Post-partum Update

Ah, in the wake of our EP-release euphoria it's back to the grindstone for the Posters!

We've been working on two new pop-rocks this past week. One is "I Want a Bee or Dog." It's the first chapter of the "Noah's Ark" trilogy, which concludes with the currently-hibernating 50-second new wave jam "Come On Down." The middle part of the trilogy, "Das Ark," is still being written.

Anyway, IWABOD is a song that rips off The Smiths, and then was in turn ripped off by me myself for the Posters' shortest song to date: Ferris Bueller. My limited vocal range is proving a problem in the singing of this one, because in the low octave the low notes are too low, and in the high octave the high notes are too high. I'm seriously considering changing the key (or becoming a eunuch, whichever proves less of a hassle).

You can get a taste from this instrumental demo recorded by my project with Ariel, The Trojan Whores.

I Want a Bee or Dog (demo)

We have also been working on a rock-opera-tastic piece which does not yet have a name, though its vibe is not unlike the one in this video of renowned early-Who tribute band, The middle-period-Who.


In other news, I'm getting thrown out of my apartment next week, so if you've ever had fantasies of living with a local rock star and two cats now is the time to act.

Sam

Absence live

Gary Canino (once again -- thanks, Gary!) took some fabulous high-quality video of our show the other night. Here's the closer of the set.





Check out the rest of Gary's youtube channel, too; it's got a lot of good stuff, including a great Caninos performance from their set at the same show.

I'd like to point out that my singing in this video is not "bad," but was strategically and deliberately deploying a performance style meant to preempt any rumors that I use autotune on my vocals when we play. There should now be no doubt that I keep it real.

PS: It's fucking snowing again!

Last Night's Gala

Thanks to everybody who showed up to our EP release last night! Special thanks to those who stuck it out and stayed through our set. Things were running a little behind schedule, and we really appreciate it.


We had a lot of fun. The Caninos were incredible. When I saw them last fall at The Garage I could tell they were a good band, but something about the low-key vibe of The Garage -- or maybe just the occasional SUV that drives between the audience and the band -- prevented me from realizing just how good they are. Last night I was lucky enough to hear them do "Naufragous" twice, once at sound check, and once as the second song in their set.

There something that The Caninos really get right, which a lot of bands don't, in my opinion, and that's that they let their recorded stuff be laid back and understated -- like, they let the strength of their songwriting create the momentum -- but then when it's time to play live they really rock hard, and bring as much charisma and raw power as possible. It's something I remember really liking about Dressy Bessy circa 2000 -- that their live sets sounded nothing like their records, but each offered what its medium was, respectively, best at offering. Craft on the records, and intensity live.

At the end of their set they got a bunch of people on stage to do a We Are the World style sing along.


If The Caninos played first, acting as the show's Genesis, DBB Plays Cups were surely its Exodus. Here they are playing either something from Cups or one of DBB's newer songs.


We played third (and last) much like a Leviticus whose only prohibition is against not rocking, though we did encourage several people to consume pork last night, which was not very levitical of us.

Pictures of our set, and perhaps even video, will likely emerge in the coming days.

Oh, and happy Valentines Day to all our fans. (Remember, ladies, I may not be the sexiest Poster, but I'm the only one who's still single!)

Sam

EP Release Tonite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At long last we will be releasing our ep tonight and celebrating the release with a show at Random Row Books with DBB Plays Cups & The Caninos! Needless to say we're all super excited and are going to pull out all the stops for this one. Costume changes, between song sound clips, amateur theatrics.....it's gonna explode! Can't wait to see you all there! We'll witness the carnage together and you can tell your children about it in years to come! Random Row Books.....9:00 pm.....$5.00!

C'ville Hits

Sometimes when I'm in my cubicle pretending to work, I like to check out what kind of jams our compatriots are kicking out. Here are a few of my favorites from the current Charlottesville awesome-music community:

I really love "The Ones Who're Awake" by Left & Right. I was sorry to have missed them at The Box last week. It must have been a great show. I was too busy being old.

Left & right's older-sister band, the Caninos, have an awesome song called "Naufragous." Also, when you search for "caninos" on myspace it asks "did you mean canibus?"

There's also "It's a Holiday" by Pompadour, who's incredible sound really helped inspire my new-found obsession with unison boy-girl vocals. (Fuck harmony!) That obsession also has a lot to do with my love for the song "Connie Francis" by The Centimeters, who are not a Charlottesville band, or even a band at all anymore, but are still worth checking out.

But really all the songs on Pompadour's myspace are great. There's a nice mix of live and studio stuff.

Sam