August 12, 2012

International Pop Overthrow Festival!

Category: out-of-town shows — admin @ 3:15 pm

Fais Do Do in Los Angeles (thanks to Cindy Schonmacher for the onstage shots )

John Shafer

The last few months have seen the band playing all over the state. Happily, our efforts at increasing the amount of our  out-of-town gigs has been paying off. Lately we’ve played in Sacramento, Oakland, Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as keeping up a steady pace in our own home stomping grounds of Fresno.                                   
One of the great helps in getting us into some great clubs lately has been our friends in the International Pop Overthrow Festival. Here are some pictures and moments from some gigs at Fais Do Do in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco at the Hotel Utah. (Watch our website news as we bring a number of these out-of-town bands *into* Fresno.)


and jumping out of order just a bit to show David Bash–the originator and C.E.O. of the International Pop Overthrow Festival (at the Hotel Utah 8-9-12):

The last couple of times Bash introduced the band, he used the term 'synapse bursting'. I can live with that.

and the obligatory post-show meal: this time, it was Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in Hollywood! from left: Corine, Scott, David, John, Cindy, Martin, Doc, Neptune.


and a few days later….

outside the Hotel Utah in San Francisco


and inside the Hotel Utah…

picture from Joe Rosato's camera!

thanks to Aaron from the Honey Wilders for figuring out the flash on my camera!

and the ever glamorous (and essential) after-midnight roadside hamburger stop

August 1, 2012

Imagine a Local Band Comp That…

Category: Fresno Covers Fresno Project — admin @ 8:43 am

(thank you Ross Garcia for the Godzilla, and Martin Hansen for the flyer!)

Imagine a local band compilation album that everyone will
be excited about.

It would have to include a lot of bands.

It would have to have exclusive tracks:  tracks that local band fans couldn’t get
anywhere else.

It would have to be, like the FUSE festival, a rich and
diverse sampling of local talent.

 

Here’s the idea and a working  title: “Fresno Covers Fresno”*, a compilation
in which local bands cover

*other* local bands. Maybe Strange Vine covers
Achievement House. Maybe It’ll Grow Back does a songby Pinkeye.

The combinations are endless, and fun to
imagine.

 

Over the next few months we’ll be soliciting bands to do
just that: submit a recording of themselves covering another local act (past or
present). In this way: twice the amount of bands are represented,

fans get a unique recording from some of their favorites,
and we all enjoy the fascinating re-interpretations.

 

 

Our plan:

Have the project done by mid-2013—ready to promote  FUSE Festival #6.

Selected recordings will be pressed up on a CD.

All submissions  will be available online for download.

All profits will support the FUSE Festival.

 

To help fund the project, a series of shows will be held at
Tokyo Garden.

The first one is Friday, August 17. Come out to support.

 

*Audience participation note: we’re considering having
the audiences at the Tokyo Garden shows contribute ideas for the final album
title.

Questions and submissions can be sent to Blake Jones at :
whispermaphone@hotmail.com