"A Song for Bob (Feat. PB&TAT)" Cover by Strangeness In Proportion (Inter-Review)

What’s up CD-ROM Nation? This is Brian, not Sean. “Where’s Sean? What did you do with Sean?” you might ask. I can assure you that Sean is mostly safe. 

Today, I am so unreasonably excited to bring you a BONUS inter-review! You see, I play in a little ‘old folk-punk-trio called PB&TAT. Sean released a cover of our debut single, “A Song for Bob,” with his own project, Strangeness in Proportion. The result? Sean’s taking the hot seat today and I’m going to interrogate him about why he would choose to do this. 

If you’d like to read Sean’s inter-review of the ORIGINAL song, please click HERE, and if you’d like to watch the EXCLUSIVE, uncensored music video, click right HERE!

In an effort to highlight the interview portion of this inter-review, I will keep my review of Strangeness in Proportion’s cover rather brief.

The date was August 23rd, 2025. On a particularly soggy Saturday afternoon, PB&TAT departed to Columbia, Missouri from Kansas City as we closed out our summer run. I remember receiving a text from my good friend, Sean, who I met at a house show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania many years back. I brought my Tinder date to that show, whom I had never met before in person. She did not seem very comfortable with my set and un-added me on Snapchat by the time I returned home after dropping her off. 

Upon my discovery, I remembered back to the last gaze she bestowed upon me. She looked at me like I was a sick puppy she was going to have to put down. She kissed me on the cheek as she departed from my 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan, decked out in zip ties and duct tape. 

Although I had yet to realize, it was in that very moment her soft and partially chapped lips buried all the memories we had shared together; memories such as when I had introduced myself to her four hours earlier, or the immense effort I spent trying to reassure her that I was genuinely 20 years old and my ID was not a fake. 

After proving my legality, I cherished the way in which she had filled our special night with unique conversation starters such as “Why is the venue a basement?” and “How long do you think we have to stay?” Unfortunately, in the end, my romantic lyrics and strong professional ties to scene legends such as piss-crank-Tony did not win her over.

At this time, I was in an open relationship with my girlfriend of four years. Adding insult to injury, my girlfriend had brought her own date to my show, and hers actually went really well. So well, in fact, that she would begin to slowly lose interest in me over time. 

My friends would say things like, “Well, don’t ask for an open relationship if you can’t handle the reality of an open relationship.” However, it was not me who asked for an open relationship. My partner had posed the subject after falling for, who she described as, “a tall Italian man with thick eyebrows.” I, standing 5’7” with minimally thick eyebrows, knew my German-Irish heritage could not compete with a man who loosely resembled Love Island’s season 8 winner, Davide Sanclimenti.

In a strange way, this experience of loss, heartbreak, and ultimately, self-acceptance, had all led up to the text I received from Sean Cahulahands on August 16th, 2025. (I had previously said it was August 23rd but I just checked my text history and it was actually a week earlier so we were not in Columbia at all actually.)

Sean asked me, “Are you busy?” 

Sean would follow up this text with a Google Drive link that would ultimately change both of our lives forever. 

Review

Strangeness in Proportion’s cover of “A Song for Bob” by PB&TAT brilliantly highlights the unique flavor of the original artist while also showcasing its own. With the inclusion of quasi-instruments such as kazoos, melodicas, xylophones, and slide whistles, Strangeness in Proportion adds a sense of child-like wonder and whimsy to the song I wrote about threatening a priest with violence and vandalizing his office with my semen.*

*PB&TAT is a comedy and satire project that utilizes absurdity, exaggeration, and shock value to entertain audiences. PB&TAT does not condone violence of any kind, and was the first to propose a tax-payer funded statue of Charlie Kirk be constructed outside the Merriam, Kansas location of IKEA.

Sean’s performance blends energy and chaos with flavor and confidence. The harmonies sound sarcastic yet compelling, and his emotion bleeds through every chord. From beginning to end, “A Song for Bob” by PB&TAT by Strangeness in Proportion is an instant classic and masterclass in the art of recycling. 

With that, I will conclude my review portion of this inter-review; as I promised I would keep the review portion brief. Be sure to stream “A Song for Bob” by Strangeness in Proportion (feat. PB&TAT) this Halloween and stick around for my interview with Sean Cahulahands of Strangeness in Proportion, transcribed below.

Interview with Strangeness In Proportion:

Hey, Sean. Thanks for coming on your show.

I’d like to start by asking you about the catalyst for this release. Your cover is featured on the very first CD-ROM Rabbit Hole compilation album, released just last month on Sept. 13th. Can you tell us about the compilation, what makes it so unique, and share with us why you selected “A Song for Bob” by PB&TAT to participate? 

Sean: Yeah, absolutely.  So this is one of those unfortunate times where I need to break the meta, because my main musical endeavor is a project called Strangeness In Proportion and then I’ve just recently (literally just one year ago) launched CD-ROM Rabbit Hole.  So this is half a question for CD-ROM Sean and half a question for Strangeness In Proportion Sean.  I will start by answering as CD-ROM Sean and then hopefully we can get that jackass out of here for the rest of the interview.  Anyway, this compilation is very special to me because it is a celebration of our one year anniversary.  I thought of this idea way back in March when I had only been doing these inter-reviews for maybe five or six months.  I proposed the idea to some of the bands that had been featured on my site in the past (many of which have now become genuine friends of mine), and when I had a convincing amount of people saying “we’re on board”, I knew I had to jump on this and make it happen.  After that point, I started a groupchat with ALL my previous artists (what an insane collection of people, right???) and continued to add the new ones as I published their articles for the next five-ish months or so.  Don’t get me wrong, this is such an incredibly niche and super specific concept but I really think it is a beautiful thing that so many different musicians from so many different backgrounds, area codes, genres, came together to support each other and make something that is a really neat piece of music history, regardless of how microscopic it may be in the grand scheme.  Pretty early on, I realized that this wouldn’t be the type of thing that could easily be released on any popular streaming platforms, and I was also very concerned about any potential royalties or purchases.  “How will I split up the money for people?  How can I even track all of that?” etc. etc.  And, I also did not love the idea of releasing it on a platform like Spotify, because I am aware that a lot of my featured artists are actively boycotting Spotify (y’know, because of genocide), which I am 100% on board with and I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes or do anything counter intuitive to our whole mission and what we stand for here at CD-ROM Rabbit Hole.  So, that leaves us with one, pretty reasonable option:  Bandcamp.  Okay, now we’ve decided the platform we’ll release this on, but once again, what do I do with any potential money earned if people decide to pay for it on Bandcamp?  I don’t want to profit off of the hard work of independent artists, but I also don’t know how sustainable it would be for me to constantly be sending these bands fifty cents every time there’s a sale, until the end of time.  The logical and easiest solution:  donate all the funds to a charity of some sort.  I tried to really go out of my way to include everyone in the conversation; we wanted something that we all resonated with and clearly expressed our values, both as individuals but also this entire website and brand as a whole.  We eventually landed on the idea of donating to a nonprofit that provides instruments and/or music lessons to underprivileged kids (and there are HUNDREDS of these organizations all over the country).  Brian, you actually helped me so much in my research.  You showed me reliable websites that help you see how nonprofits are utilizing their donated money, how to check tax records, all of that boring, terrible, evil junk, and whatnot.  But again, because I am clearly neurotic, I was worried that I would do all this work to do something good for the community, just to find out that I accidentally donated a bunch of money to one of those organizations that are secretly evil and just pocket the money and use it as a tax write-off, or whatever the hell.  Once we had our concept and our researching skills, we finally landed on Rock To The Future (click HERE to view their website).  Rock To The Future is a nonprofit that does SO MUCH for the greater Philadelphia area, primarily what I previously mentioned, providing musical instruments and lessons to underprivileged or at-risk children.  I love everything they do, and I am so happy to know that all the money we donate will be well utilized and optimized effectively.  I highly encourage everyone to check out their website and read more about their mission and everything they’ve managed to accomplish over the years.  

Oh my god, that guy just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on.  Yap yap yap.  Anyway, I’m Sean from Strangeness In Proportion.  To explain to you why this cover of “A Song for Bob” by the infamous PB&TAT exists, we need to go ALLLLLLLLLLLLL the way back…to the beginning.  The date was August 23rd, 2025. On a particularly soggy Saturday afternoon…oh, wait.  I’m being told that we are running out of time.  Okay, scratch that.  When I first heard “A Song for Bob”, performed live in a random Pittsburgh basement, I was confused, concerned, possibly terrified, and…maybe even slightly, dare I say…turned on?  But ultimately, I didn’t get it.  I didn’t know this little Lord Farquaad lookin’ ass kid, I didn’t understand the satire, somehow it managed to go completely over my head.  And the whole crowd was cheering and screaming the words, meanwhile I’m standing there wondering, “am I at a show for Nazis, or something???”  But, that was February of 2020, and if I wasn’t already radicalized, I was only a few weeks, maybe a few months, away from radicalization.  Somehow Brian and I managed to stay in touch over the years, and he eventually approached me and asked if I’d be able to edit a music video for the NEW-AND-IMPROVED version of “A Song for Bob”, I happily took his hard-earned cash and made the video.  Needless to say, I’ve probably listened to this song almost as many times, if not more times, than Brian himself.  I won’t lie to you, this song is insane but it’s also so goddamn catchy, it is an absolute ear worm.  When CD-ROM Rabbit Hole Sean first came up with this idea, I knew I had to do this song.  It was just so obvious.  Though my music isn’t nearly as political or as funny as PB&TAT, we definitely have a very complementary approach and style of music, that it really seemed like the only logical choice.  

I noticed that you used a voicemail I left you to open the track. Tell me about this creative decision and why you did not ask for my consent.

Sean: Yeah, for sure.  So, first and foremost, I don’t give a fuck.  Basically, the purpose of this voicemail was to give my audience just a snippet of a sneak peek through the window of my eardrums just so they could hear the ways that you have harassed and stalked me over the last five, nearly six years.  To be perfectly honest with you, this entire thing has been a ploy to get you canceled and exposed for the diabolical deplorable you truly are.  Not only the cover of this song, but all of CD-ROM Rabbit Hole was formed solely to ruin your life.  We’re all out to get you, Brian.  

Your ability to balance the tone of the original track with your unique flavor of folk punk was quite impressive. Tell me a bit about the composition process and how you geared your approach. 

Sean: Honestly, I messaged you for the chords approximately eight-trillion times (and every single time you sent them over, I just couldn’t remember them/bother to scroll one inch up in our texts.  I was so familiar with the song at this point that I didn’t really have any issue with trying to replicate the guitar strums or anything like that.  Something interesting about your original track is the acoustic guitar is very forward, so you have A LOT of moving parts, especially the banjo, but everything blends and flows so naturally together that, even though the instruments are very obvious, in a weird way they can feel subtle.  I hope that makes sense in a way that doesn’t make you rethink the mix, because I mean this as a compliment and also, the world’s weirdest explanation.  But anyway, I booted up my terribly outdated version of Garageband on my 2009 Macbook that runs approximately one pixel an hour.  I pirated your version of “A Song for Bob” off of youtube, and added it as the first track in my DAW.  Then I basically just went track by track, starting with guitar, then vocals, and once I had the skeleton, that’s when I was able to do all the extra, miscellaneous nonsense.  There was never any roadmap whatsoever aside from trying to make it as accurate to the original and thinking I wanted to incorporate melodica.  I knew the banjo was a huge part of this song, and PB&TAT in general, and I do not own a banjo; I also do not know how to play the banjo.  So ultimately I knew I was going to have to get creative finding ways to make my cover feel as FULL as yours.  I really looked at my computer desk and grabbed as many weird instruments that I had at my disposal.  I’m surprised harmonica didn’t make its way in there, to be honest.  

Despite Strangeness in Proportion consisting of a single-member lineup, you managed to pull off the illusion of a grand ensemble quite well. Between the whimsical elements scattered throughout the song, a choir-style final chorus, and a harmonized layer of moans, this cover sounds as massive as the original! Did you accomplish this on your own through multi-tracking your own takes, or did you rope your friends, family, or loved ones into your shenanigans too?

Sean: Thank you!  So, I have recently moved out from my family home, so now I have my best friend and girlfriend readily at my disposal whenever I need a broader variety of gang vocals, or a more organic vibe.  But honestly, at least half of my recent album was recorded from home, so I had a lot of time exploring my (very limited) Garageband settings and getting acquainted with how I, personally, could utilize these features.  So, short answer, no I did not drag any of my loved ones into the creation of this cover.  I try to track, at the very least, as many vocal tracks as I physically can, because I think it’s always good to have options.  Maybe there’s a perfect take but I mess up one single word, and then maybe I’ll have a shit-ass vocal take but luckily, I sang that one word correctly, so it can just be spliced together.  Yeah, sorry, everyone, that’s just the power of movie magic.  Hate to break the illusion.  But anyway, I already have a shit ton of takes, and then I’m also the world’s most indecisive Libra in existence, so there is no way I can sift through every single take and confidently decide which one is best.  I outsource all that ACTUAL work to my buddy Sir Psilocybe, who mixed and mastered my entire last album as well as this cover.  Honestly, I highly doubt this cover would feel even a fraction as full and intense if it weren’t for him.  He’s the real artist here, I’m just a meat puppet that gives him stuff that I can’t/don’t want to do.  Love you, homie!  

What was the greatest challenge you faced recording the cover?

Sean: Honestly, the first day I sat down to try and track this, it felt like everything was falling apart and sounded terrible and I just couldn't get it right (in hindsight, I don’t know what my issue was)!  I pretty quickly gave up after that and tried again after a week or two.  My second attempt went so much smoother and I felt a lot more confident in it.  A big thing I had to decide on was my vocal style.  When I sing along to this song in my car, I fully mimic the folk-punk vocals you do, and I had a really hard time deciding what level of extreme I wanted it to be.  1. Do I go all out and really try to copy you exactly?  What if that’s insulting or what if I can’t pull it off.  Not to mention the fact of, what’s the point of covering a song if it’s just going to sound exactly like the original, or god forbid, a worse copy of the original.  2. Do I do it in my standard, normal vocal style?  What if it doesn’t fit the vibe?  Who knows! Or 3. Meet somewhere in the middle.  Well once I wracked my brain over options 1 & 2, I finally realized there was a clear and very obvious third option that would be ideal.  I definitely did exaggerate my voice but I think I struck a good balance.  Other than that, easily the hardest part of recording was the OPENING LINES OF THE SONG!  “No, I won’t sign your petition against transgender recognition.”  When I stood there recording my vocals, I thought it sounded fine, but then when I’d listen back, the recording would reveal to me that I sound like I have a crazy lisp when I pronounce “transgender”.  In normal, everyday life I have no issue saying the word.  I think it’s a combination of the “sh” sound in “petition” and the “st” in “against” that come quickly before “transgender” that just made it a weird tongue twister, in a way.  It was very frustrating in the moment, but it’s absolutely hilarious that I had so much trouble enunciating those words.  Maybe it’s only noticeable to me, but if you listen closely, you can hear my kind of pause and think about the words before I sing them, and in the final take I think it is pretty obvious that I purposefully slowed down my vocals so I could make sure I said the word properly.  

Did any part of the recording process help you discover a new appreciation for any of the more subtle elements of this song? What about the reverse? Do you now hate this song as much as I did during the months I spent recording it? 

Sean: I’m genuinely amazed that I still willingly listen to this song after all the billions of times I have been FORCED to listen to it.  I definitely appreciate your ability to properly sing the word “transgender” with no fuck up whatsoever.  

I know you had some difficulty distributing the cover. This is because, as you have just recently discovered, PB&TAT is cursed. Tell us a bit about how this made you feel.

Sean: Well, since we have been friends for numerous years at this point, I have definitely contracted part of your sexually transmitted curse, and it is REAL, and it BURNS!  I’ve gone to the doctors multiple times (I don’t have insurance and I had to refinance my roommates home just so I could get enough scratch so the doctors would even look at me) and I have started doubling up on weekly therapy sessions.  I used to only go on Tuesday, but now it is Tuesdays and Fridays.  I’m hoping to add Wednesdays in there too.  It is definitely impressive that you’ve managed to get Distrokid and Apple Music to treat you this way; they treated you as if you’re a domestic terrorist.  

Is there anything else you’d like to share with the class?

Sean: What the fuck?  Where am I?  That was so weird.  It was like Freaky Friday (or Freakier Friday, as of August 8th, 2025) only I was trapped in the body of a very short, very politically aggressive, small boy.  Welp, anyway, thank you for reading this inter-review!  Make sure you listen to Strangeness In Proportion covering “A Song for Bob” by PB&TAT.  You can listen to it now on bandcamp HERE (along with all the other incredible covers on the comp)!  And if you’re feeling frisky, you could maybe even purchase the compilation album and donate to Rock To The Future!  “A Song for Bob” covered by Strangeness In Proportion featuring PB&TAT will also be available on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS this Halloween!  Have a great weekend, I’ll see you all next week.