Friday, May 29, 2009

Press, News

Hippies Are Dead posted a nice little ditty about us the other day. The post includes a live track, dug up from our last Santa Cruz performance. Read it here.

Our friend Alex, an incredibly beautiful resident of the East Bay, took some photos of us and our amigas the other night at the Knockout. Check it here.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Newzzz

We posted the b-side of our new single on the MySpace today - its a tune we've been playing live for a couple months called "Why Do You Lie To Me".

The single drops officially on June 23. We'll have them for sale before then, at the El Rio in San Francisco on June 11. The cassettes are rather pretty, with nicely screened sleeves, a button, and a free digital download of course.

Earlier this evening we had our first full rehearsal with our new drummer John. It was awesome! He's pretty great - a very different drummer than Ryan, with a lighter touch, and we had a good time digging into some new material. You've got plenty of chances to see John at any number of upcoming shows through September. MySpace also has those dates, which we posted as well. Post, post, post. That's all we live for? gah.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

News


So we're about to change things up a little in the world of Grand Lake.

A large factor in the formation of our band was our amazing drummer, Mr. Ryan Christopher Parks, AKA B. Hamiliton. Ryan is an excellent musician, and like many excellent musicians, has a lot of projects going on. Its been decided that for everybody's long-term happiness, Ryan will be leaving Grand Lake this month. In fact, Ryan's last show (stop crying you babies) will be this upcoming Tuesday evening at the Knockout.

Come see Ryan's last show with Grand Lake - its the last time you'll ever get to see him scream at me in the middle of Sandusky Sunset (at least from behind the kit).




Ryan Parks - RIP bro. Grand Lake will miss you.

Replacing Mr. Parks on the drums will be difficult, however, our good friend Mr. John William Pomeroy will most certainly be up to the task. Here is a picture of him:




Isn't he lovely in his Amoeba Music shirt? We think so. John is an amazing musician who also fronts his own band called the Cerfs. Jameson and I have been Cerfs fans for years. Check out their MySpace here.

John's first show with Grand Lake will be at the Starry Plough in Berkeley on June 5th, with our very good friends Sister Grizzy. Hope to see you at that one too.

Our cassette is officially dropping on June 23rd, although I should expect you'll see it at our shows a bit before then.

Onwards and upwards!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Posters

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Video

Last night we went to a film screening at ATA in San Francisco that our good friend Bob Thayer curated. The night featured a performance by Rad Cloud, poetry by Erik Noonan, and several short films.

Jameson's debut silent film "The Big Feet" premiered. I was totally blown away by many elements of it - the cinematography was beautiful, the story intriguing, the acting (particularly Danae Swanagon) was great, and the music was perfect.

Here it is (but really, you should full screen this, in a dark room, with headphones, or good sound).

Monday, May 11, 2009

Press, news

Man its been a little hectic in our neck of the woods. We've been working on finishing our cassette single (all the little annoying details, the packaging, the internet stuffs, etc), working on new tunes, and booking shows and stuff. Sometimes all this stuff drives me a little crazy, and its so nice outside, and I just want to sit beneath a tree, with my feet in some kind of water, and read the new Roberto Bolano novel I just picked up at Moe's. Eh bien.

Today, Hippies Are Dead posted some videos of some new tunes, two of which will be on our cassette single (out in a few weeks I think). Read the post here. I posted my two faves from that show, Sandusky Sunset and Carapoforo, below.

See you at the ATA Friday, or at Pehrspace on Saturday (our first set in Los Angeles!).
'Sandusky Sunset'

'Carapoforo'

Dates

May 16 2009 8:00P
Pehrspace w/ Dirt Dress Los Angeles, California
May 26 2009 8:00P
Benefit show - super short set at the Knockout San Francisco
Jun 5 2009 8:00P
Starry Plough w/ Sister Grizzly and Nobody Beats Berkeley, California
Jun 11 2009 8:00P
El Rio w/ Beatbeat Whisper, The Heated San Francisco, California
Jun 22 2009 8:00P
Steynberg Gallery w/ Starfucker San Luis Obispo, California
Jul 11 2009 8:00P
Mission Creek Music Festival - ABCo Art Space w/ White Cloud Oakland, California

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Drunk



I was a little tossed in this clip from last fall, while we were mixing 'She's A Hater' in the studio.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Press

'Nevermint' got a great review from West Coast Performer Mag.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

D-Tour

Jameson and myself went out this evening to see an amazing documentary about our friend Pat and his band, Rogue Wave, called D-Tour. Of course we were going to like this movie even if it wasn't that great (we like most everything any of our friends do), but I don't think we were prepared for how great the film was.

Which is why I'm posting this blog - you gotta go see it! I think there are a couple more screenings of the film, which is part of the San Francisco Film Festival this year. Unfortunately for you, if you missed the May 1st screening, each showing of the film doesn't come complete with a Rogue Wave acoustic set, with special guest John Vanderslice
(Damn that was awesome!).

Read all about the film here, or just watch the trailer below.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Rant

I don't usually use this blog to rant about stuff, but what the hell - this rant has to do with one of our biggest influences - the Breeders.

I just read through the Pitchfork review of the new Breeders e.p. "Fate To Fatal". What absolute garbage. I can't stand it when punk-ass critics tell legendary songwriters how their songs should be written, or how they should sound. This guy, Paul Thompson, has the nerve to write the following about the track "Pinnacle Hollow":

"As it is, it's intoxicating, but I can't help but wonder what it'd sound like with a bridge."
Are you fucking joking Paul Thompson? Nope, he's not. And this isn't the first time this particular reviewer has been called out on being a complete ass (click here for that story).

In the same review Thompson complains about how one of the tracks sounds "lo-fi" and "straight off the four-track". Gee - I thought Pitchfork had a viagra sized boner for lo-fi sounds (read Wavves, Nodzzz, Crocodiles, Blank Dogs, Vivian Girls, etc.).

You can listen to Fate To Fatal, and hear for yourself what a bunch of utter shit this review is, on lala.

UPDATE: Ok. So here's a post by Rupture, who's remix of an Architecture In Helsinki got slammed by Paul Thompson on Pitchfork.

UPDATE NO. 2: On a tip from my good friend and co-worker Kyle, I checked out the Hunches MySpace blog, and read the most entertaining rebuttal of a bad review EVER. The review doesn't come from Pitchfork, or Paul Thompson, but the way the Hunches handle being slammed is amazing. Enjoy it HERE.