This past weekend we played our first set of reunion shows. They all went really, really well. The bands were great, venues were cool, audiences were into it. Our first night was at the bootleg theater as benefit for Blood Red Lost Head Dead Flacon, a performance that my friends Lyn and Michael are working on. We played with El Haru Kuroi and Totimoshi. HK seduced the audience and then we pretty much violated them. Totimoshi played a great set. They keep on evolving and you can hear the Spanish/flamenco guitar influences in Tony's playing have really pushed the band to become much more melodic than even a few years ago.
I think our set went well especially being the first show. I had some antics on stage, cut my hand, almost tripped due to mics cables in my way and at one point even my guitar strap slipped off and I almost dropped the Jazzmaster. I thought everyone else played well but of course afterward people vented whatever mistakes they made, there were no catastrophes even though there very well could have been.
The next night at the BLVD. we played with Toward Distant Suns and Aztlan Underground. I'm friends with both bands so it was cool to have them on the bill. Toward Distant Suns really impressed. It was my first time seeing them and although I'd heard Frank and Bradley play together in Gort it was cool to hear them in a new band. They have some similarities to Gort but the addition of a bass player adds a groove that Gort doesn't have.
Aztlan had a rough start, Zo's guitar rig died and they had to borrow mine, it took a while for them to get rolling but once they did they played a pretty strategic set. They usually play a bit longer but due to it being a Sunday night and the tech problems it was cool to see they could still pull off their set even with some time constraints. It made me think of a Coltrane interview I read where he said that normally they played My Favorite Things for over 20 minutes but when they were at a festival and only had under 10 minutes left in the set the quartet still puled it off and Trane was wondering "so what have I been trying to do with all this extra time we take to play?"
Our set was strong and loud. It was better than the night before and the audience was into it, mostly the members from the other bands were really into it and of course that fueled us. Here are some pics from the show.
The BLVD.
We hung out and talked with the bands for quite a while after the show was over, in fact we probably hung out for longer than we played! Everyone was really cool and we hope to play more shows with them. Not bad for a Sunday night.
On Monday our show was at Echo Curio. We played with Devin Sarno, who at one point was an early member of Distorted Pony. He does an effected bass drone ambient noise that travels from one mood to another. I really liked his set, I knew of him from back when he was running WIN records, I think he put out my friend Lynn Johnston's album as well. Devin's set was only about 15 minutes but people were into it and I think it as a great way to get things going.
The Mormons were up next and if you don't know who they are, well, get a life. They play a sort of Devo-ish punk rock. Patrick the singer is a great frontman, he really performs and gets the audience to maintain focus, you just don't know what he is going to do next.
Our set was a monster! By far it was the best set of all the shows we played and the audience was really pushing us, it was our show and there was an anticipation in the place that let us know we had to deliver. At one point I was lost in the energy. I didn't have to think about what I was playing it was all very organic and we were very much one entity. Some songs for me were crushing, Go kart, Death in the Turnstile, Slow Leak, and God's List were rushes. The venue is tiny, so it was hot, sweaty and in your face. We were loud as hell and powerful! By the time we were done I was exhausted. The crowd was great and people had nothing but praise for us, well except for the few songs that we didn't play that they wanted to hear! Towards the end of the show I went into the audience. I wanted to see it for myself, 17 years after Distorted Pony broke up there they were again and it seemed surreal that this time I was playing in the band. I think I did my part in making as it intense and furious as I remember as a fan. I had a great time and I had people coming up to me and being very supportive. We put a lot of hard work into making it happen and we plan on doing a lot more. I'll add a quote that London recieved:
Al's Bar soundman Greg--
"children turn away---MOTHERDISTORTEDFUCKINGPONY ! pardon my french"
"their third (and last for right now) reunion show last night was the best thing I've seen in years...YEARS! so happy, so unbelievably tired...better than sex. better than drugs. better than sex on drugs."
What else can I say?
Luckily someone shot video of the show:
Friday, May 28, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
First Show is set!
May 10, 2010
We’re getting ready for our first show. It’ll be on May 22nd at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. Totimoshi is also on the bill and we might have a 3rd band. The event itself is a fundraiser for my friends Lyn and Michael. They are artist that put together a theater production that has to do with an ancient Germanic play. Like anything else it takes quite a bit of funds to make it happen so they’ve asked for a bit of help. I first met Lyn in 2003 when Leopold was looking for artwork for our album. I spent weeks looking at various artists online. I happened to go to Totimoshi’s website at some point just to see what they were up to and they had a link to Lyn’s work. I was really impressed by her work and I emailed her asking if she’d be interested in having her work on our album. Everything worked out great. She and Michael came to our record release show and met us for the first time. Since then we’ve become good friends. They moved to L.A. from the Bay Area and seem really happy here. They work hard but we manage to find time to hang out. I feel like this is a way to repay Lyn for being so generous with her work. She really cut us a deal and let us use the images on not only our record but also the now defunct website. I would have loved to have pressed our record on vinyl and make it a gatefold to really do the artwork justice…maybe someday.
David will be in town for a stretch so we hope to have a 2nd show as well as come up with some plans for future goals. We’ve talked about recording some new stuff, touring a bit but we really do need to work on a game plan so we can be efficient with our time. I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy. Killsonic (I play tenor sax in that band) has been pretty active lately we played on KPFK last weekend and it sounded great. Distorted Pony will probably get on there soon. I’ve been busy at Total Annihilation working with a few bands, archiving the DP tapes and mixing the DP rehearsal we did, it sounds pretty blown up but you can hear that we aren’t holding back at all. By the third night of rehearsals we were pretty confidant with our playing. We sounded a bit rough on the 2nd night when we realized we had to fix some parts that David pointed out. I was (and still am) also getting used to singing Angel and Forensic and solely focusing on my parts and not playing the hybrids I was playing before.
By the third night of rehearsal we were pretty on it. We have some video footage and a few friends came by to check us out and let us know if we should just slit our throats now or keep it going .
London is going to try to put up a video of us rehearsing at the studio so look for that to come out soon. We’re hoping that it’ll get a bit of attention and convince folks out there that we aren’t old, fat and slow. One out of 3 is ok but more than that and you’re out of the band.
I have to say that I really hope people make it out to our show. We’ve been working hard, it’s a good cause and it should be a great night. Totimoshi kicks major ass so the bill is strong and we hope to hold our own and maybe get a few people that haven’t heard of us to pay attention.
We’re getting ready for our first show. It’ll be on May 22nd at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. Totimoshi is also on the bill and we might have a 3rd band. The event itself is a fundraiser for my friends Lyn and Michael. They are artist that put together a theater production that has to do with an ancient Germanic play. Like anything else it takes quite a bit of funds to make it happen so they’ve asked for a bit of help. I first met Lyn in 2003 when Leopold was looking for artwork for our album. I spent weeks looking at various artists online. I happened to go to Totimoshi’s website at some point just to see what they were up to and they had a link to Lyn’s work. I was really impressed by her work and I emailed her asking if she’d be interested in having her work on our album. Everything worked out great. She and Michael came to our record release show and met us for the first time. Since then we’ve become good friends. They moved to L.A. from the Bay Area and seem really happy here. They work hard but we manage to find time to hang out. I feel like this is a way to repay Lyn for being so generous with her work. She really cut us a deal and let us use the images on not only our record but also the now defunct website. I would have loved to have pressed our record on vinyl and make it a gatefold to really do the artwork justice…maybe someday.
David will be in town for a stretch so we hope to have a 2nd show as well as come up with some plans for future goals. We’ve talked about recording some new stuff, touring a bit but we really do need to work on a game plan so we can be efficient with our time. I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy. Killsonic (I play tenor sax in that band) has been pretty active lately we played on KPFK last weekend and it sounded great. Distorted Pony will probably get on there soon. I’ve been busy at Total Annihilation working with a few bands, archiving the DP tapes and mixing the DP rehearsal we did, it sounds pretty blown up but you can hear that we aren’t holding back at all. By the third night of rehearsals we were pretty confidant with our playing. We sounded a bit rough on the 2nd night when we realized we had to fix some parts that David pointed out. I was (and still am) also getting used to singing Angel and Forensic and solely focusing on my parts and not playing the hybrids I was playing before.
By the third night of rehearsal we were pretty on it. We have some video footage and a few friends came by to check us out and let us know if we should just slit our throats now or keep it going .
London is going to try to put up a video of us rehearsing at the studio so look for that to come out soon. We’re hoping that it’ll get a bit of attention and convince folks out there that we aren’t old, fat and slow. One out of 3 is ok but more than that and you’re out of the band.
I have to say that I really hope people make it out to our show. We’ve been working hard, it’s a good cause and it should be a great night. Totimoshi kicks major ass so the bill is strong and we hope to hold our own and maybe get a few people that haven’t heard of us to pay attention.
First Full Rehearsal!
April 29, 2010
For the first time in about 15 years Distorted Pony got together as a full band. David arrived on Friday and we set up at Total Annihilation for four nights of rehearsals. Some songs we really kicked ass on. I have to say most of the stuff we did off of Punishment Room was played with such intensity I was worn out by the third song. David’s presence was a real shot in the arm. We’d been rehearsing this stuff before but at a much more tame level, mainly because we’d been really focusing on arrangements, playing the right parts and notes, attention to dynamics and tempo etc…all the stuff that makes a rehearsal not a live performance. I think once David stepped in we knew it was time to play as free and energetic as possible, we’d get to any changes and tweaks later.
We tore thru most stuff, only having to run thru things once and then at the end of the set we discussed what songs we had to work on some more.
So here’s the list:
HOD
Death in the Turnstile
God’s List
Krank
Gutbug
Forensic Interest
Dept. of Existence
Smitten
Slow Leak
Go Kart
A Fine View from the Temple
Angel on a Haug
Most of them we were pretty well prepared for but there were some parts that had to be ironed out. Slow Leak for example we really had to work on the intro arrangement. A Fine View, I had to get down a simple rhythm guitar part that was just a matter of moving a few note around. My biggest obstacle was singing Forensic and Angel. Angel especially is weird to sing because there is only one guitar part and some of David’s lines flow from chorus to verse so even though we are in the verse section what he is playing during the choruses doesn’t get resolved until we are already in the verse, so instinctively I was waiting for the end of those lines before coming in etc…anyway by the end of the last rehearsal most of that stuff was hammered out and I started to feel much more comfortable singing on those songs.
The first night of rehearsal went well, the 2nd night we were adapting to corrections that we’d made and I think by the end of the last night we were feeling really confidant about the set. We know there are other songs that people would like to hear and I expect that as the we continue rehearsing and playing together we’ll dust them off and start working them out, it’d be great to have all of the released material available for us to glean from.
For the first time in about 15 years Distorted Pony got together as a full band. David arrived on Friday and we set up at Total Annihilation for four nights of rehearsals. Some songs we really kicked ass on. I have to say most of the stuff we did off of Punishment Room was played with such intensity I was worn out by the third song. David’s presence was a real shot in the arm. We’d been rehearsing this stuff before but at a much more tame level, mainly because we’d been really focusing on arrangements, playing the right parts and notes, attention to dynamics and tempo etc…all the stuff that makes a rehearsal not a live performance. I think once David stepped in we knew it was time to play as free and energetic as possible, we’d get to any changes and tweaks later.
We tore thru most stuff, only having to run thru things once and then at the end of the set we discussed what songs we had to work on some more.
So here’s the list:
HOD
Death in the Turnstile
God’s List
Krank
Gutbug
Forensic Interest
Dept. of Existence
Smitten
Slow Leak
Go Kart
A Fine View from the Temple
Angel on a Haug
Most of them we were pretty well prepared for but there were some parts that had to be ironed out. Slow Leak for example we really had to work on the intro arrangement. A Fine View, I had to get down a simple rhythm guitar part that was just a matter of moving a few note around. My biggest obstacle was singing Forensic and Angel. Angel especially is weird to sing because there is only one guitar part and some of David’s lines flow from chorus to verse so even though we are in the verse section what he is playing during the choruses doesn’t get resolved until we are already in the verse, so instinctively I was waiting for the end of those lines before coming in etc…anyway by the end of the last rehearsal most of that stuff was hammered out and I started to feel much more comfortable singing on those songs.
The first night of rehearsal went well, the 2nd night we were adapting to corrections that we’d made and I think by the end of the last night we were feeling really confidant about the set. We know there are other songs that people would like to hear and I expect that as the we continue rehearsing and playing together we’ll dust them off and start working them out, it’d be great to have all of the released material available for us to glean from.
Catching up...
February 28, 2010
Yesterday was the big Surrogate Spike Tape archive acquisition. I met up with Robert and he gave me over 16 Distorted Pony tapes as well as some recording of Down By Law, Mecca Normal, Saraspoden, Pop Defect and a few others. There’s even a Mecca Normal/Distorted Pony collaboration in there that I’d really like to hear. Along with the tapes Robert gave me his ½” 8 track and ½” 16 track. So we now have all the Punishment Room and Instant Winner tapes so we can hopefully glean some parts that are a little tricky from just listening to the albums. The distortion is so thick and dark on Instant Winner that at times it’s tough to hear the details.
March 17, 2010
It’s been a while since I’ve written in here. London is out of town for a couple weeks so we haven’t rehearsed but I did meet up with him at the studio just before he left. We listened to a bit of Instant Winner then pulled out some other tapes that we could hear on the1/2”16 track machine. There are some interesting things on those reels. There are some songs he had never heard so obviously they were new to me as well. I have to get the ½” 8 track fixed so that’s in the shop at the moment.
We’re still working on the European tour. Nothing solid yet, Jon has been working hard to try and make it happen on his end. It’s only March but even that is a little late for booking in August I guess. We have a 3rd Distorted Pony site going on myspace so once we get our previous fans over we’ll delete the old one.
In April we’re working on getting David out here and playing our first show. Not sure about any details yet because we need to nail down the dates but it looks like it’ll be the end of April if it happens. I’d like it to be a real show but seems like we may even play unannounced just to get the cobwebs out. Tricia and Ted haven’t played in a really long time and it’ll be the first time I play live with them so we’d like it to be fun more than anything else.
So I wish I could say that we have dates booked and things have progressed more but we’re still waiting on things to happen on the touring end. We should have new shirts soon and we are even hoping to begin working on recording or remixing some things in May.
March 22, 2010
Not much new to report. London is out of town so rehearsals have been put on hold. We are working on other non-music related stuff like the myspace page http://www.myspace.com/distortedponyofficial We did get asked to possibly play a benefit show in May with our friend’s Totimoshi. It all depends on who else is on the bill and if there is a space for us. Some of the other bands that might be playing are really great so it’d be a really cool thing to be a part of. As soon as we know if we’re going to do it I’ll include more details and actually even if we don’t do it, I’ll be sure to mention it on here since it’s to help out some friends.
We’re still waiting to here good news about Europe. No bad news but nothing set in stone yet. Jon is working hard trying to get us some shows that will allow us to get over there. The main thing is getting shows that will allow the booker/agency to recoup their costs and hopefully make a profit. It’s quite a bit different than touring in the U.S. The way it works is the agency pays your way and then they make their money back from the shows. The bands basically get an all expense paid tour and make money off their merch. Obviously this can vary depending on circumstances but they even pay your food, transportation, backline, lodging and just about anything else that comes along. So it’s a big commitment and investment on their part.
Another thing we are going to be doing is a daily upload on myspace of images such as flyers, artwork, pictures, music etc… just to keep things moving on there. Myspace and I suppose any website can become quite stale and I think this is one way we can keep things interesting on there.
March 31, 2010
Ted and one of his little ones came over today and we listened to a few of the Distorted Pony tapes. Quite a few songs that mutated far from how they originally sounded. Gutbug, for example, sounds way more somber and eerie. There’s a drum machine and Robert playing an ebow that really adds a toned down and atmospheric quality to it as compared to the noisy, feedback version on Punishment Room. God’s List also has a drum machine and different lyrics to it. A big surprise was Jahr Null with London on drums. That completely changes the song and that’s the case for the most part with everything else that he played on. The demo versions are much slower and not as intense and powerful as having a live drummer. Some of the demos are almost danceable. In fact, Gutbug is called “funktune.” I’m guessing it’s due to Tricia’s bass line being somewhat upbeat. You add a live drummer, metal dissonance and guitar noise and you have it evolve quite far from what it once was. That’s one of my favorite DP songs. I remember talking to David about it and he gave me some insight as to where he got ideas for lyrics and how he took pieces different sources to piece together the song and create the final thing. I won’t spoil it for you by sharing the details because I know what I get from the songs isn’t what others may interpret and it’s part of what I like about the lyrics. Same thing happens with other songs. I remember asking about what “keep talking about the beach” meant and he asked me to give my take on it and then he related where he got the idea for that line. It was so far removed from what I was thinking.
So now we’re trying to decide what to do with all this stuff. It’d be great for people to hear it and I think to package it properly and give the songs their own place in the catalog of material that DP has put out would I think be the best thing to do, it just depends on how we go about doing that. We’ve talked about limited pressing of stuff or tour releases. So we have to focus on a few things at a time and figure out ways to get them out there effectively.
Europe is looking more like it’s going to happen. Not set in stone quite yet but we’re getting a few more offers and if we can just pull it all together than we can make it feasible to spend a couple of weeks playing. Jon is busting ass and we really give him a lot of credit for trying to get us over there. Hopefully all his hard work will pay off and it’ll be a good experience for all of us. He’s really made it a priority to help us out. A couple of weeks ago it’d didn’t look so good but lately we’ve been getting a few more proposals that can really solidify things.
Yesterday was the big Surrogate Spike Tape archive acquisition. I met up with Robert and he gave me over 16 Distorted Pony tapes as well as some recording of Down By Law, Mecca Normal, Saraspoden, Pop Defect and a few others. There’s even a Mecca Normal/Distorted Pony collaboration in there that I’d really like to hear. Along with the tapes Robert gave me his ½” 8 track and ½” 16 track. So we now have all the Punishment Room and Instant Winner tapes so we can hopefully glean some parts that are a little tricky from just listening to the albums. The distortion is so thick and dark on Instant Winner that at times it’s tough to hear the details.
March 17, 2010
It’s been a while since I’ve written in here. London is out of town for a couple weeks so we haven’t rehearsed but I did meet up with him at the studio just before he left. We listened to a bit of Instant Winner then pulled out some other tapes that we could hear on the1/2”16 track machine. There are some interesting things on those reels. There are some songs he had never heard so obviously they were new to me as well. I have to get the ½” 8 track fixed so that’s in the shop at the moment.
We’re still working on the European tour. Nothing solid yet, Jon has been working hard to try and make it happen on his end. It’s only March but even that is a little late for booking in August I guess. We have a 3rd Distorted Pony site going on myspace so once we get our previous fans over we’ll delete the old one.
In April we’re working on getting David out here and playing our first show. Not sure about any details yet because we need to nail down the dates but it looks like it’ll be the end of April if it happens. I’d like it to be a real show but seems like we may even play unannounced just to get the cobwebs out. Tricia and Ted haven’t played in a really long time and it’ll be the first time I play live with them so we’d like it to be fun more than anything else.
So I wish I could say that we have dates booked and things have progressed more but we’re still waiting on things to happen on the touring end. We should have new shirts soon and we are even hoping to begin working on recording or remixing some things in May.
March 22, 2010
Not much new to report. London is out of town so rehearsals have been put on hold. We are working on other non-music related stuff like the myspace page http://www.myspace.com/distortedponyofficial We did get asked to possibly play a benefit show in May with our friend’s Totimoshi. It all depends on who else is on the bill and if there is a space for us. Some of the other bands that might be playing are really great so it’d be a really cool thing to be a part of. As soon as we know if we’re going to do it I’ll include more details and actually even if we don’t do it, I’ll be sure to mention it on here since it’s to help out some friends.
We’re still waiting to here good news about Europe. No bad news but nothing set in stone yet. Jon is working hard trying to get us some shows that will allow us to get over there. The main thing is getting shows that will allow the booker/agency to recoup their costs and hopefully make a profit. It’s quite a bit different than touring in the U.S. The way it works is the agency pays your way and then they make their money back from the shows. The bands basically get an all expense paid tour and make money off their merch. Obviously this can vary depending on circumstances but they even pay your food, transportation, backline, lodging and just about anything else that comes along. So it’s a big commitment and investment on their part.
Another thing we are going to be doing is a daily upload on myspace of images such as flyers, artwork, pictures, music etc… just to keep things moving on there. Myspace and I suppose any website can become quite stale and I think this is one way we can keep things interesting on there.
March 31, 2010
Ted and one of his little ones came over today and we listened to a few of the Distorted Pony tapes. Quite a few songs that mutated far from how they originally sounded. Gutbug, for example, sounds way more somber and eerie. There’s a drum machine and Robert playing an ebow that really adds a toned down and atmospheric quality to it as compared to the noisy, feedback version on Punishment Room. God’s List also has a drum machine and different lyrics to it. A big surprise was Jahr Null with London on drums. That completely changes the song and that’s the case for the most part with everything else that he played on. The demo versions are much slower and not as intense and powerful as having a live drummer. Some of the demos are almost danceable. In fact, Gutbug is called “funktune.” I’m guessing it’s due to Tricia’s bass line being somewhat upbeat. You add a live drummer, metal dissonance and guitar noise and you have it evolve quite far from what it once was. That’s one of my favorite DP songs. I remember talking to David about it and he gave me some insight as to where he got ideas for lyrics and how he took pieces different sources to piece together the song and create the final thing. I won’t spoil it for you by sharing the details because I know what I get from the songs isn’t what others may interpret and it’s part of what I like about the lyrics. Same thing happens with other songs. I remember asking about what “keep talking about the beach” meant and he asked me to give my take on it and then he related where he got the idea for that line. It was so far removed from what I was thinking.
So now we’re trying to decide what to do with all this stuff. It’d be great for people to hear it and I think to package it properly and give the songs their own place in the catalog of material that DP has put out would I think be the best thing to do, it just depends on how we go about doing that. We’ve talked about limited pressing of stuff or tour releases. So we have to focus on a few things at a time and figure out ways to get them out there effectively.
Europe is looking more like it’s going to happen. Not set in stone quite yet but we’re getting a few more offers and if we can just pull it all together than we can make it feasible to spend a couple of weeks playing. Jon is busting ass and we really give him a lot of credit for trying to get us over there. Hopefully all his hard work will pay off and it’ll be a good experience for all of us. He’s really made it a priority to help us out. A couple of weeks ago it’d didn’t look so good but lately we’ve been getting a few more proposals that can really solidify things.
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