My Very First Bloggy Blog.

Hey, Everybody.  Wow, look at me blogging and stuff.  Well, I guess this will get easier the more I do it, but right now it's not so much...


I guess the biggest news right now is that Many Birthdays will be heading to Phoenix and then Vegas for the Neon Reverb festival in a few weeks.  We are gonna play with my little bro's band Covela in Phoenix at Club Red (Sept 17th) and then at Beauty Bar in Vegas for the festival (Sept 18th).  John just bought a sweet touring machine in the shape of a 15 passenger van... yeah, word... touring in style.  


Last month, Many Birthdays wrote and performed a live score to the silent film "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz.  It was rad.  We had the pleasure of collaborating with violinist, Julie Wang and multi-instrumentalist, Erik Bulke.  We played to a sold out theater and it seems we will be invited back for an encore performance after the new year.  I will post the date, time, and location as soon as we know. 


Let's see.  Saturday's Radar is making progress with the full length and I think a handful of tunes have gone to Jim at Mob House for mixing.  I am looking forward to hearing the tracks,  because those guys have been tracking individually since the drums were done back in March.  We will be playing at the Highball next month; date and time TBA.


Spellcaster is my newest project with Greg Rhoades on bass and Jade Day on vocals and guitar.  We are going to add some Moog soon, which should be cool.  We did a VERY loose, rough recording to use as a demo; and when I say loose, I am not kidding.  We literally banged out seven tunes in an afternoon in G.R.'s music room with mics hanging from the ceiling fan.  But, let me tell you... those guys are killer and I can't wait to play more shows.  It's looking like we will be playing a show late September, but I can't remember if it is at Hole in the Wall or Scoot Inn.  More on that later.


Electronic Planet Ensemble has begun writing their next offering  for winter 2011.  They are a secretive bunch, so I will not divulge much information... I have a feeling this show will be a bit of a departure, though. As always, I am excited to see what those guys are cooking up and stoked to have the opportunity to stretch out a little creatively with the electronics.


Finally, Mercury Room has been plugging right along.  I am looking forward to the school year beginning and really digging in to some challenging material with my students.  Many of my students are concentrating on particular songs or drummers right now in order to really dial in their own stylistic leanings. I love it!  I am hoping to really fill my roster for fall, so if you or someone you know is interested in drum lessons, shoot me a line!


I think I would like to start blogging more about drumming concepts, approach, and ideas eventually but it may take me a while to gather my thoughts!  Thanks for reading.


-rachel the drummer