I am Lou, and here is my story:

It was the seventh day of the eighth month of the ninth year of the second millennium, only fifteen thousand, thirty-two years and three hundred thirty-eight days since the fall of the Roman Empire.  It was a fine August evening in Los Angeles, California.  The blood orange sun was setting, the palm trees were snoozing in the breeze, and the sweet sound of sirens could faintly be heard screaming in the distance…but I was dead inside.  The meeting with Shaimus left a bad taste in my mouth, nay; it shattered my every perception of the world around me.  I still had not been officially accepted into the band.  What more could I do?  How long could I wait?  Was it all worth it?

It was now the eighth day of the eighth month of the ninth year of the second millennium, on the one hundred and forty-sixth anniversary of the resignation of Robert E. Lee from the Confederate cause shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg.  It was a fine August morning in Los Angeles, California.  The smog was cleared, the squirrels were reading on the sidewalk, and the cockroaches were out and about in the kitchen as if to greet everyone with a smile and a stink.  I was still dead inside, but rehearsal with Shaimus was scheduled at noon.  A little music always does the trick.

Johannes and Evan left for rehearsal early, both stuttering and talking a mile a minute as they did so.  I thought nothing of it at the time, only that they must have really tied one on the previous night.  My brother, Phil, and I start going to the rehearsal space, when he exclaims in horror that he forgot to pick up his microphones from a friend.  After fifteen minutes of anxiety, profanity, and tears, I told my big brother that it wasn’t his fault…that sometimes these things just happen.  Little did I know it was a brilliant Hollywood performance.

We soon arrived to a quaint little pub in El Segundo at around 12:30 in the afternoon.  Apparently, my brother’s seemingly alcoholic friend was meeting another friend for drinks and happened to bring the microphones with him.  I don’t know how I didn’t see any holes in this story. We then walked in the pub and I saw Shaimus sitting at a table.  ‘Why weren’t they at rehearsal?’ I wondered.  What a bunch of slackers.  It was at that moment, when every shard of my shattered world awakened and reformed before my eyes.  That was the biggest ‘oh’ moment of my life.

So now, I am a brother Shaimus.  That is my story.  Thank you guys, I love you all.  Shaimus is new and revamped.  This world survived the fall of Rome.  This world survived the American Civil War.  But live in fear, my friends, because this world may not survive The Return Of Shaimus!

It’s been a music-filled week in LA. Shortly following our first gig at the troubadour we had the privilege of attending two other excellent shows there: Barcelona and Elizabeth & The Catapult.

Barcelona

Cam’s fellow Seattle-ites Barcelona played on August 10th. To me, their sound is reminiscent of Coldplay but with a bit more oomph. Brian, the singer, also plays keys and along with guitarist Chris creates Sigur Ros-like soundscapes which makes their take on pop/rock original and fun to listen to, both live and on the record. Add to this an energetic and excited drummer named Rhett and you’ve got yourself a kick-ass show. They played a lot of material from their album Absolutes (Universal Motown) and even treated us to an acoustic encore, after apologizing for not knowing any more material! Barcelona are also very friendly and we spent some time with them after the show talking about being in a band, touring, the state of the music industry, favorite beer, etc.  Shaimus likes them… Please give them a listen!

Elizabeth & The Catapult

Our friends from Boston Elizabeth & The Catapult also put on a Troubadour show on August 6th. They played a lot of material from their record Taller Children (Verve), a Tom Waits cover (which Elizabeth called the inspiration for their whole tour) and some new material I hadn’t heard before. Elizabeth (the singer) and her band (The Catapult) are phenomenal performers, and it was great to see them play live again. Taller Children is one of my favorite records to come out this year, so please give it a listen, it’s fantastic!

Elizabeth & The Catapult plus Phil (photo by Winnie Jaing)

As an added bonus, Phil and I got to attend a party at the Andaz Hotel (also known as the Riot House!) on August 13th. Rolling Stone threw the party with a variety of other sponsors, one being Catapult’s record label, Verve. EZ & C treated the party goers to a one-hour set, and Phil joined them on trumpet for 2-3 songs (that’s why he’s on stage in the picture above!).  I was tasked with mixing the live performance itself, and when I wasn’t concerning myself with whether the vocal was loud enough or the acoustic guitar was coming through in a pleasant way, I really enjoyed their show!  I got to hear songs they didn’t have time to play at the Troubadour, so all in all it was a great success. Free food, open bar, and general Hollywood schmoozing helped too.

Many more to come.
–Johannes

Last night we finally got to be on stage again for the first time in months, this time at one of our favorite venues, The Troubadour.  We had never played there before, and everyone kept telling us that the sound in the audience was the best it’s ever been at one of our shows.  The turn out was amazing, the show went off without a hitch, and special thanks to Lou for kicking ass on guitar as former Shaimus axe-wielder Dave Middleton got his first experience from the other side of the stage at a Shaimus show (which was really weird, but also fun to hear him cheering us on).

It’s good to be back.  Many thanks to everyone who came out!  The setlist looked a little something like this:

Let Go
All Of This
All The Good Ways
Don’t Want the Story
Tie You Down
Like a Fool
Stuck Around
Left to Dry
Turn the Other Way
Interview > Knights of Cydonia
While We’re Young

E: Everlong