saturn bar bootleg, new songs, new album, another tour

we are currently practicing new material, and will hopefully have it ready for tour in addition to the material on escapist vs exit (the album we will be touring in support of in 2009). i'm excited because the follow up to escapist exit is done. we have a tour coming up in january followed by a march/april tour.

also we just finished mixing a bootleg show from the saturn bar (9.27.08) on our last tour, and its available for download here:

Saturn Bar 9.27.08

i know this isn't news, but we finally finished escapist vs exit! a year and half odsessy of melodrama, and high intrigue. we cut the wet blanket away this week in athens, mixed and mastered. with a year of touring ahead, a vinyl record, and a new cd we're ready finally to get this monster off the ground.

the first leg of the spring tour is almost booked. wow its so exhausting sitting behind a computer day after day working for a show, with people you've never met. but i know it all counts, and it will be nice to be back on the road soon...

two and a one half

some news, we are working on our road show for the january and febuary tour... still waiting to see if you we might be accepted to SXSW, no difference if we don't, that stuff's a dog and pony show.

we'll finish the final mixes for escapist vs exit end of november, and will have the album in hand by the end of december. we should record the next album sometime in april or may, its written now. we need to road test the new songs and then back to chase park to start the process again.

the vinyl single for dresden is done and will be out very soon.

november is a tough month, all the old and new ghosts are converging on baylen, blount and la rua.

if i know anything a broken heart ain't kind

Auburn show on Saturday... last

Saturday is our last scheduled show for 2008 until the vinyl release tour in January, and album release in March. We'll be practicing our road show for the new year, demoing the new album and just strategy-ing for the new year. Below is an article written by the alliteratively named Theodoris Morris from the Corner News in Auburn. We appreciate the article but wanted to point out the Bell Sebastian = Belle and Sebastian and we don't plan on releasing a mix album, but plan to mix an album to release in the new year.


Share mellow, upbeat moments with Florida Indie band

The band Paper Scissors Rocketpack! wants to portray an image that is not based on reality, creating a surrealistic environment for their songs.

“The band was named after the game rock paper scissors and you can never beat rocketpack because it always flies away,” said lead vocalist/guitarist Chad Bishop.

Hailing from Pensacola, Fla., the band has been together for a year and a half after playing in different bands together and knowing each other since they were teenagers. Bishop describes their music as Americana, Indie Rock and Folk jammed together as one.

“Our band is unique because we all are invested in it and we all love what we do.” said Bishop. “We are not a fashion parade even though we are very fashionable.”

People can expect a Rocketpack live show to have an element of surprise with mellow and upbeat rock songs.
“People usually expect really spastic music, but we are like a fungus, we grow on you as the night goes on,” said Bishop.

Bishop has been a professional musician since the age of 20 and said that his international living experience influenced him to start playing music.

The band performs all original songs, but has numerous influences dating back from ‘60s music to the present.
“An Indie Pop band from Scotland by the name of Bell Sebastian and a Pop/Rock band from Illinois by the name of The Sea and Cake really influence us,” said Bishop.

Some of the band’s long term goals are to release a mix album in the spring produced by Dave Barbe, to establish themselves as touring artists, and to be able to support themselves as self released or to be signed to a record label and be comfortable.

Paper Scissors Rocketpack! will take the stage at Eighth & Rail this Saturday, Oct. 11.

The band has an album due to be released in the spring called “Excapist vs. Exit” produced by Dave Barbe and is also recording a vinyl record that is due to be released in November.

“I want to share a moment experience and share issues that are important to myself and the audience,” Bishop added about the show.

jan '09 tour help

below is our tour intinerary for january 2009. if you have any suggestions or want to play a show with us in your hometown let us know at escapistexit@yahoo.com.

1/7 New Orleans

1/8 Mobile/Montgomery

1/9 B-ham/Atlanta

1/10 Atlanta/Asheville

1/11 Johnson City TN Booked

1/12 Nashville TN

1/14 Lawrence KS

1/15 Des Moines IA- Vaudeville Mews- Hold

1/16 Minneapolis MN- Acadia Café – Booked

1/17 Madison WS- Cafe Montmartre- Booked

1/18 Chicago IL- The Orphanage – Booked

1/19 Kent OH

1/20 Cleveland OH

1/22 Boston MA

1/23 New York NY

1/24 Philly

1/25 Baltimore/Richmond VA

1/26 Chapel Hill/Raleigh NC

1/27 Charlotte NC

1/28 Athens GA

1/29 St.Simmons/Savannah/Jacksonville

1/30 Jacksonville/Gainesville

fall tour & home

Damn that went by so quick. We played 8 shows in 9 days, the beta run went well. Things we learned: Gas shortages are not reported in the news unless it is a national issue, bring a camping stove, wild turkey is gross, no one is entitled to others attention partial or absolute.

An amazing part of touring is playing each night and watching the band get tighter and tighter musically. The band felt like one multi-celled organism creeping along in the dark drift current off the coast. We have two more shows before we recede back into the practice room to start demoing the new album, and finish mixing Escapist vs Exit for the spring.

Shantytown, Jacksonville

We arrived at the club a little early, about twelve hours early and wandered around Jacksonville. Public libraries, parks and hotdog stands.

The kids at Shantytown definitely got their shit together, they gots a bike shop and vinyl store next to the pub, that seems to be run collectively. Shantytown is just outside of the downtown area in a commercially forgotten area. Its beautiful to see kids reclaim the cracks in the sidewalk and open shops and co-op businesses.

We played with The Honey Chamber who are from the Jacksonville area. And in bad form, and in bad taste i will say they reminded me of Eric Gaffney era Sebadoh. They are super awesome and should have more music up on their page soon:

www.myspace.com/honeychamber

The stage was a little cramped and took a bit to set up, but we finally got started around 12p. The crowd was awesome, and cheered and bought drinks and cds. It was a great time. In one night i was jeered for my super fucking cool cowboy shirt and then later complimented for the very same rad ass cowboy shirt.

Winter Sleeves
Mustard Seed Boat
Untitled Song for a City
Henry Darger
Charred Heart
Devil in my Bed
South Dakota Farm
The Wrestling Palm

Shantytown is f-ing cool.

New Orleans, Athens, and Savannah

I'm sitting in the jacksonville public library. The clicking of my typing is the loudest thing i hear.

Here's a recap of the tour so far:

Projectile Vomit
Bike Punks own Bars
New Orleans still looks a bomb fell on it
I'm convinced Athens might be the town for all of us
PBR is usually good and free
Bacteria cannot survive in Honey
Firepods are cheap pieces of crap
There are 2 Brandon's and Aarons still
1 Jesse
Savannah is Beautiful
Jacksonville is the biggest urban sprawl in the country
The Sentient Bean was my favorite show so far
Gas Crisis in GA is not national news
We rolled into Athens on fumes

set list last night:

Dresden
Charred Heart
Winter Sleeves
Henry Darger
Mustard Seed
Wrestling Palm

mobile 9.26.08

the blind mule. day 1.

The people at The Blind Mule are always so nice, after waiting for the opening band to finish their hour and half set we finally set up at 1am. We played surprising well, after a horrible final practice in which we couldn't even finish one song. The real adventure started just after we loaded out and started for New Orleans. Incapable of keeping my eyes wide open we ended up in Biloxi, chased down a few motel leads that were too expensive and finally rolled into New Orleans at 6a.

I woke up this morning on a hardwood floor off Rampart, with a hoodie for a pillow and vague recollection driving through the night.

The Charred Heart of the Tin Woodman
Untitled Song for a City in the Wake of Recent Flood
Mustard Seed Boat
Asleep in Winter Sleeves
The Catamount Waltz
The Wrestling Palm
Devil in my Bed

destin log article

Here's a cool article. Unfortunately the Funky Blues Shack show was canceled. The Funky Blues Shack is remodeling this month, but didn't return our calls or emails until late last week to tell us they could not do the show ... nice article though.

Paper Scissors Rocketpack: To Destin or 'busk ?'

Sep. 20--For guitarist and singer Chad Bishop, playing music professionally was a last resort when he had no other way to make a living in Europe.

"When I was 20, I moved overseas, and it was the only way I could actually make any money living in Scandinavia and London," Bishop, 32, told The Log. "I didn't have a work visa; I did have a guitar -- it worked out really well to extend my stay."

Now Bishop, a Pensacola resident, plays professionally by choice, as the guitarist and vocalist for Paper Scissors Rocketpack, which is tentatively scheduled to perform at Funky Blues Shack Sept. 25.

Bishop, who took up the guitar in his teens, said that in Scandinavia he found people to sponsor him in clubs, but in London he'd had to "busk" -- playing guitar on street corners for donations.

"I didn't have a busking license so I had to busk with one eye looking for the cops. It was fun. I learned quite a bit: I learned you're not entitled to people's attention. I learned to get out there, screaming at the top of my lungs."

Getting attention for a new Pensacola band -- both for their tour and their first CD, "escapist vs. exit" -- is also a challenge, Bishop said. He told The Log that Pensacola has an enthusiastic music scene but "it's a really small scene -- once you play the three viable clubs in town, you've done the circuit.

"We don't have a lot of funds to do our own promotion," Bishop went on. "We have to reach out and try to get as much promotion as we can before using our limited resources. We have to network with other bands: If they come to Pensacola or near, we set them up for shows" and look for help in return.

The name of the band, Bishop said, was chosen to create a "surreal environment" for their music. The name of the album, he said, refers to a choice between finding a way to escape a bad situation and simply exiting without dealing with the problem.

Touring is important for promoting the CD, he said, because even small gigs give the band exposure: "Even if you don't play for a lot of people every night, the fact is, you're popping up all over the place, talking to people at the radio station and the press, finding all the opportunities you have and just using them."

Bishop said being small is an advantage on the Internet, where the band maintains a MySpace page: "Getting reviews on blogs helps quite a bit, at least with an independent album. Bloggers love anything obscure, even if it's obscure because it's only been out a day."

As a promotion for the current CD, the band has released a couple of songs on a vinyl record that comes with a download ticket authorizing buyers to download the group's songs for free. Bishop said he'd been initially doubtful about going vinyl, but the idea of releasing such an old-fashioned record was too appealing to resist.

"I think most musicians want one -- it definitely lends a nostalgia to your music right away," he said. "Most of the kids I know grew up listening to their parents' vinyl records and buying their own CDs, so we still had some connection to it."

Bishop said Paper Scissors Rocketpack has their second album written, and plans to do a nationwide tour in the spring.

"If gas is really expensive, we probably won't go past the Midwest," he added.

http://www.destin.com/

everything is going into warp speed just before tour. packages arrive in the mail, new albums, new merch, phone calls for double, triple confirmation. this upcoming tour is only 8 dates, so between you and i we'll call it a run. the amount of work put into booking, and promoting the best we can on a shoestring with the small amount of disposable time we gots is insane. you got to be totally in love with life and completely out of your mind with no sense of the practical to write, record, release and tour, to do this music thingey (and repeat infinitely). i revel in the opportunity to travel and play our songs for people everywhere (in the southeast in this case), away from p-cola for a time.

we have a 7" record coming out on The Cottage Records. Pre-Order here at this link:

http://www.iheartuproductions.com/KODstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=351

PSR: passe, sordid and rident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym
http://worldofstencils.blogspot.com/

8.13.08
I was nervous again, with a new line up. We played with mr. gnome last night, a two piece band from cleveland ohio. They're really good, i haven't played with a band that tight in a while. It was very inspiring.
today is...not so inspiring, a hot september sunday in florida.

set list 4 last night:

The Charred Heart of the Tin Woodman
Untitled Song for a City in the Wake of a Recent Flood
Mustard Seed Boat
Dresden
Asleep in Winter Sleeves
Henry Darger Fights the Weatherman
The Catamount Waltz
The Wrestling Palm
Devil in my Bed

It was nice to mix in some cripple lilies songs, a much needed change of pace. We are currently working with two electric guitar players which is really interesting. They both have different styles, personalities etc. One likes to kick the door in and rock. The other chooses murky textures laying behind the band with layers of ambiance. The current line up for the fall tour is a lot of fun. We plan to record each show on tour, then Aaron and I will sift through the wreckage for salvageable material for posting and download.

-c

http://www.myspace.com/mrgnome

learning to let go

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters.

Norman Maclean's writing haunts me, i've read his novella a million time and it still blows a breeze past the tiny pinwheel located in the middle of my chest. the adventure will begin soon.

being able to play music is such a privilege, its always been a labor of love. i hope to hear some of the words under those rocks someday.

-c

we didn't fall apart

sept tour is approaching... exciting. the beta run before the big tour in the spring to support the album release. i love being in a different place everyday, the smell of concrete after its rained on a hot day, meeting the sound guy at every club, finding backyards to camp in, eating pbjs, granola bars, truck stop coffee, polaroids from lifted packs, postcards to grandma, seeing grandma, visiting uncles in the hills in georgia. the islands on the east coast, reading books with a flashlight. wanderlust its the best and worst of me, i suppose its the death of all of us.

-c

the handlebar

the door girl puked on two people who came to the show. "bite my fuck" is written on the wall in the men's bathroom. there is no ventilation, and you can cut a slice of smoke out for yourself. jimmy supplied us with beer. the sound guy is nice. monitor mix does not exist. we played quiet and also loud. the other bands were awesome. aaron said he wants to sing harmonies. i had a headache for two days after the show. we are excited again. tour is coming up. vinyl record too.

p-cola news journal article

maegan outzen wrote a nice article on us! read up...

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080808/ENTERTAINMENT/808080321

-c

Sept: tour and 7" dresden single

looks like most of the tour dates are starting to fill up, we have a few dates still on hold, but i'm confident we should be able to fill them.

also in september we will be releasing a 7" single of dresden (side a) and mustard seed boat (side b) with the cottage records out of tallahassee. we'll post ordering info as we get closer to the release date.

-c

album almost finished, september tour

we will finish the mixing for the new album in the beginning of september. and then mastering...
we also have a tour coming up, any suggestions for bands to play with or venues are welcome!

Thursday 9/25 – DestinFL: Funky Blues Shack
Friday 9/26 –Auburn
Saturday 9/27 – Birmingham/Atlanta/Columbus
Sunday 9/28 – Atlanta
Monday 9/29 – Athens
Tuesday 9/30 - Savannah
Wednesday 10/1 – Jacksonville
Thursday 10/2 - Tallahassee
Friday 10/3 – St Augustine/Gainesville
Saturday 10/4 – Panama City- The Gallery Above

radio show sunday

Brandon and I played a pre-tape radio show today. the show is acoustic interlude on 88.1 WUWF. The show will air on sunday (july 20th) at 2pm.

We played with Stijl Colhoun, and a duo called Baylen (named after the infamous sloping hill of a street in the ghost town distract of pensacola.

www.myspace.com/stijlcalhoun
www.myspace.com/baylenmusic

Both of these acts are really nice, and really good. it if you get a chance, tune in or stream in the show on sunday.

www.wuwf.org

-c

time off

time off is harder than i thought. i've been sleep walking quite a bit lately, to the pub, to the grocery store. been making lots of avocado tacos:

3 corn tortillas
1 avocado
1 tomato
alfalafa spouts
hot sauce

also been writing quite a bit. finished a few more songs, finished a rough of the song below, i have to make changes some of the lyrics, but this is the general direction. we'll be performing on WUWF 88.1 this weekend july 20th around 2pm. one can stream a live link:

http://wuwf.org

we'll be playing as a three piece, acoustic, piano and violin. the show hopes to raise awareness for children's charity festival in march in Milton Florida... more details to come about this festival.

The Rose Chafer in the Country Wine

Walked all night through the streets
Searching in the cracks for a flower in the concrete
Brownstone buildings against dark blue sky
Like a rose chafer in the country wine

Looking in the windows, I saw a waitress
Obscured by a neon lamp and counting her tips
Strawberry moon and blinking city lights
Shown the blush on her cheeks as she walked outside

Then you had to do it with a fancy boy
A fancy boy who don’t dance like me
A fancy boy from the bourgeois

Now the streets are empty every day
And my first taste is still the same
Blood in my mouth and a sense of decay
Like strawberry wine gone bitter in spring

Strawberry blonde with a new sunrise
Tell all your wisdom with a stumbling cry
So the old Irish Rose and the anarchists
Might sleep in the hedgerows in fortified bliss

Then you had to do it with a fancy boy
A fancy boy who don’t dance like me

A fancy boy from the bourgeois

tracking is finished

we finished all the tracking for our upcoming album at chase park transduction in athens. three songs were mixed:

echo don't reply
mustard seed boat
untitled song for a city in the wake of a recent flood

we will finish mixing the rest of the songs before the end of the summer. followed by a small fall tour with big spring touring plans.

-c

in studio

we are currently finishing a day of wrestling palm. tomorrow will be apollo day.

athens is still great.

on wrestling palm, there are more guitar tracks than drums tracks. it's kind of an opus. and kind of awesome.

hope all is well with you.

--boB, drums

Paper Scissors Rocketpack on Series Two Record Complilation!

we contributed to a compilation put out by the nebraska label series two records. we appear on volume 6. the label works incredibly hard, and essentially issues these compilations to keep afloat. the entire collection is brilliant, a audio tour of underrated and awesome independent lo-fi bands from everywhere in the world!



for ordering visit the Series Two Records myspace:

www.myspace.com/seriestworecords

enjoy
-c

escapist vs exit almost finished

we are finishing the demos for the last two songs for escapist vs exit:

Apollo 1969
The Wresting Palm

On july 6, 7, 8 we'll head back to chase park to lay down the rest of the songs, we'll be finished with the tracking. then the arduous mixing process starts, which leads to mastering. i'm looking forward to finishing the album, so we can start on the summer EP, and new songs for the next album. two songs are nearly finished for the next full length album: Paris is Burning, and PaperBoats: A window sill in early morning Philadelphia.

we have three shows left for the summer, before we prepare for the CD release in the early fall.

www.myspace.com/paperrocketpack

-c

there is also a kangaroo on the loose in pensacola:

http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2008/06/okwhos-missing-kangaroo.html

note to the people

do not strip wallpaper without a breathe-mask type thing. You can do without eye protection, but breathing that stuff will lay you up for at least a day with flu like symptoms.

learn from the dumb drummer.

oh, by the way, we will be playing two shows Friday.

one at alys beach, the fonville press. And then we will drive back and play a late show at sluggo's.

it will be a trio though. Just chad, brandon and myself.

it sould prove to be a good time, so I hope to see some of you out there. thanks

--boB, drums, psr.

bob does an interview

From Obscurity To Space Travel

by Bradley "B.J." Davis Jr.

Local Indie-Folk Band on a Wild Ride Fueled By Tacos

Members of the Pensacola freshman group Paper Scissors Rocketpack are going on record calling themselves obscure. The truth of the matter is their popularity is growing each day, especially those days in which they perform three shows.

Over the past five months, band members have been working hard on the group's mellow creations, playing at such venues as Sluggo's, The Handlebar and the Arts Council of Northwest Florida's Outside Art Fair.

What keeps them going? Let's just say it directly involves Mexican cuisine. Drummer Bob Alston recently shed some additional light on the group's direction.

IN: You said on your MySpace page you're obscure, but you've managed to gather a list of over 2,000 friends. How obscure are you?
ALSTON: We are as obscure as the sound of one hand clapping.

IN: There are some familiar names in Paper Scissors Rocketpack. What were you guys up to before this gathering of talent?
ALSTON: We were writing, sleeping, working, going to school and playing independently of each other. It's only been about five months that the pieces have all been put together.

IN: You've just started recording. How's that going?
ALSTON: It's going well. We will be finishing the album this summer and it will be out around the middle of this fall. We will most likely release an EP sometime this summer, though. For the kids, of course.

IN: You've said you're at home on stage, and you've played on a few different stages. What kind of crowd do you prefer?
ALSTON: We love to play for crowds with open minds and open wallets.

IN: You've been on the flyers with some very decent groups. How is it sharing the bill with some of those talented regional acts?
ALSTON: It's good. The bands in Pensacola are pretty competitive, but most of the new bands in town are bucking the trend. One can hope that this supportive mantra can help bring Pensacola music back to life. And in turn, help make the bands from Pensacola more successful.

IN: What secrets of the trade have you picked up from them?
ALSTON: That if we are nice to them they will sometimes let us borrow equipment.

IN: So your record is 1-1 with the weather in outside gigs. How was the atmosphere at the Outside Art Fair recently?
ALSTON: The funnel cakes smelled delicious. And it was gorgeous weather.

IN: You're on the radar now with your "Pensacola tour." Any future plans to go regional? National? Global?
ALSTON: We are already making plans for space travel.

IN: In fact, you guys are working pretty hard-three shows in one day on occasion. What's fueling that work ethic?
ALSTON: Coffee, frequent catnaps and tacos. Lots of tacos.

IN: So who's the biggest band member fan of blogging?
ALSTON: Ronnie, our electric guitarist. He likes the interwebs.

IN: There are a lot of talented indie/folk bands in Pensacola. What are you guys doing to set yourself apart from those acts?
ALSTON: Showing up on time and bathing.

IN: I would be remiss if I didn't ask about the band name.
ALSTON: I would be remiss if I said anything. I wasn't yet in the band when it was named. But I do think it's pretty catchy.

anatomy of a song: 6.7.08: the wrestling palm

9:45a wake up to cat puke, bad cat breath
10:15a avocado spinach omelets, black coffee

10:30a reading midnight cowboy at the studio, put in wake up to aaron baylen
11:15a aaron arrives, gilda wakes brandon, we gain entry
11:30a bob rocketpack shows up, drums and mic set up
12:30p 1st drum and acoustic scratch take, more coffee

1:15p drums finished, bob has blue eyes, cats are better than dogs
1:30p taylor arrives, brandon wakes, more coffee
1:45p bob rolls
2:40p bass takes begin
2:58p sexy lighting

3:00p bass takes fin...
3:22p i like candy corns, keys celesta punched finished.
4:15p help solve the sparkplug mystery with matt, receive beer for my effort
4:17p taylor lays the string pads in chorus'
4:44p ronnie arrives
4:55p taylor leaves

5:00p electric guitars start
7:40p electric guitars end
7:42p steal more beer from the refrigerator
7:50p final acoustic guitar take
8:00p violins begin
8:14p starting to lose my mind, sleeping in bob's bass drum

9:20p violins end
9:30p mix em up buffet for dinner
10:20p vocals
11:30p rough mix

most show fun ever

hot glass, cold beer belmont arts center 6.6.08:

free beer. people in cowboy hats. old people heckling. power shortage. sweat. pool party. hiccups.

last night was so much fun, small but fun crowd. we played really well, i was happy. all the studio work is really bringing the best out of everyone. afterwards i went to someone's house for a pool party, probably the first time in a week i haven't felt overwhelmed by the heat.

next week: the handlebar friday, 9p.

also here's a link to download a hairpin murders show: i played bass in this band, with davey hooligan long time friend and collaborator on all my projects.

the hairpin murders
davey hooligan
jaysin
george mchugewang
chad vicious

http://www.sendspace.com/file/x1lln8

what next?

good question. its nice to finally get this material out. looking back on the rough mixes with the small amount distance between me and the moment of the tape, i finally see how personal this material is for me. (i was mad to think otherwise!) i usually put a wide berth between myself and the subject of songs, i thought i did that while writing these songs: echo and narcissus, a trans-queen in transformation, a grounded astronaut, irving berlin drowning in a flooded southern city. versions of former selves sing throughout these songs.

are they relevant? to me. to others? - we'll see. does it really matter? don't know that either, the creation is almost done, the required sabbath from songs and writing is approaching, i'm sure we could all use a day at the beach to nap.

what next? we'll see, touring as smart and efficiently as possible is in the future, videos have been discussed, vinyl EPs, comic books. more songs are in the works.

don't drop that ish...

a short video montage I made of our recording trip.

enjoy.

oh, and come out the belmont show this friday.

take care!

thanks for listening,
boB

rarrrrrrrr!!!!! ... yawn.

we finished the first seven songs from escapist exit in athens last week. the entire experience was an incredible learning experience for everyone. the first day we started recording echo don't reply, a song we don't play often; and the process took much longer than expected.

with everyone a bit shell shocked we bounced back the next day with winter sleeves and dresden. the album is recorded on two inch tape, and the hum of the control room is seductive, the whirl of the tape machine, the echo of reverb plates, its takes love for sure to finish these things. we should be done with the album by the end of the month, three songs left to record.

we also decided that we will be releasing the album on vinyl at some point after the cd release just before fall touring i believe.

recording, day 1

The first day of recording at Chase Park has completed. It was a productive, if not arduous day. I, for one, learned how the process worked.

We have essentially completed one song. Our goal was two, but Echo is really good and complete. I think that we can burn through Three songs today. I think we all know more about what it takes and will have the ability to concentrate for longer today.

We also won't have as much setup time. In any case, David Barbe has had some great things to say and the album is going to sound great.

I hope your long weekend served you well. Thanks to the US veterans!

Have a great week. We are...

yellow cake,
boB

how soon is NOW?

so, i've taken a week to let it soak in. the gravity of it all. last sunday we played at bartram park [in the late afternoon] & sluggo's [later that night]. and now we're about to embark on our recording journey in athens, GA. it's all happening in such a short period of time--everything is progressing incredibly quickly. like water through a funnel. i'm not complaining, i'm just a little overwhelmed. haha.

both shows were brilliant. we sounded the best we've ever sounded live. different crowds, different dynamics. bartram park was a more laid back atmosphere. playing outdoors in the sunlight brought a wistful, summer vibe to the set. this, of course, was balanced out by chad's subversive comments. the crowd laughed because they thought it was just between song banter. i laughed because i knew that it wasn't. haha. sluggo's was amazing for a completely different reason. we were in full "rock your face off" mode. we brought it. we were playing with all levels in the red, with all systems go! and we were having so much fun. we were completely at home on the stage. we walked it like we talked it. and the kids in the crowd tapped into our energy. i think we won them over [though i'm sure our musical operandi might have been a little over their heads for the most part]. what mattered was the moment that we were all sharing in that room. at the same time. it's such an intangible thing. that, my friends--is magic.

chase park. david barbe. athens, GA. monday morning. it's actually happening. it's not entirely real to me just yet. though the butterflies are starting to arrive. [1] one band + [10] ten songs = escapist vs. exit. our debut album. and to think that the rocketpack has only been together with all members installed since march. craziness. chad. ronnie. taylor. brandon. bob. aaron. [and samuel] all present & accounted for.

prepare for lift off in 5, 4, 3, 2...

love,
ronnie

ps : thanks again to the gills for having us on the roster for their EP release party. they are such a tight musical unit! and even more thanks go out to nathan dillaha for lending me his amp & tuning pedal. without either, i wouldn't have sounded as good. call me crazy, but there's just something about playing fender through fender... :)

pss : thank you brandon for making "in search of the nugget" an adventure to remember! i can't believe we walked that entire distance! those salty snacks tasted so much better to me because of the fact. haha.

boredom + lack of skill = bad posting juju

you all were great fun.

hope to see you again soon!

--boB

3 shows one day!

yesterday was a prefect day. no rain, wasn't the usual humid may in pensacola: cool and breezy. i woke yesterday morning to fly kites at the beach. the wind dropped the minute i unfurled the tiger kite into the windless ether. had a beer for breakfast, headed home for a nap.

late afternoon, i played a solo set of songs i don't do with the band. it was very nice to play these songs, they're old friends- memories of old loves, travels, and passions. i guess old songs are also like time capsules, waiting for you to rediscover former selves.

the band has really hit a stride, everyone is firing off with great efficiency. everyone has worked so hard up to this point and its really paying off now. we played at the outside arts festival, to a crowd of artist, and people riding bikes. mostly a great show, i fired off about marxist stuff and got chuckles in return, which was humorous to me, because i am sure the people thought i was kidding.

later in the evening we played at sluggos with mi capitan, and the gills. what a perfect night. all the bands were tight, it was a great turnout and we looked hot! one of these days we'll get a good bootleg of a show and post it.

one week until athens, and then the madness of releasing an album starts! i've started on the next album, i have five stretches for new songs and plenty of time to finish them.

umbrella... ella?

Two shows tomorrow. I am hoping that the clouds will get over it and stop this crying before then.

Our first show is to be the OUTSIDE arts fair in downtown 'Cola.

You heard me, outside. What happened at our first outside gig. We didn't have one, because it rained.

I don't want to have that stigma. Book Paper Scissors Rocketpack... it'll make it rain!

Either way, tomorrow Chad plays all by his lonesome starting at 4pm, and then the rest of us plug in and rock the roofless house-type area of Bartram Park at 5pm.



Then we move on to the second phase of our day. We pack up, drive down Cervantes, maybe stopping at Mediterranean Plus (here's to hoping), and unload at Sluggo's.

We will be playing after Mi Capitan and before The Gills release something on the audience. I think it's an EP.



Either way, it will be a mini tour of Pensacola. Let's see if local independent papers ignore us now...

Here's hoping to see some shining faces at the shows. It's been raining for two days straight. Go outside!

Yay, nature! Get it while it lasts.

holla,
boB

the love you bring won't mean a thing unless you sing-sing-sing-SING.

[2] two shows in [2] two days. pure madness. i know, i know. it sounds like i'm complaining. it should be no great shakes, right? but i'd say we have a little room to speak, as these were our third & fourth shows, respectively. and how did these shows go, you may ask? they went quite well. we're still finding our legs, of course. gotta crawl before you walk so that you can hit the ground running. or something to that effect. haha.

friday night @ sluggo's we played to a packed room. i was surprised. a lot of people made it out to see us--which does wonders for the morale. though, it's a bit nerve-wracking playing in your hometown. there are people you actually know out in the audience. it's something you always have floating in the back of your mind.

saturday night @ the blind mule we played to a handful of people. mobile IS an hour & some change away. it was a more intimate gig, which may be why i enjoyed it a little more. perhaps it was because we were strangers in a strange land. [and a strange land it was. not that we're at all normal. but for us to say that it was weird is telling. haha.] seriously though, i think it was because i didn't expect anything from them [the audience] & vice versa. i think we really entertained the true believers who stuck it out to the end of our set. [which we played in it's entirety.]

"dresden" seems to be our signature song, at least in these early shows. keysha [bob's significant other & the photographer behind the amazing images featured in this post] has fallen in love with "apollo 1969" & "asleep in winter sleeves." can't say i blame her. those were definitely exclamation points.

i'd like to thank everyone who came out & supported us @ both gigs. and i'd like to send a special thank you out to our extended band family. you know who you are. :)

this weekend we play [2] two shows in [1] one day. caffeine + instruments = ROCK. i was never that good at math, but i think we can work that equation without looking in the back of the book for the answers. funny how they only gave you the odd numbers. hrmmm...

love,
ronnie

shows over the weekend

shows over the weekend were really great. i was really nervous on friday night at sluggos, playing for people who've supported my musical projects over the years. we played with u win instantly, and the dead science. both bands were really good. the dead science had my jaw on the floor by the the end of their set, they are really really good.

saturday night we played in mobile at the blind mule. we played a better show, we were loose after playing the night previous. fortunately we were able to play a complete set without cutting anything short. we had a chance to stretch and really play the songs. the crowd at the blind mule was a small but very attentive crowd, we don't expect tons of people at our shows. yet...

mobile is a strange town.

after the show, someone was shot up the street at a club. cops on horses locked down the streets and intersections around the blind mule. for a few hours we watched dudes wave money and throw signs in three intersections around the blind mule from sunroofs, open windows, standing on hoods.

i also went to the bodies exhibit the next day in mobile, personal opinion: overpriced, overrated (i could rant about this, if you care write me at the myspace, we'll chat about the manipulative propaganda/rhetoric of the bodies exhibit.)

-c

i'm nervous. its more nerve racking to play for the hometown peeps than being on tour at some club you play maybe once a year. really excited too, new songs, new album coming! new band! wonderful people, i love each one in their own special way:

ronnie
taylor
brandon
bob
aaron


cheers.
-c

firecracker

A friend of mine quoted mother teresa for me the other night:

Jesus said love one another. He didn't say love the whole world.

its the very simplicity of this statement i find so daunting. but i also feel like i'm off the hook now, i don't have to love the whole world for all its you know, stuff that i don't agree with...being so wrapped up in lofty ideals really tends to make me bitter.

i don't know my neighbors name, although we call him 'firecraker' following a confrontation he initiated late one night after he returned from some cheesy concert coked up. he screamed at us for shooting off fireworks, and he was certainly entitled to ask us to stop blowing stuff up. after we agreed to stop, he persisted in screaming at us. at one point he grabbed our wine bottle, and smashed it in the street. he then reached for his knife. as he reached for his knife, everyone i was with pulled their knife, which seemed to shock him. thankfully this deterred him, he thought better not to pull his knife. finally he went home, and hasn't said a word about the incident since. for me, how am i suppose to love my neighbor who does this? is firecracker my neighbor or the whole world?


MT:
Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.

-c

zombie folk band

with escapist vs exit written and arranged, its now time for long walks, and the search for a new theme, metaphor, something to bite into for an albums worth of material. in the next year we should have two EP's out before the next album. the first EP we have started already, might end up being closer to a full length housing songs that won't find an album otherwise. the second EP, i have po-lit-ics rants to record, we'll probably finish this one up near the end of the year.

if anyone is interested in source material for the creation of escapist vs exit, read up here:

http://www.sugarbombs.com/kavalier/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Danish_Girl
http://thanasis.com/echo.htm
http://www.catholic.org/saints/patron.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Wulfram
http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/02/lisa_marie_novak_astronaut_love_triangle_kidnapping/
http://members.aol.com/yahyam/reed.html
http://ageofjahiliyah.wordpress.com/2006/09/26/the-song-of-the-reed-by-rumi/
http://psychicgoddesswisdom.com/?cat=3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olokun#The_Palm_Tree

in the next few weeks i will post lyrics for the songs on escapist vs exit, and discuss stuff about them, mostly for my own entertainment, if you have questions, please write to:

escapistexit@yahoo.com

23 til...

twenty three days until we record escapist vs exit. and then the madness begins, mixing mastering, cd art, listening parties, more parties, searching for a record label, booking agent, book a tour, play the tour, beg radios to play our songs, harass bloggers. essentially gear up for another year of scraping by and seeing alot of the country from a car window. and then new songs...



today is bittersweet. i'm nostaligic for things i've never done? like kite riding in the rockies with my ex-ivy league classmates. letter writing and drinking tea with isabella v, as she does her best bette davis out the back door...

another long walk today, and leave raking until band comes over tonight for a pep talk. strange position- trying to lead people, i can hardly lead myself, and lean toward anarchist/marxist side of social structure, or lack of one. apparently i got tack though, i've been told. we'll see...

here's to a new album almost to the can... and another year of getting to do what i was made to do.

-c

ladies & gentlemen, we are in outer SPACE.

here's a flier that i did.
kinda rocks the retro/japanimation vibe.
i like it. hope you do, too.

ciao for now,
ronnie.

ps : if you're in the area--GO TO THE SHOW! :)

headline: drummer bored at desk job blogs.

I warn you. I get very bored at my job. Though I do 93% of the work in my three person office (I did the math), I still find that the majority of my time is spent on myspace and ebay.

And finding new ways to embarrassingly promote the band.

witness that above.

and this piece of work you might recognize:



let's just say that it's a good thing I have other talents, or I would be fired for even posting that on the interwebs.

on the plus side today I get to look forward to practicing the drums with a brand new (and my first, I might add) tattoo. Scott from Hula Moon will be doing it for me today before practice. And then I will clap the bass drum parts.

here's a preview:



just eliminate the orange dot. and that's it. I'm excited.

We continue to record the EP. I'm excited about that too.

I'm just excited. Or is it the three cups of coffee I've had...?

cheers,
boB