Saturday, April 25, 2009

Oh No! on Breakthruradio.com

I recently recorded an interview with DJ Latola from Breakthruradio.com in Gainesville, and it's now seeing the light of day. Click on the link below and enjoy. The interview is at the 57 minute mark, but the entire program is great. He's got music from Neutral Milk Hotel and Moto & Mouse among others in the program. If you don't know who Moto & Mouse is, get yourself over to the Arkain Records website and order some of it.

Here's the link to DJ Latola's program. Good stuff and he plays a couple of our songs, including a brand new demo.
http://www.breakthruradio.com/index.php?show=6709

Link

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

My new favorite review ever

From http://radioflyerreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/live-beluga-hunters-oh-no-and-tiger-pit.html

"Oh No! And the Tiger Pit - Oh No! is a classic example of a band of excellent musicians trying a little too hard to be edgy. The band played all kinds of rock'n'roll but all with vocals that sounded alternately just like the Pixies' Charles Thompson and just like Pere Ubu's David Thomas. They topped this off with some ironic girl-group moments and random animal noises.

The band was enjoyable and very talented, but the whole thing had the feel of "let's be in a band that's really weird," not "we're genuinely crazy and are genuinely trying to express ourselves." The music was fun and well-played but it didn't make it to a deeper level than that. Oh No! are fine for a party, but in terms of enduring artistic merit, they are only a pale derivative of the bands they parrot."

Let the record show that everyone on that bill was "a talented musician," but we were clearly the worst band there that night. Well, he wasn't huge on Trouble & Strife's frontman either, but he liked the band.

There's worse things than getting compared to Pere Ubu and the Pixies, but I get the feeling the guy (or gal) didn't even really watch this show. He's right about one thing: we're not that deep. We're a "pale derivative" as opposed to those derivatives that are not pale. We parrot because we love. And random animal noises is a new one. I take it he's talking about the hoots and hollers during the surf song.

I don't think we're in a band that's really weird. We're in a rock band. What's weird about that? I also don't think "we're geniunely crazy or genuinely trying to express ourselves." For Christ sakes, we're not a fucking emo band. That's not the point. And there's nothing really crazy about us. We have fun on stage. You want crazy? Watch old tapes of Iggy or something.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Gang of Three

We played a show for about 9 people as a power trio on Friday night. Mostly covers and some oldies, including the first NY performance of You Know What I Mean. Except that I fucked that one up. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo-Doo, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo-doo-doo-doo. Simple enough, except I never played that part ever and forgot it was in the song until we got to it and I had to make something up. As ugly as it sounds.

The rest of the set was actually pretty good. Ben held his own on the bass and the sound at Cameo was a lot better this time around. We played The First Time, Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance to the Radio, Trouble and Time Bomb High School along with the Surf song (Bunkerbuster), Handlebar, $1.23, Teenage Dance and the aforementioned You Know What I Mean. And it was all fairly tight, but again, this was with a huge handicap. We cut out the songs that had things like changes or subtlety.

Where did you go, Eric Gordon, a suddenly power trio turns their lonely ears to you? Whoo whoo whoo....

In other news...
Our web presence has expanded, albeit modestly. Added a ReverbNation profile, mostly because it links to Facebook and synchs with the MySpace profile, so I sort of backdoor linked a part of my Facebook profile with the band's MySpace profile. look, become a fan, and enjoy the four new songs that are up on that page. just go to my facebook profile and click on the band tab.

jason

Friday, April 17, 2009

The War on Denim

What's worse, the Wall Street Journal using an op-ed to rail against denim, calling it uncomfortable and unfashionable or George Will copying the exact same column and putting his name on it two weeks later?

Thursday, April 16, 2009

today's depressing reflection on music trends

Today's depressing reflection on music trends comes to you courtesy Gizmodo: http://i.gizmodo.com/5215258/cool-album-art-and-packaging-records-cassettes-cds-then-nothing


I want the next album we put out to be on vinyl. I'm done with CDs. The cases suck and no one really listens to CDs anymore anyway. It'll be on iTunes because it's easy for everyone, but I think it might be worth the extra money and hassle to have it pressed on vinyl.

From last Saturday's Gainesville Show

The first 8 minutes of our Gainesville performance, courtesy of Breakthruradio.com and DJ Matt Latola.



Also, if you didn't see them on Saturday night, the Jameses were fucking awesome. Here's a bit of it, again courtesy of DJ Latola at Breakthruradio.com.



Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Heroes and Gainesvillians

Just got back into the normal work habit after spending the weekend (and then some) in that tiny little oasis in middle of North Florida that is Gainesville. We played a Holy Saturday show at the Atlantic with our good friends the Jameses and Oh Sanders. Keep your ears and eyes glued to Breakthruradio.com for an upcoming interview and perhaps some video of that show. I can't speak for the rest of the guys in the band, but it's always feels good and a little weird to be back in Gainesville. I see Gainesville now and I remember how it was 9 years ago, 7 years ago, 5 years ago, even 2 years ago. The place changes a lot for a small college town. In many ways, going back to Gainesville is like going back in time to a past where I could drink all day, get little sleep and try to do it all over again.

And then there's the driving and the trying to avoid driving drunk. These things don't come up in NYC. But again, we also don't have the windows down, the Beach Boys blasting through worn out speakers and the April sun baking our arms and faces in Brooklyn either. And there won't be any desire to lay out poolside for another few months up here. Honestly, for the first couple days, I wanted to stay longer, maybe for good. Then Sunday came, and the West Palm Beach James Gang and Brette Bretterson and The Jones all took over. Turn off the lights, the party's over. The day felt like a series of failed attempts at hanging out. Goodbye nostalgia, hello reality.

And so back in NYC, and we've got another show this Friday at the Cameo Bar in Williamsburg. I think the official name of the place is Cameo, but that sounds stupid. Cameo Bar has a nicer ring to it, sort of rolls off the tongue easier. Plus, when I'm telling Manhattanites the name of the place, adding the word "bar" makes me not have to describe the venue. So the show is an early one, 8pm, and we're opening up for a Spin Magazine Top 9 unknown band to watch at SXSW, the Littl'ans. I sort of want to see Paul and the Patients personally because the name has a lot of promise.

Here's the full lineup:

8:00pm Oh No and the Tiger Pit
9:00pm Hypernova
10:00pm Littl’ans
11:00pm Tall Tales
11:30pm Paul and The Patients

Cameo (Bar) is located in the back of the Lovin' Cup Cafe on N. 6th St in Williamsburg, between Berry and Wythe, just off the Bedford Ave stop on the automated wonder that is the L train.

Hope to see the 2 or 3 readers of this blog there.

jason