5.5 years later...

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

... 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!

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...

... 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!

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 !

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

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!!

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...

Farewell Show & 2 New Albums

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)

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

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

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

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...

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

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?

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

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!

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

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

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...