This Week’s Theme: First of October

The Faux Shows in October were the longest, most researched yet. It wore me out! That is why this month’s Faux Shows may be a little simpler. What better way to start November than with the First of October? My guess is that you aren’t familiar with this band so this week’s show focuses on an overview of their work.

If you’ve read past Faux Shows, you know that I am a fan of joy in music. Sometimes that equates to humor or silliness, but often it is shown simply by the artists enjoying the process and truly having fun making music. One of the most refreshing examples of artists enjoying the music-making process can be found in the recordings of First Of October in 2018, 2019, and 2021. They had to skip 2020, but they are back this year with their third release, and it is the best yet.

This week’s show could include all three of their albums in their entirety (they are not that long), but I’ve thrown in some other music that makes me happy, along with some birthdays and other stuff. Mostly, though, this week’s show is focused on smiling.

Who are they?

First of October are a band consisting of Rob Scallon and Andrew Huang. Rob Scallon is a YouTuber and multi-instrumentalist from Chicago. He has produced a diverse catalog of music over the last fifteen years, including some viral videos of metal music performed on non-metal instruments, and has a Guinness World Record for longest guitar effect pedalboard (319 pedals, 34 individual pedalboards, and 500 feet of cables). Andrew Huang is a Canadian YouTuber, multi-instrumentalist, and singer/songwriter. He is known for a variety of musical endeavors that involve use of non-instruments and challenges of his musical ability. He has released more than fifty albums and his YouTube channel has over 250 million views and two million subscribers. To be honest, I am not very familiar with either artist on their own. I know them as First of October, a band they formed in 2018.

What are they?

The concept behind the initial First of October recordings was that Scallon and Huang would spend one day in the studio and record ten completed songs. They entered with nothing pre-arranged and wrote, arranged, recorded, and produced ten songs in ten hours. They filmed the project, and then released a short YouTube documentary of the event, along with a streaming version of the completed songs. The end result is not Bach or The Beatles, but that was not the goal. The songs are good, some great, and simply viewing the event is worth the time. The first session was held on October 1, 2018, and thus, their name was determined to be First of October. In 2019, they joined up exactly one year later and did the same thing, with even better results. They skipped 2020, but just completed album number three on October 1, 2021. The third installment is the best video and album yet.

Why do I like it?

As a concept, this endeavor could fail miserably. In my opinion, it works wonderfully for two very basic reasons. First of all, Scallon and Huang are extremely gifted multi-instrumentalists. They trade off drums, guitar, bass, piano, song-writing, lyrics, vocals, and a variety of other instruments with ease. They share a common lyrical aesthetic that focuses on silliness, absurdity, and tales of odd characters, but they can also be very thoughtful (especially Huang, whose new song, “Miracle,” is an incredibly simple yet beautiful song about the birth of his child). Secondly, and most importantly, these projects are a wonderful showcase of the creative process and the joy of making music. The situation is incredibly stressful, yet they find the ability to laugh through it all while maintaining their focus and creativity.

The First Album: Ten Hours

Each record has gotten better, but the first is still great. Some of the basic themes are laid out in the first album. In addition to the basic concept, ten songs in ten hours, this first album is a great introduction to the musical chops of Scallon and Huang. It also shows the humor that you can now expect from all of their albums, as well as the hard rocking energy that Scallon brings to his riffage. The album, on the whole, is not as diverse as the next two, but it is still a solid start. Most importantly, “Don’t Go To My House” introduces everyone’s favorite First of October character, Greg.

The Second Album: Gourmet Ravioli

The second album maintains the energy of the first, but begins to provide more diversity in the songwriting. There is still some excellent riff-mastery, but songs like the inspirational “Climb That Mountain,” the funky “We Didn’t Have Time To Get Lyrics On This One,” and the self-titled explanation of the concept “First of October” show that they are able to do more than just rock. The joy that Scallon and Huang feel in their collaboration is also on display much more on this record. In addition, thankfully, more background on Greg is provided in the song “Thirty-First of October.”

The Third Album: Gotta Record Everything Good

The third album, Gotta Record Everything Good or G.R.E.G., was recorded with a new technique that led to an even more diverse and improved set of songs. Instead of recording all of the music for the ten songs and then returning to them later to provide vocals and overdubs, Scallon and Huang made the decision to record the drum and guitar tracks, and then, while one member wrote the lyrics, the other member recorded the bass and other overdubs. This not only gave them a little extra time to record overdubs, but, most importantly, it gave them more time to work on the lyrics. There is still the now-expected humor throughout, but the extra time allowed Huang to write a beautiful ballad about the birth of his child, Scallon and Huang to perfect the lyrics for a song about Scallon’s bookmobile-driving mom, and the entire crew to take part in the anthem “Greg!.” Speaking of “Greg!,” this latest song in the now-trilogy about Greg not only provides more background on this enigmatic character, but also led to the anagram album title.

Artist of the Week: First of October

I thought that was obvious…

3 Chunks of Funk

Thanks for listening (and reading)!

Track	Artist	Song Title
1	First of October	Feels So Right
2	First of October	First of October
3	Flight of the Conchords	Robots
4	First of October	We Didn’t Have Time To Get Lyrics On This One
5	Bootsy Collins	Rubber Duckie
6	Vulfpeck	Funky Duck
7	Lorde	Royals
8	“Weird Al” Yankovic	Foil
9	First of October	Don’t Go To My House
10	First of October	Thirty-First of October
11	First of October	Greg!
12	Run-DMC	You Be Illin’
13	Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew (featuring Slick Rick)	The Show
14	Fat Boys	Human Beat Box
15	They Might Be Giants	I Lost Thursday
16	They Might Be Giants	Doctor Worm
17	First of October	I Am Not Afraid
18	First of October	Coffee! Yeah!
19	Al Hirt	Java
20	The Colorblind James Experience	Considering a Move to Memphis
21	Tom Waits	Step Right Up
22	The Beatles	You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
23	First of October	Grandad’s Dinner Party
24	First of October	Ravioli
25	Johnny Rivers	Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu
26	The Brady Bunch	It’s a Sunshine Day
27	Joni Mitchell	Big Yellow Taxi
28	Joni Mitchell	Twisted
29	Lester Bowie	Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck
30	Rahsaan Roland Kirk	Here Comes the Whistleman
31	Judy Tenuta	Mom & My Brother Bosco
32	First of October	Bookmobile
33	Tenacious D	Tribute
34	First of October	Miracle

35	Randy Newman	Political Science
36	First of October	Trick or Treat
37	First of October	Climb That Mountain!
38	First of October	Things to Do
39	Frank Zappa	Dancin’ Fool
40	Steve Martin and the Toot Uncommons	King Tut
41	Roger Miller	Do-Wacka-Do
42	First of October	Apology Melody
43	First of October	Possible Band Names

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