Me and them honky-tonk boys in the Moonpies decided one song just isn’t nearly enough. An EP is what we need. Four songs to make you drink godless amounts of T.W. Samuels and two-step into oblivion. A quartet of hard-living tunes to make you feel just a little bit better about your own toxic situation. And wouldn’t ya know it, J.J. Castillo and crew captured the whole thing in glorious high-as-a-kite definition. Here’s the first single from the disc, entitled ‘Glory’. Download the track below, and get on mikeandthemoonpies.com for the rest of the tracks. Enjoy!
Here’s a personal project of mine filmed entire at the ND @ 501 Studios on a Flip Ultra HD camera. With our huge main room, projector wall, and eastside locale, the ND is the perfect place to film your next video. Contact me to set something up. Enjoy.
When it’s with the Moonpies, a session isn’t just a session. It’s a complete bro-down. No, it’s a full on exbrosion. The whole recording part is just a precursor to the real magic. It’s like ‘can we hurry this shit up so we can get to the drinking, already?’ Amps are switched off, tracks are dumped, gear is sort of packed, time to hit the North Door and start partying like real country music legends do. Enter T.W. Samuels. Enter Lone Star tallboys. Enter half told bar jokes, not being able to finish because everyone’s interrupting. Realizing you haven’t laughed this fucking hard in years. Two hours of live recording equals four hours of steady alcohol intake and debauched conversation. 48 hours later I still feel hungover. Long live honky-tonk.
Coming soon – a new/old Moonpies EP with video by J.J. Castilla and crew. It’s gonna be tits.
After long last it’s time to grace your ears with three new tracks of Austin awesomeness.
Salesman – salesmanmusic.com
Salesman and I have crossed paths numerous times, I’ve worked with them at Hole in the Wall, Frontier Bar, and of course here at the ND @ 501 Studios. They’ve always kept me astonished with their complex sound and psychedelic folk-rock vibe. This is definitely the soundtrack to your night of wild, feral, jungle explorations. Singer/guitarist Devin Fry and crew really went all the way with this track; violin (yeah, that’s not a guitar solo), and several layers of choir-style backing vocals. Catch the band live, or Devin solo, or their side project Lord Buffalo and prepare to be impressed.
Salesman – ‘Four Legs’
Black Books have been garnering a little bit of recognition recently, and deservedly so. After catching a performance and working with them at the ND, these dudes (and a lady) have been really growing on me. They recorded all the rhythm tracks live in a circle, campfire style. This probably didn’t aid in sound quality, but definitely put them at ease and I ended up with a very strong performance. The more I listen the more I hear a mellow Sonic Youth, especially on this track. Check out their radass psyched out album cover, and catch them live on Nov 19 @ Hole in the Wall.
Black Books – ‘Take Take Take’
Eleven minutes and thirty seven seconds of immense and ambient, bellowing soundscapes chronicling the dark, mysterious inner workings of the cyborg cyber-mind. Have a listen…
Daniel Rugg Webb – ‘Deadbear’
NDSessions is officially has a real domain, so now we are totally fucking legit.
Finishing up tracks for NDSessions Vol II while on this last leg of The Blind Pets tour. Everything is coming together nicely and I’ll be posting actual tracks soon.
Oh and I filmed another radical music video, which I’m also editing. More on that in the next month or so.
So rock ndsessions.com, tell your frenemies, and enjoy Austin’a local music scene.
I’m now drumming for local heavyweights The Blind Pets for their Fall 2011 midwest/eastcoast tour. They are a great rock n’ roll band, and we go way back so this should be a blast.
I’ll be gone most of October, and I’ll try and keep posting here when I get a chance. While on the road, I’ll be mixing tracks for Daniel Webb, Black Books, and Salesman getting them nice and purty for a (hopefully) November NDSessions Volume II release.
Oh, and I made another music video, more on that coming soon. Don’t let the place burn to the ground while I’m gone.
Another amazing NDSession wrapped, this time with Black Books. You’ve probably heard them already, so no need to expound on their sound. The indie quintet came in a laid down an as-yet-untitled piece, which to my ears had a very Sonic Youth-esque underpinning. Here they are recording the rhythmic foundation.
Daniel Webb creates bellowing, ambient, industrial soundscapes with a beat up Rhodes, a drum machine, and a Memory Man. There’s not really an existing genre that can fully describe it so Daniel came up with his own – Airport Lounge Music from an Alternate Dimension, or music a Cyborg Drag Queen from the Future would dance to. It’s ethereal, intense, and amazingly weird. We tracked 3 songs which will be out soon. Here’s a clip.
