i was all set...

i was all set to up and move to chico...until jay and silent bob showed up at the surrogate show tuesday night at the coda cafe in chico. but even these two annoying guys couldn't wreck my enthusiasm to see chris keane and his band. if you read the blog you know that surrogate's love is for the rich was one of my favorite albums of 2007. even after a full year of listening to that cd, seeing it performed live is still completely enjoyable, and well worth a drive to chico (i actually was in san fran so the drive to chico was a no-brainer). the entire set came from love is for the rich even though chris is currently writing material for a new album that he tentatively plans to record this summer.

seriously i think the last 36 hours of my life here in chico have been near-perfect. it's too bad jay and silent bob showed up and helped me decide to stay in salt lake. and for the record, peter (tour manager for the maine) is definitively the funniest man i've ever known.

thanks to lawrence for snapping these photos, now we're off to drive home for 10 hours because weatherbox and jet lag gemini are playing the cafe wednesday night.

Travel Travel Travel

Chad, Tate (the lionelle), and i all loaded up in a rental car and drove to California on Sunday night. We realized that northern California has such beautiful weather this time of year, and has made us not want to come back to the 12 feet of snow in Salt Lake. In our wonderful road trip we got to stay and hang out with Brighten, while they were in the studio recording their upcoming ep. We had the pleasure to see them lay down some vocal and guitar tracks. be excited for this, i know we are.

party like a rockstar.

last night the avalon was jam-packed with awesomeness. cry of the afflicted, pierce the veil, as cities burn, mayday parade, and emery played, overall, one hell of a show. i didn't get to see cry of the afflicted play, but from what i've heard off their myspace they are a sweet solid state band with a sound similar to story of the year. you'll definitely want to check them out and snag "take this day"; available to download on their purevolume: here. i got there when pierce the veil started. it took me a minute to decide whether or not i liked them, but after they played their version of michael jackson's "beat it" i was sold. ptv is a band that's all about having fun and rockin' out. frontman vic fuentes has a unique voice that gets their party going. the band as a whole had really good energy while playing and the crowd enjoyed their rock/metal/party sound; as did i. also, feel free to download a couple of songs for you listening pleasure at their myspace: here. to my surprise as cities burn was next. but, even still, they did an absolutely amazing job with their disappointingly short set. they played some of my favorite songs including, but not limited to (ha), "our world is grey" and "bloodsucker pt. II". even without former member, tj bonette's screams it was still a very good performance. i have a lot of respect for acb moving forward and using the talent they still have instead of calling it quits. so all in all it bummed me out that they couldn't play all night. the majority of the kids at this show seemed to be there for the next band up: mayday parade. since the release of their newest album, "a lesson in romantics", word has been spreading of this pop-punk band. frontman derek sanders got into his groove with a mic swinging and hair flipping routine that reminded me of adam lazarra. they were fun to say the least. their dance-a-ble beats were only lacking the unique and powerful vocals of former member, jason lancaster (now frontman for go radio). without him the performance seemed to faulter on certain songs such as "when i get home you're so dead"; deeming the last time i saw them live to be much better. and last, but definitely not least, emery. even the fading size of the crowd after mayday didn't stop emery from putting on one of the best performances i've seen. the way i can best describe the overall feel to this set is chaotic harmony. each band member was doing their own thing, but it all somehow fit together. and with josh head (who was at one point in the crowd being held; standing straight on top of 20-or-so hands), devin shelton, and toby morrel all switching up on the vocals a unique energy pulled the crowd in. and it was this energetic performance that made me quite glad i had attended and also wonder why the new album, "i'm only a man", wasn't getting such great reviews. i figure it's because whoever doesn't enjoy it hasn't seen an emery performance quite like last night. so to sum it all up: there was fun, dancing, singing, screaming, mic-swinging, crowd...standing, and lots of partying rockstars. touché.

sxiw (south by intermountain west)

the released the "official" SXSW list yesterday (whatever that means)...it's huge and there are bands from all over the world. like most of you, we're not traveling to the lone start state in march, so here's the next best thing: the cafe is bringing SXSW bands to you next week.

wednesday, february 13th: jet lag gemini. jlg just released fire the cannons, their debut cd on doghouse records. i'm not quite sure how pop-punk gets onto the SXSW bill, but jet lag gemini are good at it. you can easily see a crowd of kids bobbing their heads to jlg. whether that will happen remains to be seen. they play the cafe with weatherbox (doghouse) and locals larusso and the trademark.

thursday, february 14th: the new frontiers. if you read the blog you know we're trying to date the new frontiers. they're quite incredible at music-making and niceness too. their debut cd mending is sort of released (you can buy it on itunes) and is easily the best cd of 2008 thus far. catch them thursday with local alt-country darlings atherton (who we'd try to date too, but we're classy and don't want to double time anyone). atherton should be playing SXSW also to be really honest. they are the type of band i think of when i think about SXSW. also on the bill are this is anfield, dan cutrtis and travis van hoff.

friday, february 15th: swans of never. matt nane's is not going to SXSW. he's not playing it. we like him quite a bit though. his rugged artistic style represents a passion for his art that attracts an audience. matt openly bares his soul for anyone willing to listen, like a voice in the wilderness. he's leaving on tour (as guitarist for bradley hathaway). he'll feature a full band for the first time at the cafe (featuring guys from the almost).

so join us next week at the cafe for SXSW week on wednesday, thursday and friday. or book a flight to austin. if you do, let us know so we can hire you to write some articles for the ship. you'll of course get paid as much as we all do!

yeah but can they hold off the snow?

moving mountain's pneuma might be the most inventive album i've heard in the last few months and certainly catchy. they deliver the aesthetics of something like the appleseed cast while moving through genre's, fluidly mixing in the occasional trumpet, some screaming and a host of other clever musical ideas. they deftly give a nod to bands like american football (not just because of the trumpet) while moving forward in a direction that is completely their own. moving mountains need some type of record label (so you can find their cd somewhere in the western half of the u.s.) and are currently recording an ep. if they tour, we'll be sure and let you know!

you hate to hear this...

here's the latest (and last) from the format, straight from their myspace blog...

IMPORTANT

We have just put out word that we will not be making a new Format album. Please understand this was a tough decision and we're both upset about it. While we accept there will be false speculation as to why, understand that Sam and I remain extremely close and in fact are still passing the twin peaks box set back and forth in an attempt to figure out who REALLY killed laura
palmer. We also want to thank everyone with and within the Format, particularly Mike, Don, and Marko, whom without, none of this would have ever even been fully realized. We both suggest you support their musical talents and whatever they decide to do. And lastly we want to thank the fans who made this the best 5 years of our lives.

clever monday blog title

there's a new la blogotheque take away show featuring animal collective, but i didn't think that was so amazing. so rather than post that one, i decided to post this older one from beirut. is it just me, or is this one of the best la blogotheque take away shows so far? it's a few months old, but it's really good.

#64.1 - Beirut - Nantes
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