Show Date: February 25, 2010 - Rocbar

Back at Rocbar. We've had our issues playing Rocbar in the past, but sometimes you gotta let bygones be bygones, clear the slate and start afresh with good intentions. Our good friend Nick asked us to play as he was taking over booking for Rocbar on Thursday nights.

This would be the first time we played with After Time Has Passed, a great progressive instrumetal band from here. It's only two guys, drums and guitar, but you'd never know it by the precision, musicianship and stage presence they bring.

I was trying to help them load up their kit (Rocbar is like on the second floor so it takes some grunt work to load in) and they got a little angsty. Turns out Matt, their drummer, got over $3000 worth of cymbals stolen at a Scout Bar gig. That sucks, believe me, do you know what I could do with $3000??? Do you know how many bourbon and cokes that is???

It was a pretty decent show. I pulled out my old "dolphin on the string" trick which I had been wanting to do since Gary's Spot. Basically glue a helium balloon in the shape of a dolphin on some fishing line and tie it to your pants so it floats with you wherever you go. I felt like Poseidon.

Fun was had by all.

Show Date: February 06, 2010 - Mardi Gras Galveston

We got to asked to play Mardi Gras Galveston and all we got was this stupid flyer:

United Musicians Alliance was graceful enough to ask us to headline their stage this year at Mardi Gras Galveston. There were a lot of great bands playing, the turn out was insane. There was drinking in the streets and yes, there were bare boobies. Not as much as New Orleans, granted, but they were there.

But seriously, Mardi Gras is more than a celebration of breasts. There is a storied history and culture of Mardi Gras that extends beyond booze, boobies and music. I don't know what that storied culture is, I'm just trying to blunt the chauvinistic angle of this post because of the guilt I feel from seeing so many boobs.

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.

Show Date: November 27, 2009 - The Organics

We've been trying to play Austin all year to no avail. It's a highly competitive market. They favor their local peeps and they have the luxury and are very choosy about who they book. So getting asked to play in San Marcos was as close as we were gonna get and we jumped on it.

The Organics asked us to play The Triple Crown with them, and The Triple Crown reminded me a lot of The Ten Eleven. Gabe's kit took up the whole stage so me, Jason and Rick had to play more or less in the crowd. What was cool about the crowd at The Triple Crown was the more crazy, experimental and progressive we played the more they loved it. They were not interested in hearing straight up pop music at all so our progressive side fit right in.

We opened the evening and The Organics closed it out. The Organics packed that place out. They groove with a strong ska feel, complete with horn sections and really brought the house down. So much in fact, that I'm learning to play trumpet.

Show Date: November 21, 2009 - Vicarious Me

Life is a 360. Our very first show ever was supposed to be at Rudyard's. They were kind enough to book us and one of the very first bands that we asked to play with us was Vicarious Me. Unfortunately, Vicarious Me couldn't play that show with us, and then Gabe ended up getting so sick, we couldn't play the show, but a year goes by and who reaches out and asks us if we'd like to play a show with them at Rudyard's? Yeah, man. Spooky, I know.

I'll admit to being a little nervous playing Rudyard's again after pissing off the sound guy royally at our last show there. But I figured we'd just go in, have fun, and let bygones be bygones. That still didn't keep me from hiding from the sound guy all during load in. I didn't want him to recognize me and pull something crazy with our sound, you know like pissing off a waiter and they spit in your food. I was like a ninja, man, crawling behind risers, walking behind ppl, always staying just out of sight. Then when sound check rolled around and I could hide no longer, turns out he didn't even remember me.

Stateside Stereo opened and then guys were tight, sounded great and had an awesome draw. Then Vicarious Me played, and if you've never seen a VM show, them dudes are seriously crazy. And I thought we were wild when we played. They wore matching shades and T-shirts, got shit-faced drunk and had a rowdy time and still sounded great.

Then we played. Nothing super eventful I'm sorry to report. I didn't slam the mic down this time. I was dressed like a damn fool, though. The sound was fantastic and to our surprise we made a fan that night that wouldn't stop talking about how good we were. The sound guy.

Show Date: October 17, 2009 - Make Your Escape

So our good friends Make Your Escape asked us to join them at Java Junction on Saturday night where they were headlining.

Now Java Junction is a coffee shop that doubles as a venue, and since they don't serve booze, it's basically a place where kids can come, and mosh and headbang until they've given themselves concussions and permanently damaged their hearing. This was by far the craziest group of rowdy ass youngsters I had ever seen in one place at the same time.

We played with a couple of outta town bands, but also with 38 Caliber Hero who played the Nico Vega show with us and this little band that I hadn't heard of before called Sleep Sleep 'Wake Up!' The only way to describe Sleep Sleep 'Wake Up!' is br00t4l! I don't think not one of them was over 14 but they wrecked that stage. Them boys go off.

Make Your Escape finally did took the stage and it's funny because the last Make Your Escape show I went to I kinda got a little rowdy and sprayed beer all over the them. A move that almost got me kicked out of Fitz, but I did it out of love because they were wrecking. I would find out later that Adria got pissed I got Lone Star all over her cab. But fences were mended. We cool.

Another little interesting tidbit we found out was that Make Your Escape was selected by Hy Magazine as Band of the Month and got a whole write up done on them. When they asked Corey who are his favorite bands to play with he mentioned us. He is both a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you for that, C!