hey people – sorry about not posting the last 2 show reports from san diego and la – both were fantastic shows. i have been working 3 part time jobs this month and really havent had much time to get these puppies posted. i will have them done soon and they will be great. F10
thanx for the poster mark
FRIDAY DECEMBER 15th at the TROUBADOUR! Opening the show will be the war tapes (formerly the pop kids) and test your reflex. during our set visual artist stefan viterstedt will be performing – his mix of images and visuals is insane and not to be missed. Expect 13 songs including a very rare version of “Dream” as well as extended versions of “monterey, still lost, solar eyes, trip, and what are you afraid of” as well as some guest musicians. Tickets are only $10 in advance….GET THEM NOW!!!!! This will be our last show before the new record comes out!
this was the spread i rocked for thanxgiving 
since my birthday show at spaceland in may i started a numeric rating system (1-10) under the category “dressing room and rider wrap up” in our show report blogs to sum up my overall experience with the clubs we play. going forward, in order to be less arbitrary and more objective/credible im changing this rating system to the classic school grading system:
A = Excellent or Superior; (90 to 100)
B = Above Average or Above Average Expectation; (80-89)
C = Average or Average Expectation; (70-79)
D = Below average but passing; (60-69)
F (or E): Failure or Exceptionally Poor; (0-59)
the 100 pt scoring system consists of 5 categories (20 points each) clearly defined below. a letter grade will be assigned based on the club’s grand total:
1. the facilities – is there a dressing room, is there a shower, is there laundry, is there wifi, is there a backstage area, does it smell of vomit, is there a separate bathroom for us to take a dump in, how is the parking, is load-in brutal–all of these things matter. bigger clubs like the house of blues usually coast through this area – smaller clubs sometimes have problems but a place like dantes in portland or hotel congress in tucson make up for this in their layout and ambiance.
2. rider/amenities – this is a real tough category to excel in for the smaller venues. it really depends on the effort….did the promoter read the rider (it’s ok if they read it and laugh at it because i get a kick out of telling them why socks are on it) . as of now the holy grail on our rider is the bottle of heidsieck and co monopole rose champagne although the socks arent too far behind. if they read it and make some sort of effort to accommodate points are rewarded. a pack of gum or a fluffy towel dont go unappreciated. sometimes clubs will just give us cash for dinner…hey that’s cool cos we are always starving when we get to a club. it’s the thought that counts. having to pay for our drinks is never a good sign. a note on the champagne…heidsieck is roughly the same price as veuve clicquot but its way better. if you are gonna get champagne…make it french, make it rose and make it over 30 dollars and you’ll do just fine.
3. stage, sound, lights – these are the nuts and bolts of a show. is the stage big, do they have lights that work and change, is the sound decent, do they have monitors, do they have enough gear.
4. promoter – basically describes what the promoter did to promote the show. were there posters in the clubs, was it advertised at all, did they provide loaders, did the promoter show up? did they read this blog? sometimes promoters are right there for ya like ted wigler in ocean beach making sure everything runs smoothly.
5. staff – this includes bartenders, door man, sound guy, door people, loaders etc etc. sometimes its as simple as these people just being nice and not treating you like you are the inconvenience. its amazing how one dickhead can sour things. michael and the staff at the troub in la always score high for having their staff treat you with respect – they are very helpful.
intangibles – does the club let me bring tony in during sound check and load out at the end of the night? after the club closes do they let you hang for a bit or try to immediately kick you out? usually if the club/owner are cool everything goes smoothly and we love ya. scott from the saint in asbury park let our crew chill out and drink after hours. stuff like this never gets forgetton – it was the perfect way to wrap up a long day and have us leave with smiles on our faces.
i feel that writing a blog is about being honest. with that simple fact stated, i dont believe in always having to, or trying to put a positive spin on what happens with the band. in the past some band members have frowned upon me voicing this honest opinion in fear that it would hurt us because the club wouldnt want us back. my response…fuck that….if the club sucked that much in the first place then why would we want to go back and play there right? hopefully other bands will find this part of the blog interesting because its a side of the business that i never see discussed in other journals/blogs.i hope club owners and promoters will take note because often 
times you have bands by the balls never really expecting them to call you out if you do a shitty job. this isnt just about calling you out though because if you do a good job you get praised. this is actually a big deal to a band that spends most of its time working their ass off for little or no money when it’s all said and done so these details can help make or break an evening for the band. this should be fun, read it and weep. F10
our official rider: (motto – it never hurts to ask aka ask and ye shall receive)
Dinner – 7 hot dinners to be available 30 minutes after sound check, or $100 cash buyout, payable at the beginning of sound check. NO FAST FOOD PLEASE!!
Dressing Room setup (must be available immediately before sound check)
1- Case of bottled water (Fiji is preferred, not chilled)
Assortment of bottles of juice (preferably Cranberry & Pineapple)
1- case of Heineken
1- Six pack of Miller High Life
1- Six pack of local Micro Brew
1- Bottle of reasonable quality red wine
1- Box of Throat Coat Tea with honey and lemon
2- Bottles Kombucha Tea (found at Whole Foods)
1- Deli tray consisting of Turkey, Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato and Vegetables with condiments (mayo and must)
1- Loaf of wheat bread
1- Bowl of Fresh (organic) Fruit consisting of mainly apples (at least 4 green), bananas, grapes, oranges
2- packs of sugarless gum
5- Bath size fluffy towels
Ample and continuous supply ice, cups and napkins
Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday
1- Bag of Tortilla Chips
1- Jar of Salsa (medium)
Assortment of sugarless gum (various flavors)
1- Pack of White tube socks (men’s sizes 9-11)
1- Bottle of Champagne (Heidsieck and Co rose)
1- pack AA Batteries
1- pack white tube socks (men size 9-11)
Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday
1- package of Pita Bread
1- tub of hummus
Assorted Clif bars
1- Bottle of Ketel One Vodka
1- Bottle of Tonic Water
1- Bottle of Soda water.
1- travel size toothpaste
i know you’re asking “what’s with all the alcohol?” but theres at least 8 of us and we like to entertain and have guests after the show.
I just found out we will be headlining this year’s TarFest. what is this you ask? well, TarFest is a festival of emerging film, music and art held at the La Brea Tar Pits and the surrounding Museum Row in the historic Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles. For more info check out their official site. We will be playing at a very small irish pub called molly malone’s and the show is gonna be insane cos that pub will be jammed to the gills. im not sure how we’re going to fit on their stage but in the name of Tar we will rock the irish out of that pub no matter what. It sort of feels like its gonna have one of those secret show vibes. Hope to see you there. If you cant make that we will be headlining at the troubadour in december i believe. F10
Tonight we started final mixing on the first 5 songs off the next record. After this batch is done we will finish recording and mixing the remainder before the new year. As of this moment we dont know what label we will be releasing our second effort on. One thing for sure is that it will fall under our own label imprint called Northern Sky. It will be interesting to see how the next few months pan out in regards to the business side of things. We’re also just starting to get in touch with directors for video making plans. If everything goes according to plan a bunch of videos are going to be made for the record. We’re also getting a bunch more remixes made too. It should be a very creative fall and winter. Oh yeah, we are also going to be redesigning our website which i personally cant wait to do. Im so sick of our site i cant even tell you.
The pictures posted are of two guest musicians we recently had in. The first (above) is of my man Bomani who played some trumpet on 2 tracks and the second (below) is of Chris Arpad who played steel drums on a track. Both of these guys are super awesome people that i hope we get to work with again. We used little bits of each session as a nice spice for the tracks. If you have never watched a great steel drum player you are missing out. Chris was so much fun to watch jamming on our stuff.
you can see more of chris on his official site by clicking here.
this saturday on 8.26 we will be performing a 7 song ACOUSTIC set for the surfers united recovery foundation in venice. the S.U.R.F. mission is simple – surfers helping surfers and surf industry employees achieve and sustain recovery from alcoholism and or drug addiction. you can read all about it as well as get all the details about the event right here: S.U.R.F Benefit we will play 2 songs off our next record as well as one from the first record that has never been played live before. since lewscious is out of town it’s basically gonna be rob and q with a little nathan on moog and even less of me on a shaker . hope to see you there.
F10
Im happy to announce that our remix record — aptly titled “remix ep” is now available in stores and online for purchase. there are some pretty sweet remixes on this ep. richard fearless from death in vegas did a sitar-infused version of trip, gabin (my great musical friends from italy) did an incredible bossa nova version of hollywood and los angeles’ own l’arsen gave us a blissly dubbed out version of monterey. we are honored to have some other great remixers such as king britt (philly), dert (la), mercir (seattle) and mark sgarbossa (sd) also appear on this ep. i want to thank all of them for their hard work and creativity. its great to hear these songs interpretted in such a variety of new ways.
BUY IT NOW AND SUPPORT THE ARTS IN LOS ANGELES
F10
view from our stage at street scene 8.5
hi everyone! just wanted to let you know what’s ahead on the blog – show reports from tucson, tempe and street scene along with blogs about our in-studio dj fun at 94.9 in san diego and indie 103.1 in los angeles.
speaking of radio we have been getting plenty of action as of late in the so cal area with our remix record – a few plays this past week on kcrw (morning becomes eclectic with nic harcourt and metropolis with jason bentley) as well as from indie 103.1 and 94.9 . last friday we were guests on midori’s big sonic chill show. we were there for 3 hours! yesterday we were TK’s special guests on his coup d’etat show. both shows were a blast – we have pics and blogs about all this stuff coming soon so check back in the next day or two.
sorry the blog hasnt been updated the past 2 weeks but we have been pretty busy – the record is also taking shape – robert james is leading the charge in the studio and burning the candle at both ends. i dont know how this guy can stay awake so late at night. insane. indian ocean is still my favorite new song. remix record comes out next week too.
talk to you soon – F10
phot credit – julio m
below are the next batch of shows we have. it will be the first time for us to play in arizona so thats cool. the night before st scene we are going to 94.9 and hanging out with midori on her big sonic chill show. its gonna be totally casual and unplanned. think we’re just gonna hang out, help her host a bit and maybe play a couple acoustic songs…chill and tons of fun. maybe we will give stuff away. then the next afternoon is st scene which should be great – we are playing on the same stage as modest mouse, yeah yeah yeahs, bloc party, and the editors.
8.2 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
8.3 Tempe, AZ – The Sets
8.4 San Diego, CA – FM94.9 Big Sonic Chill w/ Midori
8.05 San Diego, CA – Street Scene
8.26 Venice, CA (Acoustic Set)- S.U.R.F Benefit
qualcomm stadium parking lot…here we come
Im thrilled to announce our “short ‘n sweet” northwest tour. why am i so excited? well, we get to play seattle which is one of our most favorite cities to play in not to mention home of the first gig we EVER played (chop suey). our first stop in seattle is at kexp (one of the coolest radio stations in the country) where we’re gonna play some new songs in the studio. in portland we get to play at a new venue for us (dante’s) and then drive all night to play our first major festival – the high sierra. hope to see you there! we wont be back in this area until late fall/early winter if that.
6.28 Seattle, WA – KEXP
6.28 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey
6.29 Portland, OR – Dante’s
6.30 Quincy, CA – High Sierra Festival
7.01 Quincy, CA – High Sierra Festival
our good friend from denver, tim d, is at it again with the poster you see above. we’re actually supposed to be selling the first tour poster he made for us on our last tour but my SLOW AS HELL graphics guy (aka todd calvert) is taking forever uploading it to our online store. hopefully one day soon it will be there along with this one.
-F10
OUR LAST LA SHOW UNTIL THE FALL! Just in time for memorial day….2 shows in 2 of california’s best cities. get your tickets now or be s.o.l.
5.26 San Francisco, CA – Cafe Du Nord
5.27 Los Angeles, CA – Spaceland
dear spaceland, it’s about time we played the east side. thanx for the front page ad. that’s why we love you!
-F10
well people, the time has almost arrived. in a few days tony, mariqueen and myself will leave the lovely confines of los angeles and drive for about a week straight until we hook up with the rest of the band in “bahstin” for our first show. that’s a lot of driving if you think about it (im trying not to).
below is the official list of shows for the next tour. 20 shows in 26 days so far with one more probable add on the 22nd so keep checking back for more updates.
4.1 Boston, MA – Boston University (closed to public)
4.2 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe
4.3 Asbury Park, NJ – The Saint
4.5 Northampton, MA – Iron Horse
4.6 New York, NY – CODA
4.7 Easton, MA – Stone Hill College
4.8 Washington DC – GW University (closed to public)
4.9 Baltimore, MD – The 8X10
4.11 Pittsburgh, PA – Brillo Box
4.13 Traverse City, MI – Union St Station
4.14 Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre w/ Bump
4.15 Marquette, MI – Up Front and Company
4.17 Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig
4.18 Kalamazoo, MI – Club Soda
4.19 Grand Rapids, MI – Intersection w/ Bump
4.20 Moline, IL – Bent River Brewery w/ Bump
4.21 Chicago, IL – Martyrs w/ Bump
4.23 Minneapolis, MN – Ascot Room w/ Bump
4.24 Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
4.26 Denver, CO – 3 King’s Tavern
WAYS TO WIN FREE TICKETS!
JamBase.com – is going to be giving away a pair of tickets to each one of our shows on the tour so please check out their site and enter to win. jambase is a great music resource if you havent checked it out yet.
MySpace.com – even though the shows at BU and GWU are closed to the public we do have room on our guest list for ten lucky fans in both cities. so if you want to be a part of this special list just leave a comment telling us why you think you should be one of those 10 lucky people. there is no right or wrong answer…winners will be chosen completely at random by the powers at be. if you sound sincere or just make us laugh you will probably get picked. it’s all about spreadin the love baby.
also, if you want to record the show – just send us an email ahead of time and let us know so we can work it out
see ya at the merch booth
F10
Daaaang, we are finally going on tour again. against all odds this band is back on the road with a new keyboard player, a new sound man, and a new tour manager. this tour will be a blast for many reasons but the main one is because we will be headlining or co-headling almost almost all of the dates rather than opening. the tentative schedule has us starting in vt and staying on the east coast until the 12th when we hit the midwest for the next 10 days. we will be hitting many new cities such as denver, kansas city, pittsburgh, ann arbor, grand rapids, northampton and even marquette, mi. please check the tour section on the site for all the confirmed dates thus far.
another highlight of the tour will be getting to play some shows in the midwest with our friends from Bump. Bump are good people and big thanx to joe choma and jc for working us in on the bills with them. i’m looking forward to those dates in michigan — especially grand rapids becuase that’s where im from so not only does the band get to stay at my mom’s house and have her cook them breakfast but a bunch of my friends from high school should be at the show… good but scary times. ian, the president of the wighead street team is also going out on the road with us as our tour manager/do-everything guy. kevin our spiritual sage burning soundman from san diego is also making the trip. 7 good people on the road should reap plenty of good karmic rewards. the real only drag about the tour is going to be how it starts. mariqueen and i are going to drive the equipment out east and meet the rest of the band there. yeah of course it will be tons of fun to drive with Q but 45hrs of driving is never fun even if its with a car full of comics. good times for sure and tons of good stories for the blog to come. what an intense road trip and tour to follow. ok then, much more to come about this in the next few days.
brian – i expect to see you at a few of these shows.
hey frob you better be in kc with a beverage in your hand.
jim wellington, the same goes for you in pittsburgh
F10
nathan nathan nathan – to be honest with you i really dont know much about nathan. i dont even know his last name until a few days ago. what i do know is that he is tall (6’4″), thin, and a wicked ass keyboard player. as far as nathan’s personality goes, well he is quiet and reserved…the kind of guy that lets his playing do the talking. interestingly, his personality also seems to be laced with a dark quality which i find very comforting. so you ask how we found our tall thin duke…well, lewscious sauntered in to a rehearsal a couple weeks ago with nathan in tow and the rest is history. so far after 5 rehearsals nathan has learned 6 songs – that’s a pretty great pace. the songs have changed a little bit because all the keyboard parts are being interpreted by a different player but that is a natural evolution of the music. just on the basis of hearing the songs after one week of rehearsal i can confidently say the music will not take a turn for the worse. oh contrare, i think our songs will grow and change even more because of nathan’s talent at free form jamming. i also really like his chord choices…he tends to stray away from major stuff which is always a plus in my book. anyway, welcome aboard nathan we are all really glad to have you in our fucked up family.
F10
Mariqueen’s Mind 
oh my… nathan van hala, welcome to the family you tall drink of water. i suppose you have already found your nitch as the dark & quiet middle child. i’ve already given him twenty five bonus points for impeccable taste and twenty five extra points for having a dope ass first and last name, plus the ten he had in his pocket for knowing mark lewis and never mentioning it to me a year ago…
weird — i knew nathan before he ever got the new position in west indian girl. one night after our summer tour my friend jenn had a movie party at her house. we drank wine, watched “old boy” and then hit up the jacuzzi after. i remembered meeting this super tall, quiet and witty guy who was dating the rad girl named amanda. fast forward one year later and now we’ve reunited under new circumstances… he’s been playing with lewscious for a minute and now he’s gonna go on tour with us… isn’t that crazy???
this world is too small. too small for my own good…
i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again… i’m into it.
due to reasons beyond our control chris carter has decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. 
it seems that sitting behind the keyboards wasnt enough spiritual satisfaction for chris and the allure of being a front man/guitarist for his own band was simply too much for him to resist. as far as i was concerned the news was particularly devastating just because i considered chris my good friend and buddy. i knew carter before he joined west indian girl and i will truly miss him. it seems like i called him every day when he was in the band – he was the number 5 on my cell phone speed dial – he still is actually but i never call him any more. i actually did last week to tell him that i missed him but he seemed like he didnt really give a shit. that withstanding, chris is really a fucking awesome guy and i wish him well and hope his dreams come true. 
his new band has an official standing invitation to open for us at any show they wish. hmmm, maybe that will give him a good reason to call me again. carter, thanx again for your loyalty to the band over the past 2 years you were the best keyboard player we had. i love ya and miss ya bro.
F10
Mariqueen’s Mind
cartier,
i’m sorry i didn’t call you back yesterday i got swamped with stuff… you know how it goes. i hope you had a great time at the oscars. um… i hope you’re doing well and that tokio is tons of fun. whenever i have free time from work and rehearsal and recording and the boyfriend and life i will come and see you cause i miss you so much.
this is uncomfortable. so… um see ya…
well what do you expect? like all break ups i tend to move on… and fast.
listen, chris… i know i’m gonna see you soon and i know we’ll work together again it’s inevitable… whenever we get our schedules synchronized i’ll come over and you can make me some of your spicy pasta stuff and i can drink more of your wine and we’ll discuss the perils of being young and good looking in los angeles, ok?
love to love to love you forever…
Qberta
PS… email me so i can send you all the priceless pictures i have of you…
Cheers to Memories of Chris Carter
at hob with fischerspooner
at niagra falls
at the stick in detroit
at XPN in philly
In “Hollywood,†a highly sought after bag of “party favors†guides the viewer through a wild urban safari that explores the many faces of modern day Hollywood subculture. A visual narrative takes us through several exchanges of the bag amongst disparate characters over the course of a typically wild Hollywood night. – official press release
I would like to take a minute to discuss the new video for hollywood because some people have expressed concerns about us showing it. Director Cary Heckman has this to say about the video, “The heavily narrative themed video, takes the viewer on a wild ride, through the Good, Bad, and Ugly, Sides of Hollywood life and culture, using a bag a drugs, as the common thread that ties them all together.” I would basically agree with him on that. At the end of the day this video is what it is…a little film set to music. The film in question centers around drugs which are a very common side of hollywood (as in most big cities for that matter). If you live here, like all of us in the band do, then you might take this for granted and not really be shocked…we’ve seen it all a billion times before – it’s just a slice of one side of the party life in hollywood. Is it glamorous? not really – i think drugs are bad in general. So, to sum up, (mom and dad) we are not coke addicts nor do we sit around snorting cocaine or advocate it’s use – this is a video so relax and enjoy it for the clever story, great cinematography, and fun song. We would love to hear what you think of the video so please feel free to chime in with your comments below. So without further adieu here is our video. Thanks Cary, we appreciate all your hard work.
You can download it here: Please be at least 18 to watch this so your parents dont bum out at us. The video is 20megs so it might take a little while to load.
Or you can just watch it online at: IFILM, Internet DJ, Video Static
F10
this is pretty awesome news. the first and only officially sanctioned west indian girl street team is now up and running. the ring leader operates out of new york – his name is ian and he’s the man. we trust in ian’s enthusiam, professionalism, and vision for the wigheads. we couldnt have a better person in charge of this important branch of the west indian girl tree. so, if you’re passionate about the band we would love and appreciate your participation. a band can never have enough help spreading the word ya know. there will be many cool fringe benefits from joining – like free tickets to shows with a guest and backstage passes and much more. thanx ian. cant wait to hang in nyc with you. F10
i was thinking that since i’m starting to accumulate random video clips of us it’s about time to organize them on one page. so, until my slow ass web graphics guy (hi todd) can make a pretty page for me on the media part of the site this blog video page will have to do. these file types are all random (mostly wmv) so for most of them just click the link and it will start your windows media player. if you dont have windows media player just go get one here: download options.
video #1 What Are You AFraid Of – this was the first “real” video we filmed – by real i mean expensive cameras, film crew, make up, elephant, you name it etc etc. it was a great time if you ask me. Ken and Dave from Filmworks/FX did an awesome job for the one day shoot at 2 beautiful summer california locations. it was intense working with an elephant – they’re massive but really calming to be around. look closely and you will see my dog tony in it too.
video #2 Miles From Monterey – my friend and part time tour tech sean fodor sent me some of the video footage he took of us while working with us on the road. this was in dec of 2004 and documents our first ever west coast tour. it’s pretty cool and i’m really glad this piece of history was documented in a sort of bon jovi-esque way. i always wondered what he was doing with that camera.
video #3 Behind The Scenes – taken during our video shoot for “what are you afraid of” – once again, i’m glad sean was there to document it. this was june 2005. almost all of these people are friends of ours although after watching this again i realized i dont know who many of these people are. i also dont know why sean didnt put footage of the elephant in here. the elephant was actually letting people ride on his back.
video #4 At the Fillmore– this is a brief clip from a show in jun 2005 when we opened for fischerspooner. all we have is the end section of “what are you afraid of”. sean fodor took this footage also. thanx buddy. i remember thinking to myself “wow” the fischerspooner fans are really really nice for clapping for us.
video #4 Hollywood Live – this is a brief clip from a show at the detroit bar in costa mesa on 11.17.05. sent in by rob everest. warning! right now this file is massive(112mb)and it will take over 5 minutes to load. open it in a new window and let it load. be patient if you want to see it. i am going to have my web master (sascha – way faster than todd) fix it for me so that it wont take too long to load but for now you have to wait in line like the rest of them.
video #5 Portland Karaoke Live (part 1) & (part 2) – two 30 second clips i took from my camera on 3.01.01 of mariqueen and carter singing what a feeling (flashdance theme) by irene cara at some karaoke bar across from our hotel. words really cant describe how amazing this scene was to watch. the highlight of the video is lewscious doing some sort of crazy pogo dance – there’s also some annoying girl that kept trying to steal q and carter’s moment in the karoake sun. precious footage.
Damn. this poster kicks ass. the opening band A.M. Vibe in san diego had this made and it’s blowin me away. thanx guys you have done well in having your name penciled in at the very top of our “cool band’s in s.d to play shows with” list. thanx again. the artist by the way is mark sgarbossa. way to be. F10
Hey guys, sorry i havent posted for a while but i was sick have been leading crazy hours in the studio lately. anyway, just a quick note to let you know our video is going to be on mtv2 subterranean this sunday night nov 6th at midnight. watch for it or tivo it at least. take care – some more news coming — hopefully another west coast tour in dec.
F.TEN
