The Wrong Trousers Return With Two End of the Year Shows

It's been a while since The Wrong Trousers have played around town, but they're playing a couple shows and I thought I'd give them an extra plug because they've always been such great kids.

First, you can see them tonight at the Casbah for The Smart Brothers Winter Jubilee featuring The Smart Brothers, Gregory Page, Sara Petite, The Wrong Trousers, John Meeks , Joanie Mendenhall, Miss Erika Davies, & Suzanne Reed. That is a pretty incredible lineup for $12...

Then on Thursday, December 30th, The Wrong Trousers will appear at Lestat's for their New Years Eve Eve Ball. They'll be joined again by The Smart Brothers and Kenny Eng.
The show is $8 and you get a prize for showing up dressed up.

The Wrong Trousers' New Year's Eve Eve Ball! from Joseph Lorge on Vimeo.

Radio Days

I don't know how Rosey could stand it. Vegas was 115 in the day, 95 at night. People who live there might be insane, people who visit are definitely insane. And, as if the world wanted me to really get in touch with my inner Mojave, a big rig flipped over as I was leaving so I was stuck between Vegas and Primm, moving thirty miles in two-and-a-half hours, trying to think of new derogatory names for 'Zonies. I hate freaking 'Zonies.

Anyhow, Gregory Page is releasing his album All Make Believe, this Saturday (6/28) at Lestat's, hope to see you there. The Wrong Trousers and Erika Davies will be in the mix, as well as Joanie Mendenhall who will be playing a short set.

Here's some video from the interview Gregory did on These Days with Tom Fudge at KPBS, a few weeks ago.

CLICK!

Speaking of radio, check out the George (the Great) Varga's Sign on Radio internet program Fill in the Blank. There are interviews with Gregory & Joanie there, most recently with Jimmy LaValle from the Album Leaf. I'll be a guest next week, autobiographically charting my musical history. Think Django, The Cardigans, and Tchaikovsky etc.

FM 94/9 Independence Jam, pt. 1

I really wanted to get to Indy Jam in time to catch Nortec Collective and Santogold, but Kristian drove down from LA and there was still some discussion as to wheter we were gonna take the magic bus or drive, but taking one car made the most sense for us. Velvet has been living in Montana, so she had a sweet convertible and the ride to Chula Vista was sweet, just chilling into the back with my hair whipping my face. We arrived and had no problem getting right into the venue.

Santogold was finishing up on the mainstage, so we made our way to the upstairs beer garden while The Wrong Trousers hit the local stage. I think they really impressed the crowd that was trickling in, and how could they not with their innocent stage banter, particularly with the story about "Calvin"?



We listened from the beer garden for the remainder of the set, then made our way downstairs for The Ting-Tings. They mentioned again being jetlagged, but it wasn't evident in their performance at all. They were high energy all over again and I was glad we didn't miss their set. They played most of the jams from the album and I ran into some friends as they finished up, so Daye and I busted out some 80s dance moves before heading back upstairs.









The bands alternated all day between the upstairs and mainstage, so as soon as one band finished, it was up the stairs to catch all my local band peeps. The only one I missed was The Muslims but when they played I really needed to get some grub in me. To whomever commented that I didn't look like I had fun, you're sadly mistaken. The bands were great, I was with some of my favorite friend, and I had a nice buzz all day long. It was an amazing kickoff to summer in San Diego, and I'll post more of the pictures in the next couple days.

The Wrong Trousers, Casbah, 3.31.08

I mentioned in this post that my pics of The Wrong Trousers were less than stellar, but they're so cute you just wanna pinch their cheeks, then sneak them a shot of Jagermeister when nobody is looking. I wrote about their show here. What I thought was really sweet was how one of the guys in Musee Mecanique was so thrown by The Wrong Trousers' cover of a Joanna Newsome song. "A girl with a harp can get me to do anything." It's one thing to be a fan of a band; another that is so endearing when the headliner is swooning over their local opener.





The Wrong Trousers have a full length CD out and you can buy it via their MySpace page here. One can only hope they get the opportunity to play some more 21+ shows.

Musee Mecanique @ Casbah, 3.31.08

After an e-mail dialog and a media stream of an album, I was quite happy on Monday to check out Musee Mecanique. While I was offered an interview with the band, I declined...I'm still just not feeling adequate to go there...but nonetheless, I've been listening to the band's forthcoming album on the stream and I knew I was not going to be disappointed by their show at the Casbah for this week's Anti-Monday League.

I arrived midway through the set from the Casbah debut of the Wrong Trousers and they sounded far more polished than I expected, though my pictures look like shit so I'll spare you. They're a three piece, under 21 bunch from Coronado, who got a little bit of buzz from some random YouTube video of them performing "Video Killed The Radio Star", which wouldn't seem notable, except that the band consists of a stand up bass, a mandolin, and a harp. I was really impressed with the half of the set I caught, not only because their music is beautiful...mixing unexpected covers by the likes of The Strokes with originals, but their storytelling and stage banter reminded me a lot of Nickel Creek, whereas they sound so cute, particularly when the harpist explains that she wrote a song about a first grade crush named Calvin, "and if you ever see him, kick him in the butt for me." The song goes on about her passing a note of the "Do you like me?" variety and closes with something like "you didn't have to circle 'no' a million times." Their naivete is sweet and almost disguises how amazing this band is destined to be.

Then came Musee Mecanique, with two members who were born and bred in SD, but who formed their band in Portland. They were supposed to play here in the fall, however they arrived the first day of our firestorms and ended up playing at a friend's house which ended up being evacuated the next morning.

The band is made up of five members, rotating instruments including guitars, keys, accordion, and drums, among other sounds, and it was beautiful. And did I mention they played a saw? I would love love love to see this band perform with Old Man Hands as they're very much the same vein. Third song in was Fits and Starts, my personal fave of what I've heard of their recordings, and I'm only sorry that Justin killed the center lights at the Casbah or I'd have recorded the song on video.

On top of their amazing set, which had the crowd begging for more (though full disclosure I must acknowledge most of the audience were friends and family). Nonetheless, I thought they sounded great and picked up the tour EP and an American Apparel tee for $20, and when Abraham and Jason showed up after the set, I talked them into buying the EP as well.

Here are the pics:






The night closed out with Diana Death, but their sound just wasn't right for the night, so instead we hung on the patio with the band and chatted and I caught up with my friends. When things should've ended, my friends and I decided to catch last call at Cherry Bomb, but sometimes you just have to go with the wild impulse. And I'm glad I did; it was a great night of music sealed with a great night with my pals. And what better way to express that Anti-Monday feeling?

The Wrong Trousers "Video Killed The Radio Star"

Fun YouTube for your morning, found via Vinyl Journey. And look, they're local...(from Coronado)