Show Date: January 09, 2010 - Mike James

Party say what???!!! Our first show of the year and we played a Capricorn bash @ AvantGarden to celebrate filmmaker Mike Jame's birthday. If you haven't heard of Mike yet, keep your ears to the street because you'll be hearing about him very soon. He's directed the short film Spiked and has 6 other film projects in the works including a feature which we hope to get a song on the soundtrack of, ya heard?

Just so happens that that morning I come down with a terrible head cold that would not go away. By the time I pull up to AvantGarden I was feeling like complete shit. Then there was a bit of confusion because it was our understanding that we'd be playing upstairs but there was another party there. So as we were trying to figure out what was going to happen, I walked over to Mango's next door to see if we could set up and play there, since we had our own PA system with us.

Now, we have been trying to play Mango's forever! To no avail. Mango's is like our Holy Grail and we know that when we finally play there, damnit, we're somebody. So I went over completely expecting to be shot down. I told the bartender our gig at AvantGarden was canceled on us and I was wondering if we could just set up and play a bit before their show gets going. (It was like 9:15 at this time.) I even had to admit it was an odd request. He was the bar manager so he had to call Omar, and wouldn't you know, Omar was like, as long as we're done by 10:15 so the other show can go on, no problem. I was actually touched that they would try to help us salvage a gig like that.

Turns out though that Mike James came thru and made sure we got set up and played out set. It took me about 3 songs to shake off my bug but I ended up having a blast! After we were done, the dj's set up and we boogy rocked the night away. I had this one guy, said he was from NY and that he doesn't listen to 'music with screaming in it,' but that he really dug our shit. Hahaha, lovely. We all had a really good time.

STUDIO UPDATE

Well as many of you may or may not know we have been in the studio working hard on our next EP Rabbits and Royalty.

And so far it is beyond all of our wildest expectations. We are working with producer Mike Thompson of Ivory Tower Productions, (Close Your Eyes, American Fangs, etc.) This is the hardest working guy in the Houston music scene right now, and I feel that he is single-handed behind shaping our scene and making us a national force to be reckoned with. Numerous bands and artists that he's worked with have gone on to record and songwriting deals, music awards and industry recognition.

That's not why we choose to work with him though. We picked him because every song we heard on his reel was jaw dropping incredible. This is a guy who is not only a vocal coach, guitar coach and songwriter, but has a great ear and my taste in music. I knew that he would push us and make us better without changing the character of who we are as a band. He sat in on practices. Gave his critiques and suggestions. Continued to push us and encouraged us not to settle, then drew the performances out of us in the studio. Probably the best experience I've had recording an album.

I could go on and on, but if you are a band and you're serious about your craft, Mike Thompson should be the first person you talk to when you're looking to head into the studio. I still have a few more vocals to lay down, but even in the early stages everything is sounding so mind-blowingly incredible, I've never been more excited about a project and can't wait to be able to share what we're doing with everyone.