sneeze

tomorrow we head out again for a short jaunt. this will mark our maiden voyage in our new van. we will be playing a few shows with Canada, then Bear Colony, and then our twinkies in Elsinore. we have a Daytrotter session sprinkled in there somewhere as well. stay tuned.

who else here hates allergy season?

Who Wore It Best?

For those of you unfamiliar with all things red carpet, there is the common phenomenon of two (or more) celebs wearing the same designer clothing to the same (or different, but chronologically close) event, which usually results in a side-by-side photo in publications such as US Weekly called "Who Wore It Best?". It's exactly what one would expect: You, the reader, are left to decide which celeb looks better in the identical outfit. Here's an example...


Having never arrived on the red carpet to any sort of Hollywood awards show, I've never had the emotional backhand (I'm assuming, here) of realizing that I'm wearing the same dress as some other diva. Maybe some of you girls had the unfortunate high school experience of showing up to a dance with the same dress as some other skank (because if they have the same dress as you, they're a skank, right?). BUT, I think I get it, now. Due to recent circumstances, I think I know how it feels.

Allow me to rewind, and retrace some steps...

Last weekend we shot our music video (for "The Book of Matches"). I spent the few weeks prior organizing everything to make sure all elements were in place for this project. I arranged for the equipment, the location, the actors, the costumes, the props, etc., and footed (almost) the entire bill for the whole production, since I'll be using it to (finally) get my film production degree. It was a long and arduous process getting all of the elements in place, but with some help in key positions, it all fell into place and the shoot ended up going smoothly and without any serious complications.

The general idea was this: Three different projector "screens" would paint the "backgrounds" of a few different scenes within the lyrical storyline. The band plays in front of the middle screen, and Eric narrates (sort of, by singing) the story that takes place around him, featuring a main character (played by Mr. Billy Schuh of Foundry Field Recordings), his children (played by Cat and Chris McMillan), and the town he lives in, that is accusing him of the murder of a handful of local teens. The action slides from screen to screen as the band plays and Eric moves into the foreground of each scene. The entire video was one long steadicam shot, filmed on Super 16mm film.

The "townspeople" are portrayed as an angry mob, donning all-black attire with white masks, and as the end of the song draws near, the town "burns" in the projection images, as two fireman (also masked) enter to try to extinguish the fire with confetti cannons filled with blue confetti - metaphorically mimicking fire hoses.

Here's some photos:







At this point you have every right to be asking "What the hell does this have to do with celebrity clothing?" Well, Eric sent me an email this morning which contained a YouTube URL and ended with "Holy crap", and there enlies your answer...


I give you the video for "Love Me Dead", a song by Ludo, another St. Louis band, who recently released their major-label debut You're Awful, I Love You (produced by Maroon 5 producer Matt Wallace) on Island Records:


I know. "Whoa", right? Oh, wait, you haven't seen our video yet, have you? Well, allow me to connect the dots:

1. All shot in one take
2. Lead singer "hosts" and "narrates" entire video
3. Background "players" in black wearing white masks
4. Character turning on/off a light
5. Fireman characters using blue confetti as water
6. Use of fast motion (theirs)/slow motion (ours)
7. Crazy ending where everyone falls down (oops, I gave it away!)

So this leaves me/us with a predicament: Their video is done and out and on YouTube and available, whereas ours is a couple weeks away from any kind of premiere... In the words of the infinitely wise David Byrne, "How do I work this?" This is already my attempt at a psuedo-public disclaimer whereupon I state "I, Steve Kozel, did not intentionally rip off any elements of the Ludo video, and if I was going to, I probably would have included a couple other cool things that they did."

How does this happen? It's soooooo bizarre. Can we chalk it up to regional influences? Does it sell better that way? Should I arrange a sit-down with Ludo where we figure out some kind of video double-bill with MTV? Can they sue me? Who wore it better, and at this point, does it even matter? If they're on Island, does that automatically mean they win, and all I get to show for this is a diploma? Does it matter that the diploma is the least important aspect of this entire project?

All questions aside, I hope to have a video to show you all in a couple weeks. Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Steve | GAH

damn you, dontrelle willis

hurry...someone's coming....

we have been back home for a couple weeks. this past tour was tons o' fun. met some new folks and got to play some shows with our friends. now we're gearing up for a short tour at the end of the month and an EP release. The Book of Matches will be in stores May 6. however, we will have some available at our shows before that.

the EP features two songs from the upcoming full-length, one b-side from those sessions, and two songs we knocked out ourselves at home. hope-y you like-y.

mmmm, baseball season.

apples and bonanza

aloha.
here we are, enjoying a break on this tour, recovering from SXSW madness. if i see one more pair of black skinny jeans, i swear...

we are in austin for one last night before heading on to houston to play the first of a couple shows with So Many Dynamos. our shows up to this point have been pretty great. we started the tour playing a few shows with our labelmates Bald Eagle and Witch's Hat. they bring it. it should be noted that they've also got some ringers on the basketball court. and i've got blisters. go figure.

bless our friends in stillwater, oklahoma. one of our favorite places to play.

this morning we said goodbye to Emergency Umbrella Records' jigga Billy Schuh, who is also the Optimus Prime of The Foundry Field Recordings. billy has been accompanying us for the last week+. he's unanimously our new favorite person, although for me it was a tough choice between him and Taylor Swift. seriously, the country version of that song (NOT the top 40 version) is kinda classic country and western. in a good way. but the pop version sucks with the different drumbeat, etc. everybody ruins everything.

in addition to the club shows, we played a house show in wichita that was fantastic due mostly to the kindness of the people putting it on. they housed all 3 EU bands and provided food and sodas for all. it was wonderful.

most of the trip so far has been spent battling sickness. i started it and the rest of the band followed suit. our first SXSW show came on the heels of our low point. the ol' throat wasn't feeling so hot at that point, but some Throat Coat and a little whiskey propelled me right along.

got to spend a lot of time with our dearests in Headlights. played some shows together and then got to watch them kill during some of their ELEVEN! SXSW shows. they have infinite amounts of fun playing. i could watch them always.

saw our friends T.J. and Nick from Aloha rock the Polyvinyl party. they both worked on our record and it was nice to see them again in a less crazed environment. that first song on the new Aloha EP is so effing good.

Colourmusic rips.

Nice to see Jon Hardy and the Public. love that record. and they always sound great.

Saw our friends in Two Cow Garage. can't wait to play with them again. lordy.

some other bands we were able to enjoy at SXSW:
Dizzee Rascal
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Tilly & the Wall
The Constantines
Portastatic
WHY?
The Weakerthans
Portugal The Man
Rogue Wave
Black Diamond Heavies
Cloud Cult
Mahjongg (which was crazy-good)
Yeasayer
David Bazan

sorry, we have 7 members and we all like different ish. that's the small list.

all right, gotta do laundry while i can.

we miss you.

-EE and GAH

p.s. google new pics of ryan cabrera. it will blow your mind. what a jag.

Weekend In Review + DOWNLOAD: "The Book of Matches"

Thanks again to everyone who made it out to our shows over the weekend. It was simply fantastic to get back to Columbia and Champaign again. Oh how we've missed you.

On the bill Friday night at Mojo's in Columbia, MO was our longtime friend, Lucas Oswald (Minus Story, Never Perfect Intentions). He is playing guitar in Will Reeves', of Bockman, new project Penny Marvel. They were awesome!

Also that night, we got a chance to play with Evangelicals from Norman, OK. They were really cool and it will be a treat to join them and Headlights again on March 11th at The Cavern in Dallas, TX.

Hanging out with Nina and Jaret from Emergency Umbrella was also super-great. With how much we talk on the phone and email, it was very nice to share a beer and escape the stress of finishing this record, even if just for one night. They started making plans for a crazy label barbecue in Austin during SXSW. So excited!

Saturday night, after a long drive crammed into Steve's car and Ryan's truck (we need a VAN!), we arrived at The Highdive in Champaign, IL. We were a tad bit worried about how the night would go, since Cowboy Monkey stopped doing music, and weekend shows at The Highdive are now early shows (7pm-10pm), but our worries quickly melted away as we loaded our gear up onto the big stage and got out of the rainy cold outside.

Sharing the bill with us that night was Tunnels, who we had not played with before but featured Stephen Ucherek of The Living Blue, and Cameron McGill & What Army, who we have played with twice in Champaign and just released his third full-length album, Hold on Beauty. Both bands played great sets and as usual, the Champaign crowd was wonderful to play for. There was a myspace message for us today from someone who was there on Saturday who shot part of our set on video. Hopefully he uploads it soon.

It was a fantastic show in our home away from home that was topped off by a WONDERFUL sit-down late dinner with some of our favorite friends CU friends, Ryan and Dave of Elsinore, Jodi, Mike, and Rachel at Seven Saints. The benefit of playing a show that's over by 10pm is that you can EAT at a good restaurant and relax when you are done. So nice to be eating asian wasabi sliders instead of loading the truck at 2am in the rain!


Oh and by the way, we are hoping to have the new EP for sale at shows starting March 6th @ The Bluebird. Cross your fingers that we get them back from the pressing plant in time.

+++++
DOWNLOAD ALERT!

The kind folks over at Largehearted Boy have been kind enough to post a FREE download of "The Book of Matches"! Please support their site and let them know how much you love them.

TWO NEW TRACKS UP!!!!

you can go to our myspace page to check out two brand new GAH tracks

The Book of Matches which appears on both The Book of Matches (EP due in stores 5.6.08) and Alphabet Graveyard (LP due in stores 6.3.08)

and

Our Angry Town Stamps Them Out appears on The Book of Matches





we recorded these with our great friends, Devin Ocampo, Chad Clark, and Nick Anderson in Arlington, VA at Silver Sonya/Inner Ear Studios

the album artwork was done by the fabulous Mr. John Vogl at The Bungaloo - thebungaloo.com

we hope you like em!

love,
gah

Victoria w/ Gentleman Auction House, Early Day Miners & Grace Basement @ The Bluebird

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