West Indian Girl

lewscious outside spaceland 3.24

Fran’s Flashback
almost a year later and we’re back at spaceland playing to a sell out crowd. on the bill – roman numerals and slow signal fade. this show and bill was a strong one. hands down probably our best and most inspired performance in los angeles to date! lots of love in the air for this show. we played a bunch of new songs like “rise from the dead”, “running back” and “blue wave”. we even got the crowd to sing along on blue wave. yes you read that right…a crowd at spaceland was actually singing along. after the show i also saw the image of jesus appear in the dew covering my car’s windshield. it truly was a miraculous night in so many ways. the pic below of is of scott sterling and joe puleio – 2 of my very good friends. after the show i ended up hanging out at joes house until 5 in the morning. want another person’s thoughts on the show – click here for a csun review.

dressing room and rider wrap up: there is only one spaceland. it’s in our backyard and it’s considered a mini indie mecca by musicians far and wide.

the facilities 17 points. at least there is a little backstage area at spaceland that is, literally, back stage. it’s cool because you can enter the stage from a door right next to the drum kit. that room serves as each band’s dressing room but usually by the time you play the other bands are out of there cos it’s so small. i like that little area cos it’s a good place to have the obligatory pre show band huddle/mini pep rally/pow wow. no private bathroom, not sure about wi-fi, parking was right out front and load in was an easy roll. their merch set up is decent and there’s a big room for all the smokers.

rider/amenities 10 points. beer, water and towels. the rock n roll basics. for that the basics gets you 10 points. good restaurants right around the corner though.

stage, sound, lights 15 points. for a small club the stage is great. it can fit all of us so that’s a plus right there. the sound is also fine. carlos was mixing the show and he always gets the most out of that place. more basszzzzzzzz carlos. lights…i dont remember but i think they were ok.

promoter 20 points. jennifer teft – my michigan sweetheart. she’s become a great supporter of the band. who do i call when i want to bitch about my booking agent?…jennifer is always there for me. she must have done a great job because the place was sold out. they had us listed online and seemed to be on top of their game with the promotion. posters were prominantly on display in the club. good to see.

staff 20 points. the phrase out of sight out of mind seems apropos here. didnt have any problems with them so that’s always good. if staff become a non issue and let you do what you want it usually insures a high score from me.

intangibles 10 points. the fact that jennifer said it was one of the most fun times she’s had at a show means a lot. plus she loved my boys from kc and partied with them all night. that’s hospitality.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 92. spaceland you get the most improved award as you totally buried your old score from last year. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). there’s something really special about playing spaceland. it’s intimate, its indie, its indiemate. something tells me a residency is right around the corner.

Tony’s Take
you see that elizabethan collar around my neck. you think i like this shit? it’s bullshit that’s what it is. im not sure if this was fran’s sick idea of a joke but he kept this thing on me while i was in his fucking truck. unbelievable. i’ve been licking my paws raw but that’s only because he hasnt been taking me running lately. doesnt he get it? he’s too self absorbed sometimes to notice who his real friends are. im that asswipes best friend. at least he checked on me a dozen times during the evening. it’s all good. i will be his monkey for a while just to lull him into a false sense of security. the show….who cares, get this fucking thing off me.

billy from roman numerals doing the load out dance

lewscious during sound check

lillian and ian talking about how much they miss josh

kampy’s everywhere – the new waldo of my blog

  “heathers” v.2.0 – the mariqueens and jess is christian slater

Fran’s Flashback
we played at winston’s in ocean beach with roman numerals last night. i thought our set was pretty good. i’m glad devan thought it was awesome. it was exhilarating to play a few new songs (that we have been working on in the studio) for the first time. we also extended a couple songs into some pretty long jams. im glad san diego let’s us experiment like this. it’s nice to feel like someone’s got your back when you walk out on a musical precipice. before the show we dined and partied at sean simpson’s (pic) house. i posted it before and it wasnt a lie, this guy cooks like a master chef. dinner was thai inspired and it was the perfect pick me up before the show. thanx for all the hospitality sean. i was able to watch all of roman numeral’s set from the merch booth and thought they were great. q even jumped on stage with them (below).

dressing room and rider wrap up:

the facilities 15 points. there isnt a backstage area at winston’s and that’s too bad cos it’s the one main thing that this club lacks. parking was close by and load in was an easy roll to the stage. the merch set up is a refreshing change from most clubs as of late – nice area to sell your wares. there was also wi-fi.

rider/amenities 8 points. winston’s isnt really the kind of bar that has a a nice spread waiting for you. it’s just one of those things. yeah, it would be nice to have something in the way of food but i guess that’s why sean’s house is just around the corner. alcohol is never a problem at winston’s. neither are the party favor passin fans that seem to show up at our shows down there.

stage, sound, lights 17 points. the stage and sound is great there. the stage is one of the main reasons we like winston’s because it can easily fit the six of us on it. k-rud, who is one of our road soundmen does front of house there. he knows both us and the room very well so it sounded great. we always get a great sound check there too. the lights are so so – minimal – at least they have some.

promoter 20 points. tough not to give ted wigler 30 pooints for this. ted is a great guy to deal with. he helps us load in and load out. that’s a rarity people. show me a club promoter that does that and i’ll show you a dog with 3 testicles … it’s rare. there were posters inside the club and on the street – as far as i could tell promotion was great cos the place was packed.

staff 20 points. the entire staff at winston’s treat us well. no probs here. .

intangibles 10 points. here is where i can give ted the 30 points he deserves. did i mention he pays well?

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 90. high fives winston’s, you grade out with an A and made our visit a blast. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). it was good to be back in ocean beach. tonight was just as, if not better than the last time. ob has quickly become one of our favorite cities. the crowds there are arguably some of the best.

Tony’s Take

one would think i would enjoy ocean beach as much as the next dawg but that’s really not the case. remember, im a dog and i when fran drags me along for these one off shows i end up spending more time in the van than usual. my only real respite from the van seat was after load in when q and fran took me down to the beach. it’s only a couple block’s away. as far as everything else goes you should probably ask nathan or q to write something. i can tell you everything you ever needed to know about the van and that’s getting old. thanx for the prison time you a-hole fran.

bob doing what any good manager should be doing

post show bliss with roman numerals

the axis of mccevily now includes milan records

happy fan…wonder why

Fran’s Flashback we played the jambase showcase at opal divine’s for our one and only show at sxsw this year. we opened the show at 8pm and played right before les claypool’s band. did i mention it was st patrick’s day AND it was amy’s 26th birthday. Oddly enough i have no pictures from the show. all i have is some video footage below (from an interview) that shows a bit of our performance.

dressing room and rider wrap up: i think festivals are tough to grade out but music conferences are even tougher because their very nature is more of the plug and play variety.

the facilities 10 points. problem here was that opal divine’s isnt really a music venue and at sxsw they tent off their parking lot and set up shop there. so, as far as the typical facilities we are used to its kinda difficult to compare because its not a place meant for bands. load in and load out was easy. there was a back stage area behind the tent for all the bands. the bar wouldnt let artists use the bathrooms in the club so we were relegated to port o potties. there was a merch area though.

rider/amenities 0 points. maybe i missed this but there was nothing as far as i know. i think the beer tickets arrived after we were done playing and i dont think there was even water back stage. i was expecting at least a little bit of the green brew but got none. im not sure who to blame on this one. maybe if ian was there this travesty wouldnt have occurred. he should have been there….ian mcevily…c’mon, how could a guy with a name like that miss our st patrick’s day show? stage, sound, lights 10 points. sound men at sxsw seem like they’re riding on their very last nerve…and then they have to deal with a band like ours. stage sound was pretty bad but i dont think it mattered too much. we back-lined a bunch of gear so that probably added to the weirdness. the lights were decent. hey it was a tent show in a parking lot, what can you expect? promoter 20 points. jambase is awesome. their promotion for the party was excellent as the place was jammed for our set. jambase is a great site and one that i actually use. im really happy to have been able to play their party cos they’re gonna blow up soon. staff 10 points. to be honest with you i didnt really deal with anyone that worked there except some sxsw loaders.intangibles 20 points. andrew warren from jambase has become part of our family. he saw our third ever show if you can believe that and we have been friends ever since. this guy is excellent and deserves more points but i only give 20 max.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 70. a C is not an A but it’s not an F for that matter …. c is for satisfactory. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). hopefully the next jambase party at sxsw will be at a proper rock venue. im sure it will cos jambase keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Tony’s Take

personally i would have rather had a tour set up than just a one off show in texas. hopefully this gig landed them a better agent because im not down for these killer van rides. those crazy fuckers drove straight from la to austin. they slept at truck stops once on the way there and once on the way back. q slept on the bench and fran spooned me on the floor behind the front seats. it was tighter than penquin’s poononnie. in the daytime it was hot as hell and at night cold as shit. look at my tongue…can you tell how hot i was?
im flyin next time – fuck this ride. the hotel i got to stay in was a level above motel 6. the austin inn and suites i think it was called. not too suite if ya know what i mean. it was chill though so i cant bitch that much. fran left the tv on for me when he wasnt there. it was a decent place and had plenty of grass areas for me to take care of business.

waddayaknow..a giant teepee in the middle of nowhere

Fran’s Flashback q and i drove out all the gear to austin for our sxsw show. even though q’s a girl she can be one tough ass bitch when she puts her mind to it. that said, we didnt stop driving except to eat and sleep – no hotels – we slept at truck stops and powered it out in 2 days. there’s really not much else to say about this drive except that it sucks balls. it’s it’s an easy drive but that gets old after the first 50 miles. texas is, in my humble opinion, one of thee most boring places to drive. el paso made me think of driving by a giant toilet bowl. below is my pictoral homage to the drive. as usual tony dominates my photographic landscape…at one point during the trip he actually starting talking to me. i wasnt delerious, it was just one white line after another after another after another…(c’mon, that’s a highway reference people!)

q started the trip by doing the la to tucson leg

it’s true

he spoke to me just outside of el paso

feeding the shaman

waking up at truckstop in texas

scouting in the arizona hills

doin’ what he does best at the rest stop

“ian, i wish you were here…miss you, xoxo josh”

the first thing we did when we got to austin was head straight for the hell that is 6th st. while there we ate some sushi (yup sushi in texas – it sounds so wrong). josh was there for dinner, unfortunately for ian he got snowed in while trying to leave nyc. in one of the craziest twists of the past year i saw my cousin dean’s band, foreign islands (from brooklyn) play a show. that’s him in the pic with me. i havent seen dean in years so it was great to reconnect – he’s an awesome guitar player. while there we hooked up with mark from flycell. we rounded out the night by catching our friends bump play. those bump guys jammed, i swear they have gotten so much better since the last time i saw them. after that i went to bed while everyone else went out to party with a bunch of la people.

interview #1

click here for the interview with pics.

nathan, mariqueen and i started off the next day with 2 interviews. the first for a great radio station in austin called 101X. ray’s chillville show has been huge for us. thank you ray (in pic next to me) and thank you monty (in longhorns shirt) for taking the time to interview us, rather than some flavor of the month from the uk that was in the lobby…. appreciate that one. keep in mind we were all starving while we did this interview because we hadnt had anything to eat yet. we could have mailed this one in but, like true pros, we handled our business.

interview #2

click here for intervew with video!

the second interview was with zach and brendan (pictured above) from george washington university. we first met these 2 a year ago when we played at gw. it was good to see they’re still doing what they do (interviewing music celebrities). they’re good guys and it’s always fun seeing them.

q with bump’s joey choma

q with flycell’s mark reynolds

q with that 70’s show danny masterson

q with clint (bump’s wicked drummer)

backstage with kirk cameron and teen wolf

Fran’s Flashback we played the middle slot as direct support for the long winters. this gig came out of nowhere but im extremely glad it did cos we kicked fucking ass. [the nice photos are courtesy of misha – thanx man].

dressing room and rider wrap up: the independent doesnt mess around. just walking into the place calls to mind a mini fillmore….a room dominated by a beautifully massive stage.

the facilities 15 points. the backstage area was pretty cool. each band had its own dressing room. there was one nice big clean bathroom for all the bands. the bands also had access to an outside grassy area behind the club as well as the back kitchen. security was posted at the backstage entrance so not just anyone could get back there. this was a pretty solid set up. parking was right out front and load in was an easy roll. the only neg i can think of is where they have their merch set up – on the same wall as the stage? huh…i dont understand that one ) i always like it near the exit away from the stage).

rider/amenities 11 points. beer, fruit, chips, hot water, ginger, tea. yeah it wasnt a full on spread but considering this wasnt our show it was fresh. for dinner there was a great restaurant right across the street.

stage,sound,lights 20 points. by far the independent’s strong suit. the stage was the perfect size for the room not to mention one of the better ones we have played on. john their front of house man was one of the best, if not the best, that i have come across. considering we arrived late he could have copped a real attitude but not only did he hook us up with a great sound check he rocked it live. he inherently understood what we were doing and was right there with us – totally engaged and jamming. this guy rules and i cant wait to play there again just so he can mix us. props to the monitor man too as the stage sound was also awesome and thus helped us all perform better. who ever ran lights also deserves a high five.

promoter 15 points. tough one to grade out on because it wasnt our show but they must have done a great job because the place was filled to just under capacity. they had us listed online and seemed to be on top of their game with the promotion.

staff 20 points. the entire staff was awesome. starting off with tony the production manager all the way down to the crew and security. everyone was easy to work with. i cant tell you how nice it is when you get to work with a cool in house crew. its just one more reason you want to come back to the club. great people.

intangibles 10 points. the fact they suggested i bring tony inside to run around in the backyard was all i needed. dog friendly and mellow.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 91. congrats independent you grade out with an A as you excelled in truly the most important areas. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). i feel like we have finally found our “room” in san fran. i’m already looking forward to headlining there when the record comes out. it seems like ever since i started letter grading out clubs we have played great ones…coincidence…i think not. regardless, i hope this trend continues.

Tony’s Take
this was definitely not tons of fun. stuck in a van for over 6 hours sucks. fran and andrew (from jambase) took me for a long walk before the show but then it was back in the van again. after the show i got to hang out on the street and got tons of attention….what else is new. the club’s photographer misha took some pics of me….of course. then we drove back…to la…that same night. these guys are idiots. good job driving though rob. way to keep it smooth. — F10

q, amy and andrew

tone in the backyard

tone and the midnight rambler

robert james taken us home

there’s a nice feature and spread about us in the march issue of the online magazine galrilla. the site is painful to navigate – we are on page 23 of the second issue. very special thanx to lilian kha for making this happen.