One down, three to go.

Last night was our first of four shows for this month and it took place in a basement. I'm going to try and keep this short. We met a lot new and really nice people.

The first band we met was Elephant Rifle and they were way nice guys. They also put on a loud and fun show. Then of course we ran into the fine fellows of Tyrannosaurus Zebra who also asked if they could use my bass amp "Big Barda". To which I gladly gave my consent. They really are a great band and their bassist is very good. After I went inside to scope out the basement we were about to play in, I met Maximo. He too was very nice and had what appeared to be a broken foot. I felt bad for him most of the evening as he had to remain seated for all of the other acts. Poor guy. We ended up waiting a good hour for the show to really get started. Maximo was first, then another local act Al Bundy went next. They were super loud and the drummer was a beast. Their songs were only a few seconds long and reminded me of Crash and the Boys (yes, from Scott Pilgrim). The drummers hitting was so thunderous his whole drum kit fell apart.

We were up after and thanks to a very stoned fellow, we managed to have a nice crowed around us. He encouraged everyone to get close and dance, thank you for that kind sir, whomever you are. I didn't catch his name. We all made a few mistakes, but overall we had fun and that's pretty much why we do it. I gave out a few more buttons to those kind enough to come over and talk to me and made some more valley connections with other bands. Hopefully we'll be playing a whole lot more and from the looks of it, with really nice people. A lot of girls were in attendance and that really made me happy. I hope they decide to start bands too. I felt super bad for the band Our Lady because the lead singer/guitarists amp totally gave out on him. He borrowed Mas's and even after that, his guitar would NOT stay in tune. After he switched guitars, the entire power pad just gave out. It was a real bummer and I was really looking forward to seeing them play as they looked like a super fun band. I bought a cd from them and I also bought an Elephant Rifle tee. The show went well passed midnight and we had to leave in the middle of Boom Boom Kids set. Mas wasn't feeling to well and neither was I. The bands were great and the atmosphere was pleasing. I'd play there again, but maybe bring a very muscular man or woman to carry our amps down the stairs.

Next show is this Thursday and I hope it's a rad one. We'll be in a much more familiar environment with a lot more familiar faces. Stoked!

Busy. So very busy.

Where or where to begin??

Seriously, I have no idea where to begin. So I guess I'll just list band news and get to other stuff after that. We have shows n' shows n' more shows! Here's the list of events and some flyers.

First:

This is to take place in a basement therefore making it a basement show therefore making it most excellent. BoomBoom Kid (Alls the way from Argentina!), Elephant Rifle (experimental hardcore from Reno, NV), Our Lady (folk punx from Illinois), XIX (Bakersfield, CA punx), Tyrannosaurus Zebra (Visalia, CA folk punx), and Maximo Garcia (local acoustics) will also be in attendance. I'm hoping for a lovely evening. Show starts at 7 p.m.

Second:

This time around we'll be playing with Carol Bui (guitar and drums with "middle eastern flair" outta Washington), Fatty Cakes (described as "weird girl fun times"), Passion Bucket, our homeboy Restaurnaut" (ukulele n'stuff) and possibly more! Again, show starts at 7. This ought to be a good one and I'm really looking forward to the other bands.

Third:

This is the one mentioned in the previous post. We'll be playing with Werebear in Visalia at Velouria Records. We're really happy to be playing with them as they are really nice people and it's been lovely getting to know them here and there. I hope there is somewhat of a crowd. This one, I fear, may be a smaller turn out. I hope Visalia shows up because I don't really know anyone who's going to drive down to see us. Which reminds me, I need to make better friends around here. Or friends who have similar interests and are somewhat supportive I should say. Anyway, it's gonna be fun and I hope people show up to join in on said fun.

And last, but not least!

We'll be playing another show (there is not a yet a flyer for this one) on the 29th with
Street Eaters, Landlord, Tyrannosaurus Zebra, and Maximo Garcia (again). This one I am mega stoked for. It's gonna be a doozy and I can't wait!

We have been so lucky to have played with such lovely people our first two shows, and I can only hope that our luck continues well into the future. Feeling pretty good about life right now.

And just as I type that, I remember that we have to start looking for an apartment soon. I cannot even begin to express how much I loath the moving process. To know that I'm going to have to be doing it all over again in the next few weeks makes me sick to my stomach. I'll try to cheer myself up by thinking about all the cool happenings from the band every time all the other icky stuff in my life starts to creep into consciousness. Being a responsible adult can sometimes be a drag. Sometimes. Anyway, other cool stuff has happened the past few weeks. Like, we went to see Matt and Kim for free at a suicide prevention festival. It was pretty awesome. Alright, that is all for now. I leave you now with a picture of my cat lounging around in the sun. We thought he was dead, but he was just sleeping. He is so spoiled.

Mark Your Calendars!

That's right! Sci-Fi Caper has another show booked. Yay. This time it's a "road gig!" as Tenacious D would say. We're driving up to Visalia to play at Velouria Records with our Orosi homies, Werebear on November 19th. Show starts at 6! So be there, because we still have some way cool buttons (designed by Missy Kulik) to give away. I'm pretty excited and will now be counting the days most impatiently. There is not a flyer just yet, but rest assured as soon as there is, I will be posting it up here on ye old blog. Here's the link to the event page. LINK

In other news, Mas's newest obsession seems to be Ancient Aliens, which is streaming on Netflix now. I watched a couple of episodes and I can see why he's watched it obsessively. It's pretty kick ass. He also got a head start on The Walking Dead, which I REFUSE to watch alone and he's going to have to re-watch with me. Because I'm a wussy. :|

In sad news, found out Mikey Welsh died yesterday. I didn't really know much about him except for the fact he was a bassist for Weezer and an amazing painter. He was bassist for Weezer when they made their triumphant return and this is what made him really special in my life. I was there when Weezer had their first show back at the Warped Tour. It took place at Fresno State and not only was I there, but so was Mas. Except, we weren't there together. In fact, I went all alone and he with his friends. I used to do that a lot when I was a kid, go places alone. The movies, rock shows, etc. Anyway, it was a very special show and I remember being so happy that Weezer was back. It was awesome and something I'll never forget, and Mas remembers it too. We probably crossed paths and didn't even know it. Anyway, that is why Mikey has a special place in my young heart. I also managed to get him to sign my shirt. So, thanks for that Mikey.

Oh yeah! More band news. There is a possibility of a Sci-Fi Caper music video. Crazy, right!?! Pretty exciting news. The guy interested in making it is Enrique Meza, and his stuff is legit. So I know we would be in good hands. I just hope we don't have to be in it. Because I have NOT been treating myself very well and need to do a little exercise. Alright, A LOT of exercise. ^.^

That's enough news for now. I leave you with the first track off of Veronica Falls self-titled first full length release. Gotta love Slumberland Records y'all. It's been on repeat as of late. It's wonderful and I recommend you give it a listen.

Later gators!

FuSE Fresno

This past weekend Mas and I attended the 4th annual Fresno Urban Sound Experience Festival or FuSE Fest for all you hip cats. It was a two day music festival that took place in Downtown Fresno California and we found ourselves hopping from venue to venue to catch various local acts. All genres and all ages. It was really nice and felt good to get out and about in my own city. I've lived here my whole life, (not true, spent 5 years in Mendota) but I've also lived a pretty sheltered life. Either I was too young, too broke, or just too shy to go out. Anyway, here are a couple of snapshots I got with my phone.

A Werebear watching Wearbear

Brother Luke & The Comrades

College Kids

Irie Sun

It'll Grow Back

AZAZEL! (the lead guitarist was knighting fans with his ax! Though I was not one of the fortunate souls.

Niilo Smeds

BruNo dA uNo

Restaurnaut

I mostly enjoyed watching Azazel, College Kids and the Sunburns. Also, Restaurnaut put on a very lovely show in the Fulton55 cafe. Werebear was fun to watch too, especially on day one (they played both days), because they had a dude dressed as a bear. Overall, we had a great time. Though, I wish there would have been a better turn out and it would have been nice to be one of the acts on the bills. Oh well, maybe next year? Anyhow, we took turns using our iPod to take some clips of the bands we were able to catch. Mas put together a really good video of our experience. Have a looksie won't ya?



And instead of linking every band in all the paragraphs, here is a list of links instead. K? ^.^

Werebear
Brother Luke & The Comrades
College Kids
Irie Sun
It'll Grow Back
Azazel
Niilo Smeds
Restaurnaut

Peace out. Be back later with other stuff.

Yeah, it's Monday.

It is indeed Monday and here I am again with another marvelous day off of work. However, it seems I have been crippled by the internet from getting anything done around here. For example: dusting (need to do this regularly so that my allergies don't get too bad), vacuuming, laundry (ugh) and other things that aren't really that important but I really wanted to do. No, instead I have laid in bed while the sheets were at wash and watched Suckerpunch (a very disappointing Zack Snyder flick), listened to new music ( Mikal Cronin, .ICEAGE and Slow Animal), and did a rough sketch of a banner for another blog. At least the sheets and blankets are washed and the carpet has been vacuumed.

Found myself drinking Arbor Mist and eating pizza two nights in a row. And I'm not sorry for it :| Slept like a baby.

Oh yeah! Toni from work, made some Menudo and brought the whole alterations staff a bowl! It was SO yummy. There are many perks to working for and with old alterations ladies, but the food is the best. Lupe brings Tamales, because her daughter owns a Tamale restaurant called Casa De Tamales. There are these Blueberry tamales that are to die for. Toni brings all sorts of dishes and I especially loves when she brings obscure Mexican candies. Like the chocolate covered Mazapan that we can't find ANYWHERE. She said they are only in Mexico. What is up with that?!

I suppose I can talk about what I did this past Friday! We drove to a small farming town called Orosi to see the annual Spanspek Music and Arts festival! It was a pretty good time. I'll just show a few pictures since I gave them all away for another article on a different blog. We got to see a lot of the Valleys biggest bands, but that wasn't my favorite part of the experience. I loved the arts and crafts mostly. There was a girl making some pretty cute charms that reminded me of Sophie and Toffee. I bought the Rainbow Cake with Sprinkles keychain for myself and the Taco charm necklace for my dude. She has a facebook page for her crafts called Dark Heartz. Check her out!

Oh man, there was this kick ass painting of Carl Sagan done by a Visalia artist named Jeremy Woodard. You can see a much better picture of it in his facebook photos here. My camera couldn't capture it's awesomeness. I asked if it was for sale, but forogot to ask how much (I'm a dummy).

We saw Tyrannosaurus Zebra and again they had pretty devoted fans show up. They are getting a pretty steady following around here and it's because these kids really love them. There were two that just took up the floor and danced their little hearts out. It was pretty entertaining to watch and the lead singer accidentally hit a girl with his show as he flung it off with a kick. The video I took of them came out so bad and the sound is just awful I won't even bother posting it. Here is another pic instead!

We sat down while Tokyo Death March played because my feet were killing me.

All in all it was a pretty fun festival and I look forward to next year. I hope I have something artsy to showcase by that time! Or maybe Sci-Fi Caper will play! One can only hope. Anyhow that's all for now, later gators!

Day Off

This is the first "real" day off I've had in a long time and when I wasn't at one of my two jobs, I was at practice. My calendar has been jam packed for weeks now. Needless to say, sleeping in was blissful.

So I suppose I should go over what happened at the show. I wish I had more pictures and videos to share. Alas, I don't have a camera and my ipod AND phone weren't really able to capture any good images. We arrived early only to find the show had been postponed about an hour or so. No biggie, we got to meet Eric of Fishboy and Googolplexia.

Friends and family started to show up and soon we were shuffling in to catch Restaurnaut's set. He's a transplant from Arkansas and now lives in Clovis. He played a lovely set of songs on his ukulele, and aside from the "technical" difficulties with the sound, it was an overall good performance. He seems like a really nice guy and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him around town.

We went up next and I can't really remember what happened after that. I saw people and they all seemed happy so I suppose we did good. Tyrannosaurus Zebra were up next. We had seen them a few weeks back when Bass Drum of Death were in Visalia. So we knew what to expect and they did not disappoint. Everyone was really into it. They also had some fans who had t-shirts and everything! So jealous!

Unfortunately, the crowd started to thin and most of our friends and family started to leave. When Googolplexia performed, it was a pretty small crowd, but he was so entertaining and funny. I was really looking forward to his performance, he plays a ukulele and accordian. After that, Fishboy decided it'd be best if we moved to the back room and I was able to take some video. The lighting was a lot brighter and it was really fun.



We were so pleased with all the bands. They were all super sweet and kind people. We bought a t-shirt from Fishboy and he gave us a free download. Score! So far, we have been so lucky as a band to have played with such awesome people and we owe a lot to Samantha of the Bel-Tower. If it wasn't for her, we'd have no shows. At all. Because I have no idea how to be in a band and get exposure. Seriously. I've got the bug now, and I want to keep playing. So I guess I'm going to have to figure this whole being in a band thing out. That's all for now, later gators!

Tonight is the night.

Our first show with our new drummer is tonight! I'm pretty stoked and even though I have a huge nasty pimple, I am for the most part unphased. Anyway, I got up kind of early today and have now spent the past hour surfing the net. Figured, why not put a post on the old blog. I did upload a few pictures so I suppose I can share those here.

Work life has been pretty busy. I'm still working two jobs and it's starting to get worrisome. It irritates me to no end having to re-arrange my schedule every week. Especially when bosses are uncooperative. Fortunately I work with many lovely people who are always willing to pick up or swap shifts with me. I've always enjoyed my job at the bridal shop, but this new job at a certain department store, has turned out surprisingly enjoyable. Though, one of my favorite co-workers has relocated for college, I'm sure I'm still going to enjoy working there. So, yeah that's whats going on in my work life. Stressed, but happy I'm working.

Although, all this working has prevented us from practicing. I think we are going to be alright. I'm feeling super confident, but Mas is stressing the heck out. He just got a new guitar and is having a hard time finding the right sound with his pedals. He was up all night, and I felt so bad for him. It's a good thing I'm not the guitarist, because we'd probably sound like shit. I hope many pictures are taken, I'd love to see what everyone else is seeing.

Alright, let's get to some pictures. These are some pics that were on my phone. I found the majority of them consisted of my cat Loki. He loves the camera and really hams it up when I start taking his picture.

Also, this past month we took our nephew Armando to his first wrestling show. It was only a house show, but it was really sweet to watch him take it all in.

Here is some poor quality vid of his experience.



Well, that's all for now. I hope I'll have some good video or photos from the show tonight. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have laundry to do and maybe one last mini practice. Later gators!