May 2013
20 posts
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Support The Art Boutiki! Support San Jose's Music...
If you want to support local music, and bands such as ourselves, there is no better way that I know how to do that, then to pledge some money to The Art Boutiki’s Kickstarter program. Put your money where your mouth is local music fans.
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BFD 2013 - It Turns Out Girls Love Cut off Jean...
Last night we played BFD 2013.
I had a really goofy post about video games lined up for this Mondays blog post, but I decided to post-pone that for next week.
Our time at BFD was amazing. These dudes are great band members, and amazing people who are really passionate about music in their own unique ways. I feel I couldn’t get any luckier when it comes to band-mates, and I personally...
We play BFD 2013 tomorrow.
Just a friendly reminder. Come say hi!
May California Tour, final dates!
The final three dates of our May California tour are upon us!
TONIGHT at The Turtle House in Davis, CA!
SATURDAY at Trinity Gold in Napa, CA! (With our pals in Finish Ticket!)
SUNDAY at Live 105’s BFD at the Shoreline Amphitheater. (We go on at 4:50pm on the Soundcheck Local Band Stage)
Hope to see you out there!
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Picture Atlantic List →
Be sure to sign up for our mailing list ‘Get The Lead Out’, which sends out another issue tomorrow morning! Sign up now!
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Practice Makes Perfect
If Django Reinhardt learned to re-play guitar with only two fingers, you can manage to be proficient with four.
This is gonna be a short post, but it basically fits in with my running theme of “Advice for Beginning Bands” which was requested by a fan.
In so many ways, I think this concept gets overlooked by bands and individual musicians. The focus isn’t really on the band...
Popscene: Seeing Big Bands in Small Venues
Hey, hey, come out tonight!
On October 19, 2006, Nik, an old guitarist of ours from the previous PA iteration and I drove up to San Francisco to watch one of my favorite bands, Mew, perform at Popscene. I almost wasn’t let in because I only had a temporary ID, but after pleading to the bouncers that I, “HAVE TO SEE THIS BAND!” they decided to forget arguing and let me in.
...
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Dear Ampy: Advice for Beginning Bands Part 2
Last Monday I wrote an advice piece for someone who wanted some tips on being in a new band.
Trying to address that issue is like using a toothpick to take apart a glacier.
But I’m doing a series of basic advice concepts for bands who are beginning, and hopefully it can also remind seasoned bands about the basics. Today’s topic continues on the angle of live performance! I hope you...
Conversations with BG : Ticket Scalping
BG explaining how it’s his money and he needs it now*
After Nik brought Kid Rock’s upcoming $20 per-ticket-tour to my attention, I had an Internet conversation with Brian (mostly without his knowledge) about ticket scalping. Below is what he had to say via Facebook chat:
BG: Scalping exists because demand exceeds supply
RB: But part of that lack of supply is due to scalpers buying...
April 2013
19 posts
Anonymous asked: Have you guys ever considered releasing anything on vinyl?
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Dear Ampy: Advice for Beginning Bands
Today’s Monday Blog post is more of an advice column of sorts. We got a very nice message on Tumblr from whostheastronaut (our pal Johnny Henriquez) asking for some advice for beginning bands. Specifically he asked us for some advice on playing live and recording.
Today I thought it would be a good idea to briefly address one of those two concepts with some basic ideas. I could write a ten...
whostheastronaut asked: Any advice to new bands, do's and dont's?
All Things Digital
The first Google image search result for “robot music”
People of the Earth,
How are you doing on this lovely Thursday morning? I’m wonderful and thank you for asking! We certainly have the nicest fans around.
Today’s post is introductory to a new series about the digitization of music. This won’t be a history lesson stolen from Wikipedia, but a real attempt to...
Helping the KDVS Radio Fundraiser
Nik on a musical journey in the KDVS record player room with Zuha of KDVS.
People of the Earth,
KDVS is an incredible college station at UC Davis that does an insane amount of work to bring a diverse selection of music to students and the surrounding community. This week, the station is fundraising money needed to help continue their great programming.
Specifically for today, our friend Zuha...
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The Road to BFD 2013
We get paid to look at our own band name floating above our heads.
Good morning, Internet people.
RB here, bringing you the good word from the PA universe. As you may know, we’ll be performing at Live 105’s BFD 2013 on May 19, so we’re filling up the calendar for May leading up to the day with shows across California.
After many requests on social media, we are finally...
Unsigned & Unleashed: Who You Need To Be Listening... →
Thanks to Unsigned Unleashed for this very kind review of our band! :)
unsignedunleashed:
Picture Atlantic
Unsigned Indie Pop/ Alternative Rock
Find Them On ::
Facebook | PictureAtlantic.com | Youtube
Picture Atlantic from San Jose, CA are in no ways a conformed band. In fact, these Bay area rockers are quite the opposite as they use unique vocals, exuberant…
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The Postal Service Reunited. Go See Them!
Yes, Jenny Lewis was there.
The Postal Service played their first show in nine years this Tuesday in Reno, NV. I was fortunate enough to be able to drive up to the Grand Sierra Resort’s Summit Pavilion to witness it. To sum it up: it was incredible.
I didn’t know what to expect from the live set. My predictions that they’d have to play all of “Give Up,” all of...
Achieving Your Perfect Sound Pt. 2
My “clean” boost pedal. It used to sound good. What happened?
Last week I posed the question to guitarists and bassists on how they achieve their “perfect” sound. This Facebook thread contains the replies, of which there were many different opinions. One consensus was that a “perfect” tone will never be found and you should expect to find it at your...
The Life and Times of Briertone Pt. 1
Briertone drummer Bobby Lucy with new project, Vegas based GoldBoot.
In late 2011, the band had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the San Louis Obispo based, “Outlaw Rock” group, Briertone. Somewhat of a local legend, we were lucky enough to befriend “BTone” and embark on a series of shows together over the course of the next few months.
With their distinct sound...
Getting Better
A couple weeks back, we got together with our friend Jon Devoto and did a special kind of practice. This wasn’t to rehearse our songs. It was to adjust our tones and dynamics. It was to makes sure that what we were playing was coming out clean and clear, not muffled and muddy. We assembled at Jon’s home studio and had him listen to songs, and then had him give us feedback on tonal...
Achieving Your Perfect Sound Pt. 1
Half of a P-Bass pickup capturing sound from the bottom E and A strings.
Scott Lucas, guitarist (and to an extent, bassist) of Local H runs a pretty interesting set up in order to achieve his signature sound. This article on Music Radar includes an interview with Lucas, as well as a video that demonstrates what he describes. I recommend checking the article out for yourself, rather than...
Selling Out Pt. 3
This article is a continuation of our April 2nd post:
Why people automatically have the reaction of disgust when a band they love gets lots of attention is warranted and expected, if you think about it logically. The connotation with massive success for musicians is along the lines of changing who you are to meet that “mainstream audience” and ultimately letting the ‘suck...
Selling Out Pt. 2
This article is continued from our April 1st blog post:
And without getting too deep into it (because I feel it’s pretty cut and dry), bands don’t make money off record sales anymore. This isn’t 1964, and the model has changed. Bands make money through other avenues, and if you dig a band and want them to thrive, there is a 98.9% chance that they will need lots of money to...
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March 2013
17 posts
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The Album Review For People Who Just Can't Be...
The Brian Jonestown Massacre are widely known for their “riot” at The Viper Room for an industry showcase in 1996. After watching the film “Dig!” which chronicles some years of their journey, I was moved to give their albums a full listen.
“Take It From The Man” was the first of three records released by BJM in 1996. Below is my review in the now infamous...
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Scott Lucas is Assaulted in Russia and Loses... →
We were given word about two days back that Scott Lucas would not be opening our gig with Local H in April. Today I discovered why and how! This article blew my mind. The number one thing a vocalist worries the most about when it comes to music is…well…his voice!
Definitely a huge bummer and I wish Scott the best on his recovery. We need you back and screamin’ for Local H!
-Nik
Picture Atlantic in The Examiner! Thank you...
Got a really nice write up by Chris Miller over at The Examiner, about our involvement in BFD this year. Thank you Chris & Examiner!
Read all about it here!
- Nik
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We Are Playing BFD 2013!
Plain and simple. Thank you to Live 105 for having us on this year’s local stage for BFD 2013. Even more excited that our friends in Finish Ticket ,and Rin Tin Tiger are playing with us!
Secondly, since we are making trumpet calls, we will be in LA this Thursday, March 28th, playing a muy importante show at The Viper Room. We’d love to see you there, and could most certainly use...
Thanks Rickshaw Stop!
Thanks to everyone who came out to see my set last night! Thank you and congratulations for our pals in Finish Ticket for having us out to their CD release! - Nik
The Album Review for People Who Can't Be Bothered...
Finish Ticket’s new album, “Tears You Apart” was released on February 26, but tonight is their album release party at Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.
Since everyone on the Internet are too busy to read full reviews online (or Rolling Stone are just too lazy to write them) I’m going to review the new record track by track, in 140 characters or less each. (That’s...
Strange Tales from The Viper Room
To commemorate our return to the Viper Room on March 28, I’ve put together some fun facts about its history and our history with it.
The last time we played at the Viper Room, we did three shows in 24 hours: we drove down to LA for the show, did our first photo shoot with Aaron Blumenshine, drove back up to Piedmont to play UC Berkeley the next morning and then down to San Jose for a show...
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Music From Saharan Cellphones
A couple weeks back, we visited the UC Davis radio station, KDVS 90.3FM for an on air acoustic performance. Not only was it a super awesome visit in general, but we were able to browse the library that they have there. One record that caught my eye in particular , was a project called ‘Music From Saharan Cellphones’. This is what the description of the project was:
In much of West...
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