But first, let’s talk about me
Things here at Lemon Session HQ have gotten seriously hectic with the Singles Club 2010 being announced and my entrance into show promotion here in the Bay Area. Between mailing dozens of records every day, and trying to find time to post fliers around Berkeley and Oakland, all the while being EXTREMELY lazy… it’s just left me with no time to do anything useful for this label.
So, onto doing something useful: Don’t forget to purchase a subscription to the Lemon Session Singles Club 2010. There’s still time to buy one, and economy be damned! — you can join for $12.* (Yes, that star means there’s stuff you should read at the bottom of this post that concerns money, mainly paying me money.) Click here to sign up.
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Proof that the guy who designed the Lemon Session logo is a shredder.
The Idle Times is one of my fave bands. As far as lo-fi psych bands go, the Idle Times AKA Brian Standeford has perfected the art of sounding raw and primal without sounding inept. As far as bedroom musicians go — and yes, all his stuff is recorded by him at his apartment with him playing all the instruments — he’s a virtuoso.
But my favorite part about this band? Brian records the drums on a toy drum set. I think he’s an inch or two over 6 feet, and a tall man playing drums on a tiny kit can’t NOT be funny.
Sure, you can’t tell that the drums are tiny from his records — he makes those 4-track recordings sound like he’s playing with a full band. (Or maybe you’re just distracted by the smoking guitar work.) But it’s the truth — those drums were meant for a tweener or younger but Brian got them for free and that’s what he uses.
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I’m finally off my ass and doing this again. Yaaayyy.
After a year of ignoring this blog like it was homeless person asking for money, I’ve finally gotten off my lazy butt and did everything I said I would — I switched to Wordpress, redesigned the blog and bought the proper equipment so I could start posting video clips from my extensive VHS collection (something like 6 tapes, all awesome.)
I also began work on my record label. I already have my first eight releases lined up and all of them will be available through a singles club subscription I intend to start selling very soon. Make sure to check the “Releases” page for more information and updates.
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Another post consisting of material I’ve been sitting on for too long.
I began working at a new job a few weeks ago that pays significantly more than the paltry wages I made working in television, so, to treat myself for this new found success, I bought myself some new headphones. I went full out, buying a pair of Ultrasones, which mimic stereo monitors — instead of the little speakers being pointed directly at your ears, they are almost facing your head, just like a pair of monitors.
Recently I’ve been reading “Eye Mind,” the story of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, which reignited my interest in psych music.
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The All Star Band no one gave a crap about.
After their original drummer Joe left, I auditioned for the band Battleship. I hadn’t played drums for a band since the Popular Shapes, which I left in 2003; this was three years later. By that point I had been dying to play in a band and Battleship were one of the only bands in the Bay Area I actually liked.
It had been months since I spent any time behind a kit. Though I still brimmed over with natural talent (ha!), when it came to playing the parts Joe wrote for their songs, I stumbled and apologized more than I played proficiently.
Suffice to say, I didn’t get the job — it went to a much faster, talented drummer named Drew. Instead, Battleship’s singer/battery (that guy is “go, go go!” all the time) Aleks offered to start a side project with me.
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Unnatural Helpers + Tyvek = Awesome. Noise Pop = a total ripoff.
Noise Pop is a bunch of bullshit. The company behind this stupid festival, Noise Pop Industries, makes a big event of having a few good shows, which should be happening all the time anyway. No, wait, what am I saying? It already does. A lot of these bands play the San Francisco Bay Area already, and pretty frequently — the show I went to featured two S.F. bands on the bill, one of which, the Oh Sees, was the headliner.
The show was my first Noise Pop show. I had two spots on the guest list because I wrote a preview for what-shall-be-an unnamed publication. I was forwarded an email from the publicist, or more specifically from a co-worker of the publicist (important later on) saying I had a +1 on the list for the show.
Around the same time, Dean, drummer for the Unnatural Helpers, gave me permission to record his band at the show. I’ve acquired more recording equipment over the years and this was a great opportunity to try it out so I planned on bringing my equivalent of a mobile studio to the show. (Thank god I had a +1, though I don’t think Rob, my guest, appreciated having to carry two 10-pound microphone stands around Market St.)
This led to me making my first mistake — actually looking forward to going to Noise Pop.
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Their upcoming show in San Francisco should be pretty good.
So I’ve been waiting to put up this video and these songs u on the site for a while now but they’ve been pushed aside because of my busy schedule. But Unnatural Helpers are coming down to S.F. again, this time to play Noisepop. They play Thursday, Feb. 26, with the Oh Sees at Cafe Du Nord.
I, with the help of my friend James Buck, filmed this video the same night we filmed Kinski, all the way back in 2007. It’s kinda sad how lazy I’ve been.
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Using the word “krunk” ages before hip hop popularized it.
Dan Halligan. 10 Things zine
Okay, so I might have exaggerated a little when I said in my last post that listening to Pud changed my life. But they did become a musical staple for me — that tape rarely left my Walkman, which I wore frequently around my tiny hometown. (It was either them or the Descendents.) Once, I told someone at a party that I was listening to my band’s “new demo” and let him listen to it. He liked it, though I’m positive he never came to any of my shows, so my deception went undiscovered.
Pud were also to be the headliners of the first show I ever promoted and played.
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My lazy ass is finally getting up and doing what I should’ve been doing a year ago.
This post is a long time coming. Basically I slacked on making a video of this show for more than a year after Kinski and the Unnatural Helpers gave me permission to film them. Sure, I have excuses, but who cares? My selfish butt denied you, faithful readers, this wonderful material from two totally outta sight Seattle bands.
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Don’t call it a come back! I’m just starting up again…
I can honestly say that the last two years of my life were the hardest I have ever experienced. I finished my master’s degree, got married, lived through a fatal car accident where my passenger died, spent months in court fighting a nine-month jail sentence… Usually I would end such a long, intense run down with a “Good times!” but I really can’t joke about experiences like that.
Now my life has calmed down and I can finally concentrate on doing what makes me happy — obsessing over music. So, for my first blog post since my hiatus, I am going to share some unreleased live tracks of my old band the Popular Shapes.
The shapes started in 2000, when the guitarist/singer Phi (real name Nick,) bassist/singer Lee and I started hanging out at shows. I used to love Phi and Lee’s old band The River Rats; they gave Screeching Weasel and the Angry Samoans a run for their money. But back then, whenever we talked about music, it was typically about our mutual love for the Pixies, Devo and the Hot Snakes. It just made sense to start a band with those influences in mind.
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