We had a great time playing on Tuesday as part of a music series put on by the Charlottesville Jazz Society. We played at a great new venue called Bel Rio, where the Society presents musicians. At least one new song was played, and the first tune (Nero) went unrecorded, but here is the rest of the music presented in all it’s mp3′ish glory!
10.20.09 Bel Rio, Charlottesville, VA
1) Revolver
2) The Silence
4) Up and Down
5) Winterlight
6) Gary Glitter
Wow! The RVAJazzfest was an amazing experience from start to finish. What Dean Christesen has done with his site over the past one and a half years is quite amazing, and the amount of time he’s devoted to Glows has always been beyond gracious. The fact that he was able to successfully pull off this show, and manage to sell it out, is an achievement that cannot be overstated. The crowd was amazing, and really pushed us to give a great performance, and helped validate our approach (something the bar atmosphere doesn’t always do).
Also, the presence of Steven Bernstein in RVA has already given our scene a great boost of confidence, and his advice and hilarious musings have really helped me personally. Good Times! Enjoy the tunes…
2.21.08 RVAJazzfest, The Camel, RVA
1) Nero
2) John Carpenter Tunes (The Fog > Across the Roof > Halloween 3 > Assault on Precinct 13)
3) Winterlight
4) The Silence
Our first 2009 gig at Commercial Taphouse went great! All the peeps were out, and we played our asses off. It’s always funny to think about how the band sounded and to make a judgement, but I really think we were “on” that night. We tried some new segues that worked okay. I particularly liked putting the John Carpenter Number 5 piece in the middle of One Armed Swordsman. Number 5 is from the movie The Fog, so imagining a one armed swordsman slowly walking through fog is perfectly okay. Honest. Enjoy!
1.25.09 Commercial Taphouse, RVA
Set 1
1) Turtle
2) Silence
5) Nero
Set 2
1) One Armed Swordsman > Number 5 > One Armed Swordsman
2) Across the Roof > Winterlight
4) I Crudeli
So for our great t-shirt launch, we joined forces with the designer/DJ Kenneth Close for a night of 90’s fun at Cous Cous here in Richmond. He DJs 90’s songs as part of 240 Minutes, a monthly feature at the restaurant. He also designs sweet t-shirts under the name fLuX RaD, and since he just designed a new shirt for us, we thought it’d be great to join forces and celebrate the 90’s and awesome shirts. The 90’s part worked great, but not so much with the shirts. Basically we didn’t think about the whole thing where people at bars don’t buy shirts, but they buy alcohol. Luckily the show was packed and everyone still seemed to enjoy our avant renderings of 90’s classics!
The highlight for me was when we brought my friend Larri Branch to the stage to rhyme over C.R.E.A.M. by Wu Tang Clan. Epic times. Also we did a song called Rage Songs, that was really just the riffs from 5 different Rage Against the Machine songs all played straight through. It was a goofy idea that seemed to work pretty good. Also…Them Bones!
We will soon add the ability to buy our shirt on the site, but for now it will be at all of our gigs.
1.17.09 Cous Cous, RVA
1) Turtle
3) Them Bones
5) C.R.E.A.M. (w/Larri Branch)
6) Rage Songs
In town for a private gig and waiting for the Chinatown Bus to NY, saxophonist and Glows alum Jason Arce graced us with his giant tone on Nero. He also sat in on the first set of this gig, but the old recorder didn’t get that one down. I don’t know what it was, but the music was really happening that night. Everyone was “on” from the first tune to the last. We also played some more John Carpenter music, and some pieces from the Warren Oates Suite. Enjoy!
12.07.08 Commercial Taphouse, RVA
Set 2
1) Nero (with guest Jason Arce on sax)
2) Across the Roof + Assault on Precinct 13 Theme
3) Turtle
5) I Crudeli
We’d like to thank Adam from the Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative for setting up our show last night. We had a great time playing in between Uncle Jemima and The Moses. It’s fun to introduce improvised music to a new audience. We scared them at first with Through a Glass Darkly, but then we brought them back with the rest of our set, including the other tunes written for Ingmar Bergman followed by some more of the John Carpenter music. This is the first time I tried re-ordering the Carpenter music, and it worked out well. We played Across the Roof and transitioned into Halloween 3 + Assault on Precinct 13 Theme to end our set. Across the Roof came out really well, even when my amp threatened to crap out at the beginning of the tune. For those keeping score at home, Across the Roof is taken from the soundtrack to Escape from New York
11.21.08 The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, Charlottesville, VA
2) Winterlight
3) The Silence
So here is the full first set performance of the John Carpenter material from it’s RVA premiere at Commercial Taphouse on Nov. 2. Peter McElhinney was kind enough to take some great pictures which can be found here. We also got some pretty sweet write ups on the performance from RVAJazz and MashupRVA. MashupRVA also did an interview with me about the show that can be found on their front page.
I couldn’t be happier that we were able to make this music work, and now I can’t wait to record it. The fact that we were able to present this stuff in a bar atmosphere to a mostly quiet and attentive audience is a testament to the constant awesomeness of Commercial Taphouse, and to the fans that came out and listened. The mp3’s came out good, but are quiet. You might have to crank up the volume every once in awhile, but it’s all there, and the songs were performed as a giant suite.
We have more info on where each tune came from here.
11.2.08 Commercial Taphouse, RVA
John Carpenter Project
3 Halloween 3 + Assault on Precinct 13 Theme
4 The President is Gone + 69th St. Bridge
5 Halloween 1978 + The Shape Stalks Laurie
6 Number 5
So the first official show with John Lilley as the new Glow went really well. We brought more people to Commercial Taphouse then ever before. We even had bros and bathroom-sharing sorority girls that were standing right next to us (and in front of the recording mic.) So I apologize in advance if the second set of the show is marred with conversations about Dave Matthews, that girls’s outfit, popped collars, or cocaine. Actually they were super cool, and really dug the music, going so far as to all dance during a Scott Burton/Scott Clark free jazz explosion! It was sweet.
This show was also great because we premiered a new piece called My Name is Cameron Vale, which is based around the David Cronenberg film Scanners. The movie has themes of mental over-load which I tried to work into the music, making this song officially the hardest song we play! I hated for that to be the first new tune Lilley had to learn, but he sounded great on it, and I was the only one that screwed it up (just a little…honest.) It’s all about this crazy ass beat that Scott Clark plays. It’s in 4 I promise.
I was also able to work out a new deal at Taphouse, so luckily that wasn’t our last gig there!
8.31.08 Commercial Taphouse, RVA
Set 1
1) I Crudeli
3) Winterlight
5) Up and Down
Set 2
1) Nero
2) The Silence
Here are some mp3’s from a show we did in Richmond at The Camel. We were opening for Aram Shelton’s Arrive. Sitting in on bass was RVA heavy-weight Matt Hall, who brought the serious thunder.
7.29.08 The Camel, RVA
1) I Crudeli
3) The Silence
5) GTO
6) Nero
Here is the first performance of Crippled Avengers. Went pretty well–luckily it will keep getting better. Unfortunately we didn’t get all of Nero recorded–but you get the idea (hopefully).
7.13.08 Rumors, RVA
1) Turtle
2) GTO
5) Winterlight
6) Nero
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