#sbdiy

[trashcanspiritual-blog]

INTERVIEW: Sirena Victima (San Francisco, CA)

A three-piece post-punk band based in the San Francisco area, Sirena Victima is touring down the coast and stopping at FUNZONE in Santa Barbara on 9/11/2016. Each member of the band talks their influences, the band’s history and the best bands from their hometown.

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL:  What is the history of Sirena Victima? How did the band come together? Did any members play in previous bands together?

MEGAN: We met through friends. Candace and I played in a project called Straight Dudes for a few month, no internet presence tho. MARISELA: Candace and I met when another band I was in played a show at El Rio and she did our sound. We exchanged numbers another time when I saw Candace’s other band. We started jamming then asked Megan to join literally a couple days after I met her.

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TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: How has coming from the San Francisco area helped shape your sound?

MEGAN: I was born and raised in the Bay Area. This awesome place has nurtured the rocker within since I was a teen. MARISELA: I'm from LA, but have been in the Bay since 2009. San Francisco has such a wide variety of music and music scenes. So much support and so many talented beautiful friends. CANDACE: It's been great. A lot of support out here even though the city is changing, we're still fighting the fight. ---

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: What are you most excited about seeing on this tour? Have you played in any of the cities before?

MEGAN: SO excited for Funzone. Also stoked for Reno! The only city I've played in before in San Jose, and that was only once. MARISELA: FUNZONE!!! Batting cages! Excited for Merced too. I love the smaller towns. CANDACE: I've played in Reno and I'm really excited for Funzone!

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL:  Santa Barbara has a very small music scene. What is it like being a part of a large city's scene?

MEGAN: It feels like our scene is actually kind of small, but maybe just our brand of punk is limited. There's def. a lot of bands we wouldn't fuck with, MARISELA: Def. wont fuck with some bands. Also, everyone keeps asking everyone to jam cause a lot of our friends are so talented. So it’s kinda tight knit for us. CANDACE: Large city scene still has hella small venues.

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TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL:  FUNZONE in Santa Barbara is located at a batting cages. Who in the band is most likely to hit a home run?

MEGAN: As an AVID baseball fan, I'm going to vote for myself. However, you never know if one of these hard hitters will surprise you, MARISELA: I vote Megan too CANDACE: Megan

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL:  Lastly, which bands in your area do you think are putting out the best music that people should be checking out?

MEGAN: Soar, Hazel's Wart, Fish Breath, Ugly, Cloak MARISELA: Agreed, but also Plush, Flail, Nu Normal, The World, Lovebirds, Rays, Puzzled, Super Unison, CANDACE: Same. The World. Spit Tips

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Sirena Victima’s newest release ‘Sirena Victima’ was released via their Bandcamp page on 07/06/2016. They will be playing at FUNZONE in Santa Barbara on 09/11/2016 with Young Parent (Ventura, CA) and Bearcats (Arroyo Grande, CA). You can find Sirena Victima on Facebook as well.

[ridgewayca]

Tour Update: (Santa Barbara) Yesterday we started our mission up the coast. We stopped at Ok Chinese in the Valley with homies from The May Runners and then balls on balls at FUNZONE batting cages. Thanks to Spencer and FUNZONE for having us. Also a huge shout out to Woody and the Glamour Palace for letting us sleep on their couch. Headed up to San Francisco right now to rip a gig at the Honey Hive w/ Ordinary Neighbors, Bloodpig, and VVomen at 7. Come hang out if you're in the city.

[okayerin]

12/31/13 - Santa Barbara, CA The last moments of 2013

[v3rbal-dysl3xia]

Saw Paul Baribeau tonight, he was amazing and super funny :) #sbdiy #paulbaribeau #folk #bikogarage #folkpunk

[tengoganasdeahogar]

so im like insanely excited.

nana grizol is one of my favorite bands and they are playing at the biko and i cant even begin to explain how happy i am. I could literally cry, i probably will. No one will understand how hard I've tried to see them. and your heart breaks is the cherry on top..... oh and hoshwa being rad.

[toughstuffca-blog]

Tough Stuff: "College" Debut 7" Due out spring 2013

"20NOV2012

Secret Pennies & Tough Stuff

by secretpennies

In the year or so that we've been doing Secret Pennies, it hasn't escaped our notice that—with the exception of our own bands—we have yet to do a release with a band from California. Weird, right? Well, I'm excited to announce that the time has finally come, and we couldn't ask for a better band for SPR08 than Garden Grove's Tough Stuff.

These dudes are still in their first year of band-hood (band-ship?), but they've been making the living room and venue rounds around Orange County and LA, not to mention a decent amount of California and West Coast touring. We've had them up here in Santa Barbara several times now, and they've never failed to light up the room with their sheer excitement and determination to have as much fun as humanly possible. As if the shows weren't enough, last summer's beware// EP was killer—a fuzzy burst of lo-fi, high-spirited pop punk energy with enough frenzied riffs and candidly angsty lyrics to make it one of my favorite releases of the year.

So, you know, one thing led to another, and here we are! This January will see Tough Stuff heading into Earth Capital to record with the inimitable Alex Estrada. We'll be releasing "College", their debut 7", in spring of 2013. More news and details to come! In the meantime, go check these guys out and download beware// for free! (Or pick up one of the last cassettes of the run from our distro!)

(And here's a cool video from their most recent trip up here! Check out our good-looking living room.)" TAKEN FROM SECRETPENNIES.COM FUCK YEAH COLLEGE

[trashcanspiritual-blog]

INTERVIEW: U Bellin Hemmie (Seattle, WA)

The young Seattle, WA rock trio heads down the west coast for the first time. The band discusses music, recording their upcoming album ‘Pusk’ and thoughts of hitting the open road.

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: How did U Bellin Hemmie come into existence? Did the members play in previous bands together or did a certain common influence bring you all together? What does the band name even mean?

U BELLIN HEMMIE: Fiona (guitar) and Rubin (trumpet/vox) played in a band together in high school. When that band fell apart U Bellin Hemmie rose from the ashes, but without a drummer. Rubin and Niko (drums) had coincidentally been on the Firing Swords together (childhood soccer team), but we’d since lost touch until a stroke of chance brought us together to become one with the Bellin. We all have very different musical backgrounds: Rubin started playing jazz in school bands, Niko was in a prog metal band, and Fiona is really good at guitar. We all just like to rock out.The name “U Bellin Hemmie” is gibberish, but it’s got a nice ring. It is abstract enough, such that it doesn’t bring to mind to any specific genre, which gives us the freedom to explore different musical styles. The downside is that nobody can really pronounce or remember it.

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: Last year you recorded a five-song self-titled debut and you are now in the process of recording a new album called “Pusk”. What are the main differences you see in your music between the two releases and is “Pusk” an evolution or continuation of your sound?

U BELLIN HEMMIE: It’s both an evolution and continuation of our sound. The first EP was recorded after playing together for only about a month, and was a bit of an experiment. Now we’ve become a lot more comfortable in our respective roles in this project.Our first EP was a sort of randomly thrown together batch of songs, many left over from a previous project. “Pusk” is a lot more cohesive, both in music and lyrics. This time we wrote each song specifically to play with this group of people. With the process being a lot more collaborative, you can hear how our individual styles come together. Both releases were recorded live in large spaces, but on “Pusk” we were able to experiment with different kinds of auxiliary sounds, and add more details through minor overdubbing. We recorded it in an indoor vert-ramp, and in the basement of a gutted stripclub. It is now up on our Bandcamp (ubellinhemmie.bandcamp.com) we also have CDs and tapes which we’ll be selling on our tour. 

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: Your upcoming summer tour will be your first outside of your home state as U Bellin Hemmie. What are you looking forward to most? Do you have any major memorable moments, positive or negative, from your live shows as a band so far?

U BELLIN HEMMIE: We’re really looking forward to hearing other bands, going swimming and calling it a shower, watching the growing animosity between us boil over into a complete band meltdown, you know, the works, aka onions on hotdogs. We haven’t played a whole lotta shows because of how limited our time is, but our most memorable show moment was definitely the release show last summer at the Vera Project. It was the first show we played as a group and a lot of our friends and family came out and it was really nice. Good fun.

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: The local Santa Barbara music scene is about as small as the town itself. How would you describe the music scene in your home town? What’s the balance like between people organizing DIY shows/house shows and those that take place in legitimate venues? Is it an open scene that is easy to get involved in?

U BELLIN HEMMIE: Seattle’s scene is really large, and there are a lot of different pockets. People dabble in every genre. In a big scene there is naturally a lot of good and a lot of bad. We lean toward the DIY community out of necessity. They cut out a lot of the annoying logistic obstacles of trying to pack a 21+ venue with a bunch of minors.Is it easy to get involved? Sure. Unfortunately, there are increasingly limited spots that underage people can get involved with. But there are also lots of people working really had to try and change that. 

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: You’ll be playing a show at FUNZONE in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, July 20th and then playing a live set on 91.9 KCSB FM in Santa Barbara on ‘today’s active lifestyles’ at 12am. Is there anything specifically you are looking forward to checking out in Santa Barbara? Anything the local Santa Barbarians should know about U Bellin Hemmie?

U BELLIN HEMMIE: Really glad to hear you refer to yourselves as barbarians. We’ll be looking forward to partaking in some of your barbarism. Really hoping that involves at least one nude beach. We'll be smelling pretty pusk after day-long, sweaty car rides. 

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U Bellin Hemmie’s music can be found at this link (<--click!). 

They will be playing at FUNZONE (226 S. Milpas Street) in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, July 20th at 8:00PM. Also on the show are local bands Uranium Orchard, Comedown and Young Parent. More info can be found at SBDIY.org. They will be playing a live set on 91.9 FM KCSB’s ‘today’s active lifestyles’ at 12am on Thursday, July 21st. The show can be heard live on 91.9 FM KCSB in the Santa Barbara area and streamed live online via KCSB.org during the broadcast.

[trashcanspiritual-blog]

INTERVIEW: Haybaby (Brooklyn, NY)

TRASHCAN SPIRITUAL: Did any events or series of events lead to the formation of Haybaby? Were there other bands with similar members or anything else that influenced bringing the band together?

Haybaby: I feel like our origin story is not super interesting. I used to play drums in a band with Zach Ellis, our original drummer, his girlfriend Micha, and our buddy Caleb. When Zach and Micha broke up, we asked Sam to join and we became Haybaby. Caleb moved to Boston shortly after our formation. Originally, Zach and I shared lead vocals and would switch instruments. I don't think we were brought together for any particular reason other than we enjoyed playing music, and had fun doing that with each other. We didn't set out to sound any particular way, we just naturally fell into a groove together. Zach had a unique style of rap-singing and is kinda silly in general so our earlier material reflects a lot more of that. But Zach is a wandering hippie child magic flower and can't be kept in New York so it ultimately didn't work out. He's making music under the moniker The Adventures of the Silver Spaceman and we still enjoy making music together.

TS: 2015's 'Sleepy Kids' is your first full-length release, but it was preceded by a handful of EPs. How has the band evolved sonically over the course of these releases and what has remained constant?

H: Having Zach leave was really tough because we have always written all of our songs as a group. Our earlier EPs go back and forth with our vocal interplay and have a looser, lighter, almost hip hop feel with Zach's influence. After Zach left, Mike stepped in and he has more of a tight, dance pop style which you can hear on a lot of the album. Jeremy, our drummer now and forevermore, is kinda all over the place, and our first trained drummer. He is a jazz school dropout with a taste for metal and trap. We've definitely been leaning heavier and doomier with him and it's fucking awesome. Though who knows, maybe the EP after 'Blood Harvest' will be super pop. Overall though, we've always tried to keep it weird and honest, and that's probably what ties it all together.

TS: 'Sleepy Kids' also helped form your relationship with Tiny Engines. What about Tiny Engines do you enjoy most and were you big fans of the label before working with them? Who are your favorite bands on their roster?

H: We actually got in touch with Tiny Engines through our good buddy Justin who used to be in It Looks Sad, which is also probably my favorite band on the roster. I love working with them because at the core, they're really just two dudes who love music and vinyl and are down to make it happen for their bands. Plus Chuck lets us crash at his place and play with his kids when we tour through Charlotte. Honestly I hadn't heard of Tiny Engines before they asked if we were interested in working with them but I know absolutely nothing. Like I probably couldn't list more than five labels in general so....

TS: This will be your first trip out to the west coast as a band. Are there certain places you are looking forward to most - whether it is seeing or playing?

H: Yeah it'll be our first time past the middle point! We're actually super stoked for FUNZONE because hitting balls with sticks is clearly the best thing and it doesn't happen all that often over here. I'm also excited for La Jolla because I had a really good clam chowder there once. I have a lot of Jehovah's Witness family outside Seattle and I'm excited to see my grandparents and have them all come see me scream. I can already hear my grandma saying "ohhhh why do you have to be so loud?" Other than that we are very eager to do national parks-y stuff. Sam and Jeremy haven't been to the west coast at all so they wanna go hug big trees and do the route 1 thing. We have a couple days off around cool spots so we're definitely gonna get all up in nature because New York is super gross and smells like pee and garbage all the time. And we're deeeeffffinately stopping at some wineries.

TS: Is there any show experienced that sticks out the most or comes up the most in conversation, positive or negative?

H: Oh god, so many terrible shows. And so many good ones. We don't actually talk about shows except for the day after. I personally don't remember shows as much as I do the good people involved.

TS: What is the biggest thing a fan or stranger has ever done for your band?

H: Psh it's gotta be Tiny Engines wanting to sign us. Nothing better than someone saying "WE BELIEVE IN YOU HAVE SOME MONEY!" There's also a person who likes to tweet at us, which is always nice. Sup @paggank

TS: In Santa Barbara, we have a small but dedicated music scene with not a ton of bands and very few venues. How would you describe the Brooklyn music scene to an outsider? How would you compare it's legitimate venues to those doing DIY shows?

H: Hoo boy. There are probably one million bands in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is pretty big and I imagine there's a separate community in south Brooklyn but most of what we know is concentrated in three neighborhoods in north Brooklyn- Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Bed-Stuy. Williamsburg has your big fancy venues like Rough Trade and Knitting Factory. The sound at those spots is amazing but the room is so big it can be tough to fill. There used to be an awesome pocket of great DIY venues and warehouse type spaces (R.I.P. Death By Audio/Glasslands/285 Kent) but Vice moved their headquarters to that block and bought out all the spaces and shut them down : / We all live in Bushwick, which now has the stalwart few old crew of well-organized DIY spots like Silent Barn and Shea Stadium. Palisades and The Gateway are newer but great. There are also smatterings of random basement, gallery, and house shows that happen around Bushwick and Bed-Stuy which is exciting. We throw shows at our house (Haybaby Cat Farm!) from time to time too. As far as bands go there are definitely many separate clans that all kinda mingle, mix, and split by genre, age, hip factor, and level of enthusiasm. But over all, most people in the scene are super supportive and beautiful and kind. Unless you're a shitty person or making bad music or both.

TS: Lastly, the question we always ask touring bands: which bands would recommend to readers from your area that they may not have heard of?

H: Well Dumb Wolves are awesome. Super haunting vibes with a guitar/sax/drum thing going on. There has been an influx of sax activity in bands here and it's really exciting. Parlor Walls also have a similar setup and they're phenomenal. Just so interesting. We've also been trying to play with Lushes, who are a mathy two-piece that makes your brain stretch. I fucking love The Yin Yangs. They put on the best stomping sweaty live show. I've probably been to dozens. Trevor from Dances got me my job and his band is kinda like Weezer the way oil paint is to crayons. Really beautiful harmonies. Jeremy's roommate is in Shark? and just started this awesome project called Sodium Beast. We just have such a great community of super talented people that I am so grateful to know and play with.  I'm in a girl gang that plays music called granny and I love it because gang vocals, duh. Jeremy's in a boy band called Dad. Sam plays solo, which is super cool because you can hear him sing and play guitar and he's got this soft little baby bird voice and can stretch seven frets on an acoustic guitar and fingerpick like a mother.

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Hay baby’s first full-length release, ‘Sleepy Kids’, is available from the band via their website (haybabyband.com) and through their record label, Tiny Engines. They will be playing at FUNZONE in Santa Barbara on Saturday, March 26th with local bands to be announced.