Pose as a team, 'cause shit just got real

The Popular Monsters

Photos [August 25, 2010]

Just made updates to the Photos section!

The stairs! [July 1, 2010] (post by Patrick)

The Popular Monsters are in the studio! Which is the same as our practice space, but with more cables. And more opportunity to feel weird about how you sound on tape. Recording is a dark art, and like all dark arts is best approached in an amateurish fashion and with little regard to convetional wisdom; because, really, it's when you accidentally scuff that pentagram with the heel of your shoe and let the demons out that things get really fun and interesting

THE ACTUAL STAIRCASE

Being in a band is a gear-intensive past time, and recording is no exception. When I was getting into this I had all sorts of notions about what was entailed by a "rock and roll lifestyle", but now that I've done this for a while I have come to understand that really all of it is just carrying heavy equipment in and out of structures, for ever. Sometimes you get to plug in an instrument and doink around for a while, but to get there it's like eight solid days of carting around slant-back cabs.

Our practice space / recording studio is in an unlikely part of town, one not normally associated with the excess and depravity of rock and roll. It is also at the bottom of a cliff; there are, I believe, 92 nearly-vertical steps that are the only way in and out of that place. And every piece gear has to come down those steps. Every time we play a show, every piece of gear has to come back up them! And we, your indie-rock Sisyphus, doggedly roll that stone up the cliff face time and time again. Because we love you. And attention.

With luck, there will be some chatter about the fruits of our recording labors here sometime soon. If I haven't jinxed it!

June salutes you! [June 1, 2010] (post by Patrick)

It's just plain tacky to leave the site at a single post for any length of time, so I thought I would weigh in on some of the thoughts that run through my mind about being in a band from time to time. Today's thought had to do with Morrissey and the Smiths, and how he was really into being a vegetarian to the point of forcing all the rest of the members of the band to declare that they didn't eat meat, even though they did. And how that's like this total jerky megolamaniacal thing that, if anyone we knew personally tried to pull that kind of crap, we would instantly call them out on it. But instead it's like this feature that seems to just build the cult of personality around Morrissey and reinforce the legend of The Smiths and all.

MMMMM BACON

Anyway, in the larger context, well first of all I think Meat is Murder is a great album except for it's miserable title track, and second I was thinking maybe I should adopt some totally absurd thing, like a hatred of primary colors or something, that I would then push on the other members of the 'Monsters, as a way of further building the Popular Monsters brand. Because, really, if you can't get away with totally bizarre and anti-social affectations like that, what's the point of being in a band? It's like, the creative process is strange and seldom understood, so with the truly awe-worthy artists the most dedicated fans are unwilling to question any behavior, no matter how strange. And how that sway inevitably leads to some strange freakin' behavior. (I'm looking at you, Bowie, among others).

Anyway, that said, we'll be hard at work cranking out the awesome so that maybe, someday, we can be accepted for all the crazy shit we'll pull when we are famous.

There's projects afoot, also. More on that later.

Great show at The Skylark cafe! [May 7, 2010]

If I may take the opportunity to address the folks that showed up to the show we played at the Skylark Cafe last week, each and every one of you is a bright shining star and you are doing wonderful things. It's always a little bit of a challenge to rally the troops for a weekday show, but as usual several brave folks showed commendable courage and dedication in the face of adversity, and as a result were rewarded with what I consider to be our best show yet.

Much of this is due to the wonderful Skylark Cafe, who have provided an excellent and warm space to play in West Seattle. I think West Seattle gets a lot of guff for being kind of a weird part of town that's off to the side in sort of a funny way, but places like the Skylark are really going the distance to educate people to the charms of the neighborhood (as a Rainier Beach resident, I am frankly pretty jealous and wish we had something cool like the Skylark around.)

Anyway, Seattle has kind of a rep for a subdued scene but everyone who showed up last thursday pretty much put that rumor to rest. It's hard to describe how much of a rush it is to be rocking out during a show like this! We also got to the last show (with current lineup) of Middle Age Crisis, who were a treat, and Green Handshake's soulful bar rock was perfect accompanyment to the crispy Stella I enjoyed after the show.

If you are new to the site, check out the free mp3s we have in the Music section!