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New Fence Sitters and Fence Cutters Releases and other news

Texas summer has sure been hot, and I’ve been on a pretty hot streak as well:

  • Record Release
    • Baby Got Bacteria’s Boo came out in May
  • New Recordings
    • Zirque Bois d’Arc’s Voo Doo Deux is back in the work’s with Peter
    • Peter, Sam, David Hobizal and I recorded about 2 and a half hours of improvised awesomeness at Chico’s studio (MicroMega) that both David and Sam are going to toy with and turn into some songs – it’s really pretty fantastic as is and I can’t wait to see what they come up with
    • Home Demos for possible bass-led album, and possible follow up to The Fall Will Probably Kill You
  • The Continuum
    • Your Face My Face played our annual show at Me Mer Mo Monday
    • I played a solo Zirque show where I did some old Fenecsitters and Fencecutters material, along with some Songs about Russia, a few tracks from Voo Doo Deux and even (gasp) a couple of covers.
  • New Projects and Writing
    • Amy Hackerd and I are going to record some stuff the first half of August, so I am busy gathering ideas and writing new tunes. Not really sure what this is going to sound like, but looking forward to sharing it with you
    • The Flato Van Vleck/Zirque Bois d’Arc Space Desert Opera is still in its infancy, but I am very excited about how it is going.
    • This durn website – I’m writing all sorts of content that will show up as soon as it doesn’t suck
    • I’m doing another Zirque solo show at the Carousel Lounge on August 26!

    But the most immediate coolness is that we are (finally) making the Fence Sitters and Fence Cutters catalog digital!

    • Tuesday, August 1 – More Blue Than Green digital release (a few copies of the physical cd will be available at CD Baby)
    • Tuesday, August 15 – Extended Play digital release (a few copies at CD Baby)
    • Tuesday, August 29 – Horses and Asses digital release (a few copies at CD Baby)
    • Friday, September 1 – Mission to Mars full release

    I’ll talk more about each of these as it happens, but we are all very excited! and there are even tentative plans to record a fifth record this winter!

    That’s it for now – try to stay in the shade, drink lots of water and check out this Song About Russia from my solo Zirque show:

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Dual Record Release December 13

ZBDFlier-wide

On December 13, Church of the Friendly Ghost (at Salvage Vanguard Theatre) will present the release party for the first two Zirque Bois d’Arc records!

Here’s the Facebook event page.

Selections from Things I Should’ve Done Better will be performed by Zirque, Peter Stopschinski on Keys, Sam Arnold on Bass, and David Hobizal on Drums

Selections from Songs About Russia will be performed by Zirque with Shelly Leuzinger and Evie Gladish.

There will also be a performance by Ralph White and other special guests!

more details to come….

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The Fall Will Probably Kill You

Well time marches on.

Things I Should’ve Done Better has been manufactured and is on it’s way to me – well at least the CD version of it. I hope i didn’t screw anything up, I’m super happy with it!

I just mastered Songs About Russia, so now I have to assemble the artwork and get the physical copies made. Here’s the first video (of 13!):

I just finished a suite of solo guitar pieces that I hope to start performing around town. I’m calling the project The Fall Will Probably Kill You, and here’s a demo:

Since it’s been a while and I’ve done a lot, here are some more cool things:

Spiderfarts – a live sound collage collective from the mind of Peter Stopschinski and featuring some of my favorite folks:

Catalogue of Spiderfarts – April 29, 2015 at the Off Center – Part 1 from friendly ghost on Vimeo.

I was in a play! 100 Heartbreaks by Joanna Garner! I played the guitar player in the band (and the band – me, Alexander Villarreal and Robert Vignisson – got a nomination for a B. Iden Payne Award – Outstanding Featured Musical Performance!) check out some of the tunes (with me on guitar) at http://100heartbreaks.com/music/. That girl can write and sing some heartbreak for sure!

My punk band Pinkie Sworn:

Oh I did this album of psych-rock music. dunno if i’ll ever do anything more with it, so here it is on soundcloud:

I started a band with Mohadev. and so much more. this is a lot… Next Up: CD Release and then Voo Doo Deaux!

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gonna be a good spring

well, now i get to release all these things.

chablis single came out saturday – the record relase at carousel lounge was off the hook fun

this week we send lick lick’s third record – you and me neither – off to the record pressing factory place. should have that back mid-february.

also we’re finishing up mixing on lick lick’s as yet untitled fourth record this week. so we’ll likely have two releases in 2014!

peter’s rite of spring is dropping at the mother falcon performance on december 28

also on december 28 matt and i are backing up hess on a couple of songs at a big coldtown theater shindig

january 11 i debut with the cave bees at holy mountain!

january 15 is target to finish mixing things i shouldve done better – need to arrange for mastering, but i have a couple of ideas. by mid february i hope to have it pressed. the cover image is a great photo by george brainard.

january 26 fencesitters are doing 2 hours of sit and sing at the lost well

early february is my target to finish recording/mixing songs about russia – need to arrange for mastering. hope to have it pressed by mid march

february 15 love below III – the return of Baby Got Bacteria

in mid march i’ll start recording voodoo deux in earnest. i’ve got a couple of great smart people helping me out, and i can’t wait to get it going.

also around then my psych rock band should be starting to get going – i have 12 songs written, and some fantastic players on board – just need to get some words and some time.

also i just started work with hobizal on a concept record – a sort of beowulf set in the post apocalyptic trans-pecos. i’m calling it el milagro de calor

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New Projects

So, hopefully all of these matriculate into awesomeness, i feel they all will.

Just thought i’d take a little time and write down the state of the state on some of my music ships.

Peter plays The Rite of Spring. Peter Stopschinski has prepared a solo piano arrangement of Stravinski’s the Rite of Spring, and I have been assisting him with the recording. We’ve got the good mics pointed at the Yamaha Grand, and I think the tonal palate he is pushing through the sound board is amazing. It’s truly an honor to be involved as he obviously loves the source material.

Piano/Mandolin Trio. Peter and I have started developing some pieces to play for a newly concepted piano and mandolin trio (we’ll add acoustic bass). Peter wants to play more acoustic piano, and i want to get much much better at the mandolin. Most acoustic Pianos in town are in places where the exuberance of our rock-n-roll impulses are not really encouraged and it’s not really in our bucket list to play a bunch of covers or standards, so we’re developing new material on which we can improvise. I think of it as Tia Carrera for the acoustic music set.

Pinkie Sworn. hardcore, with Julien, Sean and Cam. SWORN!

Duets. Shelly dared me to do an album of duets with her, so we have started writing a bunch of them (9 started so far). Our buddy alarmo expressed interest in playing pedal steel, so we may try to put together an actual gigging band – twin fiddles, pedal steel duets and harmonies. i’ve done a couple of demos, but none really good enough for soundcloud yet (wrong keys, wrong feels, placeholder lyrics, etc.)

Lick Lick’s 3rd record is being mixed right now! Greg Yancey has been wrangling some great moments, and i can’t wait for y’all to hear it!

Things I Should’ve Done Better is being mixed! Sam and I have cranked that mill up, and hope to have last minute recording and mixes done by then end of August.