Check this out! Our friend Zoe shot this and we think it’s really cool. It’s a dark look at the speed of New York life. Coming in and out of color and into spastic plasmo color, the people in the video, the people of New York, seem to fall victim to the overpowering pace of the city.
This is a sentiment a lot of us feel a lot about our town, and the song’s message ties in well. We in the band wanna thank Zoe for her excellent work and you can check out more here.
Let us know what you think.
See you all at CMJ soon.
We went down to Philly not to play a show, and it was soo relaxin! Bob Berman, myself (aaron), one Nick Burleigh, one Hana Mogulescu, the lovely Claire Tyers, Max “the docker” Petrich, and Bein Ian Mellencamp, piled into the van and smoked down to Philadelphia. Almost missed our exit like we did when we first picked up “Live Sessions.” As we waxed the tour nostalgic, the unreleased St. Vincent mysteriously found its way onto the stereo.
Destination was The First Unitarian Church. I was expecting more of a traditional, grand devotion to Jesus, and so was surprised to be in a sweaty basement watching Pissed Jeans open up for Kurt Vile. Fuckin sweeeet night. We stopped off at Kung Fu Necktie to look for my amp sleeve that I left there at our last show on May 29. I hadn’t even SEEN any live music in the past two weeks, and the show in the church was a nice reminder of the power. You need to always be refreshing, drinking up the stuff you love, in order to keep that connection fresh inside. Now I’m really pumped for the shows we have coming up. Hope to see you at one:
Thursday June 16 @ Spike Hill (10 PM), Friday June 17 @ Trash Bar (8 PM), Tuesday June 21 @ Spike Hill (11 PM)
Going into the studio later this afternoon, back to Stratosphere where we recorded “Live Sessions,” to lay down a few more tracks for release later on in the summer. Have a ton of shows and little trips in the plans. Probably hitting the road again for a big tour in the early fall or late summer. We hope to see you at the shows coming up. Feeling really optimistic.
Kurt Vile is the man. I dont know why it took me this long to grab this album. ”Smoke Ring For My Halo.” Go get it. $7.99 on iTunes for the time-being.
Xylos
This is the cleanest sound. Some of you know I used to sing with them. Today, they got a lovely review from the New York Times. Tonight, as I was writing down some new lyrics and listening to iTunes on shuffle, their opening track “Darling Dearest” came on.
Give them a listen if you like.
I’ve begun reading “Franny and Zooey” by JD Salinger. Everything comes at Franny so heavy. You feel her drama. She reminds you of a love from the past. It’s a worthwhile book.
I waited on a woman named Frances Valentine. Think she was southern. Sexy little thing she was, drinking Bellini’s and smiling cute.
A weary atmosphere has taken over in the van as we ride from Temple toward Oklahoma. I have to pee really bad but don’t feel comfortable asking to stop. Jesse’s making jokes and singing and no one else is talking, nobody singing, laughing, Bob is playing Angry Birds on his stupid phone and every now and then he boasts that he is the best. Anything but talk about the van – silence is golden. Gonna pick up Nick’s cousin outside of Denton, and take him with us the rest of the way. Stop at a McDonald’s and finally piss, while Bob gets a fish filet and fries. Our rule had been “No fries on tour,” but we were well beyond caring about that. Get to Oklahoma, and everything will be OK for tonight, and that’s good enough for now. Nick’s cousin Alex is a little bit younger than us, he volunteers at music festivals, he asks a lot of questions; altogether he breathes in some much-needed new life to our vibe. We ride along and into Oklahoma, stop at a Dollar Store for some last minute supplies (red dixie cups for drinking games, and one gigantic oversized black lighter). We planned to leave the huge lighter in the car for the rest of the trip. I expected the flame to be torch-y, aka huge, but it was really small like that of a normal lighter. Ham sandwiches, a jam session on acoustics in one of the three cabins, late-night raft ride, booze, weed, 4 wheeler rides, fresh air, country, and one long conversation with Bob about how the tsunamis in Japan work to the advantage of the American economy. We agreed that America wouldn’t be heartless enough to create a tsunami. Didn’t even think to ask if we could create a tsunami, just decided that we wouldn’t. The breeze was calm, it was a little brisk. Nick and Jesse jumped in the lake. We listened to Johnny Cash, and talked about soul. I hit the sack. Nick awoke with a huge bruise on his face and didn’t know how he’d gotten it. Either a horse kicked him, he walked into a wall, or Jesse knocked him in the head. All seemed equally possible that morning, as I scooped some eggs Mike had made in between some sliced wheat bread for Nick and Jesse before saying hey to the horses and getting behind the wheel. On the road at 11 AM. Ridiculous, knock you off your feet winds, Oklahoma. A pit stop on the side of the road at a beach we couldn’t see from the road. Rocky slope down to the beach. Pissing in the wind, I peer over at Nick and can’t believe his face. “We should get him an eye patch for the shows.” Ha, ha, ha. Got to St. Louis by 10 PM, Cicero’s. Loaded right onto stage, and played for about 15 people.
Hana Mogulescu crashed with us at the Red Roof on our last night in Austin. I volunteered to be up early and drive her to the airport. We recapped the weekend, her former role scouting bands, we spoke about where The Yes Way was at, how we were doing it right, but how it might take some more time before we’re ready for our miracle. So it goes. May be right. At least we are enjoying the ride. And Lucy – she is so reliable it’s getting easy to think of her 23 years driving and her 130,000 miles as the sort of training course for this current marathon. If you think of how much she has seen, and how far she’s gone, and how hard she’s tryin’, you feel like kind of a dick for expecting and desiring for EVERYTHING to HAPPEN RIGHT NOW.
We got some barbecue at a place called Sam’s, where we met the 6th Street cowboy. This guy got a DUI on his horse, Sprinkles, after celebrating by riding him thru downtown after he got out of the hospital.
We headed off, destination Denton, Highway 35 North. Bumper to bumper traffic, ominous skies, and suddenly a foul smell coming into the car. The exhaust from the bus in front of us seems to be the culprit, so we pull around it, but the smell persists, and we can no longer deny that it’s coming from Lucy herself. The Warrior Mistress. Going down. But she knows how to fall; we pull over at the next exit, and happen to stop directly next to a field that is scattered with trucks. It’s undeterminable why the trucks are there, but in the clearing sidled up with Lucy, one truck sits with a fortune-bearing vat of water. We look inside the hood, and a small fire is brewing.
We put the fire out, pouring gallon after of gallon water from the vat into the front left tire, producing a sizzle and a blow of smoke until it was done.
We were in Temple, Texas, and had to stay for the night, since it was already too late to get the car into the shop. Ate dinner at a Texas Roadhouse. Jesse stole Bob’s tequila shot. Nick had a steak. The waitresses wore a lot of makeup and told us stories about how much they hated high school, and wanted to get out of Temple. We went back to the room, smoked some weed, jammed on acoustic guitars, watched some basketball, hit the sack.
We had to cancel our show in Denton due to the car trouble. Next stop, Oklahoma, assuming the car’s cool, and Nick’s family’s ranch. 6 hours to get there. Nick and Jesse wake up at 7 to take the car in. Bob wakes up at 9 to call Firestone and explain that it really should be $400 instead of $1000 to fix the car. Mike and I stay back, get some breakfast from Denny’s, meet a slightly retarded fellow in the parking lot of the Motel and take his CD, do some pushups, and get in the van we’re hoping is gonna make it.
Slept like a babe.
Show schedule for the day: Birddog (our friend from Brooklyn Dave’s promotion moniker) house party at 3; Chupacabra Cantina at midnight.
We get some coffee on our way to the show. Taking a piss, I can hear a woman in the next bathroom vomiting, wretching, gasping for air. At first I thought it was the steamer from the coffee machine, but her heaving became quickly unmistakeable. Made me feel good about our ability to balance partying with getting down to business.
We showed up to the party, and the cops were already outside. It was on Scenic drive, atop a cliff overlooking I think Lake Austin, and all kinds of mansions with boat garages. Easy to get complaints with neighbors around these parts it seems. But the stage was in the backyard, in front of a cliff, and it would have been awesome. After hashing it out with the cops, and figuring it was worth risking getting a $250 ticket, it was decided that the show would move into the living room. Nobody knew how it would sound in there, and it was a pretty small space, but with Austin’s Whalers on stage, we realized that this was actually gonna be awesome.
We turned way down, lower than ever for sure, and played a mellow set for the living room crowd. In quieter parts of songs, we’d sing without a microphone. It was fun. We remarked afterward that we now know we can play coffeeshops. If things ever mellow out in NYC, maybe we’ll hit the open mic circuit. But things in New York never mellow out, do they?
We hung there after our set, and watched Monogold play after us. They were pretty amazing. We spoke after the show about doing shows together when we get back to New York. It’s funny how it can take travelling thousands of miles down to Austin in order to connect with other Brooklyn bands.
We had to get going back towards the center of town for the Chupacabra showcase, though I kind of wanted to stay, drink the free beer, eat the rice bowls, and watch Tiny Victories, Candy Claws, Bear Hands, The Death Set….
Driving through town, most of the through streets to 6th were cordoned off and guarded. We took a circuitous route to the club, but the girl guarding the barricade near Chupacabra wouldn’t let us by, because we didn’t have festival badges. “Pull up there, be out within 15 minutes.” Whatever. Walked our gear down the crowded block into the crowded bar, drunk older dudes blocking our path, seeming to be unaware that the show can’t happen if we don’t get all this gear past them.
5 drink tickets? Thanks Bob!
Dinosaur Bones, from Canada, played an amazing rockin set. Would love to do more shows with those guys. Everybody got to play 20 minute sets. That’s what you have to do when 8 bands are on one bill starting at 9. Such is South By Southwest; this is happening in every bar and imagineable show space.
I drank a 12 ounce Red Bull on the street, an hour before our set. Then got a Red Bull and Vodka right before we started. Couldn’t believe my last drink ticket got me a free red bull and vodka, but it did. The set is kind of a blur – at this point – of nodding heads, smiling beards, some familiar and unfamiliar faces up front dancing, noise, and nick and mike standing on our two amps at the start of “I Love You All.” We closed with “Liar,” felt totally empowered and in control, took some tequila shots and watched Marmalakes and The Chaotic Good finish out the night, and our South by Southwest.
Bob woke up earlier than the rest of us. For the past 7 days, he has kindly volunteered to build a shantytown, population 1, for himself, on the floor by the door, primarily to allow us a bit more comfortable rest so we can feel good on stage.
Today would hold the first 2 of the 3 RethinkPop South By Southwest showcases. We had a pretty chill morning, awake around 11, and over to Fado’s for the showcase. Elaine Greer, local Austin musician, was the first to take the stage with her 4-piece band. Beatles-esque chord progressions, sweet girl harmonies, and tasteful work from the two dudes on bass and drums in the back. I didn’t know at the time, but this would be the first of many Austin bands that would blow me away that day. We weren’t playing till 630. Atlanta’s Wowser Bowser played around 3 o clock. 3 kids, probably 18 years old. Trumpet, bass, drums, and a vocalist named George who spent most of the show in the audience, kneeling on the ground screaming with his head between his legs. Awesome.
My friend Ben Bass was down for the festival and came by early to check out our New Orleans friends in the band Sun Hotel. Phantogram was playing next door at the Filter Magazine party. I walked over there to hand out some flyers and listened to their electro-pop from the streets. Packed, and they did sound really good.
The Austin band Zorch played before us, and tore it up. Everybody was gawking at the duo, ’cause it was unbelievable how fast they played. Double kick drum pedal goin’ bu-du-du-du-bu-du-du-bu-du-du like a machine gun. George from Wowser Bowser told me they were his heroes, playing 16 showcases over the weekend.
We followed. I was so ready to play. A girl we’d met the night before outside of the Esben the Witch show showed up while Zorch was on stage. She was dancing throughout our whole set. The crowd was way into it. It seemed like we had a lot of pent-up energy to share. Nick was in the crowd halfway through the set’s opener, “I Love You All.” By the end of the show I was hugging Bob during my own guitar solo in “Clouds,” screaming I love you I love you I love you. Elaine Greer told me how she used to be in the Sour Notes, and we hung out during their set. They were the last act at Fado’s, and we bolted around the corner to The Belmont for the night show.
The Belmont is on Sixth Street, but on the West side of downtown. A little off the beaten track, but definitely a destination. When we showed up, we had an hour and a half before our set, and the place was jam-packed. A multi-tiered outdoor patio spanning about 100 feet from the stage to the street. And a free keg backstage for the bands. And free sodas, 24 of which are in the van as I write this.
A 5-foot drum riser, smoke machines, a stage this deep and this wide is not what we’ve been finding in Austin, and not what you can expect at South By, so we took full advantage. An extended intro to “Purple,” and “What’s uuuuup?” to the crowd. This might have been the best show of the tour so far. But I don’t know, Baltimore was just so live, the lights out in DC, the set in front of the lucky 3 in Asheville, the Milestone in Charlotte, it isn’t easy to number 1 something.
The crowd was really moving, and Jesse was rocking me harder than ever. I could hear everything crystal-clear, and was playing a lot with vocal improvisations. We played “Clouds” second, skipped the jam. I told the crowd they were the best crowd we’d ever played for, and they appreciated it. In between songs, I found myself saying, “I fucking love South by Southwest! Don’t know about you, but I love this.” We ended with an encore performance of “I Love You All,” and people were losing it. Tight show. I could get used to this.
Met so many bands and people backstage, just jibing with the best vibe all around under the beautiful Austin sky. Dan from the DC band Drawbridges we’d played with was there. Came up to me and said, “I thought you said DC was your best crowd…”
The first show for us on Thursday afternoon at a house party. The Woodrow Avenue Massacre, a little outside town. I walk into the living room and get involved in some guy Joe’s story about a girl who passed out on the couch with her face planted into the cushion so very hard that when her friend was cooking breakfast, she had to ask her “Why do you have a fast-forward symbol on your forehead?”
Out back, there’s a little dried up creek behind the leafy backyard with some scattered chairs, free beer, and a growing crowd. On the covered back porch a drumset, some sound equipment – a makeshift little stage shallow so that the bands have to stand side-by-side.
About 2 o clock, Joe got on the mic and made an inspirational speech about worthless badges, the dopeness of the here and now. Really got everybody pumped up. The singer from the first band, The Final Club, said, “Tightest intro ever. Allright. We’re gonna get a little gloomy on you now.” They rocked. Their from Dallas I think. Really good screamer, and awesome guitar pedal work, really powerful hard-hitting drummer.
We were slated to play way later on in the day, but Bob moved it around so we could take advantage of the crowd that was there. It also served to work in our favor since the cops broke up the party shortly after our set. Guess we caused some noise complaints. We opened with “Where Was I” and played a 5 or 6 song set. Had to stop for a few minutes for some technical difficulties with the rented bass cabinet. But it was chill, not the type of judgmental atmosphere you can encounter in other cities like… Told the crowd to hang out and drink beer, and we went direct in with the bass for the rest of the set. Well received by the 20 or so people sitting and dancing in the grass. And we just want to play more. After all, we are here to play more than watch.
So that night we went back to the area of East Austin near Cheer up Charlie’s, watched some of the Courtesy Tier set at the Deli Magazine party. 10 people in a room losing their minds, led by our one and only Jesse Bilotta, as Mike D and I stroll in after a really nice talk about life on the road, our future…Saw Black Taxi in the backyard there, drank the free second half of a $4 Red Bull, the first half of which was in some hipster’s vodka. The sound was awful, and the sound guy couldn’t do anything about it. One of the peay speakers was blown, and it was awful, but I don’t think the band knew it, since they played on, shirtless and smilng through their Chili Pepper-style groovy shit.
We walked on over to Cheer Up Charlie’s. Caddywhompus was playing on the main stage over there, a duo out of New Orleans we’d heard a lot about last weekend down there. They played a complex, raucous brand of noise pop, hard-hitting for sure but really light and fun at the same time. Their new single is available for FREE at http://www.communityrecords.org/ageofwildspirits ..
We were partying, met a bunch of people outside there, but, low on cash and sleep, it was time to return home and catch some sleep. We’ve barely even started performing down here.
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