Yes, it's true...day 125. Not an update since day one. I'll keep it concise. Music was made and captured, babies were born, deadlines were set and reset, conversations were had, plans made...re-made. It's out of my hands now!!
Today, Wednesday, November Twenty-sixth, Two Thousand Eight, Carl Saff will be mastering our little gem. By little, I mean something like 54 minutes of audio. I'm downright giddy.
After Saff gets everything sounding super creamy, its off to duplication...probably by Disc Makers. The album cover and insert will feature art by Nathan Meltz . Then, promotion, promotion, promotion.
Current plan of action: compile a list of radio stations, blogs, zines, papers, clubs...any entity that would be interested in our music. If one of the six readers of this blog have any ideas, send us a note...the work is far from over.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Recording Pictures: Day 125
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Q&A
Q: How much do I hate Katy Perry?
Sexism, Color-Coded!
While the boys have been busy recording drums in the sweltering Tower attic (pictures coming), I've been spending the week visiting my parents in Connecticut - AKA eating too much, reading the new Artemis Fowl book, and hanging out on the beach. In between naps, shopping, and stretches of "me time," I've managed to make progress on a project that has proven to become my life's work. Seriously, I spent the better part of three days thinking about this, guys. So, because I've never been one for delayed gratification, I'll bring this witty introductory paragraph to a close and introduce to you the Definitive Chart Illustrating Desirable Traits in Women (DCIDT, for short).
*I realize that all women are inherently crazy, but for all intents and purposes of this chart the "crazy" refers to any additional craziness that goes beyond basic female insanity.
1) Natalie Portman - it really isn't fair.
2) Jessica Alba - gorgeous, normal, but a terrible actress who doesn't have much to bring to a conversation. Guys don't really seem to mind, though.
3)Rachel Bilson - If I could look like any girl it would be her, hands down.
4) Jenny Lewis - pretty, talented, intelligent, but the fact that she's in a band with her ex boyfriend and was a child actress with a potentially-coke-addicted mom puts her on the crazy spectrum
5) Maggie Gyllenhaal - talented with obvious intelligence and creativity and she seems sane enough, but seriously lacking in the ass/boobs department with a face to match.
6) Naomi Campbell - absolutely stunning, but the only thing interesting about her is the fact that she is batshit crazy
7) Amy Winehouse - talented, definitely, but with a grab-bag of issues ranging from drug addiction to her horrific marriage and well, dear god that face.
8) That Overweight Middle-aged Lady Who Works at Your Uncle's Lumber Store and Goes to Cat Shows on the Weekend - men of America, one at a time, please
As for myself, after much deliberation I've decided that I am a blue, but the second I start getting groupies under the age of 40 I'm upgrading myself to a purple.
It is also important to note that it may be impossible to create the male version of this chart, simply because after 21 years of research and observation I have yet to figure out what the fuck it is that women actually want in a guy.
Anybody who wants to hang out can come to the Vetiver show at Valentine's Saturday night. If you have more ideas for the DCIDT, send an email or leave it in the comments. Posters, t-shirts, and pillowcases coming soon.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Music doesn't just happen...Gmail makes it happen
What better way to ruin the rebellious, anti-establishment, free spirit persona of a band than to inject it with all the stuffy, corporate, clock-punching hoopla of a legit business. No, I'm not going to complain about record companies or cutting deals with labels. Who cares, the music industry is dead anyway, right? Pretty sure NoFX called that before you had the internet.
Complain, No! Rejoice...in the glory of Gmail!
We here at Sea of Trees in Albany, New York come from all walks of life. From After-Hours Call Girls to Zebra-Handling Zoo Hands, you can bet we all run on fairly different schedules. How in the world do five people manage to get together one maybe two times a week and produce beautiful music? And play shows?! All praise Gmail!
I feel that Gmail has allowed us all more clarity and understanding in our day to day lives. I'll tell you what, Sea of Trees is not the only entity benefiting from Gmail. It goes deeper; every member of Sea of Trees is touched and I think that really benefits the fans in the end.
Gmail has allowed us to forgo the old ways of mass texting, poorly timed phone calls and flooded in-boxes. Those were dark times. A great light has been shone upon us in the form of Gmail Calendar. Calendar brings a deep understanding to everything that was once shrouded in mystery. Calendar answers questions everyone has had from time to time like "When is Dylan going to be out of town?" "Is everyone's Friday three weeks from now open for a show?" "Can we practice on Wednesday next week?" I project that show cancellations will decline by...at least.....some huge percentage given this new take on scheduling that Calendar has provided us.
I'm always trying to spread the word of...er...about Gmail. What better way than Gmail Chat! Here are some examples of the good times to be had in the House of Gmail.
That's just a very small sample of the times we've had with Chat and Gmail. I understand there are some people who will denounce Gmail. That's ok, not everyone can be saved. You can be saved.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Things I Have Made With Food Found In My Kitchen at 3 A.M.: A Cookbook
I realize that Justin is the chef in the band, but that doesn't mean that I don't have some culinary skills of my own. Mine are just of a different variety. While Justin might know how to brulee something, or how an oven works, I am particularly talented at taking the meager, grab-bag assortment of food in my cupboards and creating somewhat edible concoctions. I decided that it is selfish of me to continue to keep these talents to myself, and have assembled a short - but growing! - recipe list for you equally meager and grab-bag blog readers to enjoy.
You Will Need:
-Onions
-One Can of Chickpeas
-One Lime
-Lemon Juice
1) Cut onion into big pieces and grill in saucepan. Cut lime into slices and squeeze juice into pan. Add water, cover, and steam onions until they are soft and clear (I think experts may call this caramelizing, but I'm not certain).
2) Use can opener to open chickpeas, drain. Put some of the chickpeas in a bowl. Leave the rest in the can on the counter all night so that they will be wasted by morning.
3) Add onions. Stir.
4) Add lemon juice to taste. Stir.
5) Enjoy. Leave dishes for another day.
Nutritional Value: Not bad
creamy mushroom-rice casserole
You Will Need:
-One Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
-Some milk, preferably skim, or water if the milk is no longer consumable
-White rice, instant
1) Boil the rice
2) At the same time, (this can get tricky), heat up milk and soup in a saucepan
3) When rice is ready, stir into soup
4) (Try to) Enjoy
Nutritional Value: Practically none
Guest Recipe: corn and white rice (courtesy of Joe Martinez)
You Will Need:
-One can of corn
-White Rice
1) Boil rice.
2) Stir in corn.
3) Repeat every night until payday.
Nutritional Value: Below average
three bean stew
You Will Need:
-One can green beans
-One can chickpeas
-One can red beans in sauce
-Onion
1) Slice onion and steam covered in pan until soft. Grill a bit with cooking spray first if needed. Set aside.
2) Heat up red beans in sauce in a saucepan.
3) Drain green beans and add to red beans. Stir while heating.
4) Add chickpeas and onions. Continue to heat and stir. Add some water if needed to keep thick consistency without burning.
Nutritional Value: Probably the best you'll get at 3 am when you haven't gone grocery shopping in 3 months
Keeping it Real: Brooklyn Edition
For those of you who have had the pleasure of coming into contact with either of the Martinez children, you will know that we keep it really, really, real. My brother brought this revolutionary idea into the family when he decided to stop showering daily in the 10th grade. Since then it has evolved into a mantra and occasional excuse. Trust me, this is going somewhere.
Last week we played our first outside-Albany show at Trash Bar in Brooklyn - particularly Williamsburg which, according to Wikipedia is a hub for indie music and a hipster haven. Who knew.
You can hear the tight-jean chafing all the way up here.
In the interest of keeping it real and full blog disclosure, let me say that I'm not a very hip person. In my hometown Michigan suburb, we didn't really use the term "hipster," we used the term "scene-kid." And I was neither. I had a livejournal (and now I have this blog. It seems things never really change). I listened to east-coast emo-rock and unashamedly loved The O.C. So, needless to say that even though I was wearing flats, I was not prepared for the 6-block radius around bedford and metropolitan.
I think Mitch put it best when he told Ian, "just remember, every person here is better than you." And I think I put it second best when I said "I've never seen so many walking, breathing stereotypes in my life." I think I also put it third best when I said "I'm having a hard time not laughing in people's faces." We took the scenic route while getting some pre-show pizza (which was much better than the post-show Thruway Roy Rogers) and I do mean scenic route in every punny connotation.
That's not to say that people weren't cool. The show went really well, and everyone who came out was awesome. We have another show in that area July 17 at Zebulon that I'm really looking forward to.
I promised that this was leading somewhere, and it is. So far I've been talking about Brooklyn and keeping it real. Well, to combine those two topics, I would like to say that at our show we met The Realest People in Brooklyn, aka, The Nuck Fuggets. They're an electro-comedy-esque duo that put on a show with so much energy even though everyone was sitting down (but laughing, to be fair.) Mitch and I decided to tell them that we had designated them with this title, and I hope that they received it sincerely.
so I realize that this is the first post back in a while, and while it was a little lackluster and didn't have all the biting wit that my posts usually have, I hope it was at least partially satisfactory.
p.s. Keeping it real only works if your reality doesn't completely suck.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
you are reading the first ever mobile update from the sea of trees blog. i got a new phone and am geeking out about it, which is why i am making this - not going to lie - probably pointless blog post.
there are two topics of interest for today, though. the first is that ian hosted a bad ass barbecue, and i have decided that i am going to start a punk band with dylan's son luca.
ian also made some awesome turkey burgers and some sausages that mitch claims were amazing. if you ever manage to finagle an invite to one of these soirees i highly reccommend it.
the second point of interest is that we have acquired a new pa. our old pa required a generous dose of tough love via drop kicking repeatedly during our practices. dylan was also coerced/bullied/manipulated into buying something that is apparently a monitor, but looks more like something that someone once used to listen to scott joplin. (king of ragtime, look it up.)
the good news is that we now have a (hopefully) reliable pa for the june 13th Muddy Cup show with Saint Ukraine and Greg Pier.
the even better news is that i won't accidentally hurt myself anymore while taking out my anger on a crappy pa head.
Friday, May 23, 2008
New Practice Space Pictures
Sorry about the lag between updates, I'm in the process of moving and have been too busy procrastinating and didn't want any explicit evidence of my lack of progress in packing.
I did, however, upload some pictures to my computer today and found some I took of our practice space, and thought I'd share. It's a relatively new space, so we're in the process of decorating it with things we find around the attic. It's also usually not as bright - we like to practice by lamplight (we're more attractive that way). The practice space may or may not also be haunted. FYI.
That doorway behind Justin leads to our old practice space.
We write our setlist on a beloved whiteboard, which Dylan is copying in this picture. The whiteboard also features some exclusive Cecelia Martinez artwork, particularly some of my early, revolutionary work with stars, flowers, and hearts.
Ignore Just in this picture. This picture is really all about Manny, our luminescent, sexually-ambiguous mascot. He literally brightens up my day. (Sorry).
Behind Mitch is the door to this cool little room that was a bathroom at one point. It also has a hatch window leading into this random opening on the north wall of the building, which you can kind of see in the left of the picture.
A better view of the "window" as well as our sadly empty bulletin board, and a mess of storage.
Speaking of pictures, area photographer Brandon Segal took some photographs at our last show at Savannah's. They are up on our myspace.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Into the Airwaves
Friday night was a night of many firsts. The first time I paid $5 for a drink the size of those cups you use to give children cough medicine. The first time I participated in (and lost) a 40 oz Colt 45 chugging contest with a grown man. And (for something non-alcohol related) The first time I heard myself on the radio.
Remember that scene in the awesome movie That Thing You Do where they run around the appliance store turning on every radio, dancing with cardboard cutouts, and jumping up and down ecstatic? Well, this wasn't quite like that, but it was still, to put it in the classiest of terms, pretty fucking sweet.
We knew that we had been on some (meaning two) radio stations in the Albany area. We premiered on the EQX-Posure show on WEQX 102.7 two weeks ago, but nobody in the band had the chance to actually hear it. They played the song Raccoon (With a Sword-Paw) and will play it for two more weeks (including this one) before moving it into regular EQX-Posure rotation.
The other radio station we have been played on is a new public radio station, owned by the WMHT television station. 97.7 WEXT is a listener-supported station, and after a friend of Justin's heard us on May 12th, Dylan started banging on the window of Mitch's car as we were pulling away from Franklin's Tower to head to Savannah's Friday night. Mitch put his index finger to the test hitting that little radio button to get us to 97.7, and we were on the radio (static and pop-station interference and all).
While WEQX opted for Raccoon, WEXT have been playing Nunatek. Our total number of plays is only 2 (4 overall if you include WEQX), but it's still a unique experience to hear us coming through the speakers of Mitch's awesome car stereo system. I realize I'm probably supposed to play it cool, acting like it was no big deal, but my skills in 'playing-it-cool' never developed while i was in the womb, so I can't help but dork out over everything (I also saved the issue of Metroland that had our first show listed under the Valentine's ad).
And anyway, local public radio is the shit. I stopped listening to the radio almost entirely about 4 years ago, because in my hometown of Saginaw, Michigan there were no college stations and the public stations were all talk radio. Seeing as how I would rather punch myself in the face than listen to commercial radio, the second I got an iPod for my 17th birthday (and a car tape deck adapter) I left radio behind.
WEQX was the first interaction I had with independent radio that didn't use the phrases "lords work" or "liberal conspiracy". I had started to tire of the music I had been listening to on repeat for two years and wanted to find more than just what my friends were sending me and what I found by accident on the internet. Summer after my freshman year (back when I still had a car) I would listen to WEQX all the time (I even won a CD once).
WEXT looks like a really promising station. I'm listening to the mp3 stream right now, and have looked up the playlists (while searching for Sea of Trees, of course). Death Cab for Cutie, MGMT, Cake, Rilo Kiley, Cat Power, Otis Redding, Wilco, Rufus Wainwright, Jackson Browne (!), Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter (!!), Dashboard Confessional (lolz), Augustana, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Shins, Rogue Wave, and Jason Mraz were all played on the same day we were. They also play a lot of local music (they pledge to play at least one local musician every hour every day) and older, classic songs as well (like Ray Charles - You Don't Know Me). Some good (and hilarious) company.
EQX-Posure
Sunday nights, 7 - 8 PM
102.7 FM
EXIT 97.7 (WEXT)
Request songs, listen online, support the station, etc.
Part II of 5 Local Bands I am Super Pscyhed/Would Love to Share a Bill With is coming soon
Saturday, May 17, 2008
5 Local Bands I am super psyched/would love to share a bill with (Part 1)
Part 1: Two Local Bands I Am Super Psyched to Share a Bill With
Ashley Pond
www.myspace.com/ashleypond
Ashley Pond is one of the immediately-intimidating Saint Rose music industry-bred musicians I came into contact with my freshman year of college. I first saw Ashley perform in a pre-Starbucks Commuter Lounge on the Saint Rose campus. The female songwriter population in my hometown was severely limited, with most of them just awkwardly strumming G,C, and A minor chords coupled with rhyming lyrics. (Myself included. There are some pretty embarrassing recordings tucked away in a folder on my computer.). I don't know if it just never occurred to me, but for the first time there was a ridiculously talented musician just hanging out, like any other college student. I battled between jealousy and admiration, but quickly settled on the latter.
Almost 3 years later, she's still as impressive as ever. Her first full-length album, the ten-track Dala, was released in September of 2007. I got my copy earlier this year at a show at Valentine's - the first time I had seen Ashley perform live in well over a year. A tiny person with a big guitar and an even bigger voice, I was more impressed than ever (and maybe still a little jealous).
Catch her and us:
May 31st, 2008
Valentines (downstairs) in Albany, NY
8:30 PM, $5
along with Elias Orling
Saint Ukraine
www.myspace.com/saintukraine
As a band, we must have some pretty boring day jobs, because the members of Sea of Trees spend a lot of time e-mailing. It started out with booking info or recording ideas, and has gradually progressed to inside jokes (justin spice), shit-talking, and general useless conversation. There was a short time period where Dylan kept e-mail fowarding us various YouTube videos, but luckily he grew out of that phase. One time Mitch and I even talked on Gmail messenger, and much hilarity (and OMG LOL-ing) ensued.
I found out about Saint Ukraine from one of these e-mails. Ian introduced us to the band, suggesting we check them out to see if we wanted to book them for the Muddy Cup show. I did just that. Sirens and Packages was the first song I heard and I was instantly hooked. Great melodies, achingly subtle lyrics, simple structure with some cool instrumentation to keep it interesting.
I've always been a sucker for music you can listen to by lamplight, smoking a cigarette and just absorbing the songs. For me, along with acts like Sparklehorse, Elliot Smith, and Josh Ritter, Saint Ukraine is a band like that. They're #2 on my Last.fm Top Artists this week, right behind Death Cab for Cutie (who had a new album come out recently, mind you.) The best part is, all their songs are downloadable from their myspace.
P.S. I got to meet Matt and Joe last night at our Savannah's show, and I totally fangirled to Matt. Hopefully he isn't creeped out to play with us in June.
Catch them and us:
June 13th, 2008
The Muddy Cup in Albany, NY
8:00 PM, Free
along with Greg Pier
Listen:
Saint Ukraine - Sirens and Packages
and of course get the rest at the myspace.
Check back for Part II of this series: Three Local Bands I Would Love to Share a Bill With
Thursday, May 15, 2008
In Defense of a Bicycle
This will be tough because I could never possibly string together as many coherent statements as Cecelia. So I'm just gonna lay it out there. My bike is awesome. Plain and simple. It's just science, really. If you're in the know, you know that bike is badass in its most pure and unadulterated form. It is not a mere "child's bike," no! A young one could be seriously injured on this high performance machine.
A "trick bike," sure. My sect would refer to it as a "street" bike, yes. And as far as street bikes go, this beast is creme of the crop...you just can't beat Standard, and I built it myself from a hand picked selection of the finest quality components...so step off, and respect! (It was creme of the crop five years ago anyway...I guess it's more of a legacy machine now...but it's still dope as hell!)
I didn't do anything impressive? I also haven't swung a foot over the saddle of a self propelled machine in about five years. Riding up Madison from Broadway on a single speed was trick enough. Not to mention, I did do the riding on the handlebars thing, which Ian could not do, once again affirming my position as the more manly part of the rhythm section.
Anyway, I do plan on getting a proper road bike. And I'll ride on the handlebars of that one too!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Next Step: Spandex
Seemingly unrelated anecdote #1: This past weekend was band hangout weekend, and the venue was Tulip Fest at Washington Park. Friday night, when the city of Albany decided to say 'fuck you' to Dutch people everywhere by burning down a giant windmill in the middle of the lake, we decided that we had to be there, if even just for the lolz. It was cool, I got to meet Dylan's son, and the weather was good. I also got to see Mitch ride a tiny bicycle. Clearly, this was the highlight of the night. He kept mumbling something about it being a trick bike, but the only trick I saw was him riding while on handlebars, and that was only after the 25th person asked him why he was riding a bike obviously made for children. Ian, who showed up too late to see The Burning of the Windmill, heard that Mitch was clown-biking it up, and decided to bring his own posse of guys-on-bikes (full-size bikes, though). Dylan and the fam left, leaving me bike-less with a group of biked individuals. Woe. My shins were not happy with me the next day for trying to keep up with 4 bikers while on a castle-quest wearing flip-flops (an entirely different story, one that will mostly likely - hopefully - never be told).
Seemingly unrelated anecdote #2: Craigslist, the same slightly-creepy marvel that brought together your third-favorite indie-folk-rock band, also has section where people sell bikes.
Okay, so the second one wasn't really an anecdote, and the two are obviously related, seeing as they both clearly discuss creepy things (Mitch on a tiny bike, craigslist). But, they are also related in that I am most likely getting a used bike today via Some Chick Off Craigslist. My old bike was stolen last year from behind my apartment, and I'm looking forward to having one again, especially after my lack of bike was made so glaringly obvious this past weekend.
Seemingly unrelated Google image search picture:
Seemingly unrelated anecdote #3: Ian likes to go on bicycle pub crawls with his friends.
Actually unrelated picture #1:
Website
Mitch, our bassist, best known as the more macho member of our rhythm section, also knows his way around the old computer. He has been diligently wasting time at work making our new band website: www.seaoftrees.com. I'm still trying to pay off my $0.12 a week share of the cost of the website domain, but after all, I am just a lowly college student/amateur indie-folk star.
Anyway, the website, (which, if you're reading this, you probably already know about. Also, who is actually reading this?) is semi-live, with music, lyrics, and a sweet slidey-picture-thing that is only going to get more kick-ass because Mitch has a polaroid camera and I fully intend to use it at our next practice.
My favorite part, though, is the plethora of inside jokes. All the quotes that show up above the menu on the right side of the page have indeed been said at one point. You totally got the scoop here. So now you can impress your friends with your insider Sea of Trees knowledge. Here's some more for bonus points: Ian loves rocks. Like, has a deep, passionate, love for rocks. So I think people should start bringing him rocks. Seriously. It'll be the new thing. Just try not to throw them on stage because, well, that may cause some damage and Dylan hates getting his hair messed up by flying limestone.
So, SeaofTrees.com. Live it, love it. or something.
Show
The second show of Sea of Trees is now upon us, this Friday, at Savannah's on Pearl Street in Albany. We're playing with two very awesome acts: Palatypus, who have had some serious rotation in my iTunes playlist recently (seriously, just check my last.fm) and Jared Funari who I've heard does some sweet things with a loop.
I'm personally excited because May 16th is also the birthday of not one, not two, but THREE of my good friends. Justin, our guitarist, will be celebrating his Friday night, as well as Lacy (our official first fan) and my friend Chrissy, who was my very first roommate when I moved to Albany and is still managing to put up with me 3 years later. So, long story short, I will be buying lots of shots this weekend, so if you come out, chances are I'll buy you one by accident. Sounds like a good deal to me.
For those of you who went to our first show at Valentine's, we'll be mixing it up this show with a new set list that includes our newest and recently-named song, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. I'm really excited for this song, I think it's one of our best yet, and Ian is doing some sweet drum stuff that I wouldn't really even begin to know how to explain.
We'll be playing last, but make sure you get there early (is 9 PM considered early? am I just getting old?) to check out Palatypus and Jared Funari, and of course, to have a few birthday shots.
