Tuesday, Sep 22nd, 2009 we had a great time down in oly with cat doing a special show in helen wheels. it was our first 'unplugged' show in quite awhile, and it was totally fun. sometime in the near future we'll put up a little video of one or two of the songs.

after we played helen wheels, we packed up and headed down to portland to play at the red room. we were suppose to go first out of 3 bands, but that soon slide down hill to last out of 5 bands...nothing like being the out of towner. we decided to roll with it as usual, and proceeded next door to the states motel, to get a room, since the other hotel we had a reservation with had given us the wrong day. after they asked us at the desk 4 times whether we had pets or not, joeB and i set off back to the red room to grab everyone's ID. by the time we got back the bartender had strongly advised us against getting a room next door, since in his opinion it was merely a crack den, full of prostitutes, addicts and pimps. i guess adding four musicians would have upset the balance somehow, so we ripped up the reservation slip, and bailed on them...

meanwhile, we proceeded to wrangle extra rounds out of the doorman, bartender and owner, for sticking us at the end., and started calling around for another hotel, since driving home and going last just wasn't gonna work. after getting another hotel, sean singing along by megaphone with the other bands, playing some video poker, and watching patrons make out, we finally took the stage a bit after midnite, and ripped up a sweet set of dance rock numbers. those left at the bar were very receptive, and we had a small dance floor of people going most the set.

we packed up, had another round, and talked the kitchen into feeding us. while we had the last of the free food and beer, sean played hard ball with the doorman, until on his way out, he handed me five crinkled ones from his own pocket, and asked me to get the drummer to stop making him feel bad. all in all a very fun night, and i have to admit that even though we went last, everyone from the red room's staff was super cool to us all night. we definitely fanaggled ourself some extra perks for our troubles. during load out we serenaded some patrons making out in the alleyway, and then made it the four blocks to our hotel.

looking forward to making the red room show look tame this sunday down in san francisco at the folsom street fair...should be quite an experience. then in a couple weeks on october 2, we'll release 'metaphorically speaking', the fifth estocar album. if you haven't seen one yet, they are looking and sounding super sweet. we hand made everything except the disc, and used recycled LP sleeves for the packaging. come out to the release show and grab one.

until then, we'll be in touch...hopefully we'll share a few stories from the road the next few days, and then we come back to seattle to enjoy the cd release. have a good one.

p.s. check out the video we created for the georgetown super 8 film festival...no edits, a bunch of guess work and a lot of fun with helenK, kellyO, jillR, deenaH, charO and myself

soupcan super8

p.p.s. the lady next door from the states motel, came by the bar twice looking for us. she wanted her room reservation slip, but we had filled it out, and didn't want to give it back to her, since it had all of our info on it...needless to say she was not happy, but after trying 3 times to get it back, she eventually gave up...

archived news:

Wednesday, Sep 2nd, 2009 you know, i don't talk too much about this on the site, and probably really won't, but man tonite's practice was a lot of fun. charlotte, joeB, sean and i get together two to three times a week, and ...more

albums:

giraffe riot

...tugging at the abstract notions worn on the everyman's sleeve. giraffe riot bolts thru the angles of shifty brain rock...careeming off obstacle to obstacle. a stampede of songs yelling out the observations of forward motion. a circus barker delivering a garage rock band through the acrobatic show. 'soupcan telephone operator' is a fine example of the nerve this album tries to strike...voice after voice played out before the words even begin to form. sound tracks of places where the microphone tuned in. found sounds breaking into the clever atmosphere of a twisted folk tune. a clawing crescendo of questions posed in the way of answers. 'wobbly arrow' steps in with a scattered groove that steers itself by the skin of it's teeth all the way to the finish line...perfect sounds teetering in and out...a pulsing indie rock dance number. it leads further into an album that continues to escalate the vibe...'mr.e' shreads, 'wittle' dives on, and 'truss' uses all the twists and turns to clamber it to the brink. the sounds continue to please as 'nacimiento' is a replenishing truck stop off the highway, a place to put chains on in order to drive thru the pass. on the other side giraffe riot continues to roll on until it explores every nook and cranny along the parade route...the final destination is reached in 'circle the wagons' revisiting the daylight, bringing back to a head..the other end of the ribbon. an oragami bow tie start to finish.

garage philosophy

...in late October of 2003, five inches of rain fell in such a short time span in seattle, that lance found his new album's basic guitar and drum tracks in serious danger of become a part of the flotsam jetsam of a quickly flooding basement. a bucket brigade was formed though, and with science tips picked up from zoom, the water was held at bay...the salvaged tunes were brought up to the main floor to be finished in dryer confines, but in the light of day it was evident that these were songs meant for a band sweating them out in one room live, not how the past albums had been built around a sole guitar...estocar's first release as a garage rock trio would hit the pavement two years later...some of those original songs rescued from the oncoming waters in the basement of the nougat house would survive...songs like 'invisible mayan', a full throttle indie folk punk anthem, 'blue heron', a bipolar art rock number, and 'capable+1', hippie metal groove rock at it's finest...those songs and other songs on garage philosophy capture the true spirit of a solid rock trio unleashing a racous sound that could only be realized within the confines of their own rehearsal space. self recorded and self released this album delivers the essence and urgency of a band completely at ease with it's underground stature...a raw intimate look into estocar's earlier psyche.

tinfoil halo

...pawn e5, king's knight c6, pawn a6...from the opening lyrics of the poet's blindspot, one can tell that this will be an album with intentions of seeing a game thru. an album truly taking form in the studio...from layered vocals, door slams, kitchen knifes tapping on linoleum, popcorn being poured into glass bowls, beer cans being crushed, sounds amped and reamped, drum tracks made from found objects, and even horn players brought in to add that true experimental texture that these four songs would coagulate into. strange birds meant to clear the palate, act as a sorbet for the upcoming entree. one where all the stops are pulled out. like a kid who just learned how to play with matches and has found a stash of them...each song strikes another and another until every match in the box is ignited and used as fuel to the fire for these intuitive soundscapes. this ep stretches out estocar's feathers, goes overboard and climbs ashore in order that no stone is left unturned...

traffic noise

...as estocar's first release eludes to in it's title, there are plenty of moments of idling buses, rumbling semi-trucks, revving motorcyles, passing cars, ambulance sirens, and even the voices of a steady stream of pedestrians wafting into the small crowded room above street level where it was recorded...an array of folk songs given a psychedelic white washing, peppered with the happy accidents that create an album when the recording process becomes an instrument as well...'six degrees from seventh heaven' the opening track is a loping mellow folk number brought in by drum rolls as it gathers steam like a tumble weed in open field...'render' adds a more sinister side as the album twists and turns thru layered guitars and keyboards. traffic noises from north street in chicago poke their head thru now and then as the album grows more rock oriented and full blown as wah wah guitars join the ruckus and drums add more drive. traffic noise continues to go down as many streets, avenues, nooks and crannies as a long commute...stretching out toward a foreboding blues folk number, 'atmospheric kettle', that explains the pit falls of finding oneself in hot water that continues to get hotter and hotter...traffic noise is a glimpse of the folk tunes in lance's head beginning to grow into numbers that will require a full fledged band...in the mean time it explores the freedom that can be found in the studio as sounds are piled up and around sturdy songs laid down on acoustic guitar.