From the Inside Looking Out is our opportunity to have musicians to tell us a bit about the music world from their point of view. We’re happy to kick off the feature with the premiere of a new song and a special look inside the workings of one of EAR FARM’s favorite bands: Goes Cube.

Listen: “Clenching Jaws” by Goes Cube

“You should title your songs,” people would tell us. “Why don’t you guys have song titles?” people would ask. “But we DO have song titles,” we’d always say. “They just happen to be song titles with numbers.”

Not long ago, we decided that “Goes Cube Song 58″ should be called “Sorry, Were You Sleeping?”, “Goes Cube Song 59″ should be called “Read Right,” “Goes Cube Song 61″ should be called “Loose Ends,” “Goes Cube Song 62″ should be called “Gravestones Like Chess Pieces” and “Goes Cube Song 63″ should be called “Clenching Jaws.” “Goes Cube Song 60″ will change, too, but it’s an instrumental and not recorded, so we’re taking our time picking out a real interesting title for that one. (At shows it has been performed under the titles “We Love [insert any number of friends' band name],” “Stop Judging Me,” and “Let’s Get So Weird, We Don’t Know How To Look At Each Other.”)

Shortly after this decision, we had to submit some paperwork to Fearless Music, which included a list of the songs we’ll be performing on their show (they just taped last Friday, but we don’t know the airdate). I filled in the information and brought it over to our friend’s office where we could fax it. She glanced at it and said, “Hey, wait a minute… Are these song titles?”

“Well, we’ve always had song titles.”

Recently, we came back from tour and played our first show in New York in nearly three months. “This song is called ‘Gravestones Like Chess Pieces,’” I announced before we started playing that particular song. After the show, some people noted that we now have song titles. Of course, we’ve ALWAYS had song titles…

Recently a gentleman from SESAC, our performing rights organization, called to verify our song titles (the ones with numbers). He was unclear whether they were actually titles, or perhaps cues for a score. I explained that they were the titles, and then we got into a long discussion about titles (and the possible dangers of our system). “Typically,” he said, “bands will simply title their songs the first words of the chorus, or the main hook.” I know, I said, but how can that be a reliable system? What if a song is instrumental? Explosions In The Sky features song titles like “Remember Me As A Time Of Day.” You’re telling me that’s not confusing? And they don’t even have vocals. I mean, it would be one thing if they were singing that over and over again, but there’s no singing whatsoever.

Let’s put aside Explosions In The Sky and Pelican and other instrumental bands for a second. Let’s look at the bands I listen to who do have choruses and refrains and whatnot. Mostly, I can’t understand them anyway. After all, there’s a lot of screaming. And then you’ve got Fugazi. One of my favorite Fugazi records is Steady Diet Of Nothing. Speaking of which, the two best tracks on that record are “It’s Time To Be Jamaicans” and “Simpatrick”. Right?

When it comes down to it, more bands ought to be naming their songs with a simple numbering system like we did until recently. I mean, maybe I’m just kind of a nerd about this stuff, but if Mastodon did it like that, and on their next record, “Mastodon Song 3″ was sandwiched between “Mastodon Song 97″ and “Mastodon Song 94,” I’d think, “oh, hey awesome they recorded one of their first songs for this new record!” But no; instead it’s all “crystals” this, “blood” that, “man-eating trees” the other thing.

Of course, I don’t really believe any of this. I’ll be the first to admit that if some band got up in front of the crowd and said their song was their band name then a number, I’d think that’s pretty gimmicky right there. But, I swear to you: it never was a gimmick for us. The way we write music, I don’t write the words until long after the song is done. But we still need to refer to that lyric-less song as something, so we just called it what number it was in order of when we wrote it. “Goes Cube Song 57″ is quite literally the 57th song we’ve ever done.

But it doesn’t matter. People aren’t familiar with how and why we do things. So, most took it as being gimmicky. (And confusing, we’ve been told.) But Goes Cube is not a gimmicky band. Of course, we ARE a STUBBORN band. So for all that we didn’t want to be viewed as gimmicky, we also didn’t want to just change it ‘cos people said we should.

Finally, though, we accepted that the time had come to change it. The truth is, we were all getting kind of tired of the system. After all, what if you really did want to have a song called “The Opening Band Featuring The Imitation Joy Division Music With The Frontman Who Wears Tight Jeans And A Tie Would Like You To Know They Are Playing Bowery Ballroom In A Few Weeks. Once Again: Bowery Ballroom. Repeat: The Bowery Ballroom. In A Few Weeks. Not The Mercury Lounge. The Bowery Ballroom. Did Someone Ask Where? The Bowery Ballroom…”? (That one was inspired by a show I saw recently that had a band on the bill who spent more time talking more about their upcoming Bowery date than they did actually playing music. I was grateful, ‘cos the music was terrible.)

Still, it’s weird for me. We finally have song titles. After all these years… After all these songs… After all the times we said no, we wouldn’t start titling our songs…

I mean, what? …We’ve always had song titles.

See Goes Cube live:
15 August @ Union Pool w/ Aloke, Villa Vina

Visit Goes Cube on MySpace.

If you’re a musician who would like to contribute to this feature, please get in touch.