Matt Suggs
 
 
 
 
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News
25 August 02
Hi. The 7" is done and sent and is to be released October 15, 2002 by
Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records.
As we had planned, the 3 songs are When You Gonna See Things My Way?,
Sea Monkeys, and Lullaby for DeVon Smith. The covers for the 7"
are each going to be individual and hand drawn by schoolchildren, who were given
the challenge of designing an imaginary instrument. They are brilliant drawings.
We will be adding a gallery of the artwork to the website soon.
Get Underground, an website dedicated to,
as they so eloquently put it, "creative resistance designed for the emancipation of the human spirit",
has chosen to feature Matt Suggs in their music gallery during the month of August. Check it out.
http://www.getunderground.com/underground/mailing.cfm
Kimberly and I just bought a house out in the country in early August.
Our new address is:
1935 Highway 106 North
Danielsville, GA 30633
We've been offline for a couple of weeks, so we didn't have a chance to tell you that
we played a bunch of shows fairly recently in Athens. Most importantly, we held Christmas in
August at the X-Ray Cafe, featuring christmas cookies, egg nog, good cheer, christmas decorations,
presents, Santa Claus, and music by Thimble Circus, The Clouds, Sugar Cookie, Secret Santa, and Matt Suggs.
An utterly amazing event.
We'll be playing at the 40 Watt in Athens on October 11, 2002 as part of Daily Co-op's 10th Anniversary party.
Also on the bill will be Vic Chestnutt and Flash To Bang Time.
Tony
1 July 02
Hi! We've been hard at work on a variety of recordings. We spent much of April and May recording songs for Kimberly's full-length album, which will be released under the name Bellhouse.
That record is, at the moment, about 1/3 of the way finished. In June, we began sessions for Matt Suggs, recording brand new songs that will appear on a Happy Happy Birthday to Me records 7", out this fall.
The songs we've recorded up to this point are: When You Gonna See Things My Way?, Sea Monkeys, and Lullaby for DeVon Smith. Depending on what happens, these may or may not be the songs that end up on the 7", which will
be out in October.
Kimberly has completed a new mini-comic, entitled "My Life in Kindergarten." I always say this, but its true -- its one of her best yet. Check it out. Quite the prolific one, she's already hard at work on another mini-comic, this
one entitled, "My Life in Scars".
We're playing some shows in July, for the first time in awhile. Athenians will get the chance to see Kimberly's band, Bellhouse, at the Ultramod Compound on July 18 as part of a show for the Southern Girls Convention.
Matt Suggs will be playing at the Caledonia on July 27 with a band from Chicago called The Lesser Birds of Paradise, and the Leewards, another local band.
Au printemps,
Tony
8 April 02
Hey y'all, here's a handful of updates:
Trondheim Underground Radio, an internet radio station out of Norway, has added our recording of "Have It" (from the recently released Norwegian 7" on 35g Records) to their playlist. Here's the coolest part: Please go to this page -- www.turmusic.no/playlist.html -- and click on "Have It". Votes for the song will push it up in the weekly ranking. This is a great opportunity for us to have our music heard in Norway. So please, vote early and vote often!
Speaking of that Norwegian 7", they should be arriving in a couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone who ordered them for being so patient thus far. I will let folks know when they arrive and they'll be in the mail a.s.a.p.
We now have a bare-bones MP3.com page for Kimberly's project, Bellhouse, including our recording of her song Bathwater. Go to www.mp3.com/bellhouse to listen. We've been working hard on Kimberly's full length CDR, and we hope to have that out by summertime.
Also, Kimberly has a new one of her mini-comics available! My Life in Mice is hot off the press. Ordering information can be found on the store page.
There's 2 more reviews of Chutes and Ladders on the press page. One is from All Music Guide and the other is from the new issue of The Bees Knees zine.
Fare thee well,
Tony
2 March 02
Hello again. We’ve been offline for a little while, hence the mighty lack of updates.
Matt Suggs has contributed a track to Looking Down, a 4-way split 7” EP that has just been released by Norway’s 35g Records. The song, “Have It”, was written by our friend Karl Morten Dahl of the Norwegian band Aquarium Poppers. The other bands on the 7”, Ring, Peter Scion, and Groan Alone, are from Norway & Sweden. If you’re in the US or Canada and you’re interested in getting a copy of the 7”, e-mail us at info@mattsuggs.com and we’ll order you a copy. The cost is $5.00 US, postage paid.
In other European news, Matt Suggs has signed a contract to release our Chutes and Ladders CD in Europe on Alice-In-Wonder Records. We’ve given the artwork a little bit of a facelift (since it will be printed up in batches of 1000 rather than hand assembled in runs of 200 at a time). Not sure of the exact release date yet. We’ll keep you posted. We’re just very excited that our music will be available in Europe.
We’ll be recording and releasing a 7” with Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records, which will be released fall 2002. There will also be a new, exclusive Orchid Pool track on the HHBTM Vol. 3 compilation CD, due out around the same time. Also on that compilation will be a track by Bellhouse, which is Kimberly’s own songwriting and recording project. We’ll be putting an MP3 by her online soon so you can listen.
Coming up in the near future, we’ll be working on recording the Bellhouse full length album, which should be completed by summer, and a new full length album by Matt Suggs which should be completed by fall.
Greetings from a rainy Athens saturdayafternoon,
Tony & Kimberly
28 October 01
13 October 01
Hi. This just in...
The song Elevator from Chutes and Ladders has been added to the playlist of Shredding Radio, an online indie radio station (streaming MP3) and is currently #8 on their charts. For more info, or to listen to Shredding Radio, visit www.shreddingradio.com/.
Our recording equipment has been broken, but we've gotten a replacement and now we're getting back to work. It's been hard to concentrate on music or much else really with all the goings on in the world lately.
Take care....
Tony
21 September 01
Kimberly's Artcar Project!
Calling all friends...Kimberly has asked me to post this message on our website:
Kimberly and I have just purchased a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. Kimberly is planning to turn this vehicle into an art car. Specifically, she is going to completely cover it in fabric scraps (inside and out) and turn it into a Patchwork Car. The patches will be affixed with glue and then covered in clearcoat so it will be weather-resistant.
She is looking for lots and lots of different kinds of fabric. Big pieces, small pieces, itdoesn't matter. If you would like to donate some fabric scraps to Kimberly's project, she would be extremely grateful!
Send your fabric scrap donations to:
Kimberly Paglia
310H Old Commerce Road
Athens, GA 30607
Thanks!
30 August 01
Chutes and Ladders has gotten its first couple of reviews. Splendid called it "one of the most entertaining pop listens of the year." For the full review, visit Splendid e-Zine. For more reviews, visit our Press page.
Several online music stores and mail-order distros currently have Chutes and Ladders in stock, including Insound, Orange Twin, Happy Happy Birthday to Me, and our own Whirlygig Records General Store, where we accept PayPal for secure online credit card payments.
You can download another song from the new album, Girl on Channel 4, from our MP3.com site: mp3.com/mattsuggs.
Songs from Chutes and Ladders can now be heard on a couple of internet radio stations.
Finally, we just received word from Planting Seeds Records that they will be releasing a Christmas compilation CD this year, and included on it will be our recording of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, previously released on the limited-edition To Drive the Cold Winter Away EP. This Christmas compilation is a split release between Planting Seeds and Bumblebear records, and it is scheduled for release in October of 2001.
We hope you've had a lovely summer. Things have been manic around here with the album release, the tour, and our move to Athens. But things are settling into place, and all is well.
Tony & Kimberly
8 August 01
2 August 01
Hi. We've been busy settling into our newhouse in Athens, GA. Many thanks to everyone who came to our CD release show on Friday, July 27 in Hermitage, PA. Apologies to those who came to see us on Saturday, July 28 at Coolpeppers in Pittsburgh...our moving van did not show up until 8:00 pm (instead of 8:00 am, which was time we reserved it), so as we had to pack up the van that night and head out early the next morning, we were forced to cancel the show at the last minute.
Athens, GA is a fascinating new territory. We're looking forward to exploring the environment and soaking up some sweet inspiration.
Another MP3 from our new album should be available on our mp3.com site soon. The song is called Girl on Channel 4.
Our new address is....
310H Old Commerce Road
Athens, GA 30607
Drop us a line!
Tony & Kimberly
20 July 01
Big news. Kimberly was just offered a music teacher job at a school in Winder, GA. She accepted the job. We'll be living in Athens, GA as of August 1, 2001. Yep...that's coming up quick. We're really excited to make the move, though we will dearly miss all our friends and family in Western PA. This seems to be the right time for us to make this move.
We're playing 2 farewell shows next weekend: Friday, July 27 at Book Source in Hermitage, PA (our CD release show!) at 8:00 pm; and Saturday, July 28 at Coolpeppers in Pittsburgh, 8:30 pm with Pegged (our bassist Chris' band) and Opposite of People. We hope if you're in the area that you'll come out and see us. These will be our last shows with Chris & Elisha for some time, though hopefully not forever.
Finally, we've opened the Whirlygig Records General Store. In it, we'll sell our CDs, Kimberly's comics, and other assorted goodies from time to time. We accept credit card payment through PayPal.com, which allows for secure online transactions. All the prices can be found when you click on Order. We still accept cash/checks/money orders through the mail. But this will make it easier on those who prefer to order with credit cards.
Gotta get packing. Thanks to all the local folks for their support over the past few years. This will always be our home, but for now its time for some new adventures... Wish us luck!
Much love,
Tony & Kimberly
13 July 01
Matt Suggs tour is over, and we have arrived home safely. We had a wonderful time playing the shows, meeting new folks, digging all the other bands we played with, and generally running amok in some great towns along the east coast.
Many thanks, first of all, to Chris & Jeremy, who joined the band for the tour, and without whom we would be a lot less rock and a whole lot less roll. Thanks also to the Hogan family, Kevin S., Margaret & Jeremy, Samantha & Anja, Princeton Reverbs Colonial, Kevin B., Anthony & Heather Lynn, The Gifted Children, Plastic Mastery, Tender Brother, Marshmallow Coast, Jozril Dahl, Charlie McAlister, Fairburn Royals, and all the wonderful people who came to the shows, helped us set shows up, and let us crash on your floors. You are all most wonderful people.
A review from our first show on the tour is in this week's Delusions of Adequacy and you can find a link at the press page
We are sending out the first wave of Chutes and Ladders CDs this weekend. If you are interested in a copy of our new CD, e-mail us at info@mattsuggs.com. We're going to try to do a local CD release show in the next few weeks. We'll keep ya posted.
Love,
Tony
3 July 01
Matt Suggs leaves for tour on Thursday, July 5. We'll be playing 4 shows . . . Geneva, NY on 7/5 . . . Northampton, MA on 7/6. . . Tallahassee, FL on 7/8 . . . and Athens, GA on 7/10. Check out the shows page for venues, times, and venue websites for directions. We look forward to seeing many of you very soon!
Our new album, Chutes and Ladders is now available! We will be bringing copies with us on tour. We are doing another 1st edition run of 200 CDRs, available at a low price. If you are interested in a copy of the CD, come see us on tour or send an e-mail to info@mattsuggs.com. More info on Chutes and Ladders can be found on the album page.
Hope to see you at the shows!
Tony
27 June 01
3 tracks from Mayfly, specifically Dust Bunnies, Holiday, and Ladybug were recently added to the playlist of Elephant 6 Radio. Thanks, Sean & Andrew!
Last-minute tour arrangements are being made as I type this. Watch this site for finalized information very, very soon. We leave next week!
The new album will be titled Chutes & Ladders and will feature 10 new songs. Will it be done in time for the tour? We don't know yet. We're working our sweet fannies off and we'll let you know for sure before we leave.
Matt Suggs received a huge photo and a nice writeup on Wednesday, June 19 in our local paper, the Sharon Herald.
That's it for now...watch for more updates really soon...
Tony
29 May 01
Wonderful, busy things going on here...
Firstly, congrats if you can read this. The website has been acting funny for the past few days. Dunno why. Something to do with the people who are hosting this page. Hopefully its fixed now, because there's much to share with you.
A new sneak preview MP3 from our forthcoming album is now available for download through mp3.com/mattsuggs . The song is called Chicken Plays with Toys. We hope you enjoy it. This song will also appear on an upcoming compilation by the Looking Glass Workshop which should be out this fall.
Almost done with the new album. Almost...
Reviews for Mayfly continue to pour in. Delusions of Adequacy selected Mayfly as "Pick of the Week" for the week of May 28, 2001. This week's DOA also features a live performance review from our recent show in Pittsburgh with the excellent Princeton Reverbs Colonial, and Will Simmons' new band The Upholsterers.
Tourdates are pulling together. We still need venues and bands to play with in eastern MA, DC/Baltimore, NC, and eastern TN. If you think you can help us out, e-mail us at info@mattsuggs.com.
Due to some car problems this week and not being able to find another suitable vehicle to transport ourselves and all our stuff, we regret to inform that we have to cancel our performance at this past weekend's Bunkytown festival in Romney, WV. We were looking forward to playing, hearing lots of bands, and meeting a lot of folks. Hope y'all had a blast. Hopefully we'll catch up with some of you fine folks elsewhere along the road.
Tony
26 April 01
We're currently planning a weeklong east coast tour in early July, featuring a full 5-member version of Matt Suggs! E-mail us at info@mattsuggs.com if you're interested in helping Matt Suggs play a show in your city. We're looking for venues in Rochester, NY, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Virginia, North Carolina, Athens, GA, Lexington, KY, and Cincinatti (or Columbus), OH. We're also looking for like-minded bands to play with.
Joining us on tour will be our friends Chris Snyder (bass) and Jeremy Zipay (vocal harmonies, xylophone, toy piano, tambourine, slide whistle, melodica, and various other bits of percussion). Chris is our friend and a songwriter as well; his band is called Pegged. Jeremy is an old, old (well, okay, so he's not really that *old*) friend of ours who, as many of you know, has performed with us on-and-off over the years. It's a real treat to be making music with these friends.
Hey friends in Pittsburgh -- We're playing the Oregon Bar & Grille Acoustic Challenge on Thursday, May 17. Its a 21+ thing, but hopefully that won't hinder too many of you from coming out and supporting us. Its kind of a battle-of-the-bands thing. Only no electricity. And we're going to haul a ton of instruments down there and try to win them over. Please, please, if you can make it we would really appreciate the support. E-mail Tony for more info at info@mattsuggs.com
Cheers,
Tony
12 April 01
Later this spring, our first album, Mayfly, will be released in Europe on Arnold Records, a small label out of Poland. The release will be a limited edition CDR pressing of 100, featuring the same songs and hand-assembled artwork that graced the album when we released it ourselves last spring. Purchase information will be available in the near future, for those of you in Europe interested in purchasing the album. For more on Mayfly, visit the Album page.
Matt Suggs will be playing a pair of performances in late may. The first will be on 5/24/01 at Coolpeppers Hothouse with Will Simmons, Pittsburgh-based songwriter with releases on Unread, Shrimper, & Best Kept Secret, and Princeton Reverbs Colonial, a band from New Hampshire who recently recorded their new record with Bill Doss of Olivia Tremor Control. The second show will be a part of Bunkytown 2001, an annual music festival in Romney, WV, featuring a dozen or so bands, including Murray the Cop and Echo Orbiter.
Work progresses on Matt Suggs still-untitled next album. All I can say is that I'm really happy with how its coming together, and that it'll be a perfect summer album. Hopefully it'll be done in time for this summer.
That's the news for now. I'm Tony Paglia. Good night, or whatever particular time of day that it is.
20 February 01
This is to announce that Mayfly is officially back in print. A 2nd printing of 100 has been run, this time with our Whirlygig Records imprint. If you're interested in ordering a copy, by all means, send an e-mail to info@mattsuggs.com and we'll see that you get it.
The new album is being worked on at a feverish pace. There's about 29 songs to choose from at this point. I'm starting to see more clearly where certain songs definitely will or won't fit on the next album. The album we'll release this spring/summer will feature material we've been playing for some time now but didn't make it onto Mayfly, as well as some newer songs. These songs have been begging to be let out for some time now, so they'll go first. As for the rest of the songs, they're a large group of simpler, more folky songs that seem to want to stay together, so I believe we'll let them. These songs will not be on the next record, but will more than likely comprise the album after that, which has been given the working title Sea of Holes. (I still have no title for the other forthcoming album) So it seems we're working on two records at once.
In other news, I've recently taken over the reins as Of Montreal's webmaster, and I'm quite enjoying that. If you're interested in seeing the site, go to: http://www.angelfire.com/ga/ofmontreal. Also, Kimberly took some pictures of Of Montreal and Elekibass during their recent visit to Pittsburgh. You can see the pictures from Kimberly's page.
This coming weekend, Elisha is coming down and we'll lay down some funky beats. Awww yeah.
Woo-hoo and yee-haw,
Tony
9 February 01
5 January 01
If you haven't seen the album page lately, may we suggest you go there now. album album album album album album
Truth be told, we haven't been working on a proper follow up to Mayfly at all. In fact, we've been putting together an album of holiday songs as gifts for our friends and family. And its floating around out there now, and its called To Drive the Cold Winter Away, and we're so glad we don't have to keep it a secret anymore. Honestly, its been driving me mad keeping my mouth shut about it because we're really pleased with it.
Its not your usual collection of christmas tunes...we resurrect some long-forgotten christmas carols, put a new face on a few well-known tunes, and there's an original composition in there to boot, plus some other surprises. All in all, its a 10-track mini-album (clocking in at just under 30 minutes), and we put together 114 of 'em, all with hand-assembled packaging and construction paper artwork.
But the holiday season's over now. So all this doesn't do you much good, does it? I mean, who listens to christmas music in January? Honestly.
So anyway, all this is to say that we have a few copies left, and we'll more than likely press up more next fall and promote them and such. But if you really feel you must have one now, e-mail us and we'll work something out.
There's an MP3 of "Tony in Toyland" at our site at MP3.com. Visit mp3.com/mattsuggs today and download this new track. We'll be adding more in the future.
Okay, so now we're really going to get down to brass tacks and get the proper follow-up to Mayfly finished. Plus, we have about half-a-dozen tracks to create for compilations that we're slated to appear on sometime this year. Sowe're headed into a busy couple of months. Probably won't be doing much live.
On the plus side, Of Montreal will be playing in Pittsburgh on Sunday, February 11. So tell your ma, tell your pa, our love's a-gonna grow, hoo-ah! Their live shows are so fun they're beyond belief, and so the fact they're coming to Pittsburgh is staggerin'. Get there.
Charlie McAlister, if you're out there, I hope you don't mind that we covered one of your songs at a show the other night. We missed you, man.
Happy new year, folks.
TP
20 December 00
We're plotting something. Its going to be mind-blowin'. You're going to want to be there.
Tuesday, January 2, 2001, a great conjunction will occur. In that time and place, there will be a meeting of many minds and sounds, and it will be glorious.
Of those who will be ther making sounds, the list includes...
Ed Rooney (a.k.a. Chris Fischer of Unread records)
Will Simmons (Bees Make Honey records)
Getaway Bugs
and yours truly.
Location: Millvale Industrial Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA. Showtime: TBA.
Watch this space for more details.
xo
Tony
14 December 00
Oh and, we've set up a page at mp3.com for Matt Suggs. Go to mp3.com/mattsuggs. We'll be posting more mp3 files there in the future.
I weep for America.
TP
13 December 00
Mayfly is momentarily out of print. All 200 copies we printed up are out there, bouncing around somewhere in the universe. We wish them well and hope they have a lovely holiday in a warm house somewhere. I know there are a few of the 1st edition still for sale. Happy Happy Birthday to Me records has a few. So does INSOUND. (be sure to search the Annex at INSOUND. I tried a full store search and couldn't find it. You'll find it in the Annex.) Spaceboy Records in Philadelphia may still have some, and Wuxtry in Athens, GA may well have one or two as well.
There WILL be a 2nd pressing of Mayfly after the new year. We have our own label imprint now, Whirlygig Records, and future pressings of Mayfly will have the Whirlygig name on there. Plans are to make the label a real deal, and release works by other bands at some point. This won't happen for awhile, but at some point, yeah.
Cheers,
Tony
15 November 00
Well, we had a grand time last night at University of Pittsburgh's WPTS studios, playing live and DJing. It was, admittedly, a bit strange performing for no one. But we know you were out there, and we thank you for tuning in. Some have reported that they were not able to get a steady signal across the internet. We're saddened to hear that, because we know a lot of you were looking forward to hearing the performance. I'm sure this was frustrating. We will have a tape made, and if anyone is interested in a copy, e-mail me and we can work something out.
For me, the highlights included our first attempt at playing a live version of the Snow Falling on Giraffes instrumental, covering U2's Acrobat, harmonizing with Elisha on Elevator, and premiering a new song You Were Spoken About Oh So Lovingly. There's a bit of discussion going on over at the discussion board. Check it out, and drop us some feedback if you were listening in.
Ah, another highlight: the chance to be a DJ again. I haven't since my college days. We took turns spinning tunes...a little of Nick Drake, Clapping Hands, Charlie McAlister, Archers of Loaf, Elf Power, Over the Rhine, Bjork, Weezer, the Association, Bob Dylan, and cuts from the Muppet Show album.
Thanks to Tim, Jeremy, & Andy at WPTS for their help and hard work last night. And thanks to everyone who listened or...err...tried to listen.
much love,
Tony
10 November 00
31 October 00
We'll be playing a live on-air performance for University of Pittsburgh's radio station, WPTS 92.1 FM on Tuesday, November 14, from 9-11 pm. We'll play a couple of short sets, do a little DJing, etc. Should be loads o' fun. And their broadcasts are streamed live over the internet in mp3 audio, so no matter where you are, you can listen on your computer. Rad.
To hear the broadcast, go to the WPTS website, click on "listen," follow the instructions, and tune in on Nov. 14!
Recording sessions continue, slowly but surely. The weather's been nice, though, so we find ourselves continually distracted from the rigors of recording to play outside.
Happy Halloween, kiddies. Have a Mallo-Cup or two for me, and let the sound of rotting teeth everywhere permeate the atmosphere.
Tony
13 October 00
Hello to whoever you are that comes here and read these postings. I hope you find some amusement in the contents herein. If you're reading this, you should drop us a line in the guestbook or an e-mail (if you haven't already). We'd like to hear from you. As always, thank you for choosing our little webpage.
Recording sessions have commenced for LP #2. Hurrah!
Elevator wanted to be worked on first. After completely scrapping a failed experiment using multiple layers of air organs, four tracks of glistening acoustic guitar were laid down last night. They're keepers. I listened to a playback early this morning as the sky first started to turn pink. Bliss.
Working titles for the LP thus far are Superfly, Shoe-Fly Pie, and Button Yr Fly.
Haha...um...no, just kidding.
There's about 15 or 16 tracks in various states of composition that will be recorded and considered for the next LP, which we're hoping to release late winter/early spring 2001. We're going to continue to send demos out to labels in the hopes that someone will take us under their wing. Otherwise we're just going to do it like we did before and put it out ourselves.
In the meantime, I'm considering recording for a new project called The Chicken for our as-yet-unnamed label. More on that some other time.
Looking forward to seeing Bright Eyes, Joan Baez, and Wesley Willis shows in the next 10 days or so.
rock on...Tony
29 September 00
Happy Happy Birthday to Me records cassette compilation, entitled, "Hey Its My Birthday," has officially been re-released and is now available through the HHBTM website. I believe it costs $4...cheap! Highly recommended. You get great tracks from Red Pony Clock, Golden Synthetic Songbook, Boyish Charms, Pixiecake, Toys for Elliott, Gwens, Regia, our friends the Getaway Bugs, and many more. Features Matt Suggs track, "Amelia, a Question" from Mayfly.
bye bye...Tony
5 September 00
Many thanks to everyone who came out on a gray day to support us at our Buhl Day performance. It meant a great deal to us having such a great audience, and it feels nice to have support in our hometown.
What with the lack of venues, we feel our music has been all but invisible around here. So its nice to get a little local recognition. A local radio station who was covering the event picked up on us and said they'd definitely play our album on the air. So we'll see what comes from that.
Without a doubt, the best part of the day's performance was the group of little kids (they must've been, like, 4 years old) who started this sort-of happy little mini-mosh pit during Dust Bunnies. It was incredible. You had to see it to believe it. They weren't being violent...just incredibly excited and...physically exuberant.
To everyone who came and listened and stayed afterwards to talk and help out: thank you...you people are too wonderful for words. To Katie: thanks for the delicious chocolate pretzels. To Kitten: please get well soon. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
For all intents and purposes, summer is over. Time to get busy writing and recording for the next album.
xo,
Tony
17 August 00
Returned this week from a pilgrimage to Athens, GA. Loads o' fun. Great music, great people, and hot boiled peanuts. Plus, I (sort of) fulfilled a lifelong ambition of one day going to Weaver D's Fine Foods, the slogan of which, "Automatic for the People," has been immortalized into pop cultcher vernacular thanks to R.E.M. Unfortunately, they were closed when we stopped by. Apparently, the amount of vegetarians and good vegetarian restaurants in Athens looks as though it could put BBQ joints like Weaver D's out of business. Ah well...
Shout outs to Missy, Mike, Jason, Paris, Andy, Jerry, Cindy, Bryce, Ryan, & the Cusacks (and everybody else I might've accidentally left out) who made it such a grand week.
To those in Athens, GA and nearby, our CD is now available at Wuxtry Records. If you don't see it in the bins, ASK FOR IT.
Also now available...Kimberly's mini-comics. Kimberly has begun creating a series of autobiographical comics. We'll have more info on 'em soon. Personally, I think they're brilliant and really funny. (But don't listen to me...I'm married to her so I have to say that.) Check 'em out for yourself. We'll have them at our shows, and they're also available through mail order (50 cents apiece + send us stamps). So far, the first 3 have been printed to widespread acclaim. Another batch of 3 are currently being completed...including My Life at the Dentist which is possibly her best work to date.
Oh yeah, copies of Kimberly's first 3 comics are available at Bizarro Wuxtry in Athens, GA as well.
Coming real soon...pix from Pittsburgh.
Ta-ta for now...
Tony
13 July 00
Photos from Farmfest and our in-store performance at Full Circle records can be found at the Shows page. Thank you very much for the photos, Kitten!
In other news, Matt Suggs have been asked to contribute a track for Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records compilation #3, to be released sometime in 2001. Most likely, our track will be exclusive to this comp. and will be recorded during the sessions for album #2, which will commence this coming autumn.
10 July 00
A most enjoyable evening was spent at Jerry Stigliano's Book Source on the evening of 7 July. We were on hand to provide musical entertainment for the throngs of parents and children waiting for the stroke of midnight to come, when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire would go on sale. It was a very different sort of atmosphere in which to play our music, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Setlist can be found on the 'shows' page. It was wonderful seeing so many people excited about a book. Kimberly and Tony are currently enjoying Book #1.
The highlight of our night came when we premiered a song we based on text in the first Harry Potter book: The Sorting Hat! Our apologies to J.K. Rowling, but we loved the thought of setting her lyrics to music. The song really rocks out, actually, and Tony enjoys employing a high-pitched voice as he sings, taking on the character of the singing hat, while Abe actually puts down his guitar to pick up the trombone (!) which he apparently played all through his high school years. Much fun. If anyone knows how we can get in touch with J.K. Rowling or her publishers, please e-mail us for we would like to contact her about publishing this song. They are making a film of the first book, after all. They're going to need a song for the sorting hat to sing, won't they? Hmmmmmm...
5 July 00
Farmfest 2000 on July 1 was great fun. Matt Suggs played an 8-song set, and you can view that setlist over on the Shows page. The day's bands included:
- Friends of the Library: delicate, instrospective, emotional songs, reminiscent of Low. Beautiful stuff. And their vinyl-only EP Story of the Sunken Ships is definitely worth checking out. Here's a link to their web site..
- The Persons: billed as "Leg" because they were...ahem...missing a few members. This band reminded me of what would happen if Frank Zappa decided to clone They Might Be Giants for his own sinister purposes. Wonderfully insane. Their live show was probably the most visually entertaining of the day, their drum machine's unreliability constantly upstaging them. Luckily, the songs were fun...in a..."wacky" kind of way.
- The Flying People: highly-creative pop with bizarre twists at every corner...great fun!
...and many others. Also on hand were The Shiver Bones Group who are a collective of writers and illustrators with a propensity for the bizarre. Be sure to visit their website. Many thanks to Kyle from BIMONSCIFICON who set up an in-store performance for us at Full Circle Records, and who referred us to Spaceboy Music in Philadelphia, where copies of Mayfly can currently be purchased.
27 June 00
You may have noticed we're now at mattsuggs.com. Callooh, callay, oh frabjous day. Please bookmark it and/or change your links. Geocities was good to us, but the time has come to get rid of those banners. Many, many, many thanks to our good friend Joe Hern for hooking us up with our own domain.
13 June 00
We'll be playing Farmfest in northern NJ (near Philadelphia) on Saturday 7/1/00. This festival is an annual affair, put on by The Looking Glass Workshop, a collective of bands, including The Echo Orbiter, Edison Proposal, & The Flying People. We look forward to this, and we hope our friends who live out in those thar parts will come to the festival!
Speaking of The Looking Glass workshop, we've received word from their camp that Matt Suggs has secured a spot on their upcoming compliation CD. We can't say yet what song it will be, or when the compilation will be released, but this is fine and dandy news altogether.
7 June 00
2 new dates confirmed...
Monday July 24 in Market Square Pittsburgh, PA.
Saturday July 29 at Caffeination in Sharpsville, PA.
Tony & Kimberly will be traipsing through the wilds of Indiana for the remainder of this week and into the weekend, hoping to catch a glimpse of a Music Tapes capsule and scouring the state's backroads in search of bizarre and wonderful roadside attractions. Abe will be playing with his other band, Rooster, at Caffeination in Sharpsville, PA on Saturday night, 6/10/00.
30 May 00
The Music Tapes had to cancel their local appearance. This was a sad thing. Apparently, lines of communication were down or crossed or something, and it just didn't work out.
Not long after word of the cancellation spread, we received a call from a fellow named Dan who was going to host the Music Tapes. He asked if we'd be willing to come down and play instead. Obviously, we could never take the place of The Music Tapes, but we decided it'd be fun to travel down and meet people and eat the food we'd made for the capsule and play some music for some people who might otherwise not hear us.
And so we packed up the cars and went. Greg the Trumpeteer was even able to join us for this special event, and that made us all very happy. And when we got to Allaire Park in Monaca, PA, we found precisely 3 people waiting for us. But that was okay, because they were nice. And we set up, and eventually more people showed up, and we played lots of songs, and most everyone ate cake and broccoli salad, and a girl by the name of Shelby Cole was there, and she writes songs and sings them, and she sang one of her numbers, and she had a very lovely voice and everyone applauded.
All the lights in the park went out, and we played one last song in lovely darkness and Kimberly made some lovely cello feedback-sounding noises, and it was blissful. And everyone helped us pack up, even though we couldn't see a thing. And the nice people there even let us follow them through the maze of streets so we could find our way home again.
It was not the lovely Music Tapes capsule we were expecting. But everyone had a fine time, and we even got to eat at a hot dog shop later that night, and they had these beverage cups that featured an illustration of hot dogs that looked like the Beverly Hillbillies, and these hillbilly-dogs were eating hot dogs. And that was just wonderful.
28 May 00
Work on the 2nd album has begun sooner than expected. A new track has been written and recorded today, in the vein of The Great Pogo Stick Race, though really much different. Think of Aphex Twin, having broken his computer, must turn to a variety of toy instruments as his medium.
27 May 00
15 May 00
Saturday night was magical. Our sincere appreciation to everyone who came out to Caffeination to support us and our music. We had a grand time. Many thanks to Greg Sankey for volunteering his services on Trumpet for the evening, to Rick "Rooster" Hornyak for allowing us to use his PA system on such short notice, to KEY Catering for the strawberry amaretto cake, and to Esmond, Hudson, Herriott, JAP, Wang, and Dougherty for all their help. We'll be posting the setlist and other interesting bits of whatnot (pictures, downloadable video clips) very soon.
In other news, our debut album, Mayfly, is now officially available for purchase. Visit the Album page for more information.
To comment on Saturday's show at Caffeination, or to comment on the new album, please visit the "Other" page and click on message board or sign our guestbook.
10 May 00
3 days and counting.
We're engrossed deeply in rehearsals every night this week in anticipation of playing Saturday. We're doing something we've never done before this show: we're adding a full drum kit. This is a dramatic departure from bongos, which have been the main percussion instrument in the past. However, the time has come, and we hope everyone will take kindly to this evolution.
Meanwhile, the CDs are gradually being duplicated and packaged. We have a good number of them all ready to take to the show Saturday as well as some to mail out to the people who have asked us to set copies aside for them.
8 May 00
Mastering for the CD was completed late last week at Overscan Recordings in Greenville, PA, with help from owner Ray Young. He made our project a real priority, and helped us through some technical challenges. Many thanks, Ray, for being so generous with your time and your resources.
The process of duplicating the CDs has begun as we head into the home stretch before the CD Release show this weekend at Caffeination. Tonight and through the rest of the week, the band will be in rehearsals trying to realize all these songs live. (Elisha is home for the week. H'raayyy!) The show on Saturday will feature a guest trumpeter, Greg Sankey, who will be joining us on a number of songs to help us flesh out these live arrangements.
5 May 00
Months ago, we reported that we had sent a tape of several of our songs to Justin Emerle of a band called The Echo Orbiter (based near Philadelphia, their music reminds me a lot of Early Pink Floyd) who are planning to release a compliation CD of music by like-minded indie bands as part of their creative collective, called The Looking Glass Workshop.
Well, we sent 'em a tape, and we got word that they received the tape and that they would listen to it and pass it around and get back to us. And they never did...
...until last week when I e-mailed Justin for an update. Good news! (at least, for now) Justin replied with this to say:
The comp
is going to be a little while unfortunately, I've got
a lot of things to do that will have to come ahead of
the comp. However, Matt Suggs is among the
contributions that we're considering using! That's
really the only word that I can give you at the
moment. I received so much good stuff and It's been
difficult to sift through what I feel would embody the
essence of the Workshop. I hope you understand. I'm
going to be making a "final" decision within the next
few weeks I believe. I'll get back to you and let you
know what's up.
So we're keeping our fingers crossed, but luckily we've got enough going on right now that its not foremost in our thoughts. We'll keep you posted as this develops, and we hope you'll keep your fingers crossed for us. Inclusion on this sampler could result in an interesting bit of exposure for us.
4 May 00
We've been working day and night, like little elves, to finish the album, printing and cutting and folding and whatnot. The first 200 CDs will be of a limited edition and entirely hand-assembled. We hope you will like looking at (and more importantly, listening to) it.
The CD will make its debut at a show we are playing on Saturday May 13 at an establishment called Caffeination, found in a fine little town called Sharpsville in Western Pennsylvania. For more on this show, go to the Shows page.
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