What a mess

Our thoughts go out to all the families affected by last nights storms. Turns out more than a few people lost their lives during the event. I can't imagine what their families are going through. There was no question about the rain coming through but I didn't hear once about hurricane winds, tornadoes and the rest of the destruction headed this way. What happened there? Why is the state of emergency always after the incidents occur... did we not see this coming? I know the weather's inconsistent these days but to be so far off in predictions and forecasts; we're better off looking at the satellite images ourselves. Or, we need to alert each other in a more efficient manor.

We left the venue at a little after 1am and hit several road blocks, detours and flooded areas... at one point I saw section of guard rail totally ripped off and missing. Up the road a driver was being checked out in his car (after hitting the guard rail or a tree? I'm not sure) but it didn't look good. There were trees, leaves and debris everywhere and it sounds like millions of people have lost power completely. Just hope that people get the help they need at this point.

Here's a setlist from last night's show. We wanna thank Thaylobleu for playing an amazing set. They put on one incredible performance and sounded insanely good (yours truly got to run sound). They are professional dudes with some crazy talent. We're looking forward to playing more shows with them and can't wait to hear their upcoming LP. We'd also like to thank Mr. Kevin Brown (writer for Examiner.com) for checking out the show.

At the end of our set we jammed on a few tunes together and swapped instruments for even a few more songs. Thanks to everyone who made it out to the show, you guys are why we do this. We hope you all had a good time. I kept seeing the lights flicker during both sets thinking... is the power about to go? Luckily, we made it through both band's sets without any technical difficulties.

Was sort of wild seeing the storm barreling around behind us while we played. But in hindsight, probably not the safest thing to have been doing at that time.

So here's the list of songs we actually played. The original setlist was similar but we dropped a few of the slower, quieter songs. I'm including the extra songs we played at the end, although I don't know the names (the guys in Thaylobleu might remember) and if anyone remembers the correct order let us know... we were in a trance.

Next to You - Police
Anyone
Colorblind
9th Song
Pin on a Dime
Do You Wanna Dance - Bobby Freeman (Beach Boys version)
Kitsch
Creature in the Sky
Turning Glass to Sand
Favorite Words
At The Gazebo
Telepathic Love - Wipers
Evil Twin
Kegan Leonard (w/ Thaylobleu)
Lonely (w/ Thaylobleu)
Nobody (w/ Thaylobleu)
Pulse - Psychedelic Furs

unknown jam (Thaylobleu w/ The Velvet Ants)
unknown jam 2 (Thaylobleu w/ The Velvet Ants)
freestyle (Thaylobleu w/ The Velvet Ants)

Chipmunk King/Drop a Bomb on Hollywood (w/ Thaylobleu)

corrections welcome! Thanks for coming out.
[We'll try to post some pictures soon.]

Here's the deal (#1)

So, a few months back we posted tracks from our new album 'Advantage' on Noisehead and got around 300 plays (for each track!) within a week or so. This is probably the biggest spike we've seen since joining the site. We went and re-uploaded mastered versions when they came back from SoundLAB (so they'd be the same quality all around).

Here's the deal: If you can help us reach 300 plays or over (on each track) by the end of June we'll giveaway a free covers track in July.

Deal?

We've got a head start today because Noisehead.com has made us featured artist for the day! We're right on the homepage!

Click here to visit the Velvet Ants on Noisehead...

Click here to just visit Noisehead

We'd like send our thanks to Todd at Noisehead for making this possible.

Let's go!

One hell of a weekend.

Congratulations to Roscoe and Jessica, they tied the knot and had a big old shindig this past weekend. The weather couldn't have been better and the air was full of bubbles. Later in the night we ran through some old songs in the pavilion. There was only 2 guitars laying around so we constructed a drum set out of tubs, used a couple of snapped branches for sticks and mic'd everything else. As the night went on, the DJ (who turned out to be an avid Doors fan) sang and Ian went to the drums. We played 'Love Me Two Times' & 'Roadhouse Blue' before going into a jam for the next 10 minutes. Good times, hope to have more of those. Maybe we'll record it next time. As for the covers album, our schedules (which are now almost completely opposite) haven't allowed much time for completion but most of what's left is done. I think (with fingers crossed) we'll have something finished by the end of the summer. Shows are being booked though so maybe things aren't so bad. Either way, here's to Jess & Roscoe and hope to see you soon. Next show is June 29th @ Axum Lounge in DC to RSVP visit http://facebook.com/events/319636841449889/

"One Stranger" Blog from 12-20-06

Interesting snippets from the past have recently turned up including this blog from December 2006 just before releasing Lunatic Frame:

"one stranger (title)

Before “LF” is released I want everybody to know that these new Velvet Ants recordings are in no way intended to be polished studio demos. We started with one thing in mind: to create a prototype for new song formats and a generally fresh sound, for us at least. 10 songs have narrowed down a bank of around 19 tracks that we were originally planning on. I don’t think this will hurt the idea of “LF” in any way. These songs are some of the greatest I’ve worked on, and I don’t even feel like it’s been a whole lot of work The instruments and song structures were laid down without much of a hassle at all. Even amidst the constraints of not having a great amount of time to work on anything, things have gone smoothly. Now it’s a matter of a week or two until a final mix. I say ‘final’ but any dedicated artist can relate to a piece that is never finished. This is why I wrote this. It may not be everyone’s experience but I could literally spend a lifetime honing in on all these little things that could improve the song, eventually ruining it. Taking away, replacing, overdubbing and so on. I’m so sick of hearing records that have been polished to a point where no real performance is evident. There’s a lot of slick sounding bands out there who lose a lot by releasing these over-glossed songs. Lacquered and buffed like some false hope in being the next great band or something. “LF” will be done soon, and out for scrutinizing, so it’s a little nerve racking. Like I said these sessions could last forever, but that wouldn’t produce anything but a ton of headaches. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone so I’ll leave it at that, I just hope at least one stranger enjoys it. -Ian"

I guess you could say the same goes for Advantage.

Off to work on some covers!

Velvet Covers

Hello everyone! We're still alive and kickin'. Just wanted to give an update on what's going on. Weeee are in the midst of recording some covers and hopefully finishing some soon as well. They should all be finished by late July/early August. We plan to book some shows throughout the summer & we'll definitely post those dates and locations as soon as that happens. There is also a fan mail set up now for anyone that wants to keep up on show dates, when new material is released, or to tell us whatever is on your mind! Just send an e-mail to VelvetAntFans@live.com and we'll add you to the list. Don't forget we also have t-shirts and CD's for sale! -RT

"Out of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most." - Mark Twain

CHIT!

Workin on some Cars tunes

Going Nowhere

So much for all the stress! We've fixed the issues with the recording interface!!! And also figured out how to manage the files in better ways. (Was getting a bit crowded on the old hard drive with all the projects coming and going). Weren't sure whether we'd be able to finish anything at this point so this is all a bit of a relief. We've got a ton of stuff to work on (covers/b-sides...). I'll let the others update as we progress, but funny enough... everything that was holding us back is now back to working in our favor.

I'm afraid we'll be holed up for a while getting these takes laid out for their release but we'll try to keep you posted as we go.

-IAN