Lots of stuff has happened and continues to happen! (by our standards, at least)

OK first of all, that show in September was tons of fun, as always.  It appears as though Quenchers has taken over as our home venue after the demise of Union Rock Yards, and why not?  That place rules.  Thanks to all that came out and had a good time, and to the dudes in Nonagon and Maple Stave for helping us supply the rock.  Also each of those bands had a poster made for the show, and they're totally sweet ass.

Courtesy of Maple Stave

Courtesy of Nonagon

Then, we played the PRF Auktoberfest BBQ on Saturday at Klas in Cicero on October 16th.  I could go on and on about the back story of this whole thing and why it's totally awesome, but it's just one of those things where if you don't know about it, you won't quite get it.  It involves a message board for Steve Albini's studio, and a lot of like-minded people that know how to throw a party just for the sake of throwing a damn hell ass party.  Not to mention, it's become your only chance to see the best live band karaoke in the world.  (Do yourself a favor and visit that link to see our friend Kevin, aka the guy that made my prized possession, totally rock the shit out of "Under Pressure."  Both the Bowie and Freddie Mercury parts!) 

But specifically, the day that we played was at this amazing Bohemian restaurant in Cicero called Klas.  This place was a sight to behold--it looked like it was carved out of one giant piece of wood.  There were rooms all over the place, and of course many were rumored to have been used by Al Capone for all sorts of illicit purposes.  The room to be used for the band performances was full of plaster, chandeliers, and recording equipment, and there was a view behind the stage through large windows out into the beer garden area, where attendees were smoking a goat supplied by our friend John of the Columbines.  It was amazing how great this room sounded!  Usually these sorts of places are a mess of echoes and walls shaking when you get loud bands playing in them.  Perhaps it was because the windows behind the stage were angled out in Chicago Bay Window style, and because the walls had thick coats of plaster on them, or because Rich has become a damned magician with live sound, but it sounded nearly perfect.

The bands were all amazing, and many performed in costume.  The Infrasonics were all dressed as airline pilots, and were served shots by a very Randy stewardess. We busted out the shirts that we purchased back in the All Limbs Intact days from Alcala Western Wear on Chicago Ave and added some sweet ass cowboy hats and fake mustaches (that lasted about a half a song for Rich and I, while Dan was able to keep it together for the whole set).

Cowboys For Life

Not only were there performances from a few of our friends' bands, but we were treated to some reunions of note.  First, a band I have recently become acquainted with, Zoom--they played their first show in 16 years!  Then, a little bit later on, Five-Eight graced the stage.  Closing the night out was the mighty Big'n, who, besides playing my friend Wayne's book release party in 2006, haven't been a band since somewhere around 1998.  All bands were amazing.  I'm pretty sure that both Zoom and Big'n are actually playing some more shows as a result of this thing.

As I mentioned, the room was full of recording equipment, both video and audio.  Rich was toiling away all weekend doing live sound for every single band that participated--the man's a machine--but also, our friends Matt and Jim from the Infrasonics had set up cameras and microphones all over the place to document all performances.  Many of them have started popping up on Jim's youtube channel, and he's working away at getting everything online soon.  Shout-out to our bestest buds cmn ineed yr hlp for their ass-kicking set on Friday, by the way.  Ours should be online sooner than later.  We're also getting the multitrack recording from Matt and we're going to mix it and do something or other with it.  Stay tuned!

And as if all of that isn't enough, we already have another sort of last minute show this weekend, the Columbines Halloween Gopher Rodeo, at Quenchers yet again.  We'll be reliving the glory of the cowboy way with a short and blistering set of our original tunes (we didn't quite have enough time to put together a covers set, although I totally want to do the hell out of that some day) and some fresh fake mustaches.  Friday 10/29/2010, 9pm.  Be there!

Also we're working on setting up some other shows in the coming months (nothing confirmed but we'll post about them if/when they are), and have begun brainstorming about doing some damned serious recording already.  For real, we are playing for keeps, we are recording this shit, and not taking no for an answer on that, so put it in your pipe and then smoke it.

Love and smoking goats,
Todd

Mayor For Life @ Quenchers on Sept. 25th

We'll be playing with our friends in Nonagon at Quenchers on the 25th of September. Also on the bill is Maple Stave from North Carolina. Fair warning, bring some earplugs! This is going to be a great show, I can't wait!!!

Rich

Quenchers - 08/21/10

So we have a show coming up on August 21st at Quenchers with Czar and Angel Eyes. This will be a great show and we'll be playing second right in the middle of the rock sandwich. Show starts at 10pm, get there early and have some tator tot pizza, it's quite yummy!

Rich

MAYOR FOR LIFE: THE RETURN

Friday May 14th, 9PM
Cal's (400 S. Wells, in the loop)


Nonagon
Self-Evident
Mayor For Life

We play first.  Come witness Dan's first show behind the kit as your heroes Mayor For Life open the show.  Then stick around to continue to get your face melted by Minneapolis' Self-Evident and Chicago's very own Nonagon.  I've never played at or even been to Cal's, but the other guys tell me it's an interesting place, and with this bill, it should be a lot of loud sweaty fun.

New Drummer!

Ladies and gentlemen: we have good news.  After trying out several drummers over the last month and a half or so, having our egos stroked by a surprising amount of interest in joining our band, and having fun playing our songs with a few different friends of ours behind the kit, we have chosen Dan Wagner (who also plays in a band called Sequoia, as well as recently becoming an understudy for the Second City production Rush Limbaugh: The Musical) to be our new drummer.  Not only does he conveniently live three houses down from Rich, but he is a very skilled drummer and someone we've both known and shared bills with in various bands for quite some time.  It was a tough choice since everyone we tried out was good and were all solid dudes, but we think that you all will be pleased when we make our triumphant return to rocking you in your faces, hopefully very soon!

In other good news, we finally got around to recording the vocals and mixing down three demo tracks that we recorded with Scott Picco to tape at our old rehearsal space back in October.  For something we recorded in a basement rehearsal space, shit sounds good.  Props to Scott.  Be on the lookout for those on the Facebook and Myspace pages.

Mayor For Life is sad, Mayor For Life's glass is 1/3 empty

After being in two bands with Todd, I think that we're cursed with losing drummers. I mean, we're not Spinal Tap, what the hell. Due to some tough choices Uli has parted ways with Mayor For Life to pursue some other creative outlets in his life. I really wish he didn't have to leave the band because, as a bass player, it's tough to find that certain connection that you get with certain drummers, and Uli is one hell of a drummer. Uli has helped me grow not only as a bass player and musician, but is a great friend as well. I'm really going to miss what we had. Time to move on and forward.

Rich

Show Recap, 1-30-10 @ Quenchers

Saturday night was a hell of a lot of fun.  I think I speak for all of us when I say goddamn do I love playing shows at Quenchers.  Not only does it seem like you've totally packed the place even though there are like 60 people that paid to get in, whereas some douchey rock bar like...uh...most of them would be pissed that you didn't bring like 100 people per band or something, but the bar actually pays the bands pretty decently.  Not to mention Steve, the guy who books the bands, is a super nice guy and probably into a lot of the same music that we're all into.  Plus we all live nearby, and in all honesty, I love me some fancy beer.  It's like this place is tailor made for us, especially me.

So as we mentioned a couple times in the previous posts we finally have some tshirts for sale, which we were almost embarrassingly excited about.  Rich is pretty used to having boxes and boxes of merch available and sitting around in our rehearsal space for Bear Claw but I haven't had band shirts for sale since, hell, back when I was in Chiral in the earlier part of the previous decade.  It definitely does feel more like we're a real band now that people can happily buy something that effectively says that they approve of our band's existence.  Now of course we have to actually finish some of that recorded music and make it available for sale.  That would probably make it feel even more like we're in a real band.

So anyway, as for the specific rocking that took place, I have to say that all bands really brought it.  I'd seen the Columbines and the Chrome Robes a couple times each before, and a lot of us in all three bands are friends, so I knew it would be a great, fun show.  Of course my expectations were exceeded.  The Columbines played first and are seriously one of the most fun bands in town to see live.  Not to be missed.  The Chrome Robes were second and have an impressive collection of no longer made Canadian amplifiers, which is something near and dear to my heart as a fellow Traynor enthusiast, and they put them to very good use.  Then, after a relatively long evening of enjoying several delicious beers from Quenchers' vast selection, we took the stage and I was all "fuck it let's let 'er rip" even though I'm not entirely sure I set the volumes of my amps correctly to balance with each other let alone with Rich at all, and with all the instruments blaring I totally couldn't hear myself yelling in my monitor.  However, everyone seemed to really like our set and compliment us almost embarrassingly afterward.  We played for probably 35 minutes but to us it seemed like 5.  I take that as a good sign.  We even sold a few shirts, which I suspect might be partly due to my Gil-styled salesmanship technique of pleading with someone to at least purchase one shirt from us so we don't feel like losers.  Note to self: go for the pity sell next time too.

I also have to give a shout-out to my main man Mark Oster for spotting a Uhaul two-wheel cart just sitting out in the middle of an intersection at 2:30am one night, having the audacity to get all finders-keepers on it, and henceforth keeping it in our shared rehearsal space.  I was only mildly sore and stiff when I got home at 4am, and all I had to do was take like 600mg of Ibuprofen with a glass of water, realize I was an old man, and wake up fresh as a daisy at the crack of noon the next day.  I have Mark and that cart to thank for this. 

So yeah, all in all, good times.  Thanks to all who rocked and watched the rocking.  Hopefully we can do it again soon.

Todd