Mission Mission

It’s been sold out for days, but I’m sure you can find your way in somehow if you’re determined. Me, I’m on my way out of town because my little sister is graduating from grad school. Otherwise I’d be there with bells on. The Dead Milkmen. At Slim’s.

I saw them last year at SXSW (and blogged about how weird it was seeing them open for Odd Future) and I can assure you they’ve still got it. They are not a nostalgia act.

That being said, let’s listen to one of my favorite forgotten oldies:

World’s biggest indie band Death Cab for Cutie tapped local talent for their current U.S. tour, which wraps up next week. We had a chance to talk with Death Cab’s Jason McGerr about their upcoming swing through town and working with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, a local group of classical musicians led by conductor Minna Choi that have been collaborating with acts like John Vanderslice and The Walkmen since 2008.

To win a pair of tickets to the Thursday, May 10, show, give us your best reason you deserve to go in the comments section. Winner will be chosen based on merit. Contest ends at 4 P.M. on Tuesday.

MM: You guys are playing the Fox Theater. Have you played there before? We’re very proud of it.

JM: No, I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about the Fox and the way it sounds. We really lucked out on this tour. Because we’re playing with Magik*Magik Orchestra we haven’t done as many general admission rock venues as we have big beautiful classic theaters that are designed with acoustics in mind. It’s been a real treat to be out here and hear music differently. It’s a whole new experience.

MM: How did you get introduced to the Magik*Magik Orchestra?

JM: Minna Choi did the arrangements for a few of the songs on our new record. Before that, I think in the history of the band we’ve had maybe one cellist on one song, but having more full string arrangements sounded so much more full and beautiful. Afterwards we invited Minna and four string players down to an event we were playing and had them perform, not only the two songs on our new record that they played on but also some back catalog songs that hadn’t had strings before and it was such and amazing experience that it was like, alright, make a note of that, this is what it feels like to play with strings. So that planted the seed.

MM: Tell us about the tour. How has the collaboration changed the dynamic on stage?

JM: Before the tour, Minna worked on arrangements and just kind of emailed back and forth with Chris [Walla]. They [Magik*Magik] were super professional – they had their charts and were all ready to go.  Honestly the first time we played with them was like two days before the tour, and already it’s been incredible. They bring a ton to the table. They make me use my ears more. Playing in your standard four piece rock band, I know where everyone is, but sometimes I don’t really hear it, you know? So it’s a heightened sense of awareness to have these people on stage with really incredible dynamics. I feel like I just got accepted into Julliard.

Death Cab plays the Fox Theater on May 8, 9, and 10. They plan to hit up Cancun and drop by Tiny Telephone to hang out when they don’t have to work. After the tour wraps up, they head to Europe and Japan. Sounds pretty fun.

[photo]

Myles you know from our favorite song ever and lots of viral videos and other weird projects, and Primo you know because we talk about his dance parties and other antics all the time, so if you want to dance the night away after one too many (and by that I mean two) LAC margaritas, the Knockout is the place to be tomorrow night.

RSVP and invite your friends!

I mean all you need to know about Battlehooch is that their name is Battlehooch, am I right? And as far as B. Hamilton, their frontman is Ryan Christopher Parks AKA Ron Kristophone AKA one of the most foul-mouthed (and foul-souled) Mission Mission commenters ever.

RSVP and invite your friends!

[via Wam Bam Ashleyanne]

I’m afraid that in the wake of Monday night’s riot shitstorm, a lot of you might’ve missed out on this great piece our Nick Pal wrote about the new Hickey reissue:

Hickey was a band from the Mission in the 90’s that was the primary inspiration for the whole Mission punk scene of the late 90’s and early 00’s. I pretty much missed them entirely – I was still getting into music and probably at a Suicide Machines show at Slim’s around the time they were playing their last show. I did get ahold of their album at some point as well as a burned copy of Various States of Disrepair that I ripped from the KALX library on my first generation iBook. At some point I saw Matty Luv and possibly another member of Hickey play at Mission Records in an acoustic band called Me, You, and the Boys. All I distinctly remember was the closing refrain of the best song they played, “I’m higher than youuuuu are, I’m higher than youuuuu are.” Sadly, Matty Luv died a year or two later.

Read on for details on the reissue, including lots of pics. And read the comments too for the story of how Hickey famously pwned the Voodoo Glow Skulls.

A reminder that there’s more to May Day, Occupy, or whatever the hell you want to call it, than all that shit from last night.

Hickey was a band from the Mission in the 90’s that was the primary inspiration for the whole Mission punk scene of the late 90’s and early 00’s. I pretty much missed them entirely – I was still getting into music and probably at a Suicide Machines show at Slim’s around the time they were playing their last show. I did get ahold of their album at some point as well as a burned copy of Various States of Disrepair that I ripped from the KALX library on my first generation iBook. At some point I saw Matty Luv and possibly another member of Hickey play at Mission Records in an acoustic band called Me, You, and the Boys. All I distinctly remember was the closing refrain of the best song they played, “I’m higher than youuuuu are, I’m higher than youuuuu are.” Sadly, Matty Luv died a year or two later.

I pre-ordered this album a few months ago when Corbett posted about it on Facebook. 1-2-3-4-Go records in Oakland put the reissue together, and they did a great job. It’s two LPs, Gatefold jacket, a larger than cd-sized stapled booklet that’s around 20 pages, free download, optional red vinyl, and an adorbs punk rock patch (people still make those?)

I’m surprised by how many songs I remember, since I probably haven’t listened to it in about 8 years. My teenage punk nostalgia has already been kicked into high gear since I discovered an awesome blog called Remote Outposts that is posting a bunch of old demos and DIY cds/tapes that came out around that time.

Anywayz, for those of you who are fans, I hope you are enjoying this reissue as much as I am. Is this the first time it’s ever been pressed as an LP? And for those of you who haven’t heard Hickey, they’re worth looking into if you like inspiring, passionate, weird, catchy, edgy rock music.

I bet it’s way better at the Roxie than it was on PBS. Who even has a TV anymore, right?

Details and tickets here.