7.6.09 @ 9:53pm :
Ron has decided to show T61 who Ron is. Over the next handful of weeks we are going to post our finest work over the last ten years. We will post 61 songs in the next 6 weeks and one day.
7.6.09 Ron says Hi. Sorry Ron gone so Ron long
The most recent songs, Hoopla, So Right, Suddenly and Wanna Be Startin' Something were recorded back when Ron was part of a Chicago band called Hundo. Hundo is Ryan, Scott, Don Sheridan, Drew Rieder, Chris Wellner and Mat Cashman. Wanna Be Starting Something is a raw recording straight from the board at a venue called the Beat Kitchen. This is pretty old stuff but relevant. Much respect to Michael. The others were recorded at Super Buddha Studios by Dave Wagner.
RON: The Band was born in the city of Chicago in October of 2006 out of the ashes of Starrunner and Stoker Ace, reuniting Scott Shellberg and Ryan Behling from the Hundo days. RON is a 2 man band and has written and recorded 7 full length recordings in the past year and a half.
On their recordings, Ryan and Scott both sing and play bass, keyboards, guitars and percussion and all other noises. The only imstrument we do not play are the drums. We cannot drum very well. That is one tought instrument to play well.
Ryan has been singing all his life in various professional projects including Starrunner, a funk/jam band with whom he spent the last 4 years touring the country, The Other Guys, Hundo, Ball in the House, Henderson Inches and Jesus H. Whoppner. He has a degree in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Scott has been playing bass in the Chicago scene since the mid-90s in various bands including Stoker Ace, Starrunner, Hundo and the Del Ray Melvins. This band is the first time that Scott has been allowed to speak on tape. Time will tell if that is a good idea.
The song Tomorrow: This is was seen over 500 shows across the nation. This was written and recorded with Dallas Wade, Pete Zumbinski, & Oscar Loubriel.
Batch Seven is called "Duke". It was recorded in the spring of 2008 and features plenty of special guests. Peter James Zubinski on the lead Rhodes on "Batch 7" and "Blues No. 4" as well as acoustic guitar on "Hang on Me". Mat Cashman on saxophone on "Batch 7", "Dinosaur Revenge", "Dark Circles", "Sweet Relish" and "Twice the Worth". And Kipton Roderick on trumpet on "Batch 7", "Blues No. 4", "Ah Ah Ah Ha", and "The Rod". Some of these overdubs were recorded in a cabin in Carbondale. The rest of the sessions, which was a full 10 piece band session lasting for 3 days, will be Batch 8. Be prepared.
Batch Six is titled "The Golden Age of Not Ron". It was recorded in December of 2007 the first few months of 2008. It's 25 tracks and was recorded completely by Ryan and Scott, except for the trumpet on "Ah Yeah" which was played by our good friend, Kip "The Kiptonian Institute" Roderick. It also features a few RONmade commercials for fake products.
Batch Number Five. It is called "Ron Stupendous" and was recorded on Pro-Tools in October and November of 2007. It is 22 tracks long and introduces the Korg MS2000 sythesizer to the arsenal. Batch 5 also has a few guest stars. It features Jessica Emelia on vocals on "Endawo Enganangozi", "No Funk on the Moon", and "Behind", Peter James Zubinski on Rhodes on "Three Turtles", "Thirst" and "Endawo Enganangozi" and Dave Riney on "No Funk on the Moon".
The Fourth Batch of Ron is called "Gashole". It was recorded in a brand new studio with a brand new Pro-Tools system in August and September of 2007. It is 23 tracks long, I think. All instruments and voices were performed by Ryan and Scott. Batch 4 introduces the Empty Illy Coffee Can and the Big Old Suitcase as a percussion instruments.
The third Batch of Ron is called "Batchwerk". It contains 20 songs and was recorded on Cubase in March of 2007. All songs and sounds were made by Ryan and Scott except for the Rhodes on "Must" and "Second Reason" was played by Peter James Zubinski. Batch 3 introduces the harmonica.
The second Batch of Ron is called "Neuronic". It contains 20ish tracks and was recorded on Cubase in the first 2 months of 2007. All songs and sounds once again made by Ryan and Scott except for the lead vocal on "Judas" was improvised by Justin Strackany. No scripts, just pure madness.
The first Batch of Ron is titled "Ron For Pod". It contains 26 songs clocking in at one hour. It was recorded on a Roland VS-880, an 8-track digital workstation made in the early 90's, in 3 months. The songs were performed by Scott and Ryan alone ... save the sampled drums on most tracks and the growls in "Horseshoe Monkey" and bottle in "Civil War" performed the Infamous Phrank. The instruments were restricted to the human voice, Lakland and Ricenbacher basses, a Gibson Firebird electric guitar, a Rhodes electric piano and an acoustic bass guitar.
