pink teeth blog.

It is snowing here so I decided to get down and dirty about something that has been on my mind, mostly triggered from last night.

I ventured over to New Haven, CT last night to say goodbye to one our only bands to ever “make it” in a sense, Hot Rod Circuit. And granted, I haven’t been rabid (if that’s the word) about them since High School and haven’t been able to relate much to their last couple of years of output (there got to be a point where I seemed to be growing up and these dudes in their 30’s were still singing about girls, it bummed me out a bit), I had to attend and say goodbye. I am glad I did: it was a great show, full of all the favourites and such. Hopefully for those watching, it was also the final nail in the coffin for that type of music that Connecticut has seemed to latch onto and create low-quality photocopies of, and we got saturated with what is called “pop punk” or to most, “rubbish”.

Most everybody grew up. I mean, Diamond J and the Rough opened, which features frontman Jay Russel, whom used to be the bass player for HRC. That band is entirely different, a step in a new, right direction. Also opening was Titles, which boasts members from CT all-stars First Aid Kid, Being Human Being and The Back and Forth Of Courage (aka every band on Said Sew). But at least all of their past musical entities were honest and unique in their own small ways, and of course featured nothing but nice people.

So as we said goodbye to one band, we said hello (well, for me “nice to see you again”, but I’m cooler than you) to the new era of Connecticut. Or so I hope, because honestly we desperately need something new. Since I moved away and now visiting for a little bit, it’s been really depressing musically between the lack of local quality in music and the fact that great shows that come through are virtually empty (I’m looking at you No Age and Deer Tick shows). No one seems to want to change or grow up, and in the end it hurts more than helps. This causes us to get less and less tours coming through that are worth a damn and for our few great musicians to move away (like the Bear Hands dudes who are now NYC’s sweethearts when they could’ve been ours). We’re right next to NYC, Boston, Providence and so on, causing us to be able to branch out and show everyone that CT is a worth a damn, but no one decides to make such an effort.

So let’s enjoy this new day. I’ve provided some band links and mp3s from (what I think are) Connecticut’s best bands, non-Pink Teeth family of course, though many fall under the greater umbrella. And please continue to enjoy Quiet Life, Bruhder and The bird and the vine. If you’d like more information/mp3s on these bands, old greats or anything CT, please feel free to email me at info@pinkteeth.com or IM me at “pinkteethrecords”. I’d be happy to help. Thank you all.

Diamond J & the Rough - Die Before You {band link}
MT Bearington - Keep Warm With Animals {band link}
Mates of State - Fraud In the 80s {band link}
Titles - No Love {band link}
Monitor and the Merrimac - Lonesome House Blues {band link}

Funny thing was, seeing my friend mjg this weekend, we were speaking of when our friends Via Audio would finally get that mighty Pitchfork review. Well it turns out the answer to that was yesterday. And yes, it was a very favourable write up, but it’s not that nor the 7.7 which is the honour. No, that falls on one special thing: it was posted on the same day as the new Wu Tang Clan review. Thanks Pitchfork!

The duders are still on tour, loving up your west coasts, but not for long! Check the dates at their myspace rage sucka!

Sir Dave Conway of ECA Records is asking for help for something really awesome, so I’m posting it here. Support dearest Conway, for he is amazing and an old friend.

“GIGGLE MAPS - A PROGRESSIVE US TRAVEL GUIDE

I love to travel. I love love love it. Sometimes I’ll beg a band to let me tag along on a tour or maybe I’ll just book random trips to places in the US I haven’t visited yet. Now, while I love to explore, I will admit there are times I have gotten off my train/plane/car/bus/van and realized I have no idea of anything cool to do in that city. Normally, travel guides will tell you about the museums and shopping in the area; which is all fine and good, but I’d much prefer it to tell me about the pirate themed bar, or the 24 hour bowling alley that serves free pizza and has bands play on Tuesday nights, or the best thrift store around, or the house just outside of town that does shows in their creepy basement.

So we’ve put together the idea of GIGGLE MAPS. It’ll launch as a tiny travel guide for young people who just want to see the world and don’t really want to eat at Hard Rock Cafe and take in an expensive Broadway show. There are million exciting things to do in every city in this country, we just need a little help finding them.

I am looking for anyone; you can be a person in a band whose toured the country a million times, or someone who has never left their city, but has crazy pride for things there.

Please send me as much / as little as you want. Tell me about the best places to eat that may be hard to find, the things that you love to do when you are in that city and just any weird secret that you think may interest another human.

I can’t offer much since this is meant to be a really affordable thing for young people to pick up, but everyone who has anything included in it will get a free copy and also… you can sleep in my living room anytime you pass through town.

Please send submissions by DEC 21, 2007 to conway@doghouserecords.com
include your name, email addy and mailing addy for your free copy as well.

thank you!”

I love Deer Tick! Here is where Pink Teeth will be tonight:

Hope to see you there!

I think you should still be gushing over our new website, however, I know you need a break every now and then. I understand, so here is something to watch: a live video of the song “Wave Of the Future” by Save the Whales. Yes, a Range Life band. No, we won’t stop kissing ass. This song rules and the band looks incredible live. Let’s get that record out kids!

Enjoy the video, I’m going to go back to reading comics before staring at my website for hours on end.

Hope your holiday went swimmingly. Myself and Ally were busy building and launching a new website. It’s up!

http://www.pinkteeth.com
http://www.pinkteeth.com
http://www.pinkteeth.com
http://www.pinkteeth.com
http://www.pinkteeth.com

Happy T. As a vegan, I am mostly against this holiday, but we all love our mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers and friends. THAT I am into. So high five your loved ones, don’t make it about what’s on your plate.

Taking the day off for the most part, other than wrapping up a couple things. Hoping to get a pint with The bird and the vine brothers, since Davey is up from Delaware and mjg is in town from NYC. Fingers crossed!

“Our House: Getting Out Of the Shuffle” by Joey Gee.

I was talking to Daniella about this last night and decided to focus this blog around it, so here goes. “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young might be one of the finest songs ever, but you’d never know it because it is constantly getting lost in the shuffle, buried deep in the radio waves of countless classic rock stations or in numerous movies and previews during all the cheesy moments, completely missing the point. Play this or “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys for your friends while growing up or for your acquaintances now who are oblivious to the hip “I’ve been listening to it forever but really downloaded it last weekend” mindset, and you’ll probably get a chuckle. Throw “Our House” on a mix tape and more times than not the listener will see it as novelty, and not for it’s sentimental value.

Let’s take a deeper look at this pop gem: It runs at about 3 minutes, the perfect amount of time to get in and out, leaving the listener wanting more (at least for me it does). It centers around a fairly simple piano line with some solid rhythm, but alone that would hardly be enough to stick in our minds and hearts. So while those 2 ingredients get us halfway there to the perfect song, here is how it brings it home. On the surface, the lyrics are a bit cheesy but it captures that moment of love where you don’t overly think about what you’re saying and only care about the meaning behind it. A problem with a lot of today’s music is that they take from the old but miss the point completely: where’s the honesty? Graham Nash truly and sincerely is excited about lighting the fire while Joni Mitchell places the flowers in the newly purchased vase and he just wants to let her know that. “Our House” perfectly freezes a moment and feeling in time that even if the relationship doesn’t work out (and it didn’t), you’ll always have this audible photograph to look back on the good times. It’s all you can hope out of any defining relationship, honestly. Then of course, there is the vocals. You’ve got some of the best harmonies backing you, and Nash just gives it all. Even while singing the dreamy “la la la”’s, he still seems to put his heart out there.

The thing that was great about “Déjà Vu” by CSNY was that it was 4 incredible songwriters battling each other for memorable songs. And while I cannot say if “Our House” is the best, it certainly is one of the more timeless and charming songs I have ever and will ever hear.

So I think I’ll always love this song on so many levels. It’s meaning constantly changes for me personally as I get older and older. From listening to it on cassette in the back seat of my parents’ car or to hearing it in the front seat of my own car, thinking of someone I really love, it never loses meaning and is a true example of timelessness.

Our House MP3

Oh snap! My album cover remix art (seen above) is up at rangeliferecords.com! It acts as a faux single cover for Dri’s “What’s Real”, which I’m so down for, because it’s super duper fantabulous. Go to their site to listen to the track, read the rundown and get your lyrics on! Range Life, I love you!

The show last night was rad, the Via Audio rock music machine certainly owned the stage. Didn’t stay for My Brightest Diamond, as I had a long drive home and was super tired, but they seemed nice. The gal carried around a dog and seemed like a general badass and the word I heard from the day after was nothing but posi-core. Rad.

A short one today. See you tomorrow mayhaps!

Via Audio rocks Connecticut tonight with My Brightest Diamond at the Space. $12 bones (yuk!) , and I think it’s just the 2 bands tonight. Weird, but no filler. See you there?