Au vélo

Listening to Blind Pilot live from Portland, Oregon, at MusicFest NW, courtesy of KEXP. They are really good actually, these Blind Pilot kids.

The one dude just said they're going on a bicycle tour. Is that not the best idea you ever heard? Should some subset of us not also embark on a bicycle tour?? We should. We really should.

Music video ideas

I am a big fan of music videos. Let's make some:

Frankenstein
How about a La Blogotheque-style video for "Frankenstein"? Can it have something to do with Frankenstein, like in a lab or some dingy looking place? Or at least have that mood of something bizarre happening? If we don't try to film ourselves playing live, then cardboard instruments would be great for a Frankenstein video because it is like we are trying to give life to 'dead' cardboard. Maybe we can do that at a junkyard-type place like the Albany Bulb.

Marcher
For "Marcher," I was thinking something like this Belle & Sebastian video. The band is doing stuff while the singer is being contemplative. "Marcher" is kind of a tragic song and I would like the video to reflect that. I imagine a cold day in the city when Marcher is realizing what he has lost and he's wandering around. Then he ends up at a graveyard where May is, loosely following the story in the lyrics. It would be great to do this in Berkeley, since we probably have some favorite places there that we want to have some footage of. There should be a scene of us playing croquet, too.

Twenty-five
It could be a like an episode of Schoolhouse Rock! with animated versions of ourselves.

Sylvia
How about this? A continuous shot of me walking down the street, but I'm not lip syncing to it at all, until the very end, when I pick up a guitar and sing the word "Smile." So, it's like we are turning thoughts into action. Fade to black.

Yodel
Probably should be filmed in San Francisco. Could just be us singing and playing as we walk along the shore, and walk along some more...

Nuestro Primero Cartel

Because I feel like speaking Spanish today.


This is our first band poster.

Not bad eh?

For the next one, I'm thinking maybe pirate ship. Or, should I say pyrate...

Road Trip Recording

Driving home last night we decided that we should try to record a record while on a road trip. The idea is to rig a van with mics for each of the people in the car. Driver pretty much has to be the singer and the passengers have to be well placed in the car so as not to poke each other with guitars and banjos.

But the end result would be a record (probably along the lines of an EP depending on the length of the trip) that was recorded in a single drive. I'm thinking we start out with my van and trip to LA down the 5. Of course the theme probably has to be the same of the drive.

Oh and someone can ride in the trunk/back-back and do the sound mixing.

-Rssl.

Brilliant ideas we've had so far

Band "retreat"
where we all go camping or something and roll out our rug and hang our chandelier and play music in a massive park. around a campfire or something. and talk about music and get high on life. *mklj
YES! my only concern right now is weather. can we go to south america and do this? *cw*
we also need our rug and chandelier.. *mklj

European World Tour
in which we live it up in europe and play in various parks. maybe even wandering down the streets. must include a stop in paris. *mklj
OUI! *cw*

music video
we should make our music video like a 1950s home movie, of us playing music and sports in the park. let's get a vintage movie camera. i want to remember this part of my life. -sc
oh i love this! *mklj
this, like all of our ideas, means that we should tighten our sound and make some original music first (or at least do REALLY tight covers.) but i think it's a fab idea...esp. in b&w! *cw*
or color with a lot of contrast.. *mklj


video in which we're playing cardboard instruments
inspired by this pic *mklj -->
yes, i like that. let's shoot the frankenstein video in a junkyard where we are also building stuff out of cardboard and other recycled materials. like frankenstein and his monster. -sc

curious merch
dude. so maybe i'm getting carried away with this curiosity shoppe thing, but how awesome would it be if we sold like curious merch like a curiosity shop?? we could sell like..anything. like stuff we made. like crazy photos or paintings or arctic fox skulls. *mklj
i like this idea. this is so much cooler than selling stickers and t-shirts like all the other bands. -sc

our first show
where we just play for our friends maybe at the berkeley marina (or at the berkeley farmers market...)

Trip to Paxton Gate / Antique Shops/ Other Places to Glean Inspiration
We can make mini-field trips and excursions to imbue ourselves with the aesthetics we want to achieve...not that this doesn't happen naturally, but it might be nice to SEEK inspiration...just to let her know that we want to be buddies with her asap.
i approve. let's go *mklj

mailing list
people are coming up to us in parks. we should keep a mailing list so we don't lose touch with them.
we need to make sure not to be spammers since we have a lot of "shows" but if the mailing list is for people who want to play with us, I can just add them to the list we have now and invite them to 2-3 practices, if they come, we can decide if we want to keep them. i'm all about accepting people, but some people are sketchy.. *mklj
yeah people can be sketchy and we must be careful. we can screen the people who make it to our mailing list, talk to them to see if they just want to hear us, or want to play with us. it is probably a bad idea to invite strangers to one of our houses, but if we have band practice at a park, i think it should be okay. we can keep a mailing list for people interested in band practice (like what we have now), and a "public" list for strangers interested in hearing us. we can also have "tour dates"----start planning band practices waaay in advance.-sc
i'm wondering if maybe having a mini website would be a good idea. that way they could come to us? not sure that's a good idea though since it would lend itself to stalking. ..i will start a new idea.. *mklj

one mic recording
this is kind of a technical point. if we make recordings of ourselves, i don't want it to go through studio processing and mixing. since we're all acoustic, i think it will be possible to record with one mic in the middle of the room, like they did 50 years ago. we can mix ourselves by moving strategically around the room. a band called aberfeldy did this recently and actually it sounded pretty good. -sc
well except that i still like the idea of crickets etc. which would Probably require studio mixing. *mklj

mini website?
that way we could just give people our website and not have to spam them with email or even maintain an email list for that matter. retention would be lower probably, but i like that it requires them to be proactive. still a problem with stalkers though.. *mklj
it's funny i never thought i'd have to deal with fans. haha. *mklj
i think we should have a mailing list, but only include people who actually requested to be on it. i don't consider it spam when i get e-mails from a band, i actually enjoy feeling like i'm part of their secret club. we don't have to use the mailing list that often, either. maybe once a month. i like the idea of maintaining a website too, we can have a curiosity shoppe section where we sell stuff we make. -sc
(see our facebook page)

touring India
because Ciana, Russell and I just saw Darjeeling Limited and it's clearly a must. *mklj
hear, hear! *cw*
...on our European World Tour *mklj

electronic side project
an all-electronic band, with laptops, synthesizers, disco lights, effects boxes, samplers and other fun stuff.-sc
and we could go on tour with ourselves. like our electronic band would open for us. or the other way around depending on how we feel that day. *mklj
ooh can it be fun and dance-y? *cw*

listening party
in which we each bring a song (or more than one...) that the rest of us maybe haven't heard or should hear again. and we could do a hear and tell and talk about what we like about it and discuss what we could maybe work into our sound. just a thought. *mklj
that sounds like radiohead decal. something like that would be good for developing listening skills, too. -sc

serving food at concerts
When we start playing concerts at real venues, we will be the first band ever to provide food to our audience, because it's a band practice/party. Even better if we prepare the food ourselves. Can you imagine, a buffet table down the middle of the Fillmore? -sc
first of all, i love that you say "when". catering lots of large parties will cut into music playing time and could add to ticket prices, but i like the idea of being an event bigger than the band. what i think would be cool was if it was a potluck, but venues would probably have legal issues with that. and with us bringing the food for that matter unless we got food service licenses... which we could do. *mklj