The Pistola Press

What To Do On Monday?

Shonen Knife

• Breathe Carolina, Cash Cash, Stephen Jerzak, Kill Paradise, Fight Fair at the First Unitarian Church – 6:30 PM – $12
• Shonen Knife, Jeff The Brotherhood, Popo at Johnny Brendas – 8 PM(21+) – $12

Edward Sharpe & the Magnectic Zeroes‘ show at the First Unitarian Church had been sold out for a few weeks prior. The only way I secured a ticket was through a Twitter post by R5 Productions the day of the show saying they had released a ‘handful of tickets’. I literally bought the last ticket available and I’m glad I did. People were outside crying because they could not get into the show. I had no idea the band was that popular, but I guess they are.

After witnessing Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes‘ performance, I understood why people were so sad for missing the show. It was so uplifting and fun that it almost felt like a spiritual experience. Lead singer, Alex Ebert, led the band and the audience on a ‘magical mystery tour’ filled with whistling, clapping, singing, and dancing. People knew every word to every song and Ebert made sure to let the audience know how much he appreciated them– “This is our second time here and you guys are like family to us.” To end the night, he had 20 or so people join him on stage while everyone else sat on the ground. It was the perfect end to the evening.

What To Do On Sunday?

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes

• Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, Fools Gold, Local Natives at the First Unitarian Church – 7:30 PM – SOLD OUT(R5 Productions just released a “handful of tickets” via Twitter. They can be purchased HERE)
• Times New Viking, Axemen, The Mad Scene, US Girls at Kung Fu Necktie – 8PM – $10
• Brand New, GlassJaw, Crime In Stereo at the Electric Factory – SOLD OUT

Deastro will open for Max Tundra tonight at Kung Fu Necktie. Randy Chambot is the man behind Deastro. The electronic music he plays reminds me of a junior version of Animal Collective. It has a real direction and structure unlike so many electronic acts out there today. Randy  stopped by to give us a few details on his upbringing, his favorite word and what we can expect in 2010. Interview below.

Deastro

Colin: Can you give a little background about yourself? Like where did you grow up? How did you get into music?

Randy: Yeah, for sure man. I grew up in Detroit Michigan, right outside the city. I got into music pretty early on. I’ve been singing in choirs since preschool and just always had a love for it. Singing “Joseph” with Donny Osmond when I was 9 and all kinds of weird stuff. I sang in this senior’s choir with my brother, I was like 13, cause it was the biggest thing. I could do really great Jerry Lewis impressions at the church we went to. That’s pretty how I started getting into music. I started making electronic music when I was 12. I got like a boom bite program from a friend. And now I’m doing the same thing(laughs).

Colin: Was the church a big thing for you growing up?

Randy: Oh, for sure. I mean my dad was a youth pastor for over 10 years. I went to school to be a pastor. I’m not a Christian anymore but the church was definitely pretty big part of my life growing up.

Colin: What school did you go to?

Randy: I went to North Central Bible College. It’s out in Minnesota. I only went for a year then I was just like…. We had to do street witness as part of our curriculum, which it’s just whatever. Some guy at a bookstore, I tired to convert him. He was really smart and was like , “You should read this.” (laughs) He gave me this book and he pretty much witnessed me in a weird way. So I just realized that my answers kind of fell short and a lot of people’s do. Anybody with an ultimate thing that can be from a philosophy about life. Whenever you are saying that something is not provable is the truth, it needs to be more about the faith and the best parts of it, not the law, so to speak.

Colin: I know your music started off as a solo project. Where did you find the other guys?

Randy: They’re not playing with me anymore.  They broke up in September.

Colin: Oh, really?

Randy: Yeah, we were just not making any money and they couldn’t afford to do it anymore. So we kind of had a little bit of a falling out. They thought I was making money (laughs), which isn’t the truth. I was giving them everything I had. I toured solo in Europe in September. They told me like 10 hours before I left they weren’t going to play. Now I’m putting together a new band. We’re starting again in December. Right now we’re just touring as a duo.

Colin: You design all the artwork for your music, correct?

Randy: Most of them. Keepers and Moondagger weren’t drawn by me. My friend Jesse did Keepers. I draw a lot of my own artwork any solo stuff, usually, that comes out,  I do it all myself. Some kid told me that it looks like his little brother could draw but way more time spent on it (laughs).

Colin: What are your interests and hobbies? Do they have any influence over your music?

Randy: My interests are like books, friend I guess(laughs). Books, music and friends. Community or something like that, Detroit, music and friends I guess. All things sci-fi.

Colin: What kind of books?

Randy: Anything man. Right now I’m reading Rama Q and this philosophy book my roommate gave me. It’s just like a textbook. He’s taking a class and just lets me borrow them.

Colin: What’s your favorite word at the moment?

Randy: Umm… boosh.

Colin: Boosh?

Randy: (laughs) Yeah.

Colin: How do you spell that?

Randy: B-O-O-S-H.

Colin: Cool. Will this be your first time in Philly?

Randy: Yeah, it will be. Actually, no. We were suppose to play and it was Super Bowl Sunday so the show got cancelled cause of the game(laughs). No one came out. So yeah, this will be our first time in Philly.

(Silent pause)

Randy: Sorry about that man. Housekeeping just knocked on our door. My dad was in Boston last night and he travels for work right now. So he happened to be here with me and got us a hotel room which was awesome. We have been just crashing on floors. So we felt like we were rockstars for a minute. We didn’t throw a TV out the window, just chilled and watched TV.

Colin: No crazy groupies or anything like that?

Randy: No groupies. We had one that wanted to hang around but we were like, “My dad might be here,”(laughs).

Colin: That’s awesome. What can we expect from Deastro in 2010?

Randy: We’re going to work on a new album. I think it’s going to get a lot more serious than some things. It’s going to change completely. I don’t think it’s going to sound like how it does now. I think that I made this music. I mean I didn’t really listen to a lot of music growing up. So like 20 onward for me was like my first experience with everything. With the world of music and making music and I was pretty outside of it growing up. I just feel that I have changed so much in the past 3 years from that. Also, I haven’t really stopped touring since then. At the end of not going to this thing I gone to my whole life. I just always wanted to be a youth pastor growing up. I didn’t know what to do. So I was like, “Alright, I’ll do this!” I’ve always done it but never seriously. It’ll keep changing constantly.

What To Do Saturday?

Deastro

• Max Tundra, Deastro at Kung Fu Necktie 8 PM(21+) – $10
• Brand New at the Electric Factory – 8:30 PM

An interview with Deastro will be posted in a few.

White Denim, a trio out of Austin, Texas, played a free in-store show at Art In The Age. Barely anyone knew about the show so there were literally six people there. The band seemed to be a little bummed to be playing to such a small crowd. On the other hand, it was a treat for those six people. They played a 25 minute melody of a few of their songs. It was loud and awesome. They played later on that night at Kung Fu Necktie but I was rejected at the door for not having an ID proving that I’m over 21(I’m not). Lame.

What To Do On Friday?

White Denim

• White Denim at Art In The Age – 2 PM – FREE!!!! (First come, first served.)
• White Denim, Brazos, My Mind at Kung Fu Necktie – 7:30 PM(21+) – $10 – (Show over by 10 PM!)
• The xx, The Phenomenal Handclap Band at Making Time at Pure – 10 PM
• Peaches, Amanda Blank at the TLA – 9 PM
• Nneka at the World Cafe Live – 10:30 PM(21+) – $10

Here’s the video for the opening track, “In The Flowers” from Animal Collective‘s Merriweather Post Pavillion. As always with their videos, it’s a weird, psychedelic experience. You don’t know exactly what’s going on but you appreciate it anyway. Similar to the Grizzly Bear’s video for “Ready, Able”. The video stars Jason Dill, a professional skateboarder known for his very unique personality, and the Dancers Dancers Robin Cantrell and Sean Scantlebury. Dill’s section in a skate video years ago introduced me to a band called Radiohead. Anyway, enjoy the video and your Friday.

What To Do On Thursday?

Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys

• Art Brut, The Spinto Band, Surfer Blood at the North Star Bar – 8 PM (21+) – $15
• Dan Auerbach(of The Black Keys) & the Fast Five, Justin Townes Earle, Jessica Lea Mayfield at the TLA – 9 PM – $23

This here is Grizzly Bear‘s strange, creepy, awesome video for “Ready, Able” off their wonderful record, Veckatimest. Don’t worry, I don’t really know what’s going on either. One blob loves the other blob, but that blob gets abducted by the aliens, which causes the other blob to get sad and leave? That could be it, probably not though. As always, art is open for interpretation so go ahead and take a stab at the concept. Please do share your thoughts.

The video was directed by Allison Schulnik, who dabbles into a few different forms of art. Check out some of her stuff HERE.

Check out Grizzly Bear’s other weird videos here — “Two Weeks” and “While You Wait For The Others“.