With Friends Like These

5.5 years later...

2010-08-23T10:34:00.001-07:00

thanks again to everyone who came out to the Whistle Stop Bar on friday night. to all our friends and family who drove in from Orange County, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Arizona, and beyond. to Swim Party for setting the stage. to DJ Claire for keeping the dance party going. to Sam, Scott, and the rest of the Whistle Stop for having us one more time. to Rosey, Natalie, My, and any other blogger and friend we forgot.

on May 15th, 2005, we four Modlins played our first show together at The Whistle Stop bar. i (alex) had never even been to South Park before that, despite living in SD for 3.5 years prior. here are a few photos from that first show...

and here's a few from our Farewell. also one more shoutout to everyone who joined us at the end for All You Need Is Love...

Farewell Show photos by Alex Sibbald

bass tabs for Benefit of Doubt

2010-08-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

... and on that note, since we have been unsuccessful in finding a replacement Baritone Saxophone player to cover the part i laid down on Benefit Of Doubt (the lead track on our 2010 SDMA "Best Pop Album" -nominated Shoot The Moon, btw!), i figure it might be easier to find someone to cover the bass part instead. which goes a little (exactly) something like this...

Intro
G||-----------------|-----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|
A||-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|
E||-----------------|-----------------|

G||-----------------|-----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|
A||-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-|-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-|
E||-----------------|-----------------|

Verse
G||-----------------|-----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|
A||-----------------|---------8-8-8---|
E||-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|-6-6-6-6-------6-|

G||-----------------|----------------------|
D||-----------------|----------------------|
A||-----------------|---10-10-10-10-8----8-|
E||-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|-6---------------10---|

G||-----------------|-----------------|
D||-----------------|---------7-7-7---|
A||-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-|-8-8-8-8-------8-|
E||-----------------|-----------------|

G||-----------------|----------------------|
D||-----------------|----------------------|
A||-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-|-8-10-10-10-10-8------|
E||-----------------|-----------------10-6-|

Repeat entire "Verse" part over and over until it is time for the Chorus...

Chorus
G||-----------------|
D||-----------------|
A||-6-6-6-6-6-6-----|
E||-------------6-8-|

measure is repeated for length of current Chorus section. then go back to the Verse...

Farewell Show - This Friday!

2010-08-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

To all our faithful friends and fans,

The time has come for the last gasp, the final hurrah, the closing scene! We'll be playing our Farewell Show this Friday Night, August 20th at the Whistle Stop Bar in South Park (fb event here). Kicking the night off is Swim Party, our dear friend band who will be playing a special set full of covers and lo-fi versions of their own songs. DJ Claire will also be there to spin some sweet tunes. The show is Free (I know, ridiculous right!?) and starts at 9pm. Expect tons of songs spanning our entire catalogue and a few surprise guests. Come say "goodbye" ... We hope to see you there.

The Modlins are Coming ....

to

The Whistle Stop Bar

2236 Fern St. San Diego, Ca 92104

Friday, August 20th @ 9pm

with

Swim Party and DJ Claire

p.s. and Tom, yes we WILL be playing that one song off the Andrew EP.

new songs posted...

2010-07-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

... just a real quick post real quick heads up, new songs posted to our Myspace and Facebook pages : "Burn A Bridge" and "Cabin Closet Architect" off Shoot The Moon, and "Tell Me What I Should Do" and "Black Canopy" off Late Night Feel. enjoy!

LNF & STM are Go!

2010-07-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

The CD Release Party was a great success! The Tin Can Alehouse was packed, despite the fact that they now offer beer from bottles and tap in addition to the can. I kid I kid. Or do I?

In case you missed the show, or if you just hate physical cds are really only want to get your digital Modlins on, both albums are now live on iTunes (Late Night Feel / Shoot The Moon) and Amazon.com !

not sure how the two albums came up with separate release dates, but lets just go with that?

CD Release Show This Friday 07/02 !

2010-06-27T13:09:00.001-07:00

two fliers for one night of two new albums! this friday, july 2nd, tin can alehouse, the modlins, late night feel, shoot the moon, jamuel saxon, secret apollo. its go time

another tour weekend under the belt, another show makes 150

2010-06-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

yes, according to the count (ie, the number of shows we've played, not the muppet vampire), our Sacramento show at Old Ironsides on saturday night was #150. and also one of the best-sounding shows we've had. i think. anyways, thanks to all who came out and supported us during this past weekend tour. it was a fun whirlwind that just would not have been the same without our Hot TV friends. we even found ourselves with some spare time in the San Francisco South Park, conveniently near the 21st Amendment Brewery. we had a video camera or three, so stay tuned for another Modlins music video!

also in digging through photos, Stoph points out that one we took while doing a photo shoot for the inside of the upcoming Late Night Feel is very similar to a couple curb photos from yesteryear. how similar? you decide!

Farewell Tour starts Tomorrow! New Music Video!!

2010-06-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Dearest Modlin Devotees,

A reminder that the farewell tour starts tomorrow in San Diego. Dates listed to the right ... expect a lot of new songs ... be there.

... and to get you in the spirit, here's a music video for the new song "Cabin Closet Architect" off our forthcoming album "Shoot The Moon". We were recording the song and figured we'd just keep a camera running through the whole take. Turns out the take we recorded was the take we used for the song, so figured "sync it up, let em watch". here's how the magic happens and how seriously we take the recording process. check it!

coming soon...

2010-06-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

Farewell Show & 2 New Albums

2010-06-03T10:08:00.001-07:00

To Our Dearest Friends and Fans,

May 15th, 2005 -- A well-dressed gang of four shuffles into The Whistle Stop Bar in South Park and bursts forth with sheer pop goodness; it’s rumored an angel got its wings on that night (you know -- if you believe in that sorta thing)! ... Sound familiar? It was just over five years ago that the four of us graced the stage for the first time together, playing to a packed house of friends and family at the beloved Whistle Stop, and from that day forward, we never looked back. But! were we to look back now, we would now see three albums, four EPs, one SD Music Award for “Best Pop Album," two other nominations, a pear tree, and ourselves in a slightly less haggard state. Yes, we’re starting to smell like a combination of whiskey and grandpa (which, coincidentally, are one in the same). We loved to write the songs, we loved to play the songs, and we hope (know) you loved to hear the songs. But after many years, our train’s pulling up to its last (whistle) stop for the foreseeable future.

It is with fond memories and the warmest sentiment that we announce our plans to, come August, take a break from it all. An “indefinite hiatus,” if you will. (For the definition of "indefinite hiatus," please see current status of Sleater Kinney). In five years, we have created a ton of music and never taken a break from The Modlins. Even in months when we weren't playing live, we were always writing, practicing, recording, mixing, or all of the above, and it’s time for a rest and, for some of us, a change of scenery. But before we settle down for our long winter's (autumn's) nap -- we're gonna have a few final hurrahs. So, we would like to take this opportunity to announce a few more shows... and a couple more albums. Read on!

Final hurrah #1 – One more road trip!

Come mid-June, we’ll be heading out for one more tour. Four shows, all in California. Our apologies to the other 48 states (Not you, Alaska. Arizona, you're on thin ice. And Alaska, you're on thick ice.) Get it while it’s hot. And speaking of hot, our producer extraordinaire (aka friend) Mark Bertuldo will be bringing along his band “Hot TV” to play all dates with us, so it should be a ton of fun! They're just great, and we’ll be switching off the Headliner/Opener slot with them. Check it!

Wed, June 16th @ Soda Bar (3rd to last SD Modlins show before the break)
Thurs, June 17th @ Pehrspace in LA
Fri, Jun 18th @ Stork Club in Oakland
Sat, Jun 19th @ Old Ironsides in Sacramento.

Final Hurrah #2 – Two more albums! ONE NIGHT ONLY!

That’s right -- just over a year after Where Does It End?, we are releasing two more (yes, 2!!) full length albums on the same friggin’ night! Remember how we released both Here’s To Being Happy and With Friends Like These in 2007? It’s kinda like that, except without 10 months between them. FRIGGIN' BLAMO! Over the fall, winter, and spring, we’ve been hard at work on a large batch of new songs, all driven by one of two basic album concepts. (That's album concepts, not concept albums.) And anyway, they just won't fit on one disc. This insanity is going down at the Tin Can Alehouse on Friday, July 2nd with Secret Apollo and another special guest supporting (2nd to last SD Modlins show). More details to follow in the coming weeks ...

Final Hurrah #3 (How can it be a 3rd final hurrah? That means the first two weren’t really final, were they?) – FAREWELL SHOW!!!

What kind of band would we be without saying goodbye to all those who supported and encouraged us? And what better place to host than the one where it all began? The four of us will take to the Whistle Stop floor one last time to play a set filled with songs from throughout our discography. Come out, hear your favorite Modlin’s jams one more time, and wish us well. It’s sure to be a night of good music, good beers, and a few surprises. And hugs. Yeah, there will probably be a lot of hugs. This all will be occuring Friday August 20th so mark those calendars! more details next month ...

And contrary to what hiatuses usually mean, the four of us are actually closer, more collaborative, and more on the same page than ever before -- and we think that this will be demonstrated by our new records, of which we are enormously proud. We think that they contain some of our best material to date, and we hope you'll agree. But, this flurry of productivity makes the break all the more welcomed, and who knows what the future will hold for us musically. But for now, this chapter of the Modlins is coming to a close.

So finally, and most importantly, we’d sincerely like to express our gratitude for your support over the course of the last five years. Thank you for coming to our shows, buying our records, giving us a roof over our heads when we weren’t near our own, and generally making us feel like what we did in that time was worth a damn. From the bottom of our maudlin hearts, we appreciate you and hope you make it out to some (or all) of these events so that we can show you just how much you mean to us.

Cheers,

Eric, Matt, Stoph and Alex

The Modlins

PS If someone wants to get us on an awesome label, and feature our songs in an awesome movie or commercial, give us a ton of royalties and just generally get us to "the big time," then awesome! The above all goes out the window in that case!

with friends like these... (swim party & friends @ the whistlestop)

2010-05-26T11:49:00.001-07:00

i didn't make it out to this but the other Modlin fellows were there, plus lots more friends. will missing this be my one regret of 2010? maybe, maybe...

"alright, alright, does anybody here, does anybody here know the lyrics to King of Carrot Flowers by Neutral Milk Hotel? everybody who knows those lyrics needs to come forward and sing this with us"

thanks, guys, that was awesome

that's gotta be another modlins milestone

2010-05-07T07:33:00.001-07:00

with the addition of a few more songs / the latest bounces, i am no longer able to burn all of the new material to just one cd. oh yea.

also as we are putting the finishing touches up on these new tunes, we are also putting the finishing touches on what should be quite a nice weekend in the middle of June, taking us Modlins, along with our great friends Hot TV, up to San Francisco and Sacramento, with a stop in Los Angeles as well! hmm, and on that note, maybe the milestone is not the physical impossibility of fitting the new stuff on just one cd, but that i just made the longest run-on sentence ever? and i almost did it again!

in any case, the plan is to hand our album(s)-on-a-hard-drive off to Hot TV's / Where Does It End? -producer Mark Bertuldo tomorrow at their show at Pehrspace in LA. after that, maybe we'll have time to throw together at least one or two of the music video ideas floating around? or maybe just try and figure out how much of these songs we actually remember how to play live...

stay tuned for Modlins shows in june and july!

cheers

al

three more down

2010-04-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

hit the practice space recording studio at 1pm. eric brought 1 22oz of his first round of home brew, plus the Wilco Tango Foxtrot from lagunitas (as seen on pitchfork), and Pliny The Elder. at 330pm arlene was kind enough to bring snacks, plus a few more stellaaaaa. Best.soccer practice.ever.

i left a bit after 5pm, while the others stuck around to tie up more loose ends. good times.

a year ago, this past weekend

2010-03-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

a year ago, this past weekend, we Modlins were on the road through the Pacific Northwest, in anticipation of the release of Where Does It End?. now one year later, some videos have surfaced from that trip, and since the ones from our show at the Red Room in PDX were particularly nice, here they are :

It's Out of Your Hands, Chuck Berry

Where Does It End?

Monday Morning

Meet me at the Oakquinox...

2010-03-26T15:58:00.001-07:00

Or, well, don't meet us there, 'cause 3 out of 4 Modlins will be at Coachella that weekend, but if your cup of tea is in fact NOT Coachella, and rather barrel-aged beer with names like "Grand Teton Oak Aged Lost Continent Double IPA", then this must be for you. Green Flash Super Freak? yes please. At "the celestial union of beer and wood", what's not to like? http://www.stoneworldbistro.com/oakquinox/

(there were just too many pun possibilities to let this go entirely unnoticed)

tomorrow @ the Che Cafe : Swim Party + Writer

2010-03-23T14:27:00.001-07:00

you know how time flies? we Modlins first played with our friends in Swim Party at Buster Daly's (now known as U-31 for all youngin's) on November 19th, 2005, and have had the honor of rocking stages with them quite a few times since then, including the cd release party for our first full-length Here's To Being Happy, and LA release show for the followup With Friends Like These. and Writer was kind enough to join us for our most recent Where Does It End? cd release show. now tomorrow night, the two of them join forces to rock the Che Cafe, all ages style. will we see any repeats from their split 7" release show? we can only hope! its a good thing Modlins only practice on tuesdays and thursdays...

saturday update #2?

2010-03-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

yet another successful saturday session tying up lose ends, as I met eric and matt at our practice room studio to lay down bass for This Is The End and Tell Me What I Should Do. now its off to run errands before meeting up with Stoph at the 2nd ever Wii Olympics, where the nation of Almerica has high hopes for going golden in Archery and Wakeboarding, and defending its gold in the Ski Jump, while eric is still hard at work recording guitar parts, or maybe just hanging out with matt in the practice space. who knows what goes on in there when Stoph and I are gone. ha. then if we can get a good take of White Lies (Modern Lovers), record the intro to The Hunt for Red November (as heard/seen at both of our shows last month), and get Stoph to lay down hi-hat on Benefit of Doubt, we just might have some new versions of a whole lot of new material next weekend. pretty exciting! (oh yea, i just name dropped like 5 new Modlins songs)

another day, another round of recording

2010-03-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

stoph and matt are still at our practice room studio, while eric is at a wedding and i am about to leave for the Stone Brewery, but in the mean time, here is a quick picture of matt in action...

and another shot of matt and i in action, from last month's Casbah show...

cheers!

5 Years of Modlins!

2010-03-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

Yes yes, today is the today. Or rather, 5 years ago today was a day, a day that shall live in infamy. Wait, no. Anyways, what DID happen 5 years ago today was The Modlins' album release party for The Andrew EP, at which it was announced that I, Alex Smith, was officially the fourth Modlin. So today is the 5 year birthday party of this group of four of us known as The Modlins.

At practice yesterday, Stoph said we should come up with a quiz that noone will be able to answer, but that seems like a lot of work. Instead, here is my mp3 mix of songs from each Modlins release from the past 5+ years, in reverse-chronological order :

1/ The Mark EP - O, What to Believe!
2/ Where Does It End? - Monday Morning
3/ With Friends Like These - Warm Up (Or Say Goodbye)
4/ Here's To Being Happy - Thirty-Seven, Japanese
5/ The Michael EP - Waiting To Wake Up
6/ The Andrew EP - What You Had In Mind
7/ The Daniel EP - Please Shirely

Download the full mix (zip)

great success

2010-02-22T11:53:00.001-08:00

friday at the casbah was hugely great. stoph took lots of pictures which i think you can find on facebook, but also might need an fb account to see. arlene also took pictures, and a few video clips, but then she left my camera in her parents' car, so maybe we'll get it back in another few weeks. ha. anyways, its almost like taking a break from live shows to work on new material, and then taking a break from recording that new material to play a few live shows, is a balancing act that we Modlins seem to finally be getting down. a balancing act...

getting back in to the swing of things

2010-02-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

get it? like tiger tiger woods, y'all? too soon? anyways, we Modlins took a vote, and the group consensus is for us to start blogging again. like hey, if its good enough for CatDirt, its good enough for us, right? anyways, a lot has gone down since our last post, on June 10 2009. We played another 10 shows between June and August of last year, and I got engaged! And then we Modlins played one more in October before going in to hibernation for the winter. And by hibernation, I mean we are working on super secret new material. just to give you a bit of a teaser, some of the working titles we are throwing around are "that one song where matt plays the organ", "that other song where matt plays the piano", "the one where eric plays the organ", "stoph's song (even though matt came up with the chord changes, lyrics, and structure)", and "Please Bear With Me ('cause I'm Not Lion)".

anyways, we came out of hiding two weeks ago to pack the Tin Can Alehouse alongside longtime role models (is that the right term?) Billy Midnight. and tonight, we are going to rock the Casbah, playing with the likes of Joel P West, The Hot Moon, and Dead Oceans' The Donkeys! Hard to believe it's been over a year since we played The Donkeys, and also like a year and a half since we were at the Casbah. Well i guess since it'd also been some 8 months in between blog posts, maybe it all makes sense now...

correction: i was wrong, last casbah show prior to this one was 7/18/09. only 9 months ago...

On the road again!

2009-06-10T16:08:00.001-07:00

The Album release is behind us ..... and what an amazing one it was. Huge thanks go out to Writer (especially Jayme for helping out with the drum "marching line") and to Hot TV (esp Tim for similar reasons). also, thanks to Tyler from The Exfriends for rounding out the drumline. and to Dayna and Joe for forming our first horn section. and a debt of gratitude most likely never to be fully repaid to Mark Bertuldo for being awesome. it was an incredible night, thanks to everyone who came out. Thanks to Rosey and Natalie, our local music blog heavyweights, mingling admist the crowd. and thanks to Tim Pyles for giving the title track Where Does It End? a some spins the last couple of weeks on fm 94/9. and of course thanks to the Whistlestop for being the proud sponser of "the modlins release another recording".

If you weren't able to make it out and pick up a copy of the new record, we should have the online ordering section up soon. but until then, we're hitting the road so catch us around california. We'll be in SF (sat 6/13), Sactown (fri 6/12), LA (sat 6/20) and one last show in June in san diego with The Minor Keys at the always lovely beauty bar (sun 6/21). Flyers above, love below.

love,
the modlins (xoxo)

one chord to another

2009-06-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

looks like our trip up to Olympia, WA and back was all that more nice, as i saw today that there has been some good love for The Modlins on Olympia's 89.3fm KAOS , during their One Chord To Another show, Monday nights at 9pm.

According to their oc2a blog, the first our of this past Monday June 1st's show was "Tonight" by Jason Anderson, Jeremy Egnik's "Life's Too Short", Connor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band "Slowly (Oh So Slowly)", The Modlins "Bad Night's Sleep", Camera Obscura "You Told Me A Lie", Grizzly Bear "Southern Point", John Vanderslice "Sunken Union Boat", Built To Spill "Kicked It In The Sun", Silversun Pickups "The Royal We", and Spiritualized "I Think I'm In Love". That is not bad company at all.

Where Does It End? - Album Details, Full Tracklist

2009-06-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

the albums are in our possession and ready for distribution. And this friday will be the long fabled release show of our third album, who's tracklist we've yet to disclose to you. let us remedy that now:

The Modlins - Where Does It End?
1. Where Does It End?
2. Pink Parachutes
3. Monday Morning
4. Blue Balloons
5. Well, What's It Gonna Take?
6. Marching Line, 1945
7. It's All Gonna Blow Over, Soon (Positively 4th Ave.)
8. O, Diana
9. Will You Wait for the Chance
10. Wait in Your Words
11. The Birds of Manhattan (reprise)

see you friday!!!! (and if you're unclear on what's going on, look down a couple posts, you should find some flyers)

(note: monday morning and the b-side "it's out of your hands, chuck berry" are streaming on myspace now ..... in case you read this blog, but somehow missed that bit of news)

Where Does It End? tours more than we do...

2009-05-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

tracking on UPS is great, since it looks like we'll actually have the shipment of lots of new cds, potentially tomorrow, with plenty of time to spare before next Friday (see you at the Whistle Stop!). but at the same time, it kind of makes me feel like a bum. i mean, here it is the end of May, and we Modlins have so far played in 5 states this year: CA, OR, WA, AZ, and NM : but our cds have already been in 4 states, just over the past 15 hours! i guess all i can say is, Where Does It End?

The Modlins in "Where Does It End?"

2009-05-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

by renny rhanor - click to enlarge

swim party on fuel tv

2009-05-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

videos reposted from sddialedin, but still... well done, fellas, well done.

Where Does It End? - CD Release Show

2009-05-15T15:57:00.001-07:00

loudspeaker love

2009-05-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

driving back from spending mothers day up in irvine, wolf parade's At Mount Zoomer ended just in time for us to switch over to 91x Loudspeaker and catch them playing "Dragging My Feet". actually, it went more like "wait, why does this song sound familiar? how do i know this song? the singer sounds kind of like Matt, but with more reverb... holy crow, its Dragging My Feet! quick, you text message and i'll keep driving!" and lucky for me, arlene was riding passenger, so that whole previous conversation was only about 80% in my brain, and the other 20% was i(n) r(eal) l(ife). even got a shoutout where the 91x DJ refered to myspace.com/themodlins and even talked about our next show, 6/5 at the whistlestop! so the only question is, did we forget to send them a copy of the Monday Morning single? good times!

we're back!

2009-05-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

3 shows in 3 cities split between 2 states (neither of which was good ol' California), covering some 1700+ miles in The Hulk / Shrek / Bruce Banner / whatever name you want to give our mini van. and now we are back at home, or, three of us are, as eric had to fly out to somewhere north of Detroit for work this week. so the rest of us can take a bit of time to unwind, and get ready for June 5th! also, we kept track of all the cds we listened to un the trip (i think the grand total was 34?) , and i'm thinking that maybe i'll post the list, and make a contest out of it, where if you (assuming You were not actually in the van the whole way with us) can figure out who picked what cd, i might just give you a copy of Where Does It End? sometime around that June 5th release show. yea! ... though i didn't run that idea past other modlins, so this is assuming it doesn't get vetoed / held back in the bureaucracy.

ooh, and on the last bit of the drive back in to SD, we were able to catch our buddies Rob and Jake of Apes Of Wrath on air with Tim Pyles last night, and may 8th at the casbah looks nice. real nice. and i suppose thats as good a transition as any to wish Mr Pyles a happy bday.

ok back to work.

new single "Monday Morning", Soda Bar 4/25

2009-04-22T15:13:00.001-07:00

with the album nearly finished, we're getting the first single out as fast as humanly possible! at our upcoming Soda Bar show (this saturday, 4/25) ... we'll have an extremely limited number (44 copies) available for ... FREE!! that's right, get our new single (complete with b-side "it's out of your hands, chuck berry") for $0. it's streaming right now on myspace, so check it out, and if you want to snag a copy arrive early (though you should probably do that anyway, as we're on first)

unable to make the show but want to get a copy, don't fret. we'll have details soon about how you can sign up for our mailinglist and get a free digital download of the single. stay glued to the blog for the deets.

and don't forget, mark your calendars for Friday 6/5 .... "Where Does It End?" CD Release show with Writer .... epic.

look! finally uploading video from february...

2009-04-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

that is me attempting to make a youtube playlist containing the videos i'm (finally) uploading that Matt took via eric's camera, during our last recording session with Deborah (and Mark) at Signature Sound. granted the recording session took place on 2/14, and it is now 4/6, but hey, better late than never, right?

also, the first video clip matt took was 12 minutes long, and youtube has a 10 minute limit, so i'll need to cut it in half, or take out 2 minutes, before i can upload that, which is why the first clip up there starts at "part 2"

shows shows shows

2009-04-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

We Modlins have a bit of a break from playing, until our show with Roxy Jones, LA's The Happy Hollows, and The Dimes (from the PDX) at the Soda Bar on Saturday April 25th. But while we are catching our collective breath, it looks like the rest of San Diego is blowing up? yo? here's just a taste:

tues apr 7 : The Howls, Gray Ghosts, Joel P West, Longstay @ the Casbah
thur apr 9 : Republic of Letters & Finding Fiction @ Bar Pink
fri apr 10 : Writer, The Knew, & Tape Deck Mountain @ the Ken Club
sat apr 11 : Apes of Wrath, Da Bears, Chaz, Valley Arena @ the Che Cafe
wed apr 15 : while we tentatively have scheduled our final mixing session for album #3, there is also Apes of Wrath, Roxy Jones, and Transer @ Soda Bar
thur apr 16 : Scarlet Symphony, The Art, & Braaiins @ Soda Bar
fri apr 17 : Wavves, Christmas Island, The Dabbers, Bipolar Bears, DJ Mario Orduno @ the Casbah
sat apr 18 : Writer, Calico Horse, Menomena @ the Casbah

oh its good to be back home.

coincidence?

2009-04-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

upon closer inspection, there are 88 albums in my itunes that have exactly 14 tracks on them. my birthday is on august 8th. if that means i should not add any more albums with 14 tracks on to my itunes, then i think it invalidates the email i just sent to Matt Eric and Stoph. and that would probably mean that the mysterious song known as "It's Out of Your Hands, Chuck Berry" will once again be back on the chopping block...

we made it!

2009-04-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

got back to the practice space at (i think) 12:07am, after leaving Portland at 620am yesterday morning, taking del taco to go from Redding CA for lunch, and in-n-out to go in Kettleman City for dinner. i took over the driving reigns at the gas station in Ashland, OR, and drove all the way to Kettleman City, only to be given the golden handshake as matt took the van that might be known as The Hulk(ster) the rest of the way home. so close to having driven the entire length of California on my own, but what can you do. i'll let the other guys give the final list of how many cds we went through over the drive, and what 3 states' license plates we failed to see (yes, we kept track of seeing plates from 47 states + 4-ish canadian provinces + baja). so just a quick shoutout to Qwong, The Tanked, Mr Joy Boy, You Yell You Kick, and Whiskey Goat, plus Eugene City Brewing, Amnesia Brewing, and McTarnahans, for a wonderful weekend. ok back to work...

This hole i've dug is mine forever

2009-03-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

(*this picture used w/o permission, if i should take it down, let me know and i will, but anyone reading this you can find the picture here: http://explodingdog.com/title/thisholeivedugisminefor.html, and go there and buy something)

phew, with all that legality out of the way, i'm reminded of this exploding dog (the website, not the animal) picture from back in college (circa '02). This seems to be where we're at, and embody the state of the album.

Last night the originally planned final session wasn't quite that, but was still a very productive headway maker on the last changes of the songs. Consequently though, that means we've still got a bit more work to due and with the impending deadline (and the now already planned release date) we're in super crunch mode. we've got a show in LA tonight, a day to get our heads on straight and then we leave for the oregon trails. while we're out our producer-extrodinaire Mark (and pretty much the only friend we see) will be handling the horns duties and getting those sounding good on the songs. our sunday session went real well, dayna was super nice and did a great job with the parts (and I also know, if i want horns on a song, i shouldn't write it in B. Bb would've been fine, or C ... but of course, bull's eye on the terrible "nearly-all-sharps" key ... great work eric!)

anyway, the album is coming .. it's almost done ... and really, we're very excited about it. sadly some of the songs are gonna get cut, we'll see how it pans out, but there's no way all that we've recorded can make the album. but we'll find someway to get the discarded tracks out.

also, consequently, this uberbusyness has caused us to miss some great shows. We wanted to roll over to the casbah last night to catch Joanie and the boys but that didn't pan out. Red Pony Clock's return to the Habitat=missed. Writer's had a few shows around town now that i've been unable to catch and i forgot to buy tickets for the Luce Loft show on wed. so another strike against us. *sigh* .... i swear when all this is said and done, we're having a pizza party. until then .... the modlins are in the hole we dug for ourselves.

quick update

2009-03-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

a quick, quick update late in the afternoon this fine thursday .... where are we at?

for those anxiously waiting (please let there be a few of you out there) we've got our hands in many pots right now. we've resumed practices at our rehearsal space and so that we can be ready to road test a few of the new songs on tour, most likely long beach will get the first glimpse of some of the new material. we've been consistently staying up til about 12:30pm each night working and reworking mixes. a final mix session with our head sound engineer kyle slated for next Monday, with currently no studio in our price range to house the session .... this should be interesting. a word document 17 pages long (and growing!) with tentative fixes, new rerecords, ideas and bad puns. another horn session schedule in covina for sunday (pre-lbc) with a trumpet player named dayna (and if she turns out to be the same dayna that shares her name with dayna's vegan special [holla! torpasta!] i'm gonna be stoked). a hometown show to kick off the tour at Radio Room Saturday Night (be there or be absent!). seriously, i think it's coming to an end (famous last words). we're gonna start scouting some mastering locations in the next week or so, we've got some time to sit on the final mixes. first drafts of the artwork from Patrick came in last week (or was it early this week) and they look sweet. kinda reminds me of The Exfriends "Joy Of Life" except sans band, and it's all painted. and there's .... ah, you'll see.

so yeah ..... we're busy .... and we'll have MUCH MORE to unveil in the coming weeks/months.... but more than anything else, mark your calendars for June 5th ... CD Release @ The Whistlestop in South Park (host of our last 2 CD releases) ..... we're finally playing with our good friends Writer (who've been bloggin' up a storm on their tour out to SXSW) .... it's going to be .... wait for it .....

... legendary.

the modlins are coming ....

spring 09 northwest tour

2009-03-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

here's that poster alex was talking about ..... click to enlage

prowess

2009-03-12T10:06:00.001-07:00

so last night before eric and mark headed over to meet up with roy, gabe and chicken at The Habitat, and before matt and i got to work fine-tuning more vocals and making it so noone will ever know i messed up the bass part at 1 min 56 seconds in to [insert super secret song title here], there was a discussion on the word "prowess". actual, it wasn't really a discussion as much as it was a sentence, a sentence saying that the word "prowess" is only really ever used in either the context of superheroes, or immediately following the word "sexual". what does that have to do with anything? who knows. what i do know is that i just finished updating the left column of this blog : The Modlins are coming... : with the next 7 shows, all of which happen before the end of this month of March!

yes, the Modlins are coming to The Radio Room here in San Diego, The Que Sera in LBC, The Knitting Factory Hollywood, and then we go up, up to the Red Room in the PDX, Eugene's Black Forest, Olympia WA's LeVoyeur, back to the PDX for Mississippi Pizza, and then back home. Sadly, we are skipping NorCal entirely because apparently, noone wants us there. Oh well. With friends like these, you know?

Or something. Poster coming soon?

props to Crocodiles

2009-03-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

we are (slowly) moving towards what might be considered the start of finishing touches on album 3, which might actually have a name before it comes out, and getting ready for a tour up the west coast in a few weeks. on a similar level (or something), Skull Kontrol reports that The Crocodiles are going to be opening for The Faint in April and May. nice.

Swim Party & Writer - Split 7" Release

2009-02-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

let's see ... Swim Party + Writer + Whistlestop + 7" release = SUPER AWESEOME. seriously, it's shows like this that make me really hate my job. unless you're gonna be freezing your ass off in Erie Pennsylvania, you best be making your way out to the Whistlestop next Friday 2/27.

i miss having a social life.

Don't Pass Us By

2009-02-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

with the weekend gone ..... and another successful recording session under our belts, we turn the heat up and trudge on full steam ahead this week with recording, with the exception of a short session over at The Habitat, we'll be doing the rest from our house, so it's all up to us now.

here's a little something for all those readers out there, the audio's a little shoddy, but hey, we had fun. this was the end of the day on saturday, al gave his camera to renee to record Don't Pass Me By at the end of saturday. enjoy!

p.s. i'm sure Al knows the slick way to embed this and make it nice. if so, please do, but i figured the link would work just as well for now.

Happy Friday the 13th

2009-02-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

(photo taken from SD:Dialed In Rosie's recap of Modlins + Exfriends @ Whistlestop, friday the 13th of April, 2k7)

and now, another poster to scare you. and by scare, i mean please.

yippee cay ay yay! Friday the 20th of February, 2009!

Where Does It End?!

2009-02-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

so i just checked and the last time i updated this blog was back in november, coincidentally (or not coincidentally) regarding the same subject matter .... yes, the modlins third album.

originally when i thought to start up the blog i thought it would be something great to update daily, or fairly daily, discuss the goings on within the band, put up pictures and what not. oh, how overly optimistic and naive young eric was. now, only a tad bit older, i realize "daily blog posts" is on par with TPS reports to your boss. talking about the slow progress, mistakes, days off that you needed but probably shouldn't have taken ....

i just read the 33 1/3 book for Belle and Sebastian's "If you're feeling sinister" and it was very warming (i highly recommend it, but first get the Neutral milk hotel one), but also very depressing. to know that Tigermilk was recorded in 3 days, and If you're feeling sinister in 8, truly is impressive. And now that our album is going on 7 months, you start to wonder if we've done something wrong. Granted Stuart had dedicated time in a studio to do it, and had been flushing the songs out for years on his own, but anyway .... though a lot of people have complained about production on B&S's early recordings, in reality the songs speak for themselves and i'm sure many people (myself included) cite them as some of the best records in my collection. so it's no surprise that i would start to have doubts about our own recording endeavors.

but i really think, when all is said and down, my doubts will be washed away by a truly great finished product, one that we just can't seem to get out fast enough to .. you. whoever "you" maybe. though in the middle/end of last year when work began on this record, we worked on it only occasionally, and most often were just messing around with the songs in our practice space while constantly playing shows around town, nowadays, the amount of work i spend on the album rivals my day job. recording additional percussion, reworking harmonies, rewriting songs. i mean, hell ... one of the songs in contention now has it's own reprise. We've been trying to put off shows, but the occasional one comes in that you can't turn down (Beauty Bar 3rd anniv w/ Darker my Love anyone?). But when i'm not at work (or traveling for work, damn you Erie, PA), Matt and I are holed up in my room or the upstairs hallway constantly reworking and overthinking every choice. all the while, attempting not to piss off our girlfriends or our roommates (Sixto's usually at work, but man .. Kevin, that guys a trooper)

something i should've mentioned awhile back, but has slipped my mind, is that Stoph, Matt, and myself sat down with our friends Spencer and Dan (of Specific Oceans, not Wolf Parade) to discuss the album. i don't know exactly how to get to it, but if you go to iTunes, you can find a link to podcasts somewhere and in there you can look up Specific Oceans, and there should be something about an interview with The Modlins regarding our third album. we even gave them some exclusive sneak cuts of a couple unfinished tracks, so i guess for that alone it's worth checking out.

Anyway, Though I can't really say what the album will look like in the end, i can say we're truly giving it our all this time, even more so than in past efforts. We owe a great debt to our friend Mark (who i know we've mentioned before, and we'll probably keep mentioning til the album is released) but he's been staying on the ball, keeping a list, checking it twice, and ensuring that everything on the songs is there for a reason, and any fat we can trim is.

So where are we at? when will we be done?

well, we're really hoping for a release in May still (hopefully at some point before we said we were shooting for May and not earlier), but it could be as late as end of June. but i promise it won't come after that for two reasons. One, I would like this LP to get submitted to the San Diego Music Awards (cutoff is usually june 30th). it'd be nice to be nominated three years in a row for our three albums. and Two, because if we enter July ... our first session for this album was July '08, which means we will have been working on the album, on and off, for an entire year ... and that just is horribly depressing. Though we could make excuses about all having day jobs, vacations, responsibilities, lives outside the band, the fact of the matter is, it shouldn't take a year to make a pop record (or any record for that matter)

... so anyway, thanks for being patient, tell your friends. as for the next few months, well, because we don't understand how to stop playing shows while we work on a record, we're doing a tour up the coast, getting as far as Olympia, WA before heading back down. Portland, Eugene ... cause, why not ... we've got time.

so hope to see you out there, stick with us, it's gonna get really good.

cheers! off to band practice.

oh yeah, we have a recording session schedule for valentine's day ... how very maudlin of us.

in the meantime

2009-02-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

first, happy groundhogs day? word on the street is groundhog saw its shadow, so there is more winter, which i can only take to mean that we get more weeks of 85 degree heat here in sunny san diego, before it officially becomes "summertime". that said, themodlins.com is having all sorts of issues right now which i am blaming entirely on iPower the hosting company, so in the meantime, here's the picture i took with my cell phone at the end of runthrough yesterday morning before our Beauty Bar show last night, of the setlist for said show.

other than that, i thought the show was most excellent. the Beauty Bar is always fun, Marshall does an awesome job manning the sound boards (this time it even made Arlene's ears ring, which she said might be a first for Modlins shows), free 3Olives vodka tonics (or whatever the drinks Jess and Stoph brought me were) helped, and the icing on the cake had to be the opening act. See, the two texts I got from former roommates were "Damn! Sorry but not going to make it." and "Everyone bailed on me", which made the fact that The Caburlesque Kittens performed for a bit before we took the stage all the sweeter (spiting those who could have been there, but weren't).

in other modlin news, the only news is that Eric is off on a work trip again, i think in Erie, PA, and work on album #3 continues...

sweet monkey, tell me this isn't awesome

2009-01-29T23:36:00.000-08:00

so i was ocd-ly going through all my mp3s and copying and pasting album art out of amazon for all the albums that didn't already have album art, so it'll all be there nicely on my new ipod, right? and i saw i didn't have cover art for Loverlee's Musical Chairs. and then the questions came:

they have their music on amazon.com?

are the modlins on amazon.com?

and then

i found this

now tell me that isn't awesome

tonight

2009-01-27T11:19:00.001-08:00

did the blog title fool you? no? anyways, new Franz Ferdinand album out today. and on that note, i'll also take the opportunity to recommend Lala.com. you can stream full albums straight from there, including Tonight. yes, you read it here: stream Tonight, for free, today!

and as a quick update, while you're listening to Tonight, tonight...

... sorry, couldn't help it. anyways, while you're listening, tonight, to Tonight, i'll be heading to the killian-sheridan abode to (try and) record better backup vocals for a few more songs for album #3! moving right along...

happy bday, annie

2009-01-19T17:27:00.001-08:00

what better birthday present for your little sister turning... how old are you? ... 23? yea, that sounds about right... anyways...

what better bday present for your sister's 23rd bday than a free show with The Modlins, Darker My Love (from LA), a whole mess of most excellent DJs, and a hosted bar sponsored by Three Olives vodka?

ok, maybe you might think it might be better if the show wasn't on a school night, but hey, it wasn't like i invented the Julian calendar. i'm just working with what i got. happy monday.

a haiku of questions for tomorrow

2009-01-07T16:48:00.000-08:00

does matt have to work?
715pm start?
can i eat dinner?

the ruby room vs the radio room

2009-01-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

happy new year! ... only 5 days late ... anyways, yes, 2009 is here, and for no particular reason except for my own personal benefit, i will set out once and for all to remember the difference between 2 "new" San Diego venues, The Ruby Room and The Radio Room. i put "new" in quotes because both existed before their current names: The Ruby Room was formerly the San Diego Sports Club, while The Radio Room was formerly the Zombie Lounge. "Radios" and "Rubies" are apparently too close to one another in my memory, but Sports Clubs and Zombies seem pretty different, unless you are in some sort of undead vavi league or something... anyways, that should do it.

oh, and The Ruby Room is where we Modlins will be, next Friday, January 16th 2009, alongside our friends Swim Party, Team Abraham, and Gamma Gamma, in a concert celebration our friend Jason G getting 1 year more experience on this here planet earth. or something. poster coming soon. happy monday! happy new year!

cd track length distribution

2008-12-17T15:58:00.001-08:00

some time at the band meeting on monday evening, someone said something like "it seems like more people are doing 11 tracks per album these days"

so i looked at the 20 gigs of mp3s i have on this work computer, and said that of the 277 albums total, some 213 of them have 11 or more tracks, and of those 213, 43 of them have exactly 11 songs.

some notable 11 track albums include: Apples In Stereo Velocity of Sound, The Arcade Fire Neon Bible, Beck Midnite Vultures / Mutations / One Foot in the Grave, Ben Folds Five The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, Ben Kweller Sha Sha, Cake Comfort Eagle / Pressure Chief, Death Cab For Cutie Transatlanticism / Plans / Narrow Stairs, The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Foo Fighters There Is Nothing Left To Lose / One By One, Franz Ferdinand [s/t], Islands Return To The Sea, Jaguar Love Take Me To The Sea, Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Ozma Rock And Roll Part Three (hey, at least "three" rhymes with "sea"), Radiohead Amnesiac, The Shins Oh, Inverted World / Wincing The Night Away, Shout Out Louds Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, The Strokes Is This It? / Room On Fire, Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell, Vampire Weekend [s/t], and of course, Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

to which eric said "So al, you got a breakdown for of the albums you have, what the track counts are. I'd be curious to see a bar chart or something."

how's this? again, out of 277 albums total...

This Saturday, Beauty Bar with Joanie Mendenhall and Wendy Darling

2008-12-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

word. and if you are looking for some tunes in between now and then, i made a mix cd. high fives all around.

last friday, and beyond

2008-12-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

Ah, the warmth of wool-knit Ken Clubs. I forgot to bring my camera, but did not forget to bring cash for $3.50 vodka-tonics. And didn't forget to bring my roommates, who conveniently also brought money for more vodka-tonics, or "maybe not the best idea" as nixo called them. anyways, Silverleaf, you all were most excellent. while i'm quoting people, i'll stick with it, and include the recap of eric saying "man why couldn't i have wrote this song?"

and while i am pretty sure "written" is better grammar, it just doesn't fit the memory right, so there. and with the Heavy Love closing out the night? and you know we love any chance to drop in The Holiday Song (our holiday classic off the HTBH-precursor The Michael EP)! am i right?

anyways, speaking of beyond, Joanie Mendenhall is playing with us and Wendy Darling on the 20th at the Beauty Bar, which should also be super excellent. and we are confirmed for our first show of the New Year, 1/16/09 at the Ruby Room, with Swim Party, Team Abraham, and Gamma Gamma, in celebration of Jason's Birthday! booya!

the blizzard man

2008-12-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

will the blizzard man make a guest appearance on The Modlins' still-untitled album #3? only time will tell...

... but probably not...

fairwell Muslims, hello Soft Pack, hello Franz Ferdinand

2008-12-02T15:42:00.001-08:00

yes yes, its everywhere, the Muslims changed their name to The Soft Pack. and upon closer inspection, they are playing with Franz Ferdinand at Canes Bar & Grill on Monday December 15th, aka 2 weeks from yesterday. the last time I saw Franz Ferdinand was when they were promoting their last album. the former roommate and I were making an IKEA run trying to finish furnishing our previous apartment, and 91x was camped outside and offered free tickets. actually two pairs of tickets, one to the real show at sdsu, which we gave to the Rhanors, and one to a preview at the casbah. i don't think i'll be able to swing free tickets this time, but it should be a good show nonetheless.

with rocks like these

2008-11-28T00:37:00.000-08:00

this was my monday afternoon...

speaking of the New Album ....

2008-11-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

so since i mentioned yesterday that we've been busy working on the new album, i figured i'd give you all (all 4 of you, hi.) an update so to speak.

The songs themselves have been a mixed bag, ranging from our most downtempo, to our most lively. I personally have been listening to a lot of Neutral Milk Hotel, Arcade Fire and Wilco, while Matt's had The Beatles - Help!, Shout Out Louds, Shins in heavy rotation ... we've also been listening to local favorites The Exfriends and The Donkeys, as well. I think some sort of combination of these has started to shape the songs and sounds of the album while, of course, still staying in the confines of the "modlins sound". In addition, we've unearthed a few songs from the past. I, a song from a prior band, called "Monday Morning" (the song ... not the band) and matt unearthed one of the oldest songs we'd written together. we're talking about before we'd even made our first EP together. whether these songs will make it to the album, we'll wait and see, but they seem VERY promising.

So then, a few weeks back, our friend Mark came down and we headed over to Signature Sound to do yet another marathon recording session. We locked in about 5 more songs and along with the prior Signature Session, a Session in our living room, and one over at Lestat's to take advantage of their piano (it was consensual) ... that brings the working total of album potentials to ... 12?, not including 2 more songs that may or may not make the cut (still some writing and recording to do) .... so we'll see how it goes ...

(the control room)

we've been working fairly regularly at the house on trying different backup harmony ideas, percussion ideas ... most recently, i purchased a nord electro and it's been playing a key role in shaping some of the new material. so expect the keys to play a greater role in this new batch.

("how did that sound?")

if nothing else, we've been taking our time a bit more with this one rather than the previous ones that were more ".. and cut! Print It!" so hopefully it'll shine though. We're shooting for an early '09 release, so expect to see some some new material popping. Until then, we've got 2 more shows to round out the year, one coming up in a couple weeks, so hope to see you all out around the town. And lastly, if you or your loved ones haven't signed up for our mailing list send an e-mail to mailinglist [at] themodlins [dot] com and we'll get you on there. and if you haven't picked up a copy of our now Award Winning "With Friends Like These", you can do so on our website or at M-Theory Records in Mission Hills, Off-The-Record in North Park, or Music Trader in Pacific Beach. Thanks everyone for sticking with us.

(the view from the couch)

Friday Dec. 5th, Ken Club with The Heavy Love

2008-11-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

The holidays have been keeping us busy, what with a new album heavily in the works getting much of our precious time. ... so we've slapped together this flyer to remind you all that (1) we are still alive and (2) we've got a show to usher in the holiday season!!!

With our dear friends (and one roommate) The Heavy Love! ... you like motown? (and who doesn't) you gotta hit this show up. The Heavy Love play a great mix of oldies and motown covers and are Always a good time.

Of course, expect us to dust off a few of those seasonal hits (The Holiday Song from the Michael EP, anyone?) and a timely cover or two as well. Don't Miss out! The Modlins are coming ....

Green Flash 30th Street Pale Ale

2008-11-19T11:02:00.001-08:00

one more reason to love San Diego. from 6-10pm, free shuttle driving you all around 30th street to hit up bars and taste Green Flash's new brew, 30th Street Pale Ale. From Green Flash Brewing's mailinglist:

30th Street Pale Ale Released on 30th Street - Thursday November 20!!

30th Street Pale Ale was brewed for the Green Flash 6th Anniversary and is now being released on 30th Street. 30th Street Pale Ale was so named to recognized the proprietor’s commitment to local craft beer in this specific part of our fine city.

30th Street Pale Ale is a fine American Pale Ale that is well hopped while not being overly bitter. This balanced pale ale goes well with food and also drinks nicely a session ale.
To kick off the release of the 30th Street Pale Ale, Green Flash Brewing Co. and the establishments serving this fine ale have hired Brew Tours of San Diego to drive their tour bus up and down 30th Street as a complimentary hop-on/hop-off bus for 4 hours from 6PM to 10PM. Anyone who wishes to hop to another one of the other supporting establishments may hop on/off at any of the stops for the listed locations.

Where to enjoy 30th Street Pale Ale:
Jaynes Gastropub, Ritual Tavern, Toronado, Bar Pink, Urban Solace, The Linkery, Blue Foot Bar, Sea Rocket Bistro, Vagabond, Danger Abbey, Hamilton’s Tavern

Location: 30th Street from Hamilton’s Tavern to Jaynes Gastropub
Starts: 6:00 PM
Ends: 10:00 PM
Contact Email: chuck@greenflashbrew.com
Contact Phone: Chuck Silva - (760) 597-9012 x 302

http://www.greenflashbrew.com/

vampire friday

2008-11-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

sure halloween was two weeks ago, but hey, whatever. here's some Vampire Weekend for a weekend that may or may not contain vampires. actually, Twilight comes out in a next week, so i guess maybe i should wait til then, cause this doesn't really have anything to do with James Bond, unless maybe he goes to Cape Cod for the Quantum of Solace... i guess we'll find out tonight. and in the meantime...

i especially like the drum line accompaniment. which reminds me, just to give a quick peek of an update, we are withholding Modlin practice to continue focus on the still-unnamed (unless they named it without me) album #3. so to compensate for lack of real rock and roll, i bought Rock Band on tuesday night, and can now play pretty coherently on Hard Mode. also, i got a blister on my thumb. ooh, since my "Yes We Did" album title got vetoed, maybe The Modlins Blisters On Our Thumbs doesn't have such a bad ring to it...

Free Obama Sticker : Yes We Did

2008-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

no, not like he is being held captive, and we want him freed. more like, you get a sticker commemorating the W over W (ok, mccain, not dubya, but you get the idea). and the sticker is free.

sticker:

link : https://pol.moveon.org/shepstickers/?id=15080-10376390-oHdB1jx&t=5

my mom ordered one, and so should you.

This Friday, The Whistlestop, with The Donkeys

2008-11-05T14:44:00.001-08:00

word

more celebs ripping off The Modlins...

2008-10-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

We All Want Someone To Shout For posted a link to a leaked track 'Robocop' off Kanye West's upcoming 808's & Heartbreak, so i had to give it a listen, and even though Kanye himself says its "not even the finished version", i'd just like to point out Kanye's repeated singing "oh--okay, okay okay" clearly indicates Mr West's love of our similarly named track off With Friends Like These. or something.

this wednesday, Commune Wednesday, and yesterday?

2008-10-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

First...

The Modlins come to Commune Wednesdays - which bring local artists, designers, DJs, and musicians together on the last Wednesday of every month - and this month's will be at the Bar Pink, this Wednesday, with special guest dj's Buddy Akai. Check out jointhecommune.com for all the info, plus images and music from past months' Communes.

And just to keep all y'all updated, in other Modlins news, while the Chargers could not claim victory over the Saints yesterday, The Modlins CAN and DO claim victory over both another marathon 13 hour recording session, and another 5 songs laid down instrumentally for our next (yet to be named) recording endeavor. Yes, 5 more songs. So even though I grabbed the wrong backup to Steven Jackson at the last minute before running over to the studio, and Stoph looks to take his first L and end his undefeated-ness with Anquan Boldin fully recovered from a concussion but sitting on his bench, the day was still an overall win. Thanks again to Mark for driving down just for us, and as always to Deborah for manning the magic boards. My camera was out of batteries, so no in-studio pictures, but thats ok, right?

Happy Monday.

a Repost for Terrin Durfey

2008-10-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

If you don't know Terrin and his story, or even if you do, check out this link to SD:Dialed In for a brief history of Alex (of Swim Party) and his relationship with Terrin Durfey.

then try to make it out to one of these shows this week to help support Terrin:

Monday, Oct 20: The Belly Up, with Jon Foreman (switchfoot), Joanie Mendenhall, Years Around the Sun, Alex Woodward and Ryan Ferguson (ex Noknife), Sean O'Donnell (Reeve Oliver), Rob Machado, Dawn Mitschele, Molly Jenson, and more.

Wednesday, Oct 22: the Casbah, with Pinback and Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects.

Both shows are $25.00 and 21+

and if you can't make it to either show, forgo just 1 late night burrito this week and throw the change here. look at yourself. you don't need the burrito and terrin could use the support.

organic food and being vegetarian

2008-10-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

normally i reserve this blog for music items, specifically one's related to the modlins, but i just want to rant real quick, and they i'll get back to forgetting to update this blog. if there's one thing i hate, it's ignorant, close-minded people. just this weekend, i was given the unique privilege of encountering one of these fine folks. Without going into too much detail, this person, while i was buying some organic milk, said "Organic? whenever i see that word i say 'Organic? fuck that! i'm not buying that shit'"

why? honestly, i ask why? if his response was "with the dwindling economy, i can't afford to spend a little extra on a process that is free of pesticides and hormones" i'd say, well that's your choice, and we all have to make cut backs. but if it's because you associate organic with some sort of... of ... i dunno ... i honestly think this guy (and maybe i'm now being the judgemental one) thinks organic just means "health food" and this red-blooded, "meat and potatoes", American (who had just got back from dinner at Hooters, true story) would never be caught dead doing something so reasonable as purchasing, much less consuming, organic food.

That comment just struck a chord in me, so let me also just state for the record that i'm vegetarian. i've been for a few years now and another thing i hate is people who think i'm dumb for being vegetarian. i've come to tolerate the "how can you survive without <fill in favorite meat dish of your choice here>?", people are curious and i understand that. i don't try to force my values on people and really, it's just a personal choice. But some people see it as an attack on them, like i'm doing something wrong. I can't stand people who lecture me on how unhealthy it is and then they go on saying they refuse to eat vegetables cause they are gross. if i'm gonna have a shrunken brain when i'm 70 due to my high soy, b12 deficiency, at least i can laugh at you after your third triple bypass. so can we all agree that it's not wrong to not want to eat a dead animal? not that i'm saying it's wrong to eat one, i'm just saying it's not wrong not to want to.

and lastly, i'm voting for Obama.

Another Mans Treasure : Community Yard Sale

2008-10-08T10:04:00.001-07:00

Yes, its a super rad Community Yard Sale at 6th & Laurel in Balboa Park, this Sunday, October 12, from 9am - 4pm, with bands ready to rock you as you shop, brought to you by the most excellent San Diego House Parties girls. What bands, you ask? Oh ho ho! Try this on for size:

12pm : super secret awesome guests TBA
1pm : San Diego Music Awards' Best Hip Hop nominee : M-Double-A-L
2pm : another super secret TBA guest
3pm : The Modlins

and DJ Saul Q on the 1s and 2s (and 3s and 4s) in between the sets.

There's even a whole website for the event, if the flyer isn't enough. Check out www.frontandivy.com for even more info.

See you on Sunday Sunday Sunday!

makes me feel like it is monday morning

2008-10-06T09:44:00.001-07:00

If you didn't catch Saturday Night Live this (past) weekend, with Anne Hathaway, and musical guests The Killers, then you missed seeing San Diego's own Ray Suen hiding back behind bassist Mark Stoermer and a decent-sized wall of amps. I have tried for 20 minutes to find video footage online of them performing on the show, but the 2 clips on YouTube have embedding disabled per notices from NBC themselves, and NBC's inept SNL website only has the actual sketches from the show. So if you want to watch the hour of those clips in order to get the 3 laughs out of it, go for it, but otherwise, just imagine yourself watching The Killers + Ray Suen, and you'll save an hour and a half of your life.

In other Modlin-related celebrity news, Jessica Simpson appears to have stolen one of Matt's song ideas, with her latest single "Come On Over". I'm not saying that there has been a new Modlins song in the works for a few months now, which may or may not have been titled something along the lines of "Won't You Come On Over Here". I'm not saying that Jessica Simpson and Modlins' Matt Sheridan may or may not have some predestined connection, especially after the Chicken of the Sea incident.

All that I am saying is that it is 10 am on Monday Morning.

Do you know where your coffee is?

update: thanks, WeAllWantSomeoneToShoutFor :

killers 2nd song, Spaceman.

oh ben folds

2008-10-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

oh ben folds, why must your tour go from Tempe, AZ to SF to LA to wherever "The Haugue" is? i'm pretty sure "The Haugue" is not in San Diego. and while we are at it, why can't you tell me when you are going to be on Conan? totally had time to catch that after catching Secret Apollo at the Ken last night, but no. and so what if i did just repost this video as posted on stereogum. happy friday.

update: here's the text message i just sent to my sister:

Hey did you buy the new Ben Folds album? Also can you tell me how to get to your house? Also, hi!

we're in the reader!

2008-09-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

not sure what page of the print version its on, but the article is online here. i don't remember offering to trade cans of PBR in exchange for people carrying our equipment, but then that doesn't sound much like something i wouldn't say, either, so it probably happened.

and just a friendly reminder from your neighborhood modlins : we are playing at the Adams Ave Street Fair, appearing on sunday at 1:15pm at the "Rock Stage" on adams & 33rd. see you there?

Best Pop Album!

2008-09-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

It's official! As of about 8:05pm last night, With Friends Like These is officially the Best Pop Album in San Diego. Or, at least, at that time, we won the San Diego Music Award for Best Pop Album released between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008. Woohoo!

Just to reiterate some thanks, now that I am more or less finished with my state of shock (there was some stiff competition): we'd like to thank Deborah Reeves for recording the album, Kyle Thompson www.engineerkyle.com for mixing and mastering, Patrick Hruby patariku.deviantart.com for the most excellent artwork, Renny Rhanor for the always wonderful photography, and all the bands we have become great friends with (see our myspace top friends). All of this was only possible... with friends like these?

If you have yet to pick up your own copy of With Friends Like These, never fear! The album is still available through iTunes and PayPal, and at local San Diego Music Trader, mTheory, and Lou's Records (I think)

To think that, earlier yesterday afternoon, Stoph was like "should we even wear the suits if its just the two of us?" to which I replied "if we weren't wearing suits, they might not believe that we are The Modlins." good call on my part? and matt and eric, you picked a heck of a two weeks to vacation.

and as a footnote, watch out for the yet-to-be-titled Modlin Album #3, tentatively due in early '09!

beta lion makes me feel lazy, and then

2008-09-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

all we've ever done to promote shows is make posters, and tell people about it, and hold hostage the things they love so they are forced to come to shows. but never have we made a promo video youtube awesome power rangers white ranger spectacular spectacular. you win this round, beta lion. Back II Cool, 4th & B (San Diego), Sept. 20th, 2008, $10 or free if you donate a backpack.

and on a completely unrelated note, i was listening to music at lala.com and stumbled upon this Shine album by Estelle, and just wanted to point out that its funny that she decided through in a few lines covering The Exfriends' "Hey Maria". or something.

if only i had an exfriends Hey Maria video to put up here as well... oh well... see you tonight at the Belly Up?

a picture with 36 words

2008-09-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

while updating my 30boxes calendar with as many new upcoming shows and events and goodness that i could find, i stumbled across this picture on The Vision...'s 'space page:

explaining the relationships and interminglings of the Vision / Paddle Boat / Scarlet Symphony / Charles Musket / Black Mamba / Jamuel Saxon / Red Feathers collective, known as Zombies and Pirates.

now if i could get one of those for the Squiddo / Wild Weekend / Like A Bird / Baja Bugs group...

if we were to make a diagram for the Modlins and sideprojects, it might look something like this:

or not. but that picture was taken at the San Diego Sports Club, which is conviently where we'll be playing on thursday night. so it all ties together, right?

fm 94/9 , copying our idea, making me go back to the Belly Up

2008-08-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe not totally copying our idea, because our idea is that on thursday the 4th, 3 bands play their 3 SDMA-nominated albums in their entireties. And the FM 94/9 deal doesn't say anything about album entirety, just a night of friggin sweet rock and roll excellence. yea. what if i were to tell you that on Wednesday September 10th, you could Modlin friends Swim Party (Best Alternative nominee) AND Apes of Wrath (Best Alt Album nominee), plus Arm The Angels (nominated for Best Hard Rock + Best Rock Album), all for just $5? Might that be something you'd be interested in? Word. Get your tickets ahead of time here, and 50 cents of your $5 ticket will go tot he San Diego Music Foundation and the About the Music fund. Double word score. Also keeps up the streak of Alex (me) only goes to the Belly Up when Swim Party plays there. Triple word score. Well done, boys, well done.

3 SDMA nominated BEST POP ALBUMS!!! ONE NIGHT ONLY!!!

2008-08-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

if ATP can have their "don't look back" series, well ... san diego can do one for SDMA nominated albums. expect this to be an unforgettable night.

new poster, new word, more shows

2008-08-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

first:

thats this upcoming Tuesday, as in a week from today, at Cafe La Maze. as always, expect all your Modlins favorites, plus lesser-played songs as well, that you know and love from the albums, but sometimes don't make it in to live shows otherwise, but you still know and love from the albums, right? or something. also, this time, there just might be a little something something that you've never heard The Modlins do before. will it be a whole set without Eric breaking a string? will Stoph sing the whole set on his own, as the other modlins recover from laringitis? does anyone know how to spell laringitis? who knows. all i can say, is nothing

which brings us to point number two. a new word! when you try and picture something in your mind, without actually seeing it, you visualize it, right? so what about if you try and listen to something, without actually hearing it?

audiolize!

and on that note, more shows! Friday Sept 5th, Modlins have the distinct pleasure of playing with our friends Loverlee at the Knitting Factory in LA, as part of a night of awesome in honor of Justin Riner's Bday.

(i think we're the "& More")

Justin is the drummer from Loverlee, he likes sunsets and long walks in the dark, and he is getting older. i think. the show is ALL AGES, so bring your kid sisters, and your parents, because lets face it, we love you all, but those are some demographics just waiting and ready for a dose of Modlin. right? i think i'm rambling too much. also working out final details for another San Diego show very very soon, so yes.

and if i can figure out how to get pictures off my cell phone (forgot the actual camera at the 12 hour studio session last sunday), we'll get some of that up as well. happy tuesday!

Benefit For Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

2008-08-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

So our friends are doing Team In Training and will be running a full marathon in October to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We're trying to help them raise money, so we've organized a special show next saturday (8/16) at The Radio Room (ex-Zombie Lounge). Our good friends, The Roman Spring, along with the amazing alt-folk band Hellow Sunshine (feat. members of Crash Encore) will be playing. it's only $5 to get in and all proceeds from the door go to benefit this cause. in addition, there will be a raffle, and plenty of other good greatness (or is it great goodness?) It all goes down Saturday August 16th, at 9pm. So please come out to support their cause and catch a great show.

Friends Like These .... the FM 94/9 Recommended!!!

2008-08-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

remember all those CD release shows we were telling you about? well, looks like our good friend Tim Pyles at 94/9 dug them too ... dug them so much in fact that EVERY SINGLE ALBUM is an FM 94/9 Recommended! and 3 out of 4 of these albums are nominated for best album awards!! (i'm guessing secret apollo didn't make the 6/30 deadline.... expect to see it next year for an SDMA though)

Let's Recap:

Matt Curreri and The Exfriends - "Joy of Life"
- 2008 SDMA "Best Pop Album" Nominee

Joanie Mendenhall - "On a String"
- 2008 SDMA "Best Pop Album" Nominee

Swim Party - "Pixie Dust on the Blood Range"
- 2008 SDMA "Best Alternative Album" Nominee

Secret Apollo - "Hiding Something Great"
- 2009 SDMA "Album of the Year" Nominee*

*this hasn't been confirmed, but i'm sure it'll be true in a year.

what does this mean? well sheesh. if you haven't already, you should be "doing the right thing" and be picking up a copy of each of these albums online or through your local independent record store. And of course picking up a copy of SDMA "best pop album" nominee With Friends Like These from our website.

Also, props to Apes of Wrath's "Plastic Fake and Frozen" for a 2008 SDMA "Best Alternative Album" Nomination. we played their CD release show for this record back in March. We were excited to have been a part of that day, and now continuing to see this bad boy succeed.

so what should you keep your precious eyes peeled for next? keep em tuned to the whistlestop for a double-header of release shows:

Aug 22nd - The Donkeys "Living on the Other Side" CD Release show - check it!
Aug 29th - Writer "Blood Drops" CD Release Show - 2008 SDMA "Best New Artist" Nominee

yeah, you bet those are going to KILL!!! damn, i love san diego!

SDMA nod, album number three ...

2008-08-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

what a great weekend .... on saturday the nominees for the 2008 San Diego Music Awards were announced, and the "little-engine-that-could" album "With Friends Like These" was nominated for Best Pop Album. Two for Two! if you forgot, "Here's To Being Happy" (our first album) was nominated for Best Pop Album in 2007 (side note: though both came out in 2007, HTBH came out in early 07 and WFLT came out in late 07 so they were in different groups. cut off each award group is the end of june)

We're really honored to be choosen and even more honored considering the competition (i mean, Exfriends "Joy of Life" and Joanie's "On a String" sheesh ... stiff competition) the complete list can be found at Street. congrats also to Swim Party for "best Alternative album." ... they've got some damn tough competition too.

so, how does a band celebrate releasing two albums last year, both being nominated for SDMAs in their respective years? with our first recording session for the as-yet-untitled follow-up to WFLT (aka Album #3). our dear friend and sound engineer for our last album, Deborah Reeves, came over to house for a more "D.I.Y." approach to everything. we ran through 4 new songs which may or may not make the final cut. it was a fun and long day filled with plenty of music, friends, bbqing and beer. i would include a few pictures, but blogger is being difficult, so looks like they'll have to wait.

instead, i'll remind you that if you haven't already picked up a copy of "With Friends Like These" you can do so by following the "buy now" link on our website: http://www.themodlins.com/ or at M-Theory Records in Mission Hills, Music Trader in PB, or Off The Record in North Park.

here's a link to the official SDMA site, you know, just cause: http://www.sandiegomusicawards.com/

UPDATE!! here's those pictures i was talking about:

You Said on YouTube!

2008-08-01T10:02:00.001-07:00

oh yes! today is the day! our first ever official Modlins' Music Video, for the track 'You Said' off our latest With Friends Like These, is aliiiive, on YouTube. Extra super special thanks to the one and only Adam Shaw for directing, lighting, filming, editing, and all other types of -ing's as well. Not that you don't already know, but still, he is (at least?) 1/3rd of Secret Apollo, and they are playing the Whistlestop tonight for the CD Release for their new album, Hiding Something Great. but we are done hiding this music video (wow that transition was rougher than i thought it would be), so check it out, tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your frienemies, The Modlins, You Said

update : eric was like "isn't vimeo better quality? how do we get it on that?" so here it is from there as well. overkill? maybe. happy friday!

The Modlins - You Said (Official Video)

91x Loudspeaker : vote for Frantic Romantic?

2008-07-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

taking my 5 minute break from the office whip, i wound up at 91x Loudspeaker's page, and saw that our buddies in The Frantic Romantic are up for the Showcase Of The Month voting, for their song Back Again, which you can listen to on that Loudspeaker page. they are competing against Problems by Buddy Akai, and Size Matters by Stripes and Lines, so go vote for them, because if anything, it'll waste 2 minutes (91 seconds? (eh? eh?)) of your day, as well.

with shakes like these

2008-07-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

no, not milkshakes. although that does sound good right now. maybe i should go eat lunch before blog posting... anyways, 5.4 outside of Chino, good times. almost rocked me as hard as The Casbah last night. yea, you like that transition? i thought so. pictures, and possibly video evidence, to come later this evening, but in the meantime, just a quick shoutout thanks to everyone who came to see us last night, which included, but was not limited to, all the guys from Swim Party, Roxy Jones, Joanie Mendenhall, the most excellent Cafe La Maze crew, Stoph's brother Tom (visiting from the ILLinois), and 4 out of the 5 irish guys who are spending their summer living in the apartment next to mine. and a huge thanks to Apes of Wrath, The Happy Hollows, Eef Barzelay, Tim Pyles the maxmister master of ceremonies, my roommates who got home from Vegas at 3am Monday morning but still stuck it out, all the other ladies, and everyone else who stayed through the whole show. It was a bit of a late Monday night, but what a great one!

We're getting ready to log a few more hours in various studios, as we are jealous of all these other bands with their CD Release shows left and right, but in the meantime, see you Friday at the Whistlestop, and hopefully, at the Ken Club later that night!

Anti-Monday League @ Casbah, July 28th

2008-07-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: looks like this will be our 100th show as the 4 piece modlins you've come to know and love so well!!! come out and wish us well!!!

we've got a casbah show next week. it's really good.

w/
Apes of Wrath (SD)
- www.apesofwrathmusic.com/

The Happy Hollows (LA)
- http://thehappyhollows.blogspot.com/
- http://www.myspace.com/thehappyhollows

Eef Barzlay (formerly of Clem Snide - Nashville/Brooklyn)
- http://hypem.com/search/eef%20barzelay/1/
- http://www.myspace.com/eefbarzelay

party like a superhero

2008-07-16T10:22:00.001-07:00

You, your super friends, and even your arch-villains are all invited to attend the “SuperHero” Exhibit! Party along with us during San Diego’s International ComicCon! Live music [The Modlins], DJs [SSI], and great finger foods and sushi will be featured along with Effen Vodka drinks, spicy house guests, and overall good times.

When is this you ask? Thursday, July 24, 7 P.M. to Midnight. This is a great way to start off the ComicCon for what is certain to be a super weekend of art, movies, Godzilla, costumes, gaming, amine, and even more parties.

“SuperHero” is a celebration of the popular arts, great friends, and creative opportunities, brought to you by your pals here at Ninthlink and Murphy Design. Numerous artists who have traveled from around the globe to attend the ComicCon will be in the spotlight at “SuperHero,” along with many, many fans of pop art and culture.

Featured artworks will celebrate the theme of the “SuperHero.” Attending guests may commemorate the theme in costume if they wish.

We’d love to see what superhero and popular character costumes and outfits you have!

Where is this happening, you ask? Only one mile away from the San Diego Convention Center, at the Warehouse Space located at 1616 National Avenue, San Diego 92113.

There is no cost for this event—yes, that means FREE! Cash bars will be available.
Live Music from The Modlins and SSI. 21 and over please! Sorry, no small children with the folks permitted due to the serving of spirits during this event.

Featured Artists will Include:
Anthony Lister + Jeff Soto + Joel Nakamura + Jen Lobo + Matt Stallings + Luke Chueh + Mark Todd + Esther Pearl Watson + Martha Rich + R.G. + Peter Taylor (Handmade Feet) + Andy Howell + Kathie Olivas + Chris Ryniak + Lola + Germs + Marco Wagner + Mark Murphy and many more. All artwork is available for acquisition!

Directions from the Convention Center:
Start by going SOUTHEAST on WEST HARBOR DRIVE toward SALIDA LOOP.
Turn LEFT onto SIGSBEE ST.
Turn LEFT onto NATIONAL AVENUE.
End at 1616 National Ave San Diego, CA 92113.

Sponsored by Effen Vodka, HiFructose, Ninthlink, Murphy Art Books.

North By North Park (NXNP)

2008-07-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Year in and year out it seems the same gripe: lack of a solid san diego music scene or some other nonsense. but anyone who goes out knows that's not the case. Case in point, NXNP Festival on Sat Aug 2nd. A single day of workshops and local showcases that truly gives all those other "something by something" festivals a run for their money.

first off, if you buy your ticket today it's only $12.50 (goes up to $15 tomorrow, and $20 day of). compare that to travel costs and festival tickets of say, SXSW ... well ... it's not even the same ballpark.

second, the workshops. They've lined up an impressive list of workshops covering everything from touring and record deals to marketing and music licenses. check out the full list here.

third, the showcases. over a 100 acts at 14 venues around uptown San diego. it's an insanely good local lineup featuring many great bands and friends. And to top it all off, they are offering a shuttle service! check out the full list of bands and venues here.

I just picked up a ticket and i highly recommend you should as well. if you have any interest in music, you should go here to register. see you at the registration table!

Cafe La Maze, Tomorrow Night!!!

2008-07-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

after the success of the last couple shows down at Cafe La Maze, we've going to be doing a once-a-month "residency" down there as part of their live music tuesday nights. the next date happens to be tomorrow (tues july 15th), so roll on down to national city tomorrow night and catch the mods in action.

we've also been getting some feedback saying "oh that's cool, but i'm not really big into steaks." or "we don't really go out to eat much" ... well fret not my dears, for th' Maze has much more to offer than good grub. ever heard of alcohol? they've got it. and cheap too. it's a nice place to sit down, kick back, and enjoy the sweet tunes while sippin' on the sweet nectar of the gods. would we lie?

if case you forgot about cafe la maze and our past shows there check out here, here, here and here.

from yelp, photo by merrily c.

the double double

2008-07-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

looks like friday just got more complicated as well : already mentioned Vision of a Dying World / Scarlet Symphony / Thin Man casbah , but didn't know about Writer / The Howls / Lisa The Lush ken club free show. well, not really free because you know you're gonna buy at least a couple PBRs. or maybe thats just me. what to do, what to do...

with weeks like these

2008-07-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

sd: dialed in has the massive listings for this week, but since matt called me yesterday as i was in the frozen aisle of vons (ben n jerry's Neopolitan Dynamite is like Half Baked 2.awesome), i figured i'd post the ones i had picked out, and make the claim that this is a highly Modlin-recommended week.

wed 7/9 : Exfriends CD Release @ the Belly Up w/ Escalera, Stripes and Lines
thur 7/10 : by now you should be able to be in two places at once (sidenote, not sure if that sounds more like an album name, or a shoegaze-y band) : Sayvinyl / Swedish Models (cd release) / sideproject from Apes of Wrath @ the Beauty Bar, and Calico Horse / Silverbird / Japanese Sunday / The Focus Group - fundraiser for Demetrius Antuna @ the Casbah
fri 7/11 : Vision of a Dying World / Scarlet Symphony / Thin Man @ casbah
sat 7/12 : maybe not 4 out of 4 modlin recommended, but hey, i'll be there: Stay Classy tailgate gets you into the padres game as well. gotta do what you gotta do.
sun 7/13 : Red Pony Clock / The Donkeys / Shearwater @ the casbah
mon 7/14 : Joanie Mendenhall CD Release anti monday league + The Fascination, The Feeling's Mutual, The Valley Arena @ the casbah
tues 7/15 : The Modlins @ Cafe La Maze . word.
wed 7/16 : Frantic Romantic + more @ u31 ?

grand total : 8 days, 8 concerts. as eric said last practice, maybe we can just get some sort of week-long pass for the casbah...

pop arazzi

2008-06-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Her Political Heart @ the Beauty Bar 06.20.08, posted by youtuber "sknook". whoever you are, rock, rock on

the ratatat cometh

2008-06-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

new album LP3 out on the 8th, same day as Beck's Modern Guilt, same day as Best Buy beats me in the Battle of who gets to keep my $20. but also, friday september 12th, which just might be the anniversary of one of the Modlins entering this world (which, you ask? all i'll say is, when he greeted the doctors for the first time, they had never seen a more glorious beard) ... ack, now i lost my train of thought. anyways, friday september 12th, ratatat, house of blues downtown san diego. and now, some Mirando:

great success

2008-06-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

ah cafe la maze, you have yet to disappoint. granted the waiter wasn't too excited when i tried to order the "la maze cut", but mispronounced it, and, well, yea. and the two stone ipa's there, plus the two from downtown bareback grill happy hour after they evacuated my building ( you hear sirens coming down Broadway, and then the loudspeaker comes on saying "this is not a drill. evacuate now. only use the stairs on the west side of the building" ) , made for even more of a good time. and i was passed out within minutes of getting home. thanks to everyone who came down to national city on a tuesday night. look for more modlins ala la maze in upcoming months!

and now, for your wednesday pleasure, an arm :

tomorrow : cafe la maze : 103 vs 98

2008-06-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

i wish i had some fancy flier to post, but i am swamped elsewhere, so this is it for now. maybe we can throw together a very modlins photoshoot (whatever that means) in between sets tomorrow night at cafe la maze. which is a great segue for me to talk about that : tomorrow night : modlins : cafe la maze. i don't even have time to do more than repost how solid the place is, but what i can do is give a little glimpse of what goes on in the land of daily modlin email chains...

stoph commented that he counted up our shows, and the Chasers' show was our 100th show. being the way i am, i had to go count for myself, and pointed out that, while Chasers' is indeed the 100th show posted there, The Modlins were not the 4 piece we are today until i joined up with the other 3 at the Whistlestop 05/15/05 show. so while tomorrow is the 103rd show Matt & Eric have played together, it is only our 98th show as the four Modlins, making the Casbah Anti-Monday League awesomeness at the end of July our 99th, and leaving Show #100 TBD, most likely sometime in August. maybe a birthday present to me? who knows.

islands today, modlins tomorrow!

2008-06-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

yes, tonight, at least 50% of the modlins will most likely be in mira mesa, at the epicentre, to see The Islands. Arm's Way, and their first Return To The Sea, have both been Modlins' listening choices of the past, and i, for one, am excited.

and speaking of excitement...

of all the shows going on tomorrow night, i personally guarantee that this one will be THE one ... at the beauty bar ... with us, and some other people (Lemon Sun before and Get Back Loretta after, i think) who aren't us. which is all you can really ask for, these days. and i mean, at the Death Cab show, are you going to be able to hear such Modlin classics as "Matt and Alex lovingly insult each other" , or the latest single, "Alex attempts awkward smalltalk while Matt and Eric tune their guitars" ? yea, i didn't think so. we've really been practicing that last one too, so you know this'll be a good one.

and now, i think i'm going to go get a haircut, and maybe, a sandwich!

wolf parade!

2008-06-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

if you haven't read / heard / whatever already, wolf parade's new album, At Mount Zoomer, which comes out tomorrow, is all up on their myspace page. which might mean absolutely nothing to you if your place of work blocks such things (sorry eric), or generally frowns upon listening to music off myspace pages (sorry matt and stoph and roommie zak). and might mean very little if you are in the education field and already on summer vacation and, as such, not stuck in front of a computer for the remaining 6 hours of today (sorry arlene, and sisters). but to the rest of us, monday just got a lot better. so there.

Septh 19th-21st weekend ....

2008-06-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

here's looking at the short list of your options.

- Street Scene (SD), Sept 19th & 20th -

Beck, The Black Crowes, Justice, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The National, Nortec Collective presents Bostich + Fussible, Spoon, TV on The Radio, Cat Power, Hot Chip, Tegan and Sara, The New Pornographers, X, Vampire Weekend, The Hives, Atmosphere, Cold War Kids, Ghostland Observatory, Spiritualized, Antibalas, Man Man, The Mother Hips, Tokyo Police Club, DeVotchKa, The Night Marchers, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Del The Funky Homosapien, Eagles of Death Metal, Foals, The Muslims, Dengue Fever, MGMT, Sea Wolf, West Indian Girl, Chester French

pros: $75 for two days, that's pretty damn good.
cons: if you've been hitting up these artist shows that have been coming around, and have hit up a festival or two, you've probably seen 95% of these bands. so really, you're going to this show to the The Black Crowes and Atmosphere.

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- Treasure Islands Festival (SF), Sept 20th & 21st -

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20
Justice, TV on the Radio, Goldfrapp, Hot Chip, CSS, Antibalas, Aesop Rock, Amon Tobin, Foals, Mike Relm,Nortec Collective: Bostich + Fussible, Chester French

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21
The Raconteurs, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, Spiritualized, Okkervil River, Tokyo Police Club, The Kills, Dr. Dog, John Vanderslice, The Dodos, Fleet Foxes

con: $115 - limited number of two days. $40 more, for less bands ... but they did some pretty nice work with Dr. Dog and Okkervil river, no surprise hometown favs the dodos are playing. i really like them, but does it bother anyone else that their song "winter" is a complete rip off of the magnetic fields "born on a train"?
pros:at least these guys had this lineup secured (or at least posted) well in advance ... perhaps the Street Scene folks saw this lineup, just booked all the same people they could, and then just added a few more they'd read about in blogs? or as catdirt put it... the hype machine top 20.

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and hopefully you weren't lured in by the "shiny ball" that is the hollywood bowl for the:

Sept 17th - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Spiritualized, Cat Power (cause you're seeing Nick Cave at 4th and B right?)
Sept 20th - Beck, Spoon, MGMT (ouch! sorry Al)

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as previously stated, i'll be headed to upstate NY for ....

- All Tomorrow's Parties, NY 2008, Sept 19th-21st -

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH - DON'T LOOK BACK
THURSTON MOORE PERFORMING PSYCHIC HEARTS »
TORTOISE PERFORMING MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE »
MEAT PUPPETS PERFORMING MEAT PUPPETS II »
BUILT TO SPILL PERFORMING PERFECT FROM NOW ON »

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH - CHOSEN BY ATP
FUCK BUTTONS »
LOW »
GROWING »
EDAN WITH GUEST DAGHA »
SHELLAC »
THEE SILVER MOUNT ZION ORCHESTRA »
THE DRONES »
POLVO »
WOODEN SHJIPS »
HARMONIA »
OM »
AUTOLUX »
APSE »

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21ST - CHOSEN BY MY BLOODY VALENTINE
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
DINOSAUR JR. »
LILYS »
YO LA TENGO »
MERCURY REV »
MOGWAI »
LE VOLUME COURBE »

and still more to be announced!! i'm also hoping that Sigur Ros will be joining this bills. check it:

they are in NY the 17th and 18th, boston the 19th, montreal the 20th. nothing set for the 21st, on my bloody valentine's day, they'll be kicking it around the upperwest of north america, and they ain't going to far cuase they've got chicago on the 24th. come on guys, take one for the team.
so in short, local bands - "don't book anything over this weekend. it's a lost cause."

SD Album Release Shows acomin' ...

2008-06-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

albums are like babies to musicians ... one passionate night of writing and there's no turning back, a few weeks thinking about what you've done, fear of things going wrong, the hard work, preparing for it's arrival ...

i don't have a baby, so it's probably nothing like it, but it's as close as i can get right now (kinda like passing a kidney stone is the closest i could come to giving birth) ... but it's an important time for us. and we want to share what we've done with everyone.

there's been quite a few albums i've been anticipating, and it appears they're all gonna get dropped on our collective laps in a whirlwind of release shows. ready?

July 9th, The Belly Up - Matt Curreri and The Exfriends - "Joy of Life"
July 14th, Casbah - Joanie Mendenhall - "On a String"
July 25th, Whistlestop - Swim Party - "Pixie Dust on the Blood Range"
Aug 1st, Whistlestop - Secret Apollo - ... i dunno what it's titled, but it'll be good, promise

damn. and i know the guys in Writer are putting the finishing touches on their new one, and i hear The Donkeys have an album in the works as well .... so i'm really glad we don't have all that to compete with. and thank you to all of them for coordinating so we could actually catch each show. that makes it easier.

brought to you by the letter B

2008-06-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure why, but in followup to my apparently-letter-A-sponsored Art Around Adams post, this one is brought to you by the letter B. seems like the letter B is, um, the bee's knees right about now. Beer starts with the letter B. Beards start with the letter B, and even though eric shaved his a bit ago, i'd say that the ghost of it still lingers (ha). at the Beauty Bar last thursday, following our Frantic Romantic buddies, Sayvinyl was sporting at least a couple of nice beards themselves, even if they only got 5 songs before Marshall made them clear out to keep the Annuals on schedule. but thats another story, one in which i got their God Forbid and am not regretting that purchase, but still, back to the letter B.

while eric has a few posts for the beloved Broken Social Scene, i'll attempt to hold my own with the B's. First: Beck! If you haven't heard/seen/read, there is a July 8th release date for Modern Guilt, and still lots of anticipation (by me) for him at SF Outside Lands (with tons more awesome) and the Hollywood Bowl (with Spoon and MGMT) in the upcoming months. useless me trivia : Beck, on his Midnite Vultures -era tour, was the first show i saw in ucsd's RIMAC arena, 8 years ago, two years prior to my move down to America's Finest City.

and more letter B news : tonight, our Boyish Charms friends are set to play back to back nights, tonight at the Beauty Bar, opening for The Submarines, and tomorrow at the Habitat, with Manuok, which could make for one heck of a double-header, with Apes of Wrath and Scarlet Symphony also at the Beauty Bar later tomorrow night.

and, speaking of the Apes of Wrath, and not the letter B, but now, the letter C, i'll take this time to announce the exciting Modlins news : mark your calendars : Monday July 28th : The Modlins return to The Casbah as part of Tim Pyles' Anti-Monday League, along with The Apes of Wrath, and our friends in The Happy Hollows. word.

Broken Social Scene, HOB - Friday, Aug 22nd

2008-06-12T10:38:00.001-07:00

okay.... looks like Cali's got a weekend of BSS on there hands. which starts in our city!! i'm probably bailing on the sunset junction show now (but you LA folks best not miss it) ... but Broken Social Scene is playing the House of Blues (HOB presented by the Casbah) on Friday August 22nd. tickets go on sale tomorrow morning here (or drive down to the venue to avoid some of the service charges) ... more details here.

Broken Social Scene playing Sunset Junction, Aug 23rd

2008-06-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

i make it known that Broken Social Scene is one of my favorite bands. last time i saw them was with the Spirit If ... tour under the watchful eye of pseudo-leader Kevin Drew back in Oct in LA. well, it's already been too long, and when the SF date was announced for OutsidelandsFest, i jumped on ... (how could you not with a bill that also had Wilco, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, etc)

well, looks like BSS got the best of me, as they are now also playing Sunset Junction up in LA on August 23rd (the day before) check out the schedule here. tickets are only $15!!!! pick up some on ticketweb. also playing that day, Happy Hollows, Castledoor, Radars to the Sky ... all hip bands from the LA scene ....

we're working on remedying Happy Hollows getting bumped off our Beauty Bar bill w/ Get Back Loretta .... so look for an upcoming show with us and them in the near future.

and if you haven't heard ... some unmastered version of the new BSS album "something for all of us...", fronted by Brendan Canning, was leaked and he was bummed about that, so you can now purchase the whole album for download on their website, just go here.

art around adams

2008-06-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

another post mostly for my own good, but

http://www.artaroundadams.org/performance.htm

if you haven't seen it, some good stuff on there. apes of wrath @ the ken @ 2:10pm, with echo revolution thereafter, and team abraham after them. predicates @ "smitty's service" at 4:35. anna troy band at lestats around 6pm, and the might that can only be described as Secret Apollo back at the ken at 6:30pm. what a saturday. wham bam bamina. just hoping i can recover from the casbah night tonight early enough to get to my grandparents' house early enough tomorrow AM to eat lunch quick enough to get to adams ave by 2... keeping fingers crossed...