Woodshed // The Growlers w/Burgerama Tour of Stars

Im in the shed yall. I got my 8 track set up in the house for a while while one of my roommates is out of town and all 3 bands are gigging and practicing. My 2 weeks are done over at JJs although I can still pick up shifts there. After my last shift (wednesday 2 pm) i went home and then Friday night I came out of my house to go to a band practice only to realize I still had one of the carr toppers on my truck. ha. Ive been demoing new Spiked Punch and a lot of things are coming out of the process which is cool. I am working on my drumming mechanics on a drum pad currently, which is really something that came out of RXR practice. Different stuff is coming out of different practices, I feel like I have the luxury of concentrating on different techniques than how I previously thought about music. Playing bass in Party Plants and having no responsibilities in that band has been super awesome. I love playing Graham's songs and I love being in a rhythm section with Charlie. I usually think about keeping the song going in that band, which is I think a key to making music sound good. With drumming if I drum a 4 bar loop I am really concentrating on the last bar, and not having it slow down or speed up. Being able to do that 4 times is ok, or 20 times is better, but eventually you have to be able to do it for a whole song, every song. Ive been practicing slow quarter notes because I want to get that more precise and in my head after watching the drummer from Chris Catalina pull that off to great effect this summer. The tempos on the demos so far are a little all over the place....maybe just for a mesaure or two, but its definitely making progress. That's the other thing I'm secretly hoping comes off all the drum practice....that for instance no matter what instrument i track first, that it is in tempo the whole way thru without me needing to have a metronome playing along. I think its just about getting that internal clock built up. I think drum pad stuff is going to prove to be more of a morning/(sober) thing. NEXT SHOW ---- REVERSE X RAYS PLAYS AT JOEYS HOUSE WITH SLUGBUG + POLIO CLUB -- KICK OFF HALLOWEEN RIGHT, Fri Oct 25th. Then Party Plants and Spiked Punch are playing with Polio Club, David Israel, and Ruby Frey @ Beerland Wednesday November 13th.

I saw the Growlers at The Parish which was a mind-numbingly awesome show. They are on my list of top bands in america right now. I am getting really into this idea of hybrid-style as far as being a style for your band. Kinda like how people are "its the first blend of hip-hop and opera....hits a hip hopera!" I am all about the idea of trying to combine things, but I think they have a really interesting synthesis. I liked watching all of them, but maybe its cause I play bass a lot lately, i felt at most home watching the bassist (when not watching the front man, who was great). Cant wait to see those guys again. The Burger opening lineup, sad to say I didnt catch all of it, we waited for a break in the rain before heading over. I am excited about the Halloween show at Hotel Vegas, Im gonna get there super early I guess. I think that is their "A" lineup (that will play Haloween) and they were promoting their "B" (or "fakey style") lineup having them open for the Growlers. Those guys are incredible promoters, i think the way they have stuff organized shows they really care, or maybe they are geniuses. I donno. I think it stems back to the emotion of your formative period where you just really really love music, so bad that it hurts, and that is the origin of all musical expression that people make later in life. Its not the worst thing to be bound to.

Check out the Spiked Punch facebook page if you dare, we are trying to upgrade it some.