Narnia in My Backyard
When we went to San Diego for Spirit Wes Coast this past weekend we had the pleasure of being housed by my uncle Kenny Mac. ot only is he a proficient musician but he has the patience to host a bunch of loud and smell musicians in his house.
He even took in our good friends Davey and Laura, which was tons of fun. :)
When we first arrived in town we were a little early so we spent the time playing imaginary poker in the yard, which also happened to be the enchanted realm of Narnia.
The nice thing about visiting any place that is NOT Las Vegas is that you can go outside to enjoy the weaher (in Las Vegas outside equals melting into a puddle of sweat). But Ken's backyard took the cake. He must be in tight with that Aslan fellow because let me tell you... it was awesome.
So, if you want to go to Narnia, call Ken.
Mason Ian
Hello, Astro... how you doing?
This past friday (Good Friday) we played one of the most exciting shows since... well, since maybe forever. (although rocking out the Crystal Cathedral in SoCal was a pretty awesome experience... strange but wonderful)
The show in question featured our favorite local bands "Hello, Astro" and "The Day After" at Mateo's undergroung lounge in Boulder City, NV. If you think nothing ever happens in Boulder City, you are wrong, wrong, wrong. Mostly nothing ever happens... but at Mateo's this past friday...
We took a few risks opening up with a full mellow song, but it seemed to go over well. Billie got a splinter whilst leaping about without shoes. I managed to remember the words of our newest song "The Lonely Sound of a Train Whistle, That Is Me". And Joel totally brought the rock despite having been awake for almost 24 hours.
The Day After was cooking, they have so much energy and we all agree that Daniel flings those sticks with great panache. He makes it look easy. And Hello, Astro... what can be said about a band that rocks so hard except: "if you hear that they are playing drop what you are doing and go see them."
Ham was in a giddy mood, chatting it up with the intimate group of fans and friends pressed around the stage. I just have one suggestion to the guys: let me mix your new songs... :) That would be exceedingly fun.
So, that is my blog. The first stop on our world invasion tour went well. Ok, so it was our only stop, but North Dakota was too far to drive. (thanks Ham)
Mason and Atlas Takes Aim
La Rana... i mean... Frog
Last Thursday night was a special event at the Freakin' Frog put on by our good friend Katy for the Make A Wish Foundation.
There was a good crowd by the time the music started that lasted and cheered and danced through the night.
Opening up the night was a band called A Crowd of Small Adventures. They had that arty, loose and frenetic style similar to Modest Mouse and Talking Heads. We all enjoyed them and I'm hoping we get to share the stage with them again. We took the stage and had an absolute blast! I know Billie had been nervous before the show since we hadn't played in almost a month, but apart from me totally losing my place during "Golden Voice" we rocked (I blame it on "The Three Amigo's" playing on the jumbotron above my head... hey, it's a funny movie!) And I managed to utterly lose my voice for the last song, I was suddenly and absolutely parched... weird.
After our set we met some new, cool people... And reconnected to some friends who have supported us through the last year and a half. (every time John and Richard come to a show they say "do you remember us from the Beach? we were all talking to you in an Irish accent?")
The Escape brought their shake'n'roll NY style rock. Seth (guitar) was cool to talk to... and had a nice guitar!
Everyone was supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which in this jaded town is pretty awesome.
The Drift (reunited) took the stage and made people jump up with their raucous rootsy blues. I got a chance to talk to Cellist Lindsay beforehand and I definately want to give a shout out to her cello skillz. Anyone who uses a wah pedal on their cello is cool in my book.
So that was the night. Lots of fun, lots of good music. Were you there? what did you think?
~Mason
Tuesday EP!
I have seen the album... it has arrived... and it is glorious!
There is something so cool about making an album, it's not just me and my friends making noise in a smelly room with carpeted walls... we are now official! :)
I won't lie, it was quite a task getting this album done: from software trouble to blown up computers, to ordering woes, design issues... the only thing that wasn't a problem was money! We had sold a bunch of shirts in Hawaii that paid for the album! yay!
We're already working on material for the next one... until then buy this one. It will give you magical properties.
Yeah! that's sexy looking! :)
~Mason
It's Showtime
Last night we played at one of the coolest hole-in-the-wall places in town. I'm talking about the bunkhouse. When we arrived we had the priveledge of hearing for the first time a truly eclectic and talented band called "Chameleon Conductor". Perhaps not the greatest of all names, but in this day and age band names are virtually impossible to come up with... everything is trademarked to death. But, I digress, these guys were like hard-core jam prog. Throw in some latin grooves and some jazzy metal, put it in a blender with a dash of SOAD and Mogwai and you'd get something like this. We were stoked to hear them. check them out if you hear of them playing near you. Anyhow, we followed them and did something risky: played a brand new song... that was also an acoustic song.
When we are playing as a band none of us feels too exposed and "vulnerable" to the crowd because we are not alone. That is why stage fright is worse for public speakers than for musicians. But when you stand alone on the stage with just a guitar singing a terribly personal song... it's kinda daunting. But I believe that a true measure of a musician is precisely that ability: to be able to "rock" with just a guitar and mic. If you can do that, imagine what carnage you can unleash with a band!
It was a fun night, but we missed Elisha. She's the secret member of the band, and an incredible photographer.
Our friends from Holding On To Sound were in the house, and some lady who came up to me and claimed to be in the band rilo kiley. I just smiled and said "that's nice".
After us came The Blakes. Besides a guitar that misbehaved tuningwise, I thought they captured the grimy new-york garage rock style well.
Unfortunately we could not stay. Billie had been sick all week and she was about ready to pass out after the show. I was sad to miss the Skooners set, we always enjoy playing shows with them. But I think they'll forgive us.
Anyhow, that is my recap of the show. I think the highlight was the absolutely drunk old guy playing airguitar during Hold On. I thought he was going to jump on the stage with us.
Mase~ 
If you read this, you have to participate or else........
Since we haven’t had very much feedback from our ATA blogs, I thought I would do something a little more interactive. I think this will help us all get along a little better and then the next time we meet it won’t be so awkward.
What our 5 things that you do that people would consider weird?
I’ll go first.....
1. I love to drink a glass of wine in the shower
2. my favorite snack is ritz crackers, cream cheese and salsa
3. I wear two pairs of socks
4. Every night I brush my teeth and my dogs teeth with the same tooth brush..... ok, i don’t actually brush my dogs teeth, I just give her a taste of the toothpaste. C’mon it’s not that bad...
5. If somebody is wearing something that bugs me, I have a hard time acting normal around them. I guess I have some sort of mental block or something. I especially don’t like “turtle neck’s with short sleeves” eeeeeek!!!!!!.....~Joel
Heavy metal? Yeah!
This past Saturday we had a great show at the Cheyenne Saloon. We brought out our friends from L.A., Chandelle, to stretch their new material in Las Vegas. They have such a good sound, we are really looking forward to playing more shows with them. if you hear of them playing anywhere near you go check them out. After Chandelle, we were up... our friends are so awesome! Tiffany, Kelly, Adam, Mike, Lindsay, Ryan and those they dragged along with them give us so much energy. Having people that love music makes all the difference. We made some new friends that night too: the bands Corrupt the Righteous and Drainage X. Now, it was at first a bit odd having two indie, introspective, art bands and then two brutal metaaaaaal bands, but they were great people, very open and kind. Plus they had facepaint and metal spikes. I'll be honest, i used to be into hard, hard, hard core music. we're talking death metal and all that.... yeah.... really. So I have a nostalgic soft-spot for technical core-metal and grind. (I just have a quicker saturation limit now). Regardless of what people tell you about musicians with attitudes who think everyone else is lame... Saturday night was an incredibly positive and fun night. That is how bands ought to act, like we are all in it together. hats off to everyone who made it a rocking night... and next time we play at the Cheyenne i'm gonna do a finger-tap solo with a whammy-bar and joel's gonna wear spandex and facepaint... :)
~Mason
O'ace's
So elisha and i recently to a little trip to “vegas jr.” to get away from the big city lights. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, we just saw the huge ad..... “Come to the Oasis resort and spa for 55$ a night”... We were feeling a little adventurous and so we packed our bags and headed to mesquite.............. As soon as we pulled up, I knew were in trouble. It was like a giant Motel 6 with a very small, 70’s style casino that had mirrors all over the walls to make the place look bigger then it actually was. We finally get our room key, we were scared when we saw that our room# was like 21,857...... we walked down the old musty halls that seemed to never end and finally found our room.............
We walked in and we both realized that it was going to be a long night. the carpet was like old,matted down shag and the view was of a huge industrial dumpster. needless to say, the aroma wasn’t pleasant................
Since there wasn’t anything else to do, we decided to give the ’ casino a try. We made it to the back of the casino and I saw a sign that grabbed my attention..... Poker Tournament 15$ buy in !!! I was like shoot! I’m in. lets do this!!!!...............
I sit down at the table with a bunch of old locals and truck drivers.... these guys were pretty grumpy, not gonna lie. I was a little nervous considering that I’ve never really played a real poker game before and I wasn’t familiar with all the little poker etiquette's. I must have been in the hot seat, because I kept knocking them off one-by-one. Then I looked down at my chip stack and I was the chip leader at the final table..................
Being in front of all the cameras was a little nerve racking at first, but I got use to it pretty quickly. just so you know, even though the ESPN announcers are whispering you can still slightly hear them. It was a total show down.... me and the gun slingers from the west battling it out for the grand prize of the tournament. He gave the poker stare of death and I quivered in my seat, I knew he must have had the pocket Ace’s..... to make a long story short, I got second place.... no wait, third... actually it was fourth( I’m not gonna lie). but I came home and started our Atlas Takes Aim poker tournament. So come if you dare to battle the “FOURTH PLACE CHAMPION” of the 15$ mesquite poker tournament. Stay tuned for our next poker extravaganza. Joel
We're big in Hollywood...
Ok, so check this out... This past Saturday (9-8-07) we drove down to Silverlake, CA to play our first "Hollywood" show.
We had made friends with the band Veritas when they came through las vegas and they offered to put us on the bill with them. (a special shout out to Will from Veritas for believing in us)
We were excited about his offer since we've found it hard to get CA shows. (the CA promoters ask "how many fans do you have in California" we respond "we've played here once, we'll have more fans when we can get more shows.")
So.. back to the story...
Not only did we get down to the venue (Zen Sushi) inordinately early, but I was feeling "fastfoodified". In other words, Carl's Jr. did me in. Things started to go better when our good pal Dave "Baduta-BFN" Rooks came by to hang out with us, and my aunt Jennifer showed up. (she is one year older than me and more like a zany cousin... always funny... especially when playing charades) So, we're cruising, wondering when load in and sound check are supposed to be... More friends show up: Jessica and Mandee from the awedsome band "Chandelle". But by now it was nearing 9pm and no one was loading onto the stage. (the show was billed as starting at 8pm)
Eventually music happened (after 10:30) and the show was on the road. Listening to the bands, having a good time... a little bust from the long drive down... but all is ok. then this one band gets up on stage... they were musically ok. at least they could play their instruments... but they had this curious and annoying habit of berating the audience. They actually called people out in the crowd who did not pay attention to the stage. it was pretty lame.
I can understand wanting the audience to notice you... but what if the lady whispering to her friend is saying "gee, I really like this band, let's go get a T-shirt"? She'll think twice if she is called out from the stage by some neanderthal with a mic.
anyhow, bad band etiquette aside, when we finally got to go up our set was cut to 20 minutes (the cranky band managed to play nearly an hour set when we were all given a half hour... did I mention bad band etiquette?) but we ROCKED!!!
It was an amazing set, we really were on the game! Afterwards we all kind of looked at each other with shock and a strange euphoria while the crowd actually shouted for us to keep playing. i felt sorry for the venue rep who had to say "no more" because they actually booed him. But, (I reminded everyone... cause I had the mic...) we've got to be courteous to the next band.
Let me tell you... we're going back to Hollywood. We had a blast and we met some really cool people.
here's to a night of great rock'n'roll and new friends.
if any of you were there... post some comments or pictures!
mason and Atlas Takes Aim.
Songwriting
Writing a song is a strange process; some of them fly out of the gates as if they’d been waiting in the wings to be released from the aural ether, others kick and scream their way into existence.
We have the sketches for about… 5 or more new songs. They all are in varying states of completion, and they all have a unique and intriguing sound. It is just about finding the “Magic moment” when the song leaps off the page and is ALiiiiiiiiiVE!!!!!
Billie said something the other night when we were going over the newest song for the millionth time (we were getting slightly frustrated because certain bits weren’t flowing well). She said something to the effect of: “This is being in a band, no one said it would be easy… it is work and we should treat it that way and stick to it.” And she’s right. I’ll admit I dream of music being a career that enables me to stay up late and not have to work in an office… but I cannot forget that it is still going to take work. Hard work, fun, but hard.
So, that being said, if you have a dream goal—be it to play an instrument, be in a band, write a book, become an illustrator—you will have to learn to work, and invest your time, and have sleepless nights.
Just look at Peter Jackson, the guy had virtually no life and no rest during the whole three years that he did LOTR. (Those dvd special features have shown me how committed he was… it was almost scary)
Same with us… we can’t whine and moan because it is harder than it looks, we have to charge and keep playing it over and over and over and over until it is right.
So… go write a book or something! Get to it! That’s your motivational speech for the day.
~Mason :-Þ
The Name Game
Naming a band is so tricky. First of all it needs to be cool and catchy, not too long, look good in print, suggest something about the style of the band, and hopefully sound good when it rolls off the tongue.
At the same time you’re trying to avoid words that really huge bands have in their names because you don’t want to confuse potential fans, or get sued (Smashing Squashes anyone?)
All this and when you’ve finally got a name all you can do is hope your google search pulls up every possible person who might be able to sue you, charge you or otherwise give you the shaft for using said long-toiled over title. I imagine back in the early days of music the main concern was if it sounded cool, but now, at least for us, the first thing we asked when re-naming the band was “Is it taken?”
I imagine one day in the future we’ll all just have really long numbers.
“Thank you! You guys have been great! We’re 8756-2745 and this is our last tune….”
I know you've got one cuz everybody does, what's your perfect band name? |
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she loves me too....
I’ve come to the same conclusion that I have been declaring for the past 7 or so years...
It all happened when we arrived to “Amplified” Battle of a billion bands. It was quite an extravaganza i might say. I’ve never seen so much gear ..... rockers everywhere, bigwigs with badges(wait a minute, we had badges too) anyways, parking was madness!, we didn’t know where to go so we unloaded by the elevator and found a parking spot. We went down one level and made our way to the place where all the noise was..... It was loud!!!!!! We found ourself behind one of the stages and there was a metal band playing.... Are we going to play there?(I asked myself).... I hope not.. we’re not...... very.... “metal”, and the crowd looks to be a little more on the “metal” side. Luckily we had billie on our side, she took complete control while i stood there like a 12 year ‘ole red headed kid picking his nose. I started looking around at all the other bands(I’m not gonna lie, I was a little insecure at this point) I made one observation that made my heart bounce a little funny, All the other drummers had their own drum sets and all that I was told to bring were cymbols and sticks. Then billie yelled from across the way(come on guys!... hello, we’re not even playing there.... we’re playing over here) and she pointed to the double doors at the end of the hall.
We made it through the doors and it opened up to Heaven.... It was my kind of place, very chill with a very good band playing in the corner. I was like (I’ll have a tall one please) I looked over at the drummer and he had his drums too. then ,to be honest, I was a little scared of the “Back-line “ kit I was going to be playing and I was a little jealous that everyone else got to use their drums. I didn’t let that bother me too much though and I settled in and made the decision to just relax and listen to some good music. I was relieved to hear that the drummer for the next band didn’t have his drums either... that would only last until about half way through our first song when my kick drum pedal started sliding further and further away from me. It was at this same point when my hi-hat stand started slipping down closer and closer to hitting my knee. So basically, I was trying to adjust my hat stand while playing the song and praying for God to turn me into Inspector Gadget so I could Go-Go Gadget Kick Drum. What a complete nightmare!!!!! I finally managed to get the situation under control enough to finish our set and rock that place down.
So, the conclusion that I reached was.... I Love my drums and She loves me too.
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