We had a really great show this past Friday night at the Seahorse in Sausalito. The show was put together by Don Zimmer & his record label, Floating Records. Don also played in the opening band Slow Cooked Surprise. The Seahorse is an upscale restaurant/nightclub on the water in Sausalito. It’s a big, beautiful venue, much nicer than some of the establishments that we normally play.
In an effort to make the show special (i.e. try and bring out people), Don asked us to perform our album Breaking Up With Loneliness in its entirety. This is something that we’ve never done before and I gotta be honest, I was kinda nervous about it. Putting together a set list and putting together a running order of an album are two entirely different things. We perform mainly in bars. People want to have fun and forget about their troubles. They wanna drink beer and maybe dance. Our set lists usually try to balance those needs with our desire to sneak something artistic into their cerebral cortex. “Keep It Stupid” usually is our mantra; too many sleepy, sad, introspective tunes does not a happy bar owner like. Whereas, if you wanna get freaky on your album, go for it! We compromised: Set one was a bunch of upbeat, fun tunes and some cover songs and set two was The B.U.W.L album. Would people fall asleep when we played the album? Would they leave out of sheer boredom?
1st SET: I’ve performed at the Seahorse a few times before playing drums with a different band and it isn’t a real late night joint. People eat dinner and maybe stay for a little while before they gotta get home: The babysitter is waiting! It is what it is (fav Felsen expression). The people who were gonna split, split. It didn’t matter how good/bad we were. Some eardrums were not use to live rock and roll. It’s never a great feeling seeing someone plugging their ears midway into your 2nd song (twirling hippie woman, you know who you are). We turned down (a bit). At times, I could hear the pick scraping across the strings of my guitar, my ELECTRIC GUITAR! Even then it was still too loud for some. I had to deliver the bad news to our beast-like rock drumming mountainous manbeast of a rock drummer that despite his frustrations at work, he needed to play a bit quieter. For God’s sake, chardonnay was being served! He took it well. We toned it down. We made it through the set. Managed to play a few new tunes, had people dancing. People applauded. CDs were purchased (thank you).
2nd SET: A noticeable thinning of the crowd occurred on the set break. This happens with set breaks. The people who stayed though really were the die hard music fans at this point. We had two fans drive up from Paso Robles (3hr 54 min drive) for the show and a few other hardcore Felsen faithful were there. I joked with the audience about playing the album, letting them know I had some trepidation about doing so, worrying that it might put people to sleep. Man was I wrong. I underestimated these folks. They were with us fully and gave 100 percent. The rock tunes were easy, those always work, but the quiet stuff???? that’s where this audience really impressed me. We played Secret Life of Guns, an older couple slow danced. (Did they know the tune is about the insanity of guns and the epidemic of mass shootings in the US?). People listened. We played the title tune, Breaking Up With Loneliness which is about as deep and introspective of a tune as we’ve got. The bridge says “I dreamed about dying again last night”. Our hardcore fans were singing along every word. I went down into the audience and gathered all the people around me and we sang the refrain of that together “I’m breaking up with loneliness”. That’s powerful to hear a room full of people singing that. It’s like old time religion and these were the newly converted. It was spiritual. Did you feel it? We played a few more easy rockers. We played Honolulu which again is a pretty deep themed tune. I’m a cancer survivor. I had 5 major surgeries due to that shit. Honolulu is about that awful time waiting for the surgery to begin and you’d rather be anywhere else. Maybe someplace tropical. “In my dreams I’d rather be, with a wave crashing over me”. We finished off with Take Me Back which Felsen has never performed. We were too lazy and too busy preparing new material to record while touring to work up a proper full band version of the tune, so we stripped it down with acoustic guitar, Dylan on Banjo, Cristian on backing vocals and Art on shaker. All 4 of us went down into the audience. People huddled around us. We busked. It was musical intimacy: all hands on deck with the audience singing along at the end. It was quiet. Too bad the twirling hippie woman split. The good people called for an encore and we gave them a debut of a new song Better Thoughts. I had a front row audience member hold up the sheet of lyrics for me to read--that’s how new the song was. Lyrics were finished Friday morning. It was loud, real loud at times, but good, real good.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Flingers!
In the small time world of business transactions that is Felsen, we have recently learned a valuable lesson. Get it in writing! I know, I know...I should have already learned this lesson long ago. I’ve been burned a number of times. It’s kinda embarrassing to me that after so many years in the biz that I/we still, from time to time, get bitten in the ass. But I’ve been burned even when I had it in writing: they, the scumbags who reneged on their contract, knew that it was more of a pain in the ass for me and would ultimately cost me more in legal expenses to pursue than the original amount owed to me. End story: they win, I lose. Small claims court=large pain in ass. What do you do? Write a negative Yelp review and teach those unscrupulous motherscrappers a lesson? (not my style--plus I’m too lazy). So... I’m gonna vent here on my blog. Maybe write a song about it (probably not). And definitely send at least one more sternly worded email.
A long time ago I played a random drumming gig at a kinda neat venue in Ben Lomond, CA called Henflings. I made a mental note about the place and tucked it away. Years later when I put Felsen together and I’d blown through all the invitations to open for my friends bands and it was time to book our own gigs, I reached out to this place and sent an email booking inquiry. The owner/booker got back to me and said “no dice”. They book hard rock, blues and cover bands. Felsen’s music wasn’t a good fit. No hard feelings. Again I tucked it away. I knew we rocked hard on stage, but the first album was anything but hard rocking: sad, dark, introspective and quiet--yes, Molly Hatchet--no. Oh well. A year and a half later we came out with “Breaking up With Loneliness”. Definitely plenty of upbeat rockers on that one. Just for shits and giggles I sent it to him again. This time he got back to me and offered us a Thurs night. That’s a long drive down there on a thurs night. It took a bit of arm twisting, but my band agreed and we went and did the gig and had a reasonably good time. Not really our long-term desired demographic there in the hills of Santa Cruz, but it’s a gig, we made some money and we sold some CDs. A few weeks later, they called and offered us a 2nd gig this time on a Saturday night. Wow, were moving up in the world!
Again we schlepped it down there (144 mile round trip journey). The gig was OK. Crowd response was average. Some people loved it while some people wanted Molly Hatchet, Skynard and Floyd. Some people wanted to smoke their locally grown weed with us while others probably wanted to burn us at the stake. Allow me to explain. I am aware that I push people’s buttons. I get up in people’s faces when we’re playing. I go out into the audience. I physically corral people, herding them onto the dance floor when necessary--or break down the “Third Wall” as they say in the theater world. Prometheus brings fire to the people! ( I saw harmonica virtuoso Sugar Blue do this same shtick long ago at Rosa’s west side club in Chicago--I took notes.) I write songs about hot button topics like “Secret Life of Guns”--inspired by mental giant Sara Pallin’s campaign slogan--Don’t Retreat, Reload. Or a song about the killing of Oscar Grant (Ghost of the American Experience). I got a big mouth. I berate the audience about turning off their cell phones. I strongly encourage people to buy our CDs (especially at venues where there’s no cover charge). It’s not always comfortable, but it is entertaining. It’s gotta be done and it’s gotta be better than TV. Maybe I stepped over the line. I’ll admit to that. I’m sure I have done so and will probably do so again. Oh well.
After that 2nd gig, we all felt like we were done with Henflings. Again, not our long-term desired demographic. Just another gig. We kinda forgot about the place. And then I got an email 8 months later from the new booker who had actually been tending bar both times we previously performed at ‘Flingers. Well go figure, she loved it. She’s a fan and she wants us back AND she’s offering us a cash guarantee. Ok, now THAT we can do. We found a date that worked. I made a poster, sent them copies, I even sent down a stack of FREE PROMO CDs to hand out to patrons to help get the locals amped up about our gig. Things were looking up for Felsen! Then about a week before the gig I got an email cancelling our gig. Apparently the boss didn’t share her good feelings towards Felsen. I felt bad for the booker. She’s a fan. I’m sure she felt crappy about it. I emailed her and said thanks for sticking your neck out for Felsen...but yeah we’re gonna need that money regardless. The boss probably looked at the schedule on his calendar a week before the show and remembered us as the band with the loudmouth singer with left leaning political agenda and said “no dice” to his booking agent. My bandmates (including myself) turned down other paying gigs that we could have done with other bands on that night to go do a gig with Felsen. Worse yet was that we had a tour coming up the week after the Henflings gig and we needed that money for essentials like gas, motels, pizza, moonshine and Voodoo Donuts. Still no word from the good people at ‘Flingers. No money. I included my address where they could send a check. Go figure, it hasn’t arrived just yet. Regarding the tour: we managed to slide through that one not in debt. We got lucky on CD sales. But had Henflings payed us, we could have payed ourselves a little something for the tour. Maybe our wives/fiances would have looked at us a little different had we come home from tour not empty handed--again. Being a single mom for 4 days while your hubby is out on the road not making any money certainly does suck. So dear Henflings, I’m waiting on that check. Until then I will refrain from writing trash on Yelp. Infact, when that check arrives I promise to write you a Yelp sonnett pledging my eternal love and patronage. Maybe I’ll even write you a song (ok probably not).
A long time ago I played a random drumming gig at a kinda neat venue in Ben Lomond, CA called Henflings. I made a mental note about the place and tucked it away. Years later when I put Felsen together and I’d blown through all the invitations to open for my friends bands and it was time to book our own gigs, I reached out to this place and sent an email booking inquiry. The owner/booker got back to me and said “no dice”. They book hard rock, blues and cover bands. Felsen’s music wasn’t a good fit. No hard feelings. Again I tucked it away. I knew we rocked hard on stage, but the first album was anything but hard rocking: sad, dark, introspective and quiet--yes, Molly Hatchet--no. Oh well. A year and a half later we came out with “Breaking up With Loneliness”. Definitely plenty of upbeat rockers on that one. Just for shits and giggles I sent it to him again. This time he got back to me and offered us a Thurs night. That’s a long drive down there on a thurs night. It took a bit of arm twisting, but my band agreed and we went and did the gig and had a reasonably good time. Not really our long-term desired demographic there in the hills of Santa Cruz, but it’s a gig, we made some money and we sold some CDs. A few weeks later, they called and offered us a 2nd gig this time on a Saturday night. Wow, were moving up in the world!
Again we schlepped it down there (144 mile round trip journey). The gig was OK. Crowd response was average. Some people loved it while some people wanted Molly Hatchet, Skynard and Floyd. Some people wanted to smoke their locally grown weed with us while others probably wanted to burn us at the stake. Allow me to explain. I am aware that I push people’s buttons. I get up in people’s faces when we’re playing. I go out into the audience. I physically corral people, herding them onto the dance floor when necessary--or break down the “Third Wall” as they say in the theater world. Prometheus brings fire to the people! ( I saw harmonica virtuoso Sugar Blue do this same shtick long ago at Rosa’s west side club in Chicago--I took notes.) I write songs about hot button topics like “Secret Life of Guns”--inspired by mental giant Sara Pallin’s campaign slogan--Don’t Retreat, Reload. Or a song about the killing of Oscar Grant (Ghost of the American Experience). I got a big mouth. I berate the audience about turning off their cell phones. I strongly encourage people to buy our CDs (especially at venues where there’s no cover charge). It’s not always comfortable, but it is entertaining. It’s gotta be done and it’s gotta be better than TV. Maybe I stepped over the line. I’ll admit to that. I’m sure I have done so and will probably do so again. Oh well.
After that 2nd gig, we all felt like we were done with Henflings. Again, not our long-term desired demographic. Just another gig. We kinda forgot about the place. And then I got an email 8 months later from the new booker who had actually been tending bar both times we previously performed at ‘Flingers. Well go figure, she loved it. She’s a fan and she wants us back AND she’s offering us a cash guarantee. Ok, now THAT we can do. We found a date that worked. I made a poster, sent them copies, I even sent down a stack of FREE PROMO CDs to hand out to patrons to help get the locals amped up about our gig. Things were looking up for Felsen! Then about a week before the gig I got an email cancelling our gig. Apparently the boss didn’t share her good feelings towards Felsen. I felt bad for the booker. She’s a fan. I’m sure she felt crappy about it. I emailed her and said thanks for sticking your neck out for Felsen...but yeah we’re gonna need that money regardless. The boss probably looked at the schedule on his calendar a week before the show and remembered us as the band with the loudmouth singer with left leaning political agenda and said “no dice” to his booking agent. My bandmates (including myself) turned down other paying gigs that we could have done with other bands on that night to go do a gig with Felsen. Worse yet was that we had a tour coming up the week after the Henflings gig and we needed that money for essentials like gas, motels, pizza, moonshine and Voodoo Donuts. Still no word from the good people at ‘Flingers. No money. I included my address where they could send a check. Go figure, it hasn’t arrived just yet. Regarding the tour: we managed to slide through that one not in debt. We got lucky on CD sales. But had Henflings payed us, we could have payed ourselves a little something for the tour. Maybe our wives/fiances would have looked at us a little different had we come home from tour not empty handed--again. Being a single mom for 4 days while your hubby is out on the road not making any money certainly does suck. So dear Henflings, I’m waiting on that check. Until then I will refrain from writing trash on Yelp. Infact, when that check arrives I promise to write you a Yelp sonnett pledging my eternal love and patronage. Maybe I’ll even write you a song (ok probably not).
Monday, February 25, 2013
True Believers. Feb 2013 PNW Tour Recap.
Monday morning and I’m home now from 4 days on the road with felsen. We played 3 shows: Eugene, Seattle and Cottage Grove, OR. This was our 4th trip to the PNW in about a year. 2 return engagements and a new venue in Cottage Grove, the smallest town on the tour which surprisingly turned out to be the funnest show.
The best part of the tour for me was day 3. We woke up in Seattle after a pretty interesting gig the night before. We stayed with my old high school friend and her daughter. The kid gave up her room so I could sleep in the pink teen shrine of Justin Bieber. Awesome. We then drove down to Cottage Grove, OR with a quick stop in Portland (who wouldn’t book us this time--shame on you Portland) for a meet up with some more friends. On the drive down to Cottage Grove, we had nearly 2 hours of uninterrupted listening to George Harrison’s 1970 masterpiece album “All Things Must Pass”. I never owned it, heard it a few times over the years, but finally found a used copy in a store in Alameda and have since fallen deeply under it’s spell. Upon it’s release, one critic said it was “the music of mountain tops and vast horizons". I couldn’t agree more and that was abundantly apparent driving through central Oregon on the I 5 as the sun was going down on Night 3 of the tour. I was sharing the CD with my band now for the first time. We were all feeling it. The musicianship, the songwriting/lyrics and the spiritual, metaphysical concept is undeniably breathtaking. (As i’m writing this today, I’ve been reminded that it’s George’s 70th birthday. Hare Krishna George!)
Arriving in Cottage Grove at the Axe and Fiddle we all immediately felt good. The vibe of the place put us all at ease. Everyone working there was warm and genuine. The patrons hanging out, drinking or eating dinner were friendlies too. How many gigs have I arrived at where there was the exact opposite feeling? The booker was behind the bar serving drinks. She was a little hard to read though. I attributed it to just having to deal with so many band’s BS--I imagine that could wear down even the best-intentioned person. She was clear and direct but not super outgoing at first. Despite that, she got us drinks, got us delicious food--the most delicious and healthiest band food of the whole tour. She told me “more eating, less talking”. translation: when you’re done eating it’s time to get your lazy indie rock slacker self on stage and start entertaining. It was funny. It made us all laugh. There was a band coming on after us who all seemed really nice too. One of the patrons offered to help us medicate before showtime--we opted to save that offer for a later time. We played our hearts out, tried to really engage the crowd, got people on their feet, dancing at the foot of the stage. We gave it our all. How could we not with food that good? We thanked the chef from the stage. I reminded the audience to buy lots of top shelf booze to ensure that this quality venue remains afloat. I begged the audience to buy our CD (I’m sure you could smell the desperation of indie rockers teetering on the edge of credit card debt). It was a roomful of total strangers and we won them over. We rocked it hard and they obliged us, merely the opening band, with an encore. We asked the audience if we’d earned the right to play something quiet and pretty. Would they walk out on us if we didn’t play another one of our “least common denominator rockers”? Bless their hearts, they hung in there and we left them with something pretty in their eardrums. We played a new song “Gimme Shelter For The Devil”. Kind of a play on words that name checks two Rolling Stones tunes. It’s about life and death. growing old. fearing what’s to come. loving your neighbors. you know, my usual stuff. They loved it. Wow what a great gig. People bought CDs. Whew...we might not go into debt on this tour after all.
After we played, the booker was really nice to me. She thanked me several times while busily filling drinks, serving food etc..The headliner was setting up their gear. It was time for me to redeem my drink tickets. And redeem I did. I didn’t know what to think of the next band. You see, my head is royally messed up. Allowing yourself to enjoy another band allows for the possibility that there are other great bands out there, and that you got room to learn and there’s always room to up your game. I was defensive... ...until about halfway through their 1st song. And then that all just crumbled away. They’re called Terrible Buttons and I’m their newest, biggest fan. They’re...well... ahh...a lot younger than us. They’re from Spokane.
Sadly, the room was kinda thinning out. I feel bad now having played that encore. The later you have to go on, the less audience you’re gonna be left with. For those of us who stayed, we’re the lucky ones. I was mesmerized. Each of the 6 musicians on stage was really good and they played together as a cohesive ensemble. The songs were interesting, daring, creative and totally original. The soundman at the club is a total pro (he’s the touring soundman with the Walkmen--nice gig.) and he had them dialed. It was magic-- in this little venue in a little town in Oregon. Go figure. After every song, I clapped and screamed like a 14 year old girl at a Beatles Concert. I was checking in visually with my band mates. “Are you guys hearing this?”. “Is this for real?” “Is this really happening?”. Yes... Yes it was.
I got up from my seat and wandered around the room a bit, trying to gauge people’s reactions to this band. “these guys are amazing. what do you think?” I asked people and everyone agreed. Finally about 45 mins into their set, I went to the bar and the booker was there serving drinks, clearing out people’s bar tabs etc...and I looked at her, pointed at the band and said, “amazing”. Smiling, she nodded her head. That wasn’t enough for me. This was like church or something spiritual. I needed more confirmation from the powers that be. I took her hand from across the bar, looked her dead in the eye and said “you realize how incredible these guys are” and she looked back at me, I think she had a tear in her eye. She got it. I knew right then that she was a “True Believer”. Someone who truly believes there still is the possibility to do something transformative and beautiful with the art form of rock and roll. It’s a shitty, fucked up business--she knows it better than most. Hunter Thompson said: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Being a booker is a really hard, thankless job. There’s a lot of pressure to bring in paying customers and maybe book the shittiest, lamest garbage in order to put butts in seats. I’m sure she’s had to do that. Witnessing something real and beautiful that you curated has got to feel good, like a small, private victory. Madame booker, we salute you. (Kudos to you for taking a risk on two, small bands.)
ps. I’m a believer too.
pss. info and discount tix for our big San Fran gig on Friday March 15.
The best part of the tour for me was day 3. We woke up in Seattle after a pretty interesting gig the night before. We stayed with my old high school friend and her daughter. The kid gave up her room so I could sleep in the pink teen shrine of Justin Bieber. Awesome. We then drove down to Cottage Grove, OR with a quick stop in Portland (who wouldn’t book us this time--shame on you Portland) for a meet up with some more friends. On the drive down to Cottage Grove, we had nearly 2 hours of uninterrupted listening to George Harrison’s 1970 masterpiece album “All Things Must Pass”. I never owned it, heard it a few times over the years, but finally found a used copy in a store in Alameda and have since fallen deeply under it’s spell. Upon it’s release, one critic said it was “the music of mountain tops and vast horizons". I couldn’t agree more and that was abundantly apparent driving through central Oregon on the I 5 as the sun was going down on Night 3 of the tour. I was sharing the CD with my band now for the first time. We were all feeling it. The musicianship, the songwriting/lyrics and the spiritual, metaphysical concept is undeniably breathtaking. (As i’m writing this today, I’ve been reminded that it’s George’s 70th birthday. Hare Krishna George!)
Arriving in Cottage Grove at the Axe and Fiddle we all immediately felt good. The vibe of the place put us all at ease. Everyone working there was warm and genuine. The patrons hanging out, drinking or eating dinner were friendlies too. How many gigs have I arrived at where there was the exact opposite feeling? The booker was behind the bar serving drinks. She was a little hard to read though. I attributed it to just having to deal with so many band’s BS--I imagine that could wear down even the best-intentioned person. She was clear and direct but not super outgoing at first. Despite that, she got us drinks, got us delicious food--the most delicious and healthiest band food of the whole tour. She told me “more eating, less talking”. translation: when you’re done eating it’s time to get your lazy indie rock slacker self on stage and start entertaining. It was funny. It made us all laugh. There was a band coming on after us who all seemed really nice too. One of the patrons offered to help us medicate before showtime--we opted to save that offer for a later time. We played our hearts out, tried to really engage the crowd, got people on their feet, dancing at the foot of the stage. We gave it our all. How could we not with food that good? We thanked the chef from the stage. I reminded the audience to buy lots of top shelf booze to ensure that this quality venue remains afloat. I begged the audience to buy our CD (I’m sure you could smell the desperation of indie rockers teetering on the edge of credit card debt). It was a roomful of total strangers and we won them over. We rocked it hard and they obliged us, merely the opening band, with an encore. We asked the audience if we’d earned the right to play something quiet and pretty. Would they walk out on us if we didn’t play another one of our “least common denominator rockers”? Bless their hearts, they hung in there and we left them with something pretty in their eardrums. We played a new song “Gimme Shelter For The Devil”. Kind of a play on words that name checks two Rolling Stones tunes. It’s about life and death. growing old. fearing what’s to come. loving your neighbors. you know, my usual stuff. They loved it. Wow what a great gig. People bought CDs. Whew...we might not go into debt on this tour after all.
After we played, the booker was really nice to me. She thanked me several times while busily filling drinks, serving food etc..The headliner was setting up their gear. It was time for me to redeem my drink tickets. And redeem I did. I didn’t know what to think of the next band. You see, my head is royally messed up. Allowing yourself to enjoy another band allows for the possibility that there are other great bands out there, and that you got room to learn and there’s always room to up your game. I was defensive... ...until about halfway through their 1st song. And then that all just crumbled away. They’re called Terrible Buttons and I’m their newest, biggest fan. They’re...well... ahh...a lot younger than us. They’re from Spokane.
Sadly, the room was kinda thinning out. I feel bad now having played that encore. The later you have to go on, the less audience you’re gonna be left with. For those of us who stayed, we’re the lucky ones. I was mesmerized. Each of the 6 musicians on stage was really good and they played together as a cohesive ensemble. The songs were interesting, daring, creative and totally original. The soundman at the club is a total pro (he’s the touring soundman with the Walkmen--nice gig.) and he had them dialed. It was magic-- in this little venue in a little town in Oregon. Go figure. After every song, I clapped and screamed like a 14 year old girl at a Beatles Concert. I was checking in visually with my band mates. “Are you guys hearing this?”. “Is this for real?” “Is this really happening?”. Yes... Yes it was.
I got up from my seat and wandered around the room a bit, trying to gauge people’s reactions to this band. “these guys are amazing. what do you think?” I asked people and everyone agreed. Finally about 45 mins into their set, I went to the bar and the booker was there serving drinks, clearing out people’s bar tabs etc...and I looked at her, pointed at the band and said, “amazing”. Smiling, she nodded her head. That wasn’t enough for me. This was like church or something spiritual. I needed more confirmation from the powers that be. I took her hand from across the bar, looked her dead in the eye and said “you realize how incredible these guys are” and she looked back at me, I think she had a tear in her eye. She got it. I knew right then that she was a “True Believer”. Someone who truly believes there still is the possibility to do something transformative and beautiful with the art form of rock and roll. It’s a shitty, fucked up business--she knows it better than most. Hunter Thompson said: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Being a booker is a really hard, thankless job. There’s a lot of pressure to bring in paying customers and maybe book the shittiest, lamest garbage in order to put butts in seats. I’m sure she’s had to do that. Witnessing something real and beautiful that you curated has got to feel good, like a small, private victory. Madame booker, we salute you. (Kudos to you for taking a risk on two, small bands.)
ps. I’m a believer too.
pss. info and discount tix for our big San Fran gig on Friday March 15.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
hello 2013
Maybe it’s denial, but I’m not gonna sweat that stuff now. I’m gonna keep my focus on playing and writing music and somehow things will line up. I have files of lyrics up in the clouds. I hear things in conversation, or on the radio or I read them in books or magazines at the doctor’s office. I herd these thoughts into their appropriate files and then I stare at the screen with the guitar in my hands, wrapping melodies around uploaded scribbles and watch the song embryos progress into recognize-able life forms. Sounds fun and exciting, doesn’t it? Mainly it’s slow, boring, lonely work, but that’s art for ya. Careful what you wish for.
I think the new record will be about people. People and their cell phones. People slowly losing their ability for genuine human interaction. Like a frog in a slowly boiling pot of water, little by little we’re giving up our ability to talk, face-to-face in exchange for new gadgets and instant, unlimited access to lots of useless content. Why go out anymore? But wait, there’s an apparition, a ghost in your head. And though it’s in grave condition, rock and roll’s not dead. Rock and roll’s not dead. There’s a crack in the boiler room and the steam is escaping. Artists to the life rafts. We’re floating on crackers and still writing titanic tunes.
info about our big SF gig on March 15 here:
Monday, November 12, 2012
Moonshine and Minivans: November NW Tour Recap.
That was a tiring couple of days. This was the last show of this year’s touring cycle. I guess you could call it the last shows of the extended “Breaking Up With Loneliness Tour” as we’ve been promoting that record primarily through live gigs since the CD release show in December 2011. For an unsigned, completely DIY indie band, what else is there except touring? Reviews in newspapers and magazines are basically purchased. Did you know that? Just pay the publicist and she/he will get you the reviews. One quoted us a $7000 price tag for a 3 month campaign. Hurrah, get my check book!!! So we hit the road hard, and it’s been a big year for us. We’ve done shows in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana. Did I forget someone? We’re you there? Are you still wearing your Felsen T Shirt? Is it the last shirt in your laundry rotation? Or is it your first? Thank you fans for buying the shirts, CDs and buttons--It really made a huge difference this year. And thank you also for listening and getting into the Felsen spirit with us at the shows. Thank you to all the willing volunteers who got in the bunny costume--you’ve entertained many! We’ve much to be thankful for.
I’m so tired at present so trying to recap this tour is ahh...kinda foggy. How bout just a verbal montage? Setting up the gear on the streets of Berkeley and all the potential weird and strange that that can only bring. breaking in new songs, and dusting off some oldies for a free concert for the homeless and the college kids eating from the yummy food trucks. multiple shout-outs to Kung Fu Taco got us some free food--breakfast for the following morning in Redding. Wondering if were gonna have enough money to pull off this 4 day mission of 1600 miles. Seeing those snow capped mountains for the first time Friday morning. Cristian making us coffee. Playing an in store at Music Millennium--it was like being summoned to the temple of sound; a seal of approval from the real music lovers not swayed by trends and hipster hoopla nonsense. Late night gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches on Alberta Street in Portland and post gig talk with beautiful stewardess (high altitude peanut distributor). Needing to find a liquor store at 9.45am to purchase moonshine--jesus have we sunk this low? Deciding not to purchase the ‘shine called Death’s Door--we’re dumb but not that dumb. Beautiful English girl who volunteered to wear the bunny suit in Portland--bless your heart. Getting our 45 minute set cut down to 30 mins to accommodate the awesome, hipster darlings headliner. incredible drive through glacial mountains fresh snow coverage while dressed for a warm day in the bay area and feeling cold for 4 days straight while listening to Frank Zappa and the Mothers Live at the Filmore East. (brilliant, fearless, comical) Eating breakfast at fav Portland diner--City State Diner and eating right underneath our Accidental Drowning album cover art framed on the wall (diner’s owner is the artist who designed that CD cover). Cupcakes. Impromptu jam session in the rec room at host’s house in Seattle. Played her mom’s classical guitar, Art played son’s drumset, Cristian played the daughter’s bass and Dylan schlepped in his banjo. “Secret Life of Guns” and unrehearsed, first-ever run through of the Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait”. Norman the giant Saint Bernard. Big drum fills. Strange, surprisingly lovely gig in Seattle. Roomful of tourists. Slightly amused Japanese girls taking photos of us like we were monkeys in a zoo. Amber the birthday girl regaled with the BEE GEE’s “To Love Somebody”. Amber waves of grain. Berating and verbally shaming the audience into buying our CD’s “You got more money on your feet than I got in my bank account”. The more abuse we gave, the more they loved us and begged for more. Can’t explain it. 3 encores. Drunks rolling around on the ground (seriously), acting like animals, doing some kind of yuppie mating ritual??? meanwhile the band plays a song about death, infinity, god, childhood in a mixed up world (Breaking Up With Loneliness). Heaping more verbal abuse on them--and them loving it? White guilt? Amps cranked. It’s revenge of the nerds. Epic, divine showdown at the O.K. Computer corral. The haves (them) vs. the have-nots (us). You’re either with us or against us. Debuting new song “Rock and Roll's Not Dead” and really finding our stride with this song the further we get into the tour. Realizing it’s power and deeper levels of meaning in the lyrics and the music.
This is high drama. Again the epic battle, the fool’s errand. It’s us (art) versus them (the machine). Art wins. Humanity prevails. 14 hour drive home. Tired. The eagle has landed. Get out of your space ship it’s time to start work on a new album.
I’m so tired at present so trying to recap this tour is ahh...kinda foggy. How bout just a verbal montage? Setting up the gear on the streets of Berkeley and all the potential weird and strange that that can only bring. breaking in new songs, and dusting off some oldies for a free concert for the homeless and the college kids eating from the yummy food trucks. multiple shout-outs to Kung Fu Taco got us some free food--breakfast for the following morning in Redding. Wondering if were gonna have enough money to pull off this 4 day mission of 1600 miles. Seeing those snow capped mountains for the first time Friday morning. Cristian making us coffee. Playing an in store at Music Millennium--it was like being summoned to the temple of sound; a seal of approval from the real music lovers not swayed by trends and hipster hoopla nonsense. Late night gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches on Alberta Street in Portland and post gig talk with beautiful stewardess (high altitude peanut distributor). Needing to find a liquor store at 9.45am to purchase moonshine--jesus have we sunk this low? Deciding not to purchase the ‘shine called Death’s Door--we’re dumb but not that dumb. Beautiful English girl who volunteered to wear the bunny suit in Portland--bless your heart. Getting our 45 minute set cut down to 30 mins to accommodate the awesome, hipster darlings headliner. incredible drive through glacial mountains fresh snow coverage while dressed for a warm day in the bay area and feeling cold for 4 days straight while listening to Frank Zappa and the Mothers Live at the Filmore East. (brilliant, fearless, comical) Eating breakfast at fav Portland diner--City State Diner and eating right underneath our Accidental Drowning album cover art framed on the wall (diner’s owner is the artist who designed that CD cover). Cupcakes. Impromptu jam session in the rec room at host’s house in Seattle. Played her mom’s classical guitar, Art played son’s drumset, Cristian played the daughter’s bass and Dylan schlepped in his banjo. “Secret Life of Guns” and unrehearsed, first-ever run through of the Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait”. Norman the giant Saint Bernard. Big drum fills. Strange, surprisingly lovely gig in Seattle. Roomful of tourists. Slightly amused Japanese girls taking photos of us like we were monkeys in a zoo. Amber the birthday girl regaled with the BEE GEE’s “To Love Somebody”. Amber waves of grain. Berating and verbally shaming the audience into buying our CD’s “You got more money on your feet than I got in my bank account”. The more abuse we gave, the more they loved us and begged for more. Can’t explain it. 3 encores. Drunks rolling around on the ground (seriously), acting like animals, doing some kind of yuppie mating ritual??? meanwhile the band plays a song about death, infinity, god, childhood in a mixed up world (Breaking Up With Loneliness). Heaping more verbal abuse on them--and them loving it? White guilt? Amps cranked. It’s revenge of the nerds. Epic, divine showdown at the O.K. Computer corral. The haves (them) vs. the have-nots (us). You’re either with us or against us. Debuting new song “Rock and Roll's Not Dead” and really finding our stride with this song the further we get into the tour. Realizing it’s power and deeper levels of meaning in the lyrics and the music.
“Upload your identity, put it on infinite repeat mode.
Enter your password here, at the beep hit send, then end.
Type in your secret code, workers working in a catacomb.
But I’ve gone electric, you will hear your eardrums blown!”
This is high drama. Again the epic battle, the fool’s errand. It’s us (art) versus them (the machine). Art wins. Humanity prevails. 14 hour drive home. Tired. The eagle has landed. Get out of your space ship it’s time to start work on a new album.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Windy and cold: Room 4, Caspar Inn
listen up and read along:
Although it was Felsen's first gig there, I've played there a bunch over the years with different bands. The last time, I was playing drums with a band from Oakland and we spent 2 nights at the Caspar--this was July 4, 2009. We had a whole day to relax and I wrote "Honolulu” on guitarist Michael Fiorentino’s Yamaha acoustic guitar and recorded several demo versions on my digital recorder while camped out in room 4 upstairs in the Inn. It’s perpetually cold and windy there and I think that put me in mood. I missed home. I missed my family. I wrote a song about the terror of going through a major surgery and wanting to be someplace tropical instead-- go figure.
“Honolulu” has been in and out of Felsen’s set lists for a long time. We used to open our shows with a rockin version, reminiscent of Crazy Horse: loud, twangy, drop D-tuned Telecasters and overdriven analog synth, heavy bass and drums. Our producer, Jonathan “JP” Parker encouraged us to strip it down to just piano and vocal for our Breaking Up With Loneliness CD. The piano was played by long-time Felsen collaborator Justus Dobrin. We performed the song live with Justus only once--at our CD release party and we haven’t performed it with that arrangement since. Nobody plays the piano like Justus. When we do get to work with him it’s like splurging on a real nice vacation--something you don’t get to do everyday. Meanwhile we’ve been enjoying playing the rockin version again. Maybe we’ll record that at some point.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
best tour yet!
Well, we’re home now from our January “Rainy Days and Sleepless Nights NW Tour”. I have great memories of listening to Radiohead, Nilsson, Death Cab, Arcade Fire... while driving through the ruggedly beautiful and snowy PNW, scurrying us along to play a total of 3 shows: Thursday in Sacramento at the Fox and Goose, Friday the 13th in Eugene at the Black Forest Tavern and Saturday night at Portland’s Alberta Street Pub. I really feel like this has been the best tour yet. I know, I know some of you are thinking that 3 days on the road hardly qualifies as a tour, but for little old Felsen it does. Plus 3 days is all we can afford (at this point). Here’s the Math: Minivan rental=$227,Gas=$216, Food=$200. Not gonna disclose how much the total revenue from merch+the money from the venues. I will say this, it’s never enough, but in the low, low music biz rung that is Indie Rock we didn’t do too bad. We saved a bunch this time around by not staying at motels. We stayed with friends and used couchsurf.com to hook us up a free spot one of the nights.
But that’s just the facts and figures. What really constitutes as a good tour is how we connect with the audiences. I can’t just accept that we’re a small band, with no big hit song on the radio and hope that we’re gonna wow ‘em with our fantastic songs (that they’ve never heard) and musicianship. Trust me, we’ve done our homework in both of those areas. We’ve spent HUNDREDS OF HOURS REHEARSING!!! But that’s not enough to engage a room full of strangers. As they say in the theater world, you’ve got to break down the 3rd wall between the stage and the audience or more appropriately the band’s lofty ambitions and the audience’s inhibitions. The band has got to get the party started. My good pal Vic Krummenacher of Camper Van Beethoven told me that they (the audience) want to love you. They’ve come though the door of that saloon on a Thursday night in Sacramento and they want entertainment. So give it go them and don’t hold back. Shed some blood. Engage them, somehow. How bout dancing on a table top? That’s an attention getter--sometimes. Or how bout recruiting a volunteer from the audience to wear a giant bunny suit. Maybe if the bunny is a full-time professional break dancer known as poppin Todd, that just might wake up the ambivalents.
I’ve got this thing where I need the audience to be right up front with me. It’s my blood sport: I need them to be close to me. I couldn’t care less if there’s only 25 people at our gig on Tuesday night in Chico, I want it to feel like a concert and for that to happen I need them to be right there, giving it to us. Felsen somehow has developed this strange ability to transform the feng shui of bar rooms full of distant, not-yet-converted-Felsen fans into epic, intimate, genuine rock concert experiences. Give us an inch and we’ll give you a marathon of exorcism. 99% of the people are willing to give you a shot and can be won over. They can be slowly lead by the arm right to the foot of your stage where they will sway with your songs, pump their fists, buy your CDs (and by default fill your mini van’s gas tank) and put a little something in the tip jar. But of course there’s always gonna be that 1% who just won’t temporarily loan you that little bit of their internal real estate to play out your rock and roll fantasies upon; they are the un-entertainable and they are dead to us. This little string of dates was great in that all three nights I got what I needed from the audiences. Thank you Sac, Eugene and Portland.
But that’s just the facts and figures. What really constitutes as a good tour is how we connect with the audiences. I can’t just accept that we’re a small band, with no big hit song on the radio and hope that we’re gonna wow ‘em with our fantastic songs (that they’ve never heard) and musicianship. Trust me, we’ve done our homework in both of those areas. We’ve spent HUNDREDS OF HOURS REHEARSING!!! But that’s not enough to engage a room full of strangers. As they say in the theater world, you’ve got to break down the 3rd wall between the stage and the audience or more appropriately the band’s lofty ambitions and the audience’s inhibitions. The band has got to get the party started. My good pal Vic Krummenacher of Camper Van Beethoven told me that they (the audience) want to love you. They’ve come though the door of that saloon on a Thursday night in Sacramento and they want entertainment. So give it go them and don’t hold back. Shed some blood. Engage them, somehow. How bout dancing on a table top? That’s an attention getter--sometimes. Or how bout recruiting a volunteer from the audience to wear a giant bunny suit. Maybe if the bunny is a full-time professional break dancer known as poppin Todd, that just might wake up the ambivalents.
I’ve got this thing where I need the audience to be right up front with me. It’s my blood sport: I need them to be close to me. I couldn’t care less if there’s only 25 people at our gig on Tuesday night in Chico, I want it to feel like a concert and for that to happen I need them to be right there, giving it to us. Felsen somehow has developed this strange ability to transform the feng shui of bar rooms full of distant, not-yet-converted-Felsen fans into epic, intimate, genuine rock concert experiences. Give us an inch and we’ll give you a marathon of exorcism. 99% of the people are willing to give you a shot and can be won over. They can be slowly lead by the arm right to the foot of your stage where they will sway with your songs, pump their fists, buy your CDs (and by default fill your mini van’s gas tank) and put a little something in the tip jar. But of course there’s always gonna be that 1% who just won’t temporarily loan you that little bit of their internal real estate to play out your rock and roll fantasies upon; they are the un-entertainable and they are dead to us. This little string of dates was great in that all three nights I got what I needed from the audiences. Thank you Sac, Eugene and Portland.
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