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August 30th, 2010 Friends & Fans, We'd like to extend a much belated shout out to As I Am who drove all the way from Maryland to rock True North Tavern with TPR in July :) Of course we'd also like to thank all the usual suspects who came and filled that place up and made it a bast!!! We now have pictures posted (for those of u with memory lapses) on our website: http://theplasticrevolution.com/xtruenorth10.html That said, it's been quite some time since we've become vampires working on this new album - so we decided it was time to get back to reality with an All Ages, Free Show at House of Blues! Come See TPR Rock their new material UNPLUGGED and INTIMATE on The Voodoo Stage at House of Blues San Diego Tuesday Sept 21st! That's right, the show is all-ages and free so bring the whole family and get ready for some acoustical goodness...! The show starts at 7 and TPR plays at 9... We look forward to seeing you all there! Love, -TPR PS The HOB event is on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134690369909644&ref=nf
July 6, 2010 After a few months of seeming absence, TPR has been hard at work crafting some new material. In honor of the recent holiday, we have plans to unveil our new hit "4th of July" at our acoustic show Tuesday July 20th at True North Tavern. Come celebrate being an American with $3 beers and favorite music - not to mention those who attend this FREE event will get a sneak peak our new material and get to hear our friends As I Am from Maryland! Aside from the new material, we've also been catching up with some old media and have finally gotten around to posting the show pics from March when SSS was out West (including Winstons, The Joint, & Jake's Special Guest Appearance at the Wavehouse). Feel free to peruse the gallery and stimulate your ocular cavities on our ever-growing website: http://theplasticrevolution.com/live.html If that still isn't enough, be sure to visit the TPR store and download some of the free TPR Ringtones and stay tuned for more great stuff to come! Best, -TPR
March 8, 2010 Friends & Fans: My God it's crazy times in SD! Between the rain, the local murders, & all kinds of unusual things, we really must thank everyone who made it out to True North last month to rage and rock! All our hearts are going out to those who have hit hard times this last little bit and we are more appreciative than ever of all the support in southern cali. Yes, it was an amazing time at True North and it would not have been nearly so amazing had all our buddies not turned up so thanks to everyone who made the voyage out! Also, we must thank Pete, Jeff, John and David (of True North) and also say: Jamesy B, you will be missed dearly and we wish u the best with your adventures in Tahoe! So now to the business at hand: it is with my distinct pleasure that we announce two shows in March with our amazing colleagues Someone Say Something. For those devotees that tracked on the East Coast, you may remember us doing a few dates with them on our national tour... Well we had such a blast together that we have joined forces for a mini tour and the boys from SSS are now coming out West for some Cali goodness with TPR :) So mark ur iPhones, we are both playing Winston's (in San Diego) on Tuesday March 16th and The Joint (in LA) on Saturday March 20th. If you are around and looking for some amazing music, by all means drop by and have a drink w/ us :) More info about upcoming shows can be found on our website theplasticrevolution.com Aside from that, we love u all and hope you're all traveling the local parks and trails in groups or well-armed in case you run into suspicious characters. As always, stay safe for the Revolution at hand and we look forward to much more rocking in the spring! Sincerely, Jake, Justin, Tommy & Andy
February 6, 2010 Friends & Fans: As predicted TPR is bringing in black history month with an awesome rock show! Yes, Tuesday February 23rd we will be playing a FREE SHOW @ True North Tavern in North Park with our esteemed colleague Ephraim Sommers (frontman for nationally aswesome band Siko). This night is our first show in SD since our national tour so we will be unveiling some new material and rocking socks off all over San Diego - not to mention drafts are $3 so wear ur dancing shoes and drinking pants! True North is Located at: In other news, we are still amassing the gargantuan # of photos collected from our Reigning Chaos Tour this past summer so feel free to check out the website to see what went down. The tour photos can be found at: http://theplasticrevolution.com/live.html Also, for those of you who are not in the Southern California area but still want a TPR fix, you can find us online in our chatroom this Tuesday February 9th from 7-8pm Pacific Time (so 10-11pm for the East Coasters)... Aside from that, we're pumped to hear from all of you and see all the SD heads at True North!!! Much Love, -Jake, Justin, Tommy & Andy
December 30th, 2009 Friends & Fans: It certainly is hard to believe that 2009 has finally come to a close. From tour adventures, to surviving the swine flu, to our new music vid, to guitar theft, to crazy shows and amazing exposure, TPR has seen all kinds of action in 09. Much of this action is due to the obscenely awesome people that have shown us support over the past few years (way too many to name) but I feel that it is imperative to mention that we are grateful for all the awesomeness that has been shown to us since we brought this little concoction of ours to the national stage. That said, it’s been a hot minute since TPR has gotten back to Southern California and believe you me that we’ve been working our asses off to plan the next revolutionary moves (no pun intended). But for realsies, we do have some exciting stuff in the works. To start, we have re-vamped the live photos section of our website so it is much easier to navigate (and download), so for your viewing pleasure, all the tour photos from the Reigning Chaos 2009 National Tour are now available. You can view them at: http://theplasticrevolution.com/live.html We also have started booking some shows on the West Coast in March of 2010, mostly to start playing some new material and also to take our boys Someone Say Something around in ultimate fashion! For those of you who are not familiar with these phenomenal dudes, you will be soon :) Lastly, for those of you who have not indulged in our music video, you can still enjoy it at: http://theplasticrevolution.com/videos.html Again, thanks to every friend we have met so far on our journey – from giving up your couch for a night, to posting our stickers on your neighborhood stop signs, to calling obsessively to your radio stations and requesting our singles, no act has been too small to forget or to dismiss. We would not have gotten this far without you so we thank you again and again. And what better way to thank you than to continue rocking and putting out music for all of you to enjoy? That’s right, I just hinted that there will be new music and much much more rock for everyone in 2010! We love you all and hope you have the happiest of all new year’s celebrations, the world surely could come to an end at any minute, and we are glad to have been a part of yours – as long as this shit is still around, we’ll be here ready to kick ass in the name of the revolution and are glad to have you on board… Happy New Year & Much Love! Jake, Justin, Tommy & Andy
November, 30th 2009 Friends & Fans: Exciting times in the life of TPR… The Exec survived the swine flu! And Low and Behold: we finally have the debut *NEW TPR Music Video* for "Sex Crazed" (Starring Alex John, featuring cameos by Brian Gower & Wes Carmichael of Plane Without a Pilot, & Roland Ware). You can check it out on our website: http://theplasticrevolution.com/videos.html Special Thanks to our Director Frank Lucatuorto/829 Productions as well as our Producer Roland Ware/Rdub Recordings!!! Happy Belated Thanksgiving We’re Planning More Chaos to Come Soon! Jake, Justin, Tommy, & Andy
October 2009 – Reigning Chaos: The Damage Assessment! So much crazy fucking shit to talk about it’s daunting. I keep getting random flashes of hysterical situations, emotional roller coasters, and crazy fucking times. Some of the highlights of the last two months involve: walking into a dairy queen in Western Virginia and having some white trash dude drop his Blizzard, Andy Davis slanging CD’s at Inn & Out Burger, getting pulled-over and searched multiple times (some worse than others), hanging at Hot Topics, kicking Kingston off the couch, postering TPR stickers in a Denver bathroom (and everywhere across the country), hanging out with a bunch of crackheads in the back of a Vegas bar, spliffs in Boulder, beer pong in Kansas, drinking till the sun came up with Jeff Davis, motorcyle rides and permanent bike parking, executive facefuckers, the “expo” (especially the snake pit), selling CD’s to our waitress at Denny’s and some kind stranger outside for some much needed gas $, Tommy shit-whistled, driving through rain sleet snow fog blizzards etc., risking life and limb, helping motorcyclists up off the freeway, meeting cool fucking people in every state we went to, rocking 1,000% at every show, sleeping on floors couches whatever, and basically having the time of our lives… But now that we’ve all had about a week and a half back in southern California I keep running across the same general answer when people ask me “did you have a good time on TPR’s tour?” My response: Is a dolphin’s asshole watertight? In all seriousness, and with all fairness in mind, I’d like to start from the beginning and work my way through this. Those of you who didn’t anticipate reading a short novel in the form of a band blog than please break yourself in on something a little less substantive. However, if you’d like to read the story of TPR’s Reigning Chaos Tour 2009, please take 4 BT’s and fashion your seatbelt. The Reigning Chaos Tour 2009 officially began with the band picking me (Commandant Jake Skolnick) up from the airport August 22nd. That was the first time I met the LT (Andy Davis) face-to-face. We rehearsed for one week solid, smoked a shit-ton of cali greens with the boys in Chimney Fish, and headed up to central Cali to rock with the boys of Siko at Instinct. As usual, playing with Siko was a fantastical treat, the people of Atascadero were amazing, and to seal a memorable first show of the tour we had the extreme pleasure of crashing out at Siko’s drummer Wyatt’s home. We also got to meet Ephraim’s greencard marriage contender and party with many a cool person… The next day we had a radio interview with DJ PJ of Radio Ugly who took us into her studio and kicked it with us for quite a while. This was a fantastic time – beers, talking about the tour, the music, etc… All in San Bernardino :) After that it was back to SD for more rehearsals (some at Rdub Studios, some at Staump Productions) and a few days later we were up in LA at our favorite spot - Club Goodhurt. We even took some new press photos with Swiss Marc at our Rdub Recordings photo shoot to commemorate the experience. Please feel free to check them out on our website at http://theplasticrevolution.com/promo.html
So the LA show was also fantastic. We learned why its better to suck big dicks than little dicks (from our buddy Corey Trevor) and we got to close that fucker down like we always do when we have a great show there :) Jeff hit on my mom, Rachael, Jen, Kyle and too many good friends to name showed up and surprised us all. It was great to see everyone: from Jeff Weber, to Weeks, Ellison, McClure, Tohl, Mrs. Jackson, The Croft, Levy, Nelson, Ryan Levine, Michael Feig, Petey & Heather, and the many others who made the treck out – it was a supreme pleasure rocking out for u guys! Also I gotta thank Cody Halleman for his hospitality after the show (and his hilarious stories about being hit on by his 17-year old neighbor) – as well as my mother and father for housing myself, the LT, and our slightly belligerent Jeffrey (thank you! thank you!)… So LA was nothing short of spectacular. Next up, we had an interview with Tim Pyles of 949 in San Diego – and yes if you’ve already seen the behind the scenes video footage at http://theplasticrevolution.com/videos.html and listened to the audio clip on our myspace, just stay tuned for the full video version (coming soon from Rdub Recordings!) because it kicks ass and is funny as shit. Although the video does a pretty good job of re-capping those events, I will say this: Tim was an absolute professional and a gentleman (taking great care of us) and giving us an epic radio experience. We are definitely amped to have been on his show and looking forward to the full video of the day… We also hope to be a guest on the local 949 soon in the future, so everyone please call in and request TPR: (619) 570-1949 A few days later we were at the Hot Topic in Mission Valley doing our first Hot Topic In-Store Acoustic Show of the tour. We saw our buddy Kyle and his awesome brother William, as well as Miss Audra and many other fantastic people. We also made quite a bit of new friends and had a great time with the people in the store. Thanks Hot Topic Mission Valley, we had a great time! The show after that was insane to say the least: it was Winston’s. I feel like that one word is almost enough description at this point, but I will elaborate and say that I live for the nights when TPR rules the SD bar scene. There really is nothing like our fans out here – having everyone in the front row screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs never hurts my ego and aside from me throwing my mic stand into my acoustic guitar I think the show could not have gone better. I’d like to thank Roland of Rdub Recordings and all the bands who played with us (Nods to Nothing, PWP, Moxy Bullets) as they were all fantastic and put on amazing performances! I’d also like to thank Dan Wurst for organizing the pre-game and post-game festivities – for without him the night would not have been anywhere near as crazy or awesome. Seriously, if you haven’t hopped on yelp.com and made a profile, I don’t know how ur getting ur local information – but that’s the only way the Revolution makes any coherent decisions on anything :) A couple days later we finally left our “comfort zone” of California and headed out to Las Vegas. We got to see Uncle Mike, Aunt Jodi, Cuzin Matt and his GF as well as Andy’s sister and many other awesome people. The guys in Drainage X were mindblowing and their band was unreal! Likewise, the Foxfire was a crazy spot and definitely kept the party going all night long (hence why we took the stage at three in the morning – in true Vegas fashion). A special thanks to Rodent, Spider, Mr. Evil, Mrs. Evil and Andy’s sis for putting us up and showing us around. After Vegas, we continued our mission along the historic route 66 and met up with our boy Nick from the Asphalt. On the drive there we passed the Hoover dam and got the vehicle searched (again). Once we got to Kingman, we had the extreme pleasure of playing with The Asphalt at the Sportman’s. If you have never been to a rock & roll show in Kingman, let me say it is a treat. Dawni and Robyn from Rotten Entertainment are fucking awesome chicks and are not fucking around when putting on shows. Just a typical Friday night saw a packed house, a great show, a dude with a mustache “curled from the sweat of ladies thighs,” and Dawni knocked the fuck out of some dumb bitch at the bar (remember what I was saying about not fucking around)… Anyways it was madness to say the least and we had a blast playing and partying into the wee morning hours in Kingman. An extra special thanks to Nick and all the awesome dudes from The Asphalt, and No More Heros (who did their fair share of rocking and partying), as well as Dawni, Robyn, and everyone who came out and raged with us – this was one of the most amazing shows of the tour. The day after Kingman was spent driving to New Mexico where we played The Bleeding Eardrum with Static Reply and Sabertooth Cavity. I would like to thank all the guys from Static Reply (who are an awesome pop-punk band) as well as Mike from the Bleeding Eardrum (who was more than hospitable and just an overall awesome dude). Also all the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other interesting folks made the show a great time to say the least. Bleeding Eardrum, we will definitely be back :) Since we had to be in Denver the next day we decided to head out after the show and just drive straight through the night. We hit a slight delay when our trailer tire blew out and we had to throw on the spare on the side of an unlit New Mexican road. After we got the tire on and Andy and Zach (AKA “the admiral”) politely declined the services of two haggard prostitutes, we were on our way… A whole night of driving with a bunch of cigarettes and gratuitous ass shots from the LT writhing around in the snake pit and we finally made it to Colorado (which is nothing short of beautiful). We crashed with Tommy’s friend Madison and her delightful room-mates (Sara, Leah, Dana) – who were more than happy to provide us with greens and give up their beds for a couple nights. Thanks girls that sleep was precious! Aside from the chilling in Boulder, we played a show at Bushwacker’s Saloon in Denver where the owner Rob treated us like kings. Not only did he take great care of us, he also poured us all a shot of some of the most intense whisky I have ever tasted (I still cringe just thinking about it). We also got the extreme pleasure of running into Stones and her boytoy Scott (my long lost European adventurer). Thanks for coming out you guys we basically played that hard for you and managed to still have an “arena rock show at a little dive bar” on a Monday night :) After Bushwhacker’s we had a day off, but still we had to drive to Kansas so we took off at the ass-crack of dawn. We made it to Hot Topic in “The Little Apple” and were amazed to see the “do not take your gun inside” signs posted on the front entrances to the mall where the store was. We also had the pleasure of reading some hysterical billboards (some of the ones that stood out were: 1) my brother has down syndrome and is a gift from Jesus 2) abortion is murder and 3) a picture of a soccer mom with the caption “Soccer mom? Punching bag? Help change Kansas!” Despite the fairly conservative billboards, the people in Manhattan were quite liberal-minded and knew how to party. Adam (AKA The Wart) had a stellar bachelor pad equipped with a double beer-pong table (see tour photos for further evidence) and was our tour-guide extraordinaire for the duration of our stay. Both the admiral and the searg got fantastically wasted, although only one of them passed out in the grass outside the house. And admiral, you will always be the admiral – no matter what u do :) We also got our first experience with tornado’s as well as underground basements and armadillos (which roam the streets in “The Little Apple”). The show at Hot Topic was fantastic, and we were pleasantly surprised with how many people in Kansas were digging the Revolution. Likewise, the show at PJ’s Pub was a fantastic success. The Executive busted out his C Walk skills in “At The Top” in addition to coordinating a “urination break” mid-performance. Adam brought a grip of people and our boys John and Joey came from the mall and hung outside of the bar (since they weren’t 21). John also helped us sell a ton of CD’s at Hot Topic and was a fucking maniac – thnx dudes for all ur help and support! Lastly, Andy met a special lady/love-interest who proved to be an exquisite hostess when we came through Kansas on the way back. Thnx for putting us up Sara and rocking with us at Hot Topic :) The next part of our adventure took us to St Louis (home of the LT). There we got to meet legendary blues guitarist Jeff Davis and rock out with him at his lovely homestead. We also got taken for Harley Bike Rides. We would have ridden a bigger bike, but as Jeff so eloquently mentioned, “They don’t make a bigger one”. TPR also had their first experience with Sonic Burger in the Lou. The Hot Topic in Fairview Heights was incredibly nice and believe it or not – you can actually drink beer in the mall there as long as its in a paper cup so yes, the revolution was in full swing :) After a night of horses, jamming, beer, etc. we got up and made it to the first half of the Cardinals-Cubs game before our show at Fubar. Unfortunately we had to leave halfway through to get to the show, but the Cardinals ended up killing it that night so everyone in St. Louis was beyond stoked. Fubar was a bit of an interesting spot – and due to some mix-up/miscommunication they had no idea that we were supposed to be playing that night. Fortunately for us, the other bands on the bill were somewhat local and they worked with us to let us play. Thanks to Kenny the night manager as well as the ever-patient security guard. Also Lights Out Vegas and Ferdilance (the dudes who generously let us take there place); we will definitely be hooking u guys up in the future! Oh yea, and whoever that was who filmed the whole show from the front of the venue – can we please get a copy of that shit? After the show at Fubar the LT took us to his local watering hole where we closed that shit down and had the kind of after-party that Tommy lives for. We all got free beers and shots, chatted with the locals, drank in the streets and ran around like good old country kids :) Finally we crashed out at Jeff’s (once again) and got up bright and early to head to the windy city. On our drive to Chi Town, we got stopped by two local coppers who were convinced we were drug-smugglers. Needless to say we were delayed about two hours (having our toothbrush cases inspected) so we made it to Chicago just in time to get set up and start the show. Once we got there things started to run a little more smoothly. We had to switch the venue last minute from Mad River to the LaSalle Power Company (which ended up being a very chic/suave spot). Aside from the dozens of friends and fans brought by Chris Wurst, there were two bachelorette parties that were rocking out hard and a bunch of locals who came in to enjoy the tunes as well. Chris Wurst & Friends played a phenomenal show and really got the crowd jumping and jiving. His fabulous girlfriend Christina also supplied a keg and a glorious after-party (so we were all stoked as could be). Likewise, Chris and his roommate were more than hospitable with putting us up and little Jake for hooking us up and giving us a proper windy city day off :) Other notable things from the show: seeing Chris’ parents, the admiral stepping up and doing the sound (and doing a fucking fantastic job at that), myself running back and forth from the stage to the sound box and trying to figure out the monitor situation, Chris performing pedal surgery and bringing his shit back to life just in time, Small Frye coming out and rocking, and cousin Katie it was great to see u! After one glorious complimentary continental breakfast, the revolution continued on its merry way to Pittsburgh, PA. We showered in the parking lot, rocked the shit out of the local Hot Topic, met a bunch of cool kids (see the pics online), and made enough to make it to NYC (which was a bitch of a drive to do in one day)… There the band crashed out with the fabulously sexy Nick Gambicorda as his awesome roomies (Joey the Face, Eric Mace, and Chris). And in case you were wondering, Chris got an ounce of every drug known to man and did it all before our show at Kenny’s :) But seriously, the White Plains Hot Topic was a fantastic event and one of the nicest stores we played in. Despite the mixed responses we got from the local clientele, we still made a killing, sold a bunch of stuff and got the word out about the revolution. The next day TPR found themselves at a fiddle shop in New Jersey with the legendary boys from Someone Say Something. This show was by far the coolest acoustic show we played and SSS rocked our world. I definitely must thank Marco from SSS for doing the sound as well as Mo from Mofiddle’s for having us at her fine establishment and showing us the back of her fiddle shop – we’ll definitely have to do it again :) The following day at Seaside Tavern in CT was equally as fun. The soundman J Bird did an excellent job and really worked with us to make the show run smoothly. I’d like to thank June (for hooking us up across the board) as well as Blast Rocks Midtown and SSS for such a fantastic time. If you haven’t been to the Seaside Tavern it is a fantastic spot with fantastic talent coming through all the time – we are honored to have been a part of it. That said, a major highlight of this night was taking Jager Bombs with the guys who made “My New Haircut” – seriously they were there and drinking with us all night. Those guys are fucking awesome and I hope to see them again soon! The next day, due to some vehicular trouble, we had to cancel our show in Jamaica Plains and thought it best to focus on the upcoming madness at Kenny’s Castaways. This venue (Kenny’s) was a rare treat indeed – a vestige of the CBGB days of NYC when punk rock ruled and Bleecker Street was awesome. However, I have to say that Bleecker still is awesome because we managed to pack that place with great talent and a huge mix of it at that, and had an amazing charity show for Type 1 Diabetes. I am pretty sure when all was said and done we made over $1,000 for Justin’s Cure – so thanks to everyone who came out and contributed. Also I’d like to thank Liz Imler for co-organizing the event (and putting her heart and soul into the evening and its promotions), as well as Maria Kenny for letting us host the event and for being so supportive, also Donnell Rawlings for showing up and making everyone laugh their faces off, and Sabrina/Giorgio + Shades & The Suspects (AKA Sampson & The Folkadelics) + Someone Say Something (of course) all for coming, supporting and bringing the rock… and bringing it hard :) Also the lovely Maria Hilario for stepping up and taking over the introductions and Em C’ing of the night – u were amazing baby girl! While so many great people made it out to this show and rallied their support for Charity, I also heard that John Lennon’s son was in the audience (as he heard about the show and the good stuff we were doing w Rdub from San Diego) and made his way w/ a buddy out there to see TPR – something that was not to be taken too lightly – so I might as well throw a big thanks to the Lennon family as well. Everyone else, it was a magical night – even Rich Hendler who popped by for a few and Simon Kellman who closed the night out w some sweet tunes, + all the others who came in for a drink or just a few minutes, we were glad to have u. Otto’s Shrunken Head (the secret show/ tour finale) really snuck up on us quick. All of a sudden we were realizing that we had made it to the last night of the tour and we all knew that we didn’t want it to end. It was perfect that SSS joined us for one last night of rock (which they played amazingly as usual and got everyone’s panties moist from their sweet harmonies). It was also perfect that Frank Wood hosted the evening and gave us a little extra time setting up so I could run back to my apartment and grab my computer :) All in all this show was a great time and a very intimate, yet awesome place to close things out! Thanks to all the die-hard fans who came out to this one and celebrated TPR’s last full-band performance of the tour – you were a pleasure to play for! Okay so some general thoughts about tour: make sure to shower every day (or every day that you can). If you can’t shower in a shower, try a parking lot :) If you can’t sleep on a floor, try the expo. If you’re lucky enough to snatch the snake pit – don’t complain about ur legs cramping up. If you’re a touring rock band from San Diego, make sure to tell everyone because the rest of America is surprisingly supportive of up and coming acts who are just in it because they want to have fun and rock hard. Seriously, I found out why America is the land of opportunity and the melting pot of the world on this voyage – while there are the small % of douchebags that you will encounter anywhere, most places have really cool people who are hungry for meaningful music and other like-minded peoples… All of you most likely know who you are and shared a beer, ciggarrette, song, moment, whatever with us… Regardless of what it was, we are grateful to have met you all and been on this fantastic journey. Thanks to everyone who came out and all the new friends we met. We can’t wait to do it again :) Love, Jake, Justin, Tommy & Andy
Sunday July 26, 2009 Friends & Fans: TPR hopes that the summer has been treating you well and that u have managed to find some excitement :) As we gear up for the fall this month, it is important to take a moment to "stop and smell the proverbial roses." That said, we also hope that u all make time to come see us when we hit your town this fall and come enjoy some music + good times! On the promotion frontier - TPR has continued to have spins on RadioUgly.com as well as a recent feature in DJ Ckaas' DWN Teen Podcast! Check us out next Friday he's gonna be spinning another TPR Jam as well as a "drop" from the band on diradiocast.com Also The Revolution Would Like to Extend a Huge Thanks to Paulie Podcaster from DigiVegas.com who will be coming out to our Vegas show at the Foxfire Lounge. Definitely tune into that one on 9/11 if you can't come out to the show :) We are all super stoked about tour and bringing The Revolution to the far reaches of our great nation. Please continue to check our myspace as we are adding new dates constantly (myspace.com/theplasticrevolution). Also, please feel free to reach out to us (on myspace/facebook/whatever) as we definitely want to know our fans and who is coming to the shows. If you're feeling super social, some of the band will be online chatting Monday August 3rd from 6-7pm West Coast Time (9-10pm EST) on our website at: http://theplasticrevolution.com/TPRmusic.html See you all soon! - Jake, Justin, Tommy & Andy
Saturday June 27, 2009 Friends & Fans: So much is happening with TPR it’s hard to digest! We are gearing up for our national tour starting at the end of August 2009 so keep checking our myspace for new show listings. We have already confirmed shows in Los Angeles, New York City, & Connecticut. Also, we have a new tour promo video courtesy of Rdub Recordings! It is posted on our myspace so check it out when u need a break from your daily routine and let us know what u think J Also: TPR & Andy Davis are now endorsed by Spaun Drums (www.spaundrums.com)! Get ready for Andy’s beautiful new kit – to be unleashed on this tour! Finally, TPR will be online chatting next Monday 7/6 at 10pm EST (7pm west-coast time) so come join us for pre-game, chatting, or whatever it is you do on Monday nights… Love, Jake, Justin, Tommy & Andy
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Friends & Fans: XYRocks.com has again decided to throw TPR again on their latest podcast! This time alongside Cobra Starship & All American Rejects! Seriously, what an amazing line-up :) Check it out at XYRocks.com or go to iTunes and find XYRocks-072. DON'T FORGET TO CALL THE COMMENT LINE & THANK MARKUS FOR SUPPORTING TPR!!!! Audio Comment Line: (206) 600-4XYR - - (206) 600-4997 Love, Jake, Justin, Tommy & Andy
Tuesday, June 02, 2009 XY Rocks radio is playing our music regularly in 25 different countries!!! The most recent show was played with Taking Back Sunday, Reel Big Fish, and a few other talented up and coming bands! Here's the link: http://xyrocks.com/index.php?post_id=485799 The DJ is super awesome so hop on there and leave him a comment so he knows to keep repping TPR on the show :) Thanks and we hope u enjoy the podcast. From,
Friday, May 29, 2009 Friends & Fans: Holy Tumultuous Emaciation, The Revolution is Finally in Full Swing! As you can imagine, there is no turning back and much awesomeness to report. Aside from the recent debut on myspace of the "Blowing Away REMIX," TPR is delighted to unveil and introduce their new secret weapon; a weapon that will act as the proverbial heartbeart for the revolution's entirety - a vigorous force to be reckoned with and that will guide us on countless sacred missions of rock to come... With that in mind we are pleased to introduce the newest addition to TPR: Lieutenant Colonel Andy Davis Hailing from our city of birth (SD), Andy is a fucking awesome dude and will for surely bring a new determination and fortitude to the revolution. Check out Andy's phenomenal skills on the video on our myspace page. We recommend enjoying it w/ ur favorite bottle of lubrication (yes ladies he is 100% disease free), or whatever sauce u are used too... It is also posted on our website at: http://theplasticrevolution.com/videos.html While you're there, feel free to enjoy the updated band page, the free mp3z & free ringtones, as well as any of the other media that we have made available for those of you who just can't seem to get enough TPR content... Also, stay tuned for tour dates and more website updates soon - as Andy will be leading us into battle very soon! Also, we should mention that to celebrate the Lieutenant's initiation into the band, TPR will be online chatting in our chatroom next Thursday June 4 from 9-10pm EST (that's 6-7pm California Time). If you are in an alternative time zone and having trouble making the calculation, just ask us and we'll be happy to assist you :) Regardless we are looking forward to hearing from you, so see u at 9pm sharp. After all, a punctual revolution is a functional revolution ;) FYI TPR's chatroom is located on myspace.com/theplasticrevolution and http://theplasticrevolution.com/TPRmusic.html... We love you and hope you had a phenomenal memorial weekend! Sincerely, -Jake, Justin, Tommy, & Andy
February 24, 2009 Friends & Fans: I know it’s a little overdue, but I hope that you all enjoy your late Christmas/Birthday/Valentine’s presents just as much as the ones that came on timeJ I know I don’t personally have a preference, just happy to getting free shit, and hopefully all of you are too! So in the spirit of gifting, TPR just posted a new video of the Planning For Chaos Sessions made for us by the awesome dudes at Rdub Recordings. Please give them a shout-out as they are truly awesome for digging up this rare (what we thought was lost) footage from the days of when it all began… Anyways, the video is on our website with a bunch of others at: http://theplasticrevolution.com/videos.html or it’s on our myspace page. We hope you enjoy it at least half as much as we did and have and wonderful week… Love, TPR- Jake, Justin, Tommy, and Los
Saturday January 31, 2009 Friends & Fans: Well we are officially kickstarted in ’09 and it’s looking to be a revolutionary year. Continuing the ‘rain of free shit parade’ that we endorse over here at TPR headquarters, we have just made a new free ringtone of “At The Top” available on our website (courtesy of mixertones). It’s absolutely free, although if you don’t have an account with mixer they make you sign up with them (this is free too). The ringtone link can be found at: http://theplasticrevolution.com/TPRstore.html Likewise, we will be chatting online in accordance with our (“first Sunday of the month”) chat experience as we gear up for our next tour in the Fall of ’09. That said, if you’re around on Sunday February 8th from 9-10pm E.T. (that's 6-7pm if you're in CA), the officers of TPR will be anxiously awaiting… Also, we’ve added some new links, mp3z, and other fun stuff on the site so feel free to re-acquaint yourself with all the goodnessJ We look forward to hearing from you and rocking hard in ‘09. Love, TPR- Jake, Justin, Tommy, and Los
Sunday December 28, 2008 Friends & Fans: First and foremost, all of us hope that the holiday season has been treating you well. As for TPR, we are like a big fat red Santa/Rabbi/ religious icon of your choice trailing free shit all over our fair nation. Accordingly, we have stocked our website with an array of Christmas treats... First, thanks to the wonderful folks at Rdub Recordings, we have uploaded free mp3's of some of TPR's highlight radio interviews (including 91X and KGFN in San Diego). Feel free to drop Roland some love on the Rdub myspace (he is on our top friends) as he is a completely radical dude who is helping to propel TPR worldwide and making a bunch of awesome music in the process:) Speaking of awesome music, we have also stuck a new free song on our music section. And yes, due to many special requests and overwhelming demands, we have decided to give away "Aztec Anthem" (the real version off of our album) for all of you to enjoy. Now without getting too sidetracked into the debate of whether or not we think music should be free, let's just say that we want to give a little back to our hometown in SD and thought that this song was the best way to do it. So if you know anyone who had a similar lifestyle, college experience, group of friends, etc., please don't hesitate to share this with them... Finally, we have new chat-room on our website and myspace page that will allow our fans to chat with each other 24 hours a day. To make things even more awesome, the band has committed to hanging out with our fans for one hour the first sunday of the month in this chat. So, if you have any questions burning holes in your brains (i.e. what kind of underwear Tommy uses? does Justin ride a huge motorcycle? was Jake really in a mental institution for six months?) we will be more than happy to answer and chat with you about the mundane details of life on planet earth... Our first session will be held on Sunday January 4th from 9-10pm E.T. (that's 6-7pm if you're in CA) so join us for beer's, bt's and great convo via the all-powerful all-consumer interweb! All of this goodness can be found on our website at http://theplasticrevolution.com/TPRmusic.html So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever holiday tickles your fancy, we hope u enjoy the mp3's and we'll see you in the chat. Love, TPR- Jake, Justin, Tommy, and Los
Sunday November 30th 2008 Friends and Fans: We hope that the holiday season is treating you and your loved ones phenomenally well. Recognizing that we would be nowhere without the constant support of you all, we have decided to give you some holiday presents to enjoy. In accordance with the season, we've updated our website, myspace and facebook (adding new links, pics and other smooth stuff) and we also thought we'd get some tour coverage out to you to download and stock your new iPods with. As such, TPR just released a free video covering our 91X video and some fantastic moments in San Diego during our tour preparation courtesy of the awesome folks at Rdub Recordings. Likewise, for your downloading pleasure, we are also allowing fans to download our version of "Are You Missing Me?" Live at The Stork in Oakland, CA. You can access the song at: myspace.com/theplasticrevolution and http://www.theplasticrevolution.com/TPRmusic.html As always, thanks for your love and support. Please enjoy responsibly:)
Friday October 31st 2008 Friends and Fans: Just writing to let you all know that we survived our epic conquest of the West Coast and that The Plastic Revolution returns home more triumphant than ever. Accordingly, we here at TPR headquarters have decided to give a little something back to our devoted fans who have allowed us to be involved in such an amazing musical pursuit. For this Halloween, give yourself a treat and download the FREE mp3 of "I-States" Live at The Stork. The track is available on myspace.com/theplasticrevolution and http://www.theplasticrevolution.com/TPRmusic.html so please feel free to enjoy it in any situation and have a Revolutionary Halloween!
Saturday September 12th 2008 Hello Friends and Fans: Well the craziness and excitement of this summer’s fantastic voyage has finally subsided and my life is starting to process the aftermath. Man this summer was filled to the brim with awesomeness! I’m talking about awesomeness in so many shapes and sizes that it’s mind boggling, at least for those of us here at TPR headquarters:) Anyways, I’m just gonna start writing and we’ll fill in the missing parts later. I think the entire band owes the beautiful Maria Hilario for her dedication and commitment to the cause and for making sure we all walked away from the experience with the tangible evidence and proof that it actually all happened. That said, let’s get into the story and you all can use the photos in our photo section as visual aids. The beginning of the tour was spent preparing in San Diego. Roland Lee Ware II generously gave us much of his time and energy as we rehearsed in his studio for 8-12hrs at a time in between photo shoots, radio interviews, and other standard chaos. Our fantastic friends in SD took us in and let us raid their refrigerators, beer supply, and scatter our shit all over their homes. Jeff and Neal definitely dealt with many fun disturbances in their new place of residence (fire alarms, skinny-dipping, toilet destruction, late nights and early mornings to name a few), not to mention Nicole and Crystal who graciously provided endlessly for the executive in particular and are just fucking awesome girls. Also, all our friends who made their own TPR shirts and came out to rock with their game faces on as well as Drew from Ellaydee who deserves a serious shout out for hosting a sick as hell after party for the show at Winston’s and for having been the Searg’s roommate for all this time... So let’s see, Rowley and Preston are really genuine and laid-back dudes that are a pleasure to talk to and I am absolutely convinced that our show at Winston’s would not have been such a raging success had it not been for them having us in to interview on 91X and their constant support and promotion of the show. They really are two fine gentlemen hosting an amazing radio show so definitely check them out Sunday Nights and keep requesting TPR on your favorite station! Request Line: 570-1919 Main Phone: 858-495-9100 Alright the tour kickoff show was great and all the bands who played were awesome. Plane Without A Pilot rocked hard as usual and did a great job. A special shout out to Marco and the boys of Good Luck Mr. Gorsky for playing like kings and hopping on the bill. Speaking of the Gorsky boys, they are some cool fucking kids and we are honored to have shared the stage with them. Anytime anyplace gents:) The next show that deserves some attention is the Beauty Bar. I’d like to thank Sara for booking us and hanging out all night as well as the other fine people of the Beauty Bar. Likewise, another thanks to all the guys of Gunpowder Sunset, especially Roland, who definitely are a treat to play with and have nothing but success headed their way. That said, I’d like to mention here that the Skolnick and Kelly parents were kind enough to house and feed their children for several nights just like in the good old days as we made our way back and fourth from San Luis. Another key person who really came through for us is Chad in Slotown who somehow convinced his roommate to let us crash in his Winnibago for a couple nights. Let me tell you that it was smoky, staunchy, stale, and hot as fuck in the morning but everyone but Los (who opted to sleep in the executive ride instead) toughed it out. So we’re about two weeks in and playing at The Frog and Peach Pub with Hot Beef Injection (a seriously talented group of kids and an out of this world drummer who really “went the extra mile” for us; Ian thanks for being so goddamn cool) and Justin’s amp starts cutting out halfway through our set. He looks at me and is like, “I think it’s on fire commandant” and shrugs his shoulders. I immediately look at the back of the stage and there’s smoke pouring out of his Mesa Boogie. Needless to say that show had its pitfalls but we definitely got through them. All in all, I love that bar and it’s a lot of fun to run around on, not to mention the great people of Slo who bought us drinks and CD’s and really seemed to respond to a good old fashioned rock n roll session featuring TPR. Justin’s parents even came out to support us and bought us dinner so I’d like to thank them for that and for helping us get our merch ready in time; they really are great. Also, to Hank at the Frog, Thanks for having us! At this point I’d like to thank God Trevor Jones of Siko was at the show and works at the coolest music store I have ever been to: Faultline Music (www.faultline-music.com). The proprietor John is coincidentally one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met and fixed our fuse for one dollar and seven cents and sent us on our way in perfect shape for our next show. To top it off, he actually came out when we played The Loading Dock and Hoovers, and shared some drinks and even bought a CD. This guy is a true gentleman and loves music; there really should be more people like him in this world. Another fantastic person we encountered was Brian Wallace of Rockwell Sound Studios (organizer/captain of The Loading Dock). Brian was kind enough to drive around with TV’s on his absolutely awesome car (see our photos section for that one) that displayed the show info and come out and see us at The Frog and Peach. Likewise, he bought us dinner after we played for him at The Loading Dock and needed to sober up before driving, gave us invaluable advice and comradery, not to mention housing us the night after Hoover’s when we needed to crash out for a few hours in his incredible studio. Seriously Brian, I am so thankful that we had the honor to meet you and we owe you a huge debt of gratitude. Reader, if you or anyone you know needs recording done at the highest level from an industry professional who has been around and is a seriously awesome dude, check out his studio at: http://www.rockwellsounds.com/ Brian wasn’t the only cool part about Atascadero, since it’s literally the only place in California that doesn’t have an open bottle law on the books, we were free to booze it as we pleased at the show. We also played with a group of totally awesome little kids called The Sheds who are actually from the neighboring suburb in which I grew up. Anyways, at 12-15yrs of age, these brothers and their friend are seriously tearing it up for their age and have already opened up for the Aquabats and played many big shows. They were really fun and opened the show like seasoned professionals. Also, their parents and entourage was totally great for staying and indulging in wine and fine music all evening. To make things even cooler in Atascadero, there are many great locals who come out just when they hear music. We met many amazing kids who shared with us all kinds of awesome things (you know who you are) and took us in like brothers and sisters. Seriously, A-Town fucking rocks. That being said, we departed from A-Town for a day to do Six Flags Magic Mountain in Vallencia and I must say that it was well worth the backtracking. Lindsay (see photos) did a great job on the sound and everyone there was very accommodating and awesome. We met two awesome little ladies who stayed the whole time and are hopefully enjoying the shit out of our CD’s. We will definitely be back there anytime so a huge thanks to Debbee for making that happen for us and we can’t wait to do it again! So after that great experience we headed back up North to play Hoover’s Live with Siko and Axia, and people if you have not heard of either of these two bands, tonight is your lucky fucking night b/c I am giving you shit that like candy for your ears. Seriously, go on myspace or iTunes or whatever you do, and check out Siko and Axia. I give them both my full seal of musical approval. I’m dead serious people: good fucking music. That said, I also want to mention to Siko that you guys are our brothers in arms and we will follow you to the ends of this earth. Thanks so much for everything and showing us such a great time. The pleasure is always on this side of the moment-maker? So Hoover’s was an incredible show: great bands, great sound (thanks Jason!), and we would be honored to come back anytime. So we slept about two hours on the floor of Brian Wallace’s studio and got up at 4:45am to drive four and a half hours to Vallejo to get there at 9am for load in. Needless to say we lagged our asses getting up and six venti cappuccinos later we stumbled our hungover asses onto the premises of Discovery Kingdom (about an hour late mind you). However, we did make it and we got all our shit set up in time and managed to keep things as “family friendly” as possible for the duration of our stay. That goes without saying that the three performances were great and we met a hell of a lot of cool people. I must say Vallejo is an awesome place filled with great peeps; thanks for the good times! While we were there we had the pleasure of meeting the kids from Lane Four and their awesome parents who have nothing but love for rock and roll and are great great people. Also thanks to our fans J9 & Company for making the adventure out there and sharing in the day’s festivities. Finally, I’d like to extend a sincere apology to Tim Holt for making any problems with the security at Discovery Kingdom. It really was a great experience for us to play there and hopefully entertaining for all those at the park. We would be delighted if you would have us back anytime… Next on our list was jetting over to the bay area for a show in Oakland at the Stork. My good friend AJ was kind enough to house TPR for a few days and gave us the deluxe treatment in his wonderful loft (which ages ago was a paper-mill). While we were there, we ran into phenomenally talented artist Michael Young and many other great friends that we haven’t seen in quite some time. I’d like to thank in particular: Jon, Evan, Mike Young & Roomies, Ryan McClelland & Friends, Case, Cousins Ryan & Michel, Michael Reiter, Tommie and Uncle Mike for coming out and showing their undeniable support for the revolution. This show was taped live and we will be posting some free mp3z on the site for you all to enjoy so thanks JoAnn for making that happen. Our last show was such a momentous night its one of the hardest for me to get over. After what had happened last year at the Goodhurt I thought we had pretty much reached our peak in Los Angeles. But for some incredible reason, many many people proved me wrong and made this show an even better experience! First and foremost, I’d like to thank the incredible lineup of the night: KET, Test Your Reflex, Glen And The Sunshine Gang, and The Easy Marks. All of you rocked with the furry of 1000 sons and greatly contributed to an amazing success! A special shout out to longtime friends of mine: Kristina Thoegerson, Ryan Levine, and Mike Wildt for helping to make the night a fantastic reunion. I wish we could have all partied together afterwards and we will have to do so the next time we come to town. But seriously, the venue was a great spot to see so many friends and I am touched that so many of you came out to support us. My parents, Rob and Tracy Navrides, Marlon, Dan Wurst (and his lovely lady), and not to mention Kristin, Amy, Marissa, Shauna, Mike Feig, Jessica, and all the OP kids and so many others that I am neglecting to write but from the bottom of my heart: it was so good to see you and I am so thankful to still have you all in my life. So in conclusion, this tour has both taught me so many things and reminded me of so many things. My loved ones, my band, my friends, my fans, are all the most important things in the world to me. The mysterious nature of relationships is that some require constant maintenance but others can go lengths of time without ever being affected. In a world that seems like its constantly in flux, it’s incredibly comforting to know that some things never do change and that good friends, good music, and good times will continue to prevail. I am so fucking grateful to be alive. To everyone that came out and supported us in one way or another, thank you, I love you, this tour would not have been the same without you.
Tuesday July 8th 2008 I fucking love Siko (pronounced “SEE-KO”). That’s Siko Funk (myspace.com/siko): the greatest fucking band of all time and as I mentioned at our show at Wicked Willy’s “if anyone has anything different to say I’ll be meeting them outside…” Not that I’m a crazy tough guy or anything, but those crazy awesome kids from Norcal (or central California depending on your perspective) have enhanced my life for the better yet again and it was an extreme pleasure sharing the stage with them over the course of this past week. I just want to shout it from the rooftops It all started on a Wednesday and a beautiful show at Wicked Willy’s. I would like to extend my thanks to Lincoln for putting together a wonderful show and jamming out some awesome tunes with us. We will definitely be hitting that spot again. I’d also like to mention all the wonderful kids who came out to support the show and drink the night away. Thursday we shot back over to Arlene’s Grocery and rocked out quite hard. Siko played some beautiful tunes and Ann was a wonderful door person for the evening and Ian provided great sound. Thanks for working the holiday weekend guys. The mission over to Connecticut was prompted by bass extroadinaire Petey Pete (who many of you may or may not have recognized him as my incredibly talented counterpart at the last few shows. He has been kind enough to hop on the bill and help out with these shows so thanks Petey. Anyways, as I was saying the show at the Seaside Tavern was an incredible experience at a remarkable venue. My compliments to owner Brian, and doorman Kevin on running such a fantastic establishment and hosting such a great 4th of July bash. Also, thanks to boys of the Jim Wolf Experience for boozing it up with us all night and celebrating our nation’s birthday in style. The weekend came to a profound conclusion with Franky Wood’s Wind Down Sunday Night Show at Otto’s Shrunken Head. Bartender Pam the Metal Queen was generously pouring delicious cocktails and bands were rocking hard. Siko performed with the utmost sexuality and everyone who was there was moist in the nether-region. A special thanks to all those who came out and showed support. Although I was sad to see them go, I am filled with happiness and pride that I am friends with such phenomenal musicians and people. They really are the epitome of what a good band is and for those of you who haven’t checked them out I highly recommend hitting up one of their shows as soon as humanly possible. Likewise, I cannot wait to be reunited with them again in a month’s time for our full-band West Coast Tour.
Sunday June 8, 2008 Real life man. I’m pretty sure real life is all about getting overwhelmed. Yes, it feels good. It feels important to vent. Shit gets inside you and builds up and then you just want to fucking break something but you can’t figure out what you can afford to break; then if you’re getting old you start thinking about consequences. At least one would hope that being aware of consequences would be a symptom of old age, but I know several examples that prove the antithesis of that statement. But that is besides the point of this blog. Which, if I’ve never explicitly declared before I think its just a way for me to give people who listen to my music an alternative window into my mind. Not that I think my mind is special or deserves more attention than anyone else’s, more so, I feel like these posts give me a window into my friends and fans and lets us have some kind of an exchange of sentiments. Because isn’t that what has been missing in American-propitiated iconoclasts of the pop persuasion? Ultimately my counter-culture music is complicated pop music which is an inherent contradiction: being both conformative and rebellious at the same time. I guess in that way it represents the constant struggle of many people to differentiate themselves in seemingly homogenized existence. But enough philosophical musings, although I enjoy these delinations quite supremely, it’s hard to get into because of the aforementioned “real life” that gets in, sinks its teeth in, and slowly wears you down day in and day out. A taxi driver told me not too long ago that something like 90% of people in this world claim to “hate” what they do. I think that’s a damn shame but probably true. I think all of us maybe only get 10% of our day’s that give us supreme pleasure if we’re lucky. I don’t know if anyone was following my logic in transferring mathematical properties with principles of human happiness but I’m pretty sure that if we extended that theory into daily life, only 10% of the population would be happy with what they did. But to each and to his or her own. That’s what I like to think. You can’t force anyone to do something that he or she doesn’t want to do. The same theory that has shaped my personal life in my band and subsequently my business, my art and my sanity. I feel for addicts of all kinds and departed souls of all kinds. We get stuck in our ways and are so sure that they are right. In the end I suppose our gut is the only reliable compass we have to guide us on this cloudy journey of real life. But it’s real nevertheless and it should be enjoyed. I guess that’s why even fake things are real in some fundamental sense. A plastic revolution may breathe life into formerly inanimate sentiments… On the subject of the revolution, I’d like to formally extend my gratitude to Luis Rospi of the Rospi Group. This fine gentlemen hosts shows at fabulous venues across Queens and other areas of NYC and was kind enough to provide TPR with a slot on 5/29. Though the turnout was relatively bleak, those of us who were there enjoyed an exclusive set that walked us through memory lane; thanks to the revealing qualities of Jack Daniels. It’s true that the best shows are often just for the closest friends and loved ones. That being said it was phenomenal to see my best friend Lindsay Berman out for the show as well as my fairy god mother Ellie Hutner; what a wonderful night and I hope to play for Luis again…
Saturday May 24, 2008 My mother just made a great point to me about “being able to not only respond to times of crisis (i.e. leg breaks, interventions) but also able to respond to the prospect of fun times as well.” With that in mind I am supremely grateful that my mother will be dropping everything she had planned for the next two days and flying out to New Jersey to meet her favorite son for an Eagles Concert at the Prudential Center. I am very happy to have her come and while the adolescent Jake would probably have been embarrassed to brag about his mother’s love, adult Jake is coming to terms with it; and likewise learning how to enjoy it in a productive manner. In celebration of the holiday that just passed I know I deserved a little grateful meditation on the woman who brought me into this world. I think it’s important to remember that while our parents become humanized in our old age (maybe not maintaining all their superhero powers) that they definitely did the best they can. Despite my mother’s belief that she made “many mistakes” raising me, I think she did an absolutely fabulous job; and I’m really the final decision-maker when it comes to my life right? However, I’ve started to realize that part of being a good child is to give back to your parents, who even though we don’t like to admit it, have definitely made endless sacrifices on our behalves. So mother, father, sister, I am grateful for the line of support you constantly have wrapped around me; and I’m honored to be a member of our clanJ That said, the Fontana’s benefit hosted by Engineers Without Borders was a raging success and I hope to be doing another benefit for them soon! Again I’d like to publicly thank Kerwin and Kelly for their devotion to the cause and flawless organizational prowess. Also, a special mention to Peter Orlanski who hopped on stage last minute and jammed out for the benefit of everyone in the room! Finally, Matt Lavon rocked the fuck out of that sax and was a complete gentleman as well as the subway singing ladies who closed the night. It was a pleasure to be involved and we will definitely be working with these fine people againJ
Monday May 11, 2008 Let me tell you all that New Jersey is unworldly for the continental United States; Mahwah in particular. After getting off the train (which I would have been pulling my hair out had it not been for a particularly good friend of mine by the name of Zieglemuffin) ********** Oh my fucking god! So for lack of a better way to convey what just happened to me as I was just trying to relive the niceness that was New Jersey, was the absolute epitome of New York City. Timmy, the mouse who has been living with me and my girlfriend for over a month now, decided to come out, snag a residual spliff bowl, and dart back into the shadows behind the dresser, never to return. I swear to god just when you think this little fucker is gone he shows his face. So anyways, after doing my usual half-assed attempt at moving everything in our studio around to trace the path of this little rodent, I take two BT’s and after debating on waking my girlfriend up for two seconds (and if you live with a lady you will quickly develop the same reaction) I decide to bust out my last resort at a mousetrap: the paper glue. Now if you haven’t dealt with a mouse living with you before, this all may come as a surprise to you but the fucking rats in New York City are smarter than most of the people I’ve encountered. I mean seriously, I have to give it up to little Timmy sometimes, he’s managed to stay alive for over a month in about a 10x10 studio that I share and still he’s kept relatively out of sight minus a few encounters. He’s made it through mousetraps that snap, the little plastic boxes that lock, like 6 different kinds of poison, sticky pads and now finally one can only hope that he’s met his match: the paper glue. Okay, so I guess he made the right choice in which apartment in the building to take up a home in too; he has spliff, music, cheese, alcohol, pill fragments and all other kinds of goodies. What I don’t understand is how he’s managed to eat so much with Maria in the house cleaning the carpets constantly… Chalk it up to another one of life’s mysteries (as if that wasn’t the most cliché thing I could possibly say right now). The even more mysterious thing to me is the attachment both Maria and I have grown towards this little fucker in the last month. I think he’s pretty much become our pet although we’ve tried so desperately to kill him and I think she’s going to be a little sad if we wake up tomorrow with a fresh glued mousey to our carpet… One can only hopeJ So back to what I was going to say before I got interrupted and allowed it get this far. My trip to New Jersey was a raging success! I must say that the atmosphere out there is a serious relief from the constant barrage of life found in New York Ciy. There were houses and grass and trees and people walking by that smiled and said “hi” and didn’t want money and I could go on an on. So Alec and I get off the train from Manhattan and after picking up a flask from the liquor store across the train tracks and getting really bad directions from the employee to Ramapo College (“Uh yea you guys can totally walk there it’l just take like 15 minutes…” my fucking ass but he was just trying to be nice and that’s all that counts) we walked aimlessly in four different directions until we started feeling a little drunk and were confident that the church that we had just passed was definitely not the one in the little picture next to the bridge. Coincidentally a wonderfully kind woman was pulling into her driveway just as we were passing by and we asked her for directions. After seizing us up for a few seconds and inquiring as to why we needed to get to Ramapo College (keep in mind we both have tattoos, cut off shirts, and are drinking on the street in the middle of the day), she actually told us “I’m from a different generation where it was okay to trust people so I’m going to give you guys a ride”… and seriously she told us to hop in her car and she gave us a ride right over there. And let me tell you, this was no fifteen minute walk for god-damn sure. So thank you wonderful lady who I believe worked as a registrar for Ramapo College and who I gave a CD to, I hope to cross paths with you again; but I do know that you desearve something wonderful to be paid back to youJ Now Ramapo College itself is a mystical place and the kids are hungry for good music. They were all awesome to say the least, and if we could have stayed the evening and partied with them, it definitely would have been our pleasure; oh well there’s always next time. I would especially like to thank Shirley Washington, Chris Lombardi, Someone Say Something and The Front Bottoms as well as everyone from Po Records. Though the rain came and we were forced indoors, the parade certainly was not spoiled. So the Po Records Compilation 5 is something I am extremely pleased to be a part of and really I’m just stoked on life right now. After all that if you can handle any more good news you can check out our article in San Diego State’s Newspaper The Daily Aztec:
Saturday April 26, 2008 So the CD was released on the east coast this week and I would have to boldly declare that the release show was nothing short of a raging success. Many thanks go out to the owner Kieran for hosting such a wonderful event and making up such delightful flyers. Likewise, I would like to formally extend my gratitude to Jerry Fuentes, Sabrina/Giorgio, and Alex Sepassi; all who performed phenomenally and contributed greatly to this magnanimous event. For all those who plan on coming out again to part II of this event on Tuesday, I thank you in advance and can’t wait to rock again. Next order of business would be a grateful mention to my professor at NYU Shirley Washington, who’s devotion to TPR has landed them as the #1 single on the new Po Records Compilation. And yes, there will be a CD release party for this as well, and it’s coming up next Thursday… I think the kids of Ramapo college are ready for TPR at Ramapolooza (goodness that sounds dirty)… So shit it’s been a busy fucking week and I feel worn down. Real life. It’s all so complicated; and now that I’m feeling perfectly melodramatic and watching bootlegged versions of The Wire on my girlfriend’s laptop, I believe I’ve had a moment of clarity. Getting a moment to just chill out and not feel overwhelmed is nice. I encourage all who read this to do so. Although the strange predicament is that this is often much easier said than done, at least if you’re like me. Strangely enough, I’ve never had much problem getting motivated for things I wanted to do (music, sex, etc) and find that my excessive marijuana abuse has never really shown to be a source of de-motivation. While most will say that moderation is the key, if your self-medicating you tend to feel the need to push the boundaries. Not to admit that I tend to stray on one side of the fence when it comes to doing things, but some people tend to overdo things and I think those of a like mind tend to “flock together” if you know what I mean. Really, there has to be much merit in the saying “two peas in a pod” or furthermore, the analysis of our much coveted birds: those that flock together… Who knows, perhaps those of the future will look back on us and understand us much better than those of the present? This wouldn’t be the first time a person wasn’t gotten completely in his or her own context. Although as I always mention I think now is a very exciting time to be alive. I am still convinced we are going to witness the “end of the world” within our lifetimes (despite my parent’s reassurance that this adolescent fantasy will pass) and at the very least we are going to see some crazy fucking shit go down; no doubt.
Tuesday April 1, 2008 Shit there’s a lot to speak of and so much infinite digital internet space that I will do my best to present the necessary details. First and foremost: Chicago kicks fucking ass and takes my name to a new place! I mean this in all the ways a city can be fantastic. The people, the booze, the bars, the venues, and did I mention the people? An incredibly special thanks from the bottom of my heart goes out to “Chris Wurst and friends” who showed up, rocked out and blew everyone’s fucking mind. I would also like to sincerely thank Dan Wurst as well for coordinating the details of the magical evening. A Revolutionary Debut in Chicago could not have gone better and been more pleasant to give. Among all the great extended family that I was honored with seeing (and graciously putting up with my profanity) including the best cousins in the world: Dan and Chris Wurst, I would also like to thank those Helsing’s and Aunts and Uncles that drove 3-7 hours to get to the show. Also, a special thanks goes out to Ray at Mix Bar for hosting such a fabulous show and Eric from Bar Chicago for hosting an equally crazy after-party: TPR is indebted to you both gentlemen, and we will be back to rock again soon. Lastly but certainly not least at all, I would like to thank the love of my life for dealing with the drunken monster that was me after a high like that is only to be found in the Windy City. And seriously, to say the least I will be back there and taking the stage with my cousin soonJ For all you others out there, get ready for Chris Wurst to be hopping on the scene because this kid is seriously one of the most talented and creative fuckers out there. He will be killing it with his funky fresh remixes in the NYC very soon so keep posted as he is definitely an artist on the rise. Onto other business. I would like to thank Arlene’s Grocery for a fabulous night on 3/19 and say that I am really looking forward to our next foray on July 3rd with Siko (Yes! Ladies and Gentlemen! Siko Funk, Coming to the NYC…) It’s a great venue with lovely sound and a state of the art broadcasting system that quite frankly blew my mind. So in case you were wondering, we will be broadcasting this show live from the venue so if you find yourself outta state you can still tune in. Now I find myself wanting to convey just how much pain I am still in from the crazy weekend’s drunkenness and I daresay that a pivotal moment was reached; we are human and make mistakes, but the only way to justify those is not make them over and over again. Does one person know for certain that he/she will never fuck up again? No, but we act on good faith if it’s worth it. Otherwise we cut our losses. Maybe we even accept a certain amount of fuck ups as occupational hazard… I know that this dynamic plays itself out with all the crucial things that we love. It is a wonder to me how many times people can forgive each other for truly awful things. Maybe people don’t desearve forgiveness. On the other hand, we are all human and make mistakes. But who is to say that certain mistakes you can never come back from? I hate to admit it but I definitely think that in certain instances I could never forgive someone (ie a child molestor, a rapist) but then what if that person just got caught on the wrong end of the totem pole? The child molestor really just happened to brush a kid’s leg at the wrong time, or the 21yr old guy banged the 17 yr old girl without asking for ID even though she really seemed to be in control of the situation. Now reader before you rush to rash judgmenets about how I am identifying with the child-molestors and rapists of the world, I am just posing some food for thought about the nature of forgiveness and whether or not it should be absolute. I like to believe in the teachings of the real Jesus Christ who taught to forgive everyone for everything. I mean it’s pretty inspirational to think he forgave all mankind for all their crazy shit so shouldn’t we be able to forgive a pedophile or two if we are a nation of good God-fearing Christians? Maybe not, maybe murderers, maybe pimps, maybe “awful” people guilty of heinous acts against fellow man can never be truly forgiven for what they’ve done. I mean is that why felons have to keep putting that shit down on their job applications? But if forgiveness is not possible, I think that by extension we as a society are saying that correction is not possible for the individual. If we can’t reform people then what the fuck is our incarceration system all about? If we can’t forgive, why don’t we just kill everyone who fucks up in the slightest? I’ll tell you why. Because Jesus, had some good shit going on there. It sucks and it’s hard and it’s noble and it doesn’t always feel the best while you’re doing it, but forgiveness is way better than letting something fester in your being. Perhaps it even absolves you of the situation and in the act of forgiving, you no longer let the situation be a drain on your life. Who the fuck knows… I’m just struck of a psychological study about revenge with people who lost a loved one and got to kill the person who took them away. Those who got their revenge said it didn’t make them feel any better about the loss of their loved one and did nothing to console them. Revenge isn’t the answer to happiness. What exactly is besides time, I’m just not sure…
Friday February 27, 2008 Good evening. Exercise in futility. Sex as a woman. Venting. Ok I think I’m ready to discuss the topics that have pervaded my mind the past few weeks. And before I do so I must address the pressing issue of asking who really wants to read a bunch a bitching? Isn’t that what we therapeutically infuse our journals/diaries/blogs/whatever with? Not to demean in any way my past writings, but I feel it is just worthy to note the fact that all people commiserate with each other on a basis of experiences. The sheer fact that I understand what you interpret to be a blue sky the color blue is still a mystery to me. In all likelihood all the colors are different for everyone and we’ve just learned to call them by there correct names. But I digress. The real issue at the crux of the matter reveals itself as a question: Do we really want to hear about other people’s experiences? I think I do, but only if the so-called “experience” is interesting and has to do with me in some kind of way; i.e. I have to be reminded of a similar occurrence in order to be interested. Now that’s not to say that I’m only interested in things that I have personally done, but unless my mind has wrapped itself around some kind of similar issue, I probably don’t want to hear about it. For example, I have yet to think of … So here I am starting out wanting to bitch and ending up giving an in depth analysis of whether or not my bitching is actually going to be beneficial to anyone. Well in the tradition of Mark Twain and the writers of all great prologues: I sincerely urge my reader to stop reading now. My day was long and intense and I didn’t sleep enough and never returned all my phone calls or got to play my guitar or feel like a person at all. Life just moves too fast to enjoy it sometimes and I dwell on how much I hate that. It’s absolutely the most pathetic thing in the world to be doing everything you love and still want to complain about it.
Sunday January 27, 2008 I would apologize for not getting to this sooner, but in the internet blog-friendly world we inhabit, it seems that staying away for extended periods of time can be construed as healthy. While in most relationships a constant perpetuation of goals, motives, and forward-thinking tends to encompass the traditional sense of value one feels, I can’t help but feel a sense of amazement when I don’t get overwhelmed with what I’ve lost catching up on the internet. When I don’t receive 500 emails that I haven’t caught up on, or responded to any of my “friend’s” messages on any one of the variety of social networking sites that have become standard protocol in the office, at school, and at home. I love Billboard Magazine and Bob Lefsetz but were there really 15 emails I missed in the last week? I have at least five email accounts: three myspace pages, one facebook and entire arsenal of passwords, usernames, and special codes… What’s more is I know this situation is not unique to me: I’m pretty sure most of us have to deal with the tremendous onslaught of personal information and where to archive it. Ok back to my point: when we stay away from our digital lives it usually means we were out living our physical lives. Our peers rarely admonish this situation. Who really complains when their friends are out living their lives? I mean sure we get the occasional bitching complaint posted almost anonymously on some foreign server, but do we really hear these complaints? Can someone be held responsible for something that wasn’t specifically delivered to his or her doorstep? I would argue no. I would boldly declare that we can barely hold people to the things they say to us in person let alone communicated vaguely over some technological medium. But that’s where relationship investment comes into play… Ok so I was out living my life, enough said. By the way, the first foray of The Plastic Revolution into the depths of the New York City Music scene was a fabulous success. I would like to thank first and foremost all the people who trekked their asses out of their heated apartments in the 20 degree weather at 12:00 at night and who stayed way past 3:00 to watch the madness unfold at Otto’s Shrunken Head. There will be video footage posted shortly so before that happens I wanted to give a special thanks to all you kids in the NY;) Also, I would like to extend an honorable mention to the all powerful Frank Wood of www.mrfwood.com for booking the show. While we’re on the subject of thank you’s, I definitely need to thank all of you from the special place inside my heart where self worth resides for picking up our new album “Planning For Chaos” off of iTunes since the release. Increasingly, people inside the music business are saying the buzz words “free” and “music” in entirely too close of a proximity in the same sentences. What does this mean for those of us who live off of selling our music? There can be no quitting of day jobs anytime soon. The strange thing about this is that probably all musicians want their music heard by massive amounts of people and would even pay to have it happen. The sad truth is that a lot of incredible talent goes unknown and doesn’t necessarily get revealed in our so-called “free-market.” To that end, I’ll give a CD out to anyone who can’t afford it and wants to listen and I think no one should be deprived of music, but there is no denying that everyone in this band has been honored that people are still willing to pay for music, especially ours. So thank you fans and friends and family (in no particular order) we would not be able to play without your vehement support and your sporting of this Revolution in every region of this world… One last note: I’m extremely honored to be a part of the benefit show for cancer coming up at Josie Wood’s Pub on Waverly Place right by NYU February 16th. The Chappelle Show’s Donnelle Rawlings will be performing stand-up and the wonderful Jerry Fuentes of The JFJ Band is going to do an acoustic set as well as myself. Anheuser Busch has been kind enough to sponsor the event and Liz Imler and many others will be shaving their head’s in support of cancer victims. It definitely feels good to give; what a lovely sentiment… Hope you all have a magical week and don’t get beaten down by the constant barrage of stimuli. We can show them it doesn’t affect us at all as we all do something nice for someone else even though we don’t have to;)
Friday November 30, 2007 If there ever was a good time to be alive, it would be right now. There’s always the inevitable decision of viewing the glass half empty or half full, the early sexual corruption of our youth as appalling or liberating, the overwhelming majority of the American public that clings to moral relics that are no longer relevant in the new millennium. Now I’m not saying there’s nothing good in organized religion or the republican party, but there are undoubted flaws in every system so agnostics and democrats beware. Do the ends truly justify the means? Is protecting our economic interest in oil worth the shit we cause by sending troops to Iraq? We’re all so connected to the internet and yet so disconnected from what’s going on in the world. Or maybe we are totally aware but not really sure what to make of our collapsing morality. I tend to lean towards the latter; there’s no doubt in my mind about the pervading postmodern necessities of life and we are definitely not the same person we are to our best friends as we are to our parents and to our teachers and further off to our lovers and mortal enemies. Different shades of grey pervade our characters and it’s not a bad thing! As a matter of fact its how we get through the constant variety we are exposed to. So I wish you all a long a healthy life for the art of multitasking: walking and chewing gum at the same time; heading out on the town with a café latte in your left hand and your daily can-do attitude sticking out your shirt. Glance at a newspaper, a sign, a billboard, a person, and pick up your cell phone calls… They are never going to happen again at that moment. But then again, we have all the time we’re ever going to have to get whatever we want accomplished. We can take our time and do what we want. I could just as easily be overwhelmed and seek medication for functionality. Who says this can’t be in the form of multiple personality disorder? And what fucking 90 year-old douche decided to list that in the DSM IV as a disease when it can so easily be modern man’s coping mechanism?
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