unplugged magazine june 2014 (#18)

M a g a z i n eUnplugged

J u n e 2 0 1 4

INside: - From indian lakes talks about their first headlining tour- featherweight gets the hang of the music making process- ucsd student board closes down the ché café- josh jurss reminds us of the basics of summer festivals

Alden Knight

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Letter from the staff:

the roads we travel

I sat down to write this month’s staff letter about something to do with surf rock and how I legitimately love the fact that it’s getting popular again. But then I heard my mom listening to the music she has on her phone as she did some everyday chores. I couldn’t help but notice how vastly different her mu-sic choices were from mine. Then I realized that every mem-ber of my immediate family has completely different tastes in music and now I’m sitting here just wondering one thing: “How the hell did that happen?”It’d be way too easy to just say that different generations have different tastes. That could definitely be a factor, but a small one. I grew up with two older brothers, three and six years older than me, and my mom. You would think that things would line up at some point, and while they can with my fam-ily, it is very few and far in between.I believe that we are who we are mainly based on the events we’ve experienced in our lifetime, and our own music taste is part of who we all are. Not only do our experiences have an effect on who we are, but how we react to those experiences does as well and that’s how it shapes our taste in music.My family used to live in Del Paso Heights, one of the more “ghetto” neighborhoods in Sacramento. We had multiple people trespass and occasionally try to break into our house for a number of reasons. All of us experiencing that would have an effect on us that would stay with us for a lifetime, but our different reactions to that experience would make for dif-ferent results.My mom, being what every single mom has to be, strong and resilient, would have to act as if she wasn’t bothered by what happened. Now she’s very into pop and top-40 music. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s music for escapism. My broth-ers were angry about the entire situation. They now tend to lean toward old gangsta rap; music for being pissed off. As for me, I was young and scared and wanted nothing more than for the whole ordeal to be over. I definitely went through a smooth jazz and calm hip-hop instrumentals phase; music to calm someone down.Now this is all just an idea and nothing here is absolute. We all have much more varied tastes in music and these were all just examples and speculation. Still, I feel as if there is more to the music we listen to than what we find pleasing to the ear. What we go through in life and the way we perceive music all comes into our own personal tastes.

- Daniel Romandia

Top 5 Albums On Repeat

“Afraid of Heights”Wavves

“Piñata”Feddie Gibbs and Madlib

“Dalliance”Gold-Bears

“Rappers Will Die of Natural Causes”Open Mike Eagle

“Fidlar”Fidlar

Editors in chiefSteven Condemarin

alisha kirby

WritersJorden Hales

Ashli jade Josh Jurss

daniel Romandia

Copy editorsRobert AguilarMegan Houchin

PhotographersCarlos AlmanzaAllen DubnikovJesika GatdulaJoseph Garcia

Elmer Martinez

ContributorsKendra beltranAndrea Caccese

Eric DelgadoGavin McIntyre

Contact usFeel free to head

over to our website (sacunplugged.com) for

more information on advertising, contributing

and submissions.

Upma

gPG12

pg 18 Album reviews

pg 20 Shoujo Kitten

pg 17 I Knew Josh Before He Got Famous

PG 16 Ché Café Collective

PG 15 FeatherweightPG 05 Drop the needle again

PG08 From indian lakes

PG 10 My Scene, My Music

Childish gambino07PG

pg 11 staff picks

UnpluggedM a g a z i n e

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June.2014.unplugged.05

If we were all honest with ourselves, we’d admit we like having things that are limited edition, or are signed, or whatever. We like to own things that are unique in some way. With records, limited variants and different pre-order packages

are cool, but common. Hand-numbered records on the other hand -- you’re less likely to stumble on those. These are a couple of my favorite hand-numbered records from my collection:

Drop The Needle Again

Mansions - "Dig Up The Dead" - Hot Pink, 1/100

&Jack's Mannequin - "Everything In Transit" - Black, 86/1000

This was a whim of a pre-order after hearing a snippet of one song during a month when I randomly had some semblance of a disposable income. It also quickly became one of my favorite records of all time. Both Mansions and Clifton Motel re-cords should be bigger than they are and the quality of the music, the pressing and the time that went into this are all proof enough. Pick this up if you get a chance.

by Alisha Kirby

Jack’s Mannequin was Andrew McMahon’s perfect project and this record is high school nostalgia in a nutshell. My excitement when this pressing was announced was immeasurable. However, this is nothing spectacular. The packaging is in-credibly basic for such a special album and the pressing is really just OK. It’s the music on the record that made it worth my money, but I do worry about how this will hold up over time. I wish this had seen the same treatment as “The Glass Passenger.”

06.unplugged.June.2014

Check out the whole photo set online @sacunplugged.com

Childish GambinoVenue: Fox TheaterOakland, CA (May 6)Photos by: Gavin McIntyre


Check out From Indian Lakes’ facebook to follow them

on their tour & to check out their latest releases

Joey Vannucchi grew up without electricity on 40 acres of land near Yosemite National Park in California. Therefore, he spent a lot of time playing drums and teaching himself other instruments. This lead to the formation of From Indian Lakes and the release of the band’s debut “The Man With Wooden Legs” in 2009. After a few years of writing and touring, the band released “Able Bodies” and signed to Triple Crown Records for the release of their upcoming album later this summer.

What is your name and the instrument you play?

I am Joey Vannucchi and I sing and play whatever.

This is your first full-U.S. headlin-ing tour. I’ve seen you post photos of rooms full of people and a lot of dates have even sold out. Were you expecting this sort of reaction?

I didn’t want to do this tour, to be complete-ly honest, because it’s much easier to tour with a popular band and to play to their thousands of fans; play for 20 minutes and just kind of just sit around and drink and eat for three hours. But when you have a label and different people that tell you to do a headlining tour to see what your draw ac-tually is by yourself, you say, “That sounds awful! What if nobody shows up?”But after the first night it was sold out and then the next night it was packed and it just kept going and going, and you feel like this is so weird. I was just laughing on stage because it’s just so weird. It’s kind of cli-ché, but I guess sometimes for bands all of a sudden it just clicks or something. Even with the hard shows where we thought this is the night where there’s not going to be anybody there and we knew this was coming -- we’re in, like, Blank-middle-of-nowhere-place -- and then there’s like a hundred kids there. You’re like, “This is crazy. There’s a snow storm outside. I

wouldn’t have come to this show.” It’s been really cool for people who have been there when we played to nobody. It just sort of feels to them and to us like something just started.

You released “Able Bodies” indepen-dently without using crowdsourcing and it was a success. That being said, why have you chosen to put out LP3 on Triple Crown Records?

Basically, we were shopping “Able Bodies” around for a long time but all the offers we got were bad. A lot of our friends were in really weird spots and a lot of bands these days, no matter how much more popular, even bands that are way bigger than us, can’t make any money or a career. They were signing old school record deals and we just kept saying no to everybody. We felt that we could not sit on “Able Bodies” anymore; we had to put it out.We just decided to see what happened.

From Indian LakesFrom Indian LakesFrom Indian LakesQ&A with:

Story by Elmer Martinez


We personally felt like nobody had independently released a record like it yet. Not that we think it’s so good, it’s just that it sounds like an album that somebody wouldn’t just post on Facebook and Twitter and say, “Hey, here’s our album, spread the word!”Everybody was so cool and after we sold a pretty cool amount in the first week and first month, all of the industry people from before came back around and Triple Crown made us an offer that just makes sense. It’s a win-win for every-body. It’s such a smart deal. It’s not that we’re anti-anything, we just try to be smart.

Your banner onstage on this tour reads “These songs are From Indian Lakes.” What is the significance behind that?

I just wrote it on the first case I ever had; the songs that I origi-nally started recording and writ-ing in Indian Lakes. Fans have really taken the vibe and it’s turned into this cool thing. We don’t like to stick to any specific genre and the only thing that is a constant is that everything is from this same place. “These songs are From Indian Lakes” is the embodiment that even if we’re constantly evolving and dabbling in all these genres, the songs are always from the same core. I think that’s what’s sort of happening with that, which I’m excited about.

“Able Bodies” was seen as sort of a departure from “The Man With Wooden Legs.” You’ve stated that it is only a continuation on the same themes and stories. With LP3, what elements from the prior albums will you be taking with you and what can we expect to be different?This is the first time where

there are a lot of songs. There’s not really a concept and it’s sort of detached from the previous records. We’re still trying to keep the same band -- I don’t believe in becoming a different band when we switch records -- but I also don’t want to keep writing the same songs. For me, it’s still about the live show and putting out a bunch of songs. Whenever people come see us we’re never going to stop playing old songs.It’s just about putting together the best set and writing a new batch of songs that just adds up to a new, even better set of live stuff. The album is going to be different. It’s not as noisy in some ways but yet there’s less acoustic stuff sometimes. But then there are also baritone guitars and different stuff that are not being used in the way that people would think to use them. We’re trying to use them in ways that are dark but not heavy. We’re just experiment-ing with different stuff. The new album is going to groove more and have bass stuff that we never would have done before. It’s not so ridiculous anymore to do a really cool bass groove because there are a couple of grooves on “Able Bodies.”

I love both albums but I don’t think I was ever attached to “The Man with Wooden Legs” when “Able Bodies” came out. I know there were people who didn’t even want to listen to it because they were so attached to “The Man With Wooden Legs.”

There are people who have never listened to “Able Bodies” and I think that’s just insane. I feel like they liked me when I was 18, 19 years old and they don’t even want to know what I’m like at 23. I wrote those

songs such a long time ago. It’s just crazy to me.

Your fan base is very devout. I’ve met some of my best friends from going to your shows. What about your music do you think draws people together?

I don’t think it’s especially raw or anything, and I don’t think it’s necessarily that great. I just think that we just try to be genuine and try to write genu-ine songs. The bands we get lumped in with and the genre that we’re in have become disingenuous. It’s really easy to write sad, “real songs” and su-per blunt lyrics, and I think that people just stopped being po-etic. I think people have a really good time at our shows. I’m not trying to pretend I’m a sad boy all the time or that my songs are sad. It’s an outlet for a reason, so that I can be happy with people. I think people see that and it’s different because they think a lot of singers in this genre are supposed to be ultra-cool jerks, and people think that’s cool because they’re “art-ists.” I don’t know what those people’s deals are, but with us there are genuine vibes and we’re just normal.

You’ve recorded both of your albums with Dryw Owens. Why do you keep going back?

Everybody wanted to go to these huge producers. For one thing, I like to do what people think I’m not supposed to do. Everyone wanted us to track “Able Bodies” and this new record with people like Matt Goldman (Underoath/ Co-peland/ Cartel) and all these people that bands like us are supposed to go to, and that immediately makes me want to

not want to go to those people because I like to do the op-posite of what everybody thinks that we should do. Which can get really annoying to every-body sometimes. But also, I wanted to go to Dryw because people will see that we’re signed to a label and, depending on how popular we are by this point, when-ever the album gets released I just want people to know that nothing changed. Same team, same family and everybody got better at what they’re doing. Nobody came in and changed anything. Whatever the album is, people have no excuses as to why they don’t like it. It just is what it is. I think that people like to use labels and producers as an excuse to why a band has changed for the worse. And I love Dryw, he’s like one of my best friends. I think people tend to spend a lot of albums trying to find the guy who they work best with. I think we just got lucky.

What has been the most humbling or surreal experi-ence on the “Able Bodies” tour?

I think the crowds and also me having such low expectations and just these moments where our tour manager tells me some random thing that we’re about to do. Just the stuff that clicked on this tour with even just simple stuff that bands take for granted. Endorse-ments or festival submissions; there’s just certain stuff that for some reason, this tour, i’ts all just been sort of clicking. And some surreal moments where I was just on stage and just laugh to everybody in the mic. It’s just crazy. I don’t know. It’s just crazy that a band like ours could be doing so well.


My Scene, My Music What qualities do you look for when checking out new bands?

Josh JurssChicago, IL

Unplugged Mag. Staff Writer

@JoshJurss

I recently went to a show at the House of Blues in downtown Chicago with two of my closest friends. The venue is basically an elongated semi-circle of ample standing room along with stools, tables and some second-level box seats forming a perimeter around the stage-viewing area. Realizing we were in the 1 percent of at-tendees above the age of 21, we promptly decided to avoid the pit area, grab some beer, and claim a table for ourselves. After purchasing our drinks from one of the many fine bar areas that price Miller Lite tallboys like a 20-year-old scotch, we made way to a table, only then learning the tables were an added, unexpected cost to our party. We quietly exchanged cash like a shady back alley drug deal and continued the night

from our thrones beyond the pit of adoles-cence.The first two bands played through their sets and our waitress informed us they were opening up the VIP box seats to cus-tomers who had bought tables. Here, we drank ourselves into oblivion during the re-maining sets, toasting every song and sing-ing till our lungs gave out.I couldn’t tell you in detail what the setlist was, what the bands said, or what all I did or said. What I can say is who I was with and why they made that night stick out as beyond just another show. Any show can be good because of the music or the venue or the band, but the shows that are truly legendary happen because of the people you are with.

Oh, how the answer has changed from the time I was in college to now. Then, it was about being in the front. If you weren’t, what was the point? Then, it was about the band squeezing as much as they could into a set and never letting up. No one needs a freaking break – especially those lame “we’re done, oh, no we’re back” encores. Then, it was about making a friend, either in line or inside.Now, I’m happy off to the side, OK if the band wants to cut things short (at 27 years old my back is wrecked) and I’m good never interacting. Sheesh, I sound like an old lady but dammit, that’s how I feel. My “Golden Girls” state aside, a good show, be it at 19 or 27, really can be summed up in two

words: memorable experience. I’ve gone to so many shows and the best ones are the handful where memories are instantly con-jured by just glancing at a crumbled ticket stub.Maybe the band played like it was their last ride, maybe they actually didn’t play every single they ever had (minus pop artists; that’s all you have), or maybe it was that random night you met one or two of your best friends (of course as a young per-son). For me, the show has never just been about the music. It’s the whole experience that makes those nights special, one of a kind – it’s just that with age comes different ideas of so-called good experiences.

Kendra BeltranLos Angeles, CA

Founder of Golden Mixtape

goldenmixtape.com

Eric DelgadoAbbeville, SC

blessyerheart.com

The meaning of a good show is kind of a loaded question because I think good shows and intimacy go hand in hand. I’ve never seen an arena-size show that I thought was outstanding (minus Kiss because, hey, de-mons breathing out fire is more entertain-ing than their shitty music anyway). Yeah, it’s cool to see videos, props and your fa-vorite artists singing your favorite songs in person, but is that enough?Back in my day, when I had to walk 10 miles in the snow to get to school, multi-player games were limited to the couch (Goldeneye 64) and I was forced to buy shitty compact discs for 18 dollars a pop if I wanted new music, there existed a really great club scene (no, not the dance club bullshit). In these clubs I would see bands

really put forth effort to not only deliver stel-lar tunes but also put on the most kick-ass shows I’ve ever seen. Here are my top mo-ments:1. Guitar pick flipping. This is where two dudes flip their picks at each other mid-strum and successfully catch and finish up their chords with unparalleled bad-assery. Sounds easy, but it’s hella challenging and visually impressive. 2. A dude climbing the rafters on the ceiling of a club with one hand, playing a solo with another until he reached the bar. He was thirsty. 3. Going with the flow. The power went out mid-set on one band and they decided to drop their pants, pull out their cocks and mock the Backstreet Boys.

Contributing Writer

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What is your favorite piece of band merch you own?

NEXT MONTH:

Hit us up on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #myscenemymusic and we’ll publish our favorite answers in next month’s issue!

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Staff picksTop 5:For most, watching Netflix, Hulu and/or your local cable/satellite is a ritual. You come home from a long day of shenanigans and work and change into clothes a couple sizes too big, turn on the TV or computer and drift away to the land where everyone (but the villain) gets a happy ending. Some watch to drift, some to keep up with the water-cooler talk about the latest “oh shit” moment in “Game of Thrones,” and some to re-experience our favorite moments from the shows we’ve watched in the past. Most shows/movies have an awesome score and/or soundtrack to go with it, here are my top 5:

by Steven Condemarin

This man is amazing, although by season six, Giacchino’s jungle-walking theme gets a little old. The different variations for each scene is impres-sive to say the least. His ability to produce emo-tion with perfectly-timed music really pulls you into the show and allows you to experience TV

like never before.

1. “Lost” - Michael Giacchino

This is one of the most moving scores of our time. Without this beautiful and magnificent score, none of us would have cried (don’t worry, we all cried, ALL OF US) during the intro to the plot.

2. “Up” - Michael Giacchino

When I first saw “Inception” I played a few of these songs over and over. His score adds a whole new layer of intensity to the scenes and the characters in them. Intensity within intensity.

3. “Inception” - Hans Zimmer

If you’ve never heard this, you should go give it a listen. While the score for this movie was composed by someone else, Collins put out the most memorable soundtracks to ever be played out of my mom’s cassette player (which I broke, sorry mom!).

4. “Tarzan” - Phil Collins

Before this movie, the theme to any pirate anything was “Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me…” And while that’s fun to sing when you’re drunk, it’s more fun to play this song and jump on top of tables and have broom fights with your friends (when you’re drunk, of course).

5. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” - Klaus Badelt

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Stay up-to-date on releases, shows and more on our website!

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Movie or TV scores and sound tracks

Alexi Belchere (The Y Axes)San Francisco, CA@theyaxes

A great show is made by the fans. People getting wild and singing along. I love performing music more than anything because I’m sharing a story that for me can mean one thing and mean something else to the listener. The way words and music combine to create an experience is mindblowing -- a great show brings lives together into one harmonious moment.

Ian Edge (Stages and Stereos)Tallahassee, FL@stages_stereos

One where you can feel the energy in the air. Every-thing clicks on those nights. It is phenominal.

Alburn Glasgow, Scotland@alburnrock

A good show is when the audience is as into it as much as the bands are. With this not much can go wrong!

Alden Knight

Story by Ashli Jade

Whole Foods clerk by day, talented Bay Area musician by Knight (did you see what I did there?). These Paper Satellites have been slowly growing their fan base across Northern California with the dreamy harmonies from their debut al-bum “Here Goes Nothing, There Goes Everything.” In addition, lead vocalist and guitarist Chris “Al-den” Knight released an EP all his own.I spoke with Chris about the two proj-ects and how they’re different, how layering complex harmonies can take “math rock” to the next lev-el, what it’s like collaborating spread-out band members, his favorite killer venues and how to kidnap Adam Nimmo and Tony Nesbitt-Larking.

In addition to playing guitar and singing in These Paper Sat-ellites, you’ve recently released some solo stuff. What do you play on the “Alden” EP?

For the “Alden” EP I played acoustic guitar, I sang and played and programmed the percussion and drums. We have a full album in the works but I wanted to release a few songs in the meantime, so we whipped these up at home.

I noticed that some of the members from TPS are also involved in Alden Knight. With so many of the same people playing together, is it hard to feel like the two are separate?

Nah. These Paper Satellites’ EP had a few of the same people but since then we’ve gone through two rhythm sections and a few

singers. We just kept playing shows under These Paper Satellites because it was easier

to book shows as an established band. But the acoustic shows

never did the TPS songs justice and we’d usually

play a handful of my older solo songs at

those shows as well. It’s nice to finally be able to book shows under my name and not have to constantly explain to book-ers that we’re an acoustic act now that doesn’t re-ally sound like the songs that TPS has released.

How are TPS and Alden Knight different?

TPS is where I get to play with experi-

mental songwriting. When TPS was

me, Derek [Nielsen], Graham [Roggli] and

Nico [Molinari] playing all the instruments, we would get to focus on

playing

with changing time signatures and shifting tempos and writing songs that didn’t really have choruses or standard song structure. But the audience usually doesn’t want to have to count along for an entire show to make sense of the music, so I decided to really separate TPS and my Alden songs and make a distinction between my goals in songwriting.

In TPS you’re ‘Chris,’ but on your own you go by ‘Alden.’ Tell me more about that. Do you have any other alter egos?

Nope. Alden is an old family name and my middle name. Plus there is a country singer named Chris Knight, as well as the guy from the Brady Bunch, and a few others. I wanted to use a moni-ker that was different but still meant something to me. I almost went with Knightingale but then switched right before we recorded the EP. I’m glad I did.

What inspirational cues do you take when you’re writing your lyrics? Do you have different styles or methods for different projects?

Absolutely! The Alden songs are mostly acoustic and usually deal with personal experiences and girls and bad habits of mine, while TPS was a completely different lyrical challenge. Each one of those songs came about in its own way, with very little similarities in the structure of each song. But the Alden songs are a little more straightforward and traditional.

Lyrics usually come to me when I’m having a conversation with someone, or going on a hike, or driving somewhere, or in the shower (the chorus to “Murders” was definitely written in the shower), and then the song will grow from there. Whether the first lyric is in the beginning, middle or end of a song, music and words can always grow around it.

Your use of layered, intricate harmonies isn’t all that common in the world of “math rock,” what made you bring those two things together for TPS?

I love playing guitar and all, but nothing feels better to me than singing in harmony with my friends. Luckily I am fortunate enough to be able to sing with people who are far more vocally talented than I am. Whenever I would write a new song and bring it to Martin [Purtill], Ali [Solis] (TPS) or Hannah [Jacobs] (Alden), fully knowing the ridiculousness of what I was proposing, like “Soft Places,” they would always just look at me and say, “Cool, let’s do this.”

I’m kind of surprised that more math rock bands don’t focus on the things you can do with a voice. Luckily, there are bands like The Most Serene Republic and singers like Mike Sparks (Mister Meta-phor/ Bridges/ By Sunlight) and Pete Davis (Invalids) who can let audiences know how incredible a soaring vocal harmony can feel when it’s laid over a complex rhythm.

Right now you’re looking to go on tour. What are your three favorite venues to play?

The Arlene Francis Center for Spirit, Art and Pol-itics in Santa Rosa, California has been amaz-

ing to us, and the environment they create with the people who work there, the events

they choose to host and the crowds they bring are always a pleasure. The Naked

Lounge in Sacramento on H Street is great. It’s cozy, intimate and they definitely respect the musicians that play there. And last, The Phoenix —


Stay up-to-date on Knight’s releases via facebook

— Theater in Petaluma, California. It’s an enormous room and we could never fill it, and the sound of my acoustic guitar bounces around everywhere and shoots at your ears from all directions, but there is so much history in that building that makes performing there always feel like an honor to me.

How do you and the members of TPS collaborate, with mem-bers being spread out and juggling day jobs? Any way we can. With members in Santa Rosa and Sacramento, we do a lot of driving. Lately I’ve been sending new TPS demos to Graham in New York, Nico in Arkansas and “Zephyr,” who plays bass on the upcoming TPS EP, in Los Angeles. Luckily, we can email, or Skype, or use Dropbox to communicate and share songs. It can get a bit exhausting but it always feels worth it when those songs come together.

Right now you’re looking for a rhythm section. If you could kidnap any members from any band to fill the slots, who

would they be? And how would you kidnap them? Good question! For drums I’d have to go with Adam Nimmo or Tony Nesbitt-Larking. Both of them played with The Most Serene Republic in the past and both contributed some of my all-time favorite rhythms. Their songs are never predictable and the com-plexity is never redundant or overbearing. I’d also have to kidnap the bassist of TMSR, Simon Lukasewich. This guy’s bass lines, not to mention his fantastic violin playing, lay a foundation that’s pretty un-fuck-with-able.

I’ve also been very impressed lately by the combination of Joseph Arrington and Michael Littlefield (A Lot Like Birds/ Sianvar). These two can lock into some really complex and interesting rhythms together. And my favorite mode of kidnapping has got to be the white van, black mask, jump out and grab the guy, drive away fast method. Playing with ether never really ends the way you think it will.


Artist spotlight

Head over to featherweight’s facebook to listen to their debut EP “800”

F e a t h e r w e i g h t

P r e s e n t i n g :

Starting out in music is a learning pro-cess. You learn that when you get your band together you shouldn’t let your excitement get the best of you and announce an EP or album before you’re done writing said release. You learn that you don’t give a definitive release date until you’re done recording. You learn that you may be incredibly excited to get your music out to the world, but that you need to make sure you have everything in place be-fore you really put yourself out there.

That’s why Featherweight sees themselves as students who are finally getting the hang of it all. They have taken their experiences and are working toward becoming a young band with plenty of potential, and a debut EP to show for it all.

Featherweight started when lead singer C.C. Siulapwa and keyboardist Kari Numme-lin decided to make music while in boarding school. Guitarist Carson Mitchell and drum-mer Cole Martin joined later to complete the quartet. They instantly started to write and record their debut EP “800” but not everything went according to plan.

“Since [‘800’ is] our first record, we were bound to make mistakes ... we wanted to make sure that we were proud of everything

we put out,” said Siulapwa.Those mistakes are ones all bands make,

whether they just formed or have been together for years. Featherweight got really eager and excited about their music and promised release dates that were just too soon. To make up for it, the band started to blog their progress on Tumblr. “It felt like we had to bring everyone up to speed and out of the dark,” said Siulapwa

Now that they have a properly released EP and put out their first video, the band still has to figure out exactly under which genre they fall.

“I feel like whenever someone asks us we just don’t really know,” said Mitchell.

“I would say that we are more of an alternative indie band, but then some of our songs have more of a funk or jazzy feel,” said Martin.

“2 Chainz,” joked Mitchell.“No one really knows. We try to stay away

from that question,” said Siulapwa.Any way you look at it, Featherweight is

a band that enjoys making the music they make. The guys will continue to make mis-takes, learn from them and keep making the music that they love.

Story by Daniel Romandia // Photos by Allen Dubnikov

Closing the ché Café

Let’s begin by explaining that I am nei-ther a journalist nor a writer. I am a single voice hoping to be heard and hoping to make you aware of a small piece of San Diego’s music scene. Of all the venues in the area, the one that allows me the most creative freedom has been the historic Ché Café Collective. I have had limited involve-ment in the collective, so I will give my best explanation.

For those who have never visited, the Ché Café is located on the University of California, San Diego campus in La Jolla; a small, affluent community of San Diego (imagine, by that description, a thorn bush in a field of daisies). The Ché Café began as a healthier dining option aboard the campus in 1980 after the former establish-ment closed. A student-run and student-funded center, the café adopted the acro-nym C.H.E., short for “cheap healthy eats.”

The Ché sits off in the loneliest corner of campus, tucked away amongst the small bit of forestry to exist amid all of the bland million-dollar concrete structures. It is a

small wooden structure adorned in murals and history; many have been untouched since before 1983. The venue has been under constant scrutiny and near closure by the UCSD administration for decades, but why?

University administration has mislead their student board and Ché volunteers, claiming it would not be possible to keep the venue running due to the high cost of repairs and upgrades in fire safety equip-ment. These are understandable consid-erations when dealing with funding from student tuition. However, as explained by many collective members, much of the maintenance and upkeep due from the school has continually been withheld for several years.

The details of what has and hasn’t been done by UCSD can be discussed for hours, so let’s talk more about what the Ché really means. The Ché Café, as a large banner posted on its wall states, is a “safe space.” The Ché will not discriminate against you for your race, color, gender, or

any reason other than if you are a jerk to anyone for their race, color, gender, etc. What the student body and administration of UCSD do not understand or try to seek out is the deep concern and compassion of everyone under the Ché’s roof, who welcome everyone. It is halfway through the year 2014 and people still have trouble with the differences of others. The debate regarding same-sex marriage still exists, negativity towards transgender people still exists; judging and discounting people because of differences still exists.

That is the underlying problem in this case. The Ché Café is different. This isn’t a matter of funding, security or safety. The Ché is simply different. UCSD is not shut-ting down a punk venue, they are shutting down what is different. Ask questions. Don’t accept what is given as final word. Visit Facebook.com/savetheche to learn more about the lengthy history of UCSD administration’s attempts to shut down Ché Café.

The clash between the University of California, San Diego and the small DIY café has come to an end after the UCSD student board decided to cut funding in a 9-4 vote last monthStory by Joseph William Garcia


It’s summer, which for music aficiona-dos with expendable income means it’s festival season. It also is probably one of the most dangerous seasons for

concertgoers. It’s unheard of for a large festival to not have several ambulances or police at the ready for all types of random situations that will undoubtedly occur. Most of these points I’m about to bring up are common sense, but I still see these things happen consistently, festival after festival.

1. Hydration. Mainly, the lack thereof. One of the biggest mistakes I see people doing every year is not drinking enough water. Heat exhaustion is common and certainly more people suffer partially from it without realizing. An active show is a full-fledged exercise. Plastic, sealed bottles of water generally fall into the list of accept-able items to bring into a festival. It’s highly recommended you bring at least a couple of your own, for the water inside the entry gates is priced not unlike liquid gold.

2. Friends. Bring the right friends to the festival with you. Don’t bring the asshole who will ditch you immediately upon finding

out when and where the one thrash metal band he came to see is playing. If you don’t have any friends, make some friends. “Why do I need friends,” you ask? First off, it just makes the show more fun when you can share the experience with another human being, especially if it’s one whose company you can enjoy. Secondly, it’s just not the best idea to stumble into a crowd of people you don’t know. Safety in numbers. This one should be pretty easily covered.

3. Money. Don’t be stupid with your money. Taking thousands of people with some spending cash, herding them to-gether in tight quarters and then brushing them up against one another inadvertently is a wet dream for any petty pickpocket. The same goes for that brand new merch you just picked up. Put it in a bag and hold onto it. Don’t leave a shirt on the front rail or under the stage or by some tree. It’s not going to be there after the show. Noth-ing can ruin a show faster than realizing you have just been the victim of a crime. Maybe a heat stroke, but not much else. Well…

4. Mosh. This is probably more of a pet peeve than anything, but I’ve grown to hate most mosh pits. Without fail, there’s always one stereotypical character in the pit intentionally trying to cause physical pain. This is the same asshole I warned you not to bring in number two above. Thanks for that.

Just be safe. Being in a mosh pit is fun, but it can be really dangerous. Give your-self and others space. Don’t drag people into the pit if they don’t want to be in it. Be aware of your own strength and size. It’s still punk of you if no blood is spilled.

5. Drugs. Alcohol, too. This is an-other one that should be common sense. Moderation is key. Handle yourself. Don’t overindulge. Keep calm and you’ll be just fine.

Truly, just enjoy yourself. Festivals should be about the experience, not just the music. Stay safe. Stay thirsty.

Cheers,Josh Jurss

I Knew Josh Before He

Got Famous


5 Common Sense Things Often

Ignored At Festivals

Atmosphere“southsiders”

Bloom“thousand

yard stare”

Brave Bird“T-Minus grand

gesture” There’s honestly not terribly much to say about this record other from the fact that it’s completely, thoroughly, 100 percent mediocre. That’s pretty disappointing to write out because after releasing the dis-appointing LP “The Family Sign” in 2011 I was really hoping for a stellar release. It’s just not up to the level Atmosphere is capable of producing.There are parts that truly shine on this record, most frequently found in the beat. Instrument selection is prime and “South-siders” makes the most of every instru-ment. In particular, the key-based instru-ments stick out, especially ones such as the Rhodes piano in “Arthur’s Song” and the organ in “Fortunate.” Another stellar decision was the guitar found throughout the title track of the record. Its distortion bleeds through the song, cutting in at the right points in a song that’s almost over-saturated with grit.Lyrically, this record doesn’t contain any stand-out performances from Slug. In typi-cal fashion, every word feels carefully cho-sen and scrutinized to give the heaviest ef-fect. However, the words don’t bite nearly as hard as in previous releases and the sting felt from slung insults wears off before sink-ing in, and the hooks just got on my nerves.I may be being too harsh, but Atmosphere is a group that can truly craft a great album. “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold” is proof enough of that. And, while “Southsiders” is a step in the right di-rection, Atmosphere is still operating on a level down from where they used to be.

I can’t really explain what made Better Off’s “(I Think) I’m Leaving” resonate so strongly with me. By all accounts, it wasn’t that impressive of a record. It didn’t bring anything new to the table and it wasn’t something I’d never heard before. Yet it was exactly what I needed to hear when I heard it and it’s an album I continue to revisit often.Bloom is the side project of Better Off‘s Luke Granered and “Thousand Yard Stare,” though it stands apart in terms of sound, has the same lingering ef-fect “(I Think) I’m Leaving” did, despite the fact that it’s not necessarily break-ing new ground. Songs such as “2 AM Breakfast” and “Losers” keep an even, mellow keel throughout, bookending the album in the most relaxing way. But this album is best digested as a whole from start to finish, so from start to fin-ish, here’s what you can expect from the rest of “Thousand Yard Stare”: Mo-ments of restraint and explosiveness tangled up into each song. “Dorm Room,” “Lung Cancer” and the title track are all key examples of this. The lyrics are easy to sing along to without becoming terrible radio hit wan-nabes. And each note and every word are so perfectly placed right where they need to be to draw something just a lit-tle extra out of the songs. That last part is what makes both Bloom and Better Off bands to keep an eye on.

This is 20 minutes of what people mean when they talk about the maturation of a band’s sound. With “T-Minus Grand Gesture,” Brave Bird has mellowed out their sound and tightened it up quite a bit. The raw anger from their debut “Maybe You, No One Else Worth It” isn’t gone, but it’s been honed and doesn’t absorb the vocals or the writing for the entire duration of the EP.“I Don’t Wanna Know” opens simply enough before shifting back to the sound the band has made comfort-able for those of us who grew to love “Maybe You,” but anyone who’s anyone will love the initial stride of “Rekindle,” which is easily a standout on the EP. Its nearly five-minute ebb and flow, the vulnerable lyricism and the attention to detail make it impossible not to keep on repeat for at least a few listens.The title track has a similar effect. The band threw structure to the wind and made a point to write a number of memo-rable moments, lyrically and instrumen-tally, and released something significant that will stick with you past the point of its four-and-a-half-minute play time.As the EP continues there’s nothing that’ll let down old or new fans. “Hard Enough” is short and catchy, “Open Up Your Mouth” is acoustic done right, “Macaroni Time” is a throwback to the raucous sound from “Maybe You” and “Killer Velocity” closes it out without feeling as though there’s a single loose end. These seven songs are nothing short of satisfying.

By Josh Jurss By Alisha KirbyBy Alisha Kirby


Album Reviews Visit SacUnplugged.com for frequent reviews throughout the month!

Craft spells“nausea”

Dikembe // The Jazz June

Tiger Jaw“Charmer”

Craft Spells will be releasing “Nausea” in the coming weeks, and it is completely different than anything Justin Vallesteros’ project has done before. That being said, this album should get just as much praise as their 2011 debut “Idle Labor” and will get plenty of play time from many.“Nausea” is the result of writer’s block and frustration, but it doesn’t play like it. It sounds much more polished and deliber-ate. Vallesteros is originally from Stock-ton, California but has since moved to the Bay Area, and it shows through broader influences. Some songs sound closer to a catchy Simon & Garfunkel rather than a poppier Joy Division.There are parts of this album that sound much darker than what Vallesteros usu-ally does. It feels as though he took a risk with some of these tracks by letting the music match the lonely and dark tone of his lyrics. The risk pays off with tracks such as “If I Could,” which is easily one of the standouts. The melancholic piano, the drums reminiscent of the British beat scene of the mid-‘90s and his mumbled lyrics come together very well.The story of Vallesteros’ progression as a musician is told through album cov-ers. “Idle Labor” has a bright bouquet of flowers that are a little fuzzy and out of focus, which is basically what his song-writing was at the time. It sounded vibrant but lacking confidence. “Nausea” is very gray and angular, reflecting his new style. It’s darker and straightforward. In short, “Nausea” is a great album.

The past few months have been full of returns from bands of a former era. Sunny Day Real Estate released mate-rial for first time in 14 years on their split with Circa Survive for Record Store Day, both American Football and Min-eral are going on reunion tours, and “Over Underground” is the first official recorded material from The Jazz June since their last full-length album “Better Off Without Air” in 2002.And oh, yeah, a new Dikembe song -- obviously you can’t go wrong with that. In fact, let’s start there. Dikembe kicks the split off with “Healer Of The Pride,” a more brooding number that’ll stand out in future set lists when the band tours off their upcoming album due out this summer. This track came from the same batch of recordings as the album, so if it boasts the same, slightly darker sound as this track I’m sure I’ll be a sat-isfied listener.Now on to The Jazz June. I’ve never come back from a 12-year hiatus but I’ve got to imagine it can be a bit nerve-racking. How do you come back after over a decade of your own influences changing and expect to write the same material that made fans happy when you started? You don’t. You write one hell of a jam that’s bound to get people excited for your upcoming release.This spilt accomplished what a split should, because now I’m incredibly ex-cited for an album from each band and neither release can come soon enough.

It’s tough when a great band looses some of the members that are instrumental to their sound, but it’s like Christmas morn-ing when you find out that they recorded a final full-length with all of the original members. Tigers Jaw definitely didn’t dis-appoint with “Charmer.”Essentially, “Charmer” is like a perfect blend of the band’s more popular self-titled and their “Two Worlds” with a few bonus-es thrown in. First of all, Brianna Collins (keyboard/vocals) takes on more vocal re-sponsibilities in tracks including “Hum” and “Distress Signal” and it pays off. The minor experiments in the tones of their guitars in certain songs -- “I Envy Your Apathy” and “Teen Rocket” especially -- also help the album far more than they hurt it.In fact, the guitars simply stand out more this time around. Both “Nervous Kids” and “Divide” are prime examples of what these guys are capable of and it’s that dynamic chemistry between guitarists/vocalists Ben Walsh and Adam McIlwee that will be missed most, both vocally and instrumentally, in any future release.While I’m confident in whatever Walsh and Collins continue on with, “Charmer” is a fantastic final release for the rest of the guys. On one hand, it feels more relaxed as a whole than anything they’ve done, but it certainly isn’t lazy and it definitely won’t turn off any fans who are more into the band’s rowdy side. I was nervous about how this album would turn out, but my worries have been alleviated. This is one of Tigers Jaw’s finest moments.

By Daniel Romandia By Alisha KirbyBy Alisha Kirby


Album ReviewsVisit SacUnplugged.com for frequent reviews throughout the month!

Check out all the photo sets online @sacunplugged.com

Band: Shoujo Kitten Venue: Luigi’s Sacramento, CA Photos by: Jesika Gatdula

unplugged magazine june 2014 (#18)

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