorder, Apple MacBook Pro, Steinberg Cubase LE6 audio software, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Audio Interface, Lenovo ThinkPad Notebook, Ableton Live 8 audio software, Behringer HA8000 headphone cue, Dynakit Stereo 70 tube pre-amp, Altec Lansing live room playback speakers (previously owned by Les Paul himself), Yamaha HS5 control room monitors, Behringer Truth B1030A control room monitors, Klipsch KG 4 control room mains, Realistic STA-2300 AM/FM Stereo Receiver, Furman power supply (x2)
Microphones: AKG C314 Large Diaphragm Condenser, AKG P420 Large Diaphragm Condenser (x3), AKG C3000 B Large Diaphragm Condenser, Shure KSM141 Small Diaphragm Condenser, MXL 991 Small Diaphragm Condenser (x2), AKG D75 Dynamic Mic (x2), Sennheiser E 835 Dynamic Mic, Shure SM57 Dynamic Mic (x5), Shure SM58 Dynamic Mic, Shure Beta 52A Dynamic Mic

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PRODUCTION NOTES
Released September 16, 2016
Recorded 2015-2016 in Chicagoland at Cowbird Studios by Dave Johnson & Steve Maxwell and at Rock Chalk Studios, Moonblossom Studios, Fortress Blue Studios, Oakdale Audio, Go Blue Studios, Union Church of Hinsdale, Christ Lutheran Church of Clarendon Hills, Zion Lutheran Church of Hinsdale and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church of Downers Grove by Dave Johnson
Mixed and edited at Rock Chalk Studios & Cowbird Studios by Dave Johnson
Mastered at Signal Strength Mastering by Dan Wagner
Cover art by Dave Johnson

All tunes composed by Dave Johnson.
Mr. Bonkers ℗©2016 to Dave Johnson.

Mr. Bonkers is a jazz-funk band from Chicagoland.

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