We've Been Sick.

Please pass the NyQuil and kleenex box. The Front has been sick over the past 10 days. You'd figure 10 days would be an ample amount of time to ingest a virus, take appropriate measures to combat it and enjoy success, but the amount of soot in the air combined with changes in weather have suppressed our bodies immune systems from working as efficiently as usual. Either that, or this is one bad ass virus all up in my business.


Halloween weekend was fun. We all drank too much beer and played an outdoor show last Saturday. We suffered through some technical difficulties but it was an enjoyable experience to play guitar in a clown costume nonetheless. Kelly and Nick were convincing "hit-and-run victims" that even Jesus couldn't bring back to life.











Hopefully, we'll roll our sleeves up and kick some viral ass this week. Then we'll get back to our activity of the moment: writing. For now, I leave you all with this video that we've been captivated by for the past week. R Kelly manages to sincerely tap into the mentality of a young American male in the midst of a dispute with his difficult lady friend. The moral of this song: Buy non-flammable clothing.





God bless you R Kelly. Thanks for keeping shit real.

Yeah, well...........

So the fine folks at Indie Radio Chattanooga were kind enough to dedicate an entire show to The Front this past Sunday. Indie Radio Chattanooga host, Jimi Lee, dialed me up on my devil machine and I spoke through it with him for a short amount of time. Check out the interview if you get a chance; notice that I answer every question with a "Yeah...Well....."


Jimi could have easily asked me, "So Michael, we hear you like to have sex with dead people while eating mint chocolate chip ice cream?" and I would have most likely responded, "Yeah...Well....I like ice cream..........it's good". In all seriousness, thank you Jimi Lee for the support and showing the interest in the band. I hope I had something interesting to say.


I've been up for the past hour doing shots........of NyQuil! Bam! I don't if it was the fires, the new radiator I had installed or the Chipotle, but something popped into my routine today and made me sick. I woke up from a nap feeling like complete hell but forced myself to go to the Echo and I am damn glad that I did. I learned a valuable lesson tonight: Good music can help battle the common cold. The Monolators and Castledoor are two of Los Angeles' best new indie rock bands, I left the Echo with a slight headache, stuffed up nose and sore throat, but I left with a smile on my face and I's abouts to feels bettah tomorrow.


In Front news, we are playing a Halloween party this Saturday! Go here to access the flyer and for more Front dates. I have to go to the dentist during the day on Saturday, hopefully my mouth loses it's numbness in adequate time for me to rock and roll during the night. I'm looking forward to drinking with the 15 year olds and relating about how parents can get all up in one's shit and cramp one's style.


Glenn Close played a convincing bitch in "Rendition". It was a pretty decent flick; hopefully it'll stimulate and stir the torture debate in the U.S. It's pretty hilarious that we have a debate currently taking place in American society that asks the question, "Should we torture people?" I don't know exactly where I stand on the issue. I mean the people we are torturing, most of the time at least, aren't Americans, so who cares, right? Me, myself and I. Get some more gas for my Hummer please. Torture people and get them to tell us where they're hiding the oil. I hate paying too much for gas. I hate Arco's 45 cent charge. Torture, torture, torture. Should we torture? I just don't know. Really, I don't know. Really, I don't fucking know. I don't know if we should throw 5 year old children off cliffs either. Anyways, Glenn Close has been taking on a number of "I'm a bitch" roles (Rendition, Devil Wears Prada, etc...). For some odd reason, I think I'd decline the opportunity to meet with her, drink tea and chat.


Alright, I'm going to bed now. The NyQuil is doing what it does and I'm going to do what I do, which is sleep. Keep up the good fight and see you all on Saturday night. It's going to be a "Spooktacular" night!

Excuses Excuses

Everybody's got an excuse.


"Well, ya see, I've been meaning to start that project I've been fantasizing about for the past 10 years of my life, the project I've hinged my whole existence on, the project that will complete me, the project that will allow me to finally die and feel as though I've left something significant behind to be remembered by and thus I can die peacefully, I can depart yet feel complete, I can die knowing I created something that entirely encapsulates who I am and thus my physical presence is no longer necessary, but I really have to do laundry tonight....but I haven't seen this particular friend foreeehhhver.........but I just don't feel good."


So.............Blog posts have been infrequent. I can explain. Really. I have good reasons. You don't understand. My mom was in town for a week and we went to Las Vegas and then Big Bear. Then the van's wheel blew out and I had to get it fixed. My car has a cracked radiator. I've been busy with work. I worked a 14 hour day yesterday. I went back to Big Bear last weekend and drank too much and felt horrible. Anxiety. Panic attacks. Medicine. Grease. No exercise. Too many questions. Mind racing. Can't sleep. Excuses, excuses, excuses.........


I'm here though now and I'm posting, hooray! Radiohead released an album last week. It's fucking phenomenal. Videotape is by far the most important track released in 2007, you won't hear it on the radio, wedged between a My Chemical Romance song and Rise Against, but you should do yourself a favor and download the album (for free if you must) at www.inrainbows.com and listen to the last track immediately. Videotape to my ears is like The Gospel of John to Benedict 16's.


The Eagle Rock Music Fesitival was awesome. Hopefully, we'll be invited to play again next year. We played in the American Tire Depot's parking lot to a rowdy crowd of Eagle Rocktonians, they were all kind, full of compliments and made the entire experience one of the best we've ever had as a band. Kelly is back from Portland, I'm back from Big Bear, and Nick is back a wild acid trip that lasted 5 days (joke!).


We've scheduled a couple shows for the next month or so. We are playing a Halloween party near Zankou Chicken on Sunset in Hollywood on October 27th. My guess is that we'll play around 10pm, it'll be packed, kegs of beer will be present, and we will rock your world because that's just what we do these days. We have another show mapped out for The Scene on November 20th with Tweak Bird and The Pleasure Boaters. Both Tweak Bird and The Pleasure Boaters are amazing bands; it'll surely be a great night of loud rock and roll. There's recent Front chatter about a possible tour in the near future. I'll keep you posted if anything happens. For right now, we are focused on writing new songs.


Hmmmmmmmm........What else can I say? The Radiohead Album has consumed my life the past week. I just went and saw the movie Michael Clayton starring George Clooney and it was a great flick. The ending scene makes me want to smash a fucking guitar to bits at the end of our next show. I appreciate a well defined climactic point. I can sense that it's brewing, simmering, festering inside me. I've always imagined a situation where I would smash a guitar but had notions that when things like that happen, they are often contrived and more detrimental to your audience's perception of your band than helpful or impressive. We'll see what happens. Don't be surprised if you see a Stratocaster in ruins after an upcoming show and don't say I didn't warn you. I'd leave you with Videotape by Radiohead but my last post has the version recorded for "From A Basement" so I'll leave you with a solid Bruce video instead. Until we meet again...........






mb

Radiohead- Videotape

I realized late last night that I've been feeling a void in my life for about 2-3 years now. I quit listening to Radiohead shortly after college because I felt like I was becoming too heavily influenced by them; I was singing in my yet-to-be finely tuned falsetto voice, playing quirky chords on guitar, and every song I wrote made me want to cry. At about 1:30 am last night I came across this video of Thom Yorke performing "Videotape" (the last song off the upcoming Radiohead album "In Rainbows") and I watched it 7 times in a row and felt human again. I hope you enjoy it. I've decided to dust off my OK Computer, Kid A and The Bends albums. It's comforting to know someone's out there making music like this today, it makes me want to stay out of bed.

Eagle Rock Music Festival

Eagle Rock Music Festival is this weekend!!!! It should be a great, community friendly, inexpensive time. The Front plays at 10pm at The Tire Depot Stage. Our friends The Pity Party play the main stage at 8:05. The Monolators play at 6:20 at the main stage and Bodies of Water hold it down at 7:05. The full lineup is below.





EMERGING MAIN STAGE (indie):

5:00 - 5:20 - THE FRIMPS (Eagle Rock High School Battle of the Bands winners)

5:35 - 6:05 - TEDDY'S CHEER CLUB

6:20 - 6:50 - THE MONOLATORS

7:05 - 7:50 - BODIES OF WATER

8:05 - 8:50 - THE PITY PARTY

9:05 - 10:00 - DENGUE FEVER

10:30 - midnight - UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GIANTS


GLOBAL MAIN STAGE (world):

5:00 - 5:45 - MARIACHI DIVAS

6:00 - 6:45 - JESSICA FICHOT

7:00 - 7:45 - MICHELE GREENE

8:00 - 8:45 - TUESDAY NIGHT SQUAD

9:00 - 10:00 - BLACK SHAKESPEARE

10:30 - midnight - CHUCHITO VALDES


PANANG (rock/punk):

5:00 - 5:45 - THE SUNDOWNERS

6:15 - 7:00 - DC4

7:30 - 8:15 - THE MORMONS

8:45 - 9:30 - THE MAMA SUKI

10:00 - 10:30 - VIRGINIA CITY REVIVAL



WOMEN'S 20th CENTURY CLUB (experimental torch songs):

5:00 - 5:45 - B IS FOR BARONESS

6:00 - 6:45 - LESLIE & THE BADGERS

7:00 - 7:45 - WEYOU.

8:00 - 8:45 - MIA DOI TODD and ANDRES RENTERIA

9:00 - 10:00 - HECUBA


WELCOME INN (zydeco):

8:00 - 9:30 - BENNIE & THE SWAMP GATORS



BATEMAN WATER & HEATING (punk/rockabilly):

6:30 - 7:30 - THE CURS

8:00 - 9:00 - THE SIRENS

9:00 - 10:00 - THE CURS



COLUMBO'S (tropical folk pop):

6:30 - 7:15 - THE RONDALLA CLUB OF L.A.

7:45 - 8:30 - PRINCETON



CITY HALL (industrial percussion):

8:30 - 9:00 - GLANK

9:00 - 9:30 - BELLY DANCING

9:30 - 10:00 - MODERN DANCE

10:00 - 10:30 - GLANK



RANTZ (dub/Latin/IDM):

6:00 - 7:00 - DUB 8

7:30 - 8:30 - DED PIGEONS

9:00 - 10:00 - CAFE FUEGO



RenArts (kids/teens/tweens):

5:30 - 6:15 - ELLEN AND MATT - BEST FRIENDS

6:30 - 7:00 - CORNELLI ORCHESTRA

7:00 - 7:30 - DANCE AND STRING ENSEMBLE

7:30 - 8:00 - RenArts HONOR CHOIR



CAMILO'S (jazz):

6:30 - 7:30 - J. VEGA & FRIENDS

8:00 - 9:30 - KATHLEEN GRACE BAND



SWORK (folk/acoustic/Latin):

6:30 - 7:30 - ESTEBAN LEON

8:00 - 9:30 - LAURA WEINBACH and SIVAN SADEH



AMERICAN TIRE DEPOT (local ER/HP/LA rock):

5:00 - 5:45 - GET OUT

6:15 - 7:00 - PALE BLUE MORNING

7:30 - 8:15 - SEASONS

8:45 - 9:30 - TSK TSK

10:00 - 10:30 - THE FRONT
(YOU KNOW IT BITCHES!!!)



DIVINE FORCES STAGE (hip hop/funk/soul/breakbeats/world):

5:00 - 6:00 - DJ CARLOS NINO

6:00 - 6:45 - EAGLE ROCK UNDERGROUND DJs

6:45 - 7:00 - DJ ORATOR

7:05 - 7:30 - REBELS TO THE GRAIN

7:30 - 8:00 - OLMECA

8:00 – 8:10 - MIKE THE POET

8:15 - 8:45 - EL-HARU KUROI

9:05 - 10:00 - PACHAMAMA

10:00 - 10:30 - SPECIAL GUEST

It should be a great time so come out, bring the kids and eat popcorn! We just played with Bacchus and Oaks at The Scene last Sunday and it was awesome. We put a few pics up on our myspace page if you would like to give it a gander. The new songs are sexy, smart, and better than our previous output. Hope to see you Saturday and get your opinion.


MB