STARCLEANER RECORDS

Friday, March 26, 2010

The Crystal in the Capo



I'm sitting at Sluggo's North in Chattanooga TN about to drive to Nashville for a show. This week started in Tulsa Oklahoma. After an 11 hour drive in traffic, we arrived at the Crystal Pistol late but in time to play. It was our first time to play on a stage in Tulsa, and after many house parties, record stores, and basements, we were ready for the change. The Crystal Pistol was the perfect place for us and we ripped through an extended set including 50 million and Hickey covers. Sasha helped on guitar with the finale, and we had a pretty good sized sculpture built by the time we were ready to smash both sides of the tom!! Great show followed by a nice after party at Tulsa Timmy's house. We played some Rock band before breakfast, which Shellshag sucked at, and we were treated to Jesse's Juicy Karkass "punch em in the dick" rap video- hilarious!!
The following day we met up with Cinque for a great show in the most killer firehouse. Kansas City was good to us, fish tacos, bloody marys, and tons of kids made our first trip here incredible! The finale was the wildest of the tour with more than a dozen people from the crowd participating at once- smashing drum heads, passin the guitar around sharing duties on noise making, and head stands in the drums!!!! Can't wait to return.
On to Little Rock for a house show. This show was a blast and we had sing a long fans there- which is far out cause Shellshag has never been and its been 6 or so years since any of our other tours brought us through. Friggin' great chaotic drum destruction at this one too!! We saw friends Hermit Thrushes who had an amazing set, as did the local band that we never got the name of. Oh, Neon Blood killed it too, from FL. Glad to have you back around Little Rock!!
It was off to Chattanooga for recording at Revolution Sound Studios above JJ's Bohemia.
We were blessed with overwhelming support for the sessions, which included performances from some of Chattanooga's finest musicians, as we added guitars, accordions, tambourines, vocal tracks, hand claps, and group chants!!! The players will be a surprise, but this is gonna be an epic cover of standards called "Fuck Society Volume 1"!!! We've been splitting the rest of our time between Sluggos North and Pickle Barrel, alternating between Pickle Barrels Rubens and Sluggos Culture Club. Both are fantastic. We have a few days left here in Chattanooga after our show tonight at Little Hamilton House in Nashville, and we will be mixing the recordings one of those days, and playing with our good friends Screaming Females on Sunday at JJ's.
Super psyched to see evrybody out at that one, which also has 40 oz. folklore and new super group Dark Rides on the bill!!! Be home to NY next week- that's all for now.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Shellshag at SXSW


Well, we played 5 shows and they were all killer!! Snake by Snakepit was the first one we played, on a beautiful sunny Austin day in the I Love Video parking lot. This party was curated by Ben Snakepit, the zine author, and had some great bands. We saw Ptiaradactyl and danced with thier dinosaurs; The Pharmacy and Wild America also rocked. Lisa M. soon arrived and made everything perfect for the following show at House of Commons. Our set here was probably our best, although they were all great, and this one was mostly made better by the enthusiastic crowd!! It was our last night with Street Eaters, and they were great also- we did a good cover of "Runners Legs", a song by John from Street Eaters other band, Fleshies. He sang it for us, as did the crowd on this and many other songs!!! Nice to meet the Pelly sisters after the show, super nice gals. I believe they wrote about the show for there many fans- thanks guys. The last day at SXSW, yesterday, was a triple header for us. We started off with Bloody Marys early in the AM before showing up at the Liberty to find our friends Nathan and Joan ready for a rockin day of bands from Portland Oregon. It was an honor to start off this day for these amazing bands, who were nice enough to have us folk not from Portland on their shin dig. It was quite cold, windy, and wet, but I believe we warmed it up nicely for these guys befor heading over to Spider House for show # 2. We met up with old friends Jonathon Toubin (DJ New York Night Train) and Michelle Cable (Panache Booking), who hosted this event. Bad luck with weather made this outdoor wind tunnel event more challenging than need be, yet still lots of folks braved the cold weather and wind to see some great bands. I especially enjoyed 70's rockers Note Killers set. A wall of noise and riffs unseen since 81', these guys were great. A ton of old friends that I havent seen in forever were at the show, which made it very special. My friend John Stubbe, who lived across the street from me when I was little, but moved to Singapore when I was about 12, came down to see us play and say hi. It was great to see someone I hadnt seen in so long- we havent even gotten a chance to know the grown up versions of each other- so it was really cool to see him and also kinda trippy- 25 years or so, wow! Also, as well planned by my great friend Mary Bruce, the Bench people were there in full force!! What's a bench person you ask? When I first started college at Southwest Texas State University, I found all my like minded, flamboyantly dressed new wave and goth punk cousins at this bench that was dead center of the campus action at the time. We all really stood out in the sea of more conservative folk- and since we were headed into enlightened times in the world, we were for the most part a positively received side show for the students to stare at in confused interest and amazement. We were all once written about in the paper and described as birds with colorful feathers and tails- hilarious. It was so great to see all these folks; You may or may not enjoy facebook, but for me it is great to have these people back in my life, and I guess thats due to facebook. We had a blast and everyone still looked so beautiful, and pretty much the same as before. Also, my best friends Niki and Karen were there too. 3rd show for Niki so she gets the trophy this year along with Bob Taylor who did 3 as well!!! Karen had on the old 50 million shirt that is like a jersey; it just has 50 for the number, and up top on the back where the players name goes, it says million. Probably the coolest rock shirt Ive ever been a part of makin- wish I still had mine!! The final show for us here was our official SXSW showcase, which took place at Jaimies Spanish Village. We learned this is pronounced Himeys spanish village- this place was killer! We were on the showcase of our good friend and Texas music legend Jeff Smith of the Hickoids label, Sauctex records, which houses great Tex Punk bands like Sons of Hercules and of coarse the Hickoids!! We had a great set here, and it was well attended, which suprised us a little because we played at 8, and thats usually a little early for a good crowd, but Sauctex knows there shit and they had people out early! Plus our friends showed up to see us play- so we did our part as well. Ian Meltzer was there filming the band with his partner. It was great to see our pal from Jersey down in Texas, thanks Ian. The highlight was the finale, made extra great with the help of 2 of 3 Vivian Girls, a really good band form back home, and really good friends as well. Cassie was not shy at all, and I was glad I handed her the guitar, because she came runnin on to the stage with it rippin through our gear and really made herself a part of the band; and made the finale really great with her unbridled energy and confident stage presence!!
It tooks us all a few minutes to get the drum tower piled up and get a good Vivian Girl drum head smashing to finish it off!!!! Friggin perfect ending! Im sittin out back at Bob Taylors house letting all the memories slide through my brain- I love being in Texas and already miss being here; although we dont have to start our 8 hour drive to the wild world of Tulsa for 2 more hours, Im already sad to have to leave so soon. Thanks to all my friends and family here for making it a great time this year!! Thanks to Ben Snakepit, Lew, Joan and Nathan from Riot Act, Jonathon Toubin, Michelle Cable, Bob and Cindy for setting up great shows, taking care of us, and being such good friends; see yall in NY!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

TEXAS WHITE FISH




Houston was a great time. We stayed at my sister Tiffany's new house after the show at Super Happy Funland. Shellshag was interviewed by Channel 39 at the show, but they used a different band in the segment went it aired- Street Eaters killed it in Houston and were the best performance of the night. Tiffany and Freckles took great care of us and we headed on to San Antonio well rested and recouped. San Antonio was rad!! We played with The Sticky Bandits, a This Bike is a Pipe Bomb cover band that was killer fun- we had a great group of people at the party singing along with the songs and dancing- SA was awesome. We were in San Marcos the next day where we spotted the mysterious Texas White Fish, pictured here- swimming in the San Marcos River, Bloody Mary's at Triple Crown, lunch at Cafe on the Square, and a killer outdoor party on a sunny day- a perfect day! John Bellows band was great and we reccomend checking them out. Now we are the fabulous Bob Taylor's house about to head over to Snake by Snakepit, which looks to be better than the entire SXSW festival with just one day and a dozen bands!!!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A Week of Shows

Its hard to find time to post while touring. I guess we left off in Athens, where we played a great show with the Crab sisters band Snarlas- we ate crazy hotdogs at a cool spot by the show with hotdogs named after burlesque dancers- super cool place with a hotdog museum. Stayed out on the farm where Crabfest will be held, it was really neat. We went to Asheville next and had a great time with Tent City Rollers and Anna Banana and Liz's band. Mr. Stickrod took good care of us and we were off to Georgia. Played Athens GA with Hot New Mexicans and Dead Dog. Both of those bands are so very good- dead Dog is recording with Mike Pak and its going to be bitchin'!
Caledonia owner stiffed us on $ though, so that place sucks and I wouldnt reccommend anyone ever play there. I hate it when douche bags think they are hookin you up just by providing you an opportunity to help them keep there failure of a bar open by draggin all your friends down to pay cover that pays the sound guy, door man, bar tender and rent on there crAPPY placwe and give you an insult of a payout. Caledonia, you arent fooling me, you and I know its an intentional scam, and you suck for it!!! Anyway, lucky for them we all had enough fun to move on with our lives without burnin the place down- We headed off to Harvest of Hope right after the show and drove all night. We arrived at 9am, pitched our tents and slept til the afternoon when we played. It was raining, muddy as hell, a total swamp, which was followed by gear trouble due to moisture and humidity, but we overcame and friggin killed it at HOH!!! We saw many friends, but had to head out the next day to go to Pensacola to play Sluggos. Note: all late night college kid digerdoo ravers should die!! (some dicks played crappy bongo and digerdooo music all night right next to our tent) Dont these guys get sick of going without sex, I mean, Know way they are gettin laid after being so lame!! Sluggos, Crystal, Ryan, the beach and all were great to us, and we were glad to have been to Sluggos before it moves locations. FYI, they set up the coolest show for us and we played in the dining room - classic.
New Orleans late night fun hosted by Luke of Happy Talk Band was as fun as ever- we played the first of what appears to be a new trend of festivals created by the overwhelming amount of bands on the road going to SXSW. The next night, last night, in Houston was the same- Houstons was called Overflow fest, which is hosted by Super Happy Funland- a great place that we had a great time at!!! Hope to go back there soon on a non-monday. An old friend I havent seen in decades came out to the show, and I was pretty excited about this- so right now, facebook is a hero. I hope it stays that way- I hope all the old friends I get to know again are as cool and kind as my friend Eric. If not, you know, todays hero/tomorrows villan.
thats all for now

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Pennsylvania to Ohio


Here we are in Columbus Ohio at the Cornerstone Cafe- Shellshag, Street Eaters, Little Lungs and Ragrage. We have done 4 shows and they were all great!! After our tour kick off in Brooklyn we headed to Philly to play a party at Justin Benders house. It was killer- totally packed. The bands were excellent. Justin's new band Los Chi Chis and It Good had especially good sets. Shellshag had a rager of a set to an enthusiastic crowd!!
The next morning we interviewed Justin about Ukebox and Los Chi Chis, so after tour we will post his interview and many others at our site. The next day was a 3rd Bday party in a row [shells bday weekend] at another packed show in Pittsburgh at Kopec's. Our best Pitt show to date, we really love it there. Josh from Princess Thunderstorm made us dinner, Pork Loin, friggin delicious.....and Zack and friends made us a huge breakfast in the morning. They were such good hosts in Pitt, we may have to move there and buy one of there cheap houses!! The show was a 5 band bill, all good, and Kopec's is awesome for sure. Well rested and feelin good, we headed off to Columbus to pick up Street Eaters at the airport and begin our stint together with a show at Carabar here in Coloumbus. The great band Delay hosted us, along with our new favorite band Ragrage; and what a show they put together for us all. Our friends Little Lungs were with us as well, so these guys took care of 3 touring bands on a Monday and had a ton of folk out late and havin a ball- the best!!! We all got hooked up, sold a ton of records and had agreat nights rest at Chad's house- eatin quasedillas and watching Cacoon. Yes, I said watching Cacoon- with Steve Guttenberg. We all came out for breakfast here, except the Delay gang had to work today- so we took this picture of us all- havin a blast!! A big thank you to Philly, Pitt and Columbus- you guys all rule!!
Psyched for tonight at the Union in Athens playing with Snarlas, new band of Crab siters; its gonna rock. Shellshag's first Athens show. more later......

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Infoozion Boozin



The show last night was incredible. First off, our new guitar player Ben friggin killed it!!! The Shellshag set was amazing, as were both Stupid Party's new wave sounding set and The Measure's power pop assault. It was a birthday party as well, so I got this cake here at the end of our set- thanks to everybody for making the show double as a killer B Day party. Caroline Paquita ran this bar of homemade liquor drinks that was a big hit! The drinks were really tastey and all the fixins were in these jars- pretty cool. You should have her at your party. We are about to drive to Philly to play with our buddies It Good and a few others at Trinity House. Thanks to everyone for comin out to the show last night.
-shellshag

Friday, March 5, 2010

Tour Kick Off!!!


First day is kickin ass!!! My birthday has begun; I got gifts- Green Day and Gang of Four/Entertainment on Vinyl; sweet. We are packin and makin comps for the drive and stuff-
We took this picture of the T-shirts we are bringing. Ben Snakepit did this killer design a while back and we've been printin it up on stuff- killer!! Few hours from now we'll be rockin with a third person for the 1st time since Wade Driver played with us at SXSW, and the first time anyone's played an entire set with us- its gonna rule! Ben Wildenhaus from Federation X will be slingin guitar for Shellshag at tonights show at Cedar Mansion. We play with The Measure, Stupid Party, and Groucho Marxists. A special hello and thank you to our first 2 followers, you guys are the best-
shellshag

Thursday, March 4, 2010

1 day til Tour!!!


Here we are one day from the first show of the tour, packin up and stuff- The picture here is of the super cool shellshag posters made by Young Monster.
We have a limited amount of these and will have them for sale on tour. We will have our new record "rumors in disguise", that's on Don Giovanni Records, on vinyl and cd. We will have shirts with the Snakepit design on them. We will have our split 7" with This Bike is a Pipe Bomb. We will not have the repress of Destroy Me I'm Yours until the June tour, but we will have cdr's for the impatient. On this tour, while playing with a ton of our favorite bands and buying up great new records, we will be supporting migrant farm workers by performing and hanging at Harvest of Hope Fest in Florida-

We will be in Texas for the SXSW festival, but it does not support any cool agendas like HOH, it is a money makin machine that cant be stopped- we shall have fun there too. We will be playing 5 killer day parties and 1 SXSW showcase in 4 days, you can check out the specifics of this and all our tour at Shellshag's web page

We will also be spending a few days at Revolution Studios in Chatanooga finishing up "Fuck Society" volume 1, a covers record shellshag has been working on with engineer Mike Pak. Before heading home we will meet up with label mates Screaming Females for a show at JJ's Bohemia in Chattanooga, a show that also bills Dark Rides, a new super group of sorts. We've been enjoying the new Screaming Females cd that has all their 7" singles. Songs we already loved, now at the ease of our fingertips; We can rock it in the car, We can rock it in the bar, We can rock it near and far, and we can rock it on vinyl too cause we bought copies early on!!! Not sure the availability of the vinyl now?? The songs rule and we recommend the cd!!!

That's it!! Check out our newly updated website

Monday, March 1, 2010

First Blog


Well, we dont know what to call this blog spot. Shellshag? Starcleaner Records? Anyone got an opinion. Jen and I seem to feel exactly opposite about this blog stuff. Anyways, here is the first one.
We have been missing everyone's killer shows for two weeks preparing for tour which starts this Friday with a show at Cedar Mansion with The Measure and Stupid Party. It'll be good to come back to life- Here's the poster- see you there.