It’s stupid how long it’s taken me to finally post this. A month ago I was so busy that I had to wait until I took a vacation to get back to this blog. But then after I mixed the tracks and wrote the majority of the post, I basically forgot to publish it for two weeks. It was dumb – I’d remember it early in my day, usually when I was nowhere near a computer; and then by the time I could’ve finished the post, I’d drink a bunch of beers and watch several episodes of “Storage Wars” instead.

Though work has sucked up the majority of my time and energy, label stuff has also been a part of why I’ve been so busy – mixing recordings for possible releases, getting everything squared away with the next two singles and even buying more equipment for live recording. So expect more content, both free and for purchase.

But I could be just wasting time and money as my wife is pregnant and according to every father I know, I won’t have a life after the baby arrives. Well, I guess it’s just trading one dream for another… But if you’re in the Bay Area and want to see how the record business works for little money, email me.

Let’s get to what you actually care about: free music.

Little Queenie is an Bay Area all-star punk band featuring members of the Gris Gris, Spencey Dude and the Doodles, Battleship, and many others that I don’t have the energy to type out. Their names should be familiar to those who like good music — bassist Oscar Michel, bassist Gene “Bean” Bae, drummer Joe Haener, and singer Mark “Icki” Murrmann, the photographer/label head/ex-MRR co-editor who doesn’t have as many releases under his belt as teammates but isn’t a new comer to mic rockin’ (check out his work as frontman for Short Eyes (with Bean on guitar), who have an CDR on Raw Deluxe records.)

The most notable part of this band is that the role usually reserved for a 6-string guitar is filled by a second bass, be it a distorted, rock-guitar-like bass (played by Michel.) The switch results in a new take on the neo-proto punk 4-piece and nothing like Cop Shoot Cop.

*Quick note — These songs were mixed in a Portland hotel room while my wife slept and a Storage Wars marathon played on the TV.

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.

It was after that conversation that led to the birth of Red Nurse, a band that shamelessly exploited its members’ previous bands’ fame. We couldn’t help it; really, each of our bands had minimal success in the underground (our singer’s old band, Tractor Sex Fatality, was probably the best of the bunch) and we didn’t think twice about advertising that fact when played our first show. (We headlined, so it was necessary.)

The funniest part about this band was the fact that the most talented member, Mike the bass player, was the only one who hadn’t been in a band before this. I helped him buy a bass and amp just for this band. He would become the main songwriter for the band, though many of our songs were compiled from spontaneous jams during practice.

We played a few shows, were offered a few record deals and yet we let it peter our when Alecks left for New York in 2007.

Here is the COMPLETE recording of a show we played at the Stork club in 2007 — we opened for the Wooden Shjips (who I also recorded) and Pink Reason. Enjoy.

Oakland’s Battleship is no longer. Singer Aleks and guitarist are both moving away, leaving a pretty big void in Oakland’s punk rock scene. Battleship was probably the only punk band in the East Bay that wasn’t either: A. a crusty, Discharge ripoff, or B. An angular, no wave dance-punk band. (For East Bay music scenesters, those types of bands are you only two options now, so if you want to hear something different, start your own band now!!!)

For me though, I loved Battleship because their live show was almost a revival of the greatest live band to ever exist, Behead the Prophet No Lord Shall Live. Seriously, if Battleship had a violinist and Aleks was more open with his homosexuality (ZING), their shows would be time portals to Seattle/Olympia, between the years 1996 and 1998. They would’ve been regulars at the Capitol Theater and the Velvet Elvis.

Battleship’s last show did not disappoint. Well, maybe in the sense that they didn’t sound that great, but all the energy was there, crowd included. It probably helped that the band passed out free shots of whiskey to the crowd before their set. (Hence the first picture in the slide show.)

The band went all out, to the point where they had their two former drummers each play on a song, as well as all three play together on the last song, “Contempt.” (I didn’t post that because it really ends in utter chaos and gets on your nerves as the song drags on.) They probably got in one practice before the show so they’re pretty sloppy, and it didn’t help that 21 GRand is just one bi echo chamber. Really, the recordings below are for document’s sake.

If you want to hear the band at their prime, get either of their albums — Present Princess or Hearts Addendum — both of which can be purchased from On On Switch. I also think Raw Deluxe might have vinyl as well.

Go to Battleship’s MySpace and wish them a fond farewell, now.