Busy time of the year

Hey all, I've been busy as of late.
Working myself mad on Bad Happy, trying to get The Kitten's Rejoinder prepared for release, rehearsing with Ultra Death Men and Giggle The Ozone, and trying to organize Christmasasaurus Vol. 5 as last minute as I thought possible, haha

Mob Boss recording has entered the pre-recording rehearsal phase.
For various reasons, I'm just going to do everything except for drums, which will be handled by Jon of Ultra Death Men. I don't know what I'll put this out on yet, but I'm feeling a semi-free album that will come with all future merch orders is the best idea.

Jayme is not out of the band, he's just too busy right now to put effort in, and because they are my songs anyway I'm going to just record them to kick start things.

I have my Bandcamp page up and running to fill the void left by myspace turning into a complete trainwreck.
Not quite a website, but I'm still working on that.

http://bubblegumoctopus.bandcamp.com/

I'm slowly filling in all the lyrics and some descriptions of the songs.
Nothing important, just some anecdotes about their origins, the recording process, whatever.
I know some people have wanted the same treatment I gave Possible Party: Part i to be given to TAFKA8LDM

Well, that's all for now.
Sorry there's nothing exciting...

...oh wait, just kidding! I have some shows!




Bubblegum Octopus December 30th, Yspilanti, MI @ a house party. Ask me for the address.

Bubblegum Octopus January 6th, North Hollywood, CA @ Hustle House with Monomate, NVR-NDR, Halloween Swim Team, and Vyncent Flaw

Bubblegum Octopus January 7th, Isla Vista, CA @ Biko Garage with Monomate, Treasure Mammal, and Coach McGirt

Giggle The Ozone January 21st, Brooklyn, NY @ Vaudeville Park

Bubblegum Octopus & Pyrrhic January 28th, Sunderland, MD @ tba w/ Watabou

Bubblegum Octopus January 29th, Baltimore, MD @ Hexagon Space w/ TALK TO ANIMALS

In March... I'll be playing South By Southwest, followed by another tour with Yatagarasu covering Texas, Oklahoma, and more on the way back to New York!
More details on that stuff soon.

11162010

So, here's what's been up as of late:

I've been coughing myself new orifices to cough through on and off for the past month or so.
I have the vocals for a bunch of songs tracked, but progress has been slow.
My ears have been clogged, my head has been hazy, my voice has been malfunctioning, my ability to sleep has been severely damaged, my throat and nose have been full of mucus... the point is, I've had a really hard time getting work done for reasons beyond my control.
I'm hoping that tomorrow will bring better health and that tonight will bring restful sleep so that I can get back on this. My brain is exploding with ideas I can't carry out.

That said, Bad Happy is probably not going to come out until January or February now.
I was really pushing for it to be done next month, but time isn't slowing down of course, and "Flu Season" bested me this year *shakes fist at sky*

Let me take the time to apologize now for 2010 being the year of compilation albums and contributions, split EPs, and re-releases.
At the very least, I played in a good deal of the country, got two full lengths (Ultra Death Men and Hybegnu) recorded for future releases, got one fantastic split of new material out, got 15 of my free releases within the public's grasp, and made substantial progress on future BgO releases.


As far as The Kitten's Rejoinder, I decided it does indeed need some sort of bonus tracks and that I should also do some more work on the Scissor Shock split tracks.
They'll never be up to the standards of my current music, but I want to polish them however I can to at least help!
It should be out next month.

It's looking like the track list will be the following:

1. Unveil: Machine Octopus
2. Soft Sun Spots
3. Zuru??
4. Mr. Yum
5. Rembowave
6. Misconception Superhighway
7. Peace in Pious Pieces
8. Discomfort & Laughing
9. Fire Belly Bravery
10. Enjoy My Home
11. Product Amazement
12. The Fantastical Balloonopus: Sanchtïrl'ynk
13. Digidock
14. Here He is He's GONE
15. Sausage MAXXX
16. This is not Dead Time!
17. Enjoy My Home: Platinum

1 and 2 are new songs (1 being an instrumental intro track I wrote in 2007, 2 being a song I originally wrote for the Weakness Electronics split with Watabou this year.)
3 - 8 are my songs from My God Is The Cat King, the split with Dental Work (which is a fabulous release that you should still try to get, even if you get this album when it comes out)
9 - 12 are my songs from Take Control, the split with Yatagarsu from last year.
13 - 16 are my songs from the split with Scissor Shock from 2007
17 is the new version of Enjoy My Home that I've been playing live with better vocals. I was unhappy with some things in the first version and it was my favorite BgO song up to that point.

While I'm on the topic, did I ever post the revised Bad Happy track list?
If not, here it is:

1. SpazzPop Forever!!!!~
2. Distortion Castle
3. 888 Days Meow Fast
4. Sleep Void
5. Floor of Worlds
6. Tubulidentata
7. Goodbye Light (God's Fake Laser)
8. Betrayal is okay.
9. We ARE Sick
10. Shovel Piledriver
11. Metallic Sheep Nap
12. Feeler than I'm old
13. Beautiful Little Towne
14. Time Zone Proclivity
15. Loud Noise In My Room
16. Resting in the valley forever




End of release news, here's some live show updates:

[Start of Mixed Emotionz Tour. Bubblegum Octopus w/ Monomate]
January 6th - Hustle House in Los Angeles, CA
January 7th - Biko Garage in Santa Barbara, CA
January 8th - Northern California, help needed!
January 9th - Portland, OR. More info soon
January 12th - Seattle, WA. More info soon
January 13th - Oregon. More info soon
January 14th - Northern California, help needed!
January 15th - The return to LA. More info soon.
[End tour]
January 21st - Giggle The Ozone @ tba in Brooklyn, NY
January 28th - Bubblegum Octopus and Pyrrhic** @ tba in Sunderland, MD
January 29th - Bubblegum Octopus @ Hexagon Space in Baltimore, MD w/ Talk To Animals
March - Beginning of Bad Happy tour to Texas! Details as they arrive in the next few weeks.

**Pyrrhic is some kind of proggy, extreme metal band I am doing vocals for at some shows.
I will be appearing on their first album, as well. They are a pretty superb band, so I have high hopes for it.




I did art for the 2007 Fork Sister album, Savory Sauces. I still obviously haven't gotten the vocals done, but at least the art is complete!

I'm also compiling another compilation album, appropriately titled "One-Off Oddities"
It's going to be a little more than me just slapping a bunch of weird crap I've recorded together, putting it on the web, and calling it a night though.
It's going to feature songs by Hurricane Metal, The Cuddle Sluts, I Am A Hexagon, c@ Vs. Peppermint Pony, Bubblegum Octopus Vs. Scissor Shock, Rage-a-holic Tortise, Frame House, Awful Throats, a "m@ the c@" song, Mercury Syringe, a Scissor Shock cover I did as Bubblegum Octopus, and hopefully some new BgO song or something to increase the value.
It'll basically answer all of your questions about my projects that you've never heard (except for the fact that the Frame House songs will be a weird porn groove thing and a melodic death metal thing we did before the band had really found a sound. Not even sure it's fair to call them Frame House songs, in fact)

I suppose that's all I have for you for now.
Stay happy, dearest friends.

Minimum Dollar Boy

Recording with Hybegnu was awesome, seriously.
Everyone involved had something great to contribute. Their first album was mostly angular avant-noise-sludge stuff, but the new one is nothing but contrast and strangeness, without losing a central feeling of discomforting other-worldliness.
Spastic/atonal math jams, gaunt odd time metal, new wave hip-hop, hideous screeching noise, submarine drone, ambient acoustitronic free jazz... basically a ton of things that the average Bubblegum Octopus fan might not really like, but the average m@ the c@ fan will be totally down with.

I think one of the best parts of the whole thing was the fact that one song literally sounds EXACTLY like what you might expect from a collaboration between Keith (of PAK, Time Of Orchids, and tons more) Dylan (of Giggle The Ozone, Zeehas; 12 Wait, and more) and myself... and I consider that sound to be quite desirable.

I ended up doing bass, guitar with a bunch of my effects pedals, vocals, and a set-up where I had a mic running into my KP3, which ran into my DD7, and I played glockenspiel and slide whistle through it. We switched line-ups for almost every song.

As for a release, I don't know yet. We're doing more than expected with this album, so it might be a while yet.


Bad Happy is still trudging along... eh, well... actually.... it's more like it's jogging at this point, but it keeps tripping over it's shoelaces even though I keep reminding it to tie them.
I basically re-did entire drum tracks for like 5 songs, making them ridiculous elaborate, added some potentially unnecessary synth parts from the Nanosynth, and have been fighting with the frustration of mixing up to about 50 tracks of audio and MIDI per song.

After the grindiest song on the album has it's drums replaced (it's kind of like Falcon Breeze's much more sophisticated and elaborate spiritual successor,) my only obstacles in the way of having this thing done are the vocals for 9 tracks, some guitar and bass parts, some textural palette cleansers, and the very daunting mixing process.
I've got an install of Komplete 7 on the way that was donated by my father, who got it for teaching purposes, and I think Battery may be the trick for the drums on that thing.

I need to get more shirts printed. All I have left is small and girly small o_o;
Money is so tight that it's pretty hard to afford these things. If I get more of the Tubbypaws design it'll probably be the last run of 6 color shirts for a while.
I'm definitely under-charging you all for them.
I'm too nice sometimes (^-^;; )


Oh, I forgot to include this the first time I updated this post.
The Kitten's Rejoinder is actually going to be getting a "DIY style" release through the micro-label that Yatagarasu runs. He's looking to boost it up in scale and to do that he's going to release nothing but quality extreme/experimental electronic artists (I think only ones that involve chiptune elements, too.)
The Kitten's Rejoinder will be packaged in a similar fashion to Take Control:


Hand printed cover on a cardboard sleeve, xeroxed insert, nice disc.
Actually, the cover will be nicer than these (not that I didn't like them) because Chris now has access to a multi-armed screen printing press... which sounds like a good thing, haha



New Ultra Death Men material is being written, by the way, some of which will be audible at our upcoming show...

....speaking of...


Some of my upcoming shows:

• November 12th - Ultra Death Men @ The Clash Bar (21+ show, sadly) in Clifton, NJ

• December ??? - Giggle The Ozone @ ???? in Brooklyn, NY (more details on that soon, I'm just excited to be playing with them again)

• January 6th - Bubblegum Octopus @ Hustle House in Los Angeles, California (first show of the tour with Monomate)

• January 7th - Bubblegum Octopus @ Biko Garage in Santa Barbara, California (w/ Monomate)

• January 29th - Bubblegum Octopus @ Hexagon Space in Baltimore, Maryland (w/ Talk To Animals! Finally!)


Hope those of you that like Halloween enjoyed the holiday.
The weather is perfect for me right now. See-your-breath cold, without being discomforting.
Give it some time, snow will come and then I'll say that's the perfect weather.

Late update

Well, I don't have much time to write, as I'm on my way to the post office, and then I'll be in Philadelphia for the rest of the week to record with the band Hybegnu and to get some drum stuff recorded for Bad Happy.

I've actually been extremely sick for the past week, so my progress on the album was temporarily inhibited. I'm back into functionality now though, and I expect to know if it will be out in time for January's tour in the next two or three weeks.

Speaking of, plans for the Mixed Emotionz tour are coming along nicely.
A few dates are booked already, but I'm waiting for the line-ups for the shows to be assembled.

The Ultra Death Men album is coming alone nicely as well. Not sure when it will be done though.
We also have a show in Clifton, NJ at the Clash Bar on November 12th. We'll be playing songs from Muscles as well as some new material.

Giggle The Ozone also has a show coming up in early December, somewhere in Brooklyn, but I don't know many details yet.
The new GtO album will actually be out this month and it's going to rule.
I mean, I'm not playing bass on it or anything, but I am sure it's going to be the best one yet.

Fork Sister –making it's first appearance on this blog, I do believe– is actually back to being an active endeavor. Nothing substantial will probably be done this year, but Savory Sauces (the much belated 2007 album) will get some vocals recorded and a free release, followed by new material written with the project being a two piece.
Shows are also in the works.

Alright, time to be on my way!

New Song

head on over to http://www.myspace.com/bubblegumoctopus
New song from Bad Happy, titled Metallic Sheep Nap

Upcoming tours and such

Well, it's been 23 days since my last update, in which I said I'd make this a weekly thing.
I'll uh... try to keep it more frequent.
Also, if you use tumblr, I'm going to try to manage this and a tumblr account, probably posting the same things to both, but who knows.
I think my link is jazzycattime.tumblr.com but I don't know because tumblr isn't working at the moment... this bodes well for my relationship with the site.

Anyway, let me bring you up to speed before I bring you the news:

I had some shows in the south and it went pretty well overall, though it wasn't friendly to my wallet at all, and I ended up eating like one meal a day after a certain point.
I played the loudest BgO show ever in Greensboro, North Carolina, had a kind of awkward gig at a bar in Tennessee, attended a frat party in Washington DC, played a pretty cool and very late house party in Virginia, and stayed an extended period of time with a long time fan on the ETSU campus.

That was like three or four weeks ago.
This past weekend I played a show in Sunderland, Maryland that was pretty awesome.
I have some video footage that I'll get up, but the vocals are all ridiculously soft... well, except for the background vocals that I have on certain tracks, so it almost looks like I'm lip synching in certain parts. Irritating, to say the least.
I'm confused by that in general, really, as the vocals were not soft in person, as others have confirmed to me.

I do have these pictures that I can post right now before I get the video up:


(pictures by "Millasaurus Rex")




Anyway, it's news time!

First things first:
I've imposed a strict, day-by-day goals schedule upon myself and I've been pretty good about sticking to it, or at least doing something of equal relevance instead of what's on the calendar for a given day.
I'm shooting to have this out before January 5th.
"Why that date?" you might ask yourself.

Well, I'll be doing a West Coast tour with Monomate from January 6th to January 13th.
8 days covering everything we can on the west coast from Los Angeles to Washington.
We don't have a schedule yet, but we're working.

"What about Texas?!"
Patience my child, I was getting to that.
While it's not exactly happening ULTRA soon, I'm going to be FINALLY hitting Texas in the middle of next year (whenever Sparkle Fountain is done.)

My plan is this:

1. Finish Bad Happy and release it before the January tour (it's going to be hard, but I'm going to do all I can)

2. Come home and begin working extensively on Sparkle Fountain with the drummer

3. While working with the drummer, record new vocal parts, work on innovating the material a bit (It's all going to be totally new to you, but for me the album is two years old right now, so I need to make some small updates)

4. Possibly play shows with the drummer to see how it fares in that situation

5. Record drum parts

6. Release album as early in the year as is possible (hopefully, through a label)

7. Month long tour, hitting OH, MI, IL, WI, MN, IA, MO, OK, TX (multiple shows,) LA, FL (two or three shows,) GA, SC, NC, VA, and MD, as well as possibly a few other places.


That's my plan. I know I haven't gotten everything done this year that I said I would, but I still did a lot, and I'm getting better at sticking to my plans.
From The Magical Prince's Mouth is not coming out this year, as I was planning a while back. Bad Happy just became an insane amount of work and I don't want to rush it just to stick to my plans.

Additionally, all of the splits I've been talking about will be happening in due time, they just aren't as important as getting another album out.
(I'm waiting on art for The Kitten's Rejoinder, so that will happen whenever art exists.)


I have some non-Bubblegum Octopus news that I'd like to update with, but I'll save details until there is some more exciting stuff!


I guess that's all for now.
In the non-music world I've started playing RPGs again...
I've not settled on one to beat, but I'm thinking Majora's Mask and Earthbound need to finally be 100% complete, and Ogre Battle 64 wouldn't be a bad thing to play through again (maybe I can get all of the Zenobians this time...) I've also been playing Super Robot Taisen on my DS quite a bit... I hope none of this distracts me!

Onwards through the sky

My trip to California was awesome: I spent time with Bradlea's family, met her sister and hung out in her gaming command center of an apartment, spent time with the four resident cats in Bradlea's mother's house (Orange Kitty, Antwon, Panathinaikos, and Spoilsbury, who actually lives in New Jersey most of the time, but got to go back to San Diego to visit too,) went to Disneyland, traveled around LA, San Diego, and San Francisco, and got enough authentic Mexican food to hold me over for at least 6 months.
As great as all of that was, I am still able to say that, quite possibly above all of that, my shows were the best part... life changing even!

First up was Los Angeles.
The venue used to be called Vlad The Retailer, or something to that effect, but was converted in under 24 hours by Emily Blong into the Broken Velcroe Carnival.
There is no way to entirely do the venue's transformation justice, but here are two pictures from the place to give you an idea:



(I don't know who took these photos, but the entire set these come from is fantastic!)

All of that was hand-made by Emily, and that's just a small portion of everything she did.
It's been since Bubblegum Octopus' very first show in 2006 that I've wished for something comparable to that set-up for a performance, so that in and of itself was really special for me. It's only made better by the fact that the big pink guy in the second picture was apparently made specifically for my performance.
(We took some promotional photos with me leaning on that guy, but they are a bit blurry.)

My set was met initially with some problems... the amount of power strips being used created some grounding issues, preventing my theremin and the rest of my noise rig from doing anything except electrocuting me, so I just disconnected everything and played with just the KP3, my laptop, my mic, and my DD3.

Throughout the course of my set I managed to spill coke on a power strip, have my table of equipment and my theremin knocked the fuck over, and got so hot and tired that I actually had to take off clothing (I hate taking off clothing in public. It's not a self-conscious thing, I just don't like it for some reason.)
All of it was worth it though, because the audience made it probably my best set so far.
To me, having your shit knocked over by an uncontrollable and enthusiastic crowd is a milestone, so I was actually not angered at all by it... unlike Bradlea and a few other audience members.
(Nothing was broken or even hit the ground, so there was no reason for any ill-will, really.)

Here are some pictures Gabe Bautista took of my set:






I guess it was just the combination of factors that made this such a memorable and truly magical night.
The decor, being across the country, the joyous atmosphere, and the unusually appropriate line-up would have been enough, but I think it was the company that made it extra special.
The crowd was full of characters.
Not your typical weirdos and creeps, nor a group of unremarkable fellows with names I can recall; this was a party where almost everyone invited had a distinct personality that could almost be read off of their faces alone.
People from the internet that only existed as messages, comments, and pictures in my mind came to life before my eyes.
Taylor, D. Bene, Emily, Peet, and a handful of other people all felt like old friends or classmates to me too, right from the start.
I managed to be very anti-social throughout the show, as I often am, but I feel like I could have just hung out with all of them without a second thought if they'd asked me and if I wasn't in such a glorious daze.

I think it should be noted that the fact that I'm able to say that about Peet is indeed a noteworthy thing that I shouldn't let go unaddressed... I think enough people know about the semi-sordid past.
There was a time when he would have called me an uninspiring joke and I would have called him another Nintendo fanboy, digigrind wannabe chump, but all past quarrels and ill-will have been resolved and mutual respect and friendship are finally instated... and I love those things!
He really is a good guy.
The same can actually be said for almost everyone at that show, actually (with a few exceptions that probably aren't worth mentioning.)

I dunno what it is, but I just wished the show would have never ended.


It really does, by the way, feel like, between that and the dozens of other valuable connections, friendships, reconciliations, severance from toxic influences, immense life changes/decisions I've made this year, and strides I've made to curb my negativity and cynicism, that I'm transforming myself into quite a better and different person and that I really might have a happy future ahead of me.



Anyway, San Diego was pretty damn fantastic too.
There were a few fans who came for me specifically, including someone who I knew from some fan-art submission, but none of them were the people I was expecting.
Some last.fm users I've seen around the site who came specifically for Nero's Day ended up totally getting into my set, too. I really love the feeling of winning people over, especially those with good taste.

Sam, the guy behind SD Noise and Zsa Zsa Gabor, was an extremely kind host, and all artists played outstanding sets.
Take Up Serpents played a pretty entrancing ambient/drone set, Nerfbau destroyed ears with extremely harsh noise, Mincemeat Or Tenspeed rocked an extremely mental all-pedal/sampler/sequencer dancey/trancey/noisy set, and Nero's played his brand of wacky, sickening breakcore with live drums (the crowd was pretty massive for his set. Apparently SD is his home town.)

I wish I had some pictures or video to show for it, but all I have for now is the awesome poster for the show:




Last night was my first show since I've been back in NJ, and my first local show since January.
An extraordinarily short-notice show in Brooklyn at "Party Expo" with friends from Florida (Lissajou and Strangelette,) and Beta Club Field Trip.
Attendance was small, but the crowd did include chiptune all-star Bit Shifter, friend from the Take Control Tour, Rhinostrich, Dylan Sparrow (of Giggle The Ozone and other bands,) some other friends of mine, and random passers-by who were terrified by or enamored with what I was doing.

The sound guy/girl (dunno who was doing it) was kind of fucking with me I think, which I'm not so cool with, but there were no real problems, just some completely ridiculous shifts in the frequency spectrum (treble being shaved, bass blasting and then dropping off entirely, etc etc etc.) but the beginning and end of my set sounded really heavy and clean.

No pictures yet except for this wacky one with Strangelette and Lissajou, but more will exist!






In other news:
• I have more shows in Brooklyn on the 19th (Ultra Death Men @ Bar Matchless w/ Palmyra,) the 26th (BgO @ Goodbye Blue Monday w/ Xrin Arms and Speak Onion,) and the 27th (BgO @ Port D'or w/ Xrin Arms and Speak Onion.)

• The split with Les Trucs will be out pretty soon on CD instead of 7", and their side rules.
Hopefully mine will match! (out on Solace Media Corporation.)

• I will be releasing the Les Trucs split, the Scissor Shock split (remastered,) Take Control (remastered,) My God Is The Cat King, and a bonus track or two together as an iTunes only album. I don't have a name or art yet, but I will soon!

• The Ultra Death Men album (Muscles) is still being mixed

• I'm in the midst of recording Bad Happy and it's going decently. Send me good vibes so it goes perfectly!!

• Trying to do another mid-west stint in September. I have the projected schedule on Facebook. Help me out!!


West coast, I mean it now... I will be back soon... and in full force.

The Cat's Consfusion (updated)

I have some updates and some overdue, micro-tour show reviews for you:

Michigan was pretty fun, visited family, got stuck in some terrible storms, and played two fun shows.
First show was Basement414, which was under-attended in comparison to the last show there, but that's okay.

I suffered from some pretty extreme derealization and panic during my set after an extremely long scream, which was captured in a picture taken in the few seconds I showed visual signs of suffering:

It kind of looks like it was extracted from a bad dream.
Too bad I got a speeding ticket after this show
I'm ordinarily an excessively cautious driver, not sure what went down there... never mind the fact that once I drove through Rhode Island at about 100mph.... THAT WAS ONE TIME!

Second show was awesome (it was at the Far House in Ann Arbor MI)
During Watabou's set we received the word that there was a tornado warning (which explained the torrential downpour, sharp wind, and the strange sirens going off when I went outside to get some stuff out of my car.)
The tornado warning was supposed to subside, but it carried over into my set, which was actually a pretty satisfying and tiring set. I ended up playing twice as long as I planned, including playing Loud Noise In My Room, from the upcoming split with Watabou, and Disco Party, which I haven't played in about a year.
Here was the beginning of my set:



I forgot to mention that, for this faux-tour, I decided last second to incorporate my theremin into the sets, and grabbed it on my way out of the house.

After the shows I spent a few days at my cousin's house, doing basically NOTHING.




Now for the updates:
(all track lists are subject to change and variation)

• California Bubblegum Octopus shows
(did I mention that?)
LA on the 29th with Monomate, NVR-NDR, and Brigsley Blong,
SD on the 31st with Nero's Day At Disneyland, Mincemeat Or Tenspeed, and Cheesechasers.
Hopefully at least two more will be booked soon.

• Les Trucs split 7"
To be released on Solace Media Corporation in September.
Two tracks by me and two by them. :)

• Bad Happy
After some time spent without a computer and voice issues, I've finally resumed intense work on this CD.
I'm thinking it won't be out until September now, just due to the complexity of getting a full length CD of this duration as perfect as my abilities and patience allow.
It's now 19 tracks long:

1. SpazzPop Forever!!!!~
2. Distortion Castle
3. 888 Days Meow Fast
4. Sleep Void
5. Floor of Worlds
6. Tubulidentata
7. Goodbye Light (God's Fake Laser)
8. Betrayal is okay.
9. We ARE Sick
10. Panic Moonstrike
11. Heaven Crusher Missile
12. Shovel Piledriver
13. Metallic Sheep Nap
14. Feeler than I'm old
15. Beautiful Little Towne
16. Empathetic Overdose
17. Time Zone Proclivity
18. Loud Noise In My Room
19. Sleep (with me) on celestial hill

• Ultra Death Men CD
We will be recording this on July 20th. We've been working on the songs almost daily to get them sounding tight again.
Tentative track-list is as follows:

1. Murder Burger
2. Rocking
3. Hanging Out With Cool Dudes
4. Pizza Tower
5. Song For The Ladies
6. Orel Herscheiser
7. Dogman Wilson Down Home Country Cookin'
8. Dogman Wilson Piano Lesson
9. Cell Phone Cavern

• Frame House EP
Due to the fact that I play in several bands and tour with BgO, and that Keith plays/tours with Washington Square Park all the time, we've decided that Frame House will revert to a two-piece side project. We're going to record the songs with composite drums (real playing + drum machine + samples + non-drum sounds + other percussion instruments) and release it for free on the internets to build some potential interest.

Hopefully, you loving fans can help push it to all your friends if you like it (you should do that with the free BgO album too!)

• Mob Boss shows and demos
Given that I no longer have to think of Frame House in the context of being a "band" that will play shows, I can now focus on Mob Boss as a full time band instead of a random occurrence.
It is still on the back burner, just because I have so much to do for Bubblegum Octopus and because Ultra Death Men are recording that album, but as soon as time allows for us to work on things we are going to begin rehearsing for a 5 - 7 song EP recording.


That's all for now. Thanks!

Updates 6/06/10

News time again, do read on

My God Is The Cat King

Now you can finally order the 3rd hard copy release from Bubblegum Octopus, just go to my store: bubblegumoctopus.bigcartel.com
Here is the track list:

Bubblegum Octopus
1. Zuru??
2. Mr. Yum
3. Rembowave
4. Misconception Superhighway
5. Peace in Pious Pieces
6. Discomfort & Laughing

Dental Work
7. Mental Chitlins' (Feat. Emelian Rich)
8. Palace Graves
9. Ghetto Prayers & Grizzly Bears
10. Lysergic Oatmeal/Owl Shift Hustlin'

Also, I put the first album up for full length previews on last.fm (kinda thought they were already)
I'm in the process of doing the same for the Dental Work split.. should be done.... NOW... wait... maybe not yet....


Let's see... oh!
I recorded new drum samples for Bad Happy last night with Jon from Ultra Death Men
and Palmyra.
The cymbals all sound fucking great, and I got all the splashes, muted hits, and grabbed crashes that I could ever want.
I also recorded more vocals for the album, completing almost all of the song Sleep Void.
For those of you wondering, here is the tracklist for Bad Happy:

1. SpazzPop Forever!!!!~
2. Distortion Castle
3. 888 Days Meow Fast
4. Sleep Void
5. Floor of Worlds
6. Tubulidentata
7. Goodbye Light (God's Fake Laser)
8. Betrayal is okay.
9. We ARE Sick
10. Panic Moonstrike
11. Heaven Crusher Missile
12. Shovel Piledriver
13. Metallic Sheep Nap
14. Feeler Than I'm Old
15. Time Zone Proclivity
16. Sleep (with me) on heaven hill
17. Beautiful Little Towne


Track 17 is up on myspace, but it's listed as being from Weakness Electronics, the split with Watabou.
In an act of resourcefulness and desperation, I ended up taking two songs from Bad Happy that I'd completed (Misconception Superhighway and Beautiful Little Towne) and putting them on the splits I was working on.
In the end, My God Is The Cat King came out on the third show of the tour and Weakness Electronics got pushed back temporarily.
Between Travis' dissatisfaction with his tracks, and my own dissatisfaction with mine, it didn't really make sense to put it out yet.
Because of this, I can now put Beautiful Little Towne as the closer for the CD, like it was written to be (or the second to last track, depends how I feel in the next month) and put a song with the working title Floating Black Diamonds back on the Watabou split.

I'm working diligently on this album again, alongside the split 7" with Les Trucs that they want out in July. I think it's going to be 2 tracks from each of us and it's going to be on a label.
(I'm hoping hard for colored vinyl, but that's up to whoever is printing it)

Be safe babies. I'll see you Michigan folks soon.

Free albums: part 2

The free Bubblegum Octopus album is finally out!
http://www.mediafire.com/bubblegumoctopus

Bubblegum Octopus (Possible Party: Part i)

Bubblegum Octopus (8-Legged Dance Moves [2005 demo])

c@ (oh?)

c@ (copy)

Free albums

http://bit.ly/cWMi7P

Black Clocks (The Unfair Segregation Of Certain Time-Telling Devices EP)
Fork Sister (Sisters of the Fork EP and Niger EP)
First Aid Squid (Stupid Party Somethingorother (The Four Meows) EP)
I Am A Hexagon (Shape Shifter Mysteries EP)

Tomorrow I should have the Bubblegum Octopus free album assembled too :D

Crucial Blast stocks TAFKA"8LDM"

In addition to being able to get my first album from my own store (bubblegumoctopus.bigcartel.com which has shirts and other releases) and iTunes/Amazon, you can also now grab it off of the Crucial Blast Webstore now:
http://www.crucialblastshop.net/

Artists I've performed with (help me fill the blanks?)

In near chronological order, here is every band that I've played with (as Bubblegum Octopus) that I remember the name of.
I can think of a minimum of 25 bands and projects that I completely forget the name of, but I'm posting this to see if maybe, just maybe, one of you can help me get more on the list.

These bands range from respectable and incredible, to shameful and embarrassing, from MTV popular, to having never performed or recorded before the night of that show.
It doesn't matter if we're best friends or if we got into a fist fight after the show, I'm going to promote you all by name, and I want to make my self-documentation as inclusive as possible:

Tour Log 2.0

(re-post from myspace, April 23rd)
The tour is over. I've been home now for five long days, wondering what exactly to do with myself.
I started recording new c@ material, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's kind of hard to write that stuff when I'm feeling so stable.
You'd think after one of the most stressful situations I've ever put myself through I'd have some sort of ultra-inspiration to write new material like I did when I got back from Take Control, but I really haven't felt it yet.

Tour Log 1.0

(re-post from myspace)
I don't really have the time and stamina to write a long thing for you all, but I'll fill you in on some news and such.

The tour is going amazing.
I really can't believe how many people have been coming out to see me specifically... it's absurd!
I'm grateful beyond words for the incredible times I'm having 5 days into this and the immensely positive feedback I'm getting.

Tour Log 0.1

In spite of immense stress and such, this tour is going pretty well after the first show.
It's strange to play a show where I'm the actual draw as opposed to being an asset.

I'll post something when I have more time to write and more interesting things to write about!

DAMMIT

The Watabou split was going extremely well. On track, even though it was going to be a tiny bit rushed.
Then I got the news:
I would have to submit everything to factory tonight if I was going to have it in time for my first show.
Balls, dude. Balls.

This does mean, however, that there will be nicer art, better mixing, and professional mastering by Alex again (yay)

I'll write more about this situation later, but for now I don't feel inclined to do so. I just thought I'd get the news out there

Productivity Overflow

I can say with great confidence that today and yesterday have been the most productive days since Take Control was recorded.
My check lists went from this:


To this:




And the lyrics went from single, clean sheets of paper with text, to four, fourth incarnation drafts with obnoxious corrections and illegible handwriting all over:




What does this mean for you though?
I know you don't all live in my head.... thankfully... for everyone.

New homepage for me

It's a sad day.
After having RPGamer.com as the first website I've gone to when I opened my internet since 2000 (with the exception of when Brawl was coming out, since I set the SSBB website to my homepage in anticipation) I've had to change my home page.
Something weird is up with Firefox and RPGamer makes it freeze (as do a lot of things) and HG101 was the only website I thought made a decent replacement.
I didn't consider the Anime News Network though... maybe.... just maybe...
If you haven't been to hg101 and you like video games at all beyond the miserable apathy that is xbox live post-apocalyptic/military shooters, go LEARN yoself a thing or too, bitch.

Anyway, it's time to make extremely late breakfast and record.
Lapsang and scrambled eggs with possible blueberry/strawberry somewhat sorbet, somewhat smoothie, m@? Probably.

Better than my usual bagel with butter or with lox and no cream cheese (depending on money) and soda.

Jicheal

What's a Jicheal?
The answer is more obvious than you might think

Behind the video + other shitty show stories

A ton of you have seen this video...



But I never posted anything about the show really.
So, three years after this miserable show, I've decided to just give some back story.
Why, you might ask?
Well, it's the probably most popular video on youtube of me and I'm constantly forced to be reminded of it all, but, like how much I despise the whole "Nintendocore" fad and the people involved with making it worse, I've never felt compelled to address it because it never feels worth my time.
I figured that I might as well do it now.
I have nothing I feel compelled to work on, it's a funny video that brings me endless shame, and it's really popular (at least, popular for where I am on the popularity spectrum)

So let's answer all of the burning questions:
Why am I just standing there? Why is the audio not matched with the video? Why am I wearing all green? Why am I so miserable and absent minded looking? Why is this video so popular?...
...actually, I can't answer the last one...

Non-Bubblegum Octopus news

Sorry all, I know I said I'd do this twenty minutes from the Facebook update, but uh... I got side-tracked by trying to figure out how to record directly from my cassette recorder (I love this thing, seriously) into my computer.



LET'S GO:

Unpopular Pop Music Fantasies Tour 2010

Well, there it is; the tour poster for my ridiculous two week tour to the upper mid-west:
Unpopular Pop Music Fantasies
As you can see on the myspace, details are still be ironed out, and I won't be surprised if Indiana falls through entirely since it's such a mess... but that's why photoshop has layers, eh?

From The Magical Prince's Mouth

Anyone who talked to me during late 2007 knew a few key things about me:

1. I was horrendously miserable

2. I was not keeping up with my fans very well

3. I had kicked all of my most dangerous habits except caring about a horrible person I loved

4. The only childish joy I really got came from bottles of Jones Gingerbread Man soda (better than alcohol, right?)

5. School was not going well and I was seriously reconsidering my mistakes and career choices


There was one thing, however, that actually has some pertinence to why you read this blog:

Feb 12 and 13 show reviews

I haven't done one of these in forever!
I remember back in the days when I'd have like one or two shows a year I'd go over every single detail to the extreme.

Two days later

If only for just this one night, writer's block has lifted it's cruel grasp and allowed me to produce sounds once more.

As I write this, I'm in a very strange place I often visit on nights like these.
I'm in a place where the smallest details from my day have been bloated, as if by a form of macropsia that exists only in the subconscious, to levels held for the immensely important and critical.

Caring about people and inconsequential situations until I cry... loving people in ways generally reserved for erotomaniacs and the criminally insane.


Anyone who says that drugs are the most powerful tool for leaving the body behind and changing perspectives is a damn fool.

Writer's Block: A 4000 part saga

I don't really know what purpose it will serve me to write about it, but for the past three months I've been destroyed by debilitating writer's block.
It's a mixture of about 30 problems that I can't seem to find acceptable coping methods for rolled into one slurry of self-doubt and loathing that I've been all but unsuccessful in hiding.

Upcoming Release Updates: Part 2

Alright, I've been talking a lot about my upcoming releases and there's always been some tone of confusion in regards to it.
I believe I've come up with a solution for myself, so here it is:

(Don't forget I have shirts for sale at shows and at bubblegumoctopus.bigcartel.com. I need to do my best to get everyone who has asked about them over the years to know about them)

Merch TO THE MAXXXXXX

So if you read this, chances are you've found out some other way... but in my meeting with Jive! Records Executive Vice President of Promotion (don't ask... crazy, long story) I was told that "MORE CONTENT = MORE BETTER" so... here I am... providing more content so I can be more better.

My shirts... ARE OUT

I wasn't posting because I:

A. have been doing nothing but playing Earthbound, God Hand, and Pokémon Silver in my free time

B. have been working on reversing my writer's block

C. wanted to wait until I had the shirts for sale so I'd have a useful update

D. have been re-arranging and cleaning my room

E. have been wrestling with my equipment and finding a better set-up





But now....
here they are!!!

General updates (updated... wut)

It's been a while since I last posted, so let me update yallz about the goings ons.
Because I've gotten space conscious on this thing, I will hide it all behind yet another "read more" cutaway.

Tour news+

So a few years ago, I thought it'd be impossible for me to book tours and such, but 2009 brought me the ability and time to finally get out of my shell and see the entire east coast, as well as some random shows in Massachusetts and Michigan.
It was the perfect way to break myself of my long standing misconceptions about my mental stability in such situations and proved to me that I would be okay in such a situation for a longer period of time.

So I have for you all two potential tours for 2010 lined up at the moment + room for at least one more + satellite shows: