Photos & Video: Casbahmania 2013

One of the best lineups so far this year happened at The Casbah a couple weeks ago with Transfer, The Nervous Wreckords, The Palace Ballroom, and Boy King. All immensely talented bands but also all keeping quite busy. Transfer headed out to support Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in Europe, TNW will be back with a new video  next month for "Let Them All Talk" and meanwhile, Brian & the Louis XIV boys reunited to support The Killers also in Europe. The Palace Ballroom has a half-dozen sweet gigs over the next two months and are set to release the new video for their album title track "This Is The Plan" in April. You can catch Boy King this weekend at Seven Grand.

Transfer

 The Nervous Wreckords

The Palace Ballroom

 Boy King

To view all the photos, you can view them at Casbahmania 2013 at Tim Fears Photography. For lots of shows and other photos check out TimFears.com.

San Diego Rocktoberfest Returns!

I feel like I failed you, San Diego, because if you weren't following me on Twitter or Facebook, my only mention of the $5 blind ticket sale for Rocktoberfest was in one of my Things To Do posts, but now that the lineup has been announced, tickets can still be purchased for just $15, so that ain't too shabby for an event that has become a not-to-miss party in the past few years. Yes, the joint effort of The Casbah, West Coast Tavern, and FM 94/9 is back and offers a great lineup.

Here's the skinny:

Saturday, October 20, 3pm - 10pm
Buy tickets at sdrocktoberfest.com for $15. Prices go up the day of show.
2 Stages
9 Bands
Beer/Full Bar
Food
Dancing
University Avenue and 29th Street (parking lot behind North Park Theater)

The lineup features Mariachi El Bronx, The Silent Comedy, Transfer, Hyena, Blackout Party, Mrs. Magician, Family Wagon, New Mexico, and Euphoria Brass Band.

I know there are a ton of great shows that night, but if you're like me, this is definitely where you'll start off your day, even if you have to cut out early for Frightened Rabbit, the Livewire Anniversary Party, or any other show that night. This doozy of a lineup runs from 3-10pm, so you can still hit up all of the other places, and keep in mind that this is an event that allows re-entry so you can eat/drink inside the party, or leave to patronize local surrounding businesses.

SXSW Experience: Italian Japanese

Though Italian Japanese had a short stay in Austin, I ran into the band on Thursday night at the Velveeta Room, where The Silent Comedy played a 1:30 am set. After the show, they were all kind enough to give me a ride back to the house where I was staying, saving me cab money and who knows how much  time just trying to catch one. This is the post SXSW survey as answered by the band's manager.

How long were you in Austin?
Wednesday March 14th through Thursday March 15th.

Did you drive or fly? Any travel stories you'd like to share?
We've been on tour for two weeks, and SXSW was part of the tour.

We randomly ran into Transfer and The Silent Comedy after playing the City Tavern in Dallas, and closed the bar down. Transfer was playing a show a couple blocks away the same night, and The Silent Comedy came out to support. Afterwards they headed to the venue we were playing out to have drinks. We ended up having a blast with our San Diego crew.

Did you play? If so, when and where?
Yes, we played four showcases. Wednesday night we played The Thirsty Nickel at 9:30pm. Thursday we played Cheer Up Charlie's at 3:30pm, Blind Pig at 7pm, and Wahoo's at 11pm.

How were your crowds? The venues?
Wahoo's was a huge surprise for us. Ended up being the most energetic crowd. The Thirsty Nickel and Blind Pig were great. Cheer Up Charlie's had an awesome main stage with amazing sound.

Any memorable or standout moments from your own shows?
Yes, for our Thirsty Nickel show, our friends from the Chain Gang of 1974 came out. For Cheer Up Charlie's it was awesome playing with Saint Motel, Dirty Beaches, and our friends from Mrs. Magician. The Cuckoo Chaos boys came to support us as well.

Did you catch any parties or showcases of note?
We caught our friends Cults at the Carson Daly Last Call showcase, which was sweet.
Writer at Shangri-la was awesome.
The Silent Comedy at The Velveeta Room was off the hook!
Saint Motel, The Chain Gang of 1974, & Paper Route were also an amazing line-up at Peckerheads.
We also caught Snoop Dogg at the Doritos Party.

Will you go back as a band or fan in 2013?
BOTH! Definitely.

Any wrapup thoughts, lessons learned, crazy moments, cool tales to share?
Pack light. Don't speed. Eat your fruits & vegetables. Bring a dolly. Don't forget to sleep... Coffee coffee coffee.

Transfer Tour Diary

Here we are on the back half of our US tour with the Kaiser Chiefs and we are still somewhat reeling from the extreme spectacle/cluster-fuck that is SXSW. Great times but every time we leave Austin I feel like I've taken another few years off my life. Oh well…all in the name of Rock n Roll. Before I go tits up, here's a little bit of a Texas recap:



Dallas and Houston were great shows. We wound up running into The Silent Comedy and had a great time post show hitting a nearby bar for drinks. Low and behold another San Diego band Italian Japanese happened to just finish playing so, being surrounded by all the familiar faces made it feel like a satellite home for a bit.

Houston happened to be a day off and I got to catch a Jesus and Mary Chain show the night before we played at The House of Blues. We had the opportunity to hang out after the show and found out it was their first performance in 3 years. Despite the moments of out of control feedback between songs, stopping and starting a few times at the guitar player's frantic hand wave and looks of confusion painting the picture of a hot mess, they pulled songs together and delivered an impressive set.



On to SXSW - our first show was an acoustic performance for Slacker Radio at the Gibson Showroom in Austin. We got to play three tunes for the segment so we chose something old, something off of Future Selves and a new song we've been playing. I'll post some footage from that performance very soon. Thanks again to Slacker Radio and Gibson for the hospitality. Turned out to be a great time!


We went out that night and caught sets by fellow San Diego bands The Silent Comedy and Little Hurricane. Saw a band called POND that I loved through beer goggles. Confirmed after listening to their album on the ride home. After a little more research I found that the band is comprised of members of Tame Impala. I then realized why it was impressive. Love that shit.

The next day was Saturday and our double show day. First being the Sea Now! Showcase. If you're unfamiliar, check out who was involved www.seanow.org. Pretty cool. We were glad to take part and were paid by a surprise visit from our tour mates, Tribes. It was great to catch up with those lads and we made some plans to go deep sea shark caging while they are in LA in the fall. Wicked!



Also got turned on by a four-piece from Montreal called Plants and Animals that blew me back. Great sound and a killer live show.

The 11pm show at the Whiskey Room would be the last of our 2012 SXSW experience and it turned out to be a blinder. The sound was terrible and the stage was as hot as a hair dryer but we blasted it out and walked away feeling complete. A full house and great spirit in the audience made the last performance the best for us so thanks to Mario Escovedo and Requiemme for inviting us and BIG thanks to all who were there sweating it out.

After this, we got in the van and drove for 24hrs straight back to San Diego, stayed in our beds for ONE night, played the Belly Up and are now making our way to San Francisco to play THE FILLMORE. The second we start to peter out from the insane amount of miles on 2hrs sleep, wandering around LOVE'S Travel Stop like un-showered zombies, staring at the same candy aisle, drinking shitty coffee, considering trucker tweak, sharing countless beat down hotel rooms…I think to myself, we're playing the fucking Fillmore…ALL GOOD!



A moment to introduce our crew:

Soundman Pete, my nephew, Matthew AKA SPARROW and young SPARROW (as a baby)









MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Morale is high...

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New Years Eve at the Lafayette

UPDATE! There are less than 40 tickets as of December 27 at 10 am. Buy tickets now!!

Casbah Presents New Years Eve at the Lafayette Hotel!

We love good music and we love a good party, so The Casbah and Cunning Fox have teamed up to produce a New Years Eve Party at the Lafayette Hotel that people will talk about even after the Mayans destroy the planet in 2012. (Or something like that…)

Featuring:

The Silent Comedy

Transfer

The Creepy Creeps

The Heavy Guilt

Hell On Heels Burlesque

Creepxotica

Low Volts

The Visual Underground



Food by: Tacos El Paisa

The Details:

Individual tickets for the event can be had here.
A special pre-sale rate of $25 is good thru November 16th.
Tickets are now $35 through the day of show. $40 day of show.





Hotel packages which include two tickets start at $169. They can be booked directly here.


For all the fine print, see the event page on The Lafayette's site here. 

New Releases: October 11, 2011

There are a bunch of great new releases this week, and many of the bands are touring through San Diego. Check it out!! Click on the album covers to stream the records on Mog.

Ryan Adams @ Balboa Theatre- TONIGHT!
Cut Copy @ 4th&B- October 14- TICKETS
Rachael Yamagata @ Casbah - November 27- TICKETS
Radio Moscow @ The Shakedown - October 16 - TICKETS
Gill Landry @ Casbah - October 30 - TICKETS
Crooked Fingers @ Casbah - November 26 - TICKETS
Peter Murphy @ Belly Up - December 6 - TICKETS

Rocktoberfest Lineup Announced

The Rocktoberfest lineup was released today and thank goodness because I have never been very good about keeping secrets:

Everest

Transfer

The Soft Pack

Dead Feather Moon

The Styletones

Low Volts

The Heavy Guilt

Rocktoberfest takes place in the lot behind the Birch North Park Theatre on October 22 from 3-10pm with two facing stages alternating music all night, so you don't have to choose one band over another. The show is put together by your friends at West Coast Tavern, The Casbah, and FM 94/9. You can buy tickets here for $15. Click here for the Facebook event page to RSVP and share with friends.

Official Video for "TAKE YOUR MEDICINE" by TRANSFER

Take a look at the new TRANSFER video for "TAKE YOUR MEDICINE"



Directed by Nader Husseini and developed by the creative team at Radium/Reel FX.

TRANSFER approached Husseini to direct the music video for their soon-to-be-released single after seeing his work on the Happy Bullets’ music video “The Vice & VirtueMinistry

For “Take Your Medicine,” Husseini collaborated with the band members of Transfer for the live shoot; they were featured as both the Doctors, shown at the start diagnosing the girl, and conversely as captives trapped inside of the Beast.

The video offers a unique visual representation of the song's lyrics, which question society's growing dependence on prescription medications.

“I’m proud of all the work and talent all of the Radium/Reel FX artists put into the project to make it a unique experiment in an alternative CG animation style,” says Husseini. It's picking up steam in the festival circuit, showing at the following:

38th Annual Siggraph Computer Animation Fest
4th Annual SIGGRAPH Asia Computer Animation Festival
The San Francisco International Festival of Short Films
7th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival
14th Annual FirstGlance Film Fest Philadelphia
Chicago International Movies & Music Fest
British Independent Film Festival
5th Annual Dallas International Film Festival
44th Annual International Film Festival Houston
2nd Annual World Music & Independent Film Festival, Washington D.C.

Awarded Platinum Remi for Best Rock Music Video | 2011 Houston WorldFest

Nominated in three categories at the DC World Music & Independent Film Festival: Best In Animation, Best Rock Music Video and Best Director.

share this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x39IsffUiYY

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From The Archives: Transfer at the Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, March 25, 2011

Since Transfer has their HUGE homecoming show tonight at the Belly Up, and since I found the start of an entry that I never posted from way back in March, and because I have nothing but love for the guys and wish I could be there tonight, and since I'm going back to the Cosmopolitan this weekend, I thought I'd post a couple videos from that amazing trip to Vegas and that lost blog post that I recently discovered in my email from March 27, 2011.

When we heard that Transfer would be returning from their European tour with a 4 day stint in Vegas, I didn't really consider going. Jeff did, however, and got a room at the Trump on Priceline, and yesterday we made the 6 or so hour drive out. I kinda forgot how nuts Vegas is for March Madness. At the moment I'm sitting in the Triple 7 Brewpub at Main Street Station in downtown. The brewmaster's special beer is a tasty Irish Stout.

This city is always insane. The Cosmopolitan opened in December and is pretty swanky; you know that from the first contact at the valet. At the same time, it wasn't tacky and not outrageously expensive either. After checking in at Trump, we hurried to the casino to attempt to catch Matty singing the national anthem for a boxing match in the casino. Unfortunately it ended up not being broadcast, but apparently Cooker shot video, so I'll post it when available.

Instead, we went upstairs to find something to eat. None of the restaurants had enough variety for the polar opposite diets that we have, so we had the buffet. The place is called The Wicked Spoon and it was amazeballs. For $29, it wasn't cheap but had tons of options including several pretossed salads, a mac n cheese bar, a rotisserie area, Italian and Asian sections and the most insane dessert bar I've ever seen, I highly recommend checking it out. They had a sections devoted entirely to fudge, chocolate dipped fruit (and even chocolate dipped candy bars!!) and gelato.

After stuffing our faces, Jeff watched the game as I played video poker. I hung in for awhile, getting a couple 4 of a kinds and a straight flush, but when some chick sat next to me and hit a royal within 3 minutes, I walked away.

We sat in Stage & Book until Transfer started. It's pretty unique to have a stage behind the bar of a casino lounge hosting new music...traditionally these spaces have a cheesy cover band playing hits from the 80s and 90s, so it's definitely a cool thing. Apparently they've hosted some great bands...BRMC and Florence & The Machine to name a couple, and they have Tennis and Kisses coming in the future. They book themas 4 night residencies and man, I'd love to send some bands to play there.

Instead of really adding too much to that four and a half months later, I'll say that the weekend was crazy. We watched both sets on Friday, and so many people were out from San Diego. At one point we were in an amazing suite overlooking the pool as Girl Talk performed. We ate well, drank well, and of course, got our fix of the band we love so much. In the time since then, The Nervous Wreckords and The Silent Comedy have also played there, and like I said, I'll be going out this weekend to catch up with Other Lives, one of my favorite discoveries this year. I'll also say there was some crazy stuff that happened that weekend, like karaoke at Dino's with Fiddy and a couple members of The Killers, and I learned not to walk Las Vegas Blvd at 4 am because you will get solicitations, even if you're in a hoodie and jeans.

Anyway, here are the videos from that weekend. Watch them AFTER you get home from the Belly Up or you're gonna miss the openers.

TRANSFER TOUR BLOG - ABBEY ROAD

We got up at 6AM on minimal sleep from the night before to make our 8AM load in time at Abbey Road Studios in London. We were to tape a live performance for the music documentary series Live From Abbey Road and set to record in Studio 2... The same room where The Beatles recorded pretty much everything. What an honor. Just being in the same space where the greatest songwriters created their most influential work was enough to put a surreal spin on the morning. Things seemed to be happening at light speed already...

We found our dressing room, set up shop and took the tour.

Tape machine The Beatles recorded with...the console Pink Floyd used. At this point of the tour I was pretty certain that everyone was on the same program as we were all smiling like we had new veneers and a nitrous buzz.

We met the film team and set up for soundcheck. After everyone got their positions and levels we went for it. Wound up recording 5 songs. What an experience...

We'll keep you posted as to the airdate. Here are a few shots from the day:

After the session was over we went across the hall to Studio 1 (room where Dark Side of the Moon was made...WTF!?) for the interview portion of the program.

I thought it too cliche to consider the hypothetical scenario..."what if Paul McCartney was hanging around?" When Andy told me he had just seen him in the cafeteria I didn't really consider it. Just as soon as we had taken our seats for the interview, the man himself, walked in the room and straight up to us. All quite stunned at his unexpected presence he met us and made the room easy by cracking some funnies about us looking shady, like we were in a police line up or something. Friendly guy...

Anna managed to snap this photo. A little blurry and my head looks like a sparkler, which is funny because it was exactly how I felt.

Rounding off this tour's brushes with royalty to TWO. Twice in two weeks...what the hell happened?! Sir Paul McCartney at Abbey Road and Prince Harry at an outhouse in Hyde Park. All I can say is thank God we didn't have to choose between them...

I would tell you about how the Water Rats show was an epic time or KoKo or T in the Park for that matter, but I just can't seem to make sense of it. Nothing really matters anymore...

the ultimate has transpired...

over and out

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TRANSFER TOUR BLOG

WEEK ONE - Third time to the UK and running strong. The first day was a marathon as we had to hit the ground at Heathrow -

Off the plane to meet Platinum Tom, who was waiting with our rented splitter van, (RIP White Rider) and so it goes…

Picked up the gear we had waiting in storage and found our way to Stoke Newington to sort out a rehearsal space to try everything out. It took about 5 hrs from airport to practice space to navigate through London traffic so by the time we got there we were slightly cooked. All we had to do was get enough rest for the Hyde Park endeavor that awaited.

Our first festival in England and a fest it was. We showed up with time for a series of press obligations before hitting the stage at 5:30. As we walked on we realized there was a problem with the keyboard. One of the obstacles to overcome when touring outside of the US is the difference in power for electronics. The issue was that one of the stage hands, not realizing that we need to plug all of our pedals and keyboard into a power converter had fried our keyboard 5 minutes before we were to start. Festival changeovers happen at a very quick pace and I can see how it could happen easily if there is a lack of communication but nonetheless we were kinda fucked. Someone produced a replacement in the nick of time and we were allowed to play our whole set in front of the packed audience. Whew…stressful moment but was abated in time to let loose and move on to do what we came for.

Once the set was over we were escorted to do our final bits of press with Absolute Radio who set us up on a small stage inside of a swanky lounge to play and acoustic set for a table crowd. Quite the dichotomy of performances to walk from a giant feeling festival stage, straight to vegas lounge act…In the INTERVIEW that followed we were asked if we had ever done something like that before. Andy answered with an astute, "Any band that says they've never played in front of a crowd eating, is full of shit." (I'm paraphrasing, of course but you get the point), Well said.

I was amazed at the cast of characters that you see wandering around the dressing trailers set up at these events…I looked to my left at one moment and saw that I was standing about 5 feet from Prince Harry. He was in festival mode with couple royal body guards directly on his heels. I have never thought I would be so close to not only Royalty, but men in Docker's packing heat. Dignified protection.

Not sure how much this one might be worth but just as we were waiting to be led up the side-stage to watch The Killers performance Prince Harry entered the port-o-potty right in front of us. Amazingly enough, the body guards waited for him to exit and when he did…Photo credit Andy Ridley

Watching The Killers perform to a sea of people in the rain was cool…We celebrated into the wee hours of the morning and slept it off the next day.

BIRMINGHAM - The Home of Metal

This show was anticipated for us, as we were there not long before with The Bravery and were looking forward to our inaugural headline voyage. The best part about this one was not only seeing some fans awaiting our arrival in line as we arrived but the interpretive dancing chap with corn rows shouting at us as we played through our set. I didn't realize until Card brought it to my attention that it was the same guy that was screaming that it was his Birthday, shirtless at The Bravery show three months ago. Yep, amazing…

We drove through the night after the show, entertained by a hard nosed game of 'Would You Rather…' "Would you rather be baldheaded with a birthmark on your dome in the shape of cock-n-balls or have a hairline that starts 1" above your eyebrows?" Good question.

This was followed by a new game we created called 'At Capacity'. The object of this one is to think of a ridiculous support scenario and choose between the lesser of two evils. For example: 'At capacity: Nickelback or WHAM!?' The first game was funny…the second stressed us out to invision the obligation of a horrible reality. Found it to be a tad masochistic but we were quite entertained driving through the night to Newcastle to say the least. Our surrogate home away from home. Bridgette's Manor. xoxo Wey aye, man.

More UK Babies arrived to this show to greet us before we performed. When we arrived, I saw we had barely missed ANVIL playing the same room. SHIT! If you haven't seen the documentary, "The Story of Anvil", do yourself the favor.

That show went well and was our first opportunity to play a full set which was a lot of fun and a nice change from our standard 30 minute banger we had been playing on the past two passes through England in support slots. Many thanks to all the fans for making the trip to see us and hanging out after for photos and such.

After some much needed rest and a great visit with our tour mom, Bridgette, we set off again to our next stop, Manchester. HERE WE, HERE WE…HERE WE FOOKIN GOOOOO!

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xo