The Sound and The Jury
Help us win a spot at The Austin City Limits Music Festival!!
Round One Voting Deadline is August 22
It is all about the votes!! We don't move to round two without your help now! Use all your e-mail addresses and ask your friends to vote...we need your help!
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Thanks for your support and friends, please pass this on!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Entheon and Kinetic Playground
Chicago, IL July 12, 2008
It was my birthday weekend, and what better way to celebrate than take a trip to Chicago to perform for the first time there with BLVD!
A little backstory: This past year at Burning Man, we were fortunate enough to be invited to play a show at Entheon Village... they had built an incredible dome, the largest one on the playa, visible from miles around in Black Rock City. The enormous white metal structure was composed of these enormous interlocking polygons, some covered with screens displaying ever-changing beautiful graphic projections. The space was energized with people when we took the stage on Friday night, and our MC Souleye was also camping with them. About halfway into our set, after performing many of our instrumental tracks, Souleye pulled up on Abraxas - Entheon's gigantic fire-breathing bronze double-decker mutant vehicle! He jumped on the stage with incredible fiery energy and rocked the rest of the set with us. Magikkal...
Flash-forward!!!! So it was wonderful to be invited to Entheon's hometown after having such a great experience with their crew this past summer. Kinetic Playground is a sleek venue across the street from the famous Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, with shiny corrugated metal walls and subdued lighting. The Entheon crew did a fantastic job decorating every square inch of wall space with beautiful psychedelic tapestries - some of which I had remembered seeing in their dome from the summer. We were also honored to share the stage with MO2 and Ana Sia, rounding out an all-BayArea night (2000 miles from San Francisco) LOL!
MO2 opened the show, and it was great to see them perform again, after having just seen them before our set the previous weekend at High Sierra. We took the stage after they were done and had a lot of fun playing for the Entheon crew... they definitely know how to get down! Souleye was kind enough to point out that it was my birthday more than once on the mic! THEN... what better way to celebrate the completion of another lap around the sun than to groove to Ana Sia doing her thing surrounded by the beautiful people of Entheon Village.
The Kinetic Playground is actually one of the only venues in Chicago to serve alcohol until 5am, something I'm not used to out in California.... so combined with the fact that it was my birthday, it was a winning combination, and the Patron was flowing until the sun came up. Local DJ Cringer finished out the night with a nice dubstep set, always appropriate for the wee hours....
Thanks again to the Entheon crew for inviting BLVD to play Chicago, and I look forward to seeing them again this summer!
By: Tripp Bains
It was my birthday weekend, and what better way to celebrate than take a trip to Chicago to perform for the first time there with BLVD!
A little backstory: This past year at Burning Man, we were fortunate enough to be invited to play a show at Entheon Village... they had built an incredible dome, the largest one on the playa, visible from miles around in Black Rock City. The enormous white metal structure was composed of these enormous interlocking polygons, some covered with screens displaying ever-changing beautiful graphic projections. The space was energized with people when we took the stage on Friday night, and our MC Souleye was also camping with them. About halfway into our set, after performing many of our instrumental tracks, Souleye pulled up on Abraxas - Entheon's gigantic fire-breathing bronze double-decker mutant vehicle! He jumped on the stage with incredible fiery energy and rocked the rest of the set with us. Magikkal...
Flash-forward!!!! So it was wonderful to be invited to Entheon's hometown after having such a great experience with their crew this past summer. Kinetic Playground is a sleek venue across the street from the famous Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, with shiny corrugated metal walls and subdued lighting. The Entheon crew did a fantastic job decorating every square inch of wall space with beautiful psychedelic tapestries - some of which I had remembered seeing in their dome from the summer. We were also honored to share the stage with MO2 and Ana Sia, rounding out an all-BayArea night (2000 miles from San Francisco) LOL!
MO2 opened the show, and it was great to see them perform again, after having just seen them before our set the previous weekend at High Sierra. We took the stage after they were done and had a lot of fun playing for the Entheon crew... they definitely know how to get down! Souleye was kind enough to point out that it was my birthday more than once on the mic! THEN... what better way to celebrate the completion of another lap around the sun than to groove to Ana Sia doing her thing surrounded by the beautiful people of Entheon Village.
The Kinetic Playground is actually one of the only venues in Chicago to serve alcohol until 5am, something I'm not used to out in California.... so combined with the fact that it was my birthday, it was a winning combination, and the Patron was flowing until the sun came up. Local DJ Cringer finished out the night with a nice dubstep set, always appropriate for the wee hours....
Thanks again to the Entheon crew for inviting BLVD to play Chicago, and I look forward to seeing them again this summer!
By: Tripp Bains
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
High Sierra Music Festival
Quincy, CA July 4-5, 2008
The best thing about going to High Sierra was that there were rumors it wouldn't even happen! Tons of fires were burning throughout California, roads were intermittently closed, and the fire department was actually using the fairgrounds as a headquarters until right before the festival began! It's a testament to the warriors who fight those fires that we even had a High Sierra...
That being said, it was great to never hear "it's cancelled" and we rolled in on Friday afternoon, July 4th and set up camp. After catching the end of MO2's set, we set up on the Shady Grove stage as the sun was setting. It was great to see so many people make their way over to the stage to see us play... the weather was perfect! Dylan's little nephew Jack even busted out some dance moves. As it got dark, it was harder to see all the people, but the word afterwards was that there had never been that many people at that stage before! And... the dust cloud from all the dancing was pretty intense... I had a great time rawking out.
Managed to see the end of EOTO's set with Lynx sitting in, along with the Spam Allstars late night in the Tulsa --- the same room our late would be in the following evening. After kickin' it with the good people at Javagogo for a bit, got a little rest...
The next morning had a chance to catch Lynx play solo with Jamie Janover before napping a bit. Did our loadin and soundcheck, then caught the end of Buckethead's set. The dude can do weird stuff with a guitar, that's all i can say... he's a monster.
Our set time was listed as "1:45 - ?". Ahh the dubious question mark. After talking with people about previous years' late night shows, it became clear that many people might expect us to play until dawn. While a typical set for us is about 90 minutes, we put a set together that definitely pushed the envelope. We like to hit people hard and not draw things out too much... The crowd was full of energy from the get-go, and it was awesome to see a lot of familiar faces from Javagogo right in front. Also had the pleasure of having Lynx sit in with us for a song and jam with Souleye a bit on the mic.
My favorite moment was at the end of the set... the place was HOT. I went thru more towels than i can remember, and that was with multiple fans blasting on stage. I'm sure the crowd was exhausted too, but the adrenaline was carrying us through. We played "Stamina" and I picked out this girl in the crowd, jumping up and down, fist in the air, eyes closed... I'm thinking to myself "I'm about to fall over, how can she still be jumping in the air?!" but as the lyric goes... "Move like you
never have before, here's some stamina!" It was seriously powerful.
Got lots of compliments seeing people the next day. Thanks to everyone who I had a chance to talk with... we had a great time!
By: Tripp Bains
The best thing about going to High Sierra was that there were rumors it wouldn't even happen! Tons of fires were burning throughout California, roads were intermittently closed, and the fire department was actually using the fairgrounds as a headquarters until right before the festival began! It's a testament to the warriors who fight those fires that we even had a High Sierra...
That being said, it was great to never hear "it's cancelled" and we rolled in on Friday afternoon, July 4th and set up camp. After catching the end of MO2's set, we set up on the Shady Grove stage as the sun was setting. It was great to see so many people make their way over to the stage to see us play... the weather was perfect! Dylan's little nephew Jack even busted out some dance moves. As it got dark, it was harder to see all the people, but the word afterwards was that there had never been that many people at that stage before! And... the dust cloud from all the dancing was pretty intense... I had a great time rawking out.
Managed to see the end of EOTO's set with Lynx sitting in, along with the Spam Allstars late night in the Tulsa --- the same room our late would be in the following evening. After kickin' it with the good people at Javagogo for a bit, got a little rest...
The next morning had a chance to catch Lynx play solo with Jamie Janover before napping a bit. Did our loadin and soundcheck, then caught the end of Buckethead's set. The dude can do weird stuff with a guitar, that's all i can say... he's a monster.
Our set time was listed as "1:45 - ?". Ahh the dubious question mark. After talking with people about previous years' late night shows, it became clear that many people might expect us to play until dawn. While a typical set for us is about 90 minutes, we put a set together that definitely pushed the envelope. We like to hit people hard and not draw things out too much... The crowd was full of energy from the get-go, and it was awesome to see a lot of familiar faces from Javagogo right in front. Also had the pleasure of having Lynx sit in with us for a song and jam with Souleye a bit on the mic.
My favorite moment was at the end of the set... the place was HOT. I went thru more towels than i can remember, and that was with multiple fans blasting on stage. I'm sure the crowd was exhausted too, but the adrenaline was carrying us through. We played "Stamina" and I picked out this girl in the crowd, jumping up and down, fist in the air, eyes closed... I'm thinking to myself "I'm about to fall over, how can she still be jumping in the air?!" but as the lyric goes... "Move like you
never have before, here's some stamina!" It was seriously powerful.
Got lots of compliments seeing people the next day. Thanks to everyone who I had a chance to talk with... we had a great time!
By: Tripp Bains
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Flagstaff Brewing Company
Flagstaff, AZ June 28, 2008
The following morning, we needed to return our 1-day rental and get a van to drive the 500 miles to Flagstaff. Of course, getting to bed at 7am makes it hard to get that done by 9am, but we powered it out as best we could. Our man at the van rental thought we weren't going to be there until 1pm, so that didn't help matters, considering we had to transfer all our gear from our trailer. Getting the new rental van was quite a blessing driving thru the Mojave Desert, since our broken-down Suburban's AC is out-of-commision. That doesn't bode well when travelling thru 115-degree heat!
Once we got on the road tho, we stayed in contact with everyone involved with the show in Flag to make sure the show would still go off. Luckily, a local DJ was able to open the night to give us time to set-up our gear and soundcheck. It all went quite smoothly, and we were able to start our show on-time after taking advantage of Arizona's high speed limit, haha! Thanks also to the crew at the patio for powering thru the set-up process! The actual patio is a great place to play compared with the indoor show we had done at the Flag Brew in the winter... let's just say, there's more... space.
By: Tripp Bains
Once we got on the road tho, we stayed in contact with everyone involved with the show in Flag to make sure the show would still go off. Luckily, a local DJ was able to open the night to give us time to set-up our gear and soundcheck. It all went quite smoothly, and we were able to start our show on-time after taking advantage of Arizona's high speed limit, haha! Thanks also to the crew at the patio for powering thru the set-up process! The actual patio is a great place to play compared with the indoor show we had done at the Flag Brew in the winter... let's just say, there's more... space.
By: Tripp Bains
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Cre8tivity
Venice Beach, CA June 27, 2008
We left San Diego en route to our show with Cre8tivity in Venice Beach. After going about 50 miles, the fuel pump on our battle-worn Suburban decided it's time had come. The scrambling then ensued! There was no way the pump could be replaced, and we had to get 6 people and our gear up to LA in 3 hours. Everyone on their phones calling every local Orange County rental establishment finally got the job done, and we rolled into Venice Beach with a little time to grab some local pizza and sandos after parking on Electric Avenue (i kid you not).
A friend who used to live in Venice had told me that Cre8tivity had been blowing up... Souleye and Dylan did a show with them a few months back, which helped pave the way for this BLVD show. The venue was beautiful -- hardwood floors, ornate wood trim... and a huge outdoor area featuring massive projections of the psychedelic variety coupled with fire dancers galore! While sound checking, a comment was made "It's going to be HOT in here" and that prediction definitely came true. Thank god for industrial-sized fans, because from the moment we started our set, the sweat was pouring down my face. I can only assume similar things were happening to other people's faces!
By: Tripp Bains
A friend who used to live in Venice had told me that Cre8tivity had been blowing up... Souleye and Dylan did a show with them a few months back, which helped pave the way for this BLVD show. The venue was beautiful -- hardwood floors, ornate wood trim... and a huge outdoor area featuring massive projections of the psychedelic variety coupled with fire dancers galore! While sound checking, a comment was made "It's going to be HOT in here" and that prediction definitely came true. Thank god for industrial-sized fans, because from the moment we started our set, the sweat was pouring down my face. I can only assume similar things were happening to other people's faces!
By: Tripp Bains
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Harmony Festival
Santa Rosa, CA June 6-8, 2008
Techno Tribal, hosted at Harmony Festival by Mystic Beat Lounge, was something I'd heard about from friends who had attended in years' past. It sounded so over the top, that when BLVD was booked to play, I was so excited, and even a little humbled. That being said, we were ready to bring it big time!
The day of the show, we arrived, and after being welcomed by the awesome staff, we went to the Grace Pavilion to load in our gear. Upon entering the building, the scope of the event was immediately apparent. The decorations and and size of the room were impressive to say the least. We set up, soundchecked, and spent the next few hours seeing the rest of the festival.
When we took the stage, Damian Marley (headliner for the night) was still on outdoors, so we had maybe 200 people watching. Over the course of the set, that number grew to over 4000. I got incredibly high just looking at the constantly growing masses in the pavilion, and was probably visibly freaking out on stage as the set neared a close. It was an awesome crowd, and spending time with the other artists backstage was also a great time. Thanks to Mystic Beat Lounge for putting together such a great event... I'm sure it will be a hit for years to come!
By: Tripp Bains
The day of the show, we arrived, and after being welcomed by the awesome staff, we went to the Grace Pavilion to load in our gear. Upon entering the building, the scope of the event was immediately apparent. The decorations and and size of the room were impressive to say the least. We set up, soundchecked, and spent the next few hours seeing the rest of the festival.
When we took the stage, Damian Marley (headliner for the night) was still on outdoors, so we had maybe 200 people watching. Over the course of the set, that number grew to over 4000. I got incredibly high just looking at the constantly growing masses in the pavilion, and was probably visibly freaking out on stage as the set neared a close. It was an awesome crowd, and spending time with the other artists backstage was also a great time. Thanks to Mystic Beat Lounge for putting together such a great event... I'm sure it will be a hit for years to come!
By: Tripp Bains
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Lightning In a Bottle
Santa Barbara, CA May 23-26, 2008
By: Tripp Bains
Driving up the windy hill from Santa Barbara, we arrived in the late afternoon Friday to Lightning in a Bottle. After rounding the bend the first thing we noticed was how many more people had started packing into the camping areas compared to the previous year's festivities.
Then we saw it: the beautiful Bamboo Stage... an incredible structure made with gigantic bamboo poles and strips, all organically weaved together to amass into the main stage for the weekend. After checking in with the festival, we learned that that it had rained... ALOT. Therefore, all the set times had to be truncated and we'd only be playing half the time we had expected. While this was unexpected, it was also quite fortuitous, because we had just come from Los Angeles where we had finished mastering our newest album "Music For People" -- our fourth release, but our first featuring our man on the mic, Souleye. It was the perfect opportunity to play the new tracks.
After watching West Indian Girl put on a great set, our performance was basically a short and sweet BLVD show, featuring the new album from start to finish. It was a great start to the weekend for us, and the Friday night time slot allowed us to relax for the rest of the weekend and see lots of other artists throw down with our performance already under our belt. The Do Lab brought it big time, and it's clearly this festival is blowing up in a big way!
Then we saw it: the beautiful Bamboo Stage... an incredible structure made with gigantic bamboo poles and strips, all organically weaved together to amass into the main stage for the weekend. After checking in with the festival, we learned that that it had rained... ALOT. Therefore, all the set times had to be truncated and we'd only be playing half the time we had expected. While this was unexpected, it was also quite fortuitous, because we had just come from Los Angeles where we had finished mastering our newest album "Music For People" -- our fourth release, but our first featuring our man on the mic, Souleye. It was the perfect opportunity to play the new tracks.After watching West Indian Girl put on a great set, our performance was basically a short and sweet BLVD show, featuring the new album from start to finish. It was a great start to the weekend for us, and the Friday night time slot allowed us to relax for the rest of the weekend and see lots of other artists throw down with our performance already under our belt. The Do Lab brought it big time, and it's clearly this festival is blowing up in a big way!
By: Tripp Bains
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