Enter Bandcamp

As the world turned, I slept on Bandcamp. After all, I'd had a handmade website for my band since 1998, an MP3.com page where we sold CDs and MP3s, and a Myspace page where hundreds of people were linking to and listening to my songs all the time. Larvae had a presence on Last.fm and a profile on Disgogs, a Soundcloud account, and more and more. Bandcamp felt like yet another platform that would fill up with noise, making the signal impossible to find.

Sometime in the last handful of years, Bandcamp grew up into a healthy platform used by artists and labels of all sorts to do basically one thing: get music to the masses. This might have been MP3.com's initial ambition, but if so, they never got there amidst the download charts and flood of creatively bankrupt copycats.

Even as late as a few years ago, I felt antagonistic about Bandcamp. After all, I still had my own homegrown website to promote my goings on, and a pre-built, template platform for selling music just felt like training wheels.

But I was wrong. You go where the people are. And Bandcamp is pretty alright.

So there's a new Larvae Bandcamp page here. The first release is a digital download version of "Seclusion Dub" which was originally released as one side of the split 7" single with Miles Tilmann on sub:marine records back in 2003. Yes, the song is almost 15 years old and you know what, I still like it a lot. Included with Seclusion is a remix that Miles did called "Seclusion March." I don't think this was ever properly released, so now, it is!

One of the things that always put me off about Bandcamp was the feeling that it was too easy for people to dump garbage up there. With no filter and no quality control, the platform itself can tend to make the products on it feel less valuable. I don't want the Larvae site to be that. So, everything that goes up on Bandcamp is a real release, produced with the same care and attention that would go into making a CD or a vinyl record. If you want to stream B-sides and oddities, you can do that on the Soundcloud page (where Seclusion was also published.)

I love vinyl records--the big artwork, the collectible artifact--but in an age when most people simply stream music through a handheld device, I don't think they are the best medium for me.

Be on the lookout for new Larvae digital releases coming soon. 

Larvae - Seclusion

Ticketblog Returns

Ten years ago, I began writing about my concert experiences. From 1990 to about 1996, I saved every ticket stub to every concert I attended. Those stubs served as a great focal point for reflecting on the music and people that colored in the lines of those formative years. The stories are all listed here in chronological order.

After I started touring with LARVAE and playing shows (sometimes with some of my musical heroes,) I found that I wasn't collecting tickets anymore. Usually this was because I was getting into the shows without a ticket. Sometimes it meant that I had some kind of print-at-home ticket, and much later, an e-ticket.

Sometimes these stories are about the bands, the shows, and the music. Sometimes they are just about what was going on in my life when I went to a show. Sometimes they are embarrassing. But I've resurrected that writing from 10 years ago and I hope to keep it going whenever I find new tickets.

You can have your cell phone video of the band playing. I'll keep my ticket stubs.

Food and Fighting

I've watched a lot of Kung Fu movies. I'm not an expert by any means, but I've seen a bunch and one thing that I've noticed is that characters in Kung Fu movies like to eat! Many deals, decisions, and plots are hatched over steamed buns, tea, and rice. Sometimes the food is even the focus of the conflict on screen.

I've started to pull together some of these Kung Fu Food scenes for the internet's amusement. There's something deeper to notice here about the role that food and meals play in Chinese culture, but for now, you can just enjoy this:

https://cinemadoors.tumblr.com/

Reset

I'm hitting the reset button in a big way on July 1st. This space (and the work that used to fill it up) has been neglected for too long. That's going to change.

I'll be updating this News blog frequently as new projects take shape, so follow along if you'd like. I'd be glad to share new things with you! 

Be on the lookout for some new Larvae music soon. Until then, you can hit the menu to take a look back at nearly 20 years of music, writing, and video work.

Or throw on some headphones and check out this collection of unreleased tracks, remixes, and works in progress.