I've found that when I can remember to--- I can be a good friend. But when you forget, or when you wait for something to happen, its just you and only you that looks the fool. You let people down and you don't even know it. But there was more behind that person. At start, You developed an awkward crush. You didn't say a word. She made out with a friend for awhile. You smiled and didn't say a word. And eventually you wrote this song....
Devil's Backbone (2010)
"I want a real live bathing beauty in a tub,
show her what its really like when you have fun.
With dark brown eyes that could cut through porcelain,
and skin so smooth like the bullet in a gun.
We could burn these bridges to the ground, find your love in the lost and found, spread these ashes all around. Cause even if you do or you don't, the back or in front, no they'll never, never understand you.
I want to take your picture and hang it on my wall,
staring back at me saying nothing at all.
How could you say anything anyway,
you're just a picture, trapped in glass behind the frame.
We could burn these bridges to the ground, find your love in the lost and found, spread these ashes all around. Cause even if you do or you don't, the back or in front, no they'll never, never understand you."
The Devils Backbone is a tough trail in Colorado. I feel it was fitting for the theme of the song. It has little to do with nature, and more to do with the nature of the beast. I saw a picture in a magazine once, it was black and white. It was of a young woman, slightly model emaciated look. She was sitting in a bathtub in her black bra and her mascara was smeared. It was striking. When I first saw the main character in this quick tale for the first time, I thought of the beauty in the tub.
We both were in similar situations. So burning our bridges together would have been fun. Feeling like that once strong love has been put in a box of lost and found items. And spreading these ashes of the bridges we had once built would be catharsis at its best. And ofcourse they'd never understand why.
As for the picture on the wall. It is symbolic of who she was, who she is. And trapped behind the glass, represents everything that could never be.
I cannot push off for tomorrow what must be taken care of today anymore.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Douchebag or: The Myth of Fingerprints
Ok,
So as you can probably tell by now, I procrastinate pretty hardcore.
I've kept a bunch of blog drafts and never get around to finishing them, but goddammit I'm gonna show some Hal Jordan style willpower and demolish the DC universe as I finally get around to finishing and posting these damn things.
So I'm gonna just keep going where I left off.
I'm going to try and remember this all as well as I can.
I started this post in March.
Its not March anymore.
So when I was in high school I once heard Amanda Palmer say that there's this thing that like touching except you don't touch.
But I'll get to all that later.
So its been just over a month since record release and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only Amboy still reeling from it all. But then again, I was up until 7 AM rocking the heaviest power hour ever with The Bears of Blue River.
Its 5:30 PM and we're all slowly making our way toward Asbury Lanes; fully loaded with tee-pees, make-up, smoke machines, T-Shirts and most importantly our first legit full-length album "Everything Between The Moon & The Sun". And I honestly can't thank the ladies at the Lanes enough for keeping what I feel is Asbury Park's best venue up and running and really giving us free reign on this show. I mean what other place would let us drag in a giant fake horse in from the rain and use it as a stage piece?
Its about 7:30 and the gang is all here. The four boys and our running crew for the night Rob, Colin, Matt, and Sam. Lawrence is in the back running the projective magic machine and we have our first full sound-check for the night. Now if I could be a complete bastard steal these guys away from their respective projects, I would flat out because once we got things rolling and I heard the full live sound I'd been dreaming of for two years now.
And it was pretty well close to perfect.
(this is me finishing the post)
Its somewhere around half past 8 and Bears of Blue River are on. People are slowly piling in from all the wet outside and the night's picking up steam. My only real regret here is that there weren't more people around at this point to see how great these guys are, because they missed out on something pretty fierce.
Its somewhere around 9 and The Riverwinds are on and Colin is shredding life. I'm running ragged. Shaking hands, giving hugs, maybe selling CDs.
I'm drinking gin in a Mr Sparkle T-shirt.
Its around 10 now and we're running a bit late. Backstage Lawrence is prepping us all in Indian warpaint for some reason. Chris is opting for the Adam Ant look. I've chosen to come out in white-face. Or at least half of it is whiteface. The rest is sweat.
I'm so god-damned scared.
Out on the stage I hear Bryan start to announce us in Japanese. I thought he was kidding when he said he'd do it. He wasn't. I swallow down hard and we all rush the stage. With the opening notes of The Right Track, I'm off like a racehorse. Thundercats are go. At this point I'm pretty much running on Mountain Dew-fueled adrenaline. I'm not gonna lie and say that a big chunk of the middle isn't a blur, but trust me when I say I don't think I've ever been happier. Every track was just spot on and just fun to play. It was great to have these guys really fleshing out these songs so that the crowd could finally hear them the way we always meant them to. We closed out the set with This Very Thin Line and at some point Brent and Bryan find their way on stage to grind a bowling ball against the neck of my bass, adding a little bit extra to my normal Sonic Youth closing shenanigans.
We segue into a bit of Talking Heads' Road to Nowhere, something we liked to do a lot last year that we ended up retiring. I called people up to come dance on stage and in two seconds it was packed to capacity.
I'm pretty sure we almost broke the stage that night. But it was a pretty special kind of awesome to be able to bring it back and make it that epic.
From there it gets pretty blurry but you get the point. It was an awesome show and I managed not to let Bears of Blue River drink me under the table. I'm so grateful to everyone that helped us and to everyone that showed up to support us. We're gonna need a lot more of that love in the future as we try to get out on the road and be somebody so help us out, spread the word. Whore us a bit, we don't mind.
Now its almost 3am and I wanna pass out watching Charlie Murphy. So back to my opening statement:
Apparently there's this thing that's like touching
Except you don't touch
And I think that night we all got a little closer to it.
Manny
The Amboys
So as you can probably tell by now, I procrastinate pretty hardcore.
I've kept a bunch of blog drafts and never get around to finishing them, but goddammit I'm gonna show some Hal Jordan style willpower and demolish the DC universe as I finally get around to finishing and posting these damn things.
So I'm gonna just keep going where I left off.
I'm going to try and remember this all as well as I can.
I started this post in March.
Its not March anymore.
So when I was in high school I once heard Amanda Palmer say that there's this thing that like touching except you don't touch.
But I'll get to all that later.
So its been just over a month since record release and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only Amboy still reeling from it all. But then again, I was up until 7 AM rocking the heaviest power hour ever with The Bears of Blue River.
Its 5:30 PM and we're all slowly making our way toward Asbury Lanes; fully loaded with tee-pees, make-up, smoke machines, T-Shirts and most importantly our first legit full-length album "Everything Between The Moon & The Sun". And I honestly can't thank the ladies at the Lanes enough for keeping what I feel is Asbury Park's best venue up and running and really giving us free reign on this show. I mean what other place would let us drag in a giant fake horse in from the rain and use it as a stage piece?
Its about 7:30 and the gang is all here. The four boys and our running crew for the night Rob, Colin, Matt, and Sam. Lawrence is in the back running the projective magic machine and we have our first full sound-check for the night. Now if I could be a complete bastard steal these guys away from their respective projects, I would flat out because once we got things rolling and I heard the full live sound I'd been dreaming of for two years now.
And it was pretty well close to perfect.
(this is me finishing the post)
Its somewhere around half past 8 and Bears of Blue River are on. People are slowly piling in from all the wet outside and the night's picking up steam. My only real regret here is that there weren't more people around at this point to see how great these guys are, because they missed out on something pretty fierce.
Its somewhere around 9 and The Riverwinds are on and Colin is shredding life. I'm running ragged. Shaking hands, giving hugs, maybe selling CDs.
I'm drinking gin in a Mr Sparkle T-shirt.
Its around 10 now and we're running a bit late. Backstage Lawrence is prepping us all in Indian warpaint for some reason. Chris is opting for the Adam Ant look. I've chosen to come out in white-face. Or at least half of it is whiteface. The rest is sweat.
I'm so god-damned scared.
Out on the stage I hear Bryan start to announce us in Japanese. I thought he was kidding when he said he'd do it. He wasn't. I swallow down hard and we all rush the stage. With the opening notes of The Right Track, I'm off like a racehorse. Thundercats are go. At this point I'm pretty much running on Mountain Dew-fueled adrenaline. I'm not gonna lie and say that a big chunk of the middle isn't a blur, but trust me when I say I don't think I've ever been happier. Every track was just spot on and just fun to play. It was great to have these guys really fleshing out these songs so that the crowd could finally hear them the way we always meant them to. We closed out the set with This Very Thin Line and at some point Brent and Bryan find their way on stage to grind a bowling ball against the neck of my bass, adding a little bit extra to my normal Sonic Youth closing shenanigans.
We segue into a bit of Talking Heads' Road to Nowhere, something we liked to do a lot last year that we ended up retiring. I called people up to come dance on stage and in two seconds it was packed to capacity.
I'm pretty sure we almost broke the stage that night. But it was a pretty special kind of awesome to be able to bring it back and make it that epic.
From there it gets pretty blurry but you get the point. It was an awesome show and I managed not to let Bears of Blue River drink me under the table. I'm so grateful to everyone that helped us and to everyone that showed up to support us. We're gonna need a lot more of that love in the future as we try to get out on the road and be somebody so help us out, spread the word. Whore us a bit, we don't mind.
Now its almost 3am and I wanna pass out watching Charlie Murphy. So back to my opening statement:
Apparently there's this thing that's like touching
Except you don't touch
And I think that night we all got a little closer to it.
Manny
The Amboys
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Amboys announce their last show ever
We'd be lucky to make it past 2012 with the rate that things have been moving.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Harvest Show
Tomorrow night (Jan21,2010, two years before the end) at the Langosta Lounge in Asbury Park, we'll be performing Neil Young's 1972 classic "Harvest" in its complete entirety. Hopefully you can make it out. We'll have some exclusive, one night only t-shirt designs that are bound to go fast. See ya'll there.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Grrrrowlers
I just got their record in the mail today. Wowsas wowsas wowsas. See you guys in New York on Valentines day. www.myspace.com/lbcgrowlers
The Growlers - Little Miss Jack from Uriel Santiago on Vimeo.
The Growlers (Acid Rain) from jack Coleman on Vimeo.
As for the slAmboys, we're gonna be practicing tomorrow for the big Harvest show on January 21st and then taking some promo shots in my basement.
Sangha, originally uploaded by RonnocRegrebneffe.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Douchebag: 1st Entry
A Künstlerroman ("artist's novel", German pronunciation: [ˈkʏnstlɐ.roˌmaːn]; plural -ane) is a specific sub-genre of Bildungsroman; it is a novel about an artist's growth to maturity. Such novels often depict the struggles of a sensitive youth against the values of a bourgeois society of his or her time.
I'll save us both the time by not explaining why that word amuses me.
I wish I could tell you that I've been really pouring over this entry these past few days and not dicking around watching netflix movies, I wish i could say that. It's been a good long while and there's been a whole lot of something going on these past few months, and with our record release but breaths away I figured it would probably be a good idea for us guys to actually use this blog. Do some promoting, prove we're not musical robots. The usual. And as the voice of Black America, I figured it was my responsibility to do my part here; so here we go.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times -
It was last Friday.
Picture it: Sicily, The Saint - The place that bore us and gave us more shows than we can count. We were booked to play at Rick Barry's Holiday Hangover. It had been awhile since we last played there and from what I'd been told it was supposedly a pretty big deal. I was still nursing a beat up body and a shiner from Monday's Gogol Bordello show, everyone else was hung over from a pretty heavy shit show week and Connor somehow found his way back from the most epic NYE party ever. but all in all we found a way to slap ourselves together after a two week break and get to work.
Now if you told me that someone out there figured out a way to sprinkle southern rock and shoegaze onto a voice smoother than warm horchata, I'd tell you to fuck off but All The Tired Horses pulled it off and the world is a bit better for it.
We were on second to a surprisingly packed room and save for a few soft sour moments here and there I think we did pretty ok. I totally meant to lose the strap and almost drop my bass. I did. Its called performance art. I'm a showman. I wear $100 jeans. I like to shave smooth. All and all a solid set from four guys who hadn't been in the same room, or state, together for the better part of two week. Its a bittersweet feeling having all these awesome b-sides and non-album tracks on our setlist, knowing that the closer we get to record release the less we'll be playing them. We've been busy boys.
We cleaned up pretty nice. soon enough Rick Barry and his men took the stage. I've seen Rick Barry play solo a few times and its always really good. Strong, deep lyrics that don't completely stray away from pop sensibilities; but I've never seen him with a full backing band and I must say I was really impressed with not only the individual talent of each member but with how tight they were as a band and how well they meshed together. There is nothing sloppy about Rick Barry and The Forget-Me-Nows and I respect that. These guys fucking practice. Plus for about five minutes I was pretty sure Uncle Joey was playing Keys and that's always a plus for any band.
Let me say with no insult or exaggeration that Mr Rick Barry has a phenomenal mustache. It takes time and energy and real dedication to groom something like that and I've said on more than one occasion that I wish that his mustache would read me bedtime stories or tell me about the one time it got smashed on blotter acid and hit on Kim Deal at Lollapalooza in the 90s while I drink warm horchata. One Day.
One Day.
I'd like the mustache to be voiced by Morgan Freeman.
But its not a deal breaker.
River City Extension.
These guys make me feel bad for playing music because I know nothing I do will be nearly as good as what they do. Imagine Arcade Fire relocated to the shores of Mexico. Time and time again I'm blown away by the sheer intensity of their live show. Their infectious rhythms. Everything. I like what these guys do. They don't have a heavy-handed agenda. I like that.
There was a moment during the show when they started playing this song, I forget the name but I distinctly remember it about going south for the winter. Now it started with Joe, the singer and acoustic guitarist, playing by himself a rhythm and chord progression that left hints of Crane Wife on my tongue. At this point I was ready to call shenanigans on this guy but suddenly the rest of the band just exploded into the moment and took the song someplace indescribable. And for the briefest moth flutter of a moment I saw everything. The big picture. And for that moment, everything was fuller and brighter than it had ever been. Needless to say I haven't felt that at a live show in a good long while and I doubt I will again any time soon.
The rest of the set didn't taper off from there. It got better. Even if you've never heard them before I defy to see them live and not find something primal rise in you.
I defy you not to move.
All in all it was the best night of music Asbury Park had seen in a good long while.
But the past seems like a distant place, and I'm pleased with that.
Its time for the future, to talk of new and better things. Our debut album "Everything Between The Moon & The Sun" is set for release in about 6 weeks and we're all really pumped for it. I wanna thank anyone and everyone who was ever remotely involved in this project. You're champions, gods among insects. Don't forget that. I also just wanna throw this out there; Guns and Roses' Chinese Democracy beat us to the shelves how did that happen? At least we got this thing knocked out before Ben Gibbard could put out another Postal Service album.
At least we beat Duke Nukem Forever.
One last thing about Rick Barry; we've sorted out the details, the mustache will be voiced by John Turturro. Stay tuned for further developments.
I'll leave you with this one last note; Sometimes the only thing you need in this world is an enigmatic cowboy who speaks in non-sequiturs and has a staring problem.
Do what it do, Do it big.
Manny
The Amboys
I'll save us both the time by not explaining why that word amuses me.
I wish I could tell you that I've been really pouring over this entry these past few days and not dicking around watching netflix movies, I wish i could say that. It's been a good long while and there's been a whole lot of something going on these past few months, and with our record release but breaths away I figured it would probably be a good idea for us guys to actually use this blog. Do some promoting, prove we're not musical robots. The usual. And as the voice of Black America, I figured it was my responsibility to do my part here; so here we go.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times -
It was last Friday.
Picture it: Sicily, The Saint - The place that bore us and gave us more shows than we can count. We were booked to play at Rick Barry's Holiday Hangover. It had been awhile since we last played there and from what I'd been told it was supposedly a pretty big deal. I was still nursing a beat up body and a shiner from Monday's Gogol Bordello show, everyone else was hung over from a pretty heavy shit show week and Connor somehow found his way back from the most epic NYE party ever. but all in all we found a way to slap ourselves together after a two week break and get to work.
Now if you told me that someone out there figured out a way to sprinkle southern rock and shoegaze onto a voice smoother than warm horchata, I'd tell you to fuck off but All The Tired Horses pulled it off and the world is a bit better for it.
We were on second to a surprisingly packed room and save for a few soft sour moments here and there I think we did pretty ok. I totally meant to lose the strap and almost drop my bass. I did. Its called performance art. I'm a showman. I wear $100 jeans. I like to shave smooth. All and all a solid set from four guys who hadn't been in the same room, or state, together for the better part of two week. Its a bittersweet feeling having all these awesome b-sides and non-album tracks on our setlist, knowing that the closer we get to record release the less we'll be playing them. We've been busy boys.
We cleaned up pretty nice. soon enough Rick Barry and his men took the stage. I've seen Rick Barry play solo a few times and its always really good. Strong, deep lyrics that don't completely stray away from pop sensibilities; but I've never seen him with a full backing band and I must say I was really impressed with not only the individual talent of each member but with how tight they were as a band and how well they meshed together. There is nothing sloppy about Rick Barry and The Forget-Me-Nows and I respect that. These guys fucking practice. Plus for about five minutes I was pretty sure Uncle Joey was playing Keys and that's always a plus for any band.
Let me say with no insult or exaggeration that Mr Rick Barry has a phenomenal mustache. It takes time and energy and real dedication to groom something like that and I've said on more than one occasion that I wish that his mustache would read me bedtime stories or tell me about the one time it got smashed on blotter acid and hit on Kim Deal at Lollapalooza in the 90s while I drink warm horchata. One Day.
One Day.
I'd like the mustache to be voiced by Morgan Freeman.
But its not a deal breaker.
River City Extension.
These guys make me feel bad for playing music because I know nothing I do will be nearly as good as what they do. Imagine Arcade Fire relocated to the shores of Mexico. Time and time again I'm blown away by the sheer intensity of their live show. Their infectious rhythms. Everything. I like what these guys do. They don't have a heavy-handed agenda. I like that.
There was a moment during the show when they started playing this song, I forget the name but I distinctly remember it about going south for the winter. Now it started with Joe, the singer and acoustic guitarist, playing by himself a rhythm and chord progression that left hints of Crane Wife on my tongue. At this point I was ready to call shenanigans on this guy but suddenly the rest of the band just exploded into the moment and took the song someplace indescribable. And for the briefest moth flutter of a moment I saw everything. The big picture. And for that moment, everything was fuller and brighter than it had ever been. Needless to say I haven't felt that at a live show in a good long while and I doubt I will again any time soon.
The rest of the set didn't taper off from there. It got better. Even if you've never heard them before I defy to see them live and not find something primal rise in you.
I defy you not to move.
All in all it was the best night of music Asbury Park had seen in a good long while.
But the past seems like a distant place, and I'm pleased with that.
Its time for the future, to talk of new and better things. Our debut album "Everything Between The Moon & The Sun" is set for release in about 6 weeks and we're all really pumped for it. I wanna thank anyone and everyone who was ever remotely involved in this project. You're champions, gods among insects. Don't forget that. I also just wanna throw this out there; Guns and Roses' Chinese Democracy beat us to the shelves how did that happen? At least we got this thing knocked out before Ben Gibbard could put out another Postal Service album.
At least we beat Duke Nukem Forever.
One last thing about Rick Barry; we've sorted out the details, the mustache will be voiced by John Turturro. Stay tuned for further developments.
I'll leave you with this one last note; Sometimes the only thing you need in this world is an enigmatic cowboy who speaks in non-sequiturs and has a staring problem.
Do what it do, Do it big.
Manny
The Amboys
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
a whole lotta something going on
Now here we are in the new year. 2010, or as some would call it 2 years before the end. Until then, we'll be starting off the new year with tons of GIANT shows, like the one on February 2nd with Those Darlins! We'll also be gearing up for our record release party in celebration of our first CD "Everything Between the Moon & The Sun" You'll be able to find it on iTunes, at any of our shows, and through our upcoming mail order system.
I'd also like to take some time to thank a few people in the area. First off, Billy and Race, you guys have been doing a lot for us and we appreciate it more than you can possibly imagine. We'll always have you dudes in our mind when we're wiping our asses with endangered animal toilet paper. Thank you to Loura for finding time to take pictures of our shows. Thank you to River City Extension for being unbelievable and truly representing what live music is supposed to entail. Thank you to my family and friends who have been amazing at making it out to our shows since the beginning and showing nothing but support. Thank you to Dutch for being the best salesman in the world and sometimes caring about this band more than anyone else is. Thanks to everyone that sent me songs (James Black, Pat O'Brien) for my final project in public speaking. Thank you Matt and Mike for being my favorite friends from too far away. Thanks to Luke for making the most amazing music and throwing the most incredible party ever on New Years. If only everyone else could have one beard hair of your knowledge, this world would be a better place. I can't wait for the next album "Samsara 2, The End Of Days". Eric, you're doing some inspiring things. I can't wait for you to come home and get droned to shit. Lawrence, you're a world class travel mate and one of the best people I know. The Buick misses that Cuban tuckus. Thank you to Kyle for being a world class friend, Chris for writing the songs to get us all to this point, and Manny for always keeping me on my toes, whether its parking a car in an ice patch for teaching me more about po(o)p culture than I had ever wanted to know.
I know this year is going to lead to only bigger and better things, but if it doesn't, I'm happy to be here now. On behalf of The Amboys, thank you everyone and we cant wait to see you all very soon!
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