A new song appears

The first new S17 recording in nearly a decade is featured on this great compilation! Get it, it's FREE!!

Track 6: The Sirago 17 "Fever Dream (Playing With Prescriptions)"

Lyrics: Dan Woodward

Music: Chris Reid

Performed by Chris Reid and Pablo Rossetti

http://tripinsidethishouse.blogspot.com/2011/06/summer-and-psychedelia.html

Here it is live:

2011-05-21 - Central California Experimental Media Society Presents:

2011-05-21 - Central California Experimental Media Society Presents:, a set on Flickr.

The Sirago 17 setlist:
Playing With Fire
Fever Dream
Elsewhere
It's a Rainy Day, Sister Ray

SIRAGO COMES ALIVE

The Sirago 17 mk II makes its debut Saturday, May 21 at Tokyo Garden, Fresno. Also on the bill are our friends Ryan Gregory Tallman - celebrating the release of his latest album - and Kevin Gan Yuen (usually known as Fermentæ) -
If you're in the area, drop by.

SWANS and Wooden Wand, Regency Ballroom, SF - March 1, 2011

Wooden Wand were 3 guitarists doing electric folk blues. They, unfortunately, suffered from being NOT SWANS. Seriously, though, they were pretty good (though my friend thought they really needed a drummer). I think under different circumstances I'll like them quite a bit more. I just kicked down some money for their new record on Kickstarter - http://kck.st/f1xUfu

SWANS...
around 9:15 or so, the percussionist came out and turned a drone machine of some kind. Keep in mind, the house lights and pre-show music were still going. After about another 10-15 minutes, the steel guitarist came out and switched on a drone machine. Then, the drummer came out and started noodling on a glockenspeil (possibly...couldn't quite see). Then the percussionist came back out and started playing the orchestra bells. Then, Mr. steel guy and Mr. bass guy came out (I forget which came first) and started noodling, rumbling, and feeding back. At times I thought we were having an earthquake. Then out come Michael Gira and Norman Westberg to much applause. Then they started an almost groovey jam with many James Brown-esque "hit me x times" breakdowns...
Finally, they stopped. Then, around 10:00 or a little after, the first "proper" song started!
And it just got better.
I'm not familiar enough with the new album's song titles yet, but most of it was played - I recognized "Jim", "Little Mouth" (which was the encore), and the live arrangement of "Eden Prison". A particularly intense (but slightly too fast for my tastes) rendition of "Sex, God, Sex" was the highlight for me. All in all, they played about 2 1/2 hours.
Time well spent.
And Michael Gira came out to chat with people and sign stuff at the merch table. Seems quite nice. He chuckled when I told him my first exposure to Swans was the New Mind video on MTV back in 88 or whenever...
Memorable MG quotes (paraphrased):

"We don't do that agression stuff anymore. Now it's all peace and love! So FUCK YOU, CUNT HOLES!!... (laughter)...My band is often appalled to be up on stage with me."

"I love San Francisco...I came here in '78 to audition for Flipper. I didn't get the job."

(not my video - but it's the best quality video I could find, thus far)
Little Mouth (Encore)

Obligatory quarterly blogpost

Elsewhere (live) by The Sirago 17

http://www.youtube.com/user/sweatgoat
http://soundcloud.com/thesirago17

And, as a bonus:

Let's just get this out of the way now, shall we?

I don't think much else is coming out in the next month and a half that will top these, so here's my end of the year list for 2010:

10 records I'm glad to have paid money for (basically in order, but things can change...).

1. The Lovetones - Lost (LP)
2. The Asteroid No. 4 - Hail To The Clear Figurines (LP)
3. Dead Skeletons - Dead Mantra (10")
4. The Dolly Rocker Movement - Our Days Mind the Tyme (LP)
5. Chief Nowhere - Chief Nowhere (CD)
6. Laboratory Noise - When Sound Generates Light (CD)
7. Cornershop - Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast (CD)
8. The See See - Mary Soul EP (Digital)
9. The Third Sound - The Third Sound (CD)
10. Ojos Rojos - Disappear (CD)

Honorable mentions (because 12 is not as round a number as 10):

1. Cult Of Dom Keller - EP1 (Digital) 2010
2. Various Artists - Psychedelica 4 (2xCD) 2010

pre-2010 releases worthy of note (could totally change on a whim)

1. Federale - Devil In A Boot (CD) - 2009
2. The Asteroid No. 4 - These Flowers Of Ours - A Treasury Of Witchcraft And Devilry (2xLP) 2008
3. Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music - The Amine ß Ring (DVD) 1975
4. Graham Day & The Gaolers - Triple Distilled (CD) 2008
5. Colorsound - Soundtrack For An Imaginary Life (CD) 1998
6. The Kinks The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (3xCD) 1968
7. The Stevenson Ranch Davidians - The Stevenson Ranch Davidians EP (CD) 2005
8. The Black Angels - Doves/Drone in G#Major (7") 2008
9. Wooden Shjips - Dos (CD) 2009
10. Spacemen 3 - DJ Tones (12") 2008

Other stuff worth a damn:

1. The Sun Blindness - Far Arden
2. Helicon - Take The Ride EP
3. FIGHTS MONSTERS - ...from the forthcoming FIGHTS MONSTERS album
4. Rachel Bloom - Fuck Me Ray Bradbury
5. Emmalee Crane - Crux
6. The Myrrors - Burning Circles In The Sky
7. Chatham Rise - Chatham Rise EP
8. Syd R. Duke - My Witness Is The Empty Sky
9. The Lucid Dreams (now known as The Lucid Visions) - The Lucid EP
10. Cults - Cults 7"

This is the best collection of psychedelic bands on the planet!!

Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 8:30pm

Spaceland, Silverlake, CA

Magic Mirror: my first time hearing them. Really dug them. Wish I would've bought a CD...but I didn't see any.

The Quarter After: The raised the bar right to the ceiling. "Too Much To Think About" was on fire. Andy C. had to fill on drums for the first song ("Always Returning" I believe) as the QAs drummer was stuck on the 101. Haven't we all been there?

The Asteroid No. 4: Solid. Great set. Played a couple tracks off the new one (available at the merch table on pretty red vinyl). However, because of delays and the natural tendency for every band to play over their alloted time (is just a fact of life), they got yanked by Matt Tow....which brings us to...

The Lovetones: Started solid with "Navigator", then "City Meets The Stars", but they had some kind of monitor trouble and couldn't hear themselves or each other or there was some kind of phasing going on. The soundman heard nothing (I thought I heard him say). Then things got demented. Matt Sigley sang "This Great Romance" but his bass strap came unhooked and he lost it. Shame, as that's a fine song. In the middle of "Pictures" Matt Tow seemed to have some issues with either his guitar or amp (or just the comsos in general) and viciously attacked both, put his guitar down, went and had a drink, came back and started playing again. They ended with "Mantra" ("Journeyman" and "Inside A Dream" were also played) and that turned to chaos. Matt T. threw his guitar down and left the building for a while before getting dragged back in, Matt Sigley ended up on his back with Tow aiming his guitar at his head, and ended with Rob and Matt Tow grinding their guitars together in a most metal sort of way. Rob Campanella (who played the show with a false nose) ended by saying "...and I'm not even in this band." (paraphrased)
In all, a good, albeit weird, evening.
I hasten to add, though, that if you weren't actually watching what was going on, you'd never know something was amiss (except when Sigley dropped his bass...that was noticeable...sorry, man). The music just got more intense as the chaos ensued.
The Lovetones new album, LOST, is available now on VINYL. Get it here: http://plantingseedsrecords.com/shop.html
Get Quarter After and Asteroid No. 4 goods here: http://www.thecommitteetokeepmusicevil.com/ 
Dig the Magic Mirror here: http://www.myspace.com/magicmirrormusic



(this originally appeared, in very slightly different form, here)

...and 15 years later, there was radio airplay

KDHX Playlist Information:

"October 12, 2010 - 5:32am - The Sirago 17 “Gazer (A Fragment)” from Bedspins EP 2 (Rotting Audio 2010) N – Check out their Bandcamp page! Remasters galore. The pride (& joy) of Clovis, CA."

Dig it! St Louis radio! Stream it here: http://kdhx.fm/archives/archive_gen.php?show=tripinsidethishouse
(select "Trip Inside This House on October 12th" - only up for 2 weeks I believe)

and earlier:
KWCW 90.5 FM Walla Walla
Air date 13th of September '10
I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show #1 'The Season Is Ours':

"THE SIRAGO 17 'Gazer (A Fragment)'"

Air date 23rd of August '10
I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show # 10 'Just One Summer Before I Go':

"The last show of the Summer semester featuring some music from The Sirago 17."

THE SIRAGO 17 'How Long?'

My eternal gratitude to -valis and Keisha!

The Sofa Music Rehearsals | I Am Not The Janitor

The Sofa Music Rehearsals | I Am Not The Janitor

First demo from 2002. Now available on the BandCamp. Download it. It's not bad.

DERP!

So, these people sent me a survey:

Really? Obama's more of the threat than the Nazi's? Soviet Union? The Civil War? If these "Christians" (note the quotes) keep this shit up, people like THEM will be the cause of a civil war.
The stupid. It burns.

I Am Not The Janitor

No available for download and streaming - the final album by I Am Not The Janitor. More to come. Maybe even some video, if Dan sends me the tapes. That would be awesome!

edit: NOW available for download....stupid spelling.

I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show # 10 'Just One Summer Before I Go'

I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show # 10 'Just One Summer Before I Go'

Gratuitous Sirago 17 mentions and AIRPLAY! By GOD we got AIRPLAY!!

The Lovetones - "City Meets the Stars" MP3 (PopMatters Premiere) < PopMatters

The Lovetones - "City Meets the Stars" MP3 (PopMatters Premiere) < PopMatters

New single by The Lovetones available for FREE over at Pop Matters.
Go get it. You'll like it. I promise.
Then, wait for the new album. Then get that. You will like that, as well.
Then, go see them on tour in October/November.
I, for one, will be here: http://www.clubspaceland.com/?m=20101030&cat=2 - and also any other California shows I can swing. Hopefully there will be a couple...
Honestly, in some alternate - better - universe, this band would be seen as a modern Beatles.

The Sirago 17

In the process of transferring all the music over the Bandcamp.com. Now you can stream, download, and if you're feeling generous, even pay. But the albums are still free first and foremost. Free is the new Awesome.

The Sirago 17 - The Closeout EP

The Sirago 17 - The Closeout EP

Repurposing tracks from a solo album. I mean, they really don't sound any different to the S17 stuff, so why not, right?

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

Step 5: Learn songs.
I am currently endeavoring to learn "In The Light Of Time" by Flying Saucer Attack on acoustic guitar for the new project a friend and I will shortly begin pre-preparations for. After less than 15 minutes, my finger-tips threatened to leave. They are very angry with me at me moment. And my entire left index finger is sore.
EVEN MY FREAKING FINGERS ARE OUT OF SHAPE!
Gack.
This could be a while...

Bookmarked for future reference...

"A letter to my daughters about weed" by Dan Shapiro
http://open.salon.com/blog/danshapiro/2010/03/09/a_letter_to_my_daughters_about_weed

"...I want to write you the truth because you already know the “no one has ever used” speech is crap and if I leave you to figure everything out on your own you’ll just ask your friends -- whose sum of information comes from only slightly less clueless older brothers and sisters or the internet – which is a three car garage stuffed by hoarders. There may be some truth buried in the internet about weed, but you’d have to clean off ferret droppings to find it..."

The Sirago 17 - Set The Controls For The Heart Of Your Heart

The Sirago 17 - Set The Controls For The Heart Of Your Heart

This is an approximation of what would have become our first proper album. If only...

Back in the late 90s I began sending cassettes to Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3/Spectrum/E.A.R.). We weren't necessarily angling for a record deal, I just wanted to see if he dug our stuff. Soon after, we were contacted by Space Age Recordings (Sonic's label) and we were offered a contract. That's when the well ran dry. We didn't sign, and I didn't do much creative again until mid-2002 when I joined I Am Not The Janitor. Then THAT fell apart and I again did nothing for several years....

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

Step 4: Get organezized
(or, more accurately: procrastinate)

 Although, looking at these broke-ass guitars will hopefully light a fire...

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

Step 3: Discover that the Vibrato Channel on your Fender Twin Reverb (the channel WITH the reverb and "vibrato" - why do they call their tremolo a vibrato?) is giving you guff and tends to short out here and there randomly.
I'm hoping this is merely because it hasn't been used in 7 years and just needs to get the shit blown out of it...(I can hope, right?)