Sezio: Live At Luce Loft- Demasiado & Calico Horse

Sezio.org (why do I always want to type Sexio? Freudian slip?) posted some more videos this week from the Live At Luce Loft Series. These are from Saturday, the 4th night of the 5 night series, featuring Demasiado & Calico Horse. Check it out.

Demasiado

Demasiado from david pettijohn on Vimeo.

Calico Horse

Calico Horse - New Years from david pettijohn on Vimeo.

They have really great reviews, photos, and more video of the series and more on the Sezio site. Check it out here.

Casbah Photos: Demasiado, 1.6.09

I've been trying to take pictures for the Casbah shows, but some nights it gets a little crazy behind the merch booth. Other nights I can't get anywhere near the stage because the shows have been so crowded and many of them sold out, but I'm loving this gig. I did have the pleasure of catching some of the show on the 6th which featured Earthless, Hostile Combover, Demasiado, and Nightmares. It was a great rock show and all of the bands are the kind that other musicians love.

Here are some pics of Demasiado.

Anti-Monday: demasiado, Prize Country, Loom

I completely intended to go to the Belly Up for Cary Brothers last night. I did. My car was pinging and I decided to stay home and try and get back on a normal person's sleep schedule, so instead, I stayed in and missed the show. boo.

I did, however, go to the Anti-Monday League show at the Casbah and wanted to post some pics.

When I got there on Monday, I just missed Ricksha. It had been a couple weeks since I ventured to the Casbah, so there was some catching up with friends and whatnot before Loom took the stage.

I'd call there music rhytmic hardcore. Heavy drums and guitar and bass, but with the beautiful layer of a violin adding to their sound. They're from Salt Lake City and I thouroughly enjoyed their set. The three guys up front alternated in vocals, and while the one looked like he had some sort of korg or something, I think it was really just a bunch of knobs and controls to handle their various lighting effects, which made snapping a photo at just the right moment, even just a point and shoot with flash, a little bit of a challenge.









I liked the band so much, I headed to check out their merch. They had American Apparel shirts for $15, always a plus because I know exactly how the shirts will fit, and for $20 included the shirt, all the CDs, some pins and stickers. Deal. The funny thing is that my shirt has been hanging at my kitchen table the last couple days and there's some scent on in or something that my cat LOVES, because he keeps pulling the shirt to the floor, wrestling it, and kinda humping it, despite the fact that he's fixed.

Prize Country was second and were more standard hardcore variety. Aggressive and driving music that reminded me of the bands I was into in high school. They were from Portland. I was fascinated by one of the guys tattoos. I think it has to be one of the coolest ones I've seen lately; a lot of it was Japanese inspired with gisha girls and then some zombies, and then some geisha zombies, but the one I liked was a cherry blossom the scrolls from his waist to his neck with a bird (raven?) perched on it.



I also noticed the tattoo on this guy's neck. It says "Booba" which he told me was his nickname for his wife, but with a cat named Boo, I made sure to capture it, too.





Both bands were super cool and hung around in the patio all night, chatting and hanging out with everyone.

Local boys demasiado finished up the night. When I think about them, I always know I like seeing them, but then I hear them again and get blown away. Where does that voice come from? Then there's all the running around and hiding and just stage antics that you cannot look away.











Suffice it to say, it was a great night and I'm glad I didn't miss it. There was an after party near my house. In this case, the rest of the night was NFB, but it involved looking for a lost dog, more drinks at my house, walking my dog at 4 am, hitting the taco shop, and other random shit that meant I didn't get to sleep until after 7 am. I have got to stop acting like I'm still in college.

I'm off to the zoo with my sister and my niece today, going with my mom to the INXS show at Harrah's tomorrow (yeah, you know you watched Rock Star: INXS!!), hopefully getting some Crowded House tickets for Friday, then Saturday will be the Southern Comfort Music Experience. Awesome.

Monday Newsy Bits: Demasiado; the Shambles & Anna Troy;

So much MySpace stuff this weekend, so I'm gonna just repost some of the bulletins I saw as noteworthy; some of them will warrant their own posts:

From the band Demasiado (sorry for the Caps, I just cut & pasted):

Normally we are prideful gentlemen, but...
Body: WE ARE IN A BIND. . . PLEASE KEEP READING.

ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THIS BAND WAS JUST INVOLVED IN A VERY BAD CAR ACCIDENT... HE IS ALRIGHT I GUESS BUT UNFORTUNATELY OUR TOUR VAN IS NOT...

NOW WE HAVE NO WAY TO GET TO TEXAS WHERE WE WILL BE PLAYING A SOLD OUT SHOW WITH 30 FOOT FALL. THIS IS A RARE LIVE PERFORMANCE AND MANY WILL BE THERE. MOST IMPORTANTLY THE 1000 KIDS THAT WILL FILL FITZGERALDS TO SEE THIS SHOW SADDENS US TO THINK THAT WE WILL NOT BE THERE FOR THEM.

PLEASE GO TO OUR PAGE AND CLICK ON THE PAYPAL BUTTON TO DONATE $1.00 TO HELP US GET ON THE ROAD. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.

-DEMASIADO

Please contact us if you want to help in ANY way.



*****
The Shambles & Anna Troy Band This Wednesday-Live Recording!
Body: The Anna Troy Band

The Shambles
Wednesday July 11
Lestats - 3343 Adams Avenue / Normal Heights
All Ages. 9 pm. www.lestats.com

The show is being recorded for possible release - come on down and be part of the taping. Mod powerpop garage r&b blues - between the two bands tonight, we've got you covered!

*****
Hensley's Flying Elephant is having a big official Grand Opening on Wednesday, July 11th. At noon there will be a ribbon cutting, at 4 there will be a free appetizers, and at 6, Matt, Ned Giblin, and friends will be playing on the center stage. Cash'd Out will be on the big stage.

Mr. Clay Hensley from the Padres is going to be here!
More shenanigans to be announced!
I-5 and Tamarack Carlsbad.

Sunday Recap: Brunch & Casbah Free Show

Sunday morning came along and my cousin picked me up and we had brunch at my mom and dad's in Chula Vista with all the party leftovers. Machaca and carnitas...mmmm. My sister and her husband came, and our friend Nickie, so it was nice just sitting in the breezy backyard with family, sipping on mimosas and eating some good grub. It was also an "event" because of the U-T story coming out. I got chided with comments like "glad to see the drinking paying off," but it was all in good fun. Here's a picture of the girls...my cousin in the back, then me, my mom, my sister, and my god-sister up front. This is what Sundays are for.






After brunch, everyone went off their separate ways and I was back home to clean and whatnot. My dog and cat were playing in the backyard, so I brought out my camera. My dog is deathly afraid of the camera, so it's hard to get a picture, but I have been trying to capture a picture of my cat and my dog together, because unless you've seen the way that a cat and dog can get along, you might not believe it. Instead, I just got one goofy picture before Pascha ran in the house and hid under the bed.






Anyway, back to the music content of this site. Sunday night was a free Casbah night, with food from Tino's on Adams Avenue. (Really good carnitas) Unfortunately, by the time Andrea and I got there, the food had been devoured. We didn't even get there late, it was just gone really fast.

I was still glad to be there because I finally got to see The Burning of Rome. Various people made comments: Sounds like Mike Patton crossed with Jack Black, Arcade Fire "stuff" going on, and at some points I was thinking Wall Of Voodoo, but whatever comparisons, they were so fun to watch. The band had the singer on a keyboard, two girls on smaller keyboards and xylophone?, guitarist and bassist and drums. Mostly they mix styles that you wouldn't think should be mixed, but they end up getting this dancey circus carnival rock sound. Remember when Pinnochio sneaks out and ends up at the scary fair? That's sorta how I envision the music videos to The Burning of Rome's music but not in the way you're scared of it when your 5, in the way that it looks kind of appealing as an adult. I was familiar with some of their music because they have their entire album available for free download. The original bill for this show included Nurses before they bolted to Chicago and it is obvious why the two would play together. Hopefully they can play when Nurses tour and make their way back to San Diego.

Blackout Party was second and the truth is that was kinda hopping around the bar at that point. It was just really hot inside and since I hadn't been to the Casbah since Menomena, there was stuff to catch up on and people to catch up with. Maybe they need a livelier stage show to capture me. I don't know what it is, but I've now been at least 5 shows that they've played, and I just can't sit still and give them my full attention. The thing is, I like them, I think they're good, but maybe I need more than that sometimes, or just not so much other stimuli around.

Demasiado was up next, and as usual, Eric was all over the stage. He was up on speakers, then crouched down hiding behind them. The energy in the room was great, people were having a good time all around, and I think the band was definitely feeding off that. I did hear one person complain that it was too loud, but earplugs prevented me from having any issues with that. They're just a really good band. I think if Alice In Chains had been punk, they'd have sounded like Demasiado.

After Demasiado, a lot of people took off. I watched Book of Martyrs for about half a song, took a couple pictures, rested my drink on the stage, and the singer kicked it off on accident, so I decided to take it as a sign to hit the patio and just chill there till the night was over.

The best part about the free Sunday shows is that the start early and end early, so one can still get ample sleep. That is, if one doesn't decide to go hang out at a friend's house till 3 am. But that is neither here nor there. The most important thing was that it was a nice end of the weekend as well as a great kickoff to a new week.

This is my stalker Lynn:

Daniel gets blogged again. All I'm supposed to say is, "It's made of bear."

Anti-Monday Recap: Pete Stewart, Arckid, The Gift/Curse, demasiado

San Diego's music scene has always been broad, but lately I just can't get my hands around all the good shit happening here. This town is ripe with the ingredients to nurture the music, too. Just think of how many things are happening that weren't just 5 years ago...added music festivals & street fairs featuring more edgy bands, competition in the alternative radio market (as much as we complain, two similarly formatted stations in a market is rare and benefits all of us), the resurrection of old venues (like DeVore stadium -good job 94/9, and the Starlight Bowl), and the creation of lots of new venues that are now competitive music venues, or just rejuvenated by new promoters, like Beauty Bar, Sports Club, O'Connell's...all of this is making this city feel more alive in my eyes and I hope other people are feeling it, too.

In this respect, there are always "scenes within the scene" and sometimes I know I'm only capturing maybe 20% of the pie in the music here. For this reason, I love Tim Pyles and his Anti-Monday League. Always a bargain and covering the spectrum of San Diego music, I know I'm gonna go and have a good time every time.

All that said, I was blown away last night. I arrived while Pete Stewart and the Plastic Saviors were on stage, and since I'd only heard Pete on the radio with an acoustic guitar, I had no idea the pipes he'd have and wasn't expecting even a full band to rock out that hard. I was never that familiar with The Accident Experiment but this material is more to my tastes than what I've heard of that band, maybe it just feels more accessible. I was feeling kinda early 90's rock...Chris Cornell definitely came to mind. Unfortunately, I only caught a few songs, but I hope to catch Pete doing the acoustic thing soon. (He's at Lestat's on Friday)







Arckid was the only out of town band of the night. Featuring members of Spacehog, Arckid is not a whole lot different than that band, if only because Royston's vocals are so center to both band's music, despite his brother doing a whole lot of singing, too. They're really intense onstage and it was nice that the lights were up a bit to better capture them.









I recorded this song, but they called it their reggae song and the rest of the songs they played adhered to their style more, so this is a total deviation, but I'm posting it anyway.




Part of my ramblings about "the scene" stem from being impressed with Casbah crowds that seem to come to support the local bands and just happen to be there to support the touring acts instead of people only coming to see the touring band and bailing on the locals. It was a good night at the Casbah with lots of people out to support all the bands and for me, it was all fun being introduced to bands I've never seen but with members I see out all the time at other shows.

The Gift/Curse played their first show and were pretty impressive. Tim told me the singer was from Classified but I've never heard of that band yet he was so familiar. The music also felt familiar in a good way, and all that I could associate the sound to was Mangravy-ish Fluf stuff. I feel like these guys might've been part of the CVXSE scene back in the day, but I can't place it. Doesn't matter, just make sure to check them out next time they play.









Last up, I finally got to check out demasiado, who I'd wanted to see for a while, if only because that was one of those words in Spanish I always particularly liked. I loved the singers vocals but halfway through the set, my friend came up and goes, "They're pretty good, except for his voice." Funny how different tastes can be. I liked them and the singer was a bit of a spectacle, which got me thinking- with a name meaning too much, maybe they mean "demasiado drogas" or "demasiado cerveza". After a while, I started thinking the singer reminded me of an ex-boyfriend a little demasiado, so I called it a night by 12:20, assuming they'd be wrapping up soon. I would like to them again soon. I'll just make sure its not on a night when all I'm drinking is water.