April 28, 2011
Work continued last night in the secret vaults of Whispermaphone Studios (swamp version*) last night.
The original tracks (cut last week) were made with the four of us playing live in the room (as opposed to the players overdubbing their parts individually). All of them were done this way but one: “Clever Things”. This was cut a few minutes before Leland could get there. So tonight, Leland strapped on the headphones and laid down the piano part—-no mean feat. Sometimes it’s hard to make something ‘feel’ just right; finding the ‘pocket’, ‘the groove’, can be tricky when you’re laying something down while listening to the original track—Leland pulled it off perfectly.
The next challenge was to fix a problem that I had caused. Two of the tracks “Who’s Got a Light?” and “Send the Band to Liverpool” didn’t have drums. Well, they sort of did…I had re-routed John’s mic’s for the previous song, and then didn’t set them back to where they belonged. The result: two perfectly good takes with drums that you could only hear bleeding slightly through the other instrument’s mics. Gargh!
John set about trying to overdub drums. Not only is this an ill-advised way to work (you want your rhythm tracks locked in perfectly), it’s severely difficult. If the band’s tempo varied at all (and it usually does), it can be impossible. I’ve seen John pull it off, but in this case, the original drums bled through enough to highlight any discrepencies. [ach, who was the lame engineer who'd led us to this pickle?] After a valiant attempt and some creative work-arounds, we decided we’d end up with something we were all proud of only if we re-cut the two tunes. Luckily the band had just enough juice left (even though it was getting late) to pull off two fiery takes each of both songs.
So….the work continues.
Not only do these versions have a different ‘sound’…what with us using only acoustic pianos and guitars, but since we’re using a different approach, the arrangements change a bit…it’s more a creative re-working than a reproduction of these songs which are a familiar part of our live sets. I’m hoping that those who recieve this new disc (by pledging 20 bucks or more on our kickstarter.com campaign—-Click here!) will be very happy with this unique project.
watch the video to learn more.
*It does get a little ‘swampy’ in there when recording four folks live, and you’ve gotta turn the air conditioning off (it makes noise y’know) when the tape’s rolling….but that, and Leland playing the rather down-home-y upright piano…made for an atmospheric deep-in-the bayou mood on these sessions.
April 27, 2011
We’re nearly finished with “Everyone’s Unplugged Except Martin” our un-plugged album that we’re recording exclusively for our kickstarter.com fund raiser. The backing tracks were recorded in one day-long marathon session last week. Tonight we’ll be doing a few overdubs, and I expect the whole of recording will be done by early next week. Add on a couple more days for mixing, and the album will be finished. We’ll be mailing it out to those who pledged twenty dollars or more for the fundraiser that’s helping to launch our tour of England at the end of May.
The way kickstarter fundraisers work, we have a set amount of time (19 days as of this writing) to raise the dough or we get nothing….so, if you’re so inclined, please hop on over (click here) and donate anything that you can. You will recieve fabulous prizes—like the album I’m writing about. A slightly higher pledge will get us to write and record a song customed made for you. A bit more will hire us to play at your party or function. Oh what a bargain! Plus…you’re helping send this band on it’s way to Liverpool, Manchester and London.
Watch the fun video here!
April 15, 2011
Please click HERE. It’ll take you to our Kickstarter.com page. There’s an amusing video that tells you about our upcoming England Tour
(may 20-may 30). It’s kinda like Public TV…but with cooler premiums! For example…for a 20 dollar plege, you get an exclusive un-plugged CD that we’re recording just for this fund-raiser. A bit more gets you a song written and recorded *just for you*, and a bit more gets you a live performance for you party/event/etc. DANG—-you DO get some fabulous prizes! (and you’ll also be playing an important part in sending one of your most beloved local art-pop bands [smile] on their tour of Jolly ol’). Thanks for your consideration! No donation is too small or too large—but time’s limited…if we don’t get it by our kickstarter deadline of May 16, we get nothing…we even forfeit the pledges we’ve recieved so far….so please help us out. THANK YOU! (Pledging is super easy….and the page shows you how…you can even do it through your Amazon.com account…which, if you’ve ever ordered anything through Amazon…you already have–easy schmeasy!
March 18, 2011
The details for our tour of England are coming together!
We’ve got airplane tickets..some hotel reservations…and most importanly,
some gigs nailed down.
The first ones to come together are the IPO Festival dates:
Liverpool—Cavern Club Sunday, May 22nd at
Liverpool—Cavern Pub (other side of the street!)….Monday, May 23rd
London—Bull and Gate Saturday, May 28th.
Our good friend Olly Neashum (who came into Fresno and played for us thrice last summer) is setting up our mid-week gigs in the
Manchester/Bolton area. [Thanks Olly!
Fun facts:
*Apparenty Nirvana and Blur are amongst the bands who have played previously at the Bull and Gate in London.
*This time at the Cavern, we’re playing in the smaller (but more wine-cellar-ee) front room….very exciting…
looks just like the footage you’ve seen of the early Beatles playing “Some Other Guy”.
March 6, 2011
So we’ve done our new Rogue Festival show twice so far.
They’ve been a blast.
Two dates left.
Friday, March 11th at 5:30pm
and
Saturay, March 12th at 2:30 in the afternoon.
Both shows at the Starline in Fresno’s Tower District.
Here’s the little descriptive paragraph from the festival’s program:
Police entanglements, Fresno city permits, hellhounds on their trail, pitiless club owners, wives and girlfriends on the brink of losing patience. Will the band ever fulfill their dream and make it to the Big Show? Long-time Rogue Festival favorites: Jamie Holt, Josh Tehee and Blake Jones & the Trike Shop (and a few special guest dancers from Baba For Now) take the stage in this rockshow-styled romp for those of us somewhere between dreaming and ripping our teeth out.
also..go check out Josh and Jamie’s show “Birds and Bees”…details at: http://roguefestival.com/rogue2011/?p=119
also also….our kickstarter campaign is taking off. THANK YOU. As of this writing, we’re 1/4th of the way there….with 69 days to go.
Help us out if you can. Watch the video at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1103229473/run-blake-jones-and-the-trike-shop-out-of-town?ref=lives….help
February 21, 2011
Yes, we’ve taken on quite a lot this Spring, but it’s all good stuff.
Friday night we’re doing our annual benefit show for Food Not Bombs over at Full Circle Brewery.
At the same time, we’re rehearsing for our Rogue Festival show: “Big Show or Bust” with Josh Tehee and Jaime Holt
and Todd Severson and the dancers Kara and Andrea from BabbaForNow….AND, I’ve been setting up
a kickstarter.com fundraiser for our English tour in May. Whew. Sort of tired tonight…but ready for the snowball to start rolling
down the hill (not a great metaphor for Spring activities….but the cartoon visual is apt).
[Pictured above is the Rogue show's 'pre-flyer'--the teasing flyer before the real flyer.]
January 24, 2011
Internet radio–the kind you can listen to while surfing the ‘net, doing your homework, or writing The Great American Novel on your computer–is a haven and fertile soil for underground/independent bands. Great thanks to PopGardenRadio, Twirl Radio, ShockPop, Don Campau’s No Pigeon Holes, and others for showing such over-whelming support for The Trike Shop and our fellow tune-ful indie-pop bands! Click on those links in the last sentence, find the schedules, and tune in!
—and also, big thanks to Endless Summer Quarterly..the long-standing magazine of surf music/culture. They have a virtual jukebox (it looks like a jukebox) that includes lots of musicians associated with Brian Wilson’s band, and the Beach Boys’ band [click here to see/hear it]—we’re honored to have a track of our own up there this week (among musicans such as The Wondermints, The Rip Chords and Jeffrey Foskett) : “Music to Change Clothes By” from the “Theremins of Mystery” album.
December 15, 2010
Planting seeds, getting your ducks in a row….whatever metaphor you wish to use, that’s what this last part of 2010 is about for me. It’s not a time for promoting or gigging…it’s a time for laying the groundwork.
The Trike Shop hasn’t played for the last two months, and probably won’t for at least another month or so. Leland’s knee is on the mend, and it gives us a good opportunity to take that smallish break from gigging and set things up for some big projects in 2011.
There’s a sort of mini-rock musical that we’re putting together for the Rogue Festival at the beginning of March. This looks like it’ll be great fun and quite a challenge. We’ll be collaborating with two friends: Jamie Holt and Josh Tehee who have run succesful Rogue shows for the last couple of years.
The other big project of early 2010 will be a tour of England. Four years ago we did a series of shows in Liverpool and a town in the central/northern part of England called Bradford. This time, with the help of several friends, we’ll be setting things up in the North again with Liverpool, Bolton and Manchester and then heading down to London. I can not wait…but there’s lots to set up to make sure that everything happens as we wish.
So yeah…..lots of ducks to set up in a row…
November 4, 2010
Better and more complete coverage of this giant grass-roots effort of a festival can be found at thefresnan.com….esp. HERE.
or at the official festival site : www.fusefest.com
or check the expansive and wonderful coverage given
by the Fresno Bee. Click here.
I just thought I’d ramble on about my own festy experiences of that weekend:
For me, the whole weekend was colored by the fact that I was scabbed and limping from a bicycle crash I’d had the week before.
So the fest, as wondrous as it was, was seen through a cloud of Advil and a bit of leg pain.
Friday night we had a lot of fun in the un-likely (actually, nothing is unlikely at the FUSE fest! [laughs]) venue of The LampPost, a friendly but off-the-beaten path bar in Downtown Fresno. (Considering that Downtown Fresno is very off-the-beaten path for probably 75% of Fresnans, you can see how off-the-beaten path this place was.)
Strange Vine opened the night up and were one of the highlights of the whole weekend for me. This band has depth and power. Dare I say it?…they rock.
I played a couple of songs solo…started off shaky, but with the encouragement of friends, delivered the songs in fairly decent form.
Josh Tehee (our revered Leader o’ the Fest) did a couple solo tunes in one of the strongest solo sets I’d ever seen him do.
Saturday:
Unloading P.A.s. Deciding where they go. Hooking them up. Watching the clock click perilously close to opening time….this was the afternoon.
By the time I got to the Iron Bird Cafe’ (my station of duty), things were mellow. I set up the PA in peace. The first band arrived.
They played quite well, but didn’t seem to invite anyone to come watch.
The second act, was a piano playing man who played a sort of New Orleans-y sort of blues and boogie-woogie. Still the audience was light. (Most of the acts and venues were a couple blocks further down Fulton.)
The third act was my own band. We set up. Audience thickened out nicely. We played a very powerful set (if I may say so myself). Everyone locked in, and the spirit was good.
Next came Third Rail Power Trip. This was the fourth time I’d seen them, and the best they’d sounded so far. I only stayed for the first half of the set, because Lauri had come and I only had a short window of opportunity to go down and check out the other bits of the festival—-Kendall covered the venue for me. (and thanks to Kristy and Ray for their invaluable help at the door!!!)
We stopped for a drink at Tokyo Garden, then headed down to the Warnor’s end of the street. The venues looked great. We got to see a few songs from a jazz band under the marquee of the Warner’s Theater and a few songs from Fierce Creatures (they were a blast…and they benefited visually from the cool lights and shadows on that Frank’s Place stage). We also got to peek into the dance venue when DJ Bradley was spinning the records—it all sounded and looked good.
Then we drove (remember the limp) back down to Iron Bird and caught about half of J.J. Brown’s set.
Special thanks to Ray for helping load the P.A. afterwards—saved my life (and my knee!).
It’s true that we have some things to learn and tweek to make FUSE the sort of festival we dream it can be, but on the other hand, even those who’ve pointed out some of its imperfections would have to admit, better an imperfect (but awesome!) festival happening with more than 30 local bands downtown…..than no festival with 30 local bands happening downtown at all.
Here’s hoping FUSE IV climbs onward and upward towards super-wonderfulness.
September 30, 2010
Big thanks to Marcel for coming over and getting our new home computer set up. It’s great to have friends with mad skills.
But now my car’s crippled. *sigh* It’s always something…
THere ARE three cool Trike Shop gigs coming up in October:
1) This Friday (the 1st) –We’re providing the entertainment for Creative Fresno’s monthly ‘blender’. Info www.creativefresno.com
2) Sat. Oct. 9th—John Lennon Birthday Bash over at Full Circle Brewery. We’re playing with The Loungemen. Peppering the sets with plenty o’ Lennon tunes. Should be fun. Directions: www.fullcirclebrewing.com
3) Saturday, October 23rd—3rd annual Fresno Urban Sound Experience (aka The FUSE Festival). Multi-venue, multi-band showcase of more than 30 local bands + DJ’s in Fresno’s downtown. info: www.fusefest.com