The Buttercream Gang are Polite Men

Night Music

2011-08-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

So the tour went pretty smoothly. the shows were mixed (although the show we headlined at Cafe Du Nord went really well in all areas) as far as attendance goes, but I guess we set out hopes a little higher then we should have (seeing as our previous 2 shows in Seattle went really really well).

Now we're back to working on new songs and planning some new shows (but new material is the focus right now). In the meantime, here is a new mix of tunes I compiled. In my own view, these were all songs that in my mind I filed under good summer night music. Let me know what you listeners think of it.

BCG MIX 18
http://www.zshare.net/audio/937386860a378328/

tracklist:
1. Terra- Julian Lynch
2. Goodnight Tonight - Paul McCartney
3. Isfahan - Duke Ellington
4. On Point remix - Trademark Da Skydiver & Young Roddy
5. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) - Neil Young
6. Chip A Tooth (Spoil A Smile) - Spectrals
7. Rigor Mortis - The Meters
8. Batidinha - Antônio Carlos Jobim
9. Time Stands Still (feat. Dwele) - DJ Quik
10. Just Like A Baby - Sly & The Family Stone
11. Too High To Move - Quiet Village
12. Sail On Sailor - Kristin Oppenheim

BCG MIX 17: Hot Fun

2011-07-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

We've been working on new tunes for the live show and are preparing to go up the coast in a little less than 2 weeks to play some shows. Should be pretty good times. In the meantime, I compiled a mix of summery proportions that I invision as summer driving music mostly, but basically just good warm weather music. Hope you enjoy.

BCG MIX 17

tracklisting:

1 Quimbara - Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
2 I Wish (James & Evander Remix) - Skee-Lo
3 Amor Fati - Washed Out
4 We Can Get Down - A Tribe Called Quest
5 Back to Life - Soul II Soul
6 Jesus Fever - Kurt Vile
7 Respect Yourself - The Staple Singers
8 Nobody (feat. Suga Free) - DJ Quik
9 I Can't Wait - Twin Shadow
10 Real Life - Tanlines
11 Arleen - General Echo
12 Difficult Fun - The Slits
13 Sunshine (Feat. M.I.A.) - Rye Rye
14 WOMYN aka HITCH - Heems
15 I Want You Back - Esso Trinidad Steel Band

And the Mixes Keep Coming

2011-06-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here is is yall. BCG Mix 16, so fresh and so clean, and cooler than a polar bears toenails. tracklisting and link to download below:

BCG MIX 16

1 Far Nearer - Jamie xx
2 Get Up Stand Up - The Chequers
3 Whisper - Chaz Jankel Feat. Laura Weymouth
4 Ijere - Dr. Adolf Ahanotu
5 Undercover Of The Night - The Rolling Stones
6 Killin The Vibe - Ducktails
7 Place Aux Dames - Celestial Shore
8 Fire Bam (Diplo Mix) - M.I.A. & Diplo
9 Swerve... The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding) - Shabazz Palaces
10 It Takes A Muscle - M.I.A.

Shoot!

2011-03-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend was fairly productive. we had a somewhat lackluster practice as far as our skill levels go. we just weren't on the top of our game for whatever reason, but it ended fairly well. After that though we shot a music video.

Our friend Jazmin has been in town, having just moved back from Berlin, and probably back there after a short stay in New York. She's just home visiting family and friends for a couple weeks. She really quickly (almost as if possessed) came up with an idea for a music video that she wanted to shoot for us. Within about 72 hours of her initial idea (maybe even 48) we took to the streets and drove around from about 5pm onward shooting in Napa and Yountville until there wasn't anymore light. It was raining, it was muddy, it was cold, but is was also pretty damn fun. I won't ruin the surprise of what this video will look like (I'm not even completely sure myself), but I will give a few quick hints: mariachis, mustard fields, dancing.

This song below suites the mood that this weather induces, and was one that we listened to when driving to locations

Album Cover, SONS!!! It's called Polite Men, SUCKAS!!!

2011-03-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

Dropping April 13th. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. After you do that though, check our this album when it drops.

Album Has Shipped

2011-03-05T00:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is right, the album has shipped. What does that mean to you, or us? That means we will soon have our grubby hands on the distilled product of the last 2 (or so) years of work writing, practicing, recording, mixing, mastering, and designing a whole product both musical (capital "M") and art. Hope some of you can get a little excited about that haha. I myself am quite excited to get this music out there and start to get some honest to goodness feedback. Art is obviously supposed to be for the person who makes it, on a certain level; but what would be the point in putting it out there if we didn't want to see what others thought of it, or to make people happy in some sort of way. Pretty simple stuff really.

Another little non-us treat. I've really been digging this song over the last couple weeks. it took me a few listens to get used to the voice. you don't hear a lot of voices like this in good off kilter indie rock these days; clean, soulful, aggressive, and versatile. I was surprised when talking at a bar tonight with a friend that the singer is a woman. Now it makes sense and I can hear it, but damn if I wasn't fooled. I actually played this in my house while my parents were home, and (cool kids beware) my mom and I started doing a little solo dancing to it. Those in the world of indie-rock marketing take heed, apparently old people dig this. So, without further adieu....

April 13th Album Release (Show)

2011-03-01T00:09:00.000-08:00

I don't really have much to say, but I have made statements claiming I would make an attempt to post more often on the blog. Nothing too exciting. The album is being manufactured and we've been working on a lot of new material along with preparing material for our album release show at Red Devil Lounge on April 3rd in San Francisco (also have upcoming shows in Napa and Cotati). It was an ordeal to say the least to get a solidified lineup for the show, but I'm happy now that it's over in done with because we have two great acts on the bill, John Thill and Alright. they make me happy and that is all there is to that. All that being said though, I just wanted to do a show off this video. I've been jamming out to this song for the last year or two (whenever it came out) and while the album is just okay, this song is really great in my opinion. Grade A crooning going on. Enjoy (you might want to have a fruity cocktail in hand while listening to this ditty).

Album Release Show

2011-02-24T23:25:00.000-08:00

We're going to be playing a, hopefully, transcendent show to celebrate the release of our album "Polite Men" at Red Devil Lounge in SF on April 13th w/ John Thill and Alright check out details on the event here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157591287627365&ref=ts

We'll also be playing North Light in Cotati on April 28th

&

Bloom in Napa with John Thill and Comfort Slacks

THE ALBUM IS BEING MADE

2011-02-17T18:19:00.000-08:00

I am HORRIBLE at maintaining this blog, but I will try to do better. That being said, it's not as if we have been dormant since the last post. I'm happy to announce that our album is DEFINITELY going to be out in April. It is being manufactured right now. that mean that the art is done, the music is done, the album has been mastered. machines are making what you will (can) hold in your hands, open up, take the cd out, and insert into your player. or if you roll digitally that will be there for you also.

We've been working on a lot of new songs, so without making any promises, I think it will be a lot less than 2 years before you'll be hearing new music from us (after we release our new album Polite Men). We're going to try and make the music we release be a lot less infrequent. We will be doing a lot on all our own if all goes as planned. recorded in our practice space and getting it to you got off the press.

In the meantime here is a link to download the stand alone single we released a few months back, "Sun's Not in the Sky".

http://www.zshare.net/download/81675056966f1beb/

Thanks, for those of you who have supported us thus far. Now we'll just be waiting to get our hands on these. having finished this album about 6 months ago, I still listen to it and am happy, which is a good sign.

Merry XXX-Mas, and a Happy Lewd Year

2010-12-30T18:04:00.000-08:00

So, I'm a little late on this one (we were a little late on getting it posted up on the Glial Cell website), but we have the Glial Cell X-Mas 2K10 album up for free download. So far the response has been really good and people have been compelled to give it repeated listens:

GLIALCELL.COM

In more BCG oriented news, we just got physical copies of our single, Sun's Not In The Sky/Only As Good (limited to 100), and will be giving those out for free at our shows until they run out.

The art for our upcoming LP, Polite Men, is reaching the final stages, which means that soon enough we will be sending the album off to be physically manufactured, as well as available digitally. Oh the joys of waiting for an album to come out months after the music has been recorded. It's an exercise of patients for all parties involved.

We're playing tomorrow (New Year's Eve) at Hotel Utah in SF, which should be pretty fun, and a great way to ring in the new year. We've never played there as a band (although Rob played there with another project he was involved in with our good friend Lucas Farmer), but I, having never been there, have heard only good things. Come out if you're around and be rewarded with our new single, haha.

Earlier this week we played a really fun (I thought) and unique show in Napa at Slack Ranch. We played there in June and it was really really fun. It was good energy all around. This time the energy was still really great, but it was a really muddy affair. We had to trudge through mud, sometimes deep enough to envelope our feet, in order to bring our equipment in the house. This was not enjoyable in the slightest, although it was slightly comical. It's always a task to store equipment as well seeing as the house is fairly small. What was really cool though, other than having a lot of great people show up to see us (, Ars Nova and Finish Ticket) play, was that Paul Slack set up a huge tarp/tent outside to protect people from the rain. There was no way everyone could fit in the house, so a good amount of people were outside under the tarp, and on the edge of the tarp was a bonfire which was really nice considering we were all pretty wet and muddy. In the end everything turned out pretty well sound-wise, and people were feeling things once we got into the swing of our set.

Stay tuned for further album related details, and thanks to those that maintain and interest in our band and the (often neglected) blog.

Zombietown

2010-10-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

check out this jammer to listen to and download in the spirit of the Halloween festivus
ZOMBIETOWN

NEW SINGLE: Sun's Not in the Sky

2010-10-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

SUN'S NOT IN THE SKY [CLICK ON LINK FOR MUSIC]

There is the link to our new single, Sun's Not in the Sky. This is very exciting for us, seeing as this is the first new music that we've released in about two years. These songs will not be on our upcoming album Polite Men, but serve as an delicious appetizer for the main course. PLEASE check these songs out and give them a listen. These songs, along with the full length, have been 9 months in the making with time, money, love, and a desire to create something beautiful in it's own way. Give us feedback, let us no what you think, etc. Better to have a conversation than live in our own musical bubble (although it's a pretty nice little bubble at times). Enjoy these two tracks. Oh, and these are FREE, so don't be shy.

Mastering Finished, Slaving Beginning

2010-10-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

So we've just mastered our third album (and single) this weekend. "what is the name you ask?" My reply: Polite Men. There you have it. See if you can figure that one out. Things are looking both very exciting and quite frightening. Well, maybe frightening is the wrong word, but promoting yourself (band) is not any of our idea of a good time. But it must be done to get the sound out to all those people out there in TV Land. We'll probably do a little TV, maybe some radio, maybe make some of our own righteous movies, who knows, maybe even play drums in an alley. Whatever it takes really.

At this point I will not make any claims as to when the album is going to come out, but obviously however soon any of you reading this want the album to come out, we want it to come out ten times sooner. One thing I CAN promise, is that there will be 2 song single (is that an oxymoron?) that we will be releasing online this week for free. album art is being worked on at the moment and other than that things are pretty good to go, which is very excellent.

Thirdly. We built our own practice space and studio which has (in it's infancy) been proving to be a really great thing for us both creatively and conveniently (except for Bob who commutes to Napa now to practice). This thing is both quite soundproofed to the outside world and quite filled with all our plethora of musical stuff. If you've ever seen Return of the Jedi (and if you haven't you might as well just leave now), this practice space is kind of like the 2nd Star Destroyer: Not quite finished, but finished enough to severely blow some shit up.

Lastly. In a strange turn of events that I can only describe as glorious, we have been asked to play The Uptown, which is Napa's largest, newest (remodelled after a 15 year closure), and most majestic venue around. We've been told that this could be historic for the future of non-adult contemporary music in Napa. You probably think I'm kidding. Sadly, I'm not, haha. But there aren't shows of this magnitude for young people in Napa, so this could potentially set the stage for future events of a similar nature. In the past we've had Cyndi Lauper, Merle Hagard, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. No hard feelings towards those bands, but certainly they appeal more to an older adult crowd. Our chance to shine is Sat., Nov. 6th. It's going to be epic. stay tuned on this.

So, as you can see, things are looking nice for us at the moment, and all we can do is stay diligent while keeping up on our own personal jobs and schooling. Hope you all end up enjoying what we've been putting a lot of work into.

Love,
Pete

PS: Rob and I were at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass a couple weekends ago in teh city and this dude played this song. it was cool. So was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kinds

24 Hour Drive, 12 Hour Stay

2010-08-17T01:51:00.000-07:00

So we played Seattle and that was pretty great. Not too much to report there. good crowd, good music, friendly bands. If we're lucky we'll be playing there in the winter. If not, once again this following summer. We finally got some new live footage up on this here internet machine. Very fitting that it's from the last time we played Rickshaw Stop earlier this summer, since we're playing there this following Sunday, 22nd with our friends from Seattle, The Horde and the Harem. Here's a song that will be on the upcoming album

An Elpee's Worth Of Loons

2010-07-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

So the album has been mixed and we even did the treacherous deed of correcting the pitch of certain vocal passages. That's right folks! WE'RE FRAUDS!!! Seriously, it sounding a lot nicer now, if you knew what the originals sounded like versus the spruced up ones you would thank us. So now up ahead lies the quick task of mastering the album, which will be the last in the audio related chain of things (aside from hopefully some remixes taking place along the way). I heard this Todd Rundgren song for the first time the other day and it did a good job of summing up my feelings about making music and the ridiculous, but worthy nothing of making money off of the art form of music. Pretty far fetched notion these days to be sure, at least when it comes to putting your own music out into the world. Hopefully things go well though. I'm hopeful. Hitting up sf, chico, and seattle at the end of this coming week. Hijinxs will ensue.

2010-06-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we go in for our first day of mixing on the album (cue "The Final Countdown"). I think we're all pretty excited about this. The three of us have listened to the album (as it currently exists) a couple times together and conversed about what we thought should happen with these mixes making sure we're more or less all on the same page, which, let me tell you, is very important for a stress free and productive mixing session. As it stands now I think we're all pretty happy with things, but maybe I'm just transferring my satisfaction with how things are going onto the other two. haha.

Since I last wrote our friends Ben and Lindsay have been married (we were all there for the whole ordeal) which is pretty awesome. We played a show at Rickshaw Stop with some very dramatic bands (offstage) of the hip hop ilk. A ton of people came though and people got into the music, so it was a good time. I happened to spy Jerry Harrison (keyboardist and guitarist or both The Modern Lovers and Talking Heads) enter the club which prompted me to jump over the merch table and say hi and how I was a huge fan. It was a pretty boring meeting and extremely quick, but the impact of the music that Talking Heads have made on me is insane. Turns out he had produced a few songs for one of the other bands that played that night. If you haven't seen the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme, I recommend you do it very soon. It literally changed my life.

That's basically it for interesting band news. Here is a song that we put down as reference for certain elements of the mix for our album. Pretty great vibe, hope we can channel some of that. Hope you enjoy

Blister in the Sun

2010-05-31T23:40:00.000-07:00

Rob and I (Pete) just returned back from our good friend Ben Deters' bachelor party, which was pretty awesome. Lot's of reveling in our manhood and that kind of thing, haha. Rob, myself, and our good friend Chris (who was in a band with the 3 of us before we became The Buttercream Gang) played a little mostly acoustic mini-show for everyone, which was pretty fun. we got to bust out a few jams we used to play back in the day as well as some new sing-a-longs. All in all it was a really nice time.

Our band has a number of shows lined up this summer. They mostly came together this last week, which is nice because we can now have a slight feeling of productivity (aside from the productivity associated with the album, which should be done by the end of the month) and forward movement.

Not too much new to report other than that you should go check out the shows on our myspace page, download the free mix that I have posted below, and watch the video for this song by The Specials that I stumbled across yesterday. It's pretty haunting for a reggae/ska song, much better than most modern ska that I hear.

BCG MIX 14 (click on link to download)

1. Kunta Kinte Version One - The Revolutionaries

2. Sunny Ti De Ariya - King Sunny Ade & His African Beats

3. Grenada: Shango - Norris Welsh

4. The Book of Love - The Magnetic Fields

5. Freaky In the Club - R. Kelly

6. Lovesick - Lindstrøm & Christabelle

7. Radiance - Oppenheimer Analysis

8. I Feel Good Put Our Pants On - JT

9. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones

Horse Man

2010-05-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

Good news for us in the band and those of you who care: WE"VE FINISHED RECORDING THE ALBUM!!! Don't get too excited though, we still need to mix the album, which we'll be doing during 7 days at the end of June. Then it will truly be finished in the musical sense. Album art, distribution, and all that will hopefully quickly follow. The last thing that we recorded was rob playing bongo and floor tom, while I played the concrete floor simultaneously, hahaha. An interesting way to end it all (Oh and Rob racking his brain figuring out what to title a video he shot and edited about a horse trainer for his job). Pretty exciting (if not pocket book draining) times to come when we really craft these sounds in to something compelling and just simply enjoyable in the broad sense of things. To commemorate this affair I bellow have the first thing I listened to as I drove away from the studio. hahaha. Thank you Tom Tom Club for making a beat that was soo astoundingly great that Mariah Carey (or Tommy Mottola) found it worth jacking and laying those sweet shrieks over.

Killer Horns, Man!!!

2010-04-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

Just reading up on the great Herbie Hancock in the studio, studying the contours of his amazing fro. No big deal.
A view of the gents from my perch
A little band photo action in front of the house of Slack's Ranch

So what have we been up to since last post? Well there have been a few journey's into the studio, the album is so close to being recorded in it's entirety that it hurts a little; but as they say, you can't start once you've started, it stings, so with that in mind we will finish this thing up pretty soon. That's not the end though, as many of you know, there is still mixing to be done, which will take at least a week to get done. The dates I predict are always wrong, but with that disclaimer, I'm going to say mid to late June for this puppy being in the bag, musically speaking. Art and distribution is quite another thing. That will most likely take another 7 years.

So while recording is almost wrapped up (studio activities pictured) there are other activities in our life. Some upcoming show, one being a fairly large one at Rickshaw Stop which should be a lot of fun. Hopefully I won't be incredibly sick this time around. One of the coolest venues we've played, so keep an eye out for posted details.

This last Friday we played at Slack's Ranch, which was great on so many levels. 1) Paul Slack is a badass for letting so many bands use his property for shows featuring such a diversity of musical styles. Cutting's Wharf may be one of the very few places you could get away with activities of such volume without a bunch of complaints (and subsequent shutting down from the police). The looks of the place are deceiving, and that is a glorious thing. 2) The turn out exceeded my expectations, having seen a good amount of sparsely attended local music events. Maybe I just haven't gone to the right shows. Thank you Napans/strangers/friends for coming and moving and sweating and singing and just being loose. 3) spontaneity is a glorious thing that can only be compared in this case to a tiny, unexpected miracle. The addition of horns at the last minute to a few of our songs was amazing and gave me the feeling of being part of something much bigger than 3 guys playing music together (both literally and "spiritually"). 4) it gave us reason to play Napa more often in the future.

Stay tuned for more album III (aka Tropical Goofballs) news, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check out the mix I've compiled below and let me know what you think so that I can find reason to keep compulsively making these mixes and posting them. Adios till next time

BCG MIX #13

http://www.zshare.net/audio/75905367b4ca8611/

1. Clapping Music (1972) - Steve Reich & Russ Hartenberger

2. New York Is Killing Me (featuring Nas) - Gil Scott-Heron

3. Bra - Cymande

4. Walking On Sunshine - Eddy Grant

5. Darkroom - Paul McCartney

6. Don't Bring Me Down - Eric Burdon & The Animals

7. You Are Here - John Lennon

8. Carmensita - Devendra Banhart

9. Death Cream - Sonny & the Sunsets

10. No Place Like the West Indies - Lord Invader

Guerilla Recording & BCG Mix #12

2010-04-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

The long delayed BCG Mix #12, here it is for your listening pleasures:

BCG MIX #12

http://www.zshare.net/audio/74868928b89d8eab/

1. Love Like A Sunset (Animal Collective Remix) - Phoenix

2. Overpowered By Funk - The Clash

3. Immune to Emotion - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

4. Up In This Club - Lil Wayne ft. Swizz Beatz

5. Breaker - Low

6. Medley: Nega Maluca / Billie Jean / Elearnor Rigby - Caetano Veloso

7. My Chrome f. Big Boi - Killer Mike

8. Good Feeling - Violent Femmes

We recorded today at our good friend Lucas Farmers house. Lucas, Rob and I (Pete) used to be in a band in high school and early on in college. Our name was Pirate Underground. Needles to say, our musical journeys', so to speak, go back quite a ways. Lucas has some nice equipment that we don't, so he was kind enough to let us bang out some repetitive percussion parts (made even more so when outside listeners are only hearing what we're playing and not the tracks that we're recording to) that even began to drive some of us band members crazy by the end. Lucas's roomate also made some homemade veggie pizza that was pretty bomb, so props to her for, instead of asking for compensation for the hell we put her through, decided to make food and share it with us.

We started things off by recording some scratch vocals (vocals that will given greater focus and attention later when re-recorded, but are laid down for reference) and then went on to percussion for the rest of the day. We put parts down on a bunch of tracks. Everything from tambourine to wine bottles was utilized. It's amazing how much life a lot of these songs received after we were finished today. It's at this point when you get really excited about the songs and they start to resemble what you have going on in your head. The days and weeks before this state can be a bit lame. Each time you listen to an unfinished track it's almost as if it's taunting you to write or record the missing parts.

Things went well though and in a couple weeks we'll be back with Jonah in Oakland to do a 4 day marathon stint in at Shipwreck Studios.

Finally, if you're not doing anything this sunday the 18th, we're playing at Tradewinds Bar in Cotati at 9pm. It's FREE I believe and it should be a pretty great time.

More pictures from the studio coming soon.

Exploring The Tropics @ Shipwreck Studios

2010-02-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we finished up another two day stint at the wonderfully spacious shipwreck studios, with it's cornicopia of wonderful vintage keyboards.......and we didn't use a single one of them. The first day was just our engineer Jonah and I working on recording the lead vocals for a number of songs. Recording vocals can be one of the most frustrating processes because it seems like it could always be better, but we got it done and I'm pretty content with what I did. We also picked from a number of drums, a kit to use for the following day that fit the sound we were going for. Rob joined me on Saturday (that next day i just mentioned) and after a long long time getting everything set up and ready to go, we spent a couple hours recording the rest of the drums that will be on our album. Two songs with Rob behind the kit and two for myself. It was very clear who was the qualified drummer out of the two of us, but we both got the job done, even if I did it in a much messier fashion. With so much down time in the studio I stumbled upon this great video of the Brazilian goliath, Caetano Veloso doing a live cover of Billie Jean and Eleanor Rigby which was pretty awesome (check it out bellow). I've just started reading a book written by him about the Tropicalia art and music movement in Brazil in the late 60s called Tropical Truth: A Story of Music & Revolution in Brazil. It's pretty interesting to read a perspective on modern pop and rock music (among other things) that isn't based out of the US or the UK. His self titled album from 1968 is worth checking out for anyone who is interested. Now we'll be working for a while on recording extra parts outside of the studio until our return in late March. Stay tuned for the progress report. Thanks to everyone that has been supportive of what we've been doing lately.

Charity Event Worth Going To

2010-02-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that we're playing?

Napa High seniors throw a benefit at Lincoln Theater

Come check it out this saturday if you can.

Rick Wakeman's in Training

2010-02-08T23:01:00.000-08:00

We recorded a bunch of keyboards this last weekend. 3 different models I think, although there were so many more to choose from. The songs are sounding more and more full each time we go in (naturally), and it's a pretty nice feeling. Wish I could take a break from school to concentrate on the recording process though. Here is a little wankery to give you an idea of the how we roll in the studio.

Studio Sample Plater. TGIF

2010-01-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

So here is a little view of what life is like for us in Shipwreck Studios in Oakland. As the photos show, this place is pretty spacious for a band with our pocket book and just in general. It's really nice to record in a casual environment like this and with a deluge of keyboards that would make Stevie Wonder weak in the knees. I speak for the whole band when I say that the sound quality of the recordings so far is really nice. Side note: I was laid off from my job today due to slow business in the restaurant world (right when I was starting to reconcile my distaste for the business side of the industry, haha). The upside of this though is more dedication to making this album something we're really proud of when all is said and done. Oh, and we're playing a Haiti relief show in Napa on Feb. 12th, check it out, if not for our music, than to help people out that need it more than we've probably ever felt like we've needed something in our lives. Take care.

Album 3 Has Begun/FREE Mix

2010-01-28T01:03:00.000-08:00

The recording of album number 3 has begun!!!!! It's a very exciting time. we recorded our first 2 days at Shipwreck Studios in Oakland this last weekend with the ever calming Jonah Strauss. I actually had to work at my new busing job the first day in the studio so that kind of sucked, but Rob and Bob still killed it if the recordings that they did are any indication (which they are). We're really pleased with the sounds we're getting and our time has been pretty productive. I even laid down some drums which was interesting/frustrating, haha. definitely not on par with Rob's playing, but I think the songs will never the less rock. Stay tuned for more photos, updates, video, etc. from the studio.

We played Red Devil Lounge earlier this month and that was one of the more fun shows we've done in a while in my opinion. For some reason I had low expectations for Red Devil. My assumptions were way off. It was a really cool place and a bunch of our folks came out, so there was a really good energy. The other bands were good to, so that helped. We were asked to play there again in the future. We may try and do an album release show there and really blow the roof off the sucka.

Stay tuned for the release of our first remixed song ever.

And here is yet another mix. It is a little bit more directly in line with my mood lately. A few days ago to be exact, when it was raining like crazy. Rain and I don't jive well. Tracklist and link are bellow.

Important Note: I encourage you to check out all the mixes I've posted if you're looking for something to listen to. If a mix sounds like something you want to listen to but the link has been made inactive due to inactivity, just let me know and I can repost it and let you know. our e-mail is bcgband@gmail.com or contact us on facebook. feel free to hit us up with other questions, conversations you want to have.

BCG MIX #11

1. 20th Century Man - The Kinks

2. The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) - Missy Elliot

3. Kpabi - Wulomei

4. Melt! - Flying Lotus

5. Moody - ESG

6. If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) - Nas

7. I Think I Can - Animal Collective

8. Stillness In The Move - Solange

Sun's Not In The Sky, But A Blue Moon Is

2010-01-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year (and decade) to you all!!! Things are going well with us Gang folks. Rob and I just kicked off the new year with painted faces, while we (Gang) banged on drums and howled at the blue moon with some of our closest friends in the Napa country side.......Bob was working. With Bob and I out of school we've been able to practice a little more frequently than when school is in session, so that has been really nice. We're hitting the studio Jan. 4th to record a new song and get the feel for Shipwreck studios, where we will most likely record our full length in the very near future. The songs keep flowing our of us (okay it's not that effortless, but it's been a lot less painstaking then some past song-writing experiences with the 3 of us) so it's looking like we might be going into the studio for the first time with a few jams that won't be on the album. So maybe an EP is in the near future for us as well. Right now, this single with our song called "Sun's Not In The Sky" is what's most important though. I think it's going to turn out better then a batch of your mom's best pancakes, with extra srrp.

Secondly, and not surprisingly if you've been keeping up with the blog thus far, another mix. tracklisting and link bellow. Hope you started 2010 off right.

Oh oh oh, and lest I forget, we're playing at The Red Devil Lounge in SF on the 13th. So those 21-up folks should come out and experience some of the newness.

-Pete

BCG MIX #10

Digits - Javelin

Danger - Erykah Badu

Moving In Stereo - The Cars

Percussion Gun - White Rabbits

Love -Building On Fire - Talking Heads

Mesopotamia - The B-52's

The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats

11th Dimension - Julian Casablancas

Paris - Friendly Fires

$20 - M.I.A.

FREE ALL ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS ALBUM!!!

2009-12-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

Here it is folks, the 3rd annual Glial Cell (Joke band featuring Rob and Pete of The Buttercream Gang along with Nic Ramirez, Jake Scott, Adam Dickenson, Phil Caselli & Casey Ramirez) Christmas album. All original (or practically) Christmas music for your listening pleasure!!!! We've been working on this jam on and off for a couple months, so we hope you enjoy them. If you want to bump and grind while also listening to holiday music, you've come to the right place. Just click on the link bellow to go download the free album. Merry Christmas children!!!!

Glial Cell Christmas 2009

Kinky Holiday Smiles

2009-12-03T20:32:00.000-08:00

Hey all, it's the month of Christmas and everyone is just a little bit happier and a little bit crazier. That's how I'm experiencing things at least. Lot of fun stuff going on in regards to music, the music we've been working on as The Buttercream Gang is going really well AND we're almost done working on the 3rd annual Glial Cell Christmas Album. It's a project we have with a bunch of our friends contributing lyrics and music. It started with Rob and our buddy Nicolas Ramirez and each year has taken on more contributors. Once it's all done I'm sure we'll post it up here to download or something like that. till then you can hear some of the past songs (not all Christmas songs) at the http://www.myspace.com/glialcellular.

We're also playing a show tomorrow night in SF for the Janet Pomoroy Center Art Show. Their starting a program called SF Smiles, which to my understanding is trying to bring smiling back as something cool. haha. No more glum faces!!! So, partly because of that and partly because of coincidence as far as timing goes, I made a mix of all happy, smily songs. Check the link below for the download. Hope all of you are having a good holiday season/finals time/life in general.

BCG MIX 9 (click link to access download)

1. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy - The Kinks

2. Smiley Faces - Gnarls Barkley

3. Smile (Version Revisited) - Lily Allen

4. Smile Away - Paul McCartney

5. Smile Please - Stevie Wonder

6. Smile - Nat "King" Cole

7. Happy House - Shuggie Otis

8. (You Caught Me) Smilin' - Sly & The Family Stone

9. Happiness - Black Uhuru

10. Love And Happiness - Al Green

11. Happy Jack - Who

Mix #8, Recording News, Phoenix Theater

2009-10-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago I met with Eli Crews who is a great mixing and recording engineer and as it stands now it looks like he'll be mixing our album. Probably going to all go down in January, so now we're just finishing the writing of songs and tidying up others to make sure when we go into record we know exactly what we need to do. When money is an issue you have to make the most out of every minute you're in the studio. There's not too much time for experimentation unfortunately. But nevertheless, it's an exciting time right now for us, despite the fact that we're all pretty busy in the non-musical aspects of our lives.

As far as shows go. We're playing tonight in Cotati; should be a few hours and a lot of fun. Also, we have a show on November 28th that's all ages at Phoenix Theater in Petaluma which should be very cool. We've never played there, and it's a pretty cool venue, so it should be a good time.

New mix bellow. No theme to it really, just moving away from the summery cheery stuff that I compiled over the summer. Hope you enjoy it

BCG MIX 8

http://www.zshare.net/audio/67567670f538f536/

1. (Always Be My) Sunshine - Jay-Z, Babyface & Foxy Brown

2. Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get - The Dramatics

3. Dark Sedan - Karl Blau

4. I Want You - Gary Low

5. Julia - The Very Best

6. Hyperballad - Björk

7. My Boys - Taken By Trees

8. Aquemini - Outkast

9. Feather - Little Dragon

10. The Great Western Road - David Byrne

Mix #7, Fela Reissued, etc.

2009-09-24T17:55:00.001-07:00

So things have been busy with school, work and all the other things that keep us from doing what we really want to do, but there is a lot of exciting stuff going on in our world as well.

Nothing has truly materialized yet, but we're starting to have ideas of where we're going to record and mix (maybe different places) album 3. Whenever this stage comes about there is a little spark of excitement because all the ideas that are in different stages of completion have a foreseeable end. You can write a song to the ground but until it's recorded there is something (in my mind) that is unfinished about it. The studio is the final instrument and it's a major one.

Today I got really excited when I saw on the new version of itunes that you could post mixes on itunes for others to listen to. As I looked into how exactly this was done I became disappointed, finding out that the mixes could only be comprised of songs you've purchased from itunes. Makes sense, but it also sucks. So needless to say, I'll be posting mixes in the same format that I've been doing these last few months. Link to the mix bellow.

Along with the greatness of The Beatles being reissued I just found out the a couple days ago that all of Fela Kuti's (the great Nigerian bandleader, singer, saxophonist, keyboardist and songwriter who was one of the main entry-points for the three of us to get into African music) Albums (many of which were unavailable in the states) are going to be reissued in the coming year and a half. Yippee!

Also.....if you feel like it, come check us out at The Tradewinds in Cotati on Oct 1st and/or 27th

BCG MIX 7:

1. In My Room - The Beach Boys

2. Havana Affair - The Ramones

3. Não Vá Se Perder por Aí - Os Mutantes

4. Save Me - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

5. Leki Santchi - Napo De Mi Amor Et Ses Black Devils

6. Stay Hungry (live) - Talking Heads

7. My Kingdom - Echo & The Bunnymen

8. Caroline Goodbye - Colin Blunstone

9. Never Going Back Again - Fleetwood Mac

10. Møljekalas - Bjørn Torsk

2009-09-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

So a couple things:

1) Rob and I have commenced recording for Cowabunga. We're definitely at the beginning stages, but it's never the less going well. For those that like our music in The Buttercream Gang, but don't want to have to contemplate "to dance or not to dance?" and would rather be hit over the head with it, your day will soon be here.

2) I've been in a bit of a fervor for The Beatles, which actually started a few weeks ago at a time when it somehow hadn't come upon me that all their albums where being reissued this last Wednesday. I bought the book Revolution in the Head by Ian MacDonald, which chronicles The Beatles career in relation to each of their songs and for anyone who is interested in them that much, I haven't been able to go to bed at night without reading at least about a few songs. It's great because you could, in essence, read it start to finish, but jumping at any random song works great to. It offers a good look at the culture (how the song "Tomorrow Never Knows" helped bring about acid culture to the masses) the lyrics (Lennon's cynical, self-referential songs and so-forth) and the mood in the studio at the time (Ringo throwing his drums sticks across the studio and yelling "I've got blisters on my fingers" after a ton of takes of "Helter Skelter"). Anyways, it's nothing new, the books been around for a while, but I've just now been getting into and going even farther down the rabbit hole that is The Beatles' music. Some would say that it's pretty extreme to say this, but I just can't see a band ever being this good. My musical tastes change and expand and I've been turned on to some crazy good shit, but they still hold the number one position for me (if one has to rank).

2009-09-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

This song is doing it for me right now in a big way. Thought some of you might also like it. The band has the audacious name of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. They apparently were much more popular in Britain than over here, but this is a jam that can be enjoyed as a fun little pop jem

provedrecording@yahoo.com

Procrastinating School Reading in Order To Make Mixes and Update Those Few That Care

2009-08-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

So for lack of anything better to do, here I am on a lazy Sunday to let you know what's new in our world and also to give you a few little audio/visual treats. First off, as I said in the previous post, the show at Slim's was a success. It's crazy to be part of an operation like that where there are so many more people involved in putting on a show than there are at any of the previous venues that we've played. There were at least 5 people that I directly dealt with and a bunch more that I had no idea what there job's were, but all to help put on a quality show. So my thanks goes out to them for making it a positive experience for us as well as our friends that came out to the show. Here is some video of a couple of the songs from the show. The sound is actually pretty good on these, so that's a big plus :

This is a new song "Sun's Not In The Sky"

A cover of "Iko Iko"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmIzSsRXcHI

On the live note, we just got two shows in Cotati at Tradewinds on Oct.1st and 27th. So if you want to see us play some star studded and ridiculously long sets come on out.

Yesterday I just began some preliminary work with our good friend Lucas Farmer ( who used to sings and play lead guitar in a band with Rob and I in high school called (among many other things) Pirate Underground) for Rob and my somewhat electro project Cowabunga. We played at the end of May on one show and based off that we were encouraged by a few people to put some recordings into the world, so when we're not going forward and doing the same thing with The Buttercream Gang we'll be dong it with Cowabunga. This should work out well since Rob and I are both, at the moment, living in Napa. Get ready to sweat your asses off to some jams.

Last, but certainly not least, in my never ending quest to create the ultimate mix I come with the BCG MIX #6. This is the last in a long line of seasonally leaning mixes to compliment your summer. After this, we'll be in fall, but this last week driving around in the 100 degree heat showed me that one more mix for the heat was necessary. Hope you enjoy.

BCG MIX #6 (click on link for download)

1. Yalira - The Very Best

2. In The Sun - President

3. That's How They Getcha (Chinkuzi Riddim Version) - Professor Murder

4. New Era - Retro Kidz

5. Soy Loco Por Tí, América - Caetano Veloso

6. Mr. Me Too (Z.A.K. remix) - Clipse

7. Sittin' In My Car - Slick Rick

8. I Want To Live - The Ramones

9. Passara - Jaime Alem & Nair De Candia

10. Love The Nite Away (Tiedye Mix) - DJ Kaos

11. Loch Raven - Animal Collective

BCG MIX 5

2009-08-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.zshare.net/audio/644046664a2dd28f/: BCG Mix #5

Here is a glorious mix for those that came to the show/ slash anyone who cares to listen because I enjoy making them. The Slim's show was a success. More on that and other news soon.

-Pete

BCG MIX 5 Tracklisting:

1. Deadbeat Summer - Neon Indian

2. Impossible (Possible Version by Studio) - Shout Out Louds

3. Can't Stop Now (feat. Jovi Rockwell and Mr. Vegas) - Major Lazer

4. Keeping Up - Arthur Russell

5. Madagascar - Lake

6. Aquele Abraço (The One I Hold?) - Gilberto Gil

7. Contendas de Sincora - Mar Revolto

8. All Together Now - The Beatles

9. Edge Of Our Lives - Holiday Shores

10. Warm Heart of Africa - The Very Best

11. Feel It All Around - Washed Out

The Second “Leg” of the “Tour”/Mix 4

2009-08-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

So we embarked once again on a journey to play music abroad. This time though instead of going north, we travels south to San Diego (La Jolla actually if you want to get technical) to play at Che Café on the UCSD campus.

This time we left at a relatively reasonable time compared to the intense Seattle all-nighter. Rob and I left Napa at 6am from Napa to pick up Bob in SF and load up our equipment at our practice space. Everything from then to LA was pretty smooth. Had the pleasure of meeting my good friend Julia a few hours into the trip. She was coming up from LA and had left at the same time as us. Through the process of phone calls here and there and calculating when we would meet based off of which exits we had passed, after a bit of nay saying (I myself remained hopeful) we miraculously both hit up the same food stop at just about the same time for a glorious lunch from a Subway inside of a gas station. Ah, the simple pleasures of fast food sandwiches and Central Valley roadside conversation.

From there we moved on and all was well until we approached the greater LA area. Traffic was a bitch. People tell you this. People tell you this quite often when talking about LA. It doesn’t quite hit you though until you’re in it for 4 hours. It never stopped for long. Just more like constant milling at parking lot speeds. Not a whole lot to look at either. The ocean is nowhere in site and the beauty of the urban landscape and track housing is something that can only be enjoyed by a select few (read: not us). It did elicit a few conversations though, mostly about how lame it is. Really deep, I know. Until we got further south, close to San Diego, the height of my visual stimulation was multiple blowup gorillas on top of businesses that were different colors and each with different and completely randomly designed shorts. Of the three of us, I was probably the most fascinated by them. One day when we can afford it and are at the point where we are able to actually place importance on the visual aspects of our live show, when we have become so happy with our playing and our appetite for strange musical instruments has been quenched, we will ( if I have anything to say about it) get at least 2 of these gorillas to have with us onstage while we play. People will look on and go crazy due to a combination of aural and visual ecstasy…..Until that day I’ll just simply be resigned to acting like a gorilla myself.

Eventually we arrived in La Jolla at the Che Café. A very cool little place that is close in proximity to everything else on the UCSD campus but seems set apart in it’s own world. It’s surrounded by trees and has a very cool vibe to it. The show went well and was pretty laid back. Nothing to extraordinary, but the show was without difficulties, so that was something to be happy about. Claire Ku, who set up the gig for us, is a fellow Napa native who wanted to spread the butter (no pun intended) of Napa over the bread of San Diego. She was kind enough to let us stay at her place and even brought us out to a hearty breakfast the next morning and footed the bill. It was the start of a great post-show day.

From there we went to the cove in La Jolla. It was very packed for being such a small beach, (nothing like the beaches at Dillon and Bodega here in Northern California) but there were a lot of cool little cliff caves and water ways that gave the three of us a nice little swim. Bob and I, having an extreme lack of sea sense when it came to navigating around the barnacle covered rocks in the water, were each trying to pee out in the ocean current and before either of us even started we were both thrown on the rocks and cut up our legs. It was more comedic then tragic though, but the fact that it was in water made it look a lot worse then it was with blood streaming everywhere.

After we enjoyed the water and the weather we began out journey back up north. There was an overnight layover in South Pasadena at my friend Annie’s house. We watched Bruno that night and I must say it was pretty funny. It definitely followed the same format as Borat, but it still provided a lot of laughs with one of the most outrageous scenes being an interview that Bruno has with parents that are basically willing to sacrifice any sense of dignity and the well being of their children in order to make a buck off of their babies. Anyways, the next morning we woke up and got on the road and in short time were back in the bay. Good times.

Bellow is the tracklisting of a mix that I made based on the songs that we were grooving to during our trips to Seattle and San Diego:

BCG MIX 4:

1. Give It To Me Baby - Rick James

2. Mary Jane - Rick James

3. Get On The Floor - Michael Jackson

4. Mykonos - Fleet Foxes

5. Street Fighting Man - The Rolling Stones

6. Roadrunner - The Modern Lovers

7. San Ber'dino - Frank Zappa

8. Manheru Changamire - Hallelujah Chicken Run Band

9. Also Frightened - Animal Collective

10. Make Friend Sounds - Heatwarmer

11. The Long Way Home (Prins Thomas Edit) - Lindstrøm

12. Tonight's The Night - Neil Young

13. Justice Tonight/Kick It Over - The Clash

14. The Beach Party - Hot Chip

Mix #1, Just So You Can All Get Up To Speed

2009-07-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Here is the first mix I made under the banner of The Buttercream Gang. I figured it was strange to only have mix 2 and 3 up on the blog and leave off numero uno. So after re-hosting it up on z-share, here it is. Hope you enjoy it. All of these kind of have summer in mind, so hopefully they help keep the summer (hopefully you're somewhere with nice weather, otherwise maybe these can help transport you to that place in your mind) vibes coming. Enjoy!

BCG - MIX #1

1. Conversation Of Love - Earl Rodney

2. Prospect Hummer - Animal Collective (w/Vashti Bunyan)

3. Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors & David Byrne

4. I'll Call Before I Come - Outkast Feat. Gangsta Boo & Eco

5. 'Til I Die - The Beach Boys

6. To Whom It May Concern - Tunji Oyelana & The Benders

7. Newtown - The Slits

8. Lady O K'pele - Lizzie Mercier Descloux

9. Move - Q-Tip

10. Pais Tropical - Gal Costa

11. Bring on the Lucie (Freda People) - John Lennon

Ma Comprooter Works! / Mix #3

2009-07-09T01:39:00.000-07:00

After getting my computer back today, I'm back up and running. The Apple store told me my little spill would cost me a whopping 13 hundred some-odd clams. Those damn "geniuses"! Luckily the women that helped me told me about an inside track, so I got it fixed in Fremont for $500. Happy birthday to me! This is a good thing for many reasons: 1) as you will see bellow, I was able to finish another mix of songs for your summer music enjoyment thanks to good ol' Garage Band. 2) I have access to all my music for MY summer music enjoyment. 3) now I (and the rest of the band) can better work on new material from the many rough demos and musical ideas we've recorded in Garage Band (Go to school learning to record music for 2 years and I end up using what is essentially a children's recording program to record. Sorry folks, it's just quicker). 4) Cowabunga. Rob and my musical "side project" (hate to use the word, but the only reason we ever wrote material was to play a show that The Buttercream Gang was offered while Bob was on vacation in Hawaii) that consists of much more electronic aspects, hence the need for a computer. So all is well in the world again (Except the death of MJ. I just bought Off The Wall again, The force has got a lot of power) and we're going to play in San Diego on Friday and take in some So Cal rays. Plastic surgery, spray on tans, paparazzi and the boarder to Mexico await us. In the meantime, feel free to download this mix.

BCG MIX 3

http://www.zshare.net/download/62427646acf16a83/

Tracklisting

1. California Girls - The Beach Boys

2. Season of the Witch - Donovan

3. Chuckberry Fields Forever - Gilberto Gil

4. Mosca no Sopa - Raul Seixas

5. Meet Me in the Garden - Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

6. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing - Stevie Wonder

7. Peace Frog - The Doors

8. Inspiration Information - Shuggie Otis

9. Love is a Wave - Crystal Stilts

10. Yu Squeeze My Panhandle - Lee Scratch Perry & The Upsetters

11. Not A Problem - Black Lips

12. Simmer Down - Bob Marley

13. Untitled - Black Moth Super Rainbow

The First Leg of the "Tour"

2009-07-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, at about 8am, we finished up a little 3 day tour of Redding, Sonoma and Seattle (yes we drove all the way up to Seattle and back. Yes, we are aware that that is a little stupid. haha) and it went really well.

Thursday night and Friday morning Rob and I spent all of our time printing shirts (the first new shirts we’ve had for the band in about 5 years) at our good friends Nic and Casey Ramirez’s screen printing shop. They were both separately dispersed in Asia on work related things, so we were left to try and make sure we didn’t destroy their whole setup in the effort to create these shirts. Rob and I eventually worked out a system that worked pretty well. But it still took a good 8 or so hours in all. Straight from there I hit up a taco truck and then went home to take care of some things before the first jaunt of this trip. While finding directions and taking care of this and that on my Macbook while eating a burrito and drinking a bottled water, in an extreme act of physical idiocy I tipped the bottled water over on my computer. I wiped the water off and seemed to make a quick recovery, but seconds after the water was taken care of, my computer screen looked like the background of some kind of Nintendo NES game. Pixilated as hell. As I write this I’m also taking care of making an appointment at the apple store to meet with one of those overpriced “Genius” sessions. I didn’t have to much time to get overly concerned though because it was time to meet up with the rest of the gang and head to Redding in Bob’s mom’s van that she let us borrow. It was time for our first road trip to begin.

The Downtown Eatery in Redding is the best place to have started this whole thing. Maxwell, the booker, provided us with a room to crash in right above the venue and was super cool to hang out with and talk music with. They gave us a bunch of free food and drink which was awesome and we got a heads up on some delicious pumpkin coconut bread. If this was how every venue treated bands it would always be a very warm and inviting atmosphere. It’s not though, The Downtown Eatery totally spoiled us, and for that we’re very thankful. We will definitely play there in the future. It’s only 3 hours away also, so it could even happen in the foreseeable future.

We woke up on Saturday and drive back to Napa to straighten some things out and get a little R&R before playing The Shop and heading straight to Seattle. It was one of those situations where you have everything mapped out in my head and I had planned on getting some rest before the Sonoma show and a long night/morning of driving, but it never works out that way. I was getting directions and just doing all the boring stuff to get ready and needless to say, a nap was never had.
Having grown up in Napa (right next door to the home of The Shop, Sonoma) I had heard of The Shop but had never been mostly due to a lot of pop punk bands playing there, which I’ve never been in to, and just being somewhat ignorant of any kind of local scene. It’s a very cool place though. It’s run by high schoolers that are some of the coolest high schoolers I've seen in a while (and I should know, I work with high schoolers at the Boys and Girls Club in the Napa Valley, which is in no way connected to anything on this blog. My boss would appreciate me saying that so that I don’t soil the good name of the BGCNV). They all run the venue together and as students come into high school and then graduate the cast of people running it just rotates. There are adults that oversee things a little, but from what I understand, it seems like the teens are given a lot of freedom to book the bands they want and run things how they see fit. I think every small town should have something like this (wink wink to the powers that be in Napa).

The show went well though, which featured ourselves, Cloverleaf Drive, Body or Brain (which we missed unfortunately due to already being on the road to Seattle. Good guys though) and Nana de Carlo (The best high school band in Napa by far if you ask me). At the last song of Nana de Carlo’s set Taylor (drummer in Body Or Brain) and I, per request of the Carlo gents, jumped on stage midway to add percussion and, what to me, felt like a shitload of energy. I worked up just as much of a sweat in that 2 minutes as I did the entirety of our set earlier that night. Rob came on stage with us to capture it on film. Should be pretty funny to watch. Stay tuned for that. Haha. After that though we headed back to Napa to get a little food and a sweet merch tablecloth of sorts that our good friend Adam Dickenson made for us on short notice. Now the trip to Seattle lay before us and o’ what an exhausting ride it was.

At 11:00 we took of from Napa, with me behind the wheel to backtrack over the same route that we drive to Redding and then onward to Oregon and Seattle. The drive was pretty painless at first and got increasingly more intense due to fatigue and really uncomfortable sleeping conditions for those that weren’t driving. I gave up the wheel in Ashland Oregon to Bob and he gave up the wheel to Rob a little ways into Seattle. Once we got there we discovered that it was the day of the Gay Pride Parade in Seattle (in my head this was strictly a San Francisco thing, but I guess these parades are held far and wide across the land at this point in time). We picked up my cousin Kara near the parade and went back to her apartment where the 3 of us proceeded to take a nap before the show. Eventually after waking we made our way to The Comet (but not before buying Rick James album Street Songs at a record store down the street) where our show was going to be. We met the fine gentlemen of Punch, The Royal Bear and Heatwarmer and before you could say drag queen, we were playing on stage.

( SIDE NOTE: While Oregon gets points for having no sales tax, points are also deducted for having no self-serve at gas stations )

The crowd was great. To my knowledge a lot of them were Heatwarmer’s people and they brought a great energy to things. We played solidly and the crowd responded by clapping (!), dancing (!!) and singing (!!!). At this point, any apprehensions I had about driving that far to play one single show were gone and I got that warm fuzzy feeling inside (this could have been due to ODing on Red Bulls as well).

While Heatwarmer played after us, I noticed that the live sound engineer had taken the (much appreciated) liberties of adding some live dub effects to their sound. Being a former live sound man myself I went over to compliment him and he told me that he had been doing the same thing for us (much of the time whole you’re onstage these things can be very hard to tell, but more apparent from an audience perspective). This was really cool to hear since we’re all three fans of dub music. A very select few bands have someone that does live effects to the rest of the musicians onstage, but more often then not, this kind of thing happens in the recording studio, not so much live. It was cool to hear that this engineer (whose name slips my mind) could hear in our music that we would be down for some dubage to be imparted on us and go ahead and make us sound a bit more interesting.

After the show we completely randomly ran into Bob’s old roommate Chris from SF and proceeded to follow him and his friends in their drunken excitement to his buddy’s apartment. We climb up a ladder (praying to god that a drunken person didn’t fall down and completely break themselves, or fall on one of us) to the roof and got a really great panoramic view of the city. After that we headed back to Kara’s apartment and finally got decent sleep. The next day we hung out with my cousin and while she was at work we were shown the sites by her boyfriend Tim. Good times were had, but it translates better to actual experience as opposed to me trying to describe it right now.

After dinner we headed back to Napa with a strong start on the road, made more invigorating by hearing Rick James shout “Hell Yeah!” and the crowd yelling it right back at him…..about 50 times. We got back in Napa at 8am the next morning. I got a speeding ticket (90mph in a 65) about 4 hours before that. A bit of a damped, but oh well. I went back home and slept until 5pm. The first leg was a success.

PS: photos and music coming very soons, but seeing as my macbook is down, things are a little limited at the moment. Hope you all have a good holiday weekend. I don't feel as bad about being American as last year, so hopefully that's on the up. haha

Something To Tide You Over

2009-07-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

There will most likely be many "bangin'" mixes on this blog in the very near as well as distant future, but here is one I made available in early june that I think will do a sufficient job of tiding you over till the next one comes, following the hoped for fixing of my macbook. Note to self: don't eat burrito and drink bottled water next to my laptop, may put a damper on my day. When are they going to create fully submersive computers. I don't care if you can make something that can fit in my coat pocket. Cool down on the whole making-things-smaller game. Put more work into the under water computer research.

Anyways, here is the link to the BCG Mix 2; summery goodness awaits:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7161952457befd32/

Tracklisting:

1. Seaside Woman - Linda McCartney
2. Looking For Gold - The Tough Alliance
3. Everybody But Me (diskJokke Remix) - Lykke Li
4. Iko Iko - The Belle Stars
5. Take It Away - Paul McCartney
6. Tropicalia - Beck
7. Make Believe Mambo - David Byrne
8. No Comply - Studio
9. Let's Go Crazy - The Clash
10. (Si Si) Je suis un Rock Star - Bill Wyman
11. Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello

New Blog, Shnew Shnog

2009-07-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

So here it is, the first entry on the new blog. Pretty exciting stuff eh? Not really, but it will hopefully allow us to be able to better express whats going on within the band and communicate what's going on with us without having to put up with all the visual and informational bs that is on Myspace. Easier to share pertinent photos, videos, possibly demos, mixes, etc.. So here it is. I (Pete) and the rest of the band are new to the whole blogesphere thing, although I check them out from time to time. We've never really been the blogging type, but as they say, "when in Rome". Also I think, as many many bands these days have done prior to this, that sharing whats going on with us can be informative, beneficial and help to demystify the whole process of being in a band. As you will see, there are no groupies, we're not signed to any major label (or a label at all for that matter), and our songs our not on the radio. None of those things are necessary though, especially in this day and age, in order to create and share music. So for the sake of better fleshing out the art form that we call music and everything that follows, here we go.