March 28, 2010

love, peace, and harmony, oh very nice very nice, but maybe in the next world

Filed under: general news,mailing list — chuck @ 9:29 am

We had a great time last night playing the Gross Domestic Product festival. Saw a lot of great bands, met a lot of great people. Thanks to all the people who came out!

Before our set I noticed we had some old mailing list signup sheets left lying around in our merch cases that I’d yet to add people from. We’re so organized. So welcome new folks, hope it didn’t take us too long to get back to you.

Best new discoveries of the night for us personally were probably Druids — it was cool to see some heavy stuff at this event, I’d been looking forward to checking them out after having listened to a bit of them on their MySpace, but live they were a whole other intense experience — and Canby, a new project by Envy Corps drummer Scott Yoshimura. It took me a while to connect where I’d seen him before, but later on I caught a bit of him talking with Dan about what an interesting experience it had been for him as a drummer switching gears into guitar and songwriting. It made sense, because I thought his songs and guitar playing had some really interesting rhythmic things going on in them. Christopher The Conquered rocked out, as expected. In fact there were a heck of a lot of good acts in the show, I had a difficult time keeping track of them all.

At the end of our set I tried to plug our upcoming gig at Vaudeville Mews this Thursday (April 1) but Dan got it confused with another show that got cancelled or changed somehow and said we weren’t playing it. So just to clarify, we are playing at the Mews on Thursday, 10pm, with a really cool band fro Lincoln Pharmacy Spirits, and Gabe Cordova who you may remember from our CD release show. And we’re working like mad booking more shows and working on our next couple albums – we’ll be in Iowa City on April 9 and 10 recording. See you soon.

March 16, 2010

a solution was only discovered by closely observing his brother gert

Filed under: general news,shows — chuck @ 11:45 pm

Had a rad time at the M-Shop Sunday night. Big thanks to all of you that came out. One thing about the M-Shop, they run that place straight pro. They have you show up like 4 hours before the show and do a nice, meticulous, full-set-up soundcheck. And it shows. They treat musicians real nice too.

Bowerbirds sounded great. I remember finding it interesting that they play in Iowa so much. Then I thought the singer/guitarist looked familiar, but then I thought, bah, lots of skinny bearded plaid-wearing thirtysomethings who play in indie folk bands kinda look similar. Then to my surprise after their set he came up to me and said he thought he knew me from somewhere. Turns out he’s from Grinnell and I guess hung out at UNI some, played in a band called The Speed Of Sauce who I remember seeing and playing some shows with and have frequently wondered what happened to, and certain of our mutual friends are the ones through whom my wife and I got together. Or at least, it was at a party at their place that we started dating. It’s always cool when you discover a connection like that with people you meet and play with at gigs, makes you wish you could hang around and chat longer.

Anyway we’ve got a really exciting Des Moines gig coming up, and that’s the 5th annual Gross Domestic Product festival put on by the Des Moines Music Coalition. If I have to tell you one more time how much you need to be there…

March 5, 2010

and a kick drum for a heart

Filed under: general news,recording,shows — chuck @ 1:09 pm

Word on the street is that Ely Falls is done for. That’s sad news, we really liked them a lot. We’re still not sure who’s going to take their spot on this Sunday night’s show at Vaudeville Mews with us and this sweet Omaha band Fortnight, but you all should come. We’ve got an old classic song we’re planning on doing that you haven’t heard in a Why Make Clocks show in a while, if ever.

We’re definitely re-establishing our presence locally this month after playing it cool through this awful winter we’ve had. Look for us in Ames next week, at the Ames Progressive Office with Light Pollution Wednesday the 10th, and at the Maintenance Shop on Sunday the 14th with a delightful folky outfit that’s doing great stuff these days, Bowerbirds.

As if getting on stage at the M-Shop again weren’t exciting enough (it’s been awhile for Why make Clocks, and it’ll be the first time for me), we’re on the lineup for this year’s Gross Domestic Product festival, taking place on the 27th at All Play downtown. Two stages showcasing an awesome variety of Des Moines area bands. Personally, I’m especially looking forward to Hanwell, Druids, The Seed Of Something, Christopher The Conquered, and Superchief. I’m told that Blutiger Fluss will be taking over Ely Falls’ spot. The rest I’m not too familiar with yet so I’m expecting some pleasant new discoveries, but that list right there should give you an idea of the variety in this show: indie pop, riff-rock, sludge/doom, ambient electronics, and lots more. Incidentally, today is the birthday of both Jeff from Blutiger Fluss and Jasper from The Seed Of Something, so if you see either of them wish them a happy.

And just added, we’ll be at Vaudeville Mews again on April 1 with Gabe Cordova and another great band from just to the west of us, Pharmacy Spirits from Lincoln, NE, on the second date of an epic tour.

We’re hitting the studio early next month, ostensibly to work on our next album, or possibly on some EP or something. Anyway, we’re recording soon. It’s a bit daunting for an old lo-fi home-recorder type like me to be going into an actual studio, but I couldn’t have asked for a better band to be doing it with, and I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about the studio we’re going to.

Speaking of albums, It’s True, a really neat band from Omaha that we’ve played with a couple times, have one coming out soon (their first full-length, in fact), and I’m excited to hear it. They’re heading out to SXSW, as is Light Pollution, so wish them well.

Also speaking of albums, you should think about getting yourself a copy of These Things Are Ours if you haven’t already. You can order one right here. Or just come out to one of our shows I just told you about.

Thanks! See you Sunday!

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