West Indian Girl

yes, it’s inevitable, our band is very much like a family in every emotional, needy, beautiful, happy, sad, angry, inspirational, challenging and loving way…take a peak into a day in the life with west indian girl:

Yeah yeah, it’s not just because these guys have listed us as a must see event in their last 2 issues.  It’s more because I honestly dig this mag’s format.  As stated in their information section, “Play’s concept is pretty simple: create a compelling format to showcase the best upcoming events here in L.A.”  It’s a digital flip-book that simulates the page-turn interface of a regular mag.  You can even stream the band they recommend seeing.  It’s a big visual ad for “these are the events you can’t miss this month”.   Perfect for all of us with ADD or ADHD.  Honestly, because of this mag I’m gonna take a date to LACMA on Feb 9.

pc: danny perez

Yesterday KCRW named Nynex’s remix of “To Die In LA” their top tune of the day. This is more great news concerning our volume 2 remix project which is going to be released on itunes on the 23rd. Click on the picture below to check out the link – I believe this track is now a free download for a limited time.

Got a funny call from my friend Grant “Monster” Gordon today. Grant never really calls me so when I saw his name on my cell I figured it must be important. Turns out he was in Santa Monica driving behind a bus that happened to have my face on it. HAHAHAHA – he was laughing so hard and all I kept saying was “take a picture of it monster and send it to me”. He got close enough to the bus to take these fine shots that I present here for your approval. These are part of the KCRW ad campaign – they were nice enough to have Q and I on some of their ads.

Words can’t really describe the feeling of seeing your face on the back of a bus. Below is the actual ad. 

Side note – writing this post reminded me of The Replacements’ song Kiss Me On The Bus which I have been listening to this whole time.

There has been tons of press on us lately but it’s this kind of press that makes me smile the most. we were mentioned in the horoscope section of this months shojo beat magazine.

If you are like me and didnt know what that mag was all about read below. how awesomely random is this. i guess it’s just a harbinger of our impending deal over in japan.

Welcome to Shojo Beat, the biggest shojo manga magazine ever published in the United States, proudly presenting six series’ worth of manga frontier for you to explore. While we expect that a great many of you have been reading manga (shojo or otherwise) for years, we also have an inkling that a few of you may not know what manga is (shocking!) or why you should care about reading it. Well, we’re here to show you, because while we’re not sure what you’ve been doing all these years, we’re positive that 90 percent of it wasn’t as fun as reading manga. The time has come for you to delve into the drama—to laugh, cry, love, and get inspired via this beautiful and unique art form, and to take a step into the brave new world of manga.

Here’s a bare-bones introduction to shojo manga for the uninitiated—and for those of you who may need a refresher.

Manga (mahn-ga) means “random pictures” or “whimsical pictures” in Japanese. Manga combine pictures and words to convey a story—in short, they’re comics. But unlike American comics, Japanese comics are often first serialized in telephone book-size magazines and then later compiled into complete graphic novels. They are also usually printed in monochrome tones rather than in color.

Shojo (show-joe) means “girl” in Japanese. Shojo manga are often characterized by a moody, abstract art style, with close-ups of characters’ faces intermingling with dreamy backdrops. In contrast to action-oriented shonen (boys’) manga, shojo manga ruminate on themes of emotion, love, identity, and responsibility that often play out internally. That said, shojo manga are by no means just for girls. Shojo stories are about aspects of life that concern everyone—boys and girls, old and young. Note: The word shojo normally appears with a circumflex or macron over the first o, as in shôjo; we removed it for the sake of simplicity and readability in the magazine.

finally we have our first video from 4th & wall. it’s for the first song on the cd called “to die in LA”. this was directed by jean christophe chamboredon. think eurotrip but with a nice camera video phone. i got to drive around in my truck with tony and a hitchhiker for an hour. two random things to note. on my way to the video my truck got a flat tire. there’s also a great shot of my car stereo in the video. ironically, this car stereo was stolen out of my truck a couple days later. that now marks the third time my car stereo has been stolen in la. thanks to the asshole that it ripped it out of my dashboard – i wish i could have caught you in the act and then beat the fuck out of you with it. merry xmas fucker – i hope the crack was worth whatever you pawned it for.

I just found a link to an in interview mariqueen did a couple months ago for Vidagirl. As stated on their front page “VidaGIRL is the hip and informative English language online magazine and newsletter that celebrates the life, culture, style and spirit of today’s young Latinas and multi-cultural women. VidaGIRL has created an online community with content that breaks down stereotypes and conveys a positive and inspiring message to its readers.” I guess Q is now our little multicultural girl now. Here is the link to the interview
… Muy bien Q.

as you know we are recording, producing and mixing the next cd on our own. that said, you might understand why it is taking a little longer than usual to finish. are we professional mixers? just watch the videos of me attempting to mix and that should answer that question. i fondly refer to the song in question as “running man”. i think it’s gonna make the cd….one mix or another.

mixing and mismatching

more mixing… more mismatching

confusion and a case of the crazies

we did our first “official” photoshoot for the new record yesterday. what an awesome day for a shoot. the lovely lucy hamblin (from nyc) was our photographer – it was a mellow and relaxed shoot with a few set ups. one inside on a couch and the others outside in and around a pool. we were up at roya’s house (from milan records) in the hills. great house, nice pool, awesome view. that’s la for ya. sometimes it’s just perfect here. check out the video below. nothing special but it’s better than a picture. thanx for letting us run around your place roya.

q and i went to the demand media party at the trendy roosevelt hotel last night. as far as grip n grins go it was a pretty cool event. the tropicana poolside bar is a pretty nice place to have drinks. .tv (dot tv) is the next big wave for social networking sites. i like to describe it as myspace meets youtube but better. we even met carson daly who, by the way, is going to have us play his show this fall….right carson?

west indian girl is one of the first bands to have a .tv page. this page will serve as our official video archive. we will be posting EVERY single piece of video concerning the band on this page. anything and everything from ping pong games at the studio to official videos will be posted here first.   so check out westindiangirl.tv now. sign up and be our friend.

 q and carson

normally a drive down the 110S at 3pm on a friday afternoon in los angeles is not a good idea. on this particular instance though it had to be done. you see my friend jade howe was having a little house warming party at his company’s new digs. i recruited my best friend sascha linn to make the trip with me for a few reasons. 1. hes got a nice benz and on a hot day like today this trip in my landcruiser wouldnt have been pleasant (read sticky). 2. hes into clothes and 3. we needed a good reason to catch up. the party at howe was perfect way to kick off my weekend – it was intimate, good drinks, good music, and we got a guided tour. the office space is dialed and the new lines look amazing. you can check them out here www.HauseofHowe.com below is some video from the party.

i owe a lot to this man…specifically the 3 pair of jeans that i have been wearing for the past couple years. it’s never a problem endorsing someone whose product you love and someone who’s always so cool. jade was actually the subject of one of my first 10 with ten interviews haha check it out. he was the first non band member to be interviewed. i have to do more of those this year. special thanx to elsie for making sure i was there. elsie you are the best!

“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)

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.

adding to the strangeness of my so called life comes this. finding myself on the cover of a magazine called contexts….with a busty blonde, a baby, and a red head with pins in her neck no less. i’m on there because there is a story about why people get tattoos – seems like they should have interviewed me for it so nothing would be taken out of context….but they didnt. i’m happy to be there though…thanx people at context. F10

yesterday we did a really cool photoshoot for a new webzine called galrilla. galrilla is described as the world’s first creative female online network. it’s a pretty impressive art and fashion site if you ask me. there will be a west indian girl interview and article in one of the next few issues. i will let you know when its out. thanks to lilian kha for hooking it all up. she had a great shoot set up at a studio on wilshire in la. you can check out the first issue here.

See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight

we had our first publicity photoshoot for the second record last week. tyler parker was the man behind the camera. we did the shoot at the orthodox clothing house in la. it was tight – a few locations – quick and easy. tyler’s crew was solid. im sure nathan is thrilled at the thought of never having to see chris carter’s face on a poster when we pull up to clubs in the near future.

Heads turning as the lights flashing out it’s so bright

check it out – we made the cover of the daily insider today….awesome stuff. the insider is the official sundance newspaper. its an honor. thank you guys. to see a bigger more readable version of the daily insider click here -it’s a big pdf file so it might take a minute to load. quick little update….our last show is tonight. it’s going to be brought to you by flycell and morrill media. what’s flycell you ask….that my friends will soon become clear. lets put it this way…flycell and west indian girl are about to launch into a partnership that is going to be the new model for bands in years to come. F.10

Fran’s Flashback
we had the privilege of doing a little acoustic set/interview on kpcw today. as far as radio shows go, it was smooth. rob and q kicked off the show with a nice version of monterey then followed it up with a new song that im not sure has a title yet. amy joined them on that song. then everyone sang along to our new song called get up. i think rob and q are getting more and more comfortable doing these acoustic gigs. from my perspective it seems like these little shows sometimes put you on the spot a bit more than oh, say, playing in front of a thousand people. weird how that is….i actually become more relaxed the larger the crowd is. on the other hand im also equally relaxed during any small interview. the only times i find myself not being as relaxed as i would like to be are the smaller packed intermediate size club gigs…mostly in la and ny though. maybe its cos there are too many people i know at these shows. or maybe its just me…its probably just me. i need to get over myself. anyway, the host at kpcw (randy) was very personable and had a friendly interviewing style. he did make me realize that we need a new bio or at least a new press blurb though. im not happy with the run-on thousand adjective one that we now have. i also realized that its becoming increasingly difficult to describe our music. nothing seems to fit and thats a good thing actually. one of ian’s friends, andrew zrike, was at this show documenting it in pictures. he did a great job. they are posted on his site here.

uhhh, can you repeat the question again?

Fran’s Flashback
our first of 3 shows at sundance was the private party for the launch of film.com. this site is really cool…and it’s not just because of the live video they have of us on their sundance page. the party took place at the star bar which is probably the best bar in town for live music. we played with apples in stereo and they were all great people to hang out with.

dressing room and rider wrap up:
the facilities 12 points. star bar’s lay out is great. the bar never felt like it was oppressively crowded as there were plenty of different places to go to within the venue. great vip areas, big green room, nice bar. the only negs are the parking, bitch of a load-in, lack of a private bathroom, and lack of extra space for our road cases.

rider/amenities 20 points. im talkin socks, towels, tons of food (great food – not just a deli tray but full on vip food), drinks, you name it…even the batteries. this spread was fantastic. top notch. i wish every promoter would take a lesson from geoff who was responsible for this. rarely will you ever see a score of 20 in this category

stage,sound,lights 14 points. i thought the stage was great considering there was other gear on it. it wasnt big but it worked. the system was adequate. the lighting was bright but that was due to filming. i thought the stage sound was fantastic…my bass worked well up there. rob and greg the soundmen were awesome and hooked us up with a check even though they were pressed for time. these guys were good.

promoter 20 points. geoff walker (pictured below with q) is no stranger to this game. the guy knows how to take care of his talent. he was fantastic. everyone at film.com rules. they all treated us incredibly well. special thanks to ted kartzman for making it happen. the promotion for this gig and all the press surrounding it was awesome. bookmark film.com now.

staff 20 points. maxwell morrill wasnt actually running the show tonight but he was somehow involved. maxwell is clutch and the staff at the star bar was right on. the catering staff that was working the event were amazing. everyone there, even security, was a pleasure to deal with.

intangibles 12 points. a free 3 camera video shoot with fully edited fotage available online the next day isnt something to scoff at.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 98. this is my first A+ and has really set the bar high. i wish geoff was in charge of taking care of us from now on (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories).

Mariqueen’s Mind
The City: park city at night is a shock to my tropical blood stream. when we did park city tv it was around 2 in the afternoon and the sun was shining which made the cold weather bearable. tonight was a different story. i stepped out of the van and instantly felt like my nose was going to fall off my face. i should’ve bought that face mask at sport chalet.

The Venue: the star bar lives up to it’s name. the backstage dressing area was wonderul and fully catered with everything we wanted. the staff let me change in their office and their sound man was a total sweetheart. i even met a girl who i later dubbed, my favorite bartender in park city. anyway, out of a possible ten, the star bar gets a nine only because we didnt have our own bathrooms to use. big deal though — after the endless wine, shrimp cocktail and heavenly hors d’ouvres i was put in a magical place and couldnt complain about anything.

The Show: we played a tight and relaxed set. well, that’s what josh and ian said, anyway. i spent most of the show worrying over how i picked fashion over function. before i knew it, our set was over and i didnt have a single britney shot or a janet jackson superbowl mishap. good times.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: please stay inside this dress, please stay inside this dress. repeat in time with mark’s drum beat.

Interesting Things After The Show: well, before the show fran, rob and i got double interviewed by sasha and laremy from film.com. sasha and i seemed to be on the same wavelength when it came to the comfort levels we felt through out the whole process. laremy took over the second half and i basically kept my yapper shut except for when the microphone got put in front of my face and i mustered out, “ditto”. i wish i had gotten to talk to sasha after the interview to apologize about how bad i am at talking with the cameras on. i spoke with laremy about it and he reassured me it was cool, because interviews arent natural conversations. i guess that means im no good at bs’ing. unless i have a drink. or five. after the show i was hanging out at the merch booth and did a very impromptu interview but was actually more relaxed and eloquent. maybe the dewars, grand marnier and vodka tonic helped with the relaxation part, but the eloquence is all me baby.

Nathan’s Nonsense
later that night we were whisked away from our swanky little condo on over to the star bar on main street for the film.com/real networks party. i remember having no idea as to my whereabouts as i had yet to get my bearings. this was an exclusive, private party mostly for industry schmoozers and execs. not a bad show at all on our part, though one thing i didn’t care for was the way the sound was mixed to conversation level in the back of the venue so as to accommodate all the hobnobbers. nothing wrong with a little networking, mind you. we all do it, but when there are clusters of bodies with their backs to the performers, rubbing as many elbows as possible and chatting away, it does not bode very well in my book. apples in stereo suffered from the same pervasive indifference, but you wouldn’t have known it from their performance. they just barreled along with their lilting, sugary pop gems, keeping the portion of the audience that actually gave a damn in motion. it was a special treat to hang out with these guys, especially the venerable mr. snyder. never met such a lovable guy in my life. he’s like this big fluffy-wuffy chipmunk with glasses. and he probably doesn’t appreciate being likened to a skimpering woodland critter, so i’ll stop there. lastly, i was very happy my good friends jeremy and asia from LA could make it down. it just so happened they were both in park city doing hair and makeup, respectively, for the celebs and well-to-do. you’d probably pee yourself if i told you who they had their hands on during the festival. i know i sure did.

playing “get up” for the first time

Fran’s Flashback
well i guess letterman wont be our first live tv appearance. instead, mid-day with ori on pctv was the first to pop our tv cherry. i couldnt have asked for a kinder, gentler man. we played 3 songs (trip, indian ocean and get up) followed by a sit down interview that made me feel like i was on the bob newhart show. it was awesome.dressing room and rider wrap up: this is one of those tweeners cos its not really a proper club which makes it a bit difficult to rate.the facilities 16 points. the tv station was pretty dope. there was a nice lounge with a big screen in it. the place was clean and really comfy. the only neg i can think of is the load in which included a small elevator. elevators always hurt your score.

rider/amenities 10 points. decent spread of food – pizzas, drinks etc etc. no alcohol but we arent really mid day drinkers anyway. bottom line is that we were fed well and it was there waiting for us.

stage,sound,lights 17 points. the stage was great. it wasnt big but looked great. it was well lit and had everything we needed. good gear. it was a bit tiny but then again we are a big band.

promoter 20 points. ori was a pretty awesome dude. he was all over the place…he did our sound, interviewed us, and even worked a camera. the guy really was a one man show. plus he read the blog and knew i would be watching him like a hawk. ori did his homework.

staff 20 points. again, cant say a bad thing about anyone at the station. no one gave us a hard time. everyone was nice. a guy named tony was there taking pictures of us. even the parking lot guy was friendly.

intangibles 10 points. they turned on the playoff game for us to watch, let tony run around unchecked and even took group photos on the roof. these are all worth extra credit.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 93. congrats you get a solid A. great score park city tv, you’re a class act. i hope you invite us back (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories).

Mariqueen’s Mind
The City: it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas, everywhere i go. that and i can see my breath. this is going to be difficult to get used to.

The Venue: the tv station was awesome. the stage was small, but im assuming that most tv stations have smaller stages — the three huge plasma tv’s with our picture on it more than made up for it. as we waited for everything to get set up they put the football game on so all the guys could get their neanderthal on. rad. the best part of the building was their rooftop patio — it overlooked the uh, parking lot, but a parking lot covered in snow with sundance tents and a mountainous back drop is a pretty epic sight to behold.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: oh god, i hope i dont look fat.

Interesting Things After The Show: after our three song set, rob, fran, tony and i got interviewed by ori, who is a fantastic host. it was kind of weird how at home i felt sitting on the couch knowing i was being taped to be on tv. ugh. that is such a lie. i was nervous and insecure about my pre-menstrual sized features and how they would show up ten lbs heavier on camera. freaking. cool. i love singing, not talking… but being around ori made me feel comfortable. ori and the couches. and of course, tony sitting next to me licking himself.

Nathan’s Nonsense
look mom, i’m on television! though our brief, three-song set was over before you could say “tele-mundo, odelay!” it was executed with precision and professionalism. now, if i can only land myself a spot on the celebrity hollywood squares panel, i will finally be able to die a happy man. one dream at a time, folks. ok, so a little about park city. this time of year, it’s pretty damn cold. and there’s snow everywhere. that’s it. there’s really nothing else about this place that i found to be unusual or of interest. oh, well, there was this little film festival going on, hoards of celebrity entourages everywhere, swag being peddled at every opportunity, and people taking pictures of anything and anyone. but besides that, it was just your average winter wonderland haven, like aspen. or saskatchewan.

group photo #1
group photo #2
group photo #3
yet another gratouitous live shot