Writer / News

i haven’t forgotten to write
October 14, 2008
4:58 pm

the last month or so has been pretty busy. we have been working on a new song and just recently played a weekend in los angeles, then to orange county, and back home for the first time in over a month at the kensington club in san diego. it was a fun, packed evening and we had the pleasure of playing with our friends swim party, the flying tourbillon orchestra and saint motel. the show followed our dear friend, cara heslip’sopening at spacecraft gallery which was kick ass and held the likes of momma and grandma ralph, a ton more friends and family, as well as a hand painted Obama painting flying proudly from the galleries roof top. havn’t written in sometime but please check our website and myspace for new shows and more news to come.

love - jayme r.

***

last the night the fellas and i a played at the partisan in merced which was totally a kick ass place. we got into merced yesterday around seven not knowing what to expect but it was a cool place with some really cool people. afterwards we drove about an hour down to fresno to stay with johnny q who is also very much so kick ass.

there are a couple things happening today:

at 9 o’clock tonight ‘blood drops’ will be played on fm94.9’s ‘local member of the day’.
also there is a feature about the music awards that printed in the citybeat today with a picture of our ugly mugs on it.

we leave to santa barbara tonight and play the artshole tomorrow night. then long beach. then home for a couple days off before we all head back to work. i’m sure there will be more to write about before i get home, but for now…
listen to 94.9 and pick up the todays citybeat!

sincerely from the central valley - james r.

***

eli, andy and i are sitting at our good friend george’s kitchen table watching rocky 2, doing crossword puzzles (eli’s new addiction since we got into fresno) and drinking coffee. we played the press club in sacremento last night and met some really cool people. after we drove through the night and slept in until about twelve today. tonight we are playing at the retox lounge in “the city” (sf) and if everything goes right, afterwards we are going to order out a round table pizza and stay up all night hanging out with george, and maybe sell a new record or two.

be home soon - james r.

***

since our show in modesto didn’t end up happening we decided to stay here in fresno another day. with the help of some new friends we booked a show here in a different part of town for tonight. i so far like fresno all though it is terribly hot out side the people here are real friendly.

more soon - james r.

***

we just got on the 5 north on our way to fresno after having some coffee with alathea at chuck’s coffee shop in long beach. our last two shows were really cool: cd release shows at the whistle stop (sd) and the prospector (lbc).
we had a lot of old friends come buy our new record ‘blood drops’ and suprisingly, a lot of new friends came to see us play and buy our cd…

thank you.

for all of you union tribune readers there is an interview with andy about his artwork and about ‘writer’ in the night and day, or click here to read the full article.

from fresno - james r.

***

oddly enough we found ourselves up by 8am cooking breakfast after an extremely busy day. right around 3:30p yesterday we showed up at the union tribune building to meet keli dailey of amplify sd to record some live tracks and do an interview with her. the inside of that building is enormous and extremely cool. on the third floor, we loaded some minimal equipment into their studio and tracked four songs from our new record.

afterwards we scrambled to get to the house of blues to see broken social scene who played an amazing two hour set from all of their records with i think i counted around 13 people on stage at times. all i could think about was its no wonder so many kids go home from seeing bands like that and want their parents to buy them a guitar and some drums. menomena opened the evening and they are always very good. they played at least one song i had never heard them play and they are completely inspiring as artists as well.

tonight we are playing with the beachwood sparks at the casbah. you should come !! its a little last minute i know but it should a fun night.
we have some friends who play some good music that are also nominated for ‘best new artist’ in san diego that you should listen to. wild weekendwho we just recently have met and hotel st. george who we have played with and have been friends with for a little while.

tim pyles has invited us on the air to premier our new record ‘blood drops’ on the air this sunday night (8.24) from 8p- 10p. ‘blood drops’ releases on august 29 at the whistle stop. come have a drink with us !!

again it always changes your perspective if even in the slightest bit seeing such great bands live… broken social scene and menomena are in this category and i can definentaly think of a few others.

hope to see you guys either at the casbah or the whistle stop…

- james r.

***

check out the new website www.writertheband.com

alright so things are good. it has been sometime although we have been super busy. here is a bit of a recap of the last few months…

going backwards:

july 25th we were invited to play at the whistle stop with our good friends swim party for the release of their new album ‘pixie dust on the blood range’.

july 22nd we played a killer show at the echo with summer darling.

july 17th was chasers with manuok and the ever incredible two sheds (sf).

july 11th was a last minute show at the ken with our friends the the howls.

june 30th we were invited by swim party and tim pyles from fm94.9 to play an anti-monday league show at the casbah with our goods friends from the henry clay people (la).

coming up:

august 24th we will be live on fm94.9 (8p-10p) with tim pyles to debut the release of our new record ‘blood drops’.

august 29th at the whistle stop we will be releasing our (third release) second album titled ‘blood drops’. we are happy to have joel p. west and our friend d.s. yancey (az).

track listing as follows

1. matthew
2. anymore
3. don’t wake the sun
4. try and stop me
5. start a war
6. where was i (written in the studio)
7. blood drops

august 31 - september 10th we will be loading up darth (andy’s car) floor to ceiling, and driving up the golden state playing some shows. if you live in any of those towns you should come hang out with us and if you have a floor for us to sleep on or even a couch let us know.

soon - james r.

p.s. we did get nominated this year for the best new artist in san diego. we are very honored to be recognized with a group of great bands in this category…

***

after a long day of work, paying bills, and getting my car a damn oil change again, ( if this post can be of any use… know you should get an oil change every three thousand miles ) i am finally home to listen to a few records and organize my own happy hour from now until whenever… you’re invited! fifty cent pabst ( thats all there is ) and nilla waffers on the house. i regret to say i haven’t written in sometime and would like you to know andy, eli, and i are still alive and making music. not so much for records ( for a dear friends wedding ), the songs for our next record are done and ready to be sent to press.

see you - james r.

***

this month has been long weekends writing and recording in a basement near andy’s place in sorth park. some of the songs on our myspace we have taken down and are re-tracking for a new ep. we have gone into hiding and are becoming quite pale but we should be finished and back in the sunshine by late june / early july.

there are a few shows lined up for april and i hope to see your smiling faces there.

we only had a chance to take a couple photos of tracking drums but we will be posting more soon.

with love - james r.

***

tomorrow, february 27th is the release of our new 7in. ‘don’t wake the sun’. we will be releasing it to most local record shops as well as at a show down at u31 in north park. it is also available for purchase on our myspace and website. ‘don’t wake the sun’ (side a) is followed by ‘i think she died’ (side b) which features, kelli noftle (vocals) along with us writer fellas eli (guitar), andy (vocals), and me (upright piano). this 7in. release is hand numbered out of 500 and also comes with a digital download of both songs upon request. we hope you enjoy these songs as much as we do and we hope to see you tomorrow night.

with love - james r.

***

don’t wake the sun is at the beginning stages of production in san francisco; then off to london to be melted, casted, and pressed into a 45 rpm, 7in. vinyl for your listening pleasure; otherwise pleasures that come with listening to good music on your pops old record player with a winter ale in hand.

the b side of the record features the likes of eli bowser (writer) and
kelli noftle (miniature soap) along with the brothers ralph. this track, ‘i think she died’, is recognizable as the last track on our first album ‘cover your tracks’. kelli and eli both continued a long since idea and took this early album song and created a beautiful track out of a depressing yet invigorating song.

there is a pre-order for the vinyl, ‘don’t wake the sun’, up on both our website and myspace.

we also have some shows coming up in February that we hope yall can make it too.

also, as promised… pictures from europe:

love - james r.

***

once again and for all, who need to buy a copy of ‘cover your tracks’ for yourself or that special someone, it is now in the second music mecca in san diego, m theory.

here is their address:
915 w washington st.
san diego, ca 92103

there are new shows, album releases and some vinyl releases in the near future.

the day after x-mas i dropped andy off at l.a.x. to spend the new year in europe. i put a full tank of gas in darth and hit the road back to san diego. while gone eli and i have been doing a whole lot of nothing except you know, work, starting a new year, beers, beards, and even some classy champaign (andre) here and there.

ill try to post some pictures of europe when brother is home and you all should be around on those night we are playing in your city the next few months.

with love - james r.

***

any and most everyone who does not own our record,
it is now available at lou’s records in encinitas for as little as 8 dollars.

here is their address:
434 n coast hwy 101
encinitas, ca 92024

do us a favor and pick it up there.
thought i would let you all know.

- james r.

***

with the car packed front to back and top to bottom, us boys headed to the hot state of arizona to play music and see some good friends. tempe was fun, hot, and a night of riding bikes through the streets for a late night sandwich with our friend justin. we slept at his place and had coffee, smoothies, and ‘homemade’ cinnamon rolls cooked by his lovely wife (thanks audra). that day we headed to flagstaff to meet up with d.s. yancey and play at a cool place called the joint. it was everything but hot up there. we had lunch with d.s. and suzanne at a local brewery and walked around flag stopping for drinks and meeting some interesting folk. the joint was a great show. d.s. played awesome and the whole night was interesting and fun. we stayed with some really cool friends of d.s. and suzanne’s and the next morning headed back toward phoenix. while driving, a rock hit our car and put a crack in the windshield of andy’s new car. we stopped off at beaver creak, slid down some rocks and relaxed in the cool summer, northern arizona sunshine. oddly enough when getting back on the interstate another rock hit the windshield and left an even bigger crack than the first. when we got into phoenix we went to d.s. and suzanne’s house where she cooked a damn good dinner and we played super mario 2 until we headed over to casablanca for the last show of the trip. along with the two cracks in our windshield we had a night of amps cutting out and horrible sound at the venue but we figured it fit into our day of unusually bad events (not to mention by this point in the trip i was miserably sick). if it wasn’t for hanging out with d.s. and suzanne, sunday would have been pretty pointless day. the next morning they saw us off, we grabbed a sandwich and we were on the road back to california.

to: justin, audra, brian, bridgett, donnie, suzanne, cole, kat, jordan, guy and the new frontiers, and all other friends who put us up, came to see us, and are new and some old good friends… thank you kindly.

for those of you in san diego we are playing at vinbladh’s in university heights on saturday night with minilove and joel p. west. it should be a really good show and we hope to see your smiling lips and san diego faces there.

love - james r.
***

first and foremost we would like to say a quick congratulations / farewell to our former drummer matt fredrich. we will be parting ways and hope the best for him. “you are a damn good drummer.” andy and i have joined the likes of fellow guitarist eli bowser (society’s finest) to create a bit of a new live sound and vibe that we find particularly poignant and confident.

that said we have plenty of shows in the next three months for any and all of you to come see us play: phoenix, tempe, flagstaff, longbeach and san diego. it will be our first time in arizona and are looking forward to playing some cool spots and meeting some new friends. we will be playing with our good friend d.s. yancey in both san diego and arizona. also with good friends, miniature soap and love, christine in long beach and san diego.

we have been working on mini soaps new record which has been some what of a slow and thoughtful process. her songs are written well and we are looking forward to playing on them and finishing the production sometime soon. also we have been getting some work done on our new songs and like the sonic value of our new compound in north park. start a war is a direct result of some of these qualities and sonic values.

we had a fun past weekend. we practiced with eli all day saturday. our very good friends raymond and erica, were in town with their new baby girl lilly. the five of us met more good friends down at imperial beach for some fish and chips only to find san diego’s sand castle tournament under way. it was crowded streets and a crowded pier but the friends and food made the night really cool. sunday afternoon andy and i went to comic con. we saw some cool stuff including the guy who played darth vader signing autographs, life size lego statues of batman, chewbacca, r2d2, c3po and we also met some really cool artists from brooklyn. they call themselves picture box… check them out on myspace.

all that to say, we hope to see you guys in the next few months.

with love - james r.

***

contrary to what some might think writer is alive and breathing. andy and i were out the other night to see a good friend jared hankins. he was mixing a band from portland called menomena, who if you have not heard them… please do. more to come thank you for your patience.

to work i must go - james r.
***

… or red blood drops. thank you so very much for coming to see the henry clay people and writer play sunday night at the zombie lounge. it was a nice rainy evening with clockwork orange playing and some nice folk in prom attire. our good friends were their to see us along with our friends the austin james band who played a great opening set. andy and i recently tracked some drums for miniature soap’s upcoming release “junkyard anniversary” and are set to finish tracking more beats, noises, and melodies sometime early march. you guys and girls should listen to her music. you will find it quite its own.
there has recently been a bit of press around writer. some of which was at smother.net. writer will also be in the city beat’s “great demo review” for the month of march. just a few things to check out and support. there are also some local radio stations who now have our record and we need some ole timey radio request to go out:
the local 94.9 / online / phone: 570.1.94.9,
91x / phone: 570.1.91.9,
kucr / phone: 951.827.kucr,
rock 105.3 / online / phone:858.570.1053

thanks so very much and we hope to see you soon.
check link for all other info and show dates.

with love - james r.
***

i just got back from june lake, ca last night after having a drink with our good friend matt chatigney. it was twelve degrees and there wasn’t a jacket big enough to warm my bones. i got to see friends i haven’t seen in a long while and was able to play my old acoustic guitar that i haven’t played for sometime now.

we have been putting off posting these songs and wanted to finalize what it is we were doing. they are hardly finished and both are demos of what we would like to hear and feel from a next record or even just further recordings. ‘don’t wake the sun’: many of our friends have heard and seen us play this in the last few months. ‘matthew’: we love it and we hope you do too.

we have a lot of new shows and are happy to be playing so often and with good company: Henry Clay People, The Soft.Lightes, Future of Forestry, Eva Elliott.

with love - james r.
***

we have really cool friends. we love you and thank you for coming to see us play last night. the henry clay people are a bunch of nice folk who play some damn good music. happy holidays and a very merry christmas.

sincerely - WRITER

***

happy holidays from writer.

a lot has been happening in this last month. last week we played at ‘blue christmas’ in cypress, with a band called ann lynn. they are real good. we play in san diego saturday night the 16th at o’connell’s pub off morena blvd in san diego. come sing songs and have a holiday drink with us.

we have finished recording the old christmas hymm “what child is this” written originally by William Chatterton Dix (c) 1865. the new xmas song and also last years song, “i’ll be home for christmas”, can be listened to or downloaded by clicking on either title.

our friend and artist jonny rench, has illustrated and colored a screen print of writer. this print is a signed and numbered limited edition of 40, measuring 22in x 10in, and is a rather scarey interpretation of us chaps. remember, this is real artwork… not some glossy poster of us in suits. the print will be on sale for the holidays and will stay up until it is no longer in stock. to purchase click here. ‘cover your tracks’ is still for sell for all you girlfriends looking for the perfect record to buy your boy. thank you for reading this and supporting the writer cause. we hope every one has a great christmas day and don’t forget to tell your families you love them.

merry christmas - WRITER

***

tomorrow should be somewhat busy. i guess mostly the evening. andy is showing some work at the spacecraft gallery in north park, san diego. the opening is from six to nine and writer is playing at pehrspace in echo park, los angeles at ten o’clock the same evening. our last few shows have been a lot of fun. the henry clay people have been nice enough to book us on their last two shows and both of them were fun and different. we have been playing a newer song live called ‘anymore’. we should soon have a version for listen. there continues to be shows cofirmed and added so make plans accordingly and ‘get to the club and shake your asses’. until we see you again…

much love - james r.
***

hello everyone. it is becoming late at night but there are a few things to be said. first, we love you who support us and we are playing soon so we will finally get a chance to mingle with you lovely folks. second, riverside’s, kucr 88.3 the vinyl hours (thank you tina) and san diego’s rock 105.3 have been kind enough to play our music and if you would like to hear it more you can make requests at rock 105.3 under the show ‘the inside track’ or at kucr’s request line: (951) 827 kucr. third, i just finished editing some tour footage and it has turned out to be a nice video of us in the car and andy playing his old box while driving through oregon. you can view it either on our myspace or search youtube for writer - you will see.

see you soon - james r.
***

writer has finally become victim to its first album review, which is never a bad thing. check it out at here. also some other good news is that rock 105.3 played track seven ‘the pollution’, sunday night and will also be playing writer more on sunday nights anywhere from eight pm to eleven pm. i wasn’t able to catch it this sunday but hopefully the next. matt, andy, and i can’t wait for our next practice session and will be playing again shortly. thank you for reading this.

with much love (i might be getting sick) - james r.
***

yesterday jeremiah, andy, matt, and jared dropped me at seatac so i could take a flight home to san diego to be at a good friends wedding today. the last two shows were interesting, a bit lonely and great to say the least. andy and i have a good feel for what we are trying to do now and what we have been practicing. portland is a cool, cool city. we stayed with a good friend dan j. and his girlfriend. some friends showed up and took us to see the sites in portland. it was fun to hang with you guys: howard, melissa, lisa, dan, and racheal. we slept there again in portland and woke up way too early to get on the rode to jared’s house in poulsbo wa. it was a long and delerious drive but we made it to the castle house gallery (jared’s home), at about one o’clock. we soon realized we needed to catch the ferry across to seattle, which was a great experience. i packed my stuff, all the guys jumped in the car and we were quickly back to driving. today the guys are installing andy’s art work at the castle house gallery and tonight is the opening for his art show…

the best of luck brother and i wish i could be there.

thank you guys all for reading this again and if you get a chance send your best wishes to the boys and they have some long driving in the next few days. if any one is looking for a new writer record we have them and we hope to see you soon. they look clean and we are real happy.

with love from wa and ca - james r.
***

it was a long night of driving and a long night of being too tired to sleep. yesterday, andy and i rehearsed our new set as a two person live performance. we played the music, ate breakfast, played the music, made some changes, played the music, ate dinner, played the music, packed up the trailer (thank you matt c.), and finally left for berkeley ca. we woke up this morning and our new record arrived at the same time as we did in oakland at george’s house. mark, andy, and i are about ready to walk a few blocks to get some breakfast. we will be putting our record in the mail for those of you friends who have purchased them. thank you again to our friends who have helped us so very much.

with love from oakland - james r.
***

not eagerly waiting, just bored and waiting…
if you have the chance and if you have ten bucks you should drive out to see david bazan play. we were able to see him at the casbah monday night and although it was just him on an acoustic guitar it was a rather heart warming show for any of you who like his songs. andy and i finally had a chance to meet jared who mixed our new record ‘cover your tracks’. he is totally cool. if you havent listened to the tracks on myspace you should. some great people worked on it and it is exactly what we wanted. it should be arriving for us in san fransisco on the 1st where we are playing at a cool place called annies social club. you should come.

with love - james r.
***

andy and i went to the comic-con today. we used p.t. (public transportation) only to find the trolly’s a.c. (air conditioning) to be temporarily out of service. it was nice to finally get inside the convention hall with the ac blowing and nobody quite in there yet. after seeing the transformers preview and a life size statue of batman made from legos we decided to get the hell out of there. again our trolly was musty and hot and when we got back to the house we fell asleep only to wake up sweaty and in a bad mood… stay indoors, find the one friend with a swimming pool, storm the gates and jump in. global warming’s a bitch. oh and tomorrow will be our last rehearsal before our trip up the west coast. hope it’s not this hot.

with love - jayme r.
***

i don’t know what is better: seeing a creative process reach utter completeness or the fact that the people i play with and the music we write get to travel up the west coast to dingy bars, cool clubs, hip galleries, and be listened to to by more than ourselves and our closest friends. “it is finished”. words from the good book and words we are privileged to say about ‘cover your tracks‘, our first full length album. we leave on july thirty first for seattle to set up andy’s art show and are very happy to be playing a handful of shows on both the drive up and back home. thanks for reading this and for all the support anyone has given us, much like our parents have.

with love - james r.
people who made this album what it is:
dave vecchio @ pop.vox.music for helping us track drums.
jared hankins and his assistant santiago for mixing.
christopher puzio for his guitar playing and creative drawing.
and mark sarigan and clark forrest for housing our racket.

***

hello everyone who reads our news. if you haven’t been over to our myspace page and read our recording blogs, we will be posting them above here from now on as well.

***

a benefit/awareness show in april has been added. the purpose of this show is to help the refugee people in the darfur region of sudan in africa. for more info about this show and about the group putting it on look here: S.H.E.L.T.E.R.

also new live pictures have been added to the site… look here.

plus the completion of the record is not to far away now. all the tracks have finally been recorded and now are off to get mixed and mastered. more details about the record, it’s title and track listings will be posted here soon.

bye now - james r.
***

A new date has been added. Hope to see you there.

***

This will be the year… the year of all years (wishful thinking)

Now the news-
First: Writer will be opening for This Holiday Life’s record release show, January 28th at SOMA in San Diego. The show starts at 7:00pm, is all ages, costs 10 dollars, and Writer will be playing first so make sure you get there early.

Second: All of the tracks have been recorded for the album (expect for a few of Andys vocals), so that leaves the mix and master for the next two months and a release around March/April. Check back often for updates.

***