Exploring the Music of GreenHouse 2

The Exploration

For about 25 years my musical partner, Jose, and I had taken different paths. He joined a new band called Hundred Acre Wood, and I formed a hard rock band called the Thunder Lizards and then sang with a Gospel choir.

In 2016 we reconnected—not to make music, but to rekindle our friendship. Over the past 10 years we have spent countless hours texting back and forth, mainly about the band Pink Floyd and reminiscing about the old days. Recently I came across a photo of Jose and me from one of our performances in 1988. I ended up turning the photo into a video. After watching it a few times, I realized I could work with our music from the 1980s.

I rummaged through my closet and found the shoebox that houses the bulk of cassette tapes containing countless recordings of rehearsals and live shows from both bands I started—GreenHouse and Thunder Lizards. I am hoping to come to an agreement with my Thunder Lizards associates to release some of those songs. Where GreenHouse is a gentle, folk‑tinged band, Thunder Lizards is an all‑out rock band in which I do some aggressive vocalizing—even screaming.

After collecting about a dozen GreenHouse tapes, I took the time to listen to both sides to find anything that could be salvaged. Those cassettes are 40 years old and pretty worn out.

I found a dozen songs that I deemed salvageable and began the process of restoring their sound quality. That took a bit of work. I used WavePad, which has a great equalizer and a host of special effects and tools. For more advanced fine‑tuning, I took the songs to Suno’s studio, which really helped with things like stacking vocals to produce choral sounds and harmonies.

After restoring as much as I could, I took the songs to Suno AI to add extra instruments such as a full drum kit and bass. Jose’s original guitar playing and my vocals remained intact, as did the melodies, compositions, and original lyrics. I added effects to my vocals, including a minimal vocoder on one song and stacked vocals in which I lowered the pitch of my voice on several mixes to give my voice a slightly deeper tone.

After several months of work, I came up with ten songs that I felt were ready for public consumption.

As follows are the stories of the ten songs that make up the GreenHouse 2 album Somewhere Far Beyond.

“Living Inside the GreenHouse”

This one is from 1988. It was never really intended to become a song. It was mostly just a jam we did on two occasions while waiting for band members to arrive for rehearsal. As the decades passed, I kept coming back to this jam and eventually transferred it to CD. I looked at it as a theme song for GreenHouse.

“Somewhere Far Beyond”

Written in 1986, “Somewhere Far Beyond” quickly became a GreenHouse favorite. It was one of those songs that, when performed live, people paid attention and listened. This was always pleasing to me—GreenHouse was always about introspection and connecting with your inner feelings.

Recently my friend, Sara (Spook) Wilson, described the song as “poetry in motion.” I found that to be a huge compliment, as the lyrics are artsy, metaphorical, and mysterious. It’s a song about loneliness and curiosity. Lamar Wiggns, says he can imagine hearing this on the radio.

The source recording I used for this album is from 1999. Jose and I reunited for a brief period and rehearsed and recorded several of our songs. By that point, Jose’s skills as a guitarist had continued to develop, and I had taken 3½ years of vocal training and sung in a Gospel choir for nearly five years. My voice was at its peak.

“Fancy Boy”

This funky dance‑pop tune was written in 1984 while Jose and I were warming up for rehearsal. It was written just for laughs. I never cared for the song, but it’s one that always stuck with Jose. He liked the chord progressions and humorous lyrics.

As I was going through my cassettes, I came across the only recording of this song and mentioned it to Jose. He said I should include it on the album. My response was that we had much better songs we could include. I wasn’t serious about adding it, but I decided to restore the song and clean it up. When I heard the finished result, I knew I had to include it. I really think it turned out very well.

We performed this song only once live. I sat down to sing it with a palette of paint on my lap. As I sang, I dipped my fingers into different colors and painted stripes across my face. By the end of the song my entire face was painted. That was my idea of emulating the fancy boy.

“Westbound to California‑ee‑i‑ay”

I wanted to write a train song in a Willie Nelson‑meets‑Hank Williams sort of style. This was the result. It was one of our first songs, written in 1984, and became a staple in GreenHouse performances. It was one of those songs that livened up the audience and was always received very well.

“Flying Bird”

This was one of our earliest songs, written in early 1985. I came up with lyrics about peace mixed with psychedelia—not the drugs, but the creative elements such as colors, gracefully flying birds, and sounds that awaken different parts of our minds and consciousness.

I decided to sing the song in a smooth whisper‑style delivery to bring out its surreal, dreamlike quality. I told Jose the song would be dreamlike until the near the end, where it would turn into a bizarre progressive psychedelic jam. Jose nailed it.

My friend, Timo Kaarnioja, says the song is meditative.

“Flying Bird” was performed at every GreenHouse show, as well as live on KUCI college radio. It was our most popular song back in the day. Today, the revised rendition is again our most popular song.

“Weatherhead”

Written in 1987 in Jose’s garage. There was a tool chest with the name Weatherhead on it. Right away the ideas came to me—a female who goes through a lot of mood changes. Inside the toolbox were a few hammers and other tools. Alongside it was a box of nails. My mind went to work again, and I came up with the opening line: “Weatherhead was banging her nails in my heart.” The complete lyric was dark, morbid, and gothic. Jose picked up the somber vibe immediately and came up with a Daniel Ash‑style riff.

“Cosmic Surf on a Dark Night”

I wanted to write a surf song—not like the Beach Boys (don’t get me wrong, I love the Beach Boys), but more of a Bauhaus‑meets‑Joy Division vibe. I kept my voice in a dark‑toned bass side of a baritone to help usher in the mood.

I added quite a few effects to both the music and my voice in this 2026 revived version. The song already had several effects on the original recording, but in this digital age there was so much more that could be done to achieve what I envisioned.

“April Fool’s Blues”

“April Fool’s Blues” was a one‑time warm‑up we did before a rehearsal in 1984. Jose was strumming a blues chord, and I just started singing random lyrics. The source tape is the first and only recording of the song. It never went any further. The only reason it was on cassette is because I recorded everything from our rehearsals—including spontaneous jams. You never know what you’ll be able to use in the future. Hence, here we are in 2026 listening to “April Fool’s Blues.”

Side Note: My friend Tiffany Gordon and her mom especially like this track.

“The Love Prison”

"Love Prison" is another one of our earliest songs, written in a garage in 1984. It was conceived at the same time as “Westbound to California‑ee‑i‑ay.”

“The Big Green Hill”

This folk tune was written in 1985 (or maybe 1986). The song became an instant GreenHouse favorite and was used as the closer for all of our live performances. Therefore, it was only logical to close the album with this song.

My musical roots begin in 1965, at age five. My stepfather was heavily into the popular folk music of the time: Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, early Donovan, and The Kingston Trio. He had all their records. He used to play the guitar and would teach me and my brother the songs, and we would sing as he played. When my sister became old enough, the three of us sang together. This continued for about five years. We knew all the words to all the songs, and we all sang on key. We were like three little singing birds. Those early days shaped my singing voice. I feel I have a natural timbre for folk.

I hope you enjoy Jose’s and my songs. We have a potpourri of musical interests and influences, and I think that comes through in our work. Please share our songs with your friends—that would totally make my day.

With Love, RHC ❤️