The Chick from Danzig's 'Mother' Video

Not only do I blog, but I read lots of other blogs from all sorts of places. I have to know what is going on in the music industry and what people are discovering or talking about. Well, from time time I check on Buzz Grinder. You'll find it there on my blog roll. It's pretty good for just being a blog and not an actual music magazine site.

Tonight instead of sleeping I was surfing the blogs I have been meaning to catch up on and came across their post about the chick in Danzig's "Mother" video. Before watching any of the videos, I knew exactly the chick he was talking about. I saw that video many times as a kid and remember the blood being spilled from a chicken on top of this blond woman in a black. Then again that was all rock music videos at that time, except for the chicken part. Here's the video in case you haven't seen it or need a refresher.



As it turns out, that "mother chick" actually goes by "Mother Chick" today and is a little off if you know what I mean. In this video she recorded an open letter or video postcard to Glenn Danzig and above all things, "still wants to be friends one day". This is what happens to '80s video chicks years after their groupie days. Let this be a lesson to you kids, stay off meth. The audio is not that good, but here's the video:



After surfing around a little further, Mother Chick has a YouTube Channel full of video goodness (not really) in which she "dances" and records her own workout videos. I'm not kidding. You can't make this stuff up.Just make sure to not watch the stuff on her YouTube channel if you're at work, are around small children or just ate lunch.

Link on Buzzgrinder

New Flaming Lips video: Watching The Planets

The Flaming Lips

Before you watch this, make sure you are not at work or in front of small children. Do not click play if you get queasy at the site of a bunch of naked white people who don't all trim the hedges if you know what I mean. That being said....

I saw the new Flaming Lips video today on NME and was laughing my ass off, while being a little put off at the same time. These guys are on clearly drugs. Check it out.

Watch the video here: http://www.nme.com/video?bcpid=26429438001&bctid=49582897001

Cymbals Eat Guitars announce tour and SXSW dates

Cymbals Eat Guitars

New York indie outfit, Cymbals Eat Guitars, have just announced new tour dates with Bear In Heaven. What's with indie bands and blogs having "bear" in their name? I don't get it. I guess since metal bands took wolves and there were already a lot of deer bands, then bears were the next best indie option. Cymbals Eat Guitars are currently in Spain finishing up a European tour but will touchdown for their first date in March. You'll want to see them as they are one of the best unsigned band sin the country.

The tour starts in Pennsylvania and makes its way south to Austin for SXSW. They are one of the many band so already on my wish list to see at South By this coming year, as they have gotten rave reviews by all the indie blogs. Now I don't just read one of those Vegan blogs or Bear blogs and go by what they tell me by any means, but when all agree on a band I do take interest. They all can't be wrong. Some embellish more than others, but that's the way it is I guess.

I'm telling you that Cymbals Eat Guitars will please most indie fans, especially WOXY listeners and Day Trotter devotees. Their latest album, Why They Are Mountains, is a solid album from beginning to end with only a few tracks to skip over. They play that same style of ambient indie with crunchy guitar riffs, keyboard and angsty vocals,mixed with some more poppy tracks. They do slow it down on some songs, such as "Tunguska" which you can hear on the band's MySpace.

Be sure to listen to Cymbals Eat Guitars and start with the shoegazy "And The Hazy Sea". Here are their tour dates for those of you unfortunates who do not live in Austin. Check back regularly for more previews of bands performing at SXSW in 2010.  

US Tour Dates

3/5/10 - Johnny Brenda's - Philadelphia, PA
3/6/10 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC
3/7/10 - Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC
3/9/10 - The End - Nashville, TN
3/10/10 - Pilot Light - Knoxville, TN
3/11/10 - The Earl - Atlanta, GA
3/13/10 - Will's Pub - Orlando, FL
3/16/10 - Mango's - Houston, TX
3/18/10 - SXSW - Austin, TX
3/19/10 - SXSW - Austin, TX
3/20/10 - SXSW - Austin, TX
3/22/10 - Rhythm Room - Phoenix, AZ
3/23/10 - Casbah - San Diego, CA
3/24/10 - The Echo - Los Angeles, CA
3/27/10 - Berbati's Pan - Portland, OR
3/25/10 - Bottom of The Hill - San Francisco, CA
3/29/10 - The Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, BC
3/31/10 - Kilby Court - Salt Lake City, UT
4/1/10 - Hi Dive - Denver, CO
4/2/10 - Replay Lounge - Lawrence, KS
4/3/10 - Turf Club - St. Paul, MN
4/4/10 - Schubes - Chicago, IL
4/6/10 - El Mocambo - Toronto, ON
4/7/10 - Il Motore - Montreal, QC
4/8/10 - Middle East Downstairs - Boston, MA
4/9/10 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY

Every Band in the U.S.A. video by The Fold

I saw this on YouTube today and had to post this.It is a parody of the Mylie Cyrus song "Party in the U.S.A." from The Fold. If you are into Alt Press bands or Warped Tour stuff, you'll love this. It makes fun of all pop punk cliches like all the stupid neon shirts, skinny jeans and auto tune. My favorite line is "Glamour Kills won't sponsor us". What's cool also is the video was shot on a 3GS iPhone. YouTube is fun. 

Transmission Entertainment is seeking interns for 2010

Want to be involved with Transmission? They are the ones who put on Fun Fun Fun Fest as well as book shows at Mohawk, Red7 and more. They're offering internships, or, for those not eligible for an internship or looking for less of a time commitment, to join their street team. Here's the info they provided me for both:

Transmission Entertainment seeks Spring 2010 interns to help with day-to-day tasks of running a creative events agency. Transmission Entertainment is an independent Austin organization that is known for hosting and producing events like Fun Fun Fun Fest, Mess with Texas, and the Jelly NYC pool parties in Brooklyn and San Francisco. TE is also known for booking shows at The Mohawk, St. Davids Episcopal, Red 7, Club de Ville, Lamberts, The Compound, Waterloo Park, Fiesta Gardens, and many garages and backyards around Austin. Transmission is looking for a few highly capable interns to help in this effort for 10-15 hours a week.  Tasks include (but are not limited to): assisting the Transmission staff with events, relevant research for events, assisting with managing the street team, designing fliers and posters, occasionally assisting on site at events, helping us update our social networking sites, assisting with sponsorship and sales, responsibilities associated with SXSW, receiving (and reading in full) Graham William’s “People of Wal-Mart” emails, and having a lot of fun.  We want this to be educational and productive for interns, and you can expect lots of learning, hands-on experience, access to food, beverages and rock n roll, as well as many other magical things.

Details:

-This internship starts in January 2010, ends in May 2010, and is unpaid.

-College students preferred but not required.

-School credit preferred but not required.

-Must be great with online stuff and social networking sites.

-Make sure to let us know of any experience with events/booking/music industry.

-Design knowledge is a plus but not required; however we would love to take on a design and graphics intern if possible, so if that sounds like something you could do, please let us know in your cover letter.

-Let us know if you have an SLR camera/any show photography experience (we're always looking for in house people to document events and shows).

-Must be proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel as well as Google Docs.

-Must live in Austin and have transportation to our offices (even if that’s just a great proficiency at the Austin bus systems—you just need to be able to get to the office)

Please send a cover letter and resume to Zoe Cordes Selbin, Internship Coordinator, atzoe@transmissionentertainment.com.

12/10-12/12 Show Picks: David Garza & Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom

This Thursday through Saturday is all about Austin's own David Garza. These show picks were a clear no brainer for me, as I am a long time David (pronounced like Dah-Veed) Garza fan. This week offers something different even for me. I'll get to that in a second, but let me begin by talking about Thursday's show.

In what is a make up date from last Tuesday, Garza will be performing at The Continental Club located at 1315 South Congress. He was supposed to co-headline with Alejandro Escovedo last week but Garza had to cancel due to him fighting a cold. While I pretty was bummed I certainly understood with this ugly weather we're having in Austin right now. Thursday he'll be performing with Strange Darling and Chrysta Bell. Arrive around 10:00pm to catch the whole show. The Continental always has good acts booked from different walks of life. It's one of those venues that's a right of passage for people living or even visiting Austin. It's intimate and there's not really a bad spot in the house. Sometimes it just gets too crowded for such a small place.

For those who are unfamiliar with David Garza or haven't seen hm live, you need to get with the program already. Seriously, where have you been? Now I was fortunate enough to have seen Garza many a times, my first time being when I was in high school at the now defunct Steamboat (RIP) on 6th. I may or may not have been old enough to get in, but I'm glad I did. It was around the time his This Euphoria album was out, which is still my favorite of his to date. He is a complete talent with the ability to croon with his singer-songwriter skills but also rock when he wants to. Believe me when I tell you he thinks and sees things differently than the rest of us.



I admit, I always thought he was going to "make it" and reach a higher level than he has. Sure he has received tons of critical acclaim, and deservedly so, but something just never came together. I expected to see him on national magazine covers and MTV appearances. Again, remember this was the era when MTV played videos. I also remember around that same time This Euphoria came out, Best Buy had this music commercial campaign called "The Next Big Thing". One of those commercials featured David Garza and had a sound bite of his song "Kinder". After seeing that, I thought I'd never see him at the small clubs again. It's a shame he never got to that level and more people didn't get to hear David Garza, but perhaps he didn't want that for himself. I'd love to chat about that with him one day.

Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom (love the '90s haircuts!)

Here is the different part I referred to in my intro paragraph above. Way back when, Garza had an acoustic band that consisted of himself, Jeff Hayley and Chris Searles. From what I have read online, they started playing around UT and eventually played their way in gigs at The Cactus Cafe. They had an album called Me So Twangy, which is still available for download online today. Check the links at the bottom of this post.

Well for two dates this weekend, Friday and Saturday, Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom will be reuniting at The Cactus Cafe for two shows. Apparently Jeff Hayley isn't joining them, but Garza and Searles will be twangin' away. The music is very acoustic jam band, but not in the annoying hippie sense. The lyrics are humorous and Garza's voice is of course amazing. Those who get to witness Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom will be witnessing Austin history.



For more details about everything I mentioned, check out the following links:

David Garza on MySpace

Cactus Cafe

Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom on MySpace

Download link for Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom songs

Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom article from Austin Chronicle

The Hush Now: 'Wishing You a Happy Christmas' video

I know it is a wee bit early still for Christmas videos and "Best Of" lists, but I had to share this video that came in my inbox today that I liked. When I first saw the subject line I immediately cringed at the word "Christmas". Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Christmas. I'm just a fan of not a lot of new Christmas music. I feel most of it is created to sell records, not celebrate the holiday itself. For me personally, I haven't liked a Christmas album since I got The Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack cassette as a kid. The best modern Christmas single that comes to mind was Boyz II Men's version of "Let It Snow", but even that may too old to be considered modern.

Still, there are the occasional new tracks that catch my attention. The video I am sharing with you today is from a Boston based indie group called The Hush Now, not to be confused with The Hush Sound. The Hush Now video is for their Christmas song entitled "Wishing You A Merry Christmas". That's simple enough right? It's the first indie Christmas song I've come across and much to my surprise, I love it. If Mohawk (venue in Austin) had a Christmas album, this would be on it. It's catchy.

The band itself is currently preparing for a tour of the UK in late February in support of their second studio release, Constellations. Without further a do, here's the video which features scenes from their hometown in Boston and a local deli jam session.



For more on The Hush Now, visit them on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/thehushnow

12/9 Wednesday Show Pick: In Situ Sound at Red 7

In Situ Sound

This Wednesday I am heading over to one of my favorite Austin venues, Red 7. While Red 7 is mostly known for hardcore punk and metal acts, they also go a good job with booking the occasional Latin and indie bands. Wednesday night. I'm going to personally going to check out a semi-new band to the scene, In Situ Sound.

I got wind of these guys from my good friend and Austin Vida staff photographer, Chantel Clopine. According to Chantel, three of the members are from Weslaco, Texas. For those of you outside of Texas, that's in South Texas or the Rio Grande Valley area. Natives refer to it as "The Valley" or "El Valle". The Valley seems to be producing some good indie these days, with bands like Dignan leading the way.

Their sound is ambient/experimental indie and they just released a new EP. Again, they seem new but I"ll find out and share more info at a later date. From what I heard on the band's MySpace, they have a good sound. It'll be interesting to see what they sound like live. I thought about going to see jay Retard, but after posting that video where he peed on the audience I'm kind of turned off to him. I'll just play his mp3s and stick with that. For anyone who is willing to hear something new and local, see you at Red 7.Doors are at 9:00pm and the address is 611 E. 7th.

Check out In Situ Sound on Myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/insitusound

12/8 Tuesday Show Pick: The Faceless presented by No Control Radio

Tuesday is the new Friday. Every Tuesday for I don't know how long now, there have been more and more choices as as far as quality live music. Most cities would kill for half of these choices on a Saturday, much less a Tuesday. God bless Austin, Texas.

On Tuesday I foresee most of the 101X radio listeners at The Austin Music hall to see 311, as they are still somehow in heavy rotation for some reason. I liked them in high school...in the '90s. The '90s had better bands than 311, but that's a rant for another day. They're still a fun live show and I loved their first two albums.

For those of us darker or heavier 101X listeners, we'll be at Emo's for the No Control presents show featuring The Faceless, Dyeing Fetus, Beneath The Massacre, Suffokate and Enfold. That's two too many bands, but headliner The Faceless is what makes this show my Tuesday show pick.

The Faceless got on my radar because they toured with one of my favorite metal bands, The Black Dahlia Murder. They are classified as Death Metal or Progressive, I guess depending on who you ask. Their style is fast, death like screams that fluctuate in pitch and machine gun like drums. If you don't have an ear for metal, and yes there is such a thing,  you might have trouble getting into it. The progressive label comes from their build ups and breaks that lead to an all out rip your face off explosion of metal goodness. The death part is usually in the lyrical content.

The Faceless (photo by Erik Kirk)

I hadn't heard much from them since that first tour with Black Dahlia really, except a couple of things in the metal mags here and there.They did put out Planetary Duality in 2008. That makes me wonder if they are still touring to support that or if they are playing new material yet to be released. That's a good reason to check them out I guess, to find out. They are going on tour with Black Dahlia Murder in Europe starting in 2010, so catch them now if you're on the fence about going. Most metal bands are best heard live, so get out the house, off the computer, off the "facey spaces" and go hear something angry. It's good for you.

Here's a cool clip I found on The YouTube where this guy posted the audio file for their song "All Dark Graves" but did it karaoke style with the lyrics. From what I can understand, the dude got them dead on. Give a listen to The Faceless:



Tuesday's show at Emo's is an early one. Get there at 7:30 as there are five bands playing. Emo's is located at 603 Red River. Tickets at the door are $18, but save a few and purchase advance tickets. Visit the following link to purchase tickets:

TicketWeb

Chris Garneau Video for "Fireflies" inspired by Legend of Zelda

I came across this cool music video the other day via email. It is from a Brooklyn based indie-pop artist, Chris Garneau. The dude seems to be a little out there and different, but I guess a lot of creative types typically are. I don't really dig his music, but his new video for his single "Fireflies" is awesome. I am a closet nerd, and an avid video game nerd on top of that. The video for Fireflies is directly inspired by my favorite Nintendo game of all time, The Legend of Zelda. If you've never played the game, then you get excited by the video the way I did when I first saw it.

Real briefly...

Link is the main hero and character Zelda is based on, is who Garneau plays in the video. He got Links outfit down to the core, Grecian headband and all. The video was shot over the course of five days in parts of Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park and Death Valley. It was filmed with a Canon 5D Mark II. Knowing that, you'll understand why the video's cinematography is what it is. It's quite impressive.

Watching video makes me want to buy an old NES system and the gold video game cartridge. I still know where the keys are and know I can save Zelda from Gannon's punk ass. Anyway, here's Garneau's video. Enjoy the nerd porn.