Writer / News

for those of you who have seen us play recently and have been wondering who the dude with the mustache is, his name is dagart allison and he is a bad ass. he started playing with us after we got back from sxsw and is slowly mastering the bass synth and some slight percussion.

this weekend we head to san fransisco to celebrate our nations freedom at the el rio with a handful of cool bands including low red land, two sheds, and birds and batteries… all of which have made it through san diego a few times and we have been able to play with, some more than others. it should be a fun trip and i am looking forward to a weekend out of town.

there is some cool shows in the months ahead so be sure to make time in your schedule to make it to every single one…

jayme r.

***

may 3rd we loaded into earthling studio and recorded three new songs that will get pressed on vinyl sometime in the near future. mike kamoo and earthling studio is one of the best studios i have been in. you should record there!!

may 8th andy and i both were groomsmen in an old friends wedding.

may 10th we got on a plane to new york. we did just about everything you do with your parents in new york: went to the top of the empire state building, as well as the statue of liberty, rode the subway to brooklyn, went to coney island, walked back across the bridge, saw phantom of the opera, went to ellis island and even ate at lombardi’s (the first pizzeria in america).

may 12th andy and i went out a few nights after mom and dad had gone in for the night. we saw the vivian girls play at the bowery ballroom and our friend emily took us to a few gallery openings in town.

this saturday may 23rd we are playing at the soda bar in san diego, its our only show this month and it is the night before my birthday so come hang out.

can’t wait - jayme r.

***

i haven’t written for various reasons…

1- back to work.
2- been sick for a while now.
3- partying with dagart.
3- got a new roommate.
4- old roommate got married (congratulations eli and valerie).
5- easter with the folks.
6- keith and i from black mamba planning our birthday bash!
7- partying some more with dagart.

i realize these are all bad excuses so i figured i would write about our last few weeks before i go to work this afternoon …

friday the 10th and saturday the 11th we played the ken club and the knitting factory with a really kick ass band called the knew. they are from denver colorado and they are really cool dudes. it is always fun to play two if not more shows in a row with the same familiar faces as the night before.

monday the 13th we played the spaceland in la with our good friends, the henry clay people, who will have a monday night residency the entire month of april. you have probably already missed the first two but the last two should be just as good. so if you are in la the next few mondays, its free and you should totally stop by.

we are super excited to be playing with one of our favorite bands menomena, this saturday night at the casbah. tickets are twelve dollars and we play first. so get there at 830 grab a drink and come say hi to us. this should be a really cool show.

- we have put up an album of photos called shows… check it.
- we will soon have our split 7″ w/ swim party for sale here… check that.

thanks - jayme r.

***

just as we were becoming reacquainted with our own beds and getting some much needed rest back in sd, we found ourselves dumping out our bags and cramming in whatever clean clothes we could find for a pair of shows up in central california last week.

some might balk at the prospect of being back on the road so soon, but spending the better part of a week driving through the southwest makes the 5 hours (err, 7 hours with l.a. traffic) to fresno pretty inconsequential. that ride bounces off us like bullets off of superman… or ninja stars off chuck norris’ eye… or the gift of humor off dane cook.

fresno and merced were fun and we met some great people, as i’m learning is par for the course with the ralph brothers. merced was particularly receptive, and we’re currently devising a scheme to transport the partisan into san diego for our own selfish drinking/lounging needs. oh. we also wanna give a big thank you to barb and al for their unintended hospitality. “giant cat hand!”

it was great playing the shows with boomsnake and we wish them luck on their upcoming massive cross-country tour. i forgot to axe for a souvenir, but any kind of snack with honey will probably suffice. or a t-shirt commemorating the world’s largest ____. (medium).

as promised, here is the live in-studio performance we did at krux en route to austin for sxsw. we had about an hour to load in, get something recorded and get to the show on the other side of las cruces. thanks again to mark for his time and working under the gun to help get our music out there.

we can’t wait for pix and video from the sezio show @ luce loft we did with black mamba last week. it was a special experience and we hope we can share at least part of it with those who couldn’t make it. the whole pairing series was amazing, and we’re tourturing zack with whatever inhumane methods we can find until sezio puts together another incredible string of shows.

-d(avid)

as if to remind us of precisely what we’ll be missing, we just came from mohawk’s, where grandaddy performed for free, with a complimentary can of pbr to boot. andy unknowingly got into the v.i.p. and gave us strange looks when we failed to take advantage of the gourmet tacos and top-shelf booze he had his mitts around. his sagging eyes and disheveled hair must have been mistaken for rock star disaffection (or perhaps identified perfectly-so).

before that, everyone crawled out of whatever holes they sought for the shelter the night before to catch lights on’s last show at sxsw at the red eyed fly. 11am in downtown austin is a strange sight. the clubs are just waking up, a parade of tour buses begin to line the streets, smaller vans with trailers jockey for loading spots, all-night partiers stagger past bands loading in instruments for the day’s first sets, bar workers hose down every flat surface, grills are scraped of yesterday’s charred remains, and the more dignified participants of the festival, sporting event badges and lanyards, meticulously peer at page after page of print out schedules and itineraries, occasionally making strategic checkmarks here and contingency plans there. everywhere you go seems like the backstage or inner-workings of something else, before you realize that the line from behind the stage to the front is blurred. that transparency is what makes sxsw so interesting. everyone there is both a performer and a member of the audience.

tangents aside, our show last night went well. it was hectic getting the equipment in and out on a street with dozens of other bands doubled parked. we somehow managed to get a $50 parking ticket while loading in a coned-off loading zone. go figure. but the set was fun, and we put all of our energy into it. i know i’m sounding like a broken record, but big ups to lights on and the rest of our friends for supporting us. it’s gonna suck not having this much fun every night.

so now we’ve handed out the rest of our freebies, said our goodbyes and settled into our nests within darth. while we’d love to stay just one more night and see more of our friends play, we need to get back to sd. we’re doing a straight shot, all-nighter. google maps says it’s about 19 hours without stopping. we have little left in our own tanks, but we’ll manage. writer will miss you, austin.

-d(avid)

after rolling off the floor and a quick change of clothes in darth, we meandered our way to downtown austin. even from our starting point 3 miles out, bands could be heard in every direction. it’s everywhere! music really is seeping from the city’s pores.

the singing serpent bbq at the iron gate was great. ice cold lone star beers and a smokey grill fired up out back framed the perfect backdrop for a hot and humid texas day of music. the opening band, no kids from vancouver (check them out!), were missing some bits and pieces of their drum kit, so jayme helped them out. the guys from singing serpent were even cool enough to give us a slot to play afterward! so within 15 minutes of being at sxsw, we were suddenly playing a show!

the austin sun was merciless on their backyard stage. before we knew it, buckets of sweat and clouds of dirt swirled together, putting the dayquil i had downed to the test. but our rocking set sounded surprisingly good, and proved to be an even better cure (for the moment, at least). many thanx to everyone that came by to check us out.

then we *really* started getting into sxsw. you could literally walk into any place and see a band play. stages were set up in bars, backyards, hair salons, mechanics garages, street corners, just about anywhere. if there were room to setup a drum kit, a few amps and a pa, you bet people were doing it. and contrary to my initial impression that you would need a $450 wristband to see anything worthwhile, most of the best things are free and plentiful. i can’t say enough about how great it is to just be here. if you’ve never experienced sxsw, just get your ass to austin next year!

after the bbq, we bounced from show to show, seeing some great bands and running into friends left and right. there’s so much going on, you can’t really plan what to do, you just have to be there and go where the austin wind blows you. we finally got to meetup with pals henry clay people, which made everyone smile even a bit more.

lots and lots of walking, talking, drinking, rocking. if thursday was this nuts, i can’t imagine what the rest of the week holds.

late at night we stumbled down across the tracks to our favorite venue so far, the compound and caught apes of wrath belting out a wicked set.

at this point, i was about to keel over from being terribly sick, lugging merch and being in the thick of it all day. lights on helped me out with a guest room in their private wing of the four seasons hotel, and it’s been the best rest i’ve gotten all tour. the rest of writer is still out there, somewhere, drinking beers and rokking for me. they know not the word “rest,” for them, there is none. i salute you, fellow bandmates, wherever you may be. my fingers are crossed that you are intoxicated, but not incarcerated, and that we find each other at the lights on bbq show this afternoon, where i’m currently guzzling water and doing a rather impolite sinus flush in the parking lot.

our last show of the tour is tonight at mugshots. i’m really amped, but saddened by the fact that it will be our last. oh, excuse me, lights on is summoning me to a sit-down lunch… whatever that is. caviar? what but of course, tim.

-d(avid)

after spending all day in the confines of darth, we trekked far across the seemingly infinite expanse of texas nothingness to austin. we met some hipsters on their way from san fran at a gas station and jayme was kind enough to share his box of red wine. no one was interested in my 4ft beef rope, sadly.

an unguarded electrical outlet at another gas station provided the means for a lovely ramen dinner, complete with chef andy’s special touch of soroche and crunchy noodle crackers.

on through the night, we spotted hundreds of deer along the side of the road, just waiting to jump into darth’s crosshairs and bum us out, man.

we pulled in at 2.30, and our friends max and bryce were kind enough to take us in. despite sleeping for a bit of the drive, the sniffles and aches that were knocking on my door in el paso stormed in with vengeance. i looked and felt like death, or something close to it. lights on has the road sniffles too, with varying degrees. that makes me feel slightly better.

we’re excited to enter the fray of sxsw. our first stop will be singing serpent’s bbq at the iron gate, with free bbq and free beers! w00t! lots of bands are playing all over town and we hope we can see all our friends play.

-d(avid)

i am waking up and my stomach does not like me very much at all. el paso was quite a trip. we pulled into town early and spent about 4 hours in starbucks using the internet and just figuring everything out. then we ate at this awesome bbq with our friends lights on at a spot called the rib hut, it was a funny contrast because the two big groups eating were some broski’s and us, but everyone had a good time. as we pulled up to the venue, a pleasant surprise as drew andrews pulls up in his van. they were playing the black market, which was literally across the street, good to see other sd bands on the road. zeppelin’s was bizarre at first as there was no one from the bar knew what was going on, but once the owner showed up all things were cool.around 10:45pm lights on started, pretty much right when the bar started getting full, it’s a pretty late scene over here. plus it was st. patty’s day. yak ballz was playing upstairs so the vibe was way different in the upstairs hip-hop venue. jayme walked into the bathroom as two huge hip-hoppers were taking down some powder. luckily he didn’t get jumped (p.s. that stall didn’t have a door, or a toilet seat, no deuces)

writer rocked a good set and since we got lots of drink tickets and the bartenders kept us filled, we were getting pretty wild. every night the shows have been better, as david starts to really sync up with the brothers ralph. the young kids from san fran were dizzy balloon and they were amazing. they too are heading to sxsw and definitely spinto band style, so that’s awesome. they ripped a great cover of “i want you back” everyone was bouncing around and dancing.

the night ended with a fight outside the club that shut down the street, and we got kind of weird at the end of the night, possibly letting out some inner tension, but we made up afterwards as we got late night taco cabana, and stayed with andy and jayme’s aunt and uncle as we rolled in at 4am. they were very friendly and cooked us breakfast this morning. we are hung-over but happy. now we are about to leave to austin.

- dagart

***

wow. another great day on the road!

we pulled up to new mexico state’s radio station, krux, and did a guerilla in-studio performance/interview. it’s a bit stripped down and we were under the gun to get something recorded before booking to our show at el patio, but we think it came out alright. big props to mark for setting it up and getting us some great exposure. we’ll update y’all as soon as we know when/where it can be found online.

we stripped down the gear during the interview and crammed it back into the trailer before flying down to the club, where lights on actually arrived before we did. amazing what a relaxing day in the pool can do… hahah

all kidding aside, they *brought* it and literally left the stage covered in blood and sweat. my shoes are starting to wear out from dancing to these guys. i’m actually very upset about this, as i’ll now end up back in san diego looking like a hobo with shopping bags tied around my feet.

we can’t say enough about how great is having them out here and supporting one another. we make it a party every night, and we’re really bummed that tomorrow will be our last show with them.

oh. and not to toot our own horn, but toot toot; our set was friggin’ awesome! probably the best so far.

big thanks to las cruces music impresario tucker for booking the show and being all-around one of the coolest people we know. his kindness and passion for music is only exceeded by his magnificent silky pony tail. [jealous]

we crammed into his bedroom for the night and he took the couch. writer votes his shower and its many amenities far and away the most pleasing thus far.

today’s drive was only 45 min to el paso, and we didn’t even have to stop for an andy pee break (a new record), which usually is prompted by a lot of screaming and clamping.

tonight’s show is gonna be great, and we really look forward to sending our friends out with a bang.

- d(avid)

after the show, our good friend jeremiah was kind enough to let us post up at his house, which we learned was actually his tenants’ house. they really had no idea who we were and only met their landloard once. so it was mega-awkward when we wandered in at 1am. in the darkness, we found a beer pong table, a kegerator, an xbox 360 on top of a ps3 on top of a big screen tv, a beer bong, a foosball, table, various pieces of dilapidated furniture and dog fur on everything. “there is a slight chance these guys may be college students,” we thought.

but a night’s rest on the floor, warm showers and a few bagels reenergized our batteries, which were a bit low. just as we were about to leave, andy found a mysterious brown smear on the lazy boy we had been sitting upon that morning. “that’s shit, man! omg, it’s shit!” sure enough, a writer matchbook(tm) scooped sample provided incontrovertible evidence that we’d been sitting in wet, gritty dookie. the tattered state of the furniture and its horrendous fabric pattern had masked its presence until that point. a hilarious panic ensued, with everyone bending over, pleading for someone to check them for contamination. “dude! dude?! do i have it on me?! no! no! look *carefully*!! aaaaaaah!” unfortunately, i took the brunt of it. one of the tenants awoke to find me in the kitchen, wearing just underwear and socks, scrubbing my jeans frantically in the sink. “hey, there. um. i’m just… getting my, um, jeans… clean… in your sink, for some reason or another.” i then made a b-line for darth and we hit the road. how the dollop of defecation got there in the first place remains a mystery. we suspect an undetected pet, pissed about our unexpected visit. but we know that the phantom shit probably came from the same twisted forces that stole jayme’s sunglasses. indeed, this is strange land.

we’re back on the road all day (again), trying to make it to the college radio station in las cruces for an in-studio performance before the show at el patio.

brooke from lights on suggested my nickname be “poopy pants.” haw. haw.

- d(avid)

***

lights off? after facing a myriad issues in getting on the road in san diego, our friends lights on finally got a push start and were able to somehow bend the space time continuum to their will and keep it together long enough to pull up in tucson just as we were about to go on. we played a great set and despite the untimely demise of their coveted glowing dragon sculpture, lights on tore it up as well. the show had a really fun vibe and we caroused late into the night.

the folks at the red room took great care of us, and stuffed the band with the tastiest foods, beers and good times. there’s a very cool creative scene coursing through tucson and we were able to stumble around town with some of its finest denizens. we danced away what was left of the night at an old chili factory house party. pepper jam. oh. and someone in writer inadvertently dry humped a cactus.

we split from town right before the st. patrick’s day parade ran over darth in a trail of cops and sloppy green slime. however the campy roadside attraction the thing proved to possess powers of mystery far greater than we could have possibly imagined. within moments of being in its presence, something mysterious crawled out of andy, dagart’s mustache began speaking in tongues, and jayme’s shades drifted into the ether in this land of enchantment.

we’re trucking on to albuquerque with lights on bringing up the rear (again). we’ve laid a series of boobie traps and oil slicks to get them off our tail. we also put up a sign that read albakurkey-> and if all goes according to plan, it will lead them directly into the black tunnel we painted on the side of a mountain.

beep beep.

- d(avid)

***

we are waiting in line to cross the hoover damn, and the very awesome homeland security officer homeland security officer just asked us who in the car could play sweet home alabama? dagart, andy and i all pointed at david and laughed. last night we played in las vegas at the double down saloon. interesting to say the least, the city and the people seem a bit surreal. thanks to david’s friend nick, the four of us were able to share an executive sweet as well with two pleasent surprises. our two friends melina and alethea showed up at the double down to suprise us and we stayed up till three watching dagart play black jack and after we made cup of noodles, had a beer, and went to sleep. this morning we woke up, made some coffee, and got on the road to tucson. tonight lights on joins us to play the red room and as well as our next few dates in new mexico and texas.

soon - jayme r.

***

eli bowser isn’t playing with andy and i anymore. this has been discussed on a few local blogs and is in fact true. he is a damn good guitar player and will be missed. we have jumped in a friend to make our south by south west tour as well as the shows we will be playing following texas. his name is david hastings macadam.

david’s first show with us will be this thursday night march 12th at bar pink in san diego with san francisco’s birds and batteries, and the next day we leave for las vegas and so on and so forth. we have been extremely happy with the sound that is coming from our little old garage and are excited to get out of town and be playing together. the majority of our trip we have booked with our friends lights on from san diego and since darth now has a trailer hitch thanks to andy’s christmas present from mom and dad our good friend, scientist, and musician, dagart allison will make the fourth for our trip… tour manager, photographer, narrator if you will. we will be writing as many posts as possible while we drive through the desert.

for those of you not following us religiously on tour like many others are, we will be playing in san diego again on march the 25th for live at luce loft presented by sezio. tickets for this show and each night are $5 (cash only) presale only and can be purchased at subtext: gallery and design bookstore located at 2479 kettner boulevard and is open thursday through sunday, 1pm to 7pm.

see you soon hopefully - jayme r.

p.s. we have posted some new photo albums here.

***

a few nights ago we played the x1fm open door sessions which turned out to be quite fun. thank you to our friends and fans for coming and hanging out with us and bringing us a beer or two. february should be a rather busy, busy month. with andy leaving for work and me running the coffee house while my manager is out of town, we have a few things to get done:

february 22nd swim party and writer will be in studio with our good friend tim pyles to talk about our new split 7in and listen to the two songs that are on it. some time between 8pm and 10 pm. tune in if you would.

february 27th swim party and writer will be playing a show at the whistle stop to release our split vinyl and we couldn’t ask to be doing this with the likes of any other band in san diego. we have been practicing (actually only managed one so far) with eric, alex, and petro to play our set at the whistle stop together (what some are calling the mega band) as a six piece band. needless to say it will take some practice to pull this off accurately but if you plan on coming that night you should be in for quite an evening.

this 7in will be available online, at our shows and at your local san diego record shops soon after the february 27th show.

february 28th we have rescheduled our luxury wafers live session at the chessvolt studio in van nuys. thankfully after i was laid up last year and had to cancel a few things this is one we were able to reschedule… you will be able to listen and see photos as well as some other cool bands in studio at luxurywafers.com.

on then to march…

with love - jayme r.

p.s. photos from the house of blues courtesy of brad swonetz here.

***

this past year has been a pretty great year. a full year spent with eli and a full year spent writing, listening to, recording, losing awards, meeting new friends, voting in a new president, being in new cities, and staying up way past our bedtime with friends, girlfriends, and some of the great bands we have played with in the last year. we are sincerely thankful for each part of two thousand and eight and thankful for the people we have met or maintained relationships throughout. to name a couple:

rosie at sddialed:in
tim pyles at 94.9
tim mays (casbah)
sam chammas (whistlestop bar)
the casbah and whistlestop’s loving bartenders
diana van rooy at the citybeat
zack at sezio
beth, willow, and the kiddos
clarke
johnny q. in fresno
r.c. in merced
neil shield at origami records
jason martin
brad swonetz
swim party (sd)
summer darling (la)
tape deck mountain (sd)
joel p. west (sd)
low red land (sf)
the fling (lb)
the henry clay people (la)
hotel st. george (sd)

any magazine or newspaper who wrote about us.
any loving person who bought records from us
and / or bought us a drink when we were out of town.

thank you.

some two thousand and nine news:
we have shows posted through february.
please sign up on our mailing list to receive a monthly newsletter about our shows, where we will be, and what we are doing. we have posted new fliers that you may start seeing around town as well as some new pictures from the past year that you can view here.

last and very not least, who i would never forget to say just a bit more about, thank you so much to swim party (alex sorry i missed your new years eve party) who we were able to play some great shows with this last year and who also, come february, we will be releasing a split 7in. vinyl with. more news about that to come.

i hope everyone made it out on the other side of the holidays and the new year, and i hope to see you and your smiling faces if not at a show, around town with a new hope in your faces of what is to come in the next four years.

love you dearly - jayme r.

***

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.

***