Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Recap: Our CD Release Party @ Spaceland
(by Melissa of Shiloe)

Photo by Mouse (Classical Geek Theatre)

After months and months (okay, maybe only one month, but still!) of arduous preparation, our CD release party at Spaceland has finally come and gone. Between choosing our costumes, practicing with our special musical guests, learning "Pet Sematary" by the Ramones and playing "The Death of Madame Mustache" in front of a live audience for the first time - in addition to regular pre-show work like designing a poster and online promotions - we really put a lot of time into this show. Was it worth it? Hell yeah!

The night began with a set by my "other" band, L.A.'s very own Kissing Cousins. This was only my second show with them, although it already feels like we've been playing together for ages. We dressed up as vampires (complete with fangs!) for the occasion. Audience reception was warm, which is probably to be expected when you have 5 cute girls playing surprisingly loud rock music on one stage. My favorite KC song is still "Let You Down" - anytime I get to step on a distortion pedal, I'm a happy camper.

The Pacific played next; unfortunately, I missed a good chunk of their set because I had to run out to the van to change into my costume before Shiloe's set. In case the picture doesn't make this clear enough, we each portrayed a character from Back to the Future: I was Lorraine circa 1955, our drummer Dan was Marty, special guest star Chris Haynes (keyboards/guitar) was Biff, and Ken was Doc Brown, which was amazing. By the time we took the stage there was a nice crowd and a fantastic feeling of anticipation in the air. We opened with "What Happened to the World in Your Hands," and everything was going splendidly...until Ken broke a string. I didn't realize what had happened, but I saw him scampering around, trying frantically to figure out whether he should a) stop the song and replace the string, b) finish out the song sans guitar, or c) grab a different guitar and make do. He went with C, and managed to come in right at the beginning of the final verse to boot. The crowd was mercifully understanding and laughed along with us. 

Photo by Mouse (Classical Geek Theatre)

After that, the set felt pretty amazing. My dad (that's him, above, in the gold lame pimp suit!), who has played in bands since before I was a mere twinkle in his eye, joined us on stage for "Gone" and "The Death of Madame Mustache, " as well as the Ramones cover. His solos were, for lack of a better term, blazing. I even heard the crowd "woo!"ing at several points! He did us proud. Our second to last song was "Pet Sematary," and we had several of our friends from local bands jump up and join us on stage to sing the chorus, including Eli from The Monolators, Kara from Kissing Cousins, Ben from Summer Darling and Heather from KC/SD. Having our friends and family on stage with us was so incredibly fun and rewarding! We finished up with "The Rat," still one of my all-time favorite Shiloe songs to play live - like I said, give me distortion or give me death. Just as we finished playing, Ken looked down at his white lab coat and discovered that he had sliced his finger open and was covered in blood! Ah, Halloween. Atlantic Line and DJ Christopher of Get Yer Rocks Off! kept the party going until closing time.

Overall, the night felt like a huge success. So many of our favorite people came out to support us, and we had so much fun. We're so excited about this new EP and we love all of you who helped make it possible! 

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