I Think I Recall Portland...... (BATTLEHOOCH U.S. Tour Part 4)

MAD PRODUCTIVE.

(Setting records, boys and girls. 2 blog posts in (almost) one week.)

(Archaeology Johnson pats himself on the back)

Time for Tour Vlog Episode #3!!!

(Is the word "Vlog" lame? I think it's kinda funny... sounds like the name of a Russian butcher...)

As I'm writing this I realize that it's only been 2 weeks since the events captured in this VLOG/Post have happened. A short amount of time, yet the past few weeks have been so dense with adventures that I'm wondering if I can recall it all... EH! Lets just give it the ol' college try...

Episode #3 finds the Battlehooch crew returning to the beautiful and ideal city of Portland, Oregon after our successful jaunt in Washington state. We were in Portland for longer than we were in Washington so in turn the Vlog itself is a little bit longer. (Lots and lots of good stuff). The first cut of this episode was approximately twice as long as it is now... I had to cut a bunch of videos of various performances and different Piecechows and what not... leaving in just the cream of the crop.

SOME POINTS OF INTEREST!
(or NOTES ABOUT SOME OF THE LIVE SHOWS WE PLAYED, as seen in Video Blog #3:)

• Portland State University South Art Blocks - This time around to Portland marked our 3rd time playing on the outdoor stage in the South Art Blocks of Portland State University. This tree flanked and utterly splendid stage has become a highlight of our northwest journeys. The clip of us playing "Fishmilk" is from this show. Another reason why we love gigs at PSU is because we get to hang out with our friends from the SOUND HOUSE.

Our relationship with the SOUND HOUSE started a couple of years ago when we met a fellow named Joel in SF. He came upon us while we were street performing and we became fast friends. He worked for PSU and invited us to come up and play there next time that we were in Portland. We took him up on his offer and thus started a great partnership. Assisting Joel with the sound at our PSU shows are his good friends/house mates. This crew of gentlemen are all well versed in the ways of live sound (thus their house being called the SOUND HOUSE) as well as the subtle art of allowing Battlehooch to sleep on their floors/couches. On this tour we spent a solid chunk of time hanging out on their porch, shooting the bull and checking out the many trinkets that hung from the overhangs.

You can see us all hanging out by the BBQ in the Vlog. Exciting. Their neighbor Jim is a whole other story. His house is the one above that has the "Krusty The Klown" face painted on the garage door. We'll save an in depth look at Jim for another time... Probably it's own special blog/vlog combo... He'll blow yr mind.....
(SLIGHT TANGENT ALERT!) Another particularly funny thing about this recent PSU gig was the fact that in a nearby building a convention was being held for the association of medical illustrators. More importantly though, they had a BIG FAT BUFFET. (contextual note: In order to make ends meet on tour, each member is trying to live off of $100 a week for all our food/random expenses. In other words, we're often hungry.) So, most of the band decided to head in and mingle with the crowd... and grab some snacks.... this little (mis)adventure can also be found in the newest Vlog. Utterly Classic.

• "PDX Pop Now" Guerrila Show -

At the same time that we were rolling through Portland, the PDX Pop Now festival was revving up. The festival is a groovy annual soiree with all manner of bands playing at some outdoor stages in downtown PDX. We rolled up looking for an opportunity to set up and do some street performing but the vibe didn't quite seem right.... we didn't want to ENCROACH, dig? We were getting ready to head home when we bumped into the fellow who had booked us earlier in the week at Portland's own Mudai Lounge. It turns out he (THE BOOKER) also did some booking (BOOKING) for the festival (!!!!!!). We asked him what he thought about us setting up our street performing gear in between bands. He gave us the go-ahead. We made haste and set up on a loading dock behind one of the stages and played a quick 5 song set for a group of a few hundred people. A snippet of the (unfortunately poorly lit) show is also in this Vlog.

• Alberta Street Fair/Saturday Market - In Portland, on the last Thursday of every month there's a fatty art crawl/street fair on Alberta street. The scene is truly something to see: quirky folks selling their home made wares, street bands abound (Editors Note: Portland truly is the land of Street Performers. So many street bands, yo), and tons and tons of people looking for something to catch their eye.

We found a cool little spot amidst all of this and set up our gear. Shortly before we got started, we were approached by a group of "breakdancers". These "breakdancers" informed us that they were going to be setting up their "breakdancing" station in close proximity to us and, in all likely hood, drown us out with their P.A. system. We figured we'd give it a go anyways and started doing our thang. The set started well, we got a crowd going... you can see a fragment of a version of "Red Tide" from this performance in the Vlog. However, right at the end of "Red Tide" the "breakdancers" started "breakdancing" and basically totally took away out crowd. We were all but ignored from then onward. We were pretty damn super pissed yo. HOWEVER, a few days later we came across these same "breakdancers" at the Saturday Market. Like Alberta Street, the Saturday Market had a bunch of really wild street performers, crafts and other madness (Note: dig the 10 piece gypsy/pirate/punk band and blues guitarist who had a stump for an arm in the Vlog #3 ).

Also like Alberta Street, we came to the market to do our street performing set... but the "breakdancers" were already setting up their stuff near where we had signed up to play. But we had learned our lesson the last time we dealt with the "breakdancers", so instead of getting out the busking set up, we pulled out the FULL set up. Big amps and everything. (I've mentioned/included a video of us playing at the Market in a past blog post, but you can also just check it out here.) This time we were the ones that did the crowd steeling.

DON'T FUCK WITH BATTLEHOOCH.

(Look at these Thugs..... LOOK AT THEM!!!!!!)

• Fireworks Pizza (in Corvallis, OR) - this show is sure to go down in the BATTLEHOOCH LORE OF MEMORABLE SHOWS. After having a rip roaring good time in Portland, we cast off and headed south a little ways to play a show at Fireworks Pizza in cozy Corvallis. This was a sit down restaurant, boys and girls. Quiet, mellow and far from the type of places that we normally play (insane street corners, sweaty bars, tripped out hippie parties, the like...). On the posters that advertised our gig we were billed as "Folk Rock from San Francisco".

Right......

So we set up our quiet street performing set up (so as not to blast away the dinner patrons like we would with the big amps) and started in with "I'll Crawl Into Your Mouth", a new jam and one of our mellowest, quietest songs. Shortly after we finish it, the waitress comes up and says something along the lines of "you guys are a little loud, can you turn down a little bit?" This left the band a bit freaked out. We were supposed to play for 2 hours, but our quietest song was already too overbearing.... WHAT TO DO!?! So what did we do? Well, we did what any shape shifting orchestral rock band would do... we shifted shape. We took all our nutty ass material and just went ahead and played it smooth and mellow. Like Hall and Oates does the complete BATTLEHOOCH songbook (except "Fishmilk", I don't think I can even fathom what a smooth version of that would entail). If this is too hard to imagine, just check out the clip at the end of Vlog. Yes that is "Human Ram", yes Pat is crooning and yes a few feet away families were eating Pizza.

So much of the touring adventure falls through the cracks of my story telling.... the NBA JAM battles, the silliness during the HOURS and HOURS of driving we do, visiting Ben's cousin Asher and his epic band called "My Dads", the sheer joy of being able to sleep in a real bed for a few days when we stayed with "My Dads", the PDX food carts, visits with our good friends Jeff Green and Nate Goldman, "The Mist", the list goes on and on...
Yet, I suppose that's just the way it is... I mean, as I write this, I'm in an Executive Inn in Amarillo Texas, and only last night was I dancing with a belly dancer, slamming free pineapple juice, watching people willfully electrocute themselves and hearing the murmur of a shitty biker blues band butcher "Roadhouse Blues" in close proximity.

Too much is happening. Too much is happening.

Hopefully you can kinda get a sense of what it is that we're going through out here in Weird Ol' America... A Weirdness that only gets more elaborate and all consuming with each day and each new experience....

I'm Out. But just for a bit.

P.S. - we found Ryan's soul mate... or at least the residual echoes of their great explosion.... or something like that....

A PLAN TO STAY CLEAN AND ORGANIZED (BATTLEHOOCH U.S. Tour Part 3)

I'm currently in the "Old Man" (Official Title of BATTLEVAN 2.0).

Remember in the last post when I was lamenting technologies lack of dependability... and the general frustration it (Technology) had dispensed on me?

SCENE: (Dark interior)-(Crying noises)
Archaeology Johnson: "I can't blog cause my compy is FUCKED."
(Crying noises)

Well enough of that boys and girls, I'm hear to sing the praises of the 21st century and it's numerous technological marvels.

My Computer is working fine. (knock on wood)
I'm writing this blog in the van.
While it's driving.
Around these parts we call that AWESOME.

(QUICK, COOL STORY ALERT!)
We are speeding along into the night (9:01pm Mountain Time @ The Moment), and plan on staying in Moab, Utah for a couple days. We just stopped at an In and Out Burger and much to my delight and surprise, one of my favorite new songwriters, Avi Buffalo, was there as well. If you don't know who Avi Buffalo is, DIG this song. I LOVE THIS SONG.

Very pleased with the fact that he owns all our albums now. Nicest fellow too. It was almost like he was more excited to meet us, they we were him. Looking forward to jamming with him in the near future.

MOVING ON!

So, here's the FULL SEATTLE BLOG POST (with notes)

First off, if you haven't seen it, here's Episode 2 of the Vlog.


The first week of the Desolation Tour made us a bit worried. While we certainly enjoyed ourselves, played some great shows, made new friends and managed to save lots on food costs by cooking at friends/family houses, we also barely made any money. While the experiences certainly make the journey worthwhile, we also understand the reality that we need a certain amount of money in order to make a journey of this length sustainable. So, as we rolled into Washington state we had serious fund raising on our minds...

AND wouldn't ya know it, brothers and sisters, everything turned around in the most wonderful way.

First off, we went and visited Tom's sister Joanna in Olympia. This visit was extra special because Tom's Dad and Grandma were also visiting when we were there. You can see G'ma killing everyone at Gin Rummy in VLOG #2. We played a quirky show in the hallway of a practice space in downtown Oly... good times for sure, but like the previous gigs didn't lead to crucially needed funds. We also filmed our second Desolation Show in the forests around Jo's house.... (still editing it though... keep an eye out...)

But then things started to really turn around with our show at The Black Lodge.

For those who don't know, The Black Lodge is an awesome live/work space in Seattle. Super colorful psychedelic walls and is inhabited by a crew of some of the coolest chaps around . Twas our 3rd time playing there... probably our (MY) favorite Pacific Northwest venue. We played with our old friends GOD and they sounded great. Stoked. Good night of music AND we started to chip away at the deficit.

Dig some of these pictures. Feel the Vibe.


Feelin' good, we went off and sought to street perform in close proximity to the Capitol Hill Block Party. The Block Party is basically a couple of downtown blocks set aside for HIP concerts by HIP bands. We set up near one of the entrances of said Block Party and played for a few hours.

And I say without hyperbole that it wasthe most successful day of street performing we've EVER had.

It was just completely fucking ridiculous. No other way to state it. Lets just say that with that one day of playing pulled the tour/band out of the red (financially speaking). The whole evening culminated with an impromptu concert in a park, where we had a deliriously raucous dance throw down with a whole gaggle of new friends. Scenes from this are also in Vlog #2.

After the gig we were elated but exhausted. We planned on just heading back to the place we were staying and then calling it a night.
OH NO SIR. Before we new it, a bunch of our new friends hopped right into our van and demanded that we drive to the beach. So, about 12-13 people deep, we rolled out to Madison Beach at Lake Washington.
Appropriately, the band and our new friends went for a night swim. We swam out to a diving board in the middle of the lake. 20 feet high. No clouds. Full moon. Everyone took a jump. Twas absolutely amazing.

Love my/our life.

We did a little more street performing the following day, and we managed to capture a video of us doing "Piecechow"-era track, "Looks You Can't See".

We wrapped up our weekend with a brief set in a coffee shop and then headed back down to Olympia for a day off.

We were literally elated for days afterwards. Where we had been apprehensive and nervous before coming to Seattle/Olympia, we were now filled with supreme confidence and excitement! Thanks Washington State!

That's it for this edition of the blog, ya'll. But I promise more good stuff happens in the next episodes... Wait till you see the footage from our second trip to Portland.

Love you. See ya when I see ya.

(Utah is weird, yo)---------------------------------------------------------(Utah is Beautiful, yo)

(Bonus Bonus Bonus Bonus Bonus!!!!)

This one fellow really dug our set and then came up and asked if he could play Ryan's drum set. Normally, we don't let people play the set because most people who ask are morons who either hit too hard and/or don't know how to play at all. But I had a feeling about this dude. So we let him play. I think the video speaks for itself. Peace.

KEEP DISCO WEIRD!!! (BATTLEHOOCH U.S. Tour 2010 Part 2)

WHAT A LIFE I LEAD IN THE SUMMER!

There once was a band called Maus Haus. (was? is? was? is? DEFINITELY is. Love those dudes.)

This band wrote a really nice song called "We Used Technology (but Technology Let Us Down)".

I can relate to this song.

My computer had an epileptic fit and swallowed its tongue... Started yelling something about folders full of question marks.

It was mildly distressing. (understatement, yo)

So for the past week I had a FUCKED computer and thus my abilities to blog, make videos, make songs, etc. was basically totally compromised. THUS, 2 weeks without new blog stuff.

(SILVER LINING ALERT!!!)

I took my computer into the good people at the Apple Store in Pioneer Square in lovely Portland, OR. The girl who checked me in got a kick out of my headband and lucky feather. ANYWHO. Not only did the GENIUSES fix my computer.... but the GENIUSES did it for FREE.

Love it.

When I found out it cost NOTHING, I clicked my heals together and then went and played a very loud E major chord (in root position) on a piano.

So I am currently writing this blog entry on my own computer.....

...Inside a Yurt. A REAL, HONEST TO GOD YURT, yo. (We are currently at the Solar Living Institute kinda near Santa Rosa, CA. Yurts and Teepees ABOUND!)

Even though my computer died, we still filmed TONS and TONS and TONS of footage from the past couple weeks and we're gonna be putting it up over the next couple days. As I had mentioned in previous blog posts (here), we were doing a KICKSTARTER project to raise money to get the band some snazzy new cameras. Well good friends, we met our goal and then some! Now, pretty much everyone in the band has a camera/video device and we are trying to capture the seemingly never ending barrage of crazy wonder that surrounds us on tour.

(This is by far the most thoroughly documented adventure/tour for the band yet)

Seriously so excited to post some of the videos we're gonna post (...can you say "Human Ram: Lite Rock style in a small town restaurant"? Believe it, it happened. We have proof.)

But first here's all the videos (so far) that have been made by new friends we've met on tour. (Maybe you saw em on the ol' BOOKFACE)

The first video we're showing off actually just got posted today, and it's of us doing Human Ram/Somersaults at the Saturday Market in Portland, OR.

(BACK STORY: while staying in Portland, we attempted to street perform at the Alberta Street Fair. We played for about 35 minutes or something before a crew of break dancers, set up shot RIGHT NEXT TO US, turned on their loud ass P.A. system and drowned us out and completely stole our crowd. Needless to say we were bummed. A few days later, we bumped into the same crew when we went down to the Saturday Market to play. But we learned our lesson before and this time we rolled out our FULL ELECTRIC SET UP.

They HAD a crowd, but after two songs by us, their crowd became our crowd.

We leveled them. Sweet Revenge, yo. So Sweet.)

The next video is a little mini montage that a friendly chap made from one of our sets we did outside of the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle, Washington.



...and last, here's another video of us playing outside of the Capitol Hill Block Party, doing our new Sly and the Family Stone cover, "Stand".

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL. Here's some pictures of various Piecechows we've seen on the road.

WE SEE A LOT OF PIECECHOWS ON THE ROAD, boys and girls.

Here's just a taste:



MANY MORE TO COME!

(BONUS!!!!) here's ben sleeping.


Alright, now time to get cracking on putting together some videos. See ya in a bit.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I met Jimi Hendrix. AWESOME.

Footnote to FIRST TOUR POST (Playlists #1)

Here's some anthropological data.

The BACK STORY: while driving in the van on tour we listen to lots (to the millionth power) of music. For this 4 month tour, I filled up the empty space left on my 160G Ipod with music I've been meaning to listen to/music I feel like I should like/music that other people have recommended/etc. thus guaranteeing that our drives will always have unique and intriguing soundtracks.

The DATA:

Yesterday we had a monster of a drive: Davis, CA to Portland, OR. For the first few hours we just listened to radio because my Ipod mysteriously erased itself before we left. (Thank you APPLE.)

We also used Ben's mini-Ipod for a bit and listened to Aquemeni by Outkast (editors note: this album was thought provoking when contemplated in the context of WEIRD AMERICA) as well as some choice Motown cuts.

After getting dinner in Ashland, OR my Ipod had been fulled restored and we began passing it around and adding songs to the 'On The Go' playlist. The following is the play list we all created for the drive from Ashland, OR (depart approx. 9 pm) to Porland, OR (arrive approx 3 am).

Playlist order:
AJ
GRANT
BEN
RYAN
TOM
PAT

Round 1) No Theme/Random Songs

• Berkeley Mews - The Kinks (Note: Pat and I, Archaeology Johnson, kinda think this song is FUCKING AMAZING.)
• Computer Love - Zapp and Roger
• Octopus - Syd Barrett
• Solitude is Bliss - Tame Impala
• Only In Dreams - Weezer
• Everything Counts - Depeche Mode

Round 2) Theme: Britannia (2 full rotations)

• Instant Party (Circles) - The Who
• Melody - Serge Gainsbourg (note: Mr. Gainsbourg is DEFINITIVELY FRENCH. Grant was harassed ruggedly for this selection)
• War Pigs - Black Sabbath
• Cry Baby Cry (Anthology Version) - The Beatles
• Lauft.. Heisst Das es lauft oder es kommt bald.. lauft - Faust (note: a cursory look at the title will demonstrate that it is DEFINITIVELY GERMAN. Tombo suffered a similar fate as Grant.)
• Disorder (Live) - Joy Division
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Mary Poppins (note: I intended to pick "Feed the Birds", also from Mary Poppins, but the labeling was wrong for some reason. It was really intense hearing this song blast out of the stereo when I was expecting the other song. But still, any way you slice it, it doesn't get more British than this, does it? Commentary, Claire Lester?)
• I'm So Glad - Cream
• Jimmy - M.I.A.
• Suspended in Gaffa - Kate Bush (note: Pat just calls her "Bush". As in, "Oh, is this 'Bush' we're listening to? --- AWESOME")
• Anarchy in the U.K. - The Sex Pistols
• Rocket Man - Elton John

Round 3) Theme: Africa (note: this playlist in general was kind of an embarrassment. once again, Grant and Tom are the main culprits... something about "Chain of Fools" and "Black or White" in this context feels.... WRONG. We swear Africa, we really like you and do in fact think very highly of you.)

• Wubit - Mulatu Astatke
• Chain of Fools - Aretha Franklin
• Africa Tree - The Residents
• Tell Me Something Good - Lee "Scratch" Perry
• Black or White - Michael Jackson
• Timbindy - Ali Farke Toure

Round 4) Theme: Spooky

• From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea - The Cure
• On The Tweek Again - Primus
• Hesitation Blues - Ledbelly
• Synchronicity 2 - The Police
• Dancing Gods - Silver Apples
• O'Malley's Bar - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (note: Grant hated this song. The song was at least 17 minutes long. Grant kept saying, "Is this STILL Nick CACA?")

Round 5) Theme: The 1990s

• I Hate Myself and I Want To Die - Nirvana
• J.A.R. - Green Day
• Arc Arsenal - At The Drive-In
• Rhinosaur - Soundgarden
• Aneurysm - Nirvana
• Losing My Religion - REM (Note: Doubling the acoustic guitar with a mandolin makes it sound SWEET.)

After this point, we rounded out the drive by listening to the U.K. version of the first Clash album, Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival and Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan (starting from "Tombstone Blues").

Assignment:

WHAT IS THE PATTERN?!?!?!?

Militant Mellowness or In Search of WEIRD AMERICA (BATTLEHOOCH U.S. Tour 2010 Pt.1)

(it begins)

Yes. It's July.

Yes. The last post was in May.

Yes. BATTLEHOOCH is still alive and well. (More alive and well than ever, IN FACT)

(No. We are not in San Francisco. Technically we don't live there (OR ANYWHERE) right now...)

YES YES YES YES!
WE ARE ON TOUR!!

It's been a busy past few months leading up to this current tour, which as of this writing a wee 4 days old. (yes that is wee, and in a "wee leprechaun". What? Uou didn't know I was Irish? Oh yes, the whole time you read this blog, your inner monologue should be in an Irish accent.)

(don't listen to him)

Thanks to all our friends/fans/family/pets/etc. that came out to our last two SF Shows: Opening for Forest Day at Great American Music Hall and our Exodus show at Bottom of the Hill. Both were shows that meant a lot to us, and it meant even more that we had friends to boogie down with. (Sentimental violin music. The violins catch on fire, and melt like wax. TOO GOOPY, Archaeology. TOO GOOPY.)

Another BIG BIG deal was that (drum rolllllllllllllllllllll)... we all QUIT OUR JOBS!!! (HUZZAH!)
For the moment, our only jobs are BATTLEHOOCH/music related ones and that, my friends, is a beautiful thing... something that I personally have been awaiting since I was in 7th grade. I don't mean to gloat or anything.... just sayin' I'm happy, is all.

ANNNNNNND... even though our self-titled, second LP came out in April, we've already written the bulk of the follow up. We have prepared no less than 10 new, unrecorded songs to be roadtested over the course of the tour, and if all goes well, we'll be able to jump right into the studio when the tour is over and squeeze out the next album before ya know it! Keep checking back to the blog periodically to hear live recordings of these new songs, they will surely morph over the course of this crusade.

VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!!!!

FACT: We are currently running a Kickstarter Campaign which we need donations for.

Q: What is Kickstarter?
A: A super amazing website where people who need money for projects put together a proposition, and people who have money to burn can invest money in those proposed projects.

We have created a Kickstarter campaign in order to finance the purchase of a whole gaggle of cameras, tri-pods, etc. so that we can properly document our adventures. If you are interested in investing or you just want to find out more information, please follow THIS link to the page that our beloved drummer Huberloinz setup that explains the whole project in GREAT DETAIL.


In Portland now. Making sandwiches. Drinking Lemonade. Trying to find Weird America.

Signing off for now, see you SOON SOON.

(it'll continue......................................)

MEGASUPERULTRAPOST (including SXSW '10 wrap up and TOUR SONG 2)

Just gotta take a moment to say I love my brothers.

GRANT.
RYAN.
BEN.
TOMBO.
PAT.
GABE.
FUEGO.

Octo-phenia YO! We are an eight headed beast. Many minds. One Goal.

(...AND THAT IS COMPLETION OF THE WATER SLIDE AND MOON TRAVEL. - editors note)

First off. I am proud to unveil TOUR SONG #2 entitled "Click of a Button". Have a listen, friends.

Tour Song 2 - "Click of a Button" (Battlehooch/Judgement Day SXSW '10 Song) by Battlehooch

(READ AS YOU LISTEN - editors note)

Similar to TOUR SONG #1 (see corresponding post here), TS #2 is made up of sound recordings and "relevant samples" gathered on the road while touring (this time, our trip out to Texas for SXSW). At points we found ourselves literally spending day after day driving through epic, expansive desert wasteland. TS #2 is meant to sort of convey what that experience was like. Its a sort of musical landscape if you will, made up of smaller landscapes (someone gets out of the audience and kicks Archaeology Johnson square in the balls----- thanks i needed 'dat!)

(ABOUT SOME OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL FOR TOUR SONG #2, "Click of a Button.")

1) The Speech:
We did the first leg of the SXSW tour with our new BFFs, Judgement Day. Pretty much every night we played with Judgement Day, their violin player (Anton) would give a speech. The exact words of speech changed from night to night, but the gist of it was this: We are all living in an age when music fans have an unprecedented amount of access to and influence on the music going on around them. People should use all the various outlets available to them (facebook, myspace, e-mail, chat rooms, etc.) to share music that they feel passionate about, thus bypassing corporate BS and creating an environment where progressive artists can have a voice.

GROOVY STUFF, right? (wipes a tear from his eye)

I've included snippets from this speech in TS #2. The ideals conveyed in the speech are definitely shared by us BATTLEHOOOOOOOOOOOCHERS, so I wanted put this thing front and center in the piece of music that was meant to (in a way) convey this particular touring experience.

Seriously Love Judgement Day. SLJD. SLJD. SLJD.

2) Dogs, Dishwashers and Disturbed Grandpas

The first group of recordings were done at the LA Branch of the BATTLEPAD. There was a tweaky keyboard with an arrpegiator lying around, as well as a guitar with a backwards whammy bar. All cheesy pin-wheels of sound and rubber guitar chords found in TS #2 were gathered during this sesh.

A few days later we were staying at Pat's parents house in luscious BREA, CALIFORNIA and we recorded a whole gaggle of cool sounds. All the acoustic piano stuff in the song is culled from various improvisations done by different Battlehooch members on the Smith Family Piano. There was also an out of tune auto harp that made some excellent squealing noises. SPEAKING OF SQUEALING NOISES!!!!..... The Smith Family dishwasher is a MUSICAL GENIUS. While cleaning up after breakfast (We're professional house guests, ya'll. We don't fuck around), we realized that when opening the dishwasher, it made screeching noises similar to an ill tempered analog synthesizer. We immediately ran for the microphones and recorded a free form improvisation on said dishwasher (captured on SXSW TOUR VIDEO #1). These recordings, as well as some rhythms I banged out on some Peanut Butter and Nutella jars, make up a large part of the basic rhythm track of this song. Also, MVP award goes to the Smith Family dog, Charlie B. Barkin for laying down a fat bark rhythm.

(Funky Funky Funky Funky Funky DAWG. DIRTY DAWG.)

Later in San Diego, Anton enthusiastically ran up to me saying that he wanted to make a song "RIGHT NOW"! Out came the mics and we started making music with whatever was around. At the time, we were sitting in the Battlevan 2.0 outside of that night's venue, so we just started banging on the walls of the van, clicking seat belts together, and shaking a single egg maraca. At one point (much to every one's delight), Anton started rapping. What did he rap about, you might ask? Well, he rapped about not being able to rap. Some choice lines ended up in the end song, but sadly some of the most glorious bits, ended up on the cutting room floor.

(Isn't that how it always is.... SIGH.... how french... Also, his brother Lewis' whole-hearted endorsement of the Martin Lawrence classic "Black Night" wasn't successfully captured by the mics, ALAS. )

The last significant "recording session" took place in Corales, New Mexico at Archaeology Johnson's (that's me) Grandfather's house. In the living room was a little keyboard with some whimsical sounds and a funny little electro drum bank. This keyboard yielded some great stuff, but i had to record most of it in a back room, cause my endless keyboard drones were kinda rubbing Grandpa the wrong way. Sorry Grandpa. It's Art, I swear. Thanks for the chicken and pie!

(still confused about that last PARENTHESIS)

There were so many other recordings made on this tour that we could seriously make a whole album for the SXSW tour. So there ya go. Tour Song 2 (who knows, maybe there's be a Tour Song 2 Part 2?)

Also, in case you missed it, the band's resident visual mad scientist fuegodamus, put together a few more videos showing highlights from the SXSW 2010. Collect all 4! Love ya'll.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

Desolation Show #1 - Caliphate: Skip The Bobcat Hunter Edition (Sedona, AZ)

What Are They Listening To These Days??? (March/April 2010 Episode)

I was on track to have Tour Song #2 all ready to roll out in this blog post but to quote Maus Haus: "we used technology and technology let us down...."

(Invalid ID Number?!? Really?!?! COME ON!)

So it'll be another couple days before I have the second batch of SXSW tour roundup (including the new tour song)... so onward to the GUTS of this post....


WHAT ARE (THEY/WE/BATTLEHOOCH) LISTENING TO THESE DAYS???

Normally, dear blog reading lovelies, this would be a hard thing to quantify. Being that there are 6 BATTLEHOOCH members running around this city of ours (SF SF SF SF) on any given day... each with a unique array of aural stimulus attacking and working its ways on their psyche.... all vibing on some detail or some riff...

its hard to keep tabs, is what I'm saying.

BUT, we just got back from tour... and let me tell you something about tour, germs and ladies.... we listen to A LOT A LOT A LOT of music together when we're on tour... (I mean, when you have an 11 hour drive to do... there's not much else to do... at least nothing that wouldn't get you in trouble at border check... FEEL ME?)

So, while hardly the tip of the iceberg in terms of the full scope of music we've been listening to...here's some stuff we (the band) had some overlap on:

1) KRAFTWERK.



Lots of Kraftwerk these days ya'll.

So much to say about this band and most of it has probably already been said. What I WILL say, is that this music has been profoundly inspiring to me in recently months.

I love KRAFTWERK's melodic sense and the warm, pastoral pieces they do, which to me are a perfect balance of the organic and the electronic.
I also get a kick out of how their their chord progressions work. They'll stay on a single chord for long enough that they can create a certain mood or feeling so that when the chord changes, the change is felt on a profound level. Each chord evokes it's own "mood" and the cumulative effect of all these moods being put together is quite profound, if I do say so myself.

A sublime mixture of drone music and impressionistic harmony. (MUSIC NERD ALERT!!!!!)

Here's another video we stumbled upon recently. Dig the flute part. Savage.


THIS. IS. SICK.


2) Gary Numan


More early electronic(ish) music. SO GOOD.

Cold. Synthetic. Futuristic.

Bass and Keyboard unison lines. Tritone Synth Blurps. Detached Vocals.

Songs about machines with inferiority complexes. Being unplugged.

(England in the 80s.)

(This dude wrote that song CARS... as in "here in my car, I feel safest of all"...)

3) Sly and the Family Stone


("Enough of that late 70s-early 80s european electro mess!" - so says the hater. Shame on you, hater.)

FUNK. FUNK. FUNK.

This song is so bloody funky.

My buddy Max Foreman hooked me up with the Sly and the Family Stone albums "Fresh" and "There's A Riot Goin' On". Max Foreman is kinda like my go to guy for discovering hard beats and funky grooves... deep cuts and new joints. Foreman is the man. (he sang "Creep" by TLC at karaoke one time and it blew my mind)

I've been a Sly fan for years but up till now I'd never spent time with these albums.

HOT DAMN!

(If anyone has seen me on the L Train in the past few days and I've been bobbing my head SUPER hard, it's because I was listening to "In Time". Max told me that when Miles Davis heard this song he flipped out and made everyone in his band listen to it 40 times in a row (IN A ROW!!!!!) until they GOT IT. I love this story. Even if it ain't true.)

Do you know what poly-rhythm is? It's when there are multiple rhythms (and if you don't know RHYTHM, check the WIKI.) laid on top of each other thus creating a complex tapestry of rhythm (as opposed to there being just a basic simple rhythm everyone does). Germs and ladies, "In Time" is POLY RHYTHMIC MUSIC. I wanna write music that sounds like this song, but i can't even wrap my head around it... I love that fact.

So dense. So dank. So confoundingly amazing. (yes I just made up the word confoundingly. As herbie hancock said: "we just don't have the proper vocabulary to discuss funky music." lets start making that vocabulary...)

(THINKING while DANCING, baby.)

4) Joanna Newsom - HAVE ONE ON ME



(People who complain about how long this album is are FOOLS.)

Joanna Newsom has been a favorite of the band's since well before the days of Battlehooch and her profound new triple album was another body of songs that we listened to a lot on tour... talked about a lot... sat collectively in awe of a lot...

Could ramble on for days about this album... (In California, Soft As Chalk, King Fisher, Easy, ETC ETC ETC ETC)

I'll simply quote PREBEN: "...with this album you can count on discovering Amazing songs for the rest of the year..."

AND say bravo Ms. Newsom, you are truly a Master.

(BONUS - amazing cover of "On A Good Day" from said album, done by Robin from Fleet Foxes)


5) "Our Lips Are Sealed" - The Go Gos



We're currently working on a song that Tombo wrote. Grant had a jolly idea that the bassline should be modeled after The Go Gos. He suggested the bass line in "Vacation" as a specific reference point. It turned out he meant "We Got The Beat". After comparing the two songs, we ultimately decided that "Our Lips Are Sealed" was better than all of them... and then we just copied Santogold for Tombo's song instead.

The chorus in this song has such a tight chord progression. Chopin would probably be into this song. :) (HOW DOES HE KNOW?)

6) Neil Young



The Real Deal.

One human making SO MUCH MUSIC.

Also... CSNY. Pretty tight.



8) George Gershwin



Folks just call him, THE GERSH.

What a treasure, yo. What a baller, yo.

He wrote "American In Paris"! "Rhapsody In Blue"! "Porgy and Bess!" Tons of musicals, Preludes! He INVENTED the "Rhythm Changes"!!! In the early 1900s, he was basically a straight up mash-up artist... mixing traditional classical with jazz, blues, show tunes and 20th century harmony.

THE GERSH... (s'wonderful, yo.)

9) The Frogs

Of course, there's always the Frogs. Probably our band's favorite band. Because really... The Frogs are the best band EVER.

(Right?)

(Right - so says the hater. Good For You Hater)



Love you folks, see ya soon!