Orange County Music Blog

Welcome to Road Sores, Heard Mentality's newest feature, where bands on tour will guest blog about life on the road, photos, videos, what that smell is coming from the corner of the van, what they're listening to, or whatever the hell it is they feel like talking about that day. This week: Thrice. 

Sterling Andrews

​
Hometown heroes Thrice are currently in the midst of a tour with Brand New, which will be immediately followed by a headline tour with the Dear Hunter and Polar Bear in mid-November. And good news for you audiophiles: It was just announced today that their latest studio album, Beggars (which, if you remember, had some issues with leaking early), will be available on vinyl--in limited edition colors--beginning December 15. The pressing will be restricted to just 2,000 numbered pieces and will also feature a digital copy and an autographed 24-page booklet with liner notes written by the band themselves. Fans in the United States can pre-order the vinyl right here. And those in Europe/the UK, here!  

In the meantime, Ed Breckenridge, bass player for the Orange-based Thrice, checked in with us via iPhone (what else?) and weighed in on how the band's choosing to spend some of their downtime.

Hint: It involves gettin' fancy with some toy guns.  

The music you are about to experience is not for mass consumption. If the idea of subjecting your ear drums to the unholy squall of static, squeals, samples, synthesizer and silence does not appeal to you, please click away from this post now. In all fairness, most followers of local  bands have no intention of ever looking under the rug at the sounds that exist in the noisy underbelly of Orange County's music scene. But rest assured, you can find it if you look hard enough. 

​Judge A. Howard Matz of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California ruled Tuesday that original Sublime members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh cannot perform under the moniker that made them famous. This ruling, according to the Los Angeles Times, "will be upheld until the breach-of-contract/trademark infringement civil case goes to trial, or the parties reach a settlement," said Jeremiah Reynolds, the man who represents the estate of late singer/guitarist Bradley Nowell.

So what do this mean? Not sure, but more than likely, whatever Wilson, Gaugh and new singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez decide to do, it probably won't be called Sublime.

myspace.com/bluescontrol

​The name is usually the trickiest thing about starting a band. Blues Control's Russ Waterhouse insists that he and his partner and bandmate Lea Cho didn't have that problem.

"Even before we had the band, we had the name for it," he says by phone from somewhere near Chicago. "We liked that there were so many interpretations." Naming their first record Puff, though, did have unintended consequences. "We thought it just meant something soft--everyone else thought we were talking about marijuana as a way to cure depression."

Odd interpretations aside, the East Coast-based Blues Control have steadily increased their profile thanks to a series of captivating releases, most recently with this year's Local Flavor, which showcases their ear for rhythmic, entrancing music that flows between (and recombines) electronic drones, roaring feedback and pounding drums. Their work suggests any number of styles and eras--from the earliest blasts of psych rock and proto-heavy metal to the relentless guitar experimentalism of more recent acts like the Dead C and Flying Saucer Attack--without sounding quite like anyone in particular. The concluding "On Through the Night," a quarter-hour long track, with its ambient buoyancy and shadowy, pulsing beats, achieves a serene beauty.

Tomorrow night marks the artist party for the Three Apples Hello Kitty Themed art show on exhibit at Royal T through November 15. There's lots of reasons to check this reception out - goodie bags to the first 100 visitors, live group paintings being created as you watch, photo ops with Hello Kitty herself, and an interactive coloring party!

The Three Apples group art show celebrates the 35th anniversary of the supercute cat, and features work by some truly sweet artists, including Buff Monster, Michelle Romo of Crowded Teeth, Melissa Contreras of Axelhoney and Gary Baseman.

Hello Kitty painting by Michelle Romo of Crowded Teeth, you can see it in person at the Three Apples show this weekend!

​

After the jump: Event info!

Adam Richman, the lovable foodie from the Travel Channel's Man V. Food, is coming to the House of Blues Dec. 15. If you don't know Richman, your first question probably is, "So?" But if you know all about how the Brooklyn native travels the country to enter eateries that serve ridiculous portions in hopes of chowing them in one sitting, you might have a few more when the host/actor gets into his Q&A section of the show. I don't plan on attending, but if you do, here are a few freebies to get him riled up.

1. Have you no shame?
2. Were you the kid in school who ate boogers?
3.What kind of health insurance plan does the Travel Channel provide?
4. Could you kick Anthony Bourdain's ass?
5. Most people on tv get laid without a problem, but does the fact that you stuff your fat face actually supercede the ease factor when you explain to females just what kind of show you're on?

Tickets go on sale Saturday.

Beth Stirnaman

Don't be fooled! This picture was taken in May at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa, during Frank Black's Grand Duchy show; his project with wife Violet Clark.

​
Last Night: The Pixies, No Age, at the Hollywood Palladium; November 4, 2009.

Better Than: Watching the Pixies play other notable albums celebrating their 20th anniversaries this year (Girl You Know It's True, Electric Youth, Dr. Feelgood).

Chattiest Pixie: Kim Deal, but not much of a contest, because she was the only one who really spoke to the audience at all.

When the Pixies reunited five years ago, it was like music nerd fan fiction come true, delivering something that never really seemed possible. In the next five years, speculation turned to what the next chapter might be, with on-and-off reports of the band working on a new album never leading to anything but scraps--like wacky 2004 single "Bam Thwok."

​

Some would credit Europe with this thing we call electronic dance music by pointing back to the pioneering work of Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Can. They would be half right: Contemporary electronic dance music, like blues, rock and jazz, is a progeny of the interplay between black and white music. (See Juan Atkins, Frankie Knuckles and Moby). And so, for many years New York was the club capital of DJ culture, and Southern California was its backyard playground.

DJ T

​

But Europe has, in recent times, exacted a swift revenge on the world's dance floors. Berlin, Barcelona and Ibiza, Spain have surpassed New York, Miami and Chicago as clubbing's premier map points. And early techno and electronic dance artists such as Germany's Sven Vath, Booka Shade and DJ T - some of them beyond their 40s -- have come back with a vengeance, adding that lost ingredient of early European electronic - soul - to their teutonic groove boxes.