So there is a new band - Disaster Piece or Distaster depending on which you think is more convincing. It is so much fun and I get to feel/pretend to be really destructive. I like having nothing but a mic. All I need is one mic. I hope I don't fuck up my voice, but warming up and not drinking malt liquor and smoking cigs will probably minimize any adverse consequences I may suffer.
James Ryan - Guitar Casey Chandler - Bass Will Whatley - Dumms Pete - Dinosaur
Here is a snippet of a new song we're working on. Predator I was in love When we first hit the bed I fell out Feet first steps I left Please forgive me, Mary Don't plan to marry me Fuck.
Be ready for a 15 minute set sometime in April. Pete
Also, check out Jessica Lehrman's blog. There is a cool picture from the Elemeno set at Fluxus and a bunch of awesome pictures of Cameron looking like a space man. Happy Neon Faces
Fluxus saturday was sweet. Long and sweet. The highlight was definitely Emily Rosen's installation. The floor had a speaker in it that was playing some ambient music Zebulon Idunnohislastname made and the floor had a nice black fabric over it. No shoes in the womb.
The walls and ceiling were decorated with scarves and fabric hanging over christmas lights. I imagine if I were a baby and someone held lots of LEDs to mom's stomach, it would be sort of like that.
The Sellar is definitely awesome now too. Neil Fridd cleaned out everything inside save for black lights and 3 bands played there. Cameron Wisch, Landlords and Ghost Mall. I had to miss Ghost Mall so that I could tear down my equipment in Whitsons, but Cameron was awesome. Usually he brings his own black lights and gets crazy with flourescent paint. He got crazy with the paint (which smells like a fish market) but the whole room was illuminated in black lights. Landlords chose to use a single green bulb in place of black lights (I think they were bugged out by all the hepatitis yellow eyes). Instead everyone looked a little dead unnder the green. Very cool band, very loud band. Pat Lamonthe (Landlords drummer) had contact mics attatched to his kick and snare and a piece of sheet metal hanging from his crash. It gave it a very industrial vibe, but also allowed the band to really crank it.
Now for Elemeno - I had so much fun playing. Eric Drasin was doing some cool filtering of live footage of us playing, as we were playing? does that make sense? He disguised it well with all the filters and colors. It was a little loose overall, but lots of fun and a good experience for those around. I ended up with a new flag on my guitar when the tuners caught it off my mic stand. Now I get to be a standard bearer and play guitar at the same time - Just what I've always wished for. We might be able to do some track with Dan Stringer next weekend, but first I need to make things more solid. It's fine live to jam out on psychadaelic minimalism (though it's not so minimal anymore, nor ever) but if all you have is the audio, it needs to hold interest or have more emotional impact, or at least be less long winded.
Everyone's a critic.
I also got to catch the end of Moving Mountains set and talk to Dave from Damiera for a bit. Good day overall.
I wrote this in the dining hall yesterday morning. I think it's funny
Collected at the center of a room, a human nucleus The cell swells and fades when our time is up Voices stir and bubble, shake the boiling pot Stewing in our company Came out tasting all the same
Heat away our blessing and our cures heat away our health and sense of self Heat away until our lives are blurred The walking dead The egg is cracked and dripping, yolk smooth into white The shell is all I eat to keep my body at its peak
Eat away our blessing and our cures Eat away our health and sense of self Eat away until our our bodies break and leave us fucking dead
At second thought, a second helping Paves me towards the day Where life would strive and struggle, I am unified by taste A third or fourth or more Until we clean our plates I am not a human, I'm a vacuum.
Hey everybody, I wrote this new song yesterday and I like it. It's about people.
For a day, to see, to hear, to feel alive at the same time Two lives at the same time Pull away Eat the fruit from this tree, triplets meander into three Pull away
Keep connected, stretch to keep the tension Fall back to sleep Landscape or a picture frame Graceful in its length Landscape or a picture frame Distracting, calling my attention Pull away
I will drift, drift, drift onto your body I will drift, drift, drift away
SXSW was the coolest fucking shit ever. First of all, you only need a minimal amount of cash (once you make it to Austin, that is) Free breakfast tacos, free pizza, free beer, free shows, etc... and then there are the showcases and the wristbands I got one for going with Terror Pigeon and it gets you in to basically every single show happening, of which there are too many to count. In fact, you are guaranteed to miss something you want to see because 5 other things you want to do are happening at the same time. On the bright side, many of the bands play free shows and showcases so you get more than one chance.
Yes, I love this band and I plug them hard, but it was awesome. They were so tight and true to the arrangements on record, but experiencing the performance in a packed room where everybody was singing along to a different harmony or melody is a really cool experience. Part of me also enjoyed just watching the interactions between band members as they scuttled around switching instruments. It was beautiful and everyone should go out and listen.
This was at a different show they played (where I saw Daniel Johnston & These Arms Are Snakes later)
I saw TM about 45 minutes before Anathallo, and a short jog across town. Seeing them live explains so much to me about how they do what they do. The music is completely nuts and cerebrally on another level. They could go from a calculus-orgasm to shoegazey phase swirls and back again. I really like how the vocals are fitting into the music live. It gives a great energy and acts like a little crutch for those limping ahead/behind/distant from the beat. Thanks guys.
Nothing on youtube yet from this years sxsw for these guys. This has the new drummer in it at least and is a pretty awesome representation of what I saw.
I think this venue was some sort of video studio, with the bands playing on a soundstage. There were projections on the wall and floor that made me feel like I was inside the Predator's head. This set was short (maybe 10-15 minutes) with about 15 people sitting in a circle around the band (just two of them) They started off playing kalimbas and tiny drums running through a laptop and a mixer and then started passing out treats. The show was about audience participation and I ended up with a big seed pod with an attached contact mic which I could shake, tap and generally just have fun with. There was also this awesome theremin like toy with a fixed arpeggio. The weird thing was, only the rocks they passed out seemed to work with it. It was super cool.
This was mindboggling. When I first heard their album Rise Above, I wanted to see it live before I decided if I liked it. Ironically, I traveled to Texas instead of Brooklyn to see them. Either way, it was amazing. They were doing things live that bands like Battles do with crazy effects and studio magic. Just watch some videos.
This show hapened for me by chance. I went to this venue to check out As Tall As Lions (You know that british trumpet player that droped out of Purchase? Yeah, he made the right decision) I feel lucky to have seen this show with under 150 people around me. It was a really impressive performance and her stage presence is fucking huge. The band was Aja singing (like bjork and danzig had a baby) a guitarist with the right effects to play the bass too and a drummer. She should be famous now. This is awesome pop music that doesn't confine itself to what is already popular. Check it out before your friends.
Also, the VonBondies who were at this show were by far the worst performance I saw at SXSW.
6. Prince Rama of Ayodhya @ a cool thrift shop I forgot the name of but they're moving anyway, so I am told
This show was outside in the middle of the day way out on the east side of Austin. I saw most of my favorite free shows (and did the majority of my daytime hanging out in this area) but this one stood out. It was all drenched in reverb and really relaxing, but also engaging. There were four members, Taraka, Michael, Nimai and one other guy whose name isn't on their myspace (and the only member of the band I didn't talk to). Taraka handled most of the vocals, as well as auto harp, synth and being beautiful, with Michael playing synths and sequencers and vocals. Nimai and the unnamed dude played drums and kept everything moving along, almost hypnotically. At one point they blew the power and instead of just waiting until it was all turned back on, Taraka led the audience and band in a song about the ocean at an ice beach. I got to make ice cracking noises. They also passed out lots of little shakers and tambourines to us to play along with, which was awesome. I always want to play along, or in a band that I see and like and I got too. Plus, they were all super nice and gave me one of theyir amazing DIY EPs in exchange for one of my totally lame mixtape of my own songs.
There was lots of other stuff that was awesome, like drinking tallboys under bridges, getting free booze at the purevolume party, eating tacos, meeting travelers and bands, walking ten miles a day, JBCs, brick weed and other fun times.
I'm going tomorrow. It will be sweet. Neil from Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt (http://www.myspace.com/theterrorpigeondancerevolt) asked me to drive when one of the rides on our caravan dropped off. We'l be stopping in Baltimore for a show with The Shakes ( http://www.myspace.com/throwupinmyhands) who are currently recording their de-butt album with Mike Amacio. Throwing names left and right, woohoo
I''m psyched. I'll bring a guitar and try to strum songs in the street.
Hey everybody, lots of cool stuff has been going on lately. Last night I started the psych night at purchase. Its a live, free improv and performance where a group plays one or two original noise/psych/drone/whatever pieces and then whoever is in the room is free to join in as their band for a song. It allows both the audience to play with the performers and the performers to have a large ensemble at their disposal for about ten minutes. Then the next group starts.
I think there will be at least one more of these this year, then next year I'll try to host this as a monthly event called Bhang Day
Last night Images and Colour Buk played, and we ended with an elaboration on a sitar practice routine. I had a great time processing the sitar through a contact mic and my pedal board. I think the guys from Colour Buk recorded the entire performance on a macbook, so when I get my hands on that, I'll post it here.
Also, Elemeno Recently performed with a bunch of great new musicians on some new, long winded, skeletons of songs. We had myself on vocals, guitar and processing, Weston Minissali - vox, synth zach desorbo - signal processing and loops matt Gaffney - drum kit Cameron Wisch - jungle kit Booker Stardrum - metal kit Eric Drasin - video projection Andrew Brown - bass
It was sweet and there are videos on my youtube channel of all four songs we played - this one is my favorite.
Also - Nirvana cover band? Sam Weissman (drums) Andrew Brown (bass) Brett Slater (vocals) and myself will be playing Dive, Sliver, Lithium, Aneurysm, Drain You and In Bloom on friday night at the Stood.
