A Thread for Kate

BTW, Kate, I asked you how your jam session went a couple of days ago, but apparently you talked about it in the S/Os in your band thread already. But anyways, I did care.

Perhaps Kate is being forced to do real actual factual work at her new job?

It is time for her to quit, then, surely.

I bet she is off playing with puppies.

WHERE IS KATE?

She posted to the nut thread, so she's ok, I guess.

I was taking a little break, so I could concentrate on my first week of work without distraction, and also cause yeah, I really felt like I got a beat-down I did not deserve after the H*lt*n B*t*lg**s* stuff.

Anyway, uh, yeah, thanks, Sarah, for making a *nice* thread for me.

Things are quite good. Work is really, really, REALLY boring but it's easy as heck. MUSIC is going fantastic! I've been jamming with the Lollies' former soundman, Jesse, and it turns out he's built this mini Mac studio in his spare room and we've been writing these Electric Bubblegum Arkestra symphonies in his spare room. It's quite incredible, because in the entire time I've known Jesse, he's never really been in a band, so I kinda just didn't think about him in that sort of way. But he's actually a total genius at arrangement and texture and weird instrumentation.

We've been sampling loops of my guitar playing, then importing them into Reason and sequencing crazy tracks of samples and "Is That The Cat?" noises and Sun-Ra space saxophone loops and stuff around them. Then we set the loop to play and play, and we play popsongs over the top. Not to toot my own horn, cause it's Jesse doing all the hard work, but it sounds so brilliant! I'm so happy with it!

But the pressure is on, cause we've got TWO gigs lined up in the next month or so, one at the Windmill again, and one at the METRO. Eek!

Uuuhhh... like I said, the jam session with Hilton was good for me, but I've not done it again. Things got really WEIRD between us for a bit, partly because of the crap on this board -*HE* was OK with it, but I was freaked. He actually wrote and asked me if I was upset about him posting, but I was actually grateful and relieved that he did. He might be playing some keyboards for the Electric Bubblegum Arkestra, we're trying to get him to come down and jam with us at this Metro gig.

So, anyway, yeah! That's what I've been up to. Nice to see you both, Sarah and Chris, aw, that's so sweet of you to worry. What have you been up to? Chris, you were on tour, weren't you? How did it go?

Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread, but this is the thread where we are going to talk about how our musicial/creative projects are going without fear of being accused of shameless self promotion!

How are your bands?

hi kate

i still have the piano magic cdr you asked for.

when/where are the gigs?

Tour was gruelling and wonderful and now it's done and I'm home. It was, you know, my first tour. A decade of doing stuff in my bedroom and then a year ago deciding, enough of that crap, enough of being shy, enough enough enough and now I'm part of a "scene" and I've been on "tour" and it's great.

Way too many shows spread way too many miles apart -- touring on the West Coast is a bitch that way -- and so I learn that it's really hard to play a show when you've been up for 30 hours! But then again I also know about a cool town in the middle of nowhere, Nevada, called Goldfield -- they have a music club with a skeleton painted on the side and I really want to play there. My lust for playing in towns that are smaller than your thumb grows every day (see the Canadian prairies thread).

So yeah. We didn't lose as much money as we expected, we (we toured with a fantastic band called Bronwyn) didn't end up hating one another. We played a few club shows, and we (who are acoustic and friendly in a not-averse-to-screaming way) continued to find ways to deal with the club setting, which is not our favorite setting both as listeners and performers. We did a few radio shows, and our constant switching of instruments and our tendency to get really screamy all of a sudden threw the sound guys for a loop. We played at an anarchist community center and it was terrific; we played a living-room show at my bandmate's parents house and got her aunt to play kazoo and it was also terrific. I slept outside with my ex in the backyard of a surprisingly bug-free Las Vegas night; my bandmate wound up sleeping outside on Ned's porch. At no point did we sleep in the car, which was nice.

And my bandmate didn't hate it! She had a great time, even though she wound up doing 3100 miles of driving in 8 days (because, er um, I don't know how to drive). And also she never had rockstar dreams (or even really thought of herself as a musician) before she was swept into the band, so I was worried that she wouldn't ever want to tour again: But no! She had a great time and is looking forward to the next tour, whenever that comes. She is having a ball being in the band.

As am I.

I'm very glad your back, Kate. Um, if you haven't read it yet, you might want to ignore that thread about gaydar with the 600+ messages... You might want to read my thread about the boy I've had a crush on however, despite the fact that, grrrr, I haven't seen him since posting the thread -- he hasn't come to any of the shows he said he would. Grrrrrrrr!

Ah, Chris, that sounds like a wonderful first tour experience! I only with the Lollies' first tour had gone so well, but... ::bites tongue:: I'm glad that you had a good time!

I absolutely agree, playing in smaller cities is so much more fun. Please, no one take offense at this and say "how can you call ::insert your hometown here:: a small or provincial city" or such. It's just such a different experience playing outside of London or NYC, playing places where people still get excited about seeing live music and enthusiastic about bands. That makes making music worthwhile.

I don't read any thread that catapaults over 400 messages in a week, it's just one of those things that I categorically don't do, but which is your crush thread, Chris? I always love crush threads. For the same reason I love bubblegum music.

Ah, cheers for the Piano Magic CD, Gareth. When can I get it off you?

Gigs are as follows:

Metro Club, Oxford Street - Friday 21st February
Windmill, Brixton - Wednesday, 12th March

I'll probably be the first band on in each occasion, so if you'd like to come and show your support (or throw rotten fruit, but please don't hit the laptop, it'll be Ed's) you might wanna get there early!

oh. i cant make either gig

i am going to The End with lucy, charlotte and jon on the 21st, though i might be able to make it beforehand, im not sure

and i am going to New York again on the 12th march, which i am very excited about

as for the cd, i can drop it round one day this week, but i am not sure which yet. has ed got my keyboard yet?

Next thursday you can have the keyboard, promise.

Don't have a band, but I'll talk about my music a bit. (if only to organise thoughts for myself)

I feel like I'm approaching some kind of pivotal moment of change wrt my compositions. Everything I've written for the past couple of months or so has had this undefinable sameness to it that I'm desperate to break free of. I think I'm starting to identify more things that I like and dislike about my work, hopefully this will lead to more new and interesting things. (Actually, at this rate I'd be happy to simply refine my already established style.)

The greatest problem for me I think is a lack of source material. There's only so much you can do with a laptop and a pair of headphones. I'm going to begin sampling more and more music (raids on the CD collections of my new housemates), and try to play some real instruments. (difficult, as I'm overseas and on a tight budget.. I do have this weird Chilean flute, though.)

Bollocks.

Kate, my crush thread is "You may be surprised to hear this, but we're on a date." It's about the frustrations of meeting a really neat but presumably straight boy.

I got an e-mail from him this morning! He's been sick! That's why he hasn't gone to the shows. But he's planning on coming to our Valentine's day show next week. I will have so much turmoil about doing a Valentine's day with my secret crush in the audience that I'm sure our set will be a massive blueballed vitriolic thump. Picks will be broken!

Oh, Chris, it will make your set even BETTER! As you strive to impress your crushee, you will perform better, and put on the show of your life! (Unless of course you're like me and suffer from such terrifying Holmstrom Effect that the presence of your crush literally sucks the thoughts right out of your head.) Unrequited crushes are what good pop music is ALL ABOUT!!! The best set we ever played was with me staring gooily at the top of Dan C6's head!

At least your V-day will be better than mine. Mine will be wasted sitting up until midnight just for the pleasure of hearing Hilton's voice on the radio. Oh, and, well, he's got such good taste in music that I bet he'll play tons of stuff I like so maybe I should even tape it. But still. I will be pathetic and sad.

Certainly, an unrequited crush is quite specifically what our album is about. Anyway, I feel like I'd have a better chance of impressing my crushee in the right way if we were singing a bunch of seductive or effectively romantic songs: If I could look into his eye while singing something like that, maybe he'd get the hint and swoon. Eh? Isn't that how music is supposed to work?

But no, not only do I not really write those kinds of songs (but instead, lately, write mostly stories of couples who torture one another until one of them finally runs away to Mexico) but it's at a COMEDY NIGHT. We're playing with a bunch of stand-up comedians and improv people. I'm pretty sure we're the only band. How can anyone fall in love at a comedy club? And how can I swoon someone when I'm forced to only do the "funny" songs?

Hm.

OK, I guess I have a few days to write some hysterical song that will make even a presumably-straight boy fall head over heels for me. I'll sleep on it.

Ha ha ha. Like it's possible to sleep when you're in the throes of a crush!

Kate, what will you do if Hilton dedicates a song to you? You should tape his voice and the manipulate what he says so that it sounds like he's agreeing to marry you, or at least sex you up. It's the only rational thing to do in this situation.

But Chris! You know that if you can make a person laugh, and I mean, really laugh, then you can laugh them into bed. This is a fact. Wit and charm will conquer all! At least that's what I've been telling myself for years...

Mwah hah ha, don't give me ideas about Hilton. Of course, I'm going to be listening with my bunnyboiler ears on, to see if he even mentions ANYTHING that I can vaguely even construe as being about me, but the closest I'm likely to get is "well, Krazy Kate, if yer out there listening, no, I'm NOT going to play any Spacemen 3 so don't get yer hopes up."

I'm not SOOOO sad that I would sample and alter his voice. I might sample and loop it and f*ck with it and turn it into a percussive track for one of my EBA songs, since I don't believe there's any chance in hell he'll ever turn up to any of our rehearsals (I have actually *done* this with a C6 sample). But that's about it.

Glad to have you back, kate.

My band is doing alright. We've had lots of shows lately which is great, but also we haven't been practicing at all. The drummer's work schedule is basically the total opposite of mine & the bassist's. And, when he does have time, drummer needs to help his wifey fix up their new house and prepare for the baby. So, I feel frustrated and annoyed that I can't complain to him about spending more time with the band. Last month I had to pay the $180 for our practice space all by myself (bassist and drummer were broke) and we might have practiced once the entire month. It's ridiculous. So, I plan on telling the guys we need to find a cheaper space (and maybe one that's not an hour away?) ASAP.

On the other hand, our shows are lots of fun. At the show Saturday night, this complete stranger girl came up to me gushing about how I inspired her and that sort of thing. It really means a lot to me.

And then I have a second band now too where I only play guitar and (eventually) sing backups. It's a different kind of music - less punk and more pop - a nice change of pace. We've got a great space in town and we're practicing lots.

Thanks for askin'.

Kate, Have you ever played with Ikara Colt? What did you think of them?

I saw them open for Sahara Hotnights Monday night and was in total awe.

I've never even seen Ikara Colt. I've been hearing a buzz about them for quite some time, which makes me immediately suspicious of them, as is my nature.

Uuuhhh... can't we go back to talking about Dirty dronerock boys now?

Yes. Carry on.