Vinyl heads, comic book collectors, movie and music aficionados and gamers alike will not want to miss Dimple Records’ giant swap meet at their Arden location (2433 Arden Way) this Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Get your grubby little paws on tons of records, movies, comics, video games, CD’s and DVD’s, collectibles and all sorts of other cool memorabilia. Browse other people’s stuff or set up your own table. For more information and details call (916) 925-2600, stop in and ask a clerk or email recordswap@dimple.com. Get your swap on!
Ground Zero Clothing and Boardshop has a couple events coming up worth noting for all you board sport junkies out there. On Friday, Oct. 14, they’ll host a snowboard movie premiere at Ace of Spades (1417 R Street), where you can peep the new flick from Finger on Da Trigger and Marc Frank Montoya Productions, Familia 2, the trailer for which has some of the heaviest street riding I’ve ever seen. Also screening will be Shoot the Moon from Videograss. Riders from the films will be in attendance for meet and greets and signings, and there will be thousands of dollars’ worth of free swag given out to the crowd, not to mention a free lift ticket to Sierra-at-Tahoe with paid admission, which is only $14 in advance (at all Ground Zero locations) or $16 the day of or at the door. Tickets are also available through Aceofspadessac.com. Doors open at 6 p.m., show starts at 7 p.m., all ages are welcome and there are three bars within the venue for the 21-and-over crowd. Then just two days later on Sunday, Oct. 16, Ground Zero will present their 14th annual Fallout Fest skateboard contest in the streets of downtown Davis. The Ground Zero-provided street course, which will be set up on 3rd Street between F and G streets (near their shop), will be the setting for this epic competition. There are two divisions (under 16 and 16-and-over), each with two categories (beginner and intermediate). Only 15 skaters per category, so if you’re thinking about entering, do so fast. The event is free to watch and there will be free gear given out to the crowd, so head on out to Davis from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and watch some local rippers compete for gear and a $900 cash purse! For more information about the contest or to learn how to enter, visit Groundzeroboardshop.net or call their Davis location at (530) 753-7775.
Grady Avenell Returns for first new Will Haven album in years
A calming flow of synthesizer builds gradually, luring in all curious listeners. And for the moment, everything’s serene–but secretly there are other intentions. The role of the antagonist for this song’s tale has become apparent and all are vulnerable; no one is safe. Unexpectedly, the once soothing hum is quickly ambushed by the constant, albeit macabre, pulse of keys chiming steadily like an old grandfather clock at a slightly higher pitch. The sound instantly signals the mood has now changed and there’s no turning back. Melodic guitar suddenly strolls by, equally not to be trusted as the composition is then met by shrieks grave enough to raise the hairs on one’s arms and neck. The screams forever burn images of neck veins into your psyche, and then the music fades. For now, you’ve survived this six-minute dark opus written by one of Sacramento’s most respected longtime metal veterans, Will Haven.
What should have been the perfect theme song to Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street had it been written 20 years ago, the track (“Lost” off of Will Haven’s newest full-length album, Voir Dire, translated as “Speak the truth”) is only a snippet of what’s to come from this band in the future. With original vocalist Grady Avenell back at the mic, the addition of keyboard and synthesizer courtesy of Adrien Contreras and a new bass player who happens to be the percussionist for a little band called Slipknot, Will Haven is back on the scene and in full force.
“This record is the starting point to what we can do,” explained Jeff Irwin, guitarist and founding member of Will Haven, at their practice space off of Marconi Avenue. “To me, this album is definitely deeper. When I listen to our old records, I see the skeleton of what we’re becoming. We’re getting older and we’re taking our time now. Before, we put out a record just because we knew we were going to go on tour, but now, recording days have slowed down, we don’t play as many shows and that energy is put into the music and we feel we have a deeper passion for it.”
According to Irwin, throughout what most might see as a four-year stint of silence since the band’s release of new material, the guys of Will Haven have never stopped playing music completely. Whether they were playing in alternate side project bands to fill their musical voids, or deciding to come together to play music in support of a close friend in a coma, Irwin credits the return of original vocalist Grady Avenell for ultimately fueling Will Haven’s passion to once again begin writing and rekindling the family vibe the band was built on.
“We played some of the Chi benefits and I just got the itch to do it again,” Avenell said of the shows developed to support Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, currently in a minimally conscious state after a 2008 car accident. “We talked about it and went forward from there. I’m excited. It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve put an album out and here we have an album coming out. I’m just looking forward to playing some shows and having a good time.”
Formed in ‘95 right after high school, Will Haven have since paved a hard road releasing countless albums and EPs, touring the world with the likes of Deftones, Earth Crisis and Slipknot, where they would find a new member to welcome into their family unit of pure metal: Chris Fehn, percussionist for Slipknot turned bassist for Will Haven.
“He’s been in the band since this record. We toured with Slipknot in 2000 and we just became good friends with him and we’ve been close ever since,” explained Irwin. “He’s really passionate about music, he’s not in it for anything else and that’s hard to find nowadays. With him, he’s like, ‘I don’t give a fuck who you guys are. I love the music. I love you guys. I just want to play.’ And that’s exactly what we want, someone who has passion, loves the band and is here for the right reasons.”
However, touring with world renowned bands such as Slipknot or Deftones kept the band grounded. And instead of rolling up to venues with tour buses and crews of roadies, Will Haven took the more punk rock approach, pulling up in an old van with one goal in mind–to share their music with a crowd of thousands.
“When we did tours like that, I think that made the band what it is. We’d go on tours with Deftones or Slipknot and there’d be thousands of people there, but for us, it would be almost like a punk rock show because they’re in buses and have crews, and we pull up in this crappy, little van and our goal is to try and kill everybody. We aren’t there to sell tickets. We’re there to show people that this opening band just kicked your ass even more than the headliner did. I think that’s what drove us and what kept us grounded; we’ve put in our work,” Irwin said.
With the band’s average age being in the mid-30s, Will Haven recall the days when self-promotion was solely up to the musicians. A time prior to social networks like MySpace or Facebook, where one didn’t just Google a band and decide whether or not they’re worthy, but actually visit a music store, purchase an album and research them at their own discretion. A time when tacking flyers to poles and actually speaking to people in person was prevalent–which later turned into inviting fans personally out to shows. Those days, go figure, are now gone. To the members of Will Haven, this has become a lost art form and they blame the ever-evolving monster that is social networking.
“Before, it was all about the music,” says Irwin. “We started before Myspace, and we’re kind of new to the whole Internet thing, but when we started, you made a demo tape and gave it to a record label and see what happens from there. At our age right now we’ve seen the decline of the ‘rockstar days.’ The labels and getting signed for a crap load of money doesn’t happen anymore. In the late ‘90s it just seemed like that took a shit. It’s a whole different world. So, we got to see the height of [the music industry] and we saw the crash of it, too.”
With more than 10 years of music behind them and an unwritten future ahead, the guys of Will Haven have become a well-respected entity within Sacramento’s tight-knit music scene. Whenever their name is mentioned, conversations of praise and an air of respect are present. Irwin said the band’s local popularity stems from the guys choosing to be true to themselves and to their music, but other local musicians say Will Haven have earned respect because they’ve always kept it real.
“These guys have been grinding it out since ’95, always doing their own thing,” explained Jesse Mitchell of Red Tape/Kill the Precedent and longtime friend of Will Haven. “Since the beginning, they have been following their own path, but still staying true and recognizing Sacto as being home base. We as fellow Sacto musicians respect what they have achieved, not just locally, but worldwide. They have always been good friends with my bands and are cute as buttons to boot. Will Haven will be sonically slapping your face for years to come.”
Will Haven’s Voir Dire will be released Oct. 11 on Bieler Bros. Records.
Capital Stage starts its 2011—2012 season in a larger space
A theater company six years in the making will start this year’s play season on Oct. 7 at a new location–the Old Armoury on J Street in the heart of Midtown.
Capital Stage, which for the last six years has been tucked away inside the Delta King in Old Sacramento, has been relocated to a space that not only provides the theater company more space but also allows it to establish its identity.
“Even though we had been working [on the Delta King] for years and winning awards for our work, the bulk of the community still had no idea who we were,” said the company’s founding director Stephanie Gularte. “Now we’ve got this amazing storefront presence.”
This year’s season will start on Oct. 7, 2011 with the comedy Superior Donuts, the story of an owner of a poorly kept donut shop in uptown Chicago whose work ethic is challenged by the spunk of a new employee. It will feature a nine-person cast, which Gularte considers large for the company.
This is a busy time for Capital Stage, with the start of the season just around the corner. Nonetheless Submerge managed to finagle a chat with Gularte over the phone in the midst of her busy schedule.
The company has placed great emphasis on producing bold, innovative and intimate plays since its inception in 2005. In fact it’s engrained in their mission statement. They must be doing something right: last year the company received five stars for its entire season of plays from the Sacramento News and Review.
“We believe live theater is such a communal experience and opportunity for our audience and artists to have an experience together that is really kind of elevating, that goes beyond just entertainment,” Gularte said. “We like to explore strong ideas and try and create an experience for the audience that is memorable and provocative.”
This experience is partially created by providing the audience an opportunity for introspection as members of society, in a sense holding up an invisible mirror to reveal human reality.
“We have so many opportunities to be alone and be behind our computers at a safe distance,” she said, “But live theater particularly gives us the opportunity to do work that is thought-provoking and challenging, [and] provides an opportunity for a more visceral and community experience around that introspection.”
The desire to provide this unique experience is what brought Gularte and partners Jonathan Williams and Peter Mohrmann together to begin Capital Stage back in 2005.
Up to that point, although she was living in Sacramento working as an actress, Gularte found that the plays she found most provocative and interesting were those she was working on in the Bay Area.
Rather than relocating to the Bay Area, Gularte made it her mission to bring provocative theater to Sacramento. Thus, with the cooperation of likeminded individuals Williams and Mohrmann, Capital Stage was born.
This season’s string of plays should not disappoint. The plays are expected to be just as thought-provoking and introspective, Gularte said, if not more so.
They also all have a very American vibe, she said, and are what she considers to be American theater at its best. Several of which include the work of groundbreaking playwrights of the last couple of decades.
“This is an important time in our culture to see who we really are as a nation and where we come from and where we’re going,” she said.
After Superior Donuts, the season will continue with a diverse set of plays that include subject matter ranging from the Iraq War to a scientist’s wife in the 1800s.
With higher ceilings and a larger stage area, the new location is allowing the company to add more creativity to their sets and cast more actors. The seating capacity is also increased by 15 percent from the old location.
The hope is that with the new space, Capital Stage will also attract new audience members.
”We have a really smart, dynamic, passionate audience base and I just want more of those folks,” Gularte said. “I look for opportunities to surprise our audiences and take our subscribers in particular, who commit to the entire season with us, on a real journey.”
For those who are all too eager to see what the upcoming season brings, Capital Stage will be performing sneak previews of Superior Donuts as well as a new, one-woman show that the company will debut at Midtown Modern Arts Festival on Oct. 15. And for those needing an excuse to celebrate, the company will hold its opening gala on Oct. 21.
Capital Stage’s Superior Donuts will be in previews from Oct. 7—14 , 2011 and officially open Saturday, Oct. 15 with a run that will last through Nov. 13. More information and tickets can be found at Capstage.org. Don’t forget to catch Capital Stage members in action at Midtown Modern Arts Festival on Oct. 15. Event is free, starts at 12 p.m. and is taking place on 20th Street in between J and K streets.
Ever wonder what it would feel like to stand on stage in a grand venue like the Community Center Theater, or to take a backstage tour of the lights, camera and action? On Sunday, Oct. 9, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., the doors of Community Center Theater will be wide open for the community to explore and familiarize themselves with Sacramento’s performing arts scene. Meet professional and community arts groups, see them perform, talk, learn, engage. After all, that’s the whole point of Artober.
-J. Carabba
A Lot Like Birds Readies The Release of Conversation Piece
It’s a quiet Tuesday night in Midtown and local progressive/post-hardcore band A Lot Like Birds has 80 or so fans packed into Luigi’s Fungarden as they tear through songs off their upcoming Doghouse Records full-length debut Conversation Piece, set for release on Oct. 11, 2011. Songs like “Think Dirty Out Loud” and “Sesame Street Is No Place for Me,” the album’s first two singles, have the crowd feverishly swaying back and forth to their spastic and energetic rhythms and riffs. Co-vocalists Cory Lockwood and Kurt Travis bounce around the small stage, shaking their long locks, taking turns singing and screaming, fully taking advantage of having co-vocalists (think call and response, harmonizing, layering, etc).
“I’m not the singer and he’s not the screamer,” Travis makes known as the two vocalists and I share a pitcher of Pabst Blue Ribbon at a local watering hole the Friday following the show. It quickly becomes apparent that this is an important point for them to get across. “We’re both vocalists,” he says. “I scream and I sing. And he screams and he sings. And we yell and we talk and we do spoken word. We do everything, we do all of it.”
Lockwood agrees and thinks of it like this, “I feel like a lot of times with dual vocalist bands that have a singer and a screamer, you’re diverging your fans and you’re going to have people that go, ‘Well I listen to the singing,’ and then you’ve got the guys who want tough music and they’re like, ‘Well I like the screaming.’ So if you bleed both of them, you’re forcing people to like it as a whole.”
Couple the outrageous and entertaining vocal work from Travis and Lockwood with the equally impressive instrumental work of the rest of the band, which consists of guitarists Michael Franzino and Ben Wiacek, bassist Michael Littlefield and drummer Joe Arrington, and you’ve got yourself one interesting record in Conversation Piece. One that crosses genres, tears down boundaries, leaves the listener wondering, “What’s next?” after each track comes to a dramatic close, and one that will most likely take a few listens to grow on you. They are aware of this.
“I know that music like this has to grow on people. People are really slow at picking stuff like this up,” says Travis.
“It’s almost easier for us to do weirder stuff,” Lockwood admits.
And weird it is, although we’re not talking about an un-listenable type of weird here; this isn’t just random noise after all. We’re talking about calculated time signature changes, non-traditional song structures, heavy-hitting breakdowns mixed with luscious reverb and delay-ridden clean parts, impressive and off-the-wall guitar riffs and interesting lyrical content to boot. Take the following lines from “Think Dirty Out Loud” for example, where Lockwood screams, “I spiked both our drinks with a gallon of ink / Now I’m writing a novel from your insides / We’re a spider with our limbs doing anything but walking / A conversation with our mouths doing anything but talking.” Or where Travis sings, “I eat emotional wrecks / And yours is the best.”
“I remember the instance in which we started writing the lyrics,” Travis says of the song. “I was totally enjoying myself, just laughing to myself, just thinking I’m the most clever fucking person ever.”
It is noteworthy to point out that in a number of ways, Conversation Piece is entirely different than A Lot Like Birds’ last offering, 2009’s Plan B. The latter was largely the work of guitarist and songwriting catalyst (as well as the band’s original vocalist) Michael Franzino, who invited a horde of local musicians to play everything from trumpet and trombone to cello and violin on the record. Plan B didn’t even feature a live drummer, as Franzino programmed the drums himself via computer. Conversation Piece is much more of a collaborative effort and consists of mostly the band’s core instruments (guitar, bass, drums, vocals), although it does contain some programmed stuff (“A Satire of a Satire of a Satire is Tiring”) and a little bit of horns (“Vanity’s Fair”) as to not depart completely from the band’s tendency to blend live instrumentation with orchestral and programmed elements. One of the most obvious differences between the two records is the solidified lineup, which includes the recent addition of Travis, who up until this summer had spent the last couple years co-fronting another Sacramento-based post-hardcore band, Dance Gavin Dance. “There’s four new members,” Lockwood says of the post-Plan B lineup. Travis interjects, “I’m not the new guy, you know what I mean? I’m the newest by all means. But Plan B was pretty much one or two guys, now this record is everybody giving their opinions and whatnot.”
For the recording of Conversation Piece, A Lot Like Birds turned to Portland, Ore.-based producer/engineer Kris Crummett, a familiar face to Travis, they have recorded two DGD albums together (2008’s self-titled record and 2009’s Happiness).
“As soon as I got kicked out of Dance Gavin Dance, Kris hit me up and was like, ‘Let me know what you’re doing, whatever you do, just let me know,’” Travis remembers. “It was kind of interesting because when I joined A Lot Like Birds, they were already talking about and thinking about going with Kris Crummett. I love that guy, we have a good history; we have a good thing going on.”
The band worked rigorously with Crummett for three weeks, focusing all of their creative energy on the record, which wasn’t even necessarily completely written yet, as Travis and Lockwood both had a fair share of lyrical work to do while in the studio.
“Everybody was hella trippin’, but that’s kind of how I like to work anyways,” Travis says of the high-pressure situation to complete basically half an album’s worth of lyrics on the fly. In the end, things worked out beautifully for the two vocalists, who found themselves locked in a room with Crummett for hours on end, pounding out vocal ideas together.
“I don’t think either of us had any idea how well we were going to work with each other,” Lockwood says of co-writing. “I’ve never worked with another vocalist before.” Travis pointed out that because the group was away from the everyday distractions that come with being home, they were able to channel everything they had into the record. “When you’re in your home town and you have all your stuff, you know, you have your job that you go to, you’ve got your girlfriend, you’ve got your parents and all this stuff. Sometimes it’s distracting,” Travis says. “I hella missed that when I was a full-time touring musician. You kind of just focus on music. So when I got to Portland, I was just kind of like, ‘Ah, I don’t have to think about anything other than just this record,’ and it got all of our attention.”
Even still, the band didn’t finish everything they needed to in their allotted time with Crummett, and they had to record one song in Sacramento with friend and sound engineer Chris Miller. Crummett was still producing even from hundreds of miles away, though, as the band Skyped him during the sessions with Miller.
“He was still there like being able to hear the takes,” Travis says with a chuckle at the thought of Crummett’s face on a computer screen in the room for hours on end.
“He was just like eating Chinese food and shit,” Lockwood says through a laugh while air shoveling a bite of imaginary food into his mouth.
After three weeks spent in Portland with Crummett and a couple more days’ worth of sessions with Miller in Sacramento, the record was finally done, or so Travis thought. “Knowing my luck, we do like two days with Chris and then we get everything done and we’re like, ‘Yes! Fuck yes, it’s done,’” Travis says. “And then I get a call from my guitar player and he’s like, ‘You’ve got to come back and do some more stuff,’ and I was just like, ‘Dude, when is this going to end? We’re not even in Portland anymore.’ But it was completely worth it and the song came out way better than I even thought it could.”
In between the Portland and Sacramento recording sessions, A Lot Like Birds even found time to embark on a week-and-a-half long West Coast tour. It proved a good opportunity to work out the brand new material in the live setting and to gauge people’s reactions to it as well. “It was really like a testing the waters sort of thing,” Travis says. “To see who gives a shit right from the get-go. It was a good response!”
Lockwood recalls one particular night in Anaheim when a girl came up to him at the merch table after the show and told him that she hadn’t heard music like theirs in years, since the early ‘00s. “That’s definitely when I started playing music, that’s when we both started getting really into it. So if anything, if we draw comparisons to stuff from back then, that’s all I’d love to hear.”
Unfortunately for A Lot Like Birds, references to the sounds of the early ‘00s aren’t the only comparisons they’re receiving, as a large number of people (mostly via the Internet) are saying they sound too much like Dance Gavin Dance. No doubt there will be comparisons: both bands are from Sacramento, both have two singers, both have ripping guitar players and rock-solid rhythm sections; heck, they even recorded with the same producer, so yeah, sonically speaking there are some similarities too. But what’s funniest to Travis and Lockwood about the whole situation is that these quick judgments are coming from the album’s two singles, because those are the only two songs off Conversation Piece that the general public has heard.
“People have been really quick to go, ‘Oh, this is what their whole album is going to sound like,’” Lockwood says.
“They don’t even know how versatile it is,” Travis contends. “You know how the Internet goes; people are very, very quick to judge. It’s funny, it’s almost tickling. They have no idea. It’s going to be cool, because they’ll realize it when it comes out.”
Travis also wanted to get off his chest how he feels for Lockwood, who seems to be receiving the brunt of the reviews. The problem? Apparently he screams too much like Jon Mess, DGD’s co-vocalist. “Dude, if you have ears, you would know that it’s completely different,” Travis demands. “Their screaming styles are completely different. It’s just kind of like Jon Mess is the only person they can reference. It’s so funny, like when people compare me to Jonny Craig [DGD’s original vocalist who replaced Travis when he re-joined the band this year], it’s like, ‘Are you fucking retarded? Do you actually have ears? Because I sound nothing like him.’ Not that I couldn’t sing Jonny’s stuff and not that Jonny couldn’t sing my stuff, it’s just, we don’t sound alike. It’s the same thing with Jon Mess and Cory, and I just feel for him.”
Travis has gotten his fair share of attention, too, ever since his departure with DGD. “It’s just something that you have to deal with,” Travis says of constantly being asked about his situation. “It’s like one of those things about your job that you hate but you have to do anyways. I kind of relate it to that, because no I’m not upset, no I’m not tired of it. It’s just one of those things that I know that I’m always going to have to address and that’s fine. If I didn’t have all of that then I wouldn’t have any of this amazing stuff that’s going on right now. So, I think of it that way. Not like, ‘Oh man, I don’t want to talk about the past.’ All of that shit needed to happen in order for this amazing stuff to happen. I look at it like that so I’m not upset when someone is like, ‘What was it like? You got kicked out! Blah blah.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I did, but things worked out.’” And if you’re wondering, everything is cool between all the members of DGD and A Lot Like Birds. So much so that the two bands will share the stage together on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 at Sacramento State’s University Union.
After weeks spent listening to an advanced copy of their new record, an hour spent over beers at a local pub and a killer live set witnessed, it’s apparent to Submerge that A Lot Like Birds are their own band with their own identity and their own sound. Conversation Piece is no doubt the record that will solidify that and as of right now, getting the album out and into the hands of people who care about it is the only thing on their minds. With a grin from ear to ear, Travis says, “I think things will pop off real fast once that happens.”
A Lot Like Birds’ Conversation Piece will be out on Oct. 11 via Doghouse Records. See them live at Sacramento State’s University Union Ballroom alongside Dance Gavin Dance on Oct. 13. Sacramento’s own Ten After Two will also perform. Tickets are available at the University Union Box Office.
Nightmare in the Twilight to celebrate their debut LP at Hella Metal Fest
One fateful day, Michael Alvarez went to McDonald’s and came home with more than a value meal. He ended up with a band.
“My friend was too lazy to get McDonald’s, so he sent me out to get McDonald’s,” Alvarez explains. “On my way there, I ran into an old friend from high school, and he wanted me to join a band with him, and that’s how I ended up meeting Shorty [Ruben Trejo].”
Trejo and Alvarez started jamming together around late 2008, by Alvarez’s account, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2009 that their current project, Nightmare in the Twilight, came to be.
“My guitarist at the time was a little more into partying and doing other shit, so it turned into me and Mike jamming out and working on some songs,” Trejo tells Submerge over the phone. “Playing whatever came to mind.”
Just two years later, the band, which features Alvarez on guitar, Trejo on drums, Zaryn Mankins on bass and Trejo’s little brother Santana Estrada on vocals, is ready to release their eponymous debut LP on Oct. 1, the same day they will take the stage as part of the Hella Metal Fest at the Crest Theatre. Though it hasn’t taken a long time for the Sacramento-based death metal band to get to this point, Nightmare in the Twilight’s road toward maturity certainly hasn’t been traveled without some growing pains along the way.
One such pitfall along the band’s path was finding a vocalist. Alvarez says that Nightmare in the Twilight’s original vocalist “wasn’t too into the band.”
“He’d wander off on his own,” Alvarez elaborates during our phone interview. “He’d have random guys hop up with him while he was performing, and they weren’t really any good at all. We realized we needed somebody serious.”
As it turns out, family ties would create the strong bond the band needed from its vocalist. Enter Estrada, who needed some convincing from his big brother before he decided to give it a go.
“He’d always been into vocals,” Trejo says. “It was the main thing he’d heard in metal, the first thing he’d notice in any band were the highs, lows and the mids. One day I heard him in his room practicing, and I was like, ‘He’s getting pretty good.’ We did a show without a vocalist and had a couple of guys come up and do vocals, which really didn’t turn out the way we thought it was going to. We had another show coming up, and we wanted to be more legit about it. I hit him [Estrada] up and said, ‘You’ve got to try it. You’ve got to come do these vocals.’”
With their frontman situation taken care of, the band didn’t waste much time getting into the studio. Nightmare in the Twilight released their first EP in August 2009, The Big Sexy EP, which was engineered by Martyrdom’s Phil Waters.
“He wasn’t the coolest guy, but he recorded us and did a decent job,” Alvarez says. While the situation may not have been ideal, both he and Trejo agree that it was a good learning experience for the band.
“We did learn about recording,” Alvarez says. “We started learning about how to fix our tone better, how to keep timing, what we should and shouldn’t do in the recording studio, not waste time. It was a good attempt at a demo for a band that started that year.”
“The main thing that it taught me to never try to do a split demo with a band that’s not really sure what they’re going to be doing,” Trejo adds. “We tried to do a split demo with one of our friend’s bands, and it just totally fell through, took too long in recording. So that definitely taught me to be well-rehearsed before you come into the studio, because time is money.”
Nightmare in the Twilight took this past experience into the studio this time around to create what is a more polished product. The band’s self-titled LP was recorded with Bob Swanson at Mayhemeness Recording Studios in Sacramento. Trejo says that focused preparation was a big part of their approach heading into the studio this time around.
“The main thing was we went in there well-rehearsed,” he explains. “We knew what we wanted and when we wanted it. Some songs had little changes, but it was never ‘how are we going to pull this off?’
“Last time in the studio was more jamming, and this time, we found an exact tempo of what we were going by,” Trejo, who was really looking to push the tempo of each song on the LP, continues. “We were very well structured about how fast we were going to be and where everything was going to be placed.”
Alvarez believes that the more structured approach also arose from multi-tracking the guitars this time around.
“Our demo was just two guitars, and it didn’t sound that great in certain parts when one guitar would cut out and wait for the other one to do the riff,” he says. “We did more layering of the guitar work so it sounds more full. It’s entirely together instead of parts coming off and on.”
The album contains songs that also appear on The Big Sexy EP, but have undergone major overhauls. For example, “The Young and the Restless” (which is a tad sluggish on the EP with an ill-fated jazzy breakdown toward the end of the track) explodes on Nightmare in the Twilight; even the jazzy bit pops with the crisp snap of Trejo’s drums behind palpitating guitars before erupting into the death metal fury that is the band’s signature.
“Our old EP was pretty decent, but we were still new at the time,” Alvarez says. “A lot of off-timing on the guitars, a lot of errors. We’ve changed up so much since we recorded those back in 2009. When we came into the studio this year, it was more like, let’s finalize these and make a perfect version.” Alvarez also adds that the songs on the LP that have been salvaged from the eight-track EP feature rewritten lyrics.
The band’s lyrics, though they may be difficult to discern to the casual listener, stem from a variety of places and are a true collaboration between the band members. Nightmares–hence the band’s name–play into many of the lyrics Alvarez wrote, along with those by the band’s old guitar player Joey Garnica. Alavarez says that he also examines death and dying in the words that he writes, as well as tackling existential questions like what comes after death. Songs such as these could probably be considered consistent with the band’s genre; however, then there are songs like “Chicken Sauce,” which tells the tale of a man who’s driven crazy after eating sauce from McDonald’s.
“We don’t try to come off as a comedy band, but we have a little comedic side to us,” Alvarez says. “We’re not like this uptight, big badass metal band or something like that. We like to show people that we’re not crazy.”
Nightmare in the Twilight is still in the dawn of its young career, and for the moment, though they take their music seriously, it would seem from our conversation that the band is first and foremost looking to have fun and make music they enjoy. And unlike the menu items available at the fast food chain that inadvertently sparked their formation, Nightmare in the Twilight is hoping to make music that isn’t so plastic in its sameness.
“There are a lot of bands in the Sacramento area, I’m not naming names, but they don’t try to write music for themselves,” Alvarez says. “They try to write music for a crowd, and usually the songs sound the same every time. We usually try to write music we really enjoy. I believe all of us are influenced by a lot of different styles, so the way it comes out not every song is the same.”
Hella Metal Fest will hit the Crest Theatre, 12 bands strong, on Oct. 1. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door, and can be purchased through Tickets.com. Go to Hellametalfest.com for full lineup information and to find links to buy tickets. Nightmare in the Twilight’s self-titled full-length debut will be available starting Oct. 1. The band’s The Big Sexy EP is available for free download at Nightmareinthetwilight.bandcamp.com.
Sacramento comedian Keith Lowell Jensen Releases New CD/DVD and Preps His First Solo Tour
A drawing of four naked human female torsos with rabbit heads is not the definition of marketing genius, but it could be. At the bottom of the DVD box it reads, “How great is this DVD? You haven’t even opened the box and you’ve seen a bunny rabbit with boobs.”
Keith Lowell Jensen’s comedy CD/DVD Cats Made of Rabbits was recorded at the Sacramento Comedy Spot two years ago, but its content remains timeless, save for a Jonas Brothers reference. I want to tell you the juvenile humor ends on the box and that Jensen is a thoughtful comedian, pushing the envelope of correctness (which he does) and subversively challenging our values with humor, but then I think about his duck vagina bit and think better of such grandiose statements.
He’s an atheist (and has a wife and child–guffaw), so he is often referred to as the Atheist Comedian, mostly on the Coexist? Comedy Tour, but Jensen’s compulsive interest in all things worthy of critique keeps the nasty “pigeonhole” effect off his back. In discussing his next album, Jensen said he had 45 minutes of material on things he’s been arrested for and jobs he’s been fired from, as well as over an hour of observational comedy. Once in San Francisco he threatened to do an entire set of racist jokes strictly based upon the characters in Lord of the Rings, which is possibly the finest testament to his multi-dimensional talent. “I didn’t intend to be the Atheist Comedian, but that’s what I am on the tour,” he said. “It just sort of happened. It feels very true and feels like I’m talking about very important shit, so that’s cool.”
Jensen knows there are gigs he won’t book due to his atheism, but he casually sidesteps the haters with a “fuck that bigot” attitude. “The gay comics or a black comic, they don’t have the choice of not being that,” he said. “It’s who they are. This is who I am. Even if I wasn’t doing my atheist material, those same people wouldn’t appreciate what a liberal I am or what a geek I am. Those things all kind of go together.”
Did having a daughter shake up your atheism at all?
Not even a little bit. In fact, having a daughter has not impacted my life as much as it has impacted every other parent I’ve ever known. I suspect that part of that is because I’m in my late 30s. My wife and I have been together for 14 years. We’ve settled into our lives a little more than most people who are having babies.
Some comedians have said that happiness is the worst thing that can happen to your career.
I think that’s bullshit. You know, when me and my wife met, my romantic first words to her were, “How can you say something so fucking stupid?” I still remember the debate we had. We argued for two hours straight and were best friends by the time we were done.
Any artist that can express their poverty and sorrow well can express their joy. [Yamantaka] Eye of the Boredoms talked about audiences being disappointed when they come to see him because he’s happy now and they want his old stuff when he was miserable. But he said that stuff was successful and that gave me this family. It gave me the Boredoms and I’m happy.
Political humor can be alienating and risky. Outside of comedy you’re a very opinionated person, particularly in your blog and Facebook posts. Have you come to any conclusions on whether it has a place in your material?
On Cats Made of Rabbits there is politics in there, but it’s hidden. On the actual joke “Cats Made of Rabbits” I tie “shock and awe” and the Trail of Tears to the Holocaust, and people who would be offended by it don’t even catch it, it’s said so matter of fact. I just give a list and those three are on it. It’s not making a big production out of the political statement that’s within that joke. And of course there’s a vegan joke within it, regarding how we base which animals are OK to kill based on cuteness.
Is your writing process thought out, in that you intentionally weave that many political statements into one bit?
It happens subconsciously out of me being insecure. A lot of writing happens on stage where I am surprised something came out of my mouth.
You strike me as an obsessive consumer whether it comes to comedy or music, but that collector side of your personality does not translate to the stage. Have you ever considered letting the nerd flag fly more in your material?
I have a lot of material about Lord of the Rings right now. I don’t know why now. I think maybe excitement about The Hobbit. I just re-read the books. I’m also telling my daughter the Lord of the Rings story, only in our version the Orc “scratched” instead of “stabbed”–she’s 2.
I geeked out on Elf Quest recently, and I’ve been geeking out on porn lately. The creators of Elf Quest contacted me recently and two progressive porn actresses have contacted me wanting to blog about my material, so maybe I should do more pop culture stuff.
Then again, I was talking to the audience about [Doug E. Fresh] at the Comedy Spot a few weeks ago and nobody knew what I was talking about. I said you have to be kidding me. That’s ridiculous you guys don’t know Doug E. Fresh.
It would seem that Sacramento’s comedy scene is stirring with talent right now; much like our music scene has had little pockets of glory. Given that Mike E. Winfield will be on the next season of The Office, does it feel like an opportune time to be a comedian in Sacramento?
Yeah. It could be. There were periods with music when the Deftones and Cake and Papa Roach and all these bands in a short span of time all took off out of Sacramento. It sort of put Sacramento on the map. I feel like that could be happening with comedy mostly from the perspective of, boy, we have an awful lot of really good comics here. We just have a phenomenal bank of talent in this little town.
It’s interesting that Mike E. is staying. He’s on The Office! I was thinking well, there he goes. Bye Mike. But, nope, he’s keeping his place in Sac. He’s in Los Angeles a lot, but he’s keeping his place here. I like that a lot. Ian MacKaye from Minor Threat is one of my heroes, and I like that sense of your own community, and you don’t have to betray it to be famous.
Will the next string of dates in the fall be your first time out on tour alone?
This is the first time I’ve gone out and every day it’s just me and I’m the headliner.
How are you internalizing that?
I have shingles. You don’t normally get that as young as me.
Yeah, my grandma has shingles.
I wonder if I’m more nervous than I realize. I feel all right, but then again I did get shingles.
Have you found the humor in that yet?
Just now [laughs]. I’ve broken my collarbone before and so I know it’s going to stop hurting eventually. It’s not like the first heartbreak you get when you’re a kid, and you don’t know if it’s ever going to end. Now it’s like, “Ah, I’ve got to wait this out. Didn’t want to do this right now, but…”
I don’t get nerves that bad anymore. I got stage fright for the first eight years and didn’t think it would ever go away. If there’s anything I think you should say to comedians before they go on stage that might help it’s, “You know there’s not really that much at risk.” You’re going to get up and do what you’re going to do and then later you’ll get up again.
Keith Lowell Jensen’s Cats Made of Rabbits CD is out now and available to own on Amazon.com. It can also be purchased digitally on iTunes. His DVD of the same name will be available Sept. 27. Jensen will perform a CD/DVD release show at the Sac Comedy Spot on Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. (tickets are $18). You can also catch Jensen do his thing the following Thursday, Sept. 29, as part of the Sacramento Comedy Festival, once again at the Sac Comedy Spot. More info and tickets for both these performances can be found at Saccomedyspot.com.
Brooke White and Jack Matranga Write Free as Jack and White
On paper, it would seem that indie rocker Jack Matranga and American Idol alum Brooke White have very little in common musically. But good music isn’t made on paper. It’s made by people who share an undeniable connection. Though the two songwriters may have had different paths that brought them to this point, it’s apparent from listening to their debut EP as Jack and White, Gemini, that the duo may very well be meant to be.
While both describe their partnership as remarkably easy, getting together was a bit difficult. Matranga, a Sacramento native, was guitarist for Self Against City, which released Telling Secrets to Strangers in 2007 on the Rushmore imprint of Drive-Thru Records. Since then, he has worked as frontman for Tin Can Notes. White released an album in 2005 with co-writer/producer Tim Simms titled Songs from the Attic, but it wasn’t until she became a finalist on the seventh season of American Idol that she received national attention. While she didn’t win the competition (though showed well by landing in the top 5), her time on the program was spent wisely. She ended up starting a record label with Randy Jackson (June Baby) and released a second solo album in 2009, the aptly titled High Hopes and Heartbreak. She was set to work on a third solo album when she met Matranga and both their courses were altered.
Perhaps getting stood up for a Beatle is understandable. A year later, in February of this year, the two got together to write for White’s third solo album. However, by April, they’d decided to start writing as a band instead; thus Jack and White was born.
“We would set up these writing sessions, and I was writing to exhaust,” White explains. “I just was not in the mood to do any more co-writes. I was like, ‘I just can’t write any more today.’ I would call Brad and be like, ‘Can we reschedule with Jack? I’m really sorry.’ When we finally wrote, it was like, just… There you go. Here we are.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t so bad,” Matranga adds, laughing.
Though the two were set up on a sort of musical blind date, the sparks starting flying almost immediately. It took both of them by surprise.
“It’s not forced at all, and it’s kind of weird… I’ve never written with anyone before like that, like a writing session style, where you’re writing for someone else’s record,” says Matranga, who was comfortable working in the band dynamic prior to Jack and White. “This was a lot more focused, and I guess a lot more free-flowing, because we just naturally let lyrics, melodies and chord progressions come out. It was all a jumble of natural expression.”
“Free” and “natural” are words that could be used to describe Gemini, a six-song EP that was released on June Baby Aug. 23, 2011 and produced with indie film composer Danny Cocke. Each track has a smooth-as-silk, instantly hook-y sound. It’s not music you have to think about, just pop on and enjoy. In the following interview, White and Matranga talk about what it’s like finding musical serendipity and why they’ve decided not to overthink anything in regards to Jack and White. We spoke to the duo over the phone from Los Angeles on the day of Gemini’s release.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever spoke with a band on the day of their record release. How has your day been? Brooke White: We’re writing a new song. Jack Matranga: Yeah, we’re writing a new song right now. BW: We don’t quit, James, we just keep rolling here. No rest for the weary.
Can you talk about what you’re working on right now? JM: Yeah, it’s a new thing that we wrote while we were recording a little acoustic session. We just started working on it out of nowhere and got a few bars of it and decided that we needed to write it in the next couple of weeks. It just turned out that we were getting together today. Got together last week to work on it a little bit and decided to finish it up today, which is kind of random. We didn’t really plan on finishing it up the day we released the EP.
It seems like that’s how a lot of the band has come together. You didn’t really plan on it, but it ended up working out. BW: No plan is the perfect plan.
Have you since gone back and listened to it at all? JM: We’ve listened to so much of each other’s music that we’ve done in the past now after knowing each other, more than we ever would have had we never had met. BW: I don’t think Jack would have ever naturally listened to my music, and I don’t think I would have ever found out about his music. It’s so funny, because I think that was one of the things for me when I was thinking about us writing, part of me in the back of my mind was thinking, “Really? Are we really going to be good to write together?” He’s this indie, pop rock kind of guy. I thought he was that hip, rock…not that I don’t think he’s like that anymore! I don’t know if I thought we were going to be a great musical match. Whatever it is that we are together, works very nicely. I was saying to Jack that a lot of my previous writing sessions, I write with songwriters–quote, unquote–people who are doing this every day for a living. JM: Clock in, clock out kind of guys. BW: Not that I’m saying Jack doesn’t do the same thing, but older, established writers. I hadn’t written with someone so close to my age with such a youthful, fresh energy… Now that makes some of my other writers sound like…I’m not trying to hack on anyone! I just think we’re on the same wavelength of energy.
I would imagine, and correct me if I’m wrong, a lot of the people you’re used to working with don’t just work with you, but they also work with… BW: Yeah, a lot of writers. It was just completely different, and maybe because Jack hadn’t worked in this kind of environment is what made it so fresh.
Did that take a bit of adapting on both of your parts? Since Jack was used to working in the band dynamic, and Brooke was used to working with more established songwriters? JM: It was very easy. BW: No adapting. If anything, it was adapting to something that was easier than anything I’d ever done before. JM: It was just not overthinking and allowing it to be such.
Listening to the EP, it sounds like you’ve been working together for a long time, but you really haven’t. JM: That is one of the most magical parts of the entire thing. BW: That’s something you can’t make happen. You can’t force it. It’s just lucky. You luck out when you find something. That being said, it’s not like Jack and I just started this. On our own, we’ve been developing, growing, trying, beating our heads up against the wall in a variety of ways to finally get to a place where it’s like, “Woah, there you go.” JM: This is how it’s supposed to be…
Brooke, you were supposed to be working on a third solo album. Are you still working on that solo album? BW: No. Not right now. I’m not saying that I won’t in the future, but my whole focus has shifted because, like I said, I’m taking it as it comes. This is a gift to me. It’s a gift, it’s rare, and I want to continue with the thing that feels the most natural and has the most inspiration and energy around it. That’s when I feel you really create art. There’s the craft part of it, the work part that we all have to do, and I definitely do that. I’ve worked at it. But when you hit inspiration, it’s definitely better than something that you could have worked a million hours on. Just because you’ve worked super hard on it, doesn’t make it the best. I think the inspired stuff, at the end of the day, usually takes the cake. I’m not saying that I’m not going to do that [a new solo album], but I’m just so intrigued by [Jack and White], I’m very fulfilled by it, so that’s where I’m going with it.
I saw the acoustic video for “Telephone Games.” I think Brooke says right before you start playing, “I’m thinking about it too much,” and then you recount and start all over. Has that become a mantra for you guys, or is there a certain head space you have to get into where you just kind of clear your mind? BW: It’s weird. You have to get there without trying to get there. JM: The performing of it is a completely different ball game than getting in the mindset of writing. Everyone has their own thing for getting in the mindset to perform, and I think that’s what was being referred to in that video. Mostly with the project and the writing, we’ve fully embraced the freeform spirit, don’t worry too hard, don’t over think. That has probably been said at every one of our writing sessions. BW: And not just in the writing. We didn’t have an A&R guy standing over our shoulders… We had a plan. It’s amazing we’ve been able to come out of this in a timely manner with a such a great finished product and also enjoyed it and went at a pace where it wasn’t stressful. We pulled a few late-nighters, but the whole thing never felt pressured. There was no pressure. It was just an experiment that worked out really well.
You didn’t go into this with any expectations, but now that the EP is released, do you have any expectations for the project? JM: I have one. It includes playing the music live in front of people. As a fan of music, when one of my favorite artists puts out a record, I expect to see them live playing those songs somewhere near me. For all the people who have now heard the record, I’d imagine that if they enjoyed it, they’d want the same thing, and we should deliver. As far as anything beyond that, I don’t think it’s good to have expectations. BW: I have a hope that we get to make more music. I want us to make a record. That’s the only other thing that I can see that happening.
Do you see anything standing in the way of that? JM: You can’t tell what can come up. You can’t tell the future… We’ll definitely not put anything in the way of that happening if that’s the question. BW: The strategy of taking it as it comes is working so well right now, we really don’t want to mess with that.
See Jack and White live at Luigi’s Fungarden on Sept. 17. The show starts at 8 p.m. and has a $7 cover. Also performing will be Shannon Curtis and Sherman Baker. The Gemini EP is now available through iTunes, and the band was even featured as the online music retailer’s Single of the Week.
Task1ne, State Worker by Day, Rapper by Night, Unites Sacramento Hip-Hop Scene with His New Album
Superheroes assume secret identities that symbolize the life of the common man to protect themselves and the lives of those around them. The secret identity keeps the gifted rooted in reality. Following superhero archetypes, Task1ne is a rapper who protects his passion for music by doing accounting work for the state under the name Corey Lake Pruitt.
Pruitt takes the light rail to work and sits in the back. At the state office, he processes documents while quietly rapping to himself, which draws ire from his hard-nosed boss. He’s well known at the comic stores and strictly wears comic book T-shirts. At home, he has two cats that are disinterested in him unless it’s feeding time. He enjoys comics (a lot) and reviewing films. “I’ve seen Captain America 12 times,” he said. “It’s as good as a Captain America movie could have been. Is it the best comic book movie? Hell no. But, they captured Captain America, unlike Green Lantern, which was the worst piece of shit I’ve ever seen in my life.”
But, when the clubs open and the mics are plugged in, he transforms into Task1ne, a loud-mouthed, nerdcore rapper that speaks street Wookie and reps a crew called Skynet. He’s also poised to join the elite local ranks. “I’m extremely slept on,” he said. “I feel like I’m the underdog of Sacramento because I started out when everyone was already established.”
Like most superheroes, he had to polish his special powers in order to shed his colt legs. Remember Spider-Man’s first attempts with his webbing? Bad things happen to heroes not quite accustomed to their powers. Bad things like getting humiliated in a rap battle against Mahtie Bush. “I completely lost my lyrics,” Task1ne said. “It was three years ago, but to this day people call me ‘the guy that lost to Mahtie.’ It’s like what do I have to do to get people off of that?”
Determined to never lose a rhyme again, Task1ne took to mastering the art of freestyling. He freestyled at work. He kept instrumental CDs in his car to rhyme over. If a mic was offered at an onstage cipher, he seized it, until his skills off-the-dome became notorious.
“I stepped my freestyle game up,” he said. “I’m a geek, so my brain is going different places. I try to rhyme crazy things, like one time I rhymed about Pirates of Dark Water, the old cartoon. Or I said, ‘I swing from tree tops like I’m an Ewok.’ It’s in my brain. That’s what I do.”
But freestyles and a mixtape compiling a year’s worth of guest verses titled Task1ne Verses the World were not enough to earn him the Sammie nomination he sought, or a shot at a Submerge cover for that matter. Task1ne had to prove he could join the ranks of Random Abiladeze, C-Plus and Lostribe by dropping an album in 2011. “I did a lot of work last year,” he said. “I went from being in a group to being solo. I changed my style up a little bit and people started really liking it. So I started getting thrown on other people’s songs [including DLRN’s “Trill Cosby” with C-Plus]. Didn’t get nominated. That kind of hit me.”
Task1ne began working on District 916 a year and a half ago at Sound Cap Audio. He took a neutral stance for his solo record in order to work with whoever would send a beat his way. The only criteria was the producers had to be from Sacramento, which earned Task1ne beats from Lee Bannon, Adam Bomb, Nicatyne, Rufio and Jon Reyes, among others. “The whole album I wanted it to represent Sacramento,” he said. “One of my favorite movies is District 9. I feel like we as hip-hop here in Sac are kind of like that. In the movie the aliens are trapped there, and they feel like they have no way out. I kind of feel that way. But at the end one of them finally escapes out. I’m trying to be the one that escapes out.”
Task1ne has unbridled pride for the local scene, which filters into his philosophy on collaboration. He’s dieting, but his natural presence offers a well-sized frame to put the city on his shoulders. District 916 is a melting pot of crews that included working with Nicatyne and Yae of Fly High in Natomas. “Nobody really messes with them,” he said. “They do their own thing. There are a couple of groups they work with, but for the most part no one really does stuff with them. I wanted to. Got a beat from Nicatyne, which became the track ‘Villian’ featuring Yae–another Fly High member. Yae hit me up about doing a song about us being super villains. I said, ‘Here’s the beat. Start!’ That’s probably my favorite song on the album.”
The album is a balance of nerdcore references prepped for the battle circuit and everyman storytelling. The track “Bounce” breaks down the true story of Task1ne’s first groupie experience, in which he reacts like any normal dude with a state job and raps on the side might–mistake fleeting groupie love for the real thing. “I jumped to all these conclusions, thinking about a relationship, but she’s trying to leave. And I was just left like ‘Where are you going?’ So I tell my boys about it and they were like yeah, those are groupies.”
His daily routine of riding light rail inspired him to write “Back of the Bus,” a song pondering why young black men still sit in the back of the bus despite the privileges Rosa Parks made possible. “We’re a new generation. We can’t really relate to that. There’s no real answer to why I sit in the back. It’s just an automatic thing that I do.”
On “Introducing the Greatest,” Task1ne ponders what it takes to get a Sammie. And while the answer is power-bombing social networks with self-promotion, he needn’t wonder any longer–his name was included in the Best Emcee list of 2011. “I got it this year, thank God,” he said.
Implementing a no-days-off policy, he is planning his next project to be a free EP produced entirely by Adam Bomb, who produced three tracks on District 916. Task1ne maintains his secret identity beyond the common traits of superheroes. He holds his state job as a reminder to not give up his quest to be one of Sacramento’s greatest rappers. “I’m glad I work there because I see what I don’t want.”
In District 9 the alien that escapes takes the spaceship with the intentions of returning to those left behind and bettering their situation. Task1ne intends to do the same with a fall tour along the West Coast. In October he’ll play shows in Portland, Seattle, San Diego and Los Angeles. “I’m actually scared; I’m not going to lie,” he said. “Most rappers act cool about it, but naw, I’ve never done this before. I’ve never been to Seattle or Portland. A lot of people feel like it’s hard to find a way out, even though there are ways out. A lot of people feel trapped here and can’t branch out.
“I want to go up there and establish the Sacramento name, so the next time I come I can bring people with me. Like in the movie, the guy left and he’s going to come back to get his people.”
The District 916 CD release party will take place at The Blue Lamp in Sacramento on Sept. 15. Performing will be Digital Martyrs, JRas of SouLifted, Dregs1, Sleeprockers and of course Task1ne. For up to the minute info, follow Task1ne on Twitter @TASK1ne.
