I’ll be doing some dates with Concord Records artist Spencer Day in March and April! Stoked to be playing these clubs for the first time.
March 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Rockwell – CD RELEASE SHOW
April 9 & 10 – Seattle, WA @ Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
April 11 – San Francisco, CA @ Yoshi’s
April 12-13 – Seal Beach, CA @ Spaghettini
Spain’s got some dates coming up:
March 5 – Venice, CA @ Del Monte Speakeasy
March 9 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
March 10 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
March 13 – Austin, TX @ Brass House (official SXSW showcase)
Here’s a mini-documentary of our performance at BB Mix Festival in Paris on the last tour:
Also, here are some videos recorded live at Studio Brussel in Brussels, Belgium on our last tour. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to embed the video in the post. So you’re getting a link, which doesn’t look nearly as hip. They’re not YouTube or Vimeo clips, so it’s this whole other thing…
Spain, live @ Studio Brussel. Please go here and enjoy. We were happy with this session.
In Feb 2012, I did a recording session at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles for singer/actress Emmy Rossum (from the Showtime series Shameless). Stuart Brawley produced, and the band was Giulio Carmassi (piano), Joe Corcoran (guitar), Tim Lefebvre (upright and electric bass), and myself. We tracked all these instruments together live with no click, and Emmy sang in the booth right next to us. Old School! Sentimental Journey was released on January 29 on Warner Bros. Records.
AllMusic’s review says we’re “stellar backing musicians.”
One last push of gigs before the Spain tour takes me away for the rest of 2012! Here they be:
Nov 5 – LA, CA @ Bootleg Bar with Sanglorians
Nov 6 – LA, CA @ Blue Whale with Chris Speed (tenor/clarinet), Jeff Parker (guitar), Devin Hoff (bass)
Nov 7 – LA, CA @ Rockwell with Spencer Day
Nov 8 – LA, CA @ Blue Whale with Kathleen Grace (voice), Erik Kertes (bass), Anthony Wilson (guitar), David Steele (guitar), Ben Peeler (lap/pedal steel)
Nov 9 – Thousand Oaks, CA @ Civic Arts Plaza with Vanessa Bryan
Nov 10 – Bremerton, WA @ Admiral Theater with Lucy Woodward
Nov 14 – San Diego, CA @ Tin Can with Soft Swells
Nov 16 – LA, CA @ Bootleg Bar with Hana Kim
Nov 19 – LA, CA @ Satellite with Soft Swells
Also, I signed an endorsement contract with Paiste cymbals!
Please be socially responsible, participate in this process they call a democracy, and vote tomorrow. Think about the WORLD, not just this country. There needs to be an end to senseless war, and end to inequality, and a serious effort to preserve that which makes our very existence possible. Approaching these major problems with greed, bigotry, and delusion prolly isn’t gonna help any. Do what you can!
@ KCRW Studios, Santa Monica, CA, Sept 2012. Photo by Even Keel.
More news regarding the band Spain: This week, on October 4th, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic will air a studio session and interview we taped for them last month with special guests Petra, Rachel, and Tanya Haden, a.k.a. the Haden Triplets. Tune in!
Also, we are gearing up to head back to Europe in November/December. The dates to all the shows are listed below. Almost an entire month in a van in chilly temperatures! Should be a real blast. Pretty excited to play at all these great venues! Check out some of the links. In Hamburg, we are playing at Indra, “Where the Beatles played first!”
Spain in Brussels, Belgium at Cirque Royal, May 2012
This week I will be heading back to Europe with the band Spain for a couple of shows. The first is at the Klinkers Brugge 2012 Festival in Brugge, Belgium on August 9th, followed by a club show at Cafe Glocksee in Hanover, Germany. Our show in Belgium on the last tour (pic above) was our best gig, so we’re looking forward to getting back there!
Favorable press continues to roll in for our newest release The Soul Of Spain. Check out this one from the Guardian UK. Four out of 5 stars!
In other Spain news, Los Angeles-based vinyl reissue label Omnivore Recordings is going to be releasing the first three Spain albums on limited edition 180-gram colored vinyl! I didn’t play on these records, but this is still exciting news for the band. To celebrate their release, we’ll be playing a show at Bootleg Bar on August 28th, with the legendary Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and his Missingmen opening for us. Also, Josh’s sisters Petra, Rachel, and Tanya Haden will be joining us as guests for our set. You can get tickets and more info for that show here.
Also, some dates have already been confirmed for our next tour of Europe, which will happen in November/December. Here are the dates confirmed so far:
23.11. Paris (FR) BBmix Festival
24.11. Rouen (FR) Le 106
25.11. Laval (FR) Le 6×4
27.11. Clermont-Ferrand (FR) La Coopérative de May
28.11. Coustellet (FR) La Gare
More shows in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, It
Ok, I have to get ready to go to the airport now.
Random fact: I played drums on this commercial for Cotton and Emmy Rossum.
Also, I just beefed up the Music section of the site to include some fun things from the past. Check that out.
That’s the front cover image of the new Spain record, to be released May 8, 2012 on iTunes in the States, and on Glitterhouse Records in Europe. I played the drums on this record, along with founding member and bassist/vocalist Josh Haden (son of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden), lead guitarist Daniel Brummel, keyboardist/guitarist Randy Kirk, co-production with Billy Burke (Ozma), vocal/cello/violin appearances by the Haden Triplets (Rachel, Petra, and Tanya) and Light FM’s Ihui Wu. Cover photography is by Dave Naz, and features cover model Oriana Small (aka former adult film actress Ashley Blue). The album took two years to complete and marks the band’s first album of new material in over ten years.
We’re very happy with the record, and it’s been getting a good response and some airplay already… On May 10, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic program will be offering the track “Walked On The Water” as a free download in their “Today’s Top Tune” segment.
And… We’re going on tour! Here are the dates:
12 May 2012- Bruxelles, Belgium @ La Botanique Cirque Royal
13 May 2012 – Aarhus, Denmark @ Voxhall
14 May 2012 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Bremen Teater
15 May 2012 – Oslo, Norway @ John Dee
17 May 2012 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido
18 May 2012 – Lisbon, Portugal @ Lux Fragil
19 May 2012 – Porto, Portugal @ Hard Club
21 May 2012 – Rome, Italy @ Init
22 May 2012 – San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy @ Brevevita
23 May 2012 – Paris, France @ TBA
24 May 2012 – Utrecht, Holland @ Tivoli
27 May 2012 – Beverungen, Germany @ Orange Blossom Special 16 Festival
On this tour we will be performing Spain’s seminal 1995 album The Blue Moods Of Spain in its entirety, as well as songs from the new record and Spain’s other two records. Blue Moods is probably most known for its closing song “Spiritual,” which was covered by Johnny Cash on his Unchained album, as well as by Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny on their album Beyond The Missouri Sky.
Upcoming performances:
18 Feb 2012 – L.A. @ BLUE WHALE with Kathleen Grace and her Country music project with Erik Kertes (bs), John Storie (gtr), and Marcel Camargo (gtr)
19 Feb 2012 – L.A. @ HUMAN RESOURCES with Spain. We are opening for Rachel Haden
22 Feb 2012 – S.F. @ BENDERS Bar with Soft Swells for the Noise Pop Happy Hour
23 Feb 2012 – L.A. @ EAGLE ROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS with Spain. We are opening for composer/lutenist Jozef Van Wissem
24 Feb 2012 – L.A. @ HOMEROOM with Sanglorians
28 Feb 2012 – L.A. @ HOTEL CAFE with Soft Swells
02 Mar 2012 – San Diego, CA @ M-THEORY Record Store with Soft Swells 6PM
02 Mar 2012 -San Diego, CA @ TIN CAN ALEHOUSE with Soft Swells 9PM
06 Mar 2012 – S.F. @ BRICK & MORTER MUSIC HALL with Soft Swells
14 Mar 2012 – Austin, TX @ TRINITY HALL with Soft Swells for SXSW; record label Modern Outsider’s showcase
17 Mar 2012 – L.A. @ PEHRSPACE with Spain
01 Apr 2012 – L.A. @ EAGLE ROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS with Dan Rosenboom Septet. Part of Alex Cline’s Open Gate series.
05 Apr 2012 – L.A. @ SILVERLAKE LOUNGE with Spain
04 May 2012 – L.A. @ TAIX with Spain
05 May 2012 – L.A. @ BLUE WHALE with Dan Rosenboom Septet
27 May 2012 – BEVERUNGEN, GERMANY @ ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL 16 Festival with Spain.
Flyer by Me!
This is happening! Doing a few dates this month with Adam Benjamin (piano) and Tim Lefebvre (bass). Details below:
November 7th, 2011 2pm : Cal Arts Jazz Forum
November 7, 2011 9pm : Blue Whale, Los Angeles, CA
November 10th, 2011 2pm: Masterclass at Willamette University, Salem, OR
November 10th, 2011 7:30pm – Willamette Underground Concert Series, Willamette University, Salem, OR
November 11, 2011 8pm: The Jazz Station, Eugene, OR – WITH SPECIAL GUEST STORM NILSON (gtr)
