SPOTLIGHT ON: THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD

This started as a review of Bloodpheasant’s latest LP, but I lost everything so it’ll become two separate posts.  I’ll start with The Elephant Graveyard…

One of the best parts of playing in a DIY band is playing at non-conventional “venues” and submerging yourself in said culture surrounding the places. The Elephant Graveyard stands in a “dead zone” on acres of farmland in Chester, NY. You wouldn’t know it just by looking at it, but the barn houses some of the most high-energy, diverse and positive shows I’ve been to in years- the kind of shows that remind me of why I started playing music and reaffirm my involvement in it when things go sour. The kind of shows where the focus truly lays on the music and the message.

Jay and Drew of Common Folk book everything from stripped down folk-punk to in your face hardcore and they always lend a hand to help touring bands.  They aren’t the only ones making things happen there, though.  Colin Jay of Entropy often has a hand in booking and Jay’s parents are so supportive they actually cook vegan friendly meals for the bands and proceed to stay to watch the show.  It’s a true privilege to have met this group of people who first welcomed me back when I was playing with Melissa (aka Francie Moon) and who continue to support projects I’ve done since.  I’ve met a lot of great people and have been exposed to some music that will stick with me for a while because of this place.  I just want to leave this here as a “thank you.”  “All good things come to and end” or at least need a break sometimes, I guess.  I’m hoping with The Elephant Graveyard it’s the latter and they come back strong and continue contributing to the scene they helped build.  Come to the  bon voyage show this Saturday at 7pm with Control, Tesla’s Revenge, Common Folk, and Entropy.  Wear a costume.  Listen to each band below.

FIRST RELEASE OF ’14/MORE TO COME

We started 2014 with no resolution(s), but we did release the digital component of  the debut EP from North Jersey’s, The Lies.  This will be the first of many limited-run DIY releases of 2014, from us.  Mike Belveduto of Earth Stood Still, Control and Atlas stepped on board to help with art for these physical releases.  Keep checking back for updates on that.  We have two in the works already!   HERE’S MIKEY:Check out that debut EP from The Lies right here:

You can download it for free for pick up a physical copy at their first show on 1/15/13 at the Stanhope House.  As of now, only 20 exist.  Joining them will be Hides a Well, The Lungs, Nude Dudes & Books.  We teamed up with Kevin Oakley to get that show together.

Click READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY, for some brief background info and a bio about The Lies.

Velvet Suit Interviews- Sara Kosa on Building her Les Paul

Sara Kosa works behind the scenes as an engineer editing audio books and recording bands.   However, you may have caught Sara and her beautiful DIY axe on the scene at a recent Young American Artists‘ show. She finished the project late last year and the results are awe-inspiring! I’m reluctant to even call this guitar a Les Paul copy because of the unique qualities it has on it’s own. She had a lot of interesting things to say about the guitar and process in a recent interview with Bedside Manner.  Full interview and photos below…Oh, and I assure you, a velvet suit was worn during the questioning…

Bedside Manner: Can you give us the specs of your guitar…pickups, electronics, finish, etc…

Sara Kosa: The guitar is a Les Paul style. The body/neck are solid mahogany. The bridge pickup is a Gibson Burstbucker, and the neck pickup is the stock pickup that came with the electronics kit (and it’s actually not bad by the way). Electronics came with the neck/body kit I ordered, but I upgraded the parts from www.stewmac.com (which is a really awesome website that has literally every possible tool/part you could ever want to build an instrument from pickups to sheets of pearl). Apparently Les Pauls are wired so that the neck pickup volume/tone knobs are on top, with the bridge knobs on the bottom…but that felt really weird to me so I wired it the opposite way. I got Grover Locking Tuners and new volume/tone knobs from stew-mac also. For the finish we used Varathane wood conditioner pre-stain and Varathane Premium Wood Stain ‘Golden Mahogany’, and many coats of lacquer (which was sprayed on in my backyard hanging from a basketball hoop haha – not the best way to do it but my only option.) The finish was .. finished with wet sanding to make it very shinyyy. The input jack is a Neutrik connector (the kind that locks the connector in place so it doesn’t get pulled out).

Click readmore for the rest of the interview and pretty pictures!