film school

Click here to see pictures and a video of Film School ending their show with a lot of noise, fog and guest guitar noise by Chris from Airiel.
Sure it was cold out, raining, and crappy but that seems to be typical shoegaze weather. It took forever to get my gear set up thanks to Schubas taking forever to set up tables in the music room. Once that was settled and a couple of Jim Beams+Coke (which were on sale for $3), I was set up. Some band opened, then we did a good show. Greg Corner said it was the best he's seen me with airiel, but I think I've done better. Film School Greg was cool enough to let me use his projector and they set up a giant screen that covered the whole back wall at Schubas. That ruled. I was a fan of Film School before and I'm now a bigger fan. Fucking great live show and I can't wait till they come back this summer. Next show: darkroom on the 29th.

sugar crystals

Found footage music video I put together for the boys and Ulrich Schnauss. Nothing more than just cool eye candy and colorful images and slow motion awesomeness with real film grain. Somehow it makes sense to me.

Coming soon to this blog, pictures and thoughts on the show with Film School (it ruled).

a new morning

I stole the title of this blog entry from the Suede album. Anyway, Airiel has welcomed 2 new members to replace Cory and John. Mikey and Andrew have fit in perfectly and after the 3 shows we've done so far, I foresee nothing less than awesome coming our way. Our first show together was at darkroom for a PANIC! spinoff night I put together called Supersonic on February 2nd. Apteka and Airiel played with DJ Skid, Johnny Kesh, and me DJ'ing. It was a huge crowd and everybody loved the new guys and we the DJs kept the dance party going till the end.

February 17th was a sold out show at Schubas with A Place to Bury Strangers and Holy Fuck. We had a big crowd see us and it was awesome to see APTBS again. This past Wednesday, March 5th, we played Metro. It went really well and I had the big screen and the projections looked fantastic. There's been press in the Chicago Sun Times and New City naming Airiel one of Chicago's top 10 bands to check out, which is pretty exciting. Other than that, I can't wait for more shows and to finish the "Sugar Crystals" video I'm working on. More later...

it's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday

The Empty Bottle show with Adam Franklin had 2 highlights for me: the meal next door and having the best screen set up with the best help ever from the staff at the Bottle. Other news is rather delicate at the moment but we must keep a sense of humor and move forward with our heads held high looking ahead into a brighter future tomorrow. I can't say any more but sometimes music can say everything that's in your heart and can inspire us all and heal our tender hearts:

kexp at darkroom

Good show. I met some cool people and hung out with the boys and the KEXP sound guy who we met in Seattle. Great crowd too and a few awesome people stood right up front soaking it in. Best part of the show was when Chris turned on the fog machine (blinding John in the process. Sorry dude) and the video projected in and on it made it look like a 3-D vibrating cube was floating in the fog. It was so badass. Big ups to Arunas and Tobias for putting the screen back up. Somehow the boys always have a knack for rocking it right off. As long as it doesn't fall on John and fuck up a song, I'm down for whatever.

Next week, we play with Adam Franklin from Swervedriver at Empty Bottle. Saturday, some band from Brooklyn called A Place to Bury Strangers is at Schubas. I heard they're great. I might go see them, you know, if I'm free and shit.

triple rock panic dells attack

After the boys played Beat Kitchen with Ulrich Schnauss, they all headed over to darkroom for the PANCI! after party. People got drunk, photos were taken and people went to bed at various hours. Saturday we all woke up hungover and/or sleep deprived, and hungry. The drive to Minneapolis was deleriously silly and we got to Triple Rock early. The show was alright and Ulrich was fantastic. Such a good guy, and his DJ set at PANIC! was killer.
I discovered reason #495821 to hate sports. We couldn't find a hotel in or around Minneapolis because of "the game". We had to sleep in the back parking lot of the last hotel we tried and I kept thinking they'd kick us out. After barely sleeping for 2 or 3 hours we got a killer breakfast at a truck stop and went a few hours before Chris, and god bless that kid, took us off course and straight into Wisconsin Dells. We saw a rollercoaster in the distance and after we all yelled "YES!" we found ourselves in the Dells. The rollercoaster was closed but we found Nig's bar (Have a swing at Nig's), The Haunted Mansion (awesome!), and various gaudy gift shops on the main street there. The wild west buffet looked creepy and I don't think we were in there more than 4 seconds before we made it across the street to Paul Bunyon's all you can eat fried chicken shanty. We all stuffed ourselves, took photos and I made it home by 6pm. Mind you, we hardly slept, didn't bathe, smelled like shit, and didn't brush your teef. We all went back to work at our jobs on Monday like nothing ever happened.
Thursday, we play a free show at darkroom sponsored by KEXP from Seattle. The guys played a cool set this morning at Engine Studios where they're broadcasting from and it sounded great. They did "Rainflower", "Mermaid in a Manhole" and "The Big Mashup". The DJ's seemed really happy to be in Chicago and digging the great weather. I'm glad because we had a great time in Seattle. See you Thursday!

paul bunyon

Pictures from the after party at PANIC! September 28th, 2007

Pictures from Minneapolis gig with Ulrich Schnauss September 29th, 2007 with a detour on the way home to Wisconsin Dells.