Hey! So GTG still has a blog! 2010 has been a hell of a year, what with these records having been released:
The Hat Madder – Rogue Notes and Phones (a hell of a ride of a record from one of the greatest bands in Michigan. It’s a personal point of pride for me as it marks the beginning of Isaac Vander Schuur working with the GTG). Small Houses – Our Dusking Sound (GTG mainstay Jeremy Quentin’s most ambitious and fully-realized record to date. Of course, in typical Jeremy fashion he’s already out there performing another set of even better tunes, leading me, to once again, say that the best is yet to come). Narc Out the Reds – Are on the Run (It’s an honor to host the debut of a great band. This is a wicked EP and we’re aching for new stuff, especially since every live show they do is more intense and memorable than the one before). The Plurals / Honah Lee – Lick-It-EP Split (Another honor in that we got to introduce the midwest to the greatness of Trenton, NJ’s Honah Lee, an awesome band full of good friends. This record also has the best Plurals recordings to date). Fade to Black – Black Is Back (Newly reunited early 90s alt-rockers drop their 3rd album with some GTG support. These guys are just getting on a roll and their next record will definitely be something cool). The Guest Stars – The High Life (We just handled the first pressing of this to get it out on time for their release show, but this band is all dudes from Lansing that we’ve known for awhile and their new stuff promises to be really cool – particularly as they’re set to record with the Hat Madder’s Isaac Vander Schuur for their next set!). MK Ultra Culkin – Homeland Insecurity (A bit of a labor of love as I wanted to record this band for a long time, one of my favorite groups of people that I’ve gotten to know in the last few years. This EP was and is a lot of fun and I always look forward to more projects with these fine freaky folk). Frank and Earnest – Old Francis (Another record that I had the pleasure to record/ “produce”/ whatever, and is to date probably my favorite record that I’ve had a hand in. Seriously, I love all of the guys in this band and this record fucking rules).
Which brings us up to speed on GTGs 031-38! A hell of a year! And it’s not quite over as we have 5 more records slated for release before the end of 2010.
Stargrazer – Trieste (GTG039). This isn’t the long-awaited debut of our favorite baritone crooner impressionist, but it’s a pretty cool stopgap release. Peter Richards (the man behind Stargrazer) has put together an abstract interpretation of the January 23, 1960 visit to the ocean floor by the submarine Trieste. Instrumental, ambient, and fascinating in terms of subject matter, this is probably the most unique addition to the GTG catalog. Slated for an online release on November 20th, check it out here. Also check out In the Orchard of Osiris, a forthcoming compilation due on Peter’s own It Takes A Village To Make Records imprint.
Fade to Black – Live (GTG040). Capping off a very productive year for the reunited quintet, Fade to Black are releasing a live album compiled from shows in 2010, which is due up on their website soon.
And, returning to the physical release format comes the “big two” that have been occupying a lot of GTG time the last few months: No More Tomorrow Baby! A Tribute to Kiss (GTG041). This compilation features all new, all exclusive covers of songs by the fire breathing, guitar exploding, space traveling (or whatever) legendary Rock and Roll quartet Kiss. GTG co-mastermind/ head Break-Up/ art student Timmy Rodriguez has been gathering tracks for this since the middle of 2009, and the end result features The Hat Madder, The Break-Ups, The Cartridge Family, Narc Out the Reds, Cavalcade, Frank and Earnst, MK Ultra Culkin, The Guest Stars, Crooked Sound, Stargrazer, Gates of Steel, Lightning Bugs, Middleman and more in a wild trip through the Kiss song book. The compilation as a whole is a great listen, with really cool versions of Kiss songs that should appeal to even those who wouldn’t count themselves as members of the Kiss Army (myself included!). It’s always a treat to host anything by great bands like Cavalcade, Crooked Sound, and pretty much everyone included, but of special note is the first new Break-Ups recording since 2009’s summer split with Head and Toe, and a great posthumous appearance by Gates of Steel, who broke up before their mostly complete debut album for GTG could be released. Maybe these comps will generate some interest and we’ll get that thing out! Wait, did I say “these comps”? Well, read on… Explosions: Lansing Salutes Devo (GTG042). In early 2009 Rich Tupica started gathering tracks for an all Lansing tribute to conceptual artists and creators of some of the most original pop music, Devo. Several false starts later, the final version is being released through GTG and Tupica’s own The Wind Records. The result is a fantastic record showcasing great talent from Lansing, including many of the same artists as the Kiss comp (The Hat Madder, Narc Out the Reds, the Cartridge Family, Gates of Steel, Cavalcade, Frank and Earnest, MK Ultra Culkin), GTG-ers The Plurals and Drinking Mercury, longtime friends Calliope and Johnny Unicorn, and excellent groups that we’ve known of for awhile but haven’t had the chance to work with until now like Lord Vapid, BerT, Dr. Device, Public Pubes and more. It’s a great representation of the variety of talent lurking throughout our fair capital city, and all contributions have a unique perspective. Personally, I always love to work with Johnny Unicorn (his 2010 album Sweet Edith Manton should be mandatory for anyone interested in music, period), it’s great to get a new Drinking Mercury track out into the world, the first since 2007 (and I do seriously promise that the forever in the making full-length album by Drinking Mercury is coming soon), and it’s a true honor to release the first new music in six years from one of my favorite bands of all time with Calliope’s take on “Through Being Cool.”
So what are we doing to commemorate these long in the making labors of love? Why, a ridiculous release show! On December 3rd, 2010 at Oade’s Hidden Camel we will be hosting a Devo/ Kiss Tribute Night with live performances of music by both bands, with complementary copies of the tribute albums available with the $5 cover charge. Performing the music of Devo is “Re-Evolution”, consisting of Isaac Vander Schuur (The Hat Madder), Christian Urrabazzo (The Guest Stars), Nick Merz (MK Ultra Culkin), Ben Hassenger (Frank and Earnest) and myself (er… do I really have to go into this?). The band taking a stab at the Kiss catalog is “The Struttin’ Deuces,” comprised of Chris Baratono (Narc Out the Reds), Timmy Rodriguez (The Break-Ups/ Drinking Mercury), Ryan Horky (Frank and Earnest/ tCF), and Brad Van Staveran (Cavalcade/ Genocya). Both bands will perform in full costume, and we’ve been working on this for months. It’ll be a night to remember, we promise.
Finally, The Plurals will be releasing one more EP (GTG043) on December 4th at Mac’s Bar. This EP of all new recordings will be available in a limited cassette run and as a digital download. More information on that one will be coming soon!
Well, this post ended up being pretty long. I still have a Plurals tour journal thing from our summer 2010 tours to post as well, so, fans of long writings of mine (eye roll) stay tuned!
I suppose this isn’t a tour “journal” per se as I’ve written the whole thing after the fact. But I took notes while on tour and have been writing them into this thing on and off for the past couple weeks. Hope it’s not too long. Who am I kidding, everyone is always looking for a distraction at a computer these days. Hope this thing distracts you for awhile.
(Also up at http://www.myspace.com/thepluralsrock).
So it came to pass on March 3rd, 2010 that The Plurals would play our
first show in nearly four months. Four months is by far the longest
The Plurals haven’t played a show since… well, since we formed. I
think we played our first show about three months after we started.
Something like that. Our last show was on November 15, 2009 at The
Orphanage in Chicago. After that, Hattie went to Texas to do some
family things, find some work, have a life experience, etc, while Nich
and I focused on our other projects, namely Josh David and the Dream
Jeans and Drinking Mercury. Truth be told, a good chunk of the time
that Hattie was actually gone we were working on the Bermuda Snowhawk
2009 compilation, forming one-off bands, recording a bunch of
nonsense, and in general just goofing around in the studio (and the
results were actually pretty good… some of the stuff on that comp is
among my favorite recordings I’ve been a part of). We wrote and
recorded a Plurals song called “Conifer Oberst” for this comp, where I
played drums, rhythm electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and lead
vocals, Nich played bass and lead guitar, and Hattie literally phoned
in some backing vocals. So The Plurals weren’t really on “hiatus” or
anything during this time, but it sure felt like a longtime had passed
without The Plurals as an active thing. So much of my life is wrapped
up in The Plurals, for better or worse, and Plurals activity just
couldn’t come fast enough for me. We formed a one-off “supergroup” for
Josh David’s birthday party called Gary Sez Go, with myself, Nich,
Frankie, Timmy, and John Bruce and we played “The Sun” by The Plurals,
but there’s just nothing like actually playing with The Plurals.
Before Hattie left in November, we recorded demos for 22 new songs, so
that we could pick things right up when Hattie got back. The
challenge, to me, was to actually play older songs and not just work
on the new stuff, but we balanced things pretty well between new and
old, eventually settling on a good pool of stuff to play for our first
shows, including all of the songs from “The Broadside Sessions” EP, a
handful of tracks from the “Whatevers Forever” album, three songs that
we’re planning on recording this week for a new split/ EP, and four or
five other new songs. As always, I felt/ feel that the new songs are,
to quote one Beck Hansen, “where it’s at,” but since it had been so
long, at least in my mind, since The Plurals had played, I wasn’t sure
how the new stuff would go over.
So March 3rd rolled around, and we were playing at Basement 414 in
Lansing. We didn’t promote the show beyond a little word of mouth and
some texts/ phone calls in the hours before the show, because we’re
difficult and stubborn and stuff and didn’t want to make a big deal
out of our first show “back,” and to use it as an opportunity to warm
up for the tour. We played with Commodore Cosmos, This is My Suitcase,
and The Round, all of whom were in fine form and made up a pretty
diverse bill. I re-strung my guitar at the show, hoping to avoid the
inevitable string breaking that seems to come on tour no matter how
hard I try, which was a spectacular failure in the end. We took the
“stage” in front of a nice crowd of 25 or so friends, other bands’
members, and random folks that wandered in. Our friend Tim Hill filmed
the show, which thankfully went well, otherwise a crappy set would be
up on youtube for the world to see, for all time (or until I convinced
him to take it down). Check it out here.
From the very beginning, it felt great to be playing this music in
front of people again. What didn’t feel great was my throat and lungs.
For some reason, right when we started it felt like my throat was
closing up and I was having trouble catching my breath. I never was
“sick” per se, but something was definitely wrong. It didn’t matter
though, aside from a few shortened screams and wails, I pushed on and
just let my adrenaline carry me through the set. We debuted a new song
called “Crush,” as well as some new arrangements of some songs that
we’ve been toying with for a little while. All of the new songs were
greeted warmly, with “Crush” – one of the newer songs I wasn’t sure
was ready to be played live – in particular getting a good response.
Energy was up. I was ready for more.
Thursday March 4th we got ready for the week ahead of touring. I sat
in Fleetwood Diner with Josh David and drank Louisiana Hot Sauce
straight to try and get my throat to open up. We played a show in
Grand Rapids at Mulligan’s Pub to kick off the tour proper. The show
was setup by our friends Cookie (formerly Lightning Bugs), who played
a great set, at least what I caught of it. We didn’t get to the show
until after 11 because Nich had a previously scheduled performance
with the LCC Jazz Ensemble, so we completely missed the band that
played first, and I’m not even sure who they were. The show was great.
I sucked down water and was able to get through the set without my
throat hurting. A few friends from Lansing came out to send us off,
which was totally great, and helped make the night that much better.
Strangely, I broke a string at this show. My freshly re-strung guitar
was not holding up as I wanted it to. I was perplexed, but shrugged it
off and finished the set with Nich’s guitar. Timmy was there with his
roommates, and it was great to actually see Timmy in Grand Rapids
where he seems to live, despite everyone thinking he lives in Lansing.
Timmy was coming along as our roadie/ tagalong/ driver/ stowaway/
friend/ whatever, so he witnessed his first of many Plurals shows to
come. Shortly before 2 AM, I downed a few cups of beer, breaking my
pre-tour “detox,” and presumably priming myself for a week of liberal
alcohol intake. After briefly stopping by Timmy’s house, we were on
the road again. There’s nothing quite like taking off for the east
coast in the middle of the night to play some shows. Hattie took the
first leg of driving, that wonderful stretch of southern Michigan and
northern Ohio.
Previous readers of my tour journals will be surprised to learn that I
slept for a good chunk of this drive. In the past it’s been nearly
impossible for me to fall asleep in a moving vehicle, not matter how
tired I am. In the past year or so, I slowly have been able to sleep
more and more… so maybe all of the automotive insomnia was just some
sort of quirk of late-adolescence? Any psychology majors want to weigh
in on this one? Maybe it was the fact that we had a nice spacious van
for this tour as opposed to our previous mini-vans and Ford Taurus.
This van, named Beatrice, was acquired in Texas on Hattie’s
sabbatical, and it’s a real trooper. The gas mileage was actually
pretty decent for a vehicle that multiple people could live in. So,
somewhere on the Ohio Turnpike east of Toledo (I’m not sure if I even
made it to the “Highway 420 Stony Creek” exit) I curled up on the
floor of Beatrice, not to wake until the state of New York.
Apparently Timmy briefly took us on a detour, but I slept through
that. I dimly remember Timmy and Nich stopping at a martial arts
supply store in northwest Pennsylvania, but I didn’t get up until
somewhere in northwest New York. I grabbed some coffee at a rest area,
that, despite, as Nich put it, smelled like it was “filtered through a
sofa cushion,” was pretty good, at least for less than a dollar. I
took over driving somewhere in there, and eventually we rolled into
the hilly terrain of Ithaca, New York. Our first show out of state was
at Watermargin Co-Op just off the campus of Cornell University on
Friday March 5th. This super cool girl named Paige set up the show,
and mine and Nich’s high school friend Ryan was there hanging out. We
bummed around the co-op for awhile, grabbed something to eat with
Ryan, and then set up for the show. We were playing with a guy named
Sam, who performed as Awesome Awesome (I know there was more to the
name, but I never actually clearly heard it and just nodded my head as
if I understood when it was told to me). It was a pretty wild party,
and I had a healthy dose of champagne, which only made PBR taste
worse. The vocals were being run through a bass amp, which didn’t
exactly provide a strong mix, but people were dancing and having fun,
so it didn’t matter much. What did matter was that I rather quickly
broke my high e string. My freshly re-strung guitar was REALLY not
working out as I wanted it to. Whatever, I can play a lot of songs
without that string, so we just kept going. A song or two later, I
broke my D string. I really need that string, so Hattie and Nich
vamped on the song for a minute while I switched to Nich’s guitar….
which was horribly out of tune. Not wanting to ruin momentum, we
carried on, but I was getting pretty pissed about how shitty I was
sounding. The crowd was still jumping around and dancing, not seeming
to notice my aural vomit that I was producing, but I was getting in a
pretty bad mood. As if by divine intervention, the fire alarm went off
(as it always seems to at co-op parties) and I had an opportunity to
re-string and tune up. We kicked off our “second set” with “Blitzkrieg
Bop” to get energy back up, and the show went on without incident, and
ended up being a lot of fun. We dug out a few of our old covers aside
from the aforementioned Ramones, including “Debaser” by The Pixies,”
“Merchandise,” by Fugazi, and, as an encore request from Paige, The
Smashing Pumpkins’ “I Am One.” We briefly started to play “What’s
Going On” by Husker Du (a request from Ryan) but that was right when
the fire alarm went off.
I wandered around the co-op for the rest of the night, eventually
settling in this girl Gav’s room for a blurry few hours or rambling
about music (at one point insisting on making everyone listen to
Cavalcade and Fugazi) before stumbling down the stairs and crashing on
a couch. I put my earplugs back in to block out Timmy’s snoring. I
woke up in the afternoon of Saturday March 6th, and we walked around
Ithaca, and I bought two new packs of strings. I was beginning to
suspect that my strings I had put on a few days earlier were not in
the best of shape, and since I didn’t actually buy them (they were
given to me by my cousin a few days earlier) I couldn’t be sure that
they hadn’t been lying in a basement for ten years or something (the
packaging actually was slightly outdated). Or maybe it was just a
shitty pack. Either way, I wanted to make sure I had more. Hattie and
I picked up some groceries and cooked some breakfast/ lunch/ dinner
(i.e. “brunner”) back at the co-op while Nich, Timmy, and Ryan browsed
at some of the local shops. We eventually packed up the van, and with
Paige and Ryan in two, drove the 35 minutes to our next show in
Cortland, NY.
We had played in Cortland the previous summer, and were booked to once
again play at the bar Lucky’s. Lucky’s unfortunately closed, so our
buddy Brendan took it on himself to host the show in his apartment in
downtown Cortland. His band The Loiterers opened up the show, a great
mix of punk and rock and roll with some killer vocal harmonies, and
then we played. I only broke one string at this show, but since it was
another one from the “cursed pack” I was pretty sure the strings were
junk. I was getting pretty used to playing the songs on Nich’s guitar.
We played a good “touring” set, with a higher percentage of songs from
“Whatevers Forever” than at other shows (since we knew the Cortland
folks might want to hear the stuff on the CDs they bought last summer)
with “Debaser” once again part of the set, and a full rendition of
“What’s Going On.” We got an encore call for “Sleepy Girl,” which was
nice. My throat didn’t bother me at all during the set, which was
cool. The night went on with various offshoots of Cortland local bands
re-forming and plowing through lots of Nirvana covers. Everyone there
was really cool, and I hope we get to make Cortland a regular stop. We
went back to Ithaca to crash at Watermargin, and I once again blurrily
rambled about music in Gav’s room until the point of passing out.
Waking up on Sunday March 7th, my throat felt 100%, and it was a
beautiful day. We said goodbye to tall of the fine folks at
Watermargin, then took off for the bright lights of New York City,
where we had a show at Don Pedro’s in Brooklyn. After a brief detour
to northern New Jersey we got to the show, where my dear friend Evie
was waiting for us. Evie and I had been friends throughout high school
and college, but she is now going to Columbia University for a
psychology masters program, so it was wonderful to see her. On the
show front, Dave from the band Genuine Imitations was holding things
together, and we totally owe him for the show not being a bust. He
played a solo set along with a fellow from a band called Turbosleaze,
and he collected donations for us and basically made sure the show ran
smoothly. Three cheers for Dave! A band called Advaita Vera played as
well, delivering a dreamy set of Lush-y atmospheric noisepop, and then
we played. The whole room seemed to be with us every step of the way,
which felt great. I feel like we started to hit our stride with this
show. I once again broke a string, and I decried NAY to this pack of
strings, giving my guitar a fresh set of new strings at the first
opportunity. All in all though, it was a very strong set, and I was
most definitely satisfied with the show. The show was concluded by a
sweet Brooklyn band called TCB (for “taking car of business”) who
played a great set of shuffly, bluesy, garage punk stuff – as Nich put
it, they were like a Frank and Earnest that only did Paul songs. We
went up to Evie’s place in Manhattan (via, a, uh, detour, through the
Bronx) and crashed out, five people in what is essentially a dorm room
(and I think my dorm at MSU was bigger).
Monday March 8th was a beautiful day, and we went all around Manhattan
with Evie. Timmy got some great pictures, including The Plurals in
front of Tom’s Restaurant (of Seinfeld fame), The Plurals with Elmo,
and The Plurals in a bull’s ass. He’ll have to post those. We got a
nice crash course in Manhattan, seeing the Statue of Liberty from
Staten Island, the WTC ground zero site, Times Square, the 30 Rock
building, Rockefeller Plaza, Central Park (including Strawberry
Fields), and the fine NYC subway system. Thanks Evie! At night,
Hattie, Nich, and I wandered around Manhattan first in search of a bar
(briefly stumbling upon a legit redneck bar with Kid Rock blasting
before finding the much more chill bar Jake’s Dilemma), and then for
hanging on the corner of 52nd and Broadway a la “Olympia” by Rancid.
This resulted in us walking 80 blocks in the middle of the night,
ending up at Times Square once again at 2 AM. It felt like daytime
with all the lights and people all around. We took the subway back. My
legs still kind of hurt from that walk.
After getting around on the morning of March 9th, we got to take in
the experience of drinking coffee at a sidewalk cafe in Manhattan. It
was a fantasy come to life. Some guy was screaming in his cell phone
“That’s what I fucking told you! Don’t tell me what I didn’t say!” and
other such things that one hears when they only catch half of an
argument. Nich’s face visibly fell when he realized he couldn’t smoke,
even in the sidewalk seating, in New York City. After this morning
coffee intake, we met up with Evie very briefly to say thank you and
goodbye, and then made our way out of New York. We drove the length of
New Jersey, somehow got off of our directions, drove through some sort
of cultural wasteland north of Philadelphia (pure suburbia with lots
of traffic and people wandering out into the street as if they didn’t
expect any cars to be around), and eventually got to my brother
Robbie’s apartment in west Philadelphia. Up until last summer, both of
my brothers lived in Baltimore, and a hallmark of every Plurals tour
that went out east was quality time hanging out with my brothers, so
Philadelphia is the new “McCord brother tour hotspot.” My brother Paul
is back in East Lansing, but he was coincidentally visiting Robbie at
the same time we were there, so the six of us went out to a bar by
Robbie’s place. I quit drinking for a little while prior to tour and
started drinking again at the first show, only to discover that my
taste buds had gotten pretentious and that I was mostly into IPA’s and
hoppy beers and junk as opposed to my usually PBR/ High Life palette.
This bar catered to my pretensions nicely, and I was feeling good. On
my return from the bathroom, the waitress asked me if I knew about
“the show going on at The Farm.” Robbie was annoyed that although he
comes to that bar often, no waitress has ever asked him if he knew
about any shows going on. When I told my friend Loren about this later
on, Loren pointed out that maybe Robbie doesn’t have the appearance of
someone who would enjoy a crust punk show, and I do. Which isn’t an
insult to Robbie in any way. We found “The Farm,” a dank basement a
few blocks away, and it was crusty as can be. Gotta love the
unmistakable waft of a basement full of dreadlocks. We saw some band
play… decent crusty punk metal stuff, and I was glad to be in the
“underground,” but it wasn’t my scene. I probably had the tightest
jeans of anyone there, and was surely the only one sporting a Jimmy
Eat World T-Shirt, although Paul was wearing a yellow rugby sweater or
something, so he took the cake for sticking out the most, but everyone
at the show was pretty cool and seemed nice enough. After the band
played Robbie, Paul, Timmy, and I stepped out to another nearby bar,
while Hattie and Nich hung around The Farm for awhile, and Nich drank
moonshine. A nice moment of “destiny” or some cosmic mumbo jumbo was
that the second I stepped into the basement of The Farm, I got a text
confirming a last minute show for the following night. Love, lift us
up where we belong. I got good and silly at the bar with my brothers
and my Timmy, and eventually Hattie and Nich showed up and we all
stumbled back to Robbie’s place.
I had the best cup of coffee of tour the following morning, March
10th, at The Philly Diner, which sounds like the name of the place you
would make up if you lied to your friends about going to Philadelphia,
but it’s true. We wandered around west Philly for a little bit, and
then hung out back at Robbie’s place, watching episodes of “Freaks and
Geeks” and enjoying some downtime, which had been strangely absent for
much of the tour. It turned out that the last minute show we had
gotten for the night was at a house called The Breakfast and Dessert
House, and it was about 5 blocks away from Robbie’s place. Around 6 PM
we headed over to the house, immediately meeting the band Lighthearted
from central Philadelphia. We got our stuff inside (we were playing
first) and after a little while the band The Mad Splatter showed up.
We met these guys through our friends in Too Much Too Fast Too Soon,
and The Mad Splatter was our hookup for the show that night, so it was
cool to see them. They’re a great poppy punk band, no frills
Ramonesy-Misfitsy power chord anthems with lots of harmonies and
B-Movie-esque lyrics, and they do it very well. We started off the
show, and it was a total rush, trying to cram as much as we could into
twenty minutes, with hardly any breaks in between songs. I Broke No
Strings. It might have been my favorite set of the tour, but that’s
hard to really determine. Mad Splatter played next, followed by Glocco
Morro, Lighthearted, and Ceasefire, who were my other favorite band of
the night with their tight set of catchy hardcore punk. It was a cool
house, with a bright, colorful exterior, and a lot of cool people
hanging out. We rolled back to Robbie’s place, with visions of New
Jersey dancing in our head.
We got to Trenton, NJ in the middle of the afternoon of March 11th,
and met up with a bunch of our friends at the Pats!e house, our
longtime base of operations whenever we’re in Trenton. It’s getting to
the point where I’m not sure how many times we’ve played in Trenton.
Quite a few. More than most cities. Our good friend Dale J Gordon was
having a cookout and party for us, followed by a house show where we
would play alongside famed rapper and the original 40 oz. pimp,
Certified Platinum. Also playing at the house show was
singer-songwriter Andriana Santiago, as well as “preview” sets from
Dale and kick-ass metal-punks Local Demise, who would both be playing
with us the following night. Some familiar faces were around –
including ex Rape Babies/ TMTFTS dudes and current Honah Lee members
Dim and Goggles, two of my very best friends, and their girlfriends,
Michigan emigrants Jessi Spreitzer and Amanda Menosky – as well as
this digital guitar thing that was completely spellbinding and
addictive. Once you started playing it, you didn’t want to stop, and
whenever someone else was playing it, you wanted to take it from them
and start playing. We need to get a hold of one, but I’m afraid it
would tear us all apart. Anyway, Certified Platinum kicked off the
show, rocking the mic like he was headlining Madison Square Garden and
not some dirty living room in Trenton, NJ (side note: the Pats!e House
folks cleaned up quite nicely for the party and the living room was
the neatest I’d ever seen it – I am honored that they think so highly
of The Plurals to do this for us). The cops showed up after CP’s set,
but we still went on. We did an off-the-cuff set of old songs and
unrehearsed covers (including two Nirvana songs in “Tourettes” and
“Aneurysm”) and new songs (debuting the song “Happy Songs,” watch out)
and a few songs we’d been playing, as well as an unrehearsed
collaboration where Goggles played drums on “Medic” while Hattie sang.
Pretty fun stuff. Dim said it was worthy of The Replacements, which,
if true, is awesome. If not… well, whatever. Local Demise played
next, and the cups showed up again, so then the show went the “toned
down” route with Andriana Santiago. Just before she played, Goggles
and Nich ended up agreeing to back her up, so they did a set, playing
the songs for the first time ever as they performed them, and it
sounded fucking great. Like… it should have been recorded. Only in
New Jersey! The cops showed up again at some point, and eventually a
noise ticket was issued, and the party dispersed. I passed out on the
couch, thinking that I really wanted my blankets, but that I didn’t
want to go out to the van and get them. Turns out that they were
already inside, in Goggles and Amanda’s room, but I didn’t find that
out to the morning.
We woke up… at some point on March 12th, I with a massive hankering
for my “hungove a the Pats!e House hangover cure” of a tuna salad
sandwich at the 7-11 a few blocks away. Nich, Timmy, Certified
Platinum and I walked down there, and CP got his breakfast of 7-11
knock off Funions that he washed down with vodka. I was with him for
the entire day and the dude did not eat a single other thing. Now, I
enjoy Trenton, NJ very much as it is full of a lot of people that I’ve
shared many good times with and it’s home to some of my favorite bands
and some of the most creative people I know, but it’s a terrible
fucking place to be on a cold, rainy day with nothing to do and
nowhere to go. We sat around the Pats!e House, which was dark and lit
with dim red light bulbs from the house show setup of the night
before, while it rained all day and everyone that lived there slept
all day. Certified Platinum kept the day entertaining, showing us his
new “Alcohol Poison World Tour” album and ripping into his frequent
freestyle verses. After this dreary, monotonous day, we eventually
headed to Mill Hill Basement, one of my favorite places to play, for
our show. Paul from The Mad Splatter showed up, which was totally cool
to see someone we had been hanging with earlier on the tour. Local
band Pistol Monk opened the show with some L7ish alt-metal stuff,
followed by Local Demise who positively pummeled, sending the crowd in
to a frenzy – at one point a guy just jumped in the air and punched
out a ceiling tile for no good reason, but the show was such a rocking
mess no one seemed to notice or care. We played next, and shortly
before we played Taff, ex-singer of The Rape Babies and Too Much Too
Fast Too Soon showed up, and my heart was warmed. I love that guy. The
Rape Babies were one of my favorite bands of all time, and I’m so glad
we got to share the stage with them so many times and become such good
friends with them. RIP Mark. Our set was a rush, lots of new songs,
people singing along to old songs, and a great energy. DEMO, Dale’s
project, closed out the show, and it was one of the most primal and
intense shows I’ve ever seen. The way the crowd was dancing around
felt like I was at a caveman party to celebrate the cultivation of
fire or something. Certified Platinum took to the mic for Dale’s
dirtbag anthem “Real Man” (from his excellent 2009 album “Digital
Wiccan”) hyping it up like only CP can. We rolled back to the Pats!e
House, Taff and Paul now a part of our posse, made some spaghetti, and
settled in. I decided I couldn’t risk another night of no sleep and
crashed in the van. Nich passed out behind a couch next to a bag of
garbage.
We got up early (re: noon) on March 13th, said our goodbyes to Dale,
Local Demise, and Certified Platinum, and met up at a diner in
Levittown, PA with Dim and Jessi. After whatever meal that was, we
started heading to our buddy Tim Hoh (from the band Honah Lee)’s house
in West Trenton, but the rain from the day before had kept coming and
entire sections of highway were blocked off and streets were flooding.
We eventually made it there, but the grim weather did little to sway
the last-day-of-tour blues. Timmy took a nap, Nich took a shower, Dim
and Tim had to go pick up Goggles… lots of waiting. Eventually the
rest of the Honah Lee boys showed up, and we caravaned, in the gusty
winds and cold rain (which was leaking through holes in the van’s
roof) to our show in Philadelphia that night. The show was at a bar
called Coyle’s Rox Box, and it was on those bars that I fucking hate
where the bar is in a separate room from where the bands play, and
they keep music so loud that it’s hard to tell if a band is playing at
all. No matter, it was the last show of tour, and we were playing with
our good friends in Honah Lee, so we were gonna rock! And rock we did,
playing our best set of the tour, and getting to watch Honah Lee kick
some ass as well. Dim only joined up with the band in the last few
months, and his amazing blues-punk guitar is a welcome addition to the
band, who have perfected a blend of
Replacements-meets-Weezer-..meets-Foo Fighters of boozy punk-ish
rock-ish pop. We’re putting out a split EP with them on April 10th,
and then they’ll be doing some shows in Michigan at the beginning of
May. Stoked! Paul from Mad Splatter once again showed up to catch our
set, and my brother Robbie made his return to the annals of the tour
as well, so it was a really nice way to end the tour. But… we had to
end the tour. Timmy had napped at Tim Hoh’s house (where we were
strongly being encouraged to come back to and party the night away,
which sounded oh so good, but we had to be back in Michigan the next
day… damn…) so he took us on our way. Not before I stopped at a
nearby 7-11 and grabbed another tuna salad sandwich. Fuck. I hung out
in the passenger seat until we hit I-80, and then it was all over for
me. I woke up on US-23 just south of I-96 the following afternoon.
Strange.
After a mind-numbing, bizarre, “home from tour” Sunday, it was back to
the grind. But there was much good to come! On Wednesday March 17 (St.
Patty’s day, balrgh!!) we recorded the music for our half of the Honah
Lee split at Eric Merckling’s CrookedSound studio in Lansing, putting
down some fresh-from-the-road new tunes. It’s wild to go from being
almost inactive as a band to touring and recording new stuff in a time
period of two weeks. And if that weren’t what happened, I would
probably weigh 500 pounds and be washing my dishes in a bathtub.
Sunday March 21st we played our “proper” first show back in Lansing at
Mac’s Bar with Flatfoot, La Mano, and Infernal Names, and it was a
great time. Tim Hill also filmed that set.
As we are almost two full months into 2010, I was sitting back thinking of the year. How much the GTG has grown, bands that have come and gone. I have certain points that seem to document the music of that time. GTG Fest obviously being one of them, this year especially with the GTG Compilation. I always like to listen to the GTG Situations at Hand Vol. 1 because it brings me back to late 2007. The Knights Without were starting to get on a roll, The Plurals and The Break-Ups both were going through drastic musical transformations, Head and Toe was still around in one of its many arrangements. It was around that time that I was introduced to the BMP guys.
It seems that every year the GTG is growing. It’s exciting to be a part of it. I feel I’ve been there since the early days and its awesome to see where it was at. 2009 was a great year for GTG. GTG Fest was a great success this year. There were many great shows. I feel that last year was documented well. So I decided to post some of my favorite pictures of the year.
BMP vs. GTG Softball 2009
Cale and Laura collide.
GTG
Johnny owned this year.
Probably the best picture of the year.
Always the show man.
TCF, GTG Fest.
A Beautiful Picture of Hattie Plural.
The lead singer of Neon Tuesday showing his moves at Neon Tuesday.
Me talking, Brad listening.
The Birth of JDDJ
A Fond Memory at one of my favorite places.
The Plurals opening for Oh My God w/ Nich’s nice new shirt.
As Hattie alluded to in her post below, there’s some good stuff going on among the GTG crew right now. Just this last weekend we had a GTG domination at Mac’s Bar with the Hat Madder‘s release show for their stellar new EP “Rogue Notes and Phones, featuring Narc Out the Reds and Drinking Mercury. All bands played well (I somehow ended up crowd surfing during the Hat Madder’s blissfully heavy-spaced out closing jam, and Narc Out the Reds debuted an epic, goosebump-inducing new song) but from a personal standpoint, the Drinking Mercury set was a triumph. Search around on the internet long enough and you’ll find any number of blogs and pre-blog website musings and confessionals from myself, struggling with whatever it is that is Drinking Mercury. We’ve been a band since 2000 (ten years ago this summer, although that’s including the “Kevin and I jamming for 15 minutes and then running around town being junior high hoodlums” era – we have been playing shows since the summer of 2001 though) put out an EP in 2004 that we weren’t happy with, spent two years recording another EP that we are happy with but that doesn’t really represent us, spent two to four years after that basically pretending to be a band, and all the while everyone involved formed and played with other bands. For some reason we all keep coming back to the project (even pulling in former #1 fan Timmy “Corncob” Rodriguez as a fulltime member along the way) despite a near decade of defeat (which of course is just one way of looking at it – there’s no way that the project that preceded and began everything that is our GTG community could be considered a “defeat” to me). But at Mac’s Bar on Saturday I think we finally were able to execute what this band has sounded like in our heads this entire time. Having the crowd (most of whom had no idea who we were, or thought that it was some sort of new Plurals/ Break-Ups/ Dream Jeans/ GTG whatever offshoot) with us every step of the way and peer-mentors whose opinions I value very much like Chris, Isaac, and Peter, of NOTR, the Hat Madder and Stargrazer respectively, praising our work affirmed what felt like a good set to the band. Ten years in, and it feels like we’ve finally played our first show! Of course, there’s plenty of evidence to contradict that, and Michael and I actually dug out a video of an October 2004 Drinking Mercury/ Plurals show last night, which was quite entertaining. For evidence of the show that we’re raving about, our friend Tim Hill was kind enough to post video of almost our entire set, which can be viewed here:
Speaking of Tim Hill, he also posted a video of the complete Break-Ups show at Small Planet from January 23rd. Check that out here:
And, while I was digging through these videos I came across another video Tim shot at Mac’s Bar in October when Calliope, extended GTG-family and a favorite band of many in the GTG, played a glam set, with Hattie in tow on vocals and guitar. This video has T. Rex’s “20th Century Boy” followed by their criminally unreleased pop gem “Holiday” (although this version is tamer than the one I’m used to… where’s that album Andy? You told me it would be out like three years ago!?!??) and a snippet of “Vactation” by the Go Go’s… and it sounds like Jason tosses in some of Linsey Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” at the very end.
Thanks for all the videos Tim!
Tonight, Feb 8, we’ve got myself (TommyPlural) doing a solo/ duo set with Middleman (Michael) to open up an all ages show at Mac’s featuring our brothers in Frank and Earnest, To Fear the Wolf, and Dave Hause from the Loved Ones. That’s at 6 PM.
I’ve got another solo set up in Bay City on Thursday Feb 11, Jason Alarm is playing at Mac’s on Friday Feb 12 while MK Ultra Culkin is playing at The 734 in Ypsilanti the same night, and Saturday Feb 13 brings Josh David and the Dream Jeans‘ double header all ages Mac’s Bar show followed by a late 18+ show at Oade’s Hidden Camel (which is with good friends Cavalcade and Playback, as well as that danged Drinking Mercury). Yes!
Here is a rundown of what the artists of GTG are up to at the moment. More details about what was discussed at the meeting Sunday night are on their way, so check back in a week or so!
STARGRAZER
Peter Richards has been busy at the Crooked Sound studio with Eric Merkling working on atmospheric sounds and melodies; building blocks of upcoming Stargrazer feature “My Dreams Are Running Late”. No date has been set for this release, but we can expect to see it out sometime this year. Whatever they’re cooking up there in that attic smells pretty damn good. We can’t wait to get a taste…
Stargrazer plans to set up a show in February or March, so keep that in your radar.
JOSH DAVID & THE DREAM JEANS
This hot new band comprised of Matt Norton (tCF) on drums, Michael Boyes (of Drinking Mercury) on bass, Nich Richard (ze famous bass playing Plural) on guitar, fronted by the one and only Josh David came smashing into the scene late last year, blowing unsuspecting listeners away at B414, Mac’s Bar and of course the GTG House.
JD & DJ will be working with Tommy Plural on their debut EP “Opinions and Profanity” to be co-released by GTG and Bermuda Mohawk Productions. They will be seeking artwork for this release, so any ideas may be reported directly to the Dream Jeans.
Upcoming shows include an early show tonight, January 28, at Mac’s Bar with Edible Intention, Randy Thunderbird and Burnouts as well as February 13 at Oade’s Hidden Camel with Cavalcade, Drinking Mercury, and Genocya.
NARC OUT THE REDS
“Narc Out the Reds Are On the Run” is the title of the long-awaited album we’re hoping to release as soon as this spring. They’ve been working on this record over the course of that past couple or more years with Ike from Hat Madder and Glen Brown. Peter Richards (yes, Stargrazer himself) will be producing artwork for this album that we can’t wait to hear and see. We proposed a triple-release show may take place this March or April with GTG label-mates The Plurals and Fade To Black, so we’ll see how that turns out.
This band always brings a killer live show (they can even make my MOM dance), so I’d advise you to experience NOTR live at one or more of their upcoming shows:
February 6 at Mac’s Bar with Hat Madder (EP release) and Drinking Mercury
March 12 at Mac’s with Extra Sugar, People’s Temple and Frank & Earnest
April 10 at Mac’s again with Their Teeth Will Be of Lions and Kids With Cobras from Kalamazoo
THE HAT MADDER
It’s coming up quick! February 6 at Mac’s Bar is the date set to release their latest EP “Rogue Notes and Phones”. GTG is proud to be part of this EP’s release and distribution. Raptor’s Delight PR is going to help us send this one out for review as well. I’ve never seen this band preform poorly, and I’m pretty sure when it comes to music, Ike is a perfectionist, so you can expect great things in their recorded material too. Listen for yourself!
You MUST SEE the Hat Madder. If you miss the Release show, check them out April 2 with Satin Peaches and Hounds Below at Mac’s Bar.
EDIBLE INTENTION
These three from Grand Ledge continue to be in and out of the GTG studio with Tommy Plural, with only a few songs left to track for their upcoming EP that is to be co-released with Silver Maple Kill Records. Fortunately, the sounds they’re getting at the GTG house were just what they were looking for. They hope to have these recordings released early this summer. Currently the only show I see booked happens to be tonight at Mac’s with Josh David and the Dream Jeans, so don’t miss it!
JASON ALARM
Now with a different line-up, a few of the Grand Ledge kids popped into the meeting to say they’ve been working on home demos, planning to tour this summer, and maybe even drop a record by the end of this year. We’re looking forward to whatever they bring to the table, especially after their last release “Engage”.
Upcoming shows:
March 28 at Mac’s Bar with Mustard Plug
April 3 t Oade’s Hidden Camel
MK ULTRA CULKIN
We loved “Sexual Exhilaration at a Bargain Price” and are thrilled to co-release their next work “Homeland Insecurity EP” with Silver Maple Kill Records. The band has been working on this with Tommy Plural at the GTG house and should have this EP out in late February or March. MK Ultra had a good couple shows in Bloomington and Indianapolis this past weekend and should be headed back to the studio soon.
One particular up coming show I want to make note of takes place at Basement 414 on February 20 with Love Muffin and Dan Daniels and the Southern Gents. We were hoping to film some footage for the video compilation we’d like to make this year, so please join us with that in mind! This is also the only upcoming show these guys and girl have in Lansing for a bit. They’re playing in Ypsilanti on February 12 and in Detroit April 5 too!
FRANK & EARNEST
Still they are in the GTG studio here and there working on an EP; potentially beginning to work a full album. Whatever it ends up being, they hope to have something released by late spring by both GTG and Bermuda Mohawk Productions. I must say, we are so happy to have these guys around. Lansing was in need of a band like this. Good things are coming. They have three shows scheduled:
February 8 at Mac’s Bar with To Fear the Wolf and Dave from the Loved Ones
March 12 at Mac’s with Narc Out the Reds, Extra Sugar and People’s Temple
March 20 at the Flint Citadel with more bands TBA
THE PLURALS
It’s been a minute since you’ve seen this trio together, but no worries! They are still rocking together as hard as ever whenever Hattie is around, and you’ve probably caught a glimpse of Nich and Tommy in other bands around town (JD&DJ, Drinking Mercury). The band plans to go back to the studio this spring and summer with buckets of songs to work on with Eric at Crooked Sound Studios. No date has been set yet on that albums release, but the band plans to release a split EP with a band called Honah Lee from New Jersey, hopefully by May 6 when they roll through town.
The Plurals first shows this year will be:
February 26 at State Grounds Coffee House in Hastings, MI (free show!)
March 21 at Mac’s Bar with Flatfoot and more TBA!
Also, keep a heads up for a potential GTG house show May 6th!
CROOKED SOUND
Eric has been in the studio with Stargrazer quite a bit these days, so his artistic focus has been on recording and engineering recently. He’s also preparing to get with the Plurals again, since they work very well together (take “Whatevers Forever” for example). The Plurals do miss fleshing out Crooked Sound songs and want to get back on it sooner than later to keep things fresh. We hope to see Crooked Sound perform at GTG Fest this year or sooner. Eventually, an album is on the way.
THE BREAK-UPS
This cutesy, half-cocked quartet plans to begin recording their next album through out this summer; looking to release by late summer/early fall. This album will have even more writing contribution from its rhythm section this time around with sugary-folk-pop songs like “California” and “Michigan”. The next album (not yet titled) is sure to be different from the last, but with all the same elements you love about The Break-ups.
Go see and hear them April 24 at Mac’s Bar with Those Transatlantics.
SMALL HOUSES
Jeremy Quentin (you may have seen him in folk group Head & Toe awhile back) currently resides in Boston, MA where he continues to book some kind of on-going tour of the Rust Belt and beyond under the name “Small Houses”. On his Michigan leg, Small Houses will release a new EP at Scene Metrospace in East Lansing where it all began more or less. That’s happening the 27 of February. Also, Small Houses will be performing all over the mitten; check out the GTG show listing for more info.
FADE TO BLACK
“Black Is Back” is the title of this bands upcoming record; a fitting title for a band who’s just gotten back into writing and recording again for the first time in 15+ years or so. This band started in 1990, wrote and recorded an album, and too soon after ended up going their separate ways, as they all had promising aspirations in the Field of Media. (In fact, their drummer is a professional actor!) After a while, they found themselves back together having a blast making music again, and asked GTG if we’d be interested in helping them promote and distribute “Black Is Back”, and possibly re-release some of their stuff from the early 90’s. We said “Sounds great! We’ll do what we do…”
Having a professional career is film and media (hence their name “Fade To Black”; a film term) guitarist Eldon has expressed enthusiasm for helping GTG make a video compilation over the course of this year. (More on this coming soon).
It’s hard to track these guys down as a band since they’re all busy “grown-ups” with “responsibilities” so… they don’t have a whole lot of shows scheduled. HOWEVER, they have some part in a Haiti Benefit show happening at Waverly High School on February 6. They appear to be on the bill! Check them out and support relief efforts for Haiti!
DRINKING MERCURY
What HAVE these guys been up to? Beats me. Better be good. We’ve been waiting on this album since 2003. What the f*** guys? Just kidding. From what I hear, DM has been playing together more, getting tighter and more prepared not only for the shows they have coming up, but for the studio as well. You may see them on stage, go up to Tommy and say “Oh! Are the Plurals playing tonight?” Or to Timmy, “Oh! The Break-Ups are playing? Where’s Frankie?” Or to Michael “Oooh! The Dream Jeans are playing tonight!? Where’s that sexy singer guy Josh David?!” And to all these inquiries, they will say “No, this is much, much different than any of those bands…” We hope you like the band that preceded all the others that is not The Plurals, The Break-Ups or the Dream Jeans. Check em out February 6 at Mac’s and the 13 at Oade’s Hidden Camel.
SPREITZER UPDATE:
Drummer James Spreitzer (formally of Really Cinematic) is on the look-out for a band to join forces with, so any one interested, look him up! Drummers are hard to come by people! His sister Jessi Spreitzer moved out east last year where she is too shy to tell us what her musical life entails. Like Thomas says in his song “Jessica”: “I don’t know why you write songs in the bathroom, but when I hear the results it doesn’t matter…” something sweet and sappy like that. She’s out there with Dim from Too Much Too Fast Too Soon (former GTG band) who now riffs for Honah Lee—a band soon to do a split with The Plurals. I hear tales and rumors about Jessi Spreitzer music happening, but I suppose we’ll see what’s up with her later this spring.
PUDVAY UPDATE:
He’s in Chicago doing stuff. Keep an eye out for cool places down there Loren!!
1335 E Grand River Ave, Lansing, MI, 2 PM, Saturday Dec 19.
Day of mayhem courtesy your BMP/ GTG Friends.
The Cartridge Family, Josh David & The Dream Jeans, Frank and Earnest, Cavalcade, Genocya, La Mano, Edible Intentions, Fisher King, Gates of Steel, and the debut of The Plurals+..Break-Ups+John Bruce project Gary Sez Go!
It’s not only the release party for the 2009 Bermuda Snowhawk Compilation, but also a birthday celebration for the big man juicebox drywall king himself, Josh David.
The compilation features exclusive new tracks from GTG/BMP mainstays & friends The Plurals, The Break-Ups, Cavalcade, Small Houses, Crooked Sound, Stargrazer, Johnny Unicorn, Josh David & The Dream Jeans (debut recording!), Middleman, Ben Hassenger, The Cartridge Family, new solo tracks from both of the ex Matadors of Shame singer guys Anthony Adani and Andrew Amato, as well as a stocking stuffer’s worth of absolute nonsense from the smattering of side projects that pop up this time of year.. all I can say is brace yourselves for fucking Young Dan Tucker and Foxy Cyrus.
The comp will be available for free at the show, and the bands will all have a few copies in the weeks to come, but supplies are limited so get ’em while you can!
Happy Holidaze.
In response to the post below, we all miss you too Ms. Jessi Lynn. We love you and are so happy that you dusted off that guitar again, and those Trenton folks best be taking good care of you. Looking forward to seeing you dims in February. tommygtg
Everybody heard the news and keep asking me, “Why are you moving to Texas?! When are you coming back?” My answer begins with another question: Do you want the short answer, or the extended one? Short answer: I’m broke and there’s work available there. That’s not good enough for you vultures though (I say that in the best way possible; I really love vultures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulture) Since this is a public blog, I suppose I’ll try and find and extended enough answer to satisfy.
Where to begin? As most of you know, Tommy and I are broken up. This came as a shock to most of our friends and surrounding music community. It may seem weird to break up a 6-year relationship, as well as the marriage engagement, true. But think about this—we were a pretty weird couple to begin with. How many couples do you know that started dating in highschool, formed a band, and are still together? I know it seems odd for me to leave such a great, smart, sweet, attractive guy after 6 years; stupid even. It barely makes sense to me either, but someday it will. (Who knows, maybe I’m homosexual? Nah… I wish though. I’d never have to worry about getting pregnant). Tommy and I have been and always will be the best of friends with many of the same goals. We have a positive outlook on what this experience will do for the band and how we’re to approach our songwriting from here on out.
“What’s this? A new way?
SO…
Why TEXAS?
I would have preferred a place a little closer to home, and ANYWHERE but Texas (or maybe California). It’s hot, drunks everywhere, everything’s bigger for the sake of being bigger, everything has it’s own special TEXAS stamp (“Lone Star” Bud Lite for example). It’s practically it’s own country. And it’s so proud of itself for it. Turns out though, Texas has a booming economy with a lush job market. On top of that, I have places (yes, that’s plural) to stay and a truck to return to it’s owner. You see, when my cousin Mike came back to Michigan after working in Texas for the past few years, his boss Gino let him take his work truck that Gino owned. Since Mike can’t send Gino money for the truck, he has to return it, and that’s where I come into that picture.
Where in Texas?
San Antonio. One of the more southern large cities of the Lone Star State.
I’d prefer Austin since that’s where the music scene thrives, but it’s not too far I guess. I will make visits.
Who will you stay with?
My cousin Mindy lives there with her husband and baby. I also have a list of friends of Mike’s that are happy to help me out.
Are you going alone? Who’s going with you?
My dear friend Jeremy is going along with me.
When are you coming back?
Before Christmas. I could go without Christmas personally, but my family is already unstable enough. Plus I’d miss the snow.
After the holidays, The Plurals will begin recording our next album at the GTG house and Crooked Sound Studios. We’re currently recording demos of all the songs so we can be familiar with them when we record them for real. I’m so excited for this next album too… it’s going to be a masterpiece.
What happens after that?
It’s kind of up in the air after that. If all goes well, I may go back and keep working, and continue to chime in on what ever tracks are added on top of my drum tracks. I may stick around. I may go to New Jersey or Antarctica or someplace. It’s hard to say. In the meantime, we’ll be booking our spring tour which is set for March 4-14th.
“Are you sure you’re not running away from something?” is another big one that some people have asked me. Yes, I do feel the need to get out of town for awhile, not just because of family or the ex-boyfriend, but for a change of scenery I suppose. It would be nice to be made aware of a new perspective. I’m looking forward to it very much, even if it’s not my ideal place to be. Unlike some Michiganders, I’m pretty happy with the mitten and will always call it home.
So that’s what I have to say about that. If you want to write me while I’m away, please do! My email is hattiedanby@gmail, or of you [refer to write an old-fashioned letter, I’ll be posting my Texas address as soon as I know it. I’m going to miss everybody very much, especially my GTG and BMP family that I love so much.
See you at the end of December!!
Much Love,
Hattie Plural
We will be repressing The Break-Ups/ Head and Toe “GTG Sessions” split, The Plurals “Broadside Sessions EP,” and The Break-Ups “Skulls and Stuff” in October, so, fear not, they shall be available again soon. We’re aiming to have them on the streets again for the October 2nd Plurals/ Cartridge Family show at Sun Theater in Grand Ledge, MI. Also… The Plurals “Close Your Eyes and Floor It” live album should be available at this date as well.. keep your fingers crossed!
Plurals: “Whatevers Forever” is getting a nice national push through our friends at Raptor’s Delight PR. Expect some more reviews and stuff showing up soon. In the meantime, The Plurals have just recorded a track for an upcoming Devo tribute album to be released by GTG and The Wind Records this Christmas. Also on this album will be Calliope, The Cartridge Family, Narc Out the Reds, Gates of Steel, Johnny Unicorn, Cavalcade and oh so many other great bands. Yes! Michigan dates are booked through the beginning of November (make sure to catch The Plurals w/ OH MY GOD and Hat Madder at Mac’s Bar on October 25) followed by a brief midwest tour, and then it’s time to bunker down in the studio! With any luck, “Whatevers Forever” will be nicely buzzed, and then we take advantage of it with a new record in mid-10. Eric Merckling is working with the band again (on the Devo track as well as the new record) and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
J. Quentin/ Small Houses: Jeremy Rizik is chipping away at a record with John Krohn at his Deep Pink Studios in Lansing. Lots of cool folks have popped up on this record, including former members of Head and Toe and The Verve Pipe… should be cool! He’s playing in East Lansing at (SCENE) tonight, followed by a show in Philadelphia tomorrow night… fun stuff! His neverending tour picks up in Houghton, MI on September 30, whirling around the midwest for several weeks thereafter.
The Break-Ups: In addition to those new pressings mentioned above, The Break-Ups will soon be recording their smoking cover of KISS’ “Sure Know Something” for a GTG KISS tribute to come in early 2010. Not much to report on the live front, but the band should be hitting the studio in October to track some new material… stay tuned!
Too Much Too Fast Too Soon: The hard partying punky gentleman of our east coast contingent are keepin sprits up in dirty Jersey, with a show with punk legends The Casualities coming up in November. Wish we could all be there.. some of us will, but, read below… Raptor’s Delight PR has also taken on TMTFTS, so get ready for some more buzz on these fellas in addition to their state of mind…
Jessi Spreitzer: Well, we never got a chance to work with our token chanteuse on a record in Michigan, but we’ll be keeping tabs on her as she is soon to base her operations in the land of Too Much Too Fast Too Soon, Trenton, NJ. She’ll be playing a farewell show at State Grounds in Hastings, MI on October 9, and tommypluralsurprise will open the show. It’s free and all ages, so come sing along to “As It Should Be” one last time!
Stargrazer: Stargrazer is working away at a record in Eric Merckling’s CrookedSound studio, and boy are we excited. Stargrazer has deserved a good album of his haunting space pop for far too long, and we are honored to be the ones to help make it happen.
Jason Alarm: After some lineup shakeups the followed the release of their stellar debut EP “Engage!”, these hoodrats are back on the scene to support Cheap Girls‘ album release show on October 10 at the Sun Theater in Grand Ledge. Further GTG connections: Cheap Girls tracked about half of their album in the GTG House studio, so you can bet we’re excited to get that one out there too!
A Paschal Circus: Has anyone heard from these guys?
Really Cinematic: I think they broke up.. at least, Hattie, James, and Loren aren’t involved any more. Whatevs.
Drinking Mercury: With any luck, the long promised, forever-delayed album from these guys should be out for their 10th anniversary next year. Sheesh. But, dude, it’s gonna be so good.
Another post will be made in a few weeks to follow-up on this, but we’re involved with a lot of cool artists for future releases, including Narc Out the Reds, The Hat Madder, Gates of Steel, and Middleman. You can bet we’re excited!
GTG RECORDS 