Happy New Year!

We'd like to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR this weekend. We have a few shows set up for next month... So, if you're in the neighborhood come on by:

Saturday, January 7th we'll be @ The Rock & Roll Hotel
in Washington, DC
w/ Dance for the Dying
Show is $10
Doors at 8 Show at 9
18+

Thursday, January 12th we'll be @ The Velvet Lounge
in Washington, DC
w/ The Absent Center and Drawbridges opening for YIP Deciever
Show is $8
Doors at 8 Show at 9
21+

Saturday, January 21st we'll be @ Jammin Java
in Vienna, VA
w/ Along Those Lines and The Chuck Shaffer Picture Show
Show is $10 in advance & $13 at the door
*Please contact the band to purchase tix in advance. We'll be selling them at the prior shows. If for any reason you can't reach the band or will not be attending the other shows use this link to purchase them online.
Doors at 9 Show at 10
Keep in mind there are 2 shows this night, this is the later one
ALL AGES

A big "thank you" to blogger.com for saving drafts automatically.. I was halfway through this and the device I was using had a spaz and exited everything I'd been working on. Note to self: Don't use an iPad to update anymore.. Secondary note to self: Maybe just don't use an iPad anymore.

As for the new album, we can't promise anything but we hope to have things worked out soon. We'll continue releasing some of the work we did with Ken Stringfellow and hopefully post some of our own mixes as well.

We'd also like to thank the folks who have already purchased some of our albums through Bandcamp, ReverbNation, and Noisehead! Your support is truly appreciated. We've produced everything we have on our own dime and label, and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing you've made something special enough for someone to take home with them. We urge everyone to support your local, unsigned, and independent artists because they don't always get the credit or exposure they deserve.

See you next month!

The Velvet Ants

Here it is!

Ian M. on bass, guitar, vocals & drums.. and Trevor H. on drums & vocals!!


Mixed by Ken Stringfellow @ Le Domicile, Paris FR

More tracks @ http://www.noisehead.com/mypage/velvetants

Merry Everything and SEE YOU ON THE ROAD!

TVA

Bloodspots

See, this is why I don't like computers. I went to type in 'blogspot' to update this thing and all of a sudden it decided to look up 'bloodspot' instead. I digress... The Velvet Ants will release another new track on X-Mas Eve! Come back and check it out won't ya?

happy holidays everyone,

TVA

This week's release! + Lyrics added!

New track released! "Interference" mixed by Ken Stringfellow! Sort of a Space Rock meets Alt/Country tune. We hope you enjoy it!

We've also added another show, it's @ the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington D.C. on 1/7 with Dance for the Dying. We look forward to seeing you guys out there!

-TvA

Ps. Almost forgot, this morning we added and updated lyrics for ALL songs & albums at: Bandcamp and ReverbNation.

Until next time!

New track posted + album title REVEALED!

New track posted! "EVIL TWIN" mixed by Ken Stringfellow (of The Posies)

Credits:
Guitar, bass, vocals, synth: Ian Margolycz
Drums, back-up vocals: Trevor Hart
Tambourine: Ken Stringfellow

Lyrics @ http://reverbnation.com/thevelvetants & http://thevelvetants.bandcamp.com

We'd also like to announce that the name of the new album will be: ADVANTAGE

Submit your vote for the new album cover!

The band is conducting a poll on which direction to go with the new album cover! If you visit the photo album entitled:
"CD's & Album covers" on our facebook page you'll see 4 sneak peaks at cover ideas.. then vote on the one you like the best! Let's say you like the font in one but the color/style of another, just add a comment. 

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think!

Visit: http://facebook.com/velvetants and cast your vote!

Good tidings!

First off, we'd like to thank everyone who made it out to the show in DC! We had an amazing time with you and truly appreciate your love and support. We'd also like to thank RED LETTER LIFE and BOB VILLAIN for their brilliant performances. Overall I think the night was a great success and we hope to see you again soon. *We'll be playing an acoustic set from 7-10 @ Epicure Cafe in Fairfax, VA on 12.7

Second, we're going to release a couple more tracks this month through http://thevelvetants.bandcamp.com & http://reverbnation.com/thevelvetants So keep an eye out for those.

Third, and certainly not least.. if you weren't at the last show, we announced our newest member: Pat Mitchell on bass! We're only a few shows in, but Pat's been able to learn around 20 songs within a short span of time.. and we're thrilled to have his talent, drive, and enthusiasm on the team.

Until next time,


TVA

Around The Clock

Alternate cover

Original

"Around the Clock" by The Velvet Ants
Limited Edition CD Sampler now available at shows!
These will be sold for $8, or $10 w/ 2 decals
*Includes some of the mixes we finished w/ Ken Stringfellow, and other previously unreleased material. (Not the new album, or b-sides. More of a precursor with rarities)

Additional song credits:

Track 2) Ken Stringfellow: organ. Track 3) Trevor Hart: back-up vocals. Ken Stringfellow: tambourine, and back-up vocals. Ian Margolycz: synthesizer. Roscoe Tanner: guitar solos & outro. Track 5) Trevor Hart: back-up vocals. Ian Margolycz: additional percussion. Track 6) Ian Margolycz: synthesizer. Ken Stringfellow: tambourine. Trevor Hart: back-up vocals. Track 7) Ian Margolycz: synthesizer. Roscoe Tanner: guitar solos.

'Favorite Words' (Now available!)

'Favorite Words' (mixed by Ken Stingfellow) is now available to download via Bandcamp, Reverbnation, and Noisehead!

Visit the following sites to purchase:

http://thevelvetants.bandcamp.com
http://reverbnation.com/thevelvetants
http://www.noisehead.com/mypage/velvetants

Produced by Ken Stringfellow and The Velvet Ants

Check out http://facebook.com/velvetants for upcoming events!! There will be some important announcements at the next show (11.26 in D.C.)

See you soon!

-TVA

A word from Steven Wright

Steven Wright once said:

"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?

Untitled

Mixing au Domicile

In the midst of mixing the new tracks w/ Ken Stringfellow! We also have a few shows lined up.. next one's on the 26th @ The Velvet Lounge in D.C. w/ special guests Bob Villain and Allday Mori Red Letter Life. December 7th we're at Epicure Café in Fairfax (we'll be doing two sets there.) Then we'll be back at The Velvet Lounge opening for YIP Deceiver (featuring members from of Montreal) w/ The Absent Center and Drawbridges.. this will be on the 12th so mark those calendars!

In Vain

11.1.11

Played a show at a local bar last night and for being the only band that showed up I don't think we did half bad. It was packed when we got there and unfortunately, since the guy who had booked us was out of town we were asked to play an hour later than we'd agreed to. That being said, we still had a lot of ears listening as the next hour rolled around. Turned out not only was the guy who booked us not there, but none of the other bands had shown up either.. so it was us, and the sound guy (who ended up playing for another 45 minutes or so after us.) We were under the impression that the gig was sort of an audition of sorts to land further gigs but who knows at this point. Was a great venue, and the sound was alright (of course every venue has different standards, and sound deficiencies.. luckily this was on the nicer side of the spectrum.) Just a shame there weren't more acts, and people there to actually hear some music rather than be distracted by it. Not the greatest to feel like you're impeding someone's dinner/conversation etc. Wah, wah wah.. Of course if this gig was a sign of the future we should be in good shape. Only had 1 practice with the new line up a few days prior and with the handful of tunes we learned we were able to play all but one. Special thanks goes out to Pat for filling in on such short notice! First week of editing/mixing with Ken also started yesterday. Given the time crunches, (time) difference, and last minute re-recording we're off to a decent start. Got to hear a rough mix of one of the tracks late last night - actually around 2am this morning - and it sounded fantastic.. Sort of like Bowie meets The James Gang. Very intense, very cool. Surprised at what Ken was able to come up with considering we're giving him more constraints than anything. 'Here's a bunch of tracks, half of them already bounced, recorded at fairly low levels that we were planning on finishing ourselves... but can you mix/edit them in between your 3 tours and everything else you got going on?' Just happy he hasn't thrown in the towel yet. Okay, blog's gotten too long for one day of Velvet Ants goings on (for now at least.) So here are some pictures from the gig last night. Thanks again to Dave (the sound guy) and everyone else who came out last night, it meant a lot to us and we hope to see you at the next shows!

Put the brush down

You gotta know when to put the brush down. Sometimes when you work on something for a while, you start to overthink things and question everything. Right before getting to this point is when you should stop. Here are a few quotes from American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and some pictures from our last recording session:

"Less is only more where more is no good."

"'Think simple' as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest of terms, getting back to first principles."

"Simplicity & repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art."

Stay there!

TVA
http://facebook.com/velvetants

And it starts again...

I thought we were done recording? I guess not. Something made me re-visit some of the tracks today and I ended up adding additional parts. Mainly on keys (ie: synthesizer/moog sounds.) Not quite sure what will stay on there but it was nice to fill in some of the empty space. We're almost there! Today really felt good. Tied some of the loose ends for sure. Sometimes you get this adrenaline high... Or maybe there's another term for it... But it's some kind of rush and it just feels right.

Off to practice.

im

"Radio, Radio"

The Velvet Ants will be featured on DC101's Local Lix tonight @ 10pm.
For more info visit: http://dc101.com/pages/locallix.html

We're also going to be featured on Unmutual Radio an online podcast featuring punk and alternative music. Their page is here: http://UnmutualRadio.libsyn.com
So be on the lookout for that!!

Last but not least, a little while ago we were played on Black Collar Radio out of Philly, PA. Check out their website @ www.BlackCollarRadio.com

Thanks to all the DJ's who included us on their stations & shows and tune into DC101 tonight @ 10!! (or visit: http://iheart.com/#/live/2525/?autoplay=true)

-TVA

Exportations

The last 4 tracks we've worked on are a bit more involved than the others.. not to say we play the most complex music to begin with but I guess you could say they have more than 3 chords and change direction here and there. We were able to finish tracking drums this past week and considering we only had a handful of hours to work with I think we made out pretty decent. Also happened to notice we'd re-recorded drums for Across the Waves so that was a nice surprise (must have been nodding off at some point.) Some of the only time we had to record was between 8pm and 1am. Still not quite sure what the final song list will be, and it will also depend on what we can finish by next week as songs are due for mixing!! but I like where things have led us. There's variety in there. Definitely more of a controlled sound than the first demo, and on the intimate side.. of course it wasn't intended to be some huge rock record, but rather the next step for The Velvet Ants. Look at My Bloody Valentine, or Elliott Smith though.. you don't always need to shred vocal cords to make a profound effect. Only a couple left to export.. any final touches will have to be made before Halloween.

See you,

im

Just a LITTLE announcement

We'd like to officially announce that the next Velvet Ants album is being mixed/produced by none other than the legendary Ken Stringfellow (of The Posies, R.E.M., The Disciplines, and Big Star) It's a real honor to be able to work with Ken on this. As for the tracks.. it will be interesting to see what Lo-fi meets Hi-fi sounds like!!

Stay there,

ian and trevor

Roughed out

Got a few more tracks roughed out: Favorite Words, The First Time, and Shebore (a track I wrote for some friends who were in a band of the same name.) About halfway to completing drums. -im

And everything sputtered

Of course the recording program would only wanna work on days where we have 45 minutes to roll versus days where we have plenty of time, right?? Gotta love it, no way around it. Songs we actually got a stab at: Colorblind, Interference 1, and maybe one more but as soon as we got to Shebore everything sputtered... Distorted, glitch-ridden dropouts lead to a slow, certain defeat. On a happier note, our first demos were accepted by the Copyright Office. Not that we'd be worried about infringement, no, of course not, not in this day and age. Booked another gig, and we're also nearing trio status!!

Recording lead/solos!

Stopped by Roscoe's house yesterday to record solos etc. Only took 2 hours to get the damn software to record properly. We worked on: Shapeless & Round, Interference 2, and Anyone. I think there are only 4 or 5 tracks that need any additional lead, so we should be in good shape for now. I swear, the more I use computers to record the more I miss my 4-track. Already learned my lesson once (lost all the original Velvet Ants demos from a hard drive crash in 2010) you'd think I'd smarten up and go back to tape, or at least one of those fancy multi-track recorder deals... Anything to separate the songs from any sort of operating system! Still not sure if Roscoe will be joining the band on stage, but it will be great to have him contribute to the new album.

stay there,

-im

XOXO, Copyright Lady

You know you're making a name for yourself when the lady at the Copyright Offices won't stop talking to you.

Recording drums!

It's been very hurry up and wait with this album. I had been about 400 miles away up until now so it's been long overdue. By the end of August almost all of the basic vocals, guitars, and bass had been completed... leaving out drums was sort of strange, and if I had to do so all over again it wouldn't have been like that. It's always been apparent that starting with bass or drums allows a better blueprint for the rest of the song (unless recording everything live, at once.) Luckily the songs were in time and we're well into our 3rd track already, roughing things out and coming up with changes etc. along the way. Songs we worked on: Anyone, Digitalis,  Interference 2 (a slower, more country-fried version than the 1st), and Let's Go With Alice which sounds twice as good as it had before. I just hope we can keep up at this pace, cause that would be great and we'd have the most to choose from later on. -im

Auditions have begun

Practice went well, now we're onto auditioning bassists. After a few years apart, Trevor and I seem a little rusty but I'm pretty confident that with another few rehearsals we'll shed whatever we need to get back in sync with each other. Before, we could jump in and out of things with much more grace (but that could've also been due to the fact that we had drilled those songs into out psyche and them some.) I think recording the first demo helped out a lot... we finally got to tie down song formulas, which we weren't extremely reliant on doing in the past. So here we are. There's a ton of recording left to do as well and it's due for mixing by the end of the month. We've got 14 tracks we're still working on, plus a handful of covers we're doing for fun. It will be interesting to see how we pull this off. -im

First in 4

First practice in 4 years today, no pressure.