WOO-WOO, Season 2! Better late than never, Bug and Matt finally take a look back on all the things we loved about our 2nd season. We take audience questions, get mad about a few songs getting wrecked in our poll, and open ourselves up to show you exactly how far we've come!

Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠

The last proper episode of Season 2 goes back to the beginning. We get DeepBlueInk back in the Jam McCabin -- who doesn't love a good second chance??

Our Music:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-- SPOILERS BELOW --

---

Challenge: "A second chance you don't deserve"

---

BUG'S SONG

Title: The Lighthouse

Lyrics:

On the tip of the island they left him to linger

in a lighthouse that clung to the cliff by its fingers

no comfort or company close to this coast

where he dwelled like a Gargoyle, guarding his post

They caught me red-handed, prepared my last meal

then gave me an out -- I took the deal

Stick to my station, keep my patrol

my only condition: don't hurt a soul

A hundred years pass me with no chance to slip

then on the darkened horizon -- I spotted a ship

With the darkness consuming, I lit up their path

there's only one route through all the rocks and the crags

I carved out a chance through the maze in the sea

leading the ship up to rest on the beach

The pilgrims abandoned their ship until dawn

but the tide never sleeps, when they woke it was gone

Without a ship to sail, the sailors advanced

to the valley below where they set up their camps

the timber was scarce here, which begged them to ask:

Do we use them for shelter or use them for rafts?

I watched from the ridge, an unreachable witness

A fly on the wall with a spider's ambitions

didn't surprise me at all that the first thing they did was

divide into camps, their first building: a prison

They dream of rescue, bless their hearts

I've watched them build and tear apart

Must now be years since they arrived

why must the heartless all survive?

Their children only know this place

They know I'm here but not my face

I pray they never seek me out

Oh God, the stores I could tell

They're not to blame, I wish them well

Oh God, the stories I could tell

Years on the island have settled the score

The village below me is violent no more

Then out of the sunset appears a new ship

My heart begins beating -- I have to act quick

with only one hope to correct for the night

I leapt to my senses and smashed out the light

By the light of the morning, there wasn't a sign

of the wreckage that washed away deep in the night

I swore to my captors I'd harm no one else

but not doing harm doesn't mean that I'll help

cause I've kissed the devil and can't be coerced

of all God's creations, this is the worst

with the lighthouse abandoned, I start to descend

you can find me among all the souls I've condemned

------------

MATT'S SONG

Title: Orchids

Lyrics:

I watch us from the dark garden

Through the living room windows

We are dancing

You are laughing

Revelling in the novelty

Of my abandon

This is new, you think, I see

Your frown encroaches on your smile

Or very old, you think

But the worry's just a weed

We spin around the room

I am rooted in the flowerbed

And you are crying laughing now

And I'm just trying not to trample on the orchids

Midnight

it begins to rain

I pull my jacket closer

And you are snuggled on the couch with me and dozing

Visibly relieved

And I'm relieved as well, in my way

I try to catch my eye

But there's just no getting through to me

This is Good, I think

Hiding From the lights of passing cars

If I can't live it

Well

I guess I'll watch it from afar

You are warm and you are happy

You are safe inside with me

And I'm just trying

I'm just trying not to trample on the orchids

And as you sleep

I watch me blinking

In the television light

And maybe get a little taller

A little younger round the eyes

This is new, I think

Or something very very old

But the worry's just a weed

And I retreat into the cold

This is good, I think

In a way, a second start

And if I can't live it

Well

I guess I'll watch it from afar

You are warm and you are happy

You are safe, at least I hope

And I'm just trying

I'm just trying

I'm just trying

Not to trample on the orchids

On Episode Nine, Matt continues being Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and targets the most famous New York M&M vendor. ⁠⁠Heather Edgley⁠⁠ joins us to get us thinking objectively!

Our Music:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --

-----------------

Challenge: "From the perspective of an inanimate object"

-----------------

BUG'S SONG

Title: Sammy

Lyrics:

I am Sensitive, I know

I get riled up at the smallest things

and start screaming at the top of my lungs

I am working on it

but my job is very stressful

Holy shit is that a frozen pizza?

Time to cry my eyes out,

out of my mind with self-doubt

doubt you could live without me

me? I defend you proudly

cause I'm your last protector

Hi, my name is Sammy, I'm your over-sensitive smoke detector

Any locality may by ordinance require that smoke alarms

be installed in any building containing one or more dwelling units

in accordance with the uniform statewide building code

in other words: you need me

I know you're all frustrated by my beeping

but where there's smoke, there's fire

so where there might be smoke there MIGHT be fire

ok I'll work on it

but you've cooked that egg for 20 seconds!!!

Time to cry my eyes out, out of my mind with self-doubt

doubt you could live without me, me? I defend you proudly

I am your last protector

Hi, my name is Sammy, I'm your over-sensitive smoke detector

They say when God opens a door

he must also open a door on the other side of the room

just one door will not stop me from yelling

That's just how airflow works

that's just a little physics tip for you

inside a song inside a music podcast

but to calm me down... I just need... HER

Celia, Celia, Twirl for me love

no concealing how I'm feeling when I watch from above

Celia, Celia, this never gets old

they've learned to turn you on first before they look at the stove

Celia, Celia... the Ceiling Fan

Celia, Celia... the Ceiling Fan

(They're making bacon and I can't even fake a beep-beep because of you, Celia)

(It may be my low battery that's talking they ain't changing me 'till Autumn, Oh Celia)

(Learn good habits, change those batteries on daylight saving time, for realia)

(and while you're at it change your air filters too, basic home maintenance, celia)

-----------------

MATT'S SONG

Title: No Visitors

Lyrics:

no one visits me here but you

On Episode Eight, our heroes get mentally prepared for the long road ahead. Robert Evans from Behind The Bastards gives us a prompt that make us one with the road, and Matt moves to Times Square.

Our Music:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠

-- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --

-----------------

Challenge: "Driving so long you become one with the road"

-----------------

BUG'S SONG

Title: On The Morning Commute

Lyrics:

On the Morning Commute

Sing along with the tune

I can throw on a podcast, a radio broadcast

all the things I can do on the morning commute

The beginning of the day is easy, I have a list of tasks to do

Get up, brush teeth, make toast, eat toast, make bed, don't eat bed

get dressed (required), comb hair (that one is optional)

plenty of structure...

and likewise my work day is a breeze

between meetings that should have been emails

and emails that protect me from meetings

I am stimulated all day, left and right and from every

corner of my cubicle, a beautiful hectic chaos that

keeps my mind racing and taken up with TODO's

but its that half hour in between...

that damn morning commute

Sing along with the tune

I can throw on a podcast, a radio broadcast

all the things I can do on the morning commute

You know, we don't use what scientists call our "Active" brain when we drive?

It's why we can hold conversations with passengers (or illegally as I found out, on cell phones)

or completely space out and realize 10 minutes and 12 miles down the road

And thats where you find me. Nowhere to run.

Can't even use my hands to defend myself

No amount of NPR or Arianna Grande can drown you out

no crosswords to keep my attention locked down, and you know it

You say "haha! your melatonin might've saved you last night, but you're

legally locked into conciousness now, 30 minutes locked in a Mazda

with nothing to properly stop ya, so you should buckle up bud, I've come here to haunt ya

So I snuck out last night and went to town like the Grinch of Suburbia

Climbing every traffic light and shaking the red and yellow glitter out of each one,

flipping every stop sign around to it's "Go-Side",

a couple well-place cones and now we have TWO northbound freeways and everyone else

going south can just use waze or something

Because I am getting this over with

I painted over all the lane dividers on the way to work

and had enough black paint leftover to paint a tunnel on a cliff as

a shortcut to shave off another seven minutes... funny, isn't it?

It took a drive to make me learn my limits

-----------------

MATT'S SONG

Title: White Line

Lyrics:

low fuel light's been on for days

i haven't seen another car

since i passed petrol station

must have a week or more

i punched in your address but

i don't think i remember you

objects in the mirror disappear as they slip out of view

i haven't stopped the car in so long i can't even tell

leave it long enough you turn in to somebody else

There's no other way to say this. Episode Seven is a special dark episode of Jam Mechanics. If you want to blame someone, blame Sam Damask of Grand Commander for his prompt! But we still have fun, and you will, too!

Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠

-----------------

Challenge: "Resisting the Urge to inflict harm on someone who has wronged you"

-----------------

BUG'S SONG

Title: Not Your Fault, Kid

Lyrics:

It's not your fault, kid, I still love you

you're my baby brother

It's not your fault, kid, I still love you

you're my baby brother

I had a family: mom, dad, dog and and backyard

my own room a guitar

I was stuck on "F" and I couldn't get past it

and now I think it's stuck in the attic

or at dad's place, or maybe the storage box

that he got when he got kicked out

and that just happened to be, just happened to be

when you came around

It's not your fault, kid, I still love you

you're my baby brother

It's not your fault, kid, I still love you

you're my baby brother

but mom won't love you, so I hope that yours does

you've got her eyes, what a shortcut

and our dad's smile that I've barely seen yet

at least its absent every other weekend

when I'm dropped off and lobbed in the corner spot

on a cot set up in your room

how'd this happen to me, this happened to me because

because of you

It's not your fault, kid, I still love you

you're my baby brother

It's not your fault, kid, I still love you

you're my...

but you're not a text on his phone left unguarded

you're not a hotel charged to the family card you're not

even them caught in the act, you were 9 months past

now you can't be ignored or talked out

you just happen to be, just happen to be

the proof that knocked us down

If I seem shut down and muted thats just what I've found is easiest

but I've changed so much can't tell what's me and what's now ship of theseus

If I seem shut down and muted thats just what I've found is easiest

but I've changed so much can't tell what's me and what's now ship of theseus

It's not your fault, kid, I still love you

you're my baby brother

-----------------

MATT'S SONG

Title: The Family Dog

Lyrics:

okay

are you done

i've been over here biting my tongue

let me just catch my breath

really swill this blood around

let it get

into every gap in between my teeth

every cavity from the years of sweetness

you forcefed me

i swallowed it all with a thank you and smile

not so pretty anymore am i

what's the matter baby, you look like

you got your face chewed off by the family dog

I'm only playing, and it's cute that you

Think this is really the worst I could do

I never know what I can chew until I've bitten it off

So make your next move

Carefully

Don't set off my instincts

Oh the things

I could say

light the fuse on the bomb in your brain

Give a wink

Take a bow

And let you take the win

walk away

when the fuse burns down

in a year from now

it'd blow and your skull would be hollowed out

I know you better than anyone ever has

I know how to take you down

But

I won't

not so pretty anymore am i

what's the matter baby, you look like

you got your face chewed off by the family dog

I'm only playing, and it's cute that you

Think this is really the worst I could do

I never know what I can chew until I've bitten it off

So make your next move

Carefully

Don't set off my instincts

On Episode 6 we get tripped up on cantrips before Joshua David MG gives us a songwriting prompt that'll make you ask: Did they just write the songs of the summer???

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Challenge: "Did I just write the song of the summer???"

-----------------

BUG'S SONG

Title: Loud and Clear

Lyrics:

You're playin' DJ on our road trip and my ears are going numb

It's taking every bit of patience not to mute it with my thumb

maybe pretend that it malfunctioned and I'll fix it when we stop

but then you say "this one's my favorite" and you crank the volume knob

Why do you like this stuff, I haven't got a clue

what made a middle class big city girl like only country tunes

you don't square dance in your Daisy Dukes or line up in your boots

and you you ain't ever seen the inside of a country town saloon

I've tried to give it all a chance, I promise you I did

but I can't tell when one song ends and when the next hit song begins

twenty minutes in... lets just call it what it is

every hit song of the summer sounds a little bit like this:

a big bar crowd sing-a-long

a four-chord kinda country song

where the chorus always mentions beer

and the title, the title hits loud and clear

Its always so repetitive, they've got nothing to say

every aspect is generic, every lyric feels cliché

I respect the men and women and the instruments they play

but the hacks that they are backing have put all their skills to waste

cause the stars are all so similar, so handsome, could it be

another well-connected white boy up and moved to Tennessee

Has a network out in Nashville, plays a chord or two or three

add a fourth and ride a horse and you can end up on TV singin'

But did you ever think...

[See website for remaining lyrics!]

-----------------

MATT'S SONG

Title: Comparing Yourself to a Sillhouette

Lyrics:

Amelia was born on a saturday night

in the heat of july in the heart of america

and while the city slept, her mother showed her the sky

and speckles of starlight settled on her eyes and little Amelia Earhart knew one day she would fly

No that's not what happened

Can someone tell me why we obsessively mythologise real people, real lives like this

Like no one truly exists unless they live between the lines

of a fairy story someone writes?

Is it not enough for someone just to have lived, you know?

And to have lived extraordinarily?

Amelia 'melia, please

Come back to earth some time

I'm dangling here by a wire

And it doesn't feel like flying.

Do you think jesus understood that it wasn't enough to be a good man?

To be wise and patient and kind?

Do you think he knew that in order for his message to outlive him he would have to be canonised, and to be canonised he would have to die before his time?

Or was that narrative thrust upon him

Against his will

By a disciple who loved the message more than the man

And who knew that humans don't trust humans

We trust gods

And so this all too human friend of his would have to

Whether he wanted to or not

Become a god

Or be forgotten

And here I am, trying to be the best version of me that I can

Comparing myself to these silhouettes who

In the way they're presented at least

Didn't exist

Thinking that because I don't have a narrative

Because you couldn't project my story on the screen

That somehow makes me less real

And the thing is

I don't think I'm accepting that

I think i'm trying to turn myself into a story

To see myself as I see them

As only a silhouette

On Episode 5, we record an episode in the same room for the FIRST TIME EVER. Come listen to us reminisce about the tour with PapaBug and rank all our favorite moments (Bug even reveals his favorite fan!!). Oh, and we write some songs, too!

Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠

-----------------

Challenge: "Get Ranked"

-----------------

BUG'S SONG

Title: First and Second

Lyrics:

I wanna tell all my friends about you

to tell my mom, who will tell my dad

to find the best damn parts about this

and celebrate the things I have... but I can't

When I was kid at the dinner table

my parents would make us make a thankful list

the top 3 things about our day

and I was always just the worst at this

Some days it was simple but most days it was difficult

my disposition leaned a bit more pessimist than typical

its hard to get excited, like if life finds out I like it

I will lose it, yeah its stupid and its superstitious

So when you ask me the top 3 things

I love about this, I still freeze up

I probably look like a well-fed snake

as I choke so hard on that softball toss

I should just say "hell with it", maybe just embellish it

"your laugh, your eyes, your smile" but I know I'm barely sellin it

its hard to get excited, if life finds out I like it

I will lose it, yeah its stupid, I just wanna

tell all my friends about you

to tell my mom, who will tell my dad

to find the best damn parts about this

and celebrate the things I have... but I can't

Why am I like this?

Why can't I admit everything's going well

Why do I hide it?

Hide all my joy in this bone-colored shell

So I thought and I thought of my top 3 but its something I just couldn't do

so here's my top 2...

I'm tellin all my friends about you

I told my mom (who told my dad)

So here's the top 2 parts about this love

they're the first and second half

I'm tellin all my friends about you

you told your mom I'm not thar bad

So here's the top 2 parts about this love

they're the first and second half

the top 2 parts about this love

is the first and second, the first and second half

-----------------

MATT'S SONG

Title: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Lyrics:

I listed all my flaws in order
Starting from the least of them
The ones you might not even notice
Bedbugs scattering for cover when 
the light goes on i just react,
it isn't evidence of sentience or anything like that 

miseryguts
shut up inside my castle
overweight and
undersentimental
manic phases, chronic depression
what a shame that no one will ever...

I listed all my flaws in order
So you'd know what to expect
The ones that chafe your soul
Until the day your perfect patience starts to crack
i am a rock
i am an island
i'm the great pacific garbage patch

forget about
forgetting your birthday
i won't remember your first name
constantly expecting the worst
so i can say that i saw it coming

miseryguts
shut up inside my castle
overweight and
undersentimental
manic phases, chronic depression
what a shame that no one will miss him

On Episode 4, we get some Bug lore and catchup with our friend Spence Hood. This award-revoking episode covers the full spectrum -- from cowboy to vampire

Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠

-----------------

Challenge: "Your Nobel Prize has been revoked because..."

-----------------

BUG'S SONG

Title: Dynamite

Lyrics:

There's gold in them there hills, get your shovels and dig!

we're sittin on a jackpot that'll make us all rich

if we just stick to our lot and never give up our spot

we can give our kids lives not a one of us got

Pack it once, check it twice, pack it in, pack it tight

light the fuse, time to move, hit the BOOM... dynamite

But boys we got company... they only come out at night

leave no trace on the dead but a couple of bites

there's no telling where they came from, or got here or why

and now they're swarming the hills but they were never invited

and our mines are getting drained while we sleep in our tents

if we send out a scout we never see 'em again

they won't duel us at noon or try to fight us like men

but they don't like the sun, so we'll bring it to them

[Chorus]

Ah, well I'll be damned, looks like we found a weak spot, guys

I guess their fangs don't work when their brains get fried

I might've guessed that fact, now they're the ones surprised

as we scatter the bats before the sun can rise

But they ain't dead yet, I guess technically they're undead yes

but you get what I'm settin: there's a few left yet

and our side is still dwindlin', we've too lost friends

some of the best damn cowboys you'd ever met

I've got one last stick that I've yet to light

i gotta bait the rest out, hit the timing just right

cause our guns don't work, devil knows we've tried

here they come, here's my shot

here's your nobel prize

-----------------

MATT'S SONG

Title: Peek at the Ending

Lyrics:

so listen we've been talking this machine that you've been building's got a problem that we couldn't foresee

i guess we all sometimes get blinded by the miracles of science, but we should have looked before we leaped

we're not saying you're not gifted, or that you didn't deserve it, this award that's sitting on your desk

but it's bad for the brand to be attached to man who found a way to predict everyone's death

what do you mean

i'll hydroplane on the highway

skid and careen into a toyota camry

why would you say that when i'm trying to help you

that's pretty fucked up man i don't know what to tell you

would you wanna know how you're gonna goooooo

if you like to peek at the ending

way before time let me recommend my machine

it's still in beta and the patent is pending

check the whiteboard, cause i've been workshopping a name

DEATH THING

you know what, no wrong answers

hello sir are you the creator of the thingamabob that everybody's talking about

you know the whatchamacallit, the thing that fits in your pocket, THE DEATHALISER why are you writing that down

it seems like the readings that it's reeling out are really not quite as accurate as you make them sound

everyone in the city got the same exact reading and now everybody's trying to leave town

what do you mean

evaporate in a bomb blast

become a shadow and a pile of pure are

why would it say that, i'm trying to help you

that's pretty fucked up man i don't know what to tell you

would you wanna know how you're gonna goooooo

[Chorus]

DOOM KNOWER

DEMISE DEVICE

THE FATE MATRIX

listen i'd love to hire a marketing team to do this but i've lost like all my funding recently

It's Episode Three! We chat food (and pizza knives) with Jesse Gallaway and write two not-in-a-lifetime song demos!

Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠

Challenge: Not in this lifetime

-----------------

I'm just a little guy, a little wooden guy

-----------------

When the space between the spaces starts to strain