Jason Adjacent

Just put a "Throw It In" on it

2012-02-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

So here's a top five list that is a little off of the beaten path. I was listening to XM today and three songs in a row came on that all shared one odd quirk: they each had a type of a "throw it in". A "throw it in" is defined as the preservation of ad libs, improvisations, and the occasional accident or mistimed what-have-you for dramatic or comic effect, sometimes at the cost of continuity. (tvtropes.org). If you're still not sure what the hell I'm talking about just check the list and if you're not daft you'll figure it out.

#5 The Police, Roxanne

0:08 The laugh in the into was from Sting sitting on his piano and was the first time I had ever heard something like that intentionally left in. It lasts only a split second but it opened my mind to these kind of non-musical sounds that can become a musical part of the song. Please see John Cage and his piece 4'33 for more on this line of theory.

#4 Jet, Are You Gonna Be My Girl?

0:04 The lead singer clearing his throat before scratching the limits of his vocal chords. This one was just left in for the hell of it because today editing something like that would take about well 4 seconds, still fun.

#3 Fun, We Are Young

1:32 Speaking of Fun…it may be just because I really like this group right now but the deep, deep intake of breath before the second verse frames the emotional tenor of the song so well.

#2 Incubus, Dig

0:54 and 2:07 I know that Brandon Boyd does this breathe on purpose for musical effect but I like to think about what made him do it. Like did he screw around at rehearsal and record it that way, did he just get all high in the studio and throw it in as a lark? I don't know but I do know I like it.

#1 U2, Where the Streets Have No Name

4:35 Bono's desperate "ugh" before lamenting the title just reaches out and grabs you and throws you onto his nameless roads. You can feel the emotion dripping out of him and right onto the record. Watching it with the video shot in downtown LA in the bleak, gang ruled '80's only serves to heighten the strife that Bono was alluding to.

Let me know some of your fav's if you can think of them.

"This Head I Hold" Electric Guest (line segment)

2012-01-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

Following Fitz and the Tantrums, Foster the People and Dawes, Electric Guest is the next breaking band from LA. They even opened for Foster to close out the Foster tour a few months ago. Electric Guest have that ubiquitous pop-synth sound that can be played over a boombox at a hipster's birthday or over a club speaker fueling a redbull fueled girls night out.

To be honest it usually takes me a few listens to really like a song but I loved their single "This Head I Hold" from the first verse. A synth song that gets its pop from Gnarles Barkley and its soul from Amy Winehouse. Its no surprise to find that their forthcoming album is a Danger Mouse production.

Odd sidenote is that singer is brother's with one of the guys from Lonely Island. It's the one that does not get to go "On a Boat" with T-Pain and Andy Samberg.

For any kids in the LA area they are playing a residency at the Echo the next four Mondays at 11pm for FREE! I know its late for a Monday but I can guarantee that you will wish that you had seen them at a small club for $0. Also right now they only have 2,500 Facebook 'likes', check back in a year and see what the total is then...

"Somebody that I Used to Know" Gotye (line segment)

2012-01-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Hailing from Australia Gotye (pronounced Gaultier) is more of a collector of sounds than a musician stemming from his attention to the most trivial of sounds, from the most unique of places. On his Facebook page he speaks of his Lowrey Cotilliion organ, a Winston Musical Fence and Turkish drum sounds as well as other scavenged sounds from his worldwide hunts. This man is on a hunt.

His first two albums brought him attention in Australia and caught the eye of Drew Barrymore who used his early songs on many of her soundtracks. He took his budding fame home and tinkered for two and half years on his latest album "Making Mirrors". He said he sampled anything that he get his hands on, making digitized sounds from vintage instruments and records.

The first single "Somebody that I Used to Know" is most accurately described as haunting. Its definitely about a relationship gone sour, especially sour in the part where he yells "Have your friends collect your records and then change your number". Sounds like Jon Cusak from Hi Fidelity had a hand in this story. It's been compared to Peter Gabriel but I think its more Sting-like in its attention to detailed sparseness.

The video is terrific and shows Gotye fading into the background of a wall, probably representing his failed relationship. Then his failed lover unfading from the same wall representing her fleeing. Haunting as much in its familiarity as its unfamiliarity.

"We are Young" Fun (line segment)

2012-01-11T19:58:00.001-08:00

It sounds like this band is already on their way as they've been featured on a ton of commercials, Glee, Chuck AND WWE Smackdown but the band Fun and their song "We are Young" has definitely been stuck in my head lately.

Lead Singer Nate Ruess formed the band after a few failed projects of his own with other dudes from other failed projects (Format, Anathallo and Steel Train to name a few of the failures).

They signed with Fueled by Ramen in 2008 and toured with Paramour, Jack's Mannequin and Panic at the Disco. You know what I've said that if a band can get played on two of the XM stations that it is a great sign of mass appeal and these guys are being played on the AltNation station AND the Pop station. Game On!

The video is slo-mo dramatic set at some sort of fucked up Enchantment Under the Sea dance. Janelle Monae makes an appearance and I don't know who she is but I'm guessing that we'll hear more from her in the future as maybe the new Corinne Bailey Rae, vomit:

"What you Know" Two Door Cinema Club (line segment)

2012-01-11T19:07:00.001-08:00

Okay okay all the way down to number one and what a long long countdown this has been. I'd give you a recap but I'm just too excited so on with the show.

Two Door Cinema Club was, at this time last year, one of my least favorite bands. Since then they have flip the script on me and have risen all the way to one of my most listened to groups. I reviewed their CD a while ago but still it remains in heavy-ish rotation on my ipod with the song "What You Know" raking in an astonishing to me 146 listens. Most of that must be while pedaling my bike because this song really amps me up.

They boys have risen from doomed school boys hailing from a little town in nowheresville, Northern Ireland to international stars counting Daft Punk, RHCP and Rick Ruben as fans. Their new album will be coming out soon and they better play in LA before I can't get tickets to see them as I was on tour when they stopped by in the fall.

Roller Skaters, Harry Potter and college kids unite:

"St Peter's Cathedral" Death Cab (line segment)

2012-01-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

Of course I had to have a Death Cab song on this list and of course I chose the one that has no discernible or searchable video but I love love love "St Peter's Cathedral" and have placed it at number 2 for the year. I was first listening to this album as I was biking up to the Griffith Park Observatory and amidst all this natural beauty so close to a bustling city all I hear is the beautiful melody and the refrain "there's nothing past this"
Now while this song may seem bleak and final I still find it disturbingly benign. Check out the lyrics and after one listen through you'll hear exactly what this song is about. Its about an atheist's vision of religion and that when we die, we die. But even if I were to take that idea as gospel I would still look around and see that if there is indeed nothing past this then well I better enjoy everything that I can while I'm here...and hope (not expect) that the singer is wrong.
Live like there's nothing past this.

"Not Your Fault" Awolnation (lline segment)

2012-01-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

Wowa weewa there are only 3 measly songs left for my top 10 of 2011. This song is a total dark horse as I did not like their first single but flip-flopped after I heard their second one. Awolnation is the solo project of Aaron Bruno known from such bands such as Under the Influence of Giants. After little commercial success he ventured on his own and found a bunch of guys to write more radio friendly material.

His first single "Sail" made it on the charts and hailed the commercial arrival of the band. I actually did not like the song, it was too boring and drone-y for me. It sounded like the lazy Nine Inch Nails songs when you can tell Trent Reznor just got fucked up and pressed computer buttons. With that said my older brother (a die-hard NIN fan) loved the song and would text me the single word title at various times of the day just to mess with me.

After the furor died down with "Sail" they started playing "Not Your Fault" which I immediately dismissed because it was by Awol but then immediately following my dismissal undismissed it as I found it instantly stuck in my head. I love the instruments and the way its tough sounding yet fluffy sounding at the same time.

The video is hilarious, especially in this post-holiday claymation nostalgia I find myself. I mean its got aliens, swamp monsters and abominable snowmen. Done and done. AND its fun that they don't take themselves too seriously and can continually lose battle with these mythical (or not) monsters:

"Houdini" Foster the People (line segment)

2012-01-03T18:42:00.000-08:00

Just to catch ya'll up my top 10 so far for 2011 is 10. "Lonely Boy" Black Keys 9. "Junk of the Heart" The Kooks 8. "Winter Winds" Mumford & Sons 7. "Cough Syrup" Young the Giant 6. "Rich Girls" Fitz & the Tantrums and 5. "Promises, Promises" Incubus. There now you're caught up.

Okay by now you've had Foster the People shoved down your throat. Whether its Weezer covering Pumped Up kicks, any number of car commercials or from any of their multiple festival appearances this year you could not avoid Mark Foster and his MGMT/Gorillaz sound that has taken America by storm.

If you've spent any time reading this blog you will know that I love the band and have loved them since the beginning of this written venture. One of my favorite songs of the year was Helena Beat, its so simple and you know right away that this song is catchy as hell BUT it was rated the number one song of the year by my favorite radio station, SiriusXm's AltNation, so I feel compelled to include a different FtP song at number 4 of my top 10 of 1011.

AltNation was the first station in America to play Pumped Up Kicks but carried the torch (pun intended....Torches is their album title in case you're daft) by playing Helena Beat and Houdini long before their star shot skyward. So I'm choosing Houdini as my dark horse Foster the People song for my list. Again catchy as hell and the instrumental breaks in the song with the portamento keyboard make me all jiggly inside. Here's a 'live' performance by them but it doesn't sound live but at least you get to see all 5 members of the allegedly 3 person band:

Of Mice and Men, Little Talks (line segment)

2011-12-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

I'll finish up the top ten of 2011 very very soon but here's a new song that I've liked.

Iceland's Of Monsters and Men have been getting play on BOTH xm's altNation and the Spectrum that means that they appeal to most of the popular rock stations in America. I thought they were a little gimmicky at first with the male/female vocals and the horns and the accordion but damn this song is catchy.

They've been called the next incarnation of Arcade Fire and Iceland's Mumford but dammit if I don't hear some 90's ska punk in this song at least. They have a live video of them preforming in their living room and the trumpets are missing so I guess that they are just part of their production

The single won't be released until 2012 but whatever you can still check them out on youTube:

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Night 2 (Foster, Mumford, Death Cab)

2011-12-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Night two of the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas had the lineup that I would have loved to see including Foster the People, Death Cab, Mumford and Black Keys but also including my not-so-fav's Grouplove, Naked and Famous, Florence and the Machine and Cage the Elephant.

Again I was going to catch the shows online as I was not caller number 10. I missed Grouplove and Naked and Famous (on purpose) but tuned in just in time for Foster the People to go on. Being an LA band I knew that they'd have a little extra in the tank for the show and again they did not disappoint.

They started their set with their usual free-style drum-circle thumps and once the set kicked in it was great from start to finish. It was pretty much the same set I saw at Amoeba records this past spring but they definitely have played a ton since then as you can see their experience and confidence has increased exponentially. Here's the whole set from uStream:

Cage the Elephant was next and surprisingly they were also very good and very energetic. I don't really care for the band but they seemed to have hit their stride as a group. Their set at Coachella was blindingly fast and the whole time it felt like they couldn't catch their breath. This time they slowed their gait and the results were a well paced set with all of their hits.

I kind of checked out for Noel Gallagher and Florence but what I did watch of them was very similar. They seemed to be very full of themselves, while sounding professional and tight as groups. There just lacked a humane feeling to them. Noel is a noted ass from his Oasis days and Florence was just too much flowing around onstage with no shoes on.

Death Cab came on next and really raised the bar for the rest of the night. Singer Ben Gibbard is recently separated from wife Zooey Deschanel and I wondered if that would effect his performance, for better or for worse. It didn't seem to effect him or the band either way they just delivered a top-notch musical performance by a professional band. They jammed "We Looked Like Giants" from Transatlanticism to end the set and expertly droned the outro just long enough before ending with a wall of sound.

Mumford and Sons came on next and continued the expert level of musicianship set by Death Cab. There is no band as touching and moving as Mumford. They play each song like its an immediate love note performed directly for their lover. I can't remember a band that touches so many of their fans with each performance. There is just something magical about seeing four people with limited technology singing and playing such moving and beautiful music.

Here is one of their new songs called Lover of the Light:

Black Keys were next up and I was in bed by then but I'm sure they did great. Jane's Addiction went on last and unsurprisingly the crowd had thinned to about half by the time they went on.

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Night 1 (Sublime, Blink)

2011-12-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

The KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas concert was this past weekend and Hell No I couldn't get tickets but they streamed it on uStream and you know how much I love that.

Saturday's lineup included Blink-182, Young the Giant and Sublime. Incubus was also supposed to play but they were all sick or something and dropped out. I missed Young the Giant but I am sure that they continued to solidify their position as a top up-and-coming alternative band.

I was very excited for Sublime since I've listened to them about a million times and missed the one time I could have seen the original lineup at Warped Tour about a million years ago. When Rome, the new singer/guitarist, came out he seemed like he was totally out of it. He was playing sloppy and looked drunk/wasted/strung out. However as the show went on he shed his ridiculous jacket and glasses settled into a decently enjoyable set of old classics and new singles. Maybe he was just nervous or something.

I watched the beginning of Blink but was totally turned off by guitarist Tom DeLonge's sloppy and disinterested performance. Drummer Travis Barker was totally killing it (I've seen him a few times with other bands and he always kills it) and bassist Mark Hoppus played true to the tunes but it was all overshadowed by DeLonge's apathy. I heard an interview with him talking about how his other band Angels and Airways is his main focus now and that he just doesn't feel the Blink imprint anymore. Well he could have at least faked it better.

Afterward I heard that Sublime was taking a break/breaking up so that the drummer could tend to his pregnant wife so until they get back to the road here's a decent video of them from the show doing their original single "Date Rape". Its after Rome takes off his jacket but before he loses the glasses.

"Promises, Promises" Incubus (line segment)

2011-12-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

Number 5 of the top 10 singles of my year is from a band that is very close to my musical periphery. Incubus not only shared a manager with my band (at different times) but Brandon Boyd, the lead singer, is the older brother of a good friend of the band. None of that matters because they've never heard us and I seriously doubt if they've ever heard OF us. No matter this song struck me this summer and it's been a favorite ever since.

Its written from a female perspective and talks about trying to avoid a fun yet caustic relationship even though it may seem like a good idea at the time (see also Winter Winds). I love the double build-up before the second chorus, it really doubles the emotion of the payoff in the chorus. And l love the visual of swinging if you hand me a bat. It speaks of devotion and obedience but in context of the rest of song you find that those values will only reach so far.

The guitarist for the band has always been pushing the envelope of sounds and I found it very interesting that there was no guitar on the song until the bridge. I was curious what was going on there and if they could pull it off live with the guitarist switching to piano, but lo and behold be pulls it off. Its probably a little overkill, like why don't they just get a dude to play piano, but I guess it makes for good showmanship.

Here's a live look at them in the studio. Color me with Jealousness, Jealousness:

"Rich Girls" Fitz and the Tantrums (line segment)

2011-12-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite bands and favorite shows of the year was Fitz and the Tantrums. Not only do I love their entire album chocked full of neo-soul greatness but their show at the Music Box this past summer was so enlivening and earnest that it really made a lasting impact on me as a performer.

Now I could have chosen one of their singles (namely "Moneygrabber") as my number 6 for the year but man I really love this song. Its got a steady beat, a great chorus, and a simple and relatable story. Its another one of those songs that you can't help but know all the words to after the first few listens.

In this live video you can see Noelle Scaggs shake her moneymaker from the start of the song to the very end. When I saw them perform she kept the energy up the entire set, it was infectious and really made you want to dance your ass off.

No more words just ass shakin goodness:

"Cough Syrup" Young the Giant (line segment)

2011-11-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

We're up to number 7, right? #10 Lonely Boy, #9 Junk of the Heart and #8 Winter Winds.

Originally called the Jakes, Orange County's own Young the Giant burst onto the national scene this year. Their second single "Cough Syrup" has been a staple on SoCal radio for quite a few years now debuting on KROQ's Locals Only show and garnering them plenty of attention. They re-recorded for their latest album but the song is bar for bar the same as before.

The instrumental break at the 3:00 mark is one of my favorite moments of the year. I love that it's not trying to shove a melody or a solo down your throat its just giving you a chance to breathe for a moment. I love that its three repetitions instead of a typical two or four. I love the interplay of both guitars.

The song is definitely NOT about taking drugs and getting high off of cough syrup. It seems to be more about dealing with negative feelings either specifically (emotionally) or generally (societally). They say cough syrup is not a cure but a mask to your illness and I think that this is what he is talking about.

I chose their "In the Open" version because I really liked the idea of filming live videos of random outdoor locations all over the place. Check out the page if you get a chance:
In the Open. Young the Giant

"Winter Winds" Mumford and Sons (line segment)

2011-11-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

My love for Mumford started a while ago but I can still listen to their songs and still feel that stirring in my heart that bands like Coldplay and Arcade Fire do so well. Unfortunately everyone else loves them and now I hear their songs everywhere which is probably the reason why Little Lion Man or the Cave will not be on this top 10 list.

My number 8 of the year is "Winter Winds" as it was my first favorite song by Mumford. Since it was a single only released in Europe (and subsequently only peaked at number 44) it has not been shoved down me eardrums and I still love it as much as the first time I heard it. I love the moment at the end of the third verse. It just kills me when the whole band bangs in with the trumpet blaring. That moment is probably why the lead singer says its his favorite song to perform live.

I am not a big lyrics person, it is usually the last thing that will draw me to a song but the second verse of the song is by far the most touching couplet of my top 10:

We'll be washed and buried one day my girl
And the time we were given will be left for the world
The flesh that lived and loved will be eaten by plague
So let the memories be good for those who stay

Kind of morbid but the message is very clear that we are not long for this world but our impact is. The song is about a guy who doesn't want to be lonely through the barren winter but is not in love with the girl he is with. He tries to talk himself into it or out of it ("this time, no") and in the end realizes that spring will be here and will "swap snow for leaves" and decides a winter alone ain't that bad after all.

"Junk of the Heart" Kooks (line segment)

2011-11-19T12:55:00.000-08:00

I am doing the classic top ten of the year as far as I am concerned so we may as well put
http://jasonadjacent.blogspot.com/2011/11/black-keys-lonely-boy-line-segment.html
"Lonely Boy" at number 10 but i think that it should be higher. Number 9 is another fall release, "Junk of the Heart" by the Kooks from their third album of the same name.

It says that they tried to go in a different direction on this album but ummm they didn't its classic breezy poppy Kooks material. Spin called the album their best and blandest yet which seems like a conflict of verbiage but I guess it makes sense in a hipster/hater kind of way. Like its good but its too poppy for the underground scene. Whatever, good is good.

Either way the song is great. I don't generally like the double vocal sound (when the vocals are doubled an octave higher) but its far enough down in the mix that it doesn't ruin the song. The string arrangement is a nice touch but I think that the song would stand on its own with out all the accoutrement.

Its a classic love song about trying to get the girl to settle down: "If you're a good girl, goodnight" "You're a lover of the wild and a joker of the heart"

Black Keys "Lonely Boy" (line segment)

2011-11-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

I prefer to keep this area a positive one and so I rarely talk about bands that I don't like here which is why you probably haven't heard me talk about the Black Keys too much. I don't like two person band, they are too limited musically and too kitschy (my gosh thats how you spell kitschy?). But I also like to keep and open mind and I like to be wrong. So when I first listened to the new Black Keys single "Lonely Boy" I did so with an open mind and you know what, its a damn good song.

They have an entire band with them now and write songs with that in mind and it totally opens them up to great avenues. As usual the gritty guitar and demanding drums propel the track but all of the other instruments including the chick singing during the chorus flesh out the song nicely.

The video, while totally amusing, is a rip-off of Fatboy Slim's awesomely hilarious "Weapon of Choice" featuring an 'all business' Christopher Walken dancing around his office after a long day of charter accounting. But the Lonely Boy video does have a more spontaneous feel to it, like they gave the manager of some Nebraska hotel $50 to dance to their song on video. It also leaves me with an intense desire to attend a wedding with this dude sometime in the very near future. The album is out soon but until then enjoy:

Tour Blog #11 Sun 2

2011-10-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

So what do five guys do in Phoenix after checking into a downtown hotel? Why go to Hooters of course. In a shocking twist of events we were able to skip Buffalo Wild Wings and go to, gasp, Hooters. Mostly because it was right down the street from the hotel and close to the gig.

After ordering up the customary beers and wings we tried to figure out what to do after the show since were playing first. Madison, our saucy waitress, told us that all of the ASU students hang out at Hooters after the football games. We did not believe her but carried her recommendation with us to the show.

Our last stop, the Lost Leaf, is a literally lost house on a lost street. I guess that they changed to zoning for this particular street because from the outside it looked like a bunch of suburban houses but the whole street ended up being a bunch of dark, speak-easy type dives. Looks, man, they can be deceiving.

We check into the gig and they are very relaxed with their set-up and information. There is no sound guy but one of the dudes in the later band offers to help us set up. It was another floor gig but there was a decent number of people in the crowd. In the end most of them were too cool for us and more invested in their hipster attitude than listening to good music but whatever we had fun and there were about 10 various friends who came to see us play.

Also the owner was totally cool and gave us $100 for playing even though we shouldn’t have made any money at all. He said he was in touring bands for a long time before landing in Phoenix so if you’re ever in AZ and need any number of specific artisan beers go to the Lost Leaf its dark and hidden and pretty cool.

So kids what did we do after the show for our last night on the road????
HOOTERS!!!
Yep I dropped the boys off, parked the van at the hotel and ran back to the restaurant in just enough time to down a shot and a beer and call it a tour. Mike, Manny’s friend, offered to get us beers for the room but when he and Manny came back they came back with an 18 pack of mini-bottles of beer. We felt like giants with these little bottle in our hands and drank every beer in like 15 minutes. It really felt like we were kings of the drinking world.

Before leaving in the morning we actually did something that we had not done all tour: went to breakfast at the hotel. They always stopped serving too early for us and everyday literally began as a fast until lunch or dinner.

The drive home was hot and boring and once we got into town we were ready to get back home. We militantly unloaded the van, loaded our cars and went our separate ways. Its funny though as soon as I got home and went out alone to watch the Ravens play on Sunday Night Football I wondered if I would have had more fun with four of my best friends with me. Funny how that stuff works huh?

So thats it 11 days, 3,000 miles, 50 chicken wings, 9 shows in 5 cities with 5 guys in 1 band.
Thanks to everyone who made this special. You know who you are and if you don’t you’re just being modest and we love you even more for it.

M&H

Tour Blog #10 Sat 1

2011-10-03T16:36:00.001-07:00

We’ve been very busy each day on the road and have either had daytime shows, long drives or radio spots to take up our days/mornings but we got to stay in town with a blank slate on Friday so we hung around town/the hotel all day. We did go to the mall and try to get Nick to buy a Tampa Bay Rays baseball hat, him being from the area and all, but in the end we just couldn’t sway him enough.

Like I said earlier we went back to BWW’s like the creatures of habit we were and we, you guessed it, sat at the same table in the bar and, you guessed it, had the same server as the night before. This time, however, we were not going to be so cavalier with the spiciness of our wings.

We tried to order sets of four boneless wings when Cortney, our server, told us that they don’t do fours and that they did it for us yesterday because she told the cooks we were from out of town.....WHAT?! That explained everything. We now had the motive behind our poisoning the night before.

After a conservative dinner we went back to Garage Tequila Bar to set up again for a longer night. We met the owner and he was as laid back as everyone else had been that works there. He told us to set and play however long we wanted. Edgar, one of new fans from the night before, was there and he brought a few friends.

But as the night went on more and more of Edgar’s friends started showing up and by the end of the night there were, no joke, about 20 people that came to check us out just because Edgar asked them too. We were so taken by his support for us that TJ literally game the hat off of his head. We still can’t thank him enough and he is the reason we play music, to share that feeling of love and happiness at each and every chance.

The next morning we packed and started driving to Phoenix. I drove the first leg and got a killer trucker’s tan on my left arm. TJ took over for the second leg and as soon as he did the sky got cloudy and began to rain. First, dammit! why did he get the cloudy drive and avoid burning his arm. Second, how can we spend 6 days in Colorado just to get our first rain in the desert on the way to Phoenix. Crazy!

We’re checking into a hotel downtown now and the last show is mere hours away. Seems like it was just yesterday we were gambling our future away in Vegas.

Tour Blog #9 Fri 30th

2011-09-30T14:10:00.001-07:00

Just as the sun set over the shanty/shady town of Juarez, Mexico we drove in to El Paso. Manny’s family lives on the east side of town and we drove over to drop him off for some home cooking. We called the Garage Tequila Bar to get the details for the show. We were supposed to get a tank of gas, a hotel and cash from the gig but after we talked to our contact it sounded like we were barely going to get paid.

I emailed our original contact out here but of course he did not respond to my email, man its great being in a band. We drove around and found a hotel with security

While I was firing these emails off Nick and Heath were listening to Manny’s dad tell stories about the drug cartels that sneak up from Mexico and kill people.

We found a safe-ish hotel and checked in about 3 blocks from the border. For dinner we decided on Buffalo Wild Wings and that was the last smart decision we made for awhile. Once at BWW’s we decided to order a bunch of different wings and share them. Our cavalier attitude towards the hotness scale led us to order a bunch of ‘hot’ wings, some ‘spicy garlic’ and even some ‘blazin’ wings, which are the hottest on the scale.

Mid-meal we all started sweating. TJ was hallucinating. Heath was speaking in tongues. Nick, who ate the most blazin ones, was calm on the surface but I’m pretty sure it was just bravado.

After somehow gathering our wits we made it over to the gig and started to set up. The sound system was barely serviceable and the sound guy was more focused on burning plants and inhaling them then setting up for a band to play. We were close to the UTEP campus and once their football game ended people began to file into the small bar.

Once we started playing we had a great time and Manny was killing it for his hometown folks. Our opening act, Rayne Rice, did her own material and was killer and at only 16 years old we are excited for her future. So if you’re in the El Paso area keep your eyes out for her!

I wrote earlier about the cover songs that the cowboys tried to pay us to play and of course we did not know any of them, we only cover 6 songs. Well, this random guy who was randomly at the club shouted out between songs “play Breakdown by Tom Petty”. I thought he was joking. I thought he knew we occasionally play the song. I thought that maybe he overheard us talking about the song. I thought wrong.

It was just a series of weird coincidences that lead him to ask us to play it, which of course we did. He heard the song on the radio earlier and wanted to hear it again. He was in the area after the UTEP football game and wanted a drink so he walked in, saw a band playing and asked us to play. And of course we did. He didn’t pay us $100 to play it but the look on TJ’s face was priceless. What a weird world.

They actually had no bands scheduled for Friday night so we are staying in town to play again tonight. We are going to go to BWW’s again but I’m guessing that we are going to err on the side of conservative caution when ordering wings tonight. Maybe, you never know!

Tour Blog #8 Thr 29th

2011-09-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have a special subsection of the tour blog its entitled “Hotel Complaint” and you can read it here.

We made good time on the drive from Denver to Albuquerque even though Nick tried to run us out of gas we made it in about 7 hours. I checked us in at the hotel in question and we headed off for the Orchid Chamber, a hookah lounge on the other side of town. TJ’s voice was on the down side and spirits were low when we walked into the place and there was about 4 people “working” (sitting around) there and not a soul else. Oh and none of them were expecting a band. Great.

Stevie was the co-owner and he said that no one had told him that a band was playing otherwise he would have brought some people in. After a quick band meeting we told him that if it was all the same to him that we would just skip playing music and hangout. He was totally cool with that and he was totally cool.

We got some beers, some whiskey and some red cups and sat and smoked some hookah and “watched” the MLB games on Nick’s phone. By ‘watched’ I mean that we stared at the box score and waited for it to change. It wasn’t as bad as you think as we let our imaginations take control. The games came down to the wire and if Boston lost to Baltimore and Tampa beat the Yankees, Tampa would complete an unbelievable comeback and make it to the playoffs.

As Nick’s batteries wound down the games wound up. Tampa was losing by a million runs but came back and made it close. Boston was up by 1 run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and nobody on when all hell broke loose. Baltimore came back and beat Boston and Tampa hit a homerun in the bottom of the 12th inning to win their game. The screen flashed “HOMERUN!” and Nick’s iphone, exhausted by the heavy use and heavy emotions, promptly died. It was so perfect.

Pictures 5 guys pretty much alone in a dark hookah bar jumping around and hi-fiving each other after seeing a picture of the word homerun. I’m sure the effect was stunning. We left Stevie and the Orchid Chamber, thanked him for his hospitality (he was totally cool, totally nuts and we’ll definitely come back given the chance), and went to get a few drinks downtown.

We all got pretty toasty as we again forgot to eat. This morning we went to Subway and Nick caused a ruckus when he set out to order a $10 sandwich. It included the following ingredients: double turkey, roast beef, pepperoni, bacon, guacamole, cucumbers, spinach, tomatoes, jalapenos, pickles, spicy mustard and hot sauce. It captured the imagination of everyone working there as well as the customers in line, total $13.82.

Today we’re headed to El Paso, Manny’s hometown, for a gig at Garage Tequila Bar tonight and a TBD gig tomorrow. We shall see.

Copy of Hotel Complaint

2011-09-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

I am in a band and am traveling on the road from Los Angeles through the southwest. We've been staying at friend’s houses but decided to spend a little bit of money for a hotel in Albuquerque so we could rest without bothering other people. I searched many sites and decided not to skimp out on price too much so we could be assured of a nice room and a restful stay. I chose your hotel based on star rating, price and user feedback from sites like yelp and hotels.com. I felt confident that the money spent would be worth it than spending less for a less quality hotel.

After driving for 8 hours from Denver we had an hour before our show so we decided to check into the hotel first to catch a break from the road. I walked into the desk and rang the bell. The lady came up and was immediately helpful asking for my name, which I gave her. After looking through a small, unorganized stack of papers she looked at me and asked we’re I booked the hotel. I told her online, today. She immediately shot back “What time?”. I told her sometime in the morning. Her disdainful reply was “Did you book it on hotels.com?” as if there was something wrong with using the site. I was taken off guard as to why I needed all of this information but I had my computer and showed her the webpage (your own hotel page) with the reservation on it.

I showed her the confirmation number and she scolded me that the number was for me not for her and that she needed to call someone to figure it out. During this time the phones were ringing continually and the area just seemed disorderly. After patiently waiting for 5 minutes the manager finally walked up to see what was going on. He asked to help her and for some reason she declined. Thankfully he ignored her and started helping me.

He asked me that same questions and I told him that I was in a rush and if they could figure something out for the time being I would be grateful so that I didn’t spend a whole hour waiting to check-in. He checked me in but I was surprised with how little information he had.

I finally got a room with a refrigerator and microwave as my reservation stated but it was warm and unplugged. I called the desk to ask if there was a pool, the manager said there was and that it was open until 11pm daily. I walked down and the desk lady directed me to the pool which had a sign that said it was closed. I went back and asked her about the sign and she said “Well then its closed.” I was confused as to why the guy or the girl couldn’t have told me this information before I went all the way downstairs.

After returning from our performance later in the night the refrigerator was still not cold and the smoke detector was beeping every 30 seconds (I’m guessing its a dying battery)

After this hotel stay I feel that next time I will either pay more for a different 3 star hotel or pay less for the 2 star hotel and expect this kind of treatment.

++++++I did not get to add the cockroach that joined me in my bed in the morning+++++++
ahh the love of the game

Tour Blog #7 Wed 28th

2011-09-28T17:52:00.002-07:00

It was nice to wake up in a hotel and not have to leave right away. We didn’t have to be to the Colorado State University campus until 5 so we had the morning mostly to ourselves. The boys did their workouts, I jogged to the bank a half mile away and barely made it. Man this altitude is no joke, I felt like a marlboro man trying to scale Everest.

We managed some laundry, some internetting and watched a replay of old baseball meltdowns. The best part was the 80’s TV broadcasts complete with no on air visuals. Whats the score?
Ummm I think it’s 4-4.
Oh what inning is it?
The...the top of the 8th? 7th?
Is there anyone on base?
I think that it’s first and third.

It could go on like this for hours until NBC mercifully decided to throw up a score before a commercial brake. Also the 80’s skinny ass, pre-steroid baseball players were as funny looking as their consistent mustaches. Truly marvelous.

Around 3 we set off for KCSU about and hour away only to see that the highway was completely shut down. We tried to figure out what in the world was going on when somewhere in our music and beer-soaked minds we remembered that Obama was in town and they probably shut the road down for his motorcade. What an ass!

It was only shut down for 20 minutes but we were just stuck there sitting and wondering what we were going to do. We made to the campus with just enough time and set up to play a sterile acoustic set. Thats two day-time shows for this trip and they are tall mountains to climb. Its just so hard to get into the music early and sober. It may be sad but it is absolutely true.

We got back and went right to the Walnut which turned out to be way nice and since the band that was to open for us Sunday also backed out today we got extra free beer. Thats a silver lining.

West Water Outlaws from Boulder opened for us and they were terrific! Check them out if you can, they have a solid southern King’s of Leon sound but they don’t shove it down your throat. And they were all totally cool and professional cats.

During our set we planned a special event as our good friend Ray had bought a ring and was going to propose to his longtime girlfriend and longtime friend of the band Krista. We played half of our new song, appropriately named, Celebrate and when the breakdown happened we all stopped the song brought him up. He was nervous but he did an awesome job. She of course said yes and we launched into the rest of the song.

Awesome! Its time to leave the friends and family of Colorado until next time, soon soon we’ll be back. We’re now headed south to Manny’s neck of the woods in El Paso with a stop tonight to play at a hookah lounge in Albuquerque.

Tour Blog #6 Tue 27th

2011-09-28T17:52:00.001-07:00

It was time to leave Nor Co and time to set up shop in Denver. After leaving Dallas’ awesome ranch we drove down back to the residence inn in Denver and checked in for two days for the Larimer Lounge and the Walnut Room both located within four streets of each other!

Of course Mondays during the fall means Monday Night Football and we went off in search of some dinner, some beer and some American football. After checking in at the gig we wandered off toward the baseball stadium thinking that there would be some cool spots nearby.

We were right but we only found our final location with the help of a local named Ann who hooked us up with some local insight. She immediately pegged us as a band, citing Nick and his “look” especially.

The opening bands for our show were nothing to write home about but the Larimer has a video feed of the stage showing over the bar so we watched the bands from there while keeping up with Romo and Cowboys on MNF. Spoiler alert!! The Cowboys won, somehow.

By the end of the night there was a nice little crowd for us there and Heath put a flag in the night by performing the water logged dance scene from Dirty Dancing with TJ’s sister April. Check some of the tagged photos on Fbook for the play by play. Honestly riveting.

The saddest part of the night was that we hung out at the bar for too long and for some reason Denver, a major metropolitan city, closes all of their liquor stores at midnight. So after I turned the wrong way down a one way street and ran a red light we still had to go to the hotel dry as a Sunday during prohibition.

KCSU college radio the afternoon, then Walnut Room tonight!

Tour Blog #5 Mon 26th

2011-09-27T12:58:00.002-07:00

I woke up this morning in the van on a farm. At 6am it was freezing cold. I grabbed a few sweatshirts and went right back to sleep. At 9am it was burning hot. I could not believe how hot it was so I did what any other city boy would do on a farm in the country and I got up and went fishing. Thanks to Dallas for showing us how old school hospitality works.

Let me rewind. Old Chicago hosted our Sunday Football Day festivities and did so with great aplomb with one terrible and notable exception. The did not serve Sunshine wheat beer. This may not seem like such a bad situation to be in but Sunshine if brewed by New Belgium located in Fort Collins and is very hard to find in LA. Heath had been so excited to eat pizza, watch football and drink Sunshine that it was all he talked about for the whole night.

We walk into the place and sit down underneath a rotating sign for Fat Tire (also New Belgium) and Sunshine. We ask the waitress for two Sunshines. She answers, a gracious amount of sass, that they did not serve Sunshine. Records come to a scratch in the background and you almost see Heath’s brain brake.

Somehow we survived and had a good time. Mostly because the other guys got stuck a cookout with no TV’s and no beer and when they finally showed up their excitement to be there rubbed off on Heath and we had a blast. (Upon further inspection they also had a neon Sunshine sign on the other side of the Old Chicago. What The ‘uck!)

To continue the WTF theme our opening band for Hodi’s no-showed on us after failing to return any phone calls, texts or emails. I hate to be a hater and their band is not that big but Jay-Koh deserves a huge call out for being very disrespectful and discourteous and for wasting many people’s time and trouble.

We ended playing a double set which was reviewed by local music blogger Jester Jay. Here’s the link:
jesterjaymusic.blogspot.com

Tour Blog #4 Sun 25th

2011-09-27T12:58:00.001-07:00

After a long night Friday night at the Boot we were a little slow out of the gate for the afternoon show at the Spotlight Music Store. I was a sleepy music store in Fort Collins with a great sound system, great lighting and NO atmosphere at all. Manny had top play behind a plastic screen to protect us from his drums and to protect him from hurled fruits/vegetables.

It was an uphill battle but we did have some young and old family and friends see us preform who otherwise would not have had a chance to. I don’t know if we’ll play there again but it was a cool experience regardless.

TJ’s dad got us hooked up at the Residence Inn in Denver for after our Bushwackers show in Denver and we drove down and checked in. The club was a total dive and could not have been further from the Spotlight in atmosphere. You could taste the stagnant old smoke air. Your feet would squeak and stick to parts of the floor. Perfect.

Rob from Bushwackers totally hooked us up at the last minute for the gig and a bunch of people made it out and compared to the sterilized show earlier we let loose and had a blast and a great show.

Side note both of these places had sound triggered lighting systems. This means whenever Manny hits a snare the lights change. Everytime TJ talks between songs, the lights change. It becomes very mesmerizing and the power becomes intoxicating.

Speaking of intoxicating we’re on our way to Old Chicago in Greeley to watch the Broncos, Ravens, Bucs, Chargers and Raiders. Go Football and see ya tonight at Hodi’s.

Tour Blog #3 Sat 24

2011-09-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Wowweee what a night! Its been over three years since we've been back to Northern Colorado and we weren't sure if we still had a fan base out here but evidently they still love us. So thanks to everyone who came out to the Boot last night and made it incredible. We played almost 4 hours of music with the following highlights:

We had to turn down $120 in tips because we are not a cover band and can't play random country songs

We feel bad for the Championship Bull Riders who had an event at the Boot last night and are probably not in peak form to compete today

We covered the humpty dance and somehow didn't get any tips from it

We will surely be back to the Boot when we come out again.

Our next gig is today at a music store called Spotlight Music Cafe, not sure of what to expect. And then after that we are driving down to Denver to play at Bushwackers Saloon and then hang out in the city for the night because TJ's dad hooked us up with a sweet hotel downtown.

Tour Blog #2 Fri 23

2011-09-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

So TJ decided that the van needed a stereo since we were all listening to our individual iPods and he wanted us to all listen to John Denver on the way in. We found this totally shady/awesome car audio place in Vegas and while they installed the stereo we wandered around and had to decide between eating at Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Monogolian Bar-B-Q and Subway. Which one would you choose?

We chose Subway.

We got the car complete with stereo but Heath got swindled and bought a $15 adapter for the iPod so we went to Terrible’s casino to try and win it all back. Flash forward twenty minutes later Heath is up $20. While on his winning streak he chanced into a oddly dressed man who identified himself first and foremost as ‘not queer’ and then as Craig Busch.
Heres a link to their photo op

We sent Mr. Busch on his way but Heath continued winning. Placing bets on roulette and hitting, yes hitting exactly Black 11. So all told he was up $60, nice! TJ and I were not faring so well and after we lost our $20 at the Sex and the City slot machine we got some beers and pondered a last chance penny slot machine. About 60 million milliseconds we were back up to even.

The Boot gig is today and we loaded in and sound checked. The only problem is that there is no sound guy, aka Nick will be doubling as sound guy. Hey if we’re too loud you’re too old.

So after 24 hours on the road we can finally go back to our friend, and former Major League baseball player, Shawn Chacon’s house. Mad love to him for putting us up for the night/weekend/early week.

We are psyched to see our old friends, family and fans tonight, its gonna be nutzo!

Tour Blog #1 Thr 22

2011-09-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

So without further ado we are off and driving to Vegas and then through to Fort Collins for Friday’s gig at the Boot. We are all bummed that the Beauty Bar show did not work out but we’re excited to be on the road for the first time in three and a half years!

This is the first trip we’re taking with TJ’s van so pray for us that we don’t break down in Utah at 3am! Don’t worry Mom, we got it serviced with new tires and a clean bill of health.

It’s about 4 hours to Vegas and then another 12 to Fort Collins and we plan on driving through the noche for the most part and should arrive at the Boot sometime in the afternoon. I am most excited for the drive through the Loveland Pass were Vail and all the ski resorts are. Last time we went it was Memorial Day weekend and I drove through a snow storm! I’ll be shotgunning it on the part so I’ll post some pictures later.

Tomorrow’s show at the Boot is going to nutzo! The owner Mike has been absolutely cool and is taking a chance on us since we may scare all of the cowboys away for the night. He said that the professional bull riders of the CBR are making an appearance from 4-7 and then we play at 8 so good luck to us.

Either way there are going to be a good number of family and friends there and even a fan from L.A. who drove all the way out just to see us. (Kind of, her mom lives in FoCo and Heath’s wife is driving with her)

Thats all for now, get ready Fort Collins, Denver, Albuquerque, El Paso and Phoenix because Me and Heath is coming through and we only have room for one prisoner and I don’t think you’re gonna make the cut.

Current Soundtrack: Monster by R.E.M.

Last Weekend/This Weekend

2011-08-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Lots of exciting stuff happening on the Me and Heath front these days. Also Lollapalooza was this past weekend and again they were streaming it live on YouTube which equals awesome.

First the festival, which used to be a grunge-fest tour back in the day but now it’s morphed into a three day alternative rock festival in Chicago. Which I must say is a great format for this show and last summer’s failed Lilith Fair reboot should take note.

It featured the usual array of 2011 festival bands: Two Door Cinema Club, Foster the People, Cage the Elephant, Fitz & the Tantrums. Pretty much all the bands that I love or hate this year which I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about. Coldplay and Foo Fighters were the featured headliners.

Even though Me and Heath’s destiny is to play these festivals at 4 in the sweltering afternoon all the bands did a great job dealing with the usual heat. Even Two Door, who hail from cold Northern Ireland, have adjusted nicely this summer to the American summer heat.

Once the sun goes down though, man oh man, the stages came to life. The festival was held at Grant Park in downtown Chicago and with the dark sky and the lit up skyscrapers bordering the lush park it looked spectacular. Coldplay closed out Friday night and with their laser show and arena sound it really felt like a perfect match of sound and nature.

Foo Fighters closed out Sunday and as usual they played the crap out of their set. They just know how to put on a show and toy with their songs and the audience and know just when to throw in a crazy cover. They have no musical ego and thats contagious.

Right now Me and Heath is knee deep in our partnership with Everything Independent, a Brooklyn based management team, that is helping us finish booking our southwest tour with some college radio appearances, getting us some great connections for festivals and just all around helping us get our act together.

We’ll have a video coming out soon for 3x a Charm, it was shot at our show at King King in Hollywood and features us screwing around as well. Thoroughly riveting stuff I know. We have shows coming up all over SoCal and hopefully centralCal (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo) so Cali kids get ready to show your m&h support. In the meantime here’s a video from King King of Rock Tonight:

We’ve got our first San Diego show this weekend, which we are all psyched about and Outside Lands Festival is happening this weekend up in San Francisco (I guess we went the wrong direction on the highway), and guess what? It’s streaming live on YouTube. You know what I’ll be doing this weekend.

Two Shows, 21 Total Miles

2011-07-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

I got to attend two shows in the past couple of weeks that really energized and excited me for my future music endeavors. A few weeks ago I went all the way down (20 miles!) to Long Beach to DiPiazzo’s to see east coast old school friends Ballyhoo and this past weekend I went all the way down (two blocks from my house) to the Music Box to see Fitz & the Tantrums.

Ballyhoo was one of the punk rock bands that I played with extensively back in the olden days and somehow they’ve managed to persevere and have created a successful band, touring all over the US and opening for some big big bands, 311, Dirty Heads, Sublime. In case you can’t tell by that roster of bands, they are a ska/reggae/punk band.

As soon as I walked in to the club I ran right into Howie, the lead singer, who I haven’t seen in about 10 years. Immediately it was like we were old friends and whether he was really THAT happy to see me didn’t matter as much as he was genuinely happy to talk and joke and smile with just about any of the 100 people at the club. Even after the show he tried to talk to a Japanese exchange student much to the linguistic discomfort of everyone else around, he didn’t care how hard it was to communicate he wanted that fan to know that he cared about her story.

Their sound hasn’t evolved too much over the years, not that it had to, but they have all become a very tight and very professional sounding band. Donald is the drummer and Howie’s brother and they’re musical proximity is evident. The set was brisk and the songs were catchy, like Cali Girl about a girl moving from Maryland to California to follow a dream....hey thats almost about me.

They have a new album out in September on LAW records but find them on Rhapsody or Myspace and stream yourself into summer time bliss. For being a band from a crap town in Maryland they have captured the sun soaked vibe of a band Long Beach born and bred. The crowd was great and really into it and the dude in front of me was ecstatic that they were playing, he loved every single song and was livid that they ran out of time for an encore.

This past Friday I walked down the street to the Music Box and cashed in my ticket to see Fitz & the Tantrums and man it was worth every penny. They were one of the first bands I reviewed here and live in concert they were amazing. I walked up just as they were starting and still got the perfect space to stand and watch.

The best part about seeing young bands with one album is that you know every single song they play, so I got to sing along the entire time. Fitz was wearing his signature salmon colored suit and didn’t stop moving around the whole time. Noelle Scaggs the co-singer was just as non-stop and man was she hot.

They’re an LA band and haven’t been back in a year so you knew they were gonna bring it. It happened to be Fitz’s birthday so they brought out a cake for him and sang, awesome. The sax player brought his sister up to play flute with him on Pickin’ Up the Pieces, awesome. AND for the first time ever they brought out a string quartet for a few of their songs and you could tell that the whole band could not believe how good it sounded, awe-some!

I’ve had a few friends check them out because of my recommendations and I cannot recommend them enough. Check. Them. Out.

I ended up standing next to some execs from Universal and of course I had to try and give them my band’s info. You could tell that they were not happy to be bugged but did I really have a choice? Nope.

Random Bandoms 2

2011-07-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

It’s been very busy/exciting in the Jason Adjacent/Me and Heath camp this past few weeks with 3x a Charm coming out, a bunch of shows and well crap man its summertime give a dude a break yeah? So here’s a bullet list of thoughts, news, notes etc that you need to read and find out if you need to know:

3x a Charm is live in all formats now! We have actual CD’s too, you know those round things that look like silver records. So go to iTunes, Amazon, Myspace, Rhapsody or our homepage to pick it up. No excuses.

Tour info is coming up in a few weeks we are working hard at getting out to Vegas, Colorado, New Mexico, West Texas and Arizona in late September. And if you’re living in any of those areas hook us up with some contacts for gigs, radio stations to bug, pancake houses to haunt and local beer/liquor laws and prices (I’m looking at you Colorado and your 3/2 beer).

I want to buy the new Bon Iver album but they’re such a winter band (their name literally means Good Winter in French) and I just can’t pull the trigger when its 85 out. Maybe I’ll download it during a heat wave when I’m over it and want to cool off acoustically.

Check my friend Tucker’s YayLife Tribe. This guy is one of the nicest dudes in all of Southern California. He’s a music junky and gets to go to all of the music festivals in person this year to promote his Spirit Hoods and sunny outlook on life while I get to sit and watch them from the air-conditioned internet.

Going to see Fitz & the Tantrums in two weeks at the Music Box. Good stuff, review will follow.

We have shows in San Diego, Anaheim and Claremont in the works so Non-LA Californians we love you too

Check out our Australian friends band Sunset Riot, they’re on tour here for the summer and may play with us a Kibitz in September. We played with them in Burbank last week and they were tons of fun, especially if you like your rock motley and your roll buttered with guns and roses.

Me & Heath’s tunes will be featured in a movie short filmed by our friend Chris Greene. It’s called “Death to Snooki” and I play a role in it: Hungover Guy #1...nailed it! Very funny/very good stuff.

Hold Me Back, 3X A CHARM

2011-06-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

And finally track number five, the last of the me and heath-ens: Hold Me Back. This song reminds me a lot of Soda Song which reminds me a lot of old TJ doing his great solo stuff. It was just thrown in at the last second by TJ and it almost ended up just him and acoustic guitar. Again this was a song that we had never played at rehearsal or live before so when I got the track it was really a blank slate.

After spending a few days with it I took it up to Nick's to record some guitar parts. I pretty much threw everything against the wall and tried to see what would stick. It was then that Nick took it the rest of the way home. I called him the next day to see what he thought or what his feelings on the track were and he told me that he spent all night and wrote and recorded the parts for it, taking some of what I did and some new ideas from him and combining them into one.

TJ still didn't have a third verse but by the time he heard the full instrumentation of the song he wrote it right on the spot. Again another great third verse from a man I like to refer to as TJ Hook, because he laces all of his melodies with little hooks that catch your ear and make it happy.

We've still yet to play it live but Nick did a fantastic job accompanying TJ's simple DMB-esque balled and we're excited to play it in the upcoming weeks. So last but certainly not least here it is:

Hold me Back by MeAndHeath

time can so move fast
and time can move so slow
when dealing with our past
and these ever winding roads
cause all of our dreams come back to haunt
its a ever growing timeless bond
but you know what it takes to hold me back

many different people talk to me
about all these different things that I should be
but no one ever asks what I believe
and they don't even want me to conceive
its feeling its sowing in sand
can not be far falling to land

Chorus:
but you know what it takes to hold me back
and I've been doing this with a smile
so tone it down
and i just don't think i can break
so hold me tight
and i just need some dirt on you
your time is up

even when I know my friend
its been a dialing game
you could always help me out
and you would always bail me out
he just told me why
he just needs to try and cry on my shoulder
and that s when I know that
he is so loyal

Chorus

I know its going to be okay 2x
I know its gonna to take some time
I know I'm gonna to feel just fine

Chorus

Sunglasses, 3X A CHARM

2011-06-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

One more day kids, I know you're as excited as we are! We have a super busy week so please check us out Tuesday at Busby's on Wilshire, Friday at Rusty's in Santa Monica OR Saturday at Park Bar in Burbank. We'll at least have burned CD's for you while we wait to get real ones in hand in a few weeks. But who needs real CD's tomorrow we'll be live on itunes so just go that route!

Today's track is Sunglasses, these days a word that I've had to spell more than ever. The more I spell it the more awkward it looks, it looks like Sung lasses to me, or it looks like it should be two words or hyphenated or something. Anyways it was the first track that I got to work on, thus it has a special place in my 3X A CHARM heart.

This was the first time that we didn't rehearse the songs thoroughly and play them out at shows before recording and when I got the track uploaded to my computer I was a blank slate as far as guitar parts. Again there is a Heath verse thrown in the middle and I love the way his distorted vocals, my machine gun guitar riff and TJ's rhythmic drone combine to make it a unique event.

Speaking of unique events the off-tempo break down in the middle of the song was a lot of fun to train wreck at rehearsals and shows. It's one of those TJ curve balls that he throws us with his songwriting once in a while to see if we can swing. The recorded version revisits that breakdown for the outro but we decided to rock out at the end of the song so when you see us live you get a bit of a smack in the face. Sun-glasses or Sun Glasses:

Sunglasses by MeAndHeath

I've always looked at your eyes
sunglasses could not hide my lies
but dangerous people find themselves in disguise
I've told myself don't go
you don't need them so don't you know
that everyone's out to just get what they want

I have taken a fall

I've never started the party without you
cause you and I do what we do
no one can come close
to ever what we have done

I have taken a fall
in time the best of it

i just never know which way did it go
losing focus by day
now my minds erased
people pull me
people pull me either way
and i just need some solid ground

Heath's verse appearing soon!

I have taken a fall
in time the best of it

oh I just never know
which they go now
people blocking my way
just think their hot shit
I've been known yes
I've been known to find a way
but I'm still searching solid ground

oh i just never know
which way do i go
people know it
people know they think they know it
but I've told not to go on and try new thing
and i just need to live my life

Wise Crack, 3X A CHARM

2011-06-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hope yall are enjoying the tunes so far; we're halfway there! Today's extra special jam is Wise Crack. It's our latest tough-guy song in which we try to parade around sounding tougher then we really are. It started actually as a freestyle jam at Kibitz Room, who would have guessed!

Nick would slam the bass line late in the set when we were especially lubricated and Manny would step right in and backbeat the hell out of it. TJ would start free-styling and Heath and I would fumble around trying to figure out what was going on. As the recording progressed we tightened up the track and finally figured out what the guitars should be doing.

The title Wise Crack came from TJ and Nick talking about being a smart-ass onstage and having to explain yourself to your loved ones after you divulged all of your secrets to the random public during one 45 minute set. It was also the title of their side project after the name Porno Party didn't stick.

My favorite part is just after my sick guitar solo. The bottom falls out of the whole song and TJ falsetto's a classic hooky melody for the last verse. Man! Feel free to sing along with us at the shows as this will be our new closer for the near future.

Wise Crack by MeAndHeath

remember that time
when we were in line
standing talking waiting for the show
but then you denied
what you had implied
about that girl who just passed us by

jump back watch me
don't be no wise crack
move back move out
or get your thoughts smacked

remember last fall
when you wouldn't call
just because you saw me with your friend
but then you will see
its you and not me
words can only hurt us in the end

jump back watch me
don't be no wise crack
move back move out
or get your thoughts smacked

Chorus:
words they come and they go
all this was just a show
its time for you to feel
its time for you to get real
thats the way your brains turns
the things you say yes they burn
just got to let it go
just need to let it go

now you're on your knees
beggin' baby please
I was wrong to say what i did
I was wrong to act the way i did
wont you please forgive me
I am truly very sorry
I promise i wont do this again
can we please still be friends

jump back watch me
don't be no wise crack
move back move out
or get your thoughts smacked

Chorus

Rock Tonight, 3X A CHARM

2011-06-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hope ya'll enjoyed the title track from 3X A CHARM, next is track number two Rock Tonight. There's just something about having the word "rock" in the title of a song and ever since we stopped playing Rock Town we've been searching for another way to yell that demonstrative word into a microphone. This song is kind of a throw back to the older Me and Heath style when we were more hip-hop oriented, so if you're an oldie this is a goody for you.

Heath aka Mr Cash'in lays down a verse here at the end trying in baseball, Coors beer and a shout out to our old school fans. Classic Cash'in at his best. Nick stepped up to the guitar and toughed up the chorus with his trademark chunk last seen on CALI4YA's Dangerous.

TJ loves the opening repeated riff and keeps singing a song by Another Bad Creation whenever I start playing it at shows. He played me the ABC song and they're not that similar but who knows how TJ's mind works sometimes. Stay tuned tomorrow for song number three but until then without further ado here is Rock Tonight:

Rock Tonight by MeAndHeath

its been known for some time
those who are great do unwind
but you cant reap what you sow
you going to go down with what you know
and the lights dim down first
from playing
and we always laugh at drugs
and trading them
selves from this point low
newspapers going to go hold

Chorus:
we're gonna rock tonight
get it on down
were gonna fight tonight
feelin' all right
we're going to rock tonight
poodle skirts and high fives

there are notes from where I've know
and all this deja vu walks defy my alone
and parties and your glass light bulbs
equals ten fold blind

Chorus

step back bang your head on the track
its me and heath music till we'll fade to black
straight jack and the coors on the tap
we got our game faces on
now we're ready to attack
and theres no going back
we past the point of no return
when we step to bat
and we swing with swag
you can call me out
but I was safe on the bag
cause you was late with the tag
we'll let our game do the talking
cause theres no need to brag
just keep your eye on the prize
steady as we go we continue to rise
ain't hit the top of the charts yet
but we've always been number one hearts yes
if you been with us from the start
we're going to rock to-night

Chorus

3x a Charm, 3X A CHARM

2011-06-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

So here it is finally! The new Me and Heath record, 3X A CHARM. It'll be on the virtual shelves on Tuesday. We'll preview a track a day right here until then and what better place to start than the title track.

This song is actually quite old. I remember playing along to an old demo of this song two living situations ago, that's at least 3 years! It almost made the repertoire with our old bassist and drummer but it just didn't have the legs that it needed to survive so we shelved it for a while.

When we were picking songs to record for this album I really pushed for this one to make the cut and thankfully it did. At first it was way longer, almost six minutes, but in the interest of our click a minute society we pared it down to around four minutes and we are all very satisfied with the way it turned out.

During the recording process we really gave the song a path to follow and as we got deeper into recording the individual tracks it became clear that we had uncovered dynamics that hadn't existed before. It's one of my favorites right now and we hope you enjoy it at least 3/4's as much as we do:

3x a Charm by MeAndHeath
Lyrics:

when we just walk together
my minds runs wild cause it can
when we just talk to one another
you make me feel like im the man
3x was our encounter and
3x makes its a charm
you're so much different than everyone else
i finally woke up to your alarm

but if you deny my love you know I'll

Chorus:
help you help me
find a way
promises don't count anymore
cause you are here with me
when you're ready to say "I do"
well I'm happy to say I am ready to start a family

when i look into your eyes
the thoughts stop here because we're past the lies
but if we always feel fine
with road blocks ahead is divine
we'll drive into the moon and we'll
tie your wrist with the balloon
we'll float so far away
we'll have to say goodbye

but if you deny my love you know I'll

Chorus

and camillions stay
best friend we will play
and the lemons will turn
so much from you i will learn

this is where the story ends
but also where our journey begins
we'll walk hand in hand side by side
and we'll never ever let anything divide
no matter what anyone else thinks we'll
never ever let it slow us down
so lets go and be who we want to be
and live our lives care free

but if you deny my love you know I'll

Chorus

Shortalls and a Hipster Cowboy

2011-06-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

I've been telling ya'll about MONA for a few weeks now and even though I've failed to download the album I did get a bonus chance to see them at the Echo Tuesday night. The Echo, if you don't know, is a small room in Echo Park that holds about a hundred people, not the place that I would imagine getting to see a band with such a large international fan-base and regular radio play. But whatever, thats your loss and lucky me.

The show was nowhere near sold out and as if the $10 tickets weren't easy enough to buy online you could have actually walked up to the door, handed a Hamilton and gotten right up front and seen the band that is peers with Kings of Leon everywhere but America. As a matter of fact they're right off to England where they are supporting KOL on a few dates that are sure to be huge.

I was standing out front waiting for my friend to show when I saw what looked like a hipster cowboy, not all that crazy to see in Echo Park. He looked like he was waiting for his friend and I made a joke that we could just stand out here because you could hear the bands better outside than inside. He did not find it funny. As it turns out he was the guitarist. Whoops!

Once we were all inside we got to watch Ida Maria open and oh my lord! They were billed as a surprise guest and were they a surprise. Their first song inlcuded the shout chorus "I like you better when you're naked" sung/yelled to us by a Norwegian hispter girl wearing short-alls (those are shorts/overalls for those not into late 80's rural fashion). Regardless of fashion they were entertaining and not bad I would just never see them on purpose.

Right at 10 MONA and my guitarist friend took the stage. His playing was right on and his warbley shimmery guitar cut perfectly into and through the sound of the band's rock-a-billy greaser rock. The singer didn't have a ton of stage presence and even when he wasn't playing guitar he looked unsure of himself. If he was though it did not translate through to his singing which was great, reminds me of Eddie and the Cruisers!

He later apologized for being groggy and in a Benadryl fog which I can forgive him for as I've been unable to perform a bowel movement much less a full musical performance while drugged up on that stuff. Needless to say the show was worth the $10 and since you can't download the CD in the US yet I almost bought an actual CD from their merch table. I already spent all my cash at the door so that derailed that plan.

Their single Listen to Your Love wasn't even my favorite song. What was my favorite song you ask? Well I since I can't download the CD I don't know what it was called but it rocked, so I guess you'll just have to wait.

3 things a charm

2011-06-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

Lots of stuff going on in the Jason Adjacent world this week. We have the new Death Cab finally out, and number one on the billboard charts. We had Bonnaroo streaming online all last weekend. And we’ve got the new Me and Heath album 3X A CHARM due out in one week. Man I think thats enough happenings for seven day period.

Alright we’ll go in reverse order: Me and Heath’s new album is finished, done, finito and it is very exciting for all of us except Manny who recorded the drums for these songs about nine months ago and has been waiting patiently for us to catch up.

It’s a five song EP, which means Extended Play, which means that it’s “a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album.” If you’ve been to our shows recently you’ve no doubt heard the new songs as we’ve been playing them at every chance. All except for the last song Hold Me Back which we have never played even at rehearsal so that one will be new for all of us!

It will be out on iTunes, Amazon and Myspace in the coming weeks and we will have hard copies (yes actual compact discs) at shows in a few weeks as well. Starting Friday we are going to preview one song a day right here. We’ll also include a little “story tellers” information and lyrics and all that fun stuff. Very exciting, so stay tuned.

Next on the agenda is the Bonnaroo festival that was broadcast on Vevo, the youTube brother, all weekend long. The lineup was very similar to Coachella’s but unfortunately most of the sets were not broadcast live like Coachella’s was and there was only one channel to choose from where Coachella had three. I still somehow managed to enjoy the sets that I did see.

Primus, according to my sister, is a Bonnaroo stalwart who plays every year. Obviously, singer and bassist and main Primus-ian, Les Claypool is a bass-virtuoso but watching how easy he makes it look is very impressive. It seems like he’s barely playing but his bass lines come out so powerful and innovative. His three piece band was top notch in a trippy kind of way, perfect for a festival in rural Tennessee. Got acid?

New York’s Ratatat is an electronic instrumental duo that I accidentally watched perform at Coachella and somehow managed to accidentally watch at Bonnaroo even though I’ve never heard of them before, during or after. They have one song that has a leopard growl mixed into it that I really like, but only if its late at night and I’m on drugs. Check it out it’s called Wildcat.

Mumford of course killed it. My friend just saw them in Baltimore and she said she was moved to tears and she felt like a teeny bopper screaming Beatles fan. That’s not the first time I’ve heard that nor the last I suspect. At the end of their set they brought about a million other musicians on stage and did a thoroughly moving rendition of Amazing Grace. Thoroughly Moving.

Neon Trees did great again highlighted by Tyler taking his pants off and finishing the set in his American flag boxers. The best part of that is that he was wearing knee braces that he also had to take off AND one the roadies had to help him get the pants past his very large feet. Maybe that’s why he’s always barefoot.

I saw Bootsy Collins spread the crowd like the Red Sea and spend about ten minutes of one song just jumping around amidst the masses. You could only see his star topped hat hopping about the sea of arms and heads.

All in all I was not as excited as I was for Coachella but I did miss some of the bands that I wanted to see due to the weird broadcast schedule, I’m looking at you Cold War Kids an I’m sorry I missed you.

Finally Death Cad for Cutie just released their album Codes and Keys AND played a small club show at the El Rey. First the album is great and even though it’s going to be over played (ie. number one on the billboard and its first single You are a Tourist had been number one on the Alt18 weekly countdown on AltNation for like nine weeks) you still need to check it out.

Not only did they release their album this week but their El Rey show was taped and broadcast live on Xm’s Spectrum. The set sounded awesome but I’m sure it was even better live and viewed from backstage like TJ and Heath did. Jerks! Here’s the story:

Ben Gibbard is a big baseball fan and whenever he has free time in LA he goes to TJ’s Baseball Central to work on his game. TJ, of course, offers to teach him and thus the backstage connection. Random but totally LA. Let’s hope he gets our new album and likes it as much as we do. I’ll see you Friday, until then here’s You’re a Tourist:

Neon Weenies

2011-06-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to watch some of the KROQ Weenie Roast webcast but all the acts that I wanted to see were early and on the side stage. Young the Giant, Foster the People, Airborne Toxic Event and Neon Trees all before 5pm. Thats one hell of a side stage. The main stage featured Linkin Park and the Strokes, both of which are great live, but they didn’t really interest me.

My internet, however, didn’t want me to watch any of it. I had to watch the sponsor’s advertisement about ten times because refreshing my browser kept refreshing the ad for the new dinosaur tv show, which does look good! So after watching one last song by Airborne Toxic Event I was all set for Neon Trees. But before I get into their set I want to give you a little background.

Neon Trees’ super slick first single Animal was my first favorite song when I got XM last year. I couldn’t get enough it. Around that time my band, Me & Heath, was asked to play a showcase for some industry types. At that showcase I had the pleasure to meet Loren Israel.

You don’t know who Loren Israel is but in his younger years he played with Bad Religion, Social Distortion and Soul Asylum. In his later years while working for Capitol Records he had a hand in discovering Jimmy Eat World, Plain White Tees and Neon Trees to name a few.

The man. Check out his band boot camp.
We talked about my band and music in general and the topic got around to this new band that he was really excited for, Neon Trees. Most people did not know who they were at that time and I was probably one of the few people who were as excited about them as he was. He gave their demo CD as well as their full length Habits.

After that I never saw Loren again but I kept hearing about Neon Trees and watched as they ascended. They were slated to play the Sunset Strip Music Festival last fall and were going to have an autograph session afterward, I was psyched! I missed both. Because of a girl. Lame.

I saw they were playing Coachella and was excited to watch them online. Fail. Their set wasn’t broadcast so I missed them again. But finally after a year of futility the stars aligned, my internet included, and I got to watch them live at the Weenie Roast and they certainly delivered.

Anyone else thirsty?
Tyler Glenn, the lead singer, has great stage persona and while he is a rock star he has fun with it and never takes himself too seriously. He accidentally spit on someone in the crowd and kneeled down and apologized saying “I’m so sorry, I was beat up as a kid and I have a lot of repressed emotions.” And even though it was sunny and hot he kicked off his shoes and sang most of the set barefoot. “I’m burning my feet right now but I don’t care” he lamented soon after.

He lead the crowd in singalongs. He thanked his mom for “spreading her legs and delivering me.” He pushed and pulled the crowd with great success all while sporting a mohawk. Loren once described him to me: “He’s the male Lady Gaga.” After watching I see it.

The MVP though was their drummer Elaine Bradley. I couldn’t believe how good she was. Playing complex but perfect rhythms while nailing back-up vocals and at times, when Tyler got distracted, the main vocals. Seamlessly, flawlessly, while wearing a red dress. She has got to be one of the top female drummers right now and one of the top secret weapons in all of music.

Their set was short and sweet and I knew almost all of the songs they played. It was top to bottom enjoyable. They didn’t even end with any of their hits. Animal was planted right in the middle of the set and their current single Your Surrender was their opener. I hope that I get to see them for reals some time soon.

They had an after-party right down the street from my house at a club where they’d be guest DJ’s. It was $20 to get in and by the time I got back from my Me & Heath gig I was spent so I sucked a beer and went to bed. I guess that counts as missing them again.

Check out their site it’s fun, FameIsDead.com

Foster Torches Amoeba

2011-05-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

So the new Death Cab is finally out and I got to listen to a preview of some of the songs this weekend on AltNation but it will still be a week on three before I can really digest it. The combination of dense lyrics and sound take a while to unravel, and I guess thats one of the things I love the best about them. To some they can be too wordy or try to hard to be deep (ie hipster) but I have so many connections to so many of their songs that its too late for me, I’m hooked.

On the opposite end of that spectrum are LA's Foster the People, billed as a 3-piece band when in reality they are a 5-piece ensemble of talented, and ADD, multi-instrumentalists. Their debut album Torches came out last Tuesday and lucky me they had a free in-store performance at Amoeba records on Sunset right down the street from me. I was going to the show with my AltNation buddy Jenny who had excitedly texted me earlier that day “I Love This Album!”. Seems to capture her emotions fairly accurately.

A co-worker downloaded the album the night before and she excitedly said the following: “I know I’ve only had a one night make-out session with the new Foster album but I smell summer romance!” Nice one, Nicey.

I have never been to an in-store show at Amoeba and most of the time they have bands that either no one has ever heard of and/or just suck. It’s a hipster heaven and a high school haven which pretty much sums up the capacity crowd that lined up down the block. There were so many people I was worried that we weren’t going to get in but lo and behold Amoeba runs these events with such militant precision that they probably had a hand in the bin Laden attack.

note Tall-y on the bottom right

Jenny and I were in the Black Keys section had a pretty good angle of the stage and no one was standing behind us breathing down our necks. Of course the tallest guy in the place was a row in from of me in the Coldplay section. Dammit how do those guys always find me and stand in front of me.

The band was great and dancey and, just like their Coachella performance, exuded a boyish charm that made you feel like they were just your really talented friends who'd be chugging beers with you after the show. Like I said there were five of them but none of them ever played the same instrument for consecutive songs. Jenny thought it was cool “it shows their musical talent” but I’ve never been a big fan of instrument switching, it just comes off as disorganized. I could never figure out where the guitar player ran off too. Stage left? Stage right? Back to stage left? CENTER STAGE?!

I did not have the credentials to stand here but Nicole Pajer did

Either way the set was great and though by now you’ve probably heard Pumped up Kicks about a hundred times they chose to end their set with my favorite song Helena Beat. The rest of Torches follows suit with variations on dance rock. If you took Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Lady Gaga and then switched genders you’d get Foster the People and that my friend is trending right now.

Rome....Danger Danger Mouse and the week that wasn't

2011-05-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

Man oh man there is a ton of great new music coming out right now. I am just hoping that I can digest it all and give each one a fair listen before the next one comes out. Today Foster the People (who I am going to see in-store at Amoeba Records tonight) AND Lada Gaga have new albums out. I know LG is not everyone’s cup of tea, but there will be no other album with a greater social impact than hers this year. I hear it’s 22 tracks, crazy.

Then next week Death Cab’s album finally comes out and I am expecting it to be a level changer for them. They’ve always been at B/B- level as far a general popularity but I bet this album takes them up to an A. And let’s not forget that Me and Heath’s new album 3X a Charm will be done in about two weeks as well, and you can bet your asses that I will give an in-depth, un-biased review....yeah.

This past week I tried to download the new MONA album. As it is only available in London and I am only available in Los Angeles I failed, so I guess I will just have to wait another week or so. I have a good feeling about these Nashville, Kings of Leon clones as they have been baking in Europe for a few years now and I feel are ready to fill the gap that the latest KoL album didn’t.

I tried to talk myself into downloading Goblin the album by Tyler, the Creator but as much as I love the story and look of his LA native collective, Odd Future, I just can’t listen to hipster-hop. They play it on XMU, Sirius’ indie channel, which means they are underground darlings with a tough to digest sound and until they shift their style to a more user friendly format I’ll just wait and watch.

Danger Mouse has a new album out titled Rome, a collaboration with Italian film scorer Daniele Luppi featuring Jack White and Norah Jones. I like Danger Mouse. I liked the Grey Album, his famous Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up. I liked his work on the second Gorillaz album, Demon Days. I even went to see him and the Shins singer perform in concert with their project Broken Bells. And who doesn’t still like “Crazy” by Gnarles Barkley?!

Alright! Okay I guess three times a charm, I’m going to Rome! The single I’ve heard is called “Two Against One” which immediately sounds like the grand opening of any James Bond or spaghetti Western movie, retro cool and modern cool all at the same time. I have since been trying to figure out the meaning of the lyric “The mirror is a trigger and your mouth’s a gun”. I have since failed.

Danger’s right hand man on this project, Daniele Luppi, has done session work all over Hollywood most notably he scored “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Inside Deep Throat”. Most notably to me he did the arrangement for “Get Lifted” my favorite John Legend album.

The entire album is exactly what the single would make you believe it is: lush, lo-fi with great, varied instrumentation. Peppered throughout are short, minute long interludes and two minute instrumental songs that really make the album sound like I just bought the soundtrack for Ocean’s Fifteen, all in a good way of course.

Ro.me (their clever homepage using the nation of Montenegro’s country code) has an interactive video for “3 Dreams of Black”. You have to have google chrome to view it and it is kind of cool, you point the mouse to where you want to “go” and when you point at some objects they play with you. It’s not as good as Arcade Fire’s “We Used to Wait” interactive video that takes any address and uses google Earth to add neighborhood images, but its still worth the whirl.

Good stuff all around and I am looking forward to reading a book on the back porch this summer joined by this album’s atmosphere. I just wish I could suddenly jump up and be in a black suit with a very cool, very deadly looking pistol sipping dry martinis. Maybe someday, until then I’ll just have to listen:

Shuffle the Deck. Thats the Deal.

2011-05-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

I’m still waiting to see if I should buy the new Manchester Orchestra or Airborne Toxic Event and am still waiting another three freakin weeks until the new Death Cab album comes out. So in the mean time I’m in new music limbo which is fine since I’ve just had a technological death in the family. Sadly ladies and germs my first iPod, the 8MB Shuffle, has passed on from this Earth thanks in part (or in whole) to me washing it with my pants a few weeks ago. Here it lies in perpetuity ‘neathe the orange tree:

But not to worry I’ve had an iTouch for over a year; I just had not put any music on it. I know that sounds crazy but I just used it to get my Angry Birds fix. I did want to say a few words about Shuffle before the rust and rain sets into its simplistic parts. It was actually a surprise birthday gift from one of my old bosses from my Old Navy days.

When I first moved to LA (7 years now) I had no family or friends in the area. What I did have was Old Navy. I know that sounds crazy but being in an unfamiliar city knowing literally no one Old Navy was the only familiar thing in my life. I probably worked 50+ hours a week there, just to keep from sitting in my shared bedroom in my crappy apartment wondering what the hell I was thinking when I decided to move to LA.

Thats were I met my boss Stan who was a little older than me with a wife and a few kids and house in the valley. I was invited to his house for Thanksgivings, Christmases as well as Super Bowls. And his wife and mom and kids and friends took me in and treated me like family with no questions asked. It was exactly what I needed at that time in my life.

One day during a crazy day at work (also every day at ON was crazy) Stan and I to go to the electronic store to find an iPod for his daughter’s birthday. We walk around and he asks my opinion on which one would be good for her. We found a middle of the road one and Stan went up to buy it. As soon as he paid for it he handed it to me and said “Happy Birthday”. I was floored. What a great surprise.

In its following years I would never take a flight, a trip to the grocery store or a bike ride without the Shuffle. I loved that it was small and compact and had a small pocket impact. I will miss it! Now I get the color touch screen sleekness of the iTouch as well as the opportunity to see exactly what song I’m listening to since the Shuffle has no screen. But I will miss it nonetheless. A moment of silence please and then I will sigh no more.

Fleet Foxes/I'm Old

2011-05-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

First of all I washed my iPod last weekend which really impeded my music listening opportunities. I can NOT stand going to the grocery store without head phones, have you listened to other people lately? I don’t recommend it! While trying to fix the iPod I did manage to download and get a few listens of the new Fleet Foxes album. And even though I don’t usually listen to bands with animals in their name as they’re usually more boring/indie than creative/indie but the Foxes are the latter for sure

Right from the opening line of Fleet Foxes 2nd album “Hopelessness Blues” I was caught, not just the warbling atmospheric guitar and lilting melody but the lyrics caught me exactly where I am right now in life as I just turned the big 30 the same exact day the album was released. Hows that for serendipity?

“so now i am older
than my mother and father
when they had their daughter
now what does that say about me?”

What does that say about me? I guess that just means I made it past the deadly musician age of 27 (see Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison to name a few) and am comfortably cruising at an altitude of middle age where I find that ever since Mumford and Sons caught me last year I’ve been softening my ear to more folksy, Simon and Garfunkle’s Graduate sound tracks.

I read a few articles about Fleet Foxes and the issues they went through to make this album. Apparently its been a long time in the making and the lead singer is plagued with such self confidence issues that it almost never made it to us at all. Thankfully it did and thankfully its great. A co-worker correctly called it “honey to my ears” and she doesn’t even eat sugar. Also I read that they recorded some of the vocal tracks in a underground army sound tank for the extreme reverb echo it had, they said it was pitch black and scary as hell when they tracked it!

All the songs connect together to weave a surprisingly sunny feeling and I look forward to playing this album while cooking out on the back porch or reading to the sunset this summer. Lyrics like “if I had an orchard, I’d work till I’m sore and you would wait tables and soon run the store” and “apples in the Summer are golden sweet” compound the emotion of the music. Track 4 “Battery Kinzie” is one of my favorites its got a great Beach Boys rhythm and back ground harmonies. It’s like Pet Sounds for today.

I guess I should try to get any of my bands on Fleet Foxes label, SubPop records, who are also known for ummm Nirvana and the whole Seattle grunge thing as well as Postal Service, Iron and Wine and a new band I’m just getting on to The Head and the Heart. Man thats a great track record.

Here’s the YouTube stream of the title track:

The GuitArt of Self Denial

2011-04-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

I’ve got a busy music schedule coming up this week so please check some/all/none of it out if you’re free/available. Me and Heath has a classic “Battle of the Bands” on Thursday at Rusty’s Surf Ranch. We love playing there and are eager for the chance to battle, but really can’t we all just get along there is enough going wrong in the music industry for us to be battling. And then Saturday is the Real Deal playing at Kibitz Room, classic, with our good friend Wyt Kat on keyboards, should be good, won’t be bad, unless it rains. On to business.

Between band weekends when shows crowd out Friday and Saturday and keep me around town, I like to travel and get away from LA. Now don’t get me wrong I Love LA and every-time I’m gone I look forward to coming back to my city and my comforts. I look forward to sunset on the porch and a hookah, a book and a guitar, Big Wangs and a beer. These joys of LA are hard to take on the road sometimes. That means I have to leave some of these things at home, namely my guitar. Sometimes I just don’t have the space to bring it with me, like in an airplane or a train. Sometimes I just don’t want to be “guitar guy” lugging it all around creation as a way to draw attention. Either way a little self-denial never hurt anyone,

I know it sounds dumb but it really enhances how you view certain aspects of your life. That first beer of the weekend tastes so much better than beer number seven on Sunday afternoon. I’ve been on quite a few trips so far this year and have tried to leave my guitar behind for them to see how I would react (it sucks!). When I went to Colorado they fortunately had a upright piano at the house so I banged out Mumford and Counting Crows song all wintry weekend. In Oceanside I just hopped into a bottle of wine and called it a weekend. And in San Francisco it was similar, there was just no time or place for a guitar (maybe I’ll just bring the ukulele next time)

It was interesting though all the long weekend trips I’ve taken have followed the same arc of emotion. At first I didn’t miss having the guitar at all, usually Thursday or Friday night, it doesn’t even factor into the thought process. I’m just out having a good time, washing away another week of 530 AM alarms. the focus is usually on whoever I am with and whatever we’re doing. The adrenaline of a new time is a drug all its own. Usually its the next morning that always gets me.

Day two usually has some down time, especially in the morning or afternoon before things get cooking, before I’m meeting someone for dinner or a show or something. This is about the time that, just like any drug, I start to feel guitar withdraw. So I’ll try to find anything to read in the immediate area or find a sport on tv to take my mind off of the guitarlessness pressing itself in my heart.

Reading music magazines actually helps, Rolling Stone seems to quell a little of the anxiety but Ent Weekly is best as it gets me thinking about other media forms and whats happening on film/tv etc.

Day three hurts but not as bad, it’s like whenever I go to Baltimore to visit my family. I hate, HATE the first back in LA. That’s when I miss them the most but as the time fills the space between me and them it gets easier to deal with missing them. I guess its the same idea here. I start to forget what guitar and me where like together. Our daily interactions fade a little in the back of the brain and only a few “great time” memories really effect me. “Hey guitar remember that time that we played Star Spangled Banner at 6 Flags on 4th of July, good times.”

The rest of the days follow the same general pattern. I’ll start to look around wherever I am for a keyboard or a
Rockband set-up or even an old clarinet if available (never had one lesson!) By the time I am back home you would think that I would just jump back into guitar’s arms and hug and caress each fret but the opposite happens. Now that I am home and there are guitars abound and I know that I can get my fix on I'll nonchalantly say hello and maybe I’ll strum a little later, maybe not.

Sunday Coachella 2011 Adios via the Strokes

2011-04-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Ahh the last day, how sad. It seems like just two days ago I was talking about Cold War Kids' Friday sundown set. Huh? What? Oh that was two days ago. Anyway here’s the Sunday recap of who I YouTubed. I did not include Duran Duran who rocked from what I caught of their “Girls on Film/Pokerface” closing number!

I liked Foster the People’s first single “Pumped Up Kicks”, not as many as some people but it is a catchy little jam. I just have something against whistling parts in songs, don’t get me started on Peter, Bjorn and John “Young Folks” or "Tighten Up". I guess Foster put out a few singles and “Pumped Up Kicks” took off before they had recorded a complete album, so we’ve been waiting about a year for their full length debut. I hope its as good as they are live. Another single from their forthcoming album Torches is called “Helena Beat” and I like that more than “Kicks”. Good band with a good future, they said that last year they were playing at a nearby pizza shop during Coachella last year now they’re here and playing sunset on a Sunday. I’d say thats a good year but Mark Foster must have been asleep right before the show and forgot to do his hair, it look liked Dennis the Menace.
GRADE: B+ lots of electronica on their album but it translated well live

The National are from that Joy Division, Interpol vein and I don’t really dig that sound but I know that have a lot of buzz about them, they met Obama?! The singer, Matt Berninger, has just enough melody in his deep talky singing voice and his Leonard Cohen poetic words save them for me. Still not my favorite band but I can see the draw. They have lots of emotion and its almost nice to see a singer just sing instead of playing every instrument known to woman. Justin Vernon from the great Bon Iver joined them for “Terrible Love” which is a decent song in my book and sounded great live.
GRADE: B I’d give them an A if I liked their music more

The Strokes finally came on stage last night and though YouTube got reamed via Twitter for its black and white broadcast I felt that it fit the tenor of NYC’s finest perfectly. I always picture them waking up at dusk and drifting into the Manhattan night sometime around 1am and then going for breakfast at sunrise before crashing out all day, black and white. Julian Casablancas, the lead singer, was very funny cracking jokes about flying in on a diamond encrusted jet and refraining from dissing non-Californians based on the crowd response. The band was great and the new song "Under Cover of Darkness" meshed perfectly with old hits likes "Juice Box" and "Last Night". They also played "New York City Cops" one my favorite songs that was cut from their beloved debut album because of post-9/11 sensitivity. You could, however, tell that the band didn’t really like one another as there was minimal interaction between any of them during or between songs.
GRADE: A I only wish they liked each other more

I caught a few songs from Best Coast as I really like lead singer Beth Cosentino’s cat’s Twitter feed
Their single “Boyfriend” is typical breezy SoCal which is how I’ve been described as a human. Their live sound however stunk! I don’t like to talk smack but the drummer was crappy, not White Stripes crappy but damn close. There was no bass player, hey take a note from Black Keys more instruments=more grammies. And the other guitar player’s sound was identical to Beth’s guitar sound creating a buzzy wash of boringness. With that being said I will email them and ask if they want me to play bass with them.
D+ only if I get to play with them, otherwise D regular

I could not stay up for Kanye, man 10:30 Kanye? on a Sunday? I gotta be at work at 6?! and they did not stream Neon Trees (dammmit!) I guess thats what I get for not actually going. Maybe next year I’ll just take the Monday after off even when I only attend via my living room again. Adios Coachella thanks for making inter-LA traffic bearable for a weekend at least.

Saturday Coachella Mumford & F'in Sons, son!

2011-04-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Man it was hot in LA yesterday and I can’t imagine how those kids at Coachella survived. Probably drank a lot of nonalcoholic beverages to stay hydrated. Probably stayed in the shade passively cooling their bodies. Probably went to bed early to conserve energy. Probably not! I texted one of my friends who is there and told her to go check out 2 Door Cinema Club at 4:30 at the Mojave stage. Her response at 3PM PDT “Oh man, so drunk” I think she missed them. I told her she had to rally for Mumford & Sons and Arcade Fire later. I never heard from her again.

With the YouTube streaming and the LA heat I really felt like I was in the Coachella Valley yesterday, especially during the afternoon when it was very toasty in my apt. I did fall asleep (pass out) during Cage the Elephant’s 5pm set, but just for a few songs. I woke up sweating my knees off! Here’s my take on the Saturday bands I YouTube watched yesterday:

I was excited for 2 Door Cinema Club because I just got their album last week as all you loyal readers know. Their set started right as the midday heat climaxed and the Irish lads looked a little weatherworn from it. They did, however, have a real live drummer and they did rock! I really like when you catch up-and-comers because if you know their album then you pretty much know all the songs that they’re going to play. I think they sprinkled in a few new ones but they played all the tracks from Tourist History faithfully, if not sweatily, to a packed house. Oh and their lead singer gets made fun of because he looks like Ron Weasely from Harry Potter but the guitar player looks like Neville Longbottom, one of Ron’s nerdy/loserish Hogwarts classmates. What are the odds!
GRADE: A their live show is as dancey and fun as their record

Just after they finished I switched over to check out Cage the Elephant, who you may or may not know, I do not like. They started their set and all of a sudden Matt Shultz, the lead singer, shows up out of nowhere wearing black chucks and a red baby-doll dress, a la Kurt Cobain. He has long stringy brown hair too completing the Nearvana look. I did enjoy him though, jumping around on stage like a crazed fool (drugs?) and they did start off with “In One Ear” the only song I really like. At the end of the set Matt stage dove into the crowd and they smashed their guitars. Good energy but they just weren’t my cup of 90’s tea. I know they should be since I was a big grunge kid growing up, but I guess I’ve grown out of the Seattle sound.
GRADE: B Not bad, they could be what Nirvana could have evolved into, or maybe not.

I caught a few songs by Freelance Whales, I enjoy their song “Hannah” enough on AltNation to prompt me to check them out. They are what a nice indie/college band should look and sound like. All of them are great multi-instrumentalists but none of them are great looking. I just didn’t think that they fit in with the shirtless jock crowd but I bet their album is good background music for when you’re hanging around your house., like when you’re cleaning or doing homework or hosting a party, just nice sounds from nice kids.
GRADE: B- good, if forgettable

Mumford & Sons were awesome! I am really going to try and describe how great they were but will ultimately fail and force you to see for yourself. If I had started this blog a year ago Mumford would have been one of the early entries for great new bands. “Little Lion Man” was instantly a hit with me and the girls at work. One of my coworkers would stop what she was doing just to come in and dance whenever the song came on. Unfortunately I have never seen them live in person and more unfortunately I can only blame myself. But this summer when they come around I will pay the $50 and sit with a thousand people just to be there. They’re that good. Marcus Mumford, the lead singer, broke more strings during his set then I have seen in a long time, he was playing so hard and with so much emotion. He even got behind the drums to play a song and even that physical barrier could not temper the energy he exuded. I felt the raw emotions that inspired them to write each song and they played every song as if their careers depended on it, which is why I love bands when they’re young and hungry. I can only hope they keep it up. One amusing side note: three of the members were wearing flannel shirts, one was sleeveless (too cold), one was long sleeved (too warm) and one was short sleeved (just right), I guess they should have called each other up in the morning to figure out what they were going to wear to avoid the flannel fashion sample.
A++ If you play every song like its your last, your last song you’ll never play

Arcade Fire ended the night with a bang to say the least. I didn’t see the start of their set but I don’t think I missed anything based on the songs that ended their set. They are a full visual force, one because there are about a hundred people onstage playing all kinds of instruments at any given time, two their lights and visuals were off the charts and three Win Butler is 6’ 4” tower of indie rock darling goodness. They dropped about a million white beach balls on the crowd toward the end of their set and different sections were illuminated at different time, it looked rad! The only thing that worries me is that of the last six songs of their set four of them were from their first album, Funeral. This tells me that maybe they peaked with their first album and are just coasting from their. “We Used to Wait”, one of their new singles, was really good live. But “Wake Up” and “Neighborhood #1” are so powerful that its hard to believe that they can top that. Either way, great headliner.
A all you could ask for, great songs, great atmosphere

And it don’t stop! Sunday’s highlights are Kanye, Neon Trees, the Strokes, Foster the People, Best Coast....I have a gig until 5 so I’ll probably miss some but I will fly back home to catch the end of what has been a great Coachella weekend.

Friday Coachella 2011 thank YouTube

2011-04-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

There are settings where I love live music: small clubs, packed houses, up and coming acts playing their hearts and dreams out. There are setting where I ~~hate~~ don’t love music: pavillion impersonal monster gigs, bad major acts (see 3rd Eye Blind), and all day/weekend music festivals. This is only relevant because this weekend is the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (yes I could have just said Coachella, but then I wouldn't get any hits to the page...Coachella!) and when ever anyone asks me if I want go with them, I immediately laugh and say “Hell NO!” I hate the thought of all day sunstroke festivals. Over priced food and beer. Long lines for the reward of using boiled portapotties. No down time, no escape from the throngs of sweaty crowds. Tin Ears. 20 minute sets that feel like foreplay with no fiveplay. I know I sound like an old man, but I did go to Sunset Strip Music Festival last year and may, MAY, go this year.

Well I was stumbling around online Friday night and found that Coachella was being streamed all weekend on YouTube, just like the Pitchfork festival earlier this year. Sign. Me. Up! So instead of dealing with all that shit that I hate, I get to sit in my living room, drink a beer, smoke some hookah, play guitar and check out all these bands with front row volume controlled seating. Here’s my Friday review from the bands that I saw that were noteworthy:

I was never a big Flogging Molly fan but their set Friday was awesome! They played last and were thoroughly enjoyable and engaging. Dave King (great name), the lead singer, who was joking and carrying on between songs started off joking “We always seem to go on at last call so cheers to you” and downed his beer, I mean they are Irish and all right? I will absolutely see them next time they’re in LA (my little sister has been telling me to for years now!)
GRADE: A+ for no expectations and a throughly enjoyable set

I’m not a huge Black Keys fan and one of the reasons is that in an Rolling Stone article featuring them and Cee Lo Green (who performed before them Friday) they thought that “Fuck You” was a horrible song, mostly because they’re hipster/too-cool-for-school. Look I know its not Bach or Pavaratti, but the song is really catchy and if you can’t admit you really like “Toxic” or the B-A-N-A-N-A-S song then you’re just lying to yourself and have other issues. Oh, sorry for rantville. The Keys sounded great when they had a full band, which was most of the set, so I think that they need to stop calling themselves a duo. I can admit that I like/hate “Tighten Up”
GRADE: B- for being a fake duo

King of Leon were adequate and faithful to their album’s recorded sound but I want to make a quick Foo Fighters comparison. I once went a Foo Fighters show just to see Travis Barker and Tim Armstrong’s (Blink and Rancid) side project The Transplants open up. They were good, Travis was amazing but Foo unexpectedly blew me away. The played each of their songs with depth and creativity, jamming some, extending parts in others and not in 20 minute Grateful Dead Jammy ways. They were top musicians in a top band performing for a grateful audience. That’s what KOL was missing. It feel like they were playing to “not lose” instead of playing to win, if that makes sense. If I ever want to see them live I’ll just blare “Use Somebody” on my little computer speakers and jump around my living room in my underwear (roommate be dammed!)
GRADE: B for playing their hits back to back and “not losing”

While I was making dinner and enjoying the Cali sunset Cold War Kids started their set 139 miles away. First of all they could not have picked a better time slot. There is so much energy and anticipation on Friday evenings and they caught all of it in a net and threw it right back for the audience to feast on. They have a new album coming soon and their first single, Louder then Ever, is already in my earset. Mixing those new jams with old ones as well as one of my top 10 favorite song ever (maybe top 20, I’m getting carried away) “Audience of One” has made me a firm buyer of CWK’s future.
GRADE: A could not ask for more from a festival opener

More to follow from Saturday’s bands. Really looking forward to Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, 2 Door Cinema Club, Freelance Whales and yes the evil Cage the Elephant (if I’m gonna hate them then I need to know that I hate them for reals). I want to try and find a video from the Odd Future performance from Friday. That is all....for now

Open the box/Go to the movies

2011-04-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

First I set up a Pandora station that will have all the artists I feature here in one musical genome spot. I won’t “thumbs down” any songs that come up when I listen to it so I hope it doesn’t suck.

So I did not lie when I told you that Two Door Cinema Club was in your future. But just like Young the Giant it took me a while to get these blokes (they’re from a small Ireland village) on my radar. I’ve been hearing them on AltNation for about a year now and I didn’t really mind their four on the floor first single I Can Talk but only if I tuned in after the intro was over, I really hate it. Ah O Ah-Ah O repeated over and over again to make a human sound beat. It would make me instantly change the station to ESPN radio or XMU the college station that plays more space sounds than songs.

Over time I heard and enjoyed their next two singles Something Good Can Work and What You Know. I also heard them interviewed and preform live on the radio and it changed my perspective on them. By that point I wasn’t completely sold on them but I wasn’t adding them to the hated Cage the Elephant/Beck/SilverSun list of bands that instantly make me reach for the radio remote. In the interview they seemed like really nice kids from a small town in Ireland where everyone told them to give up; that they would never make it as a popular band. The politely told each of them to shove it and kept pursuing their musical dream. Their live sound was right on.

What finally sold me on them happened a few weeks ago, I saw them perform What You Know on the MTV Woodie Awards (their college/indie celebration, side note Odd Future are an awesome Hip-Hop crew/collective/circus act!!) but there were just three of them with no drummer so I don’t know what the story is there but their digital dance sounding rhythm sections lends itself perfectly to the new rock/dance movement.

They also looked like residents of nerdville with dock shoes, ties and suit jackets, on some people this style looks forced/hipster and I can’t stand it “Look at me I’m different from you but the same as everyone else who is different” But these guys did not throw off that vibe at all and they seemed real genuine nerds and down to earth guys. Also the singer is perfect with his red hair red cheeked clarion voice cutting perfectly through the percussive sounding lead guitarist (maybe like a marimba or a vibraphone tone). I also love that they pepper in some odd time signatures that my classically trained ear feasts on.

Anyway I downloaded the “Tourist History” album and jammed it all weekend it’s quick and concise and I highly recommend it as long as you don’t count the intro to I Can Talk. It’s all bouncy and dancey and rocky. A good 2011 mix. I was trying to think of bands to compare them to and I came up with Keane and Metro Station (a band I loathe but 2 Door pulls it off)
Here’s the video for What You Know:

La Vida Motivado

2011-04-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah its Wednesday and you’re wondering where the latest update is but a double double show weekend really drained my ass and I don’t have any good new music for you at the moment (I predict Two Door Cinema in your future though). I do however have a recommendation for a book! Hey it’s an autobio by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones (or Pirates of the Caribbean 3) and it rocks.

Many things inspire me to play guitar and write music. Sometimes just sitting on my back porch taking in another SoCal sunset. Sometimes at work when a melody hits me. Tops on the list is seeing live performances. I can remember coming home from a very early career John Mayer concert and not being able to sleep, so overcome with emotion. I also remember coming back from a 3rd Eye Blind concert (its was the 90’s and it was free!) and I was so disgusted that I vowed never to play as soulless sucky as that.

Another main thing that really motivates me are artist bios and documentaries. I love learning about other bands up and coming struggles, a la Behind the Music. I love reading about all the crazy excess they found themselves bathed in (literally sometimes). I just finished reading “Life” by Keith “Keef” Richards and I totally loved it.

I have never been a Stones fan and I couldn’t name more than three songs (Satisfaction, Start Me Up, Jumping Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Woman....sorry four I lied), but the book was totally immersing and I loved it from the get-go. It’s author credited to Keith and James Fox and it just seems like Keef is sitting down with you and a whiskey telling you these tales of how his life started, how his band progressed and evolved, and all the things that made them great and terrible.

It took me about two months to finish the book because I would find myself getting really excited about playing guitar and end up putting the book down to play. It may have been even more enjoyable for me not being a Stones fan as all the stories were new to me. My favourite being their South of France Summer, crazy partying/recording of “Exile on Main Street” their seminal album that was just released in a sweet box set that I won’t be buying.

I think I ended up writing about six decent songs in those two months I feel like the pool is really deep right now because of the stories. I mean most of it was nothing unexpected for 70’s era rock stars. They came out at the exact right time as counter-programmed Rock to the Beatles Pop. And it seemed like they became a famous band in the span of about two months, which is a romantic thought as a struggling musician: You mean I can be financially solvent by 4th of July? Sweet!

Anyway the book is great and I highly recommend it and it made me think of where it would rank for me all time so here’s my top 5 music bio’s. Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts even though I know you won’t but I had to be polite and offer since you’ve read this far.

Top 5 Music Bios:

5. "The Dirt" Motley Crue Autobio
Quintessential Hollywood 80’s decadence straight whiskey from the horses mouth

4. “Hammer of the Gods” Stephen Davis
Led Zep’s famous bio following the band from its Jimmy Page journey man beginning through the untimely death of Gonzo, their signature one of a kind drummer

3. “Room Full of Mirrors” Charles Cross
Jimi Hendrix bio full of all the details of this crazy rocket to the sky and crater back to Earth

2. “Life” Keith Richards
Story-time with Uncle Keef. Unforgettable and unique prose. Instantly accessible.

1. “Heavier than Heaven” Charles Cross
Kurt Cobain bio that is my fav of the many I read. I was a huge Nirvana head and this is the only band that I’ve read bios about that I’ve actively listened to.

Words and Music, words and music

2011-03-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

First a thank you to the few fans that braved the harrowing SoCal weather for the shows this past week since dubbed “Rain Gigs 20 11”. It was quite a nice reminder of why I love LA, you forget what a pain in the ass the weather can be when its not nice and sunny all the time. For all you non-LAliens, sorry you probably hate me right now.

The good news for all those souls who decided to stay in and cower from a little wind and rain is that there are another full slate of shows this weekend which I’ll dub “Me and Heath: The Weekend”. We have the classic Kibitz Room Saturday with Fast Sails opening at 9 followed by m&h and then Sunday in Santa Monica Fast Sails open again for m&h at Zanzibar. That show is a fund raiser for Kyle’s school paper The LA Public Interest Journal so come out and help support our young minds. And yes I still find it amazing that Kyle goes to Law School at UCLA and still digs up time to play music. But please if you’re in the area drop by, the show is technically free but as it is a “fund” raiser you are asked to donate $5 or $10 or $7 or $8 but not $6. It's also with Manny's other band the Osgoods who are great! Here's a flyer that Simone made, she's really good at it:

So I have been trying to get new bands into your hands every few weeks but I don’t think that there are enough new bands coming out or enough time for you to digest them all properly BUT I’ve really been enjoying the new Decemberists song “This is Why we Fight” and though they are by no means a new band, they seem to have finally broken into a more commercially successful realm with their latest tunes.

I read RollingStone during my break at work but I only read for like 10 minutes so it takes me about 2.5 weeks to get through each issue leaving me reading issues from a few months back in past (just finished their grammy preview!) but today I finally got to an interview the magazine did with the Decemberists lead singer/main-man Colin Meloy about his recent success coupled with the fact that after this Summer he is shelving the band for a while to work on writing his young-adult books with his wife. Dammit!

This makes me jealous for many reasons but in the end it just makes me like them/him even more. Obviously I like to write because otherwise I wouldn’t even bother with this blog stuff, I’d just skip it and skip to the bar. So I guess I’m a struggling author as well as a struggling musician and this guy has placed both successfully under his sleeve. But not only that, for him to be so certain of what he wants that he can walk away from something as rewarding AND profitable as his music really makes me admire his drive and determination even more.

But before his self-imposed hiatus the band will playing shows this Summer which you should probably go to as they may not be back around for a few years (he said three to five was his guess). They are playing for free for the Jimmy Kimmel show Wednesday in Hwood but I have rehearsal so there goes that! Oh and thanks to readers in China, UK, Maylasia and Romania. I don't know who you are or why on Earth you're reading these, but Doh je, thanks govna, Terima Kasih and mulţumir!

Cali4Ya, Young the Giant, et al

2011-03-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

You would think that since I just updated ya’ll on Wednesday and Thursday being St Patty’s Day and Friday and Saturday being, well, the freakin’ weekend I wouldn’t have anything to say, false! Actually a lot has happened in the few days across the Jason Adjacent landscape.

New “Me and Heath” music is up on itunes!! Cali4Ya is a 10 song collaboration with Sameria7 and Rocc Bizzy of WorldWide. If you’re familiar with old school M&H then you heard these songs a lot back on the day but now here they are for you to listen to while sleeping (zzzz), bathing (wash yo), fighting (dangerous), or ignoring those annoying incoming phone calls (Call U Back). Good stuff I swear.

Due to a family emergency Mannywood will be out of town for a few weeks meaning that today’s show at Panama Joe’s show will be acoustic (good b/c its raining today anyways) and Thursday’s show at Cat Club will not be Me & Heath or the Osgoods but Fast Sails and The Real Deal (good thing I’m in 3 bands huh?!). Send Manny your prayers and thoughts and we’ll let you know when he’s back in action!

This week was South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin where a million up and coming bands get a chance to make their mark on the music scene. And again I am not performing anywhere near there which makes keeping up with it harder than hearing about than the Grammy’s. Maybe next year folks.

I just downloaded “Young the Giant” and though I claim that I try to get new music to you lost souls out there. These guys have been in and around the LA scene for a while and it took me until now to finally listen/like them. The single “My Body” has been on the AltNation playlist for a few months now but it just recently completed its dive bomb into my brain.

Last year I really got caught up in listening to “Neon Trees” and these guys seem like the next in that musical line. They are more guitar driven and less synth/dance/The Killers driven, which is a nice change of pace since most rock bands these days seem to be adding keys and subtracting guitars (see Fitz & the Trantrums).

They’re bio is pretty funny as it is a little too self praising; touting their young age and seasoned songwriting. I mean if we can’t hear that you’re good at writing songs ourselves you telling me that you’re a great band in your bio is not going to push me over the top. Oh and buy the album from Amazon not itunes as I payed $8 from itunes only to scroll down their homepage and see it for $5 from amazon, good trick kids.

Here’s the video for the single which I really like but I wish that they could recast the main guy as Bill Hader. Maybe once they make it a little bigger they can redo it or something.

Random Bandoms

2011-03-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

Ugh you know whats worse than being late? Being late for something that only you hold yourself to....”You know what Jax, you need to update your blog every week. Man its not so hard you have every weekend off just carve out a half-hour or so Saturday OR Sunday and boom you’re golden” Nice inner monologue but whoops its Wednesday and whoops here I am. Whatever on to the business at hand: Random Bands.

I have been performing in bands since I was in 8th grade and have attended/performed at more shows than I can count so the last thing that I would ever, ever want to do on a free weekend night is go out and see random bands that I’ve never heard of. Now I am not sure what possessed me, either my roommates hacking cough infiltrated my brain waves or some sore of spring induced fever but I walked my candy-ass down the street this past Saturday to Hotel Cafe and checked out not one but two random bands. What the hell!?!?

“Ragsy” had their CD release show and “Said the Whale” stopped by en route from (gasp) Canada to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin. Said the Whale played first and were totally awesome. At first they looked and sounded like a Angels and Airways-lite. The lead singer; tall and rangy and very Blink 182 Tom DeLonge-esque. Their opening few songs were poppy and rocky and were good if not great. They also had a female keyboard player who’s name, when introduced, I swear sounded like jason.

All of a sudden their other guitar player plugs in an acoustic guitar and starts singing this sweet grassroots, folk song that totally fit his derby hat, full beard, rustic vide. The dichotomy (thanks spell check) really hit me for a loop but once I adjusted to their back and forth style really enjoyed their set. Not only did their drummer place not one but three tambourines (there’s a U in that word?) on his hi-hat for a song, they also had a chest slapping breakdown where everyone in the band played rhythm with their open hands beating their chest. It was interesting to say the least and I am really going to try and follow them as they rise up through the indie scene.

Here’s their cute video for their latest single, not their best song but I can’t remember which my fav:

Once they finished breaking down their gear and Ragsy finally set up their stuff and got ready to play I was ready to go. I mean I had already paid $6 to get in and $5 a piece for 3 Bud Lights (man hwood is a rip off sometimes) and I wasn’t even drunk! I did see their first four songs and they did pack the place and the lead singer brought some great energy.

They are a 4 piece female fronted band from LA and brought a ton of people out. Their style was close to what I want Fast Sails to sound like: Florence + Janis Joplin, but I think they were a little louder. Kelly, the lead singer, really had some pipes and she really used them to belt out their songs. She had a great persona and was easy to watch and relate to onstage. She kinda seemed like girl you’d love to have at a party but would show up late, infatuate everyone and then leave way too soon..

Here’s a exactly what Imma talkin about:

Was it worth it? Yes. Will I go to another random show this semester? No.

The King's Song

2011-03-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

Now I love my 90's music as much as the next Gen X'er and I do find myself stuck on the 90's on 9 XM radio station when the AltNation channel gets into a White Stripes/Cage the Elephant run. I was surprised however one stockroom morning when I heard a new song on AltNation that really sounded like classic catchy 90's Weezer/Cake. More surprising it was by an artist not named Weezer or Cake, it was "Crystal Vases" by The Last Royals a duo from arch nemesis NYC.

The song was instantly accessible and though the main melody was no original work of art it was twisted just enough to make it their own. Being a classically trained musician (blah blah) I usually don't listen to the lyrics until after I've listened and digested the music, structure, instrumentation and recording. God I'm boring myself here, sorry. But with "Crystal Vases" I immediately keyed into the lyrics and heard a very funny story about a relationship gone awry leaving a certain vase a flowerless casualty. Funny, real life stuff.

After checking out their homepage (thelastroyals.com/duh) I found out that they are pretty new and the duo just recently joined forces as a functioning band after working together on another project. They have a cover version of "Unbelievable" on their page that is pretty great especially since I feel like they were just sitting around one city night and coughed it up in their home/apt studio. I downloaded their self-titled five song EP (I don't know what EP really, really means) even though track 1 and 5 are the same song in different versions. Which is a good idea and you may see that in a Me & Heath recording near you in the coming future (hint, hint!).

Crystal Vases is of course the standout track but the track "Come Take my Hand (Demo)" was just as urgent and really set my round-the-block jogging to a tugging tempo. I don't know why they put (demo) in the song title unless they really wanted you to go easy on the judging or they're just fucking with us. Don't know, don't care, its good. They don't seem to be playing anywhere anytime soon but as the single gains traction I'm sure a national tour will be in order.

Who cares what I think but I don't see giganticality in their future and even if I don't see a great album I do hear some great songs. Czech them out. Here's a little video they did sometime in the winter in NYC. It looks like they are really trying to skew to a younger generation….just kidding(<----KIDding get it?). But you can see that by the last chorus of the song one of the moms is singing the words even though I know for sure she's never heard the song before, thats how catchy it is...

Off to Kibitz room for Me and Heath tonight, wonder if I'll pay to park.

Free Rain and Beer

2011-02-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to give a recap from last Saturday's show at the Kibitz with Fast Sails and The Real Deal. To be honest I used to hate playing the Kibitz Room, I found it small and cramped, sticky and poorly lit with a bad sound system and free beer. Okay that last part is pretty cool, especially in LA where bands usually have to pay extra for drinks because all the self-hating club operators (door guy, bar tender, bouncer, sound dude) hate their lives one degree less than they hate band dudes.

As time went by and Me and Heath played there every single 1st Saturday, I began to appreciate its genuine quality, something severely missing in LA, and its $0 cover fee making it easy to get friends to come and check out my band(s). Instead of saying: "Hey come check out my band we're playing on the Sunset Strip this Saturday. It'll take 2 hours to drive 2 miles, $10 to park 5 blocks away, $10 to get in and $10 for watery drinks dispensed from actor/model/servers that hate you."
I could say: "Come check us out at Kibitz, its small but there is no cover, the drinks are cheap and strong and the bartenders are all nice and like what they do. Shit if you come back they may even remember you."

The latter is a way easier sell, so Kibitz has grown on me. The only thing that still got me was parking. There's a lot adjacent(could help it) to the deli but it's a $5-8 fee depending on how long we play for. Doesn't seem like much but when I could play there 15-20 times a year that can add up (total I've saved at not parking in the lot is currently around $300). So I usually opted to orbit the bar to try and find coveted street parking. This worked, to one degree of proximity or another, most of the time the in past four years but recently its been a sheer pain in the ass and I've caved to paying the Lincoln to park the Hyundai in the lot.

This past Saturday it was pouring rain and again there was no street parking (I really suspect the valet up the street is stealing the spots...bitches!!) so I pulled to the Canter's Deli/Kibitz lot and found that it was FULL. WTF? So I decided to circle a few more times in a completely failed use of time and gas. Finally I decided to sit in the lot and wait for a car to leave. In the end it didn't take too long to get a spot but in an effort to load in as little gear as possible I ended up having to make about five trips back out into the rain and into the car to grab a miscellaneous cable or cord or microphone, talk about a backfire.

That was the bulk of the deal with the show. Once we got set up Fast Sails played well on a limited rehearsal schedule, debuting a new song called "Ghost" which is also a Me and Heath song title. We did, however, screw up the ending of the last part of the last song. Way to go out on top. The Real Deal played for about and hour and a half with Lenny sitting in for Manny on the drums. Lenny is about three volume levels louder than Manny so the show was rocking right from the start.

Oh and the best part, the beer was free!.

Still listening to "Fitz and the Tantrums"

Welcome Kids

2011-02-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is the blogspot for all the goings on of LA's Me & Heath as well as the musings of their lead guitarist Jaxon Camaero <----that's me. I am a working musician in LA as well as a retail manager at a women's clothing store where I spend most of the day listening to Alt Nation on Sirius XM (I listen to ESPN radio as well if you really care). Enough with the intro, you'll figure it out.

I've been on to "Fitz and the Tantrums" this past week or so. It took me a while to get on board mainly because my roommates last name is Fitz and frankly I didn't want to like a band with her name in it. Not that I don't like her its just kind of weird, I don't know. Anyways they are an LA based mo-town sounding band whose single "MoneyGrabber" has fueled my recent jogs around the neighborhood. Sucks they're not playing around anytime soon because I'm sure by the time they get back to LA they'll be playing the Greek instead of the Music Box (to my brother thats like Merriweather versus the 930 Club)

Here's the video for the single. 'trocks.

But it's not just "MoneyGrabber" that I love, the whole album is real pleaser from top to bottom. I usually wait to hear a second single before I buy an album but this song just stuck in my head and sounded less like a one-hit dealio. I really enjoy "Rich Girls" as my LA female navigating has lead me into those same types of ladies, either poor and want you to take care of them ($$$) or rich and have you following at three paces.

I have a double show tonight with the other non Me & Heath bands, so that should be fun. It's at Kibitz Room and the other bands are "Fast Sails" and "The Real Deal". Fast Sails is a trio with a lady singing and another dude on acoustic and me on electric, kind of a folky 4-non-Blondes. The Real Deal is a Jimi Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute band where I chillax on the bass and watch my good pal Cpt Kick Ass (the bass player in m&h) shred solo after finger banging solo. Good times.