New Show – Friday, 11.11.11 with Canon Blue

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Greetings!
To keep with the theme of my October being full of unplanned, last minuteness, we’ve picked up a last-minute show for Friday, November 11th at Vinyl.  In addition to the fun of saying the show is on 11.11.11 it also just going to be a great show as we are opening up for the talented Daniel James aka Canon Blue.  He is out supporting his new album Rumspringa which is a fantastic undertaking that even has orchestral arrangements from Sigur Ros’s string section Amiina.  I recommend checking it out.  He’s got 3 albums including a collaboration with Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor.  http://www.canonblue.com

Facebook Event Page
Tickets Page

We could really use your support at this show since we’re hopping on last minute!
Not only is it a great venue to see Romeo Spike (sound is amazing), but we’ll also be playing a bunch of brand new songs, and even pulling out an old one we rarely ever play.
Hope to see you there.

Romeo Spike with Canon Blue at Vinyl 11.11.11

A Lesson In Perspective

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I recently had an excellent lesson in perspective . . .

Several months ago our drummer Owen brought in a song he had written, and asked me to take a listen to see if we might want to play it.  It was a great song idea, but there was something about it that just didn’t sit right with me.  Another month passed, he made some changes to the song, and asked if I could take another listen since he had a really strong feeling about it.  I listened, and alas, it again just didn’t sit right with me.  (at this point I’m just feeling awful about it too) Then I realized the problem!! The chords of the song were pretty much the exact same chord progression as two of my MOST HATED pop-rock songs of the last ten years.  I tried to move past it, but all I could hear were those songs.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later when Donn laid down some guitar tracks for said song that I could actually start to hear the song differently.  I went home, played around with the chords, and was struck with a jaw-dropping moment of “holy shit” realization:

The chords to a pair of my MOST HATED songs were the EXACT same chords as ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME!!!

WTF?  Like a super-hero who finds out that his evil archenemy is actually his long lost twin brother, I was equally freaked out and excited.  So yeah, we jammed the song last night at rehearsal, and it was great.  All it took was a little different perspective (from Donn’s guitar part) to make me see a song in a totally different light.  I thought it was a rather elegant reminder that there are two sides to every coin, and sometimes there is a fine line between love and hate.

We’d love to hear your stories about perspective too . . .

Cheers,
- Michael -

Here at the Driven Conference

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Checked in at the Driven Music Conference here at the 12 Hotel Atlantic Station. Getting some great information from some interesting music industry pros. Looking forward to the next segment with a few A&R reps and and Michael Brandvold – music marketer.

I’ll be updating to twitter: @romeospike

Don’t forget we’re on the Purgatory Stage at Masquerade tonight at 11pm!

Can We All Just Chill The F#@& Out?

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 The modern world is pretty fantastic for a lot of reasons that need no explanation.
However, there is one aspect that seems to be growing out of control . . . FEAR.
Yes, fear.  The amazing rate at which information is able to be spread allows us to know up-to-the-minute updates on damn near anything, which is sweet, but I feel like the media’s fear-mongering has gotten exponentially worse in the last few years.  Whether it’s a war, a storm, or the ineptitude of our politicians, we’re constantly bombarded by bad news and shit to be afraid of.  I’ve had enough!  It’s exhausting.  I’m tired of half my conversations, real or virtual, starting with some dialogue about the disaster-of-the-day.
How much time do we really need to waste worrying about things who’s negative repercussions have been totally blown out of proportion for the sake of TV ratings and website viewership?  I’m not saying to ignore the world’s problems, mind you, just not to focus on them in such an unbalanced proportion.

So I propose we all just have a beer, smoke a joint, sing a song, stretch, or do whatever the hell it is you do to CTFO, and let’s reflect on what’s wonderful about the world.  So please, take a deep breath with us, and realize that world is probably not nearly as fucked up and on-the-verge-of-collapse as the news would like us to believe.  Please feel free to post some positives you can think of to help us all feel good about the universe.

Cheers to the world not ending!
- Michael, Romeo Spike -

Michael’s Birthday – Musical Memories and the Importance of Childhood Music

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So it’s my birthday.
And this year my mother pulled out some fun, childhood pics of me to post on facebook.
In addition to the warm-fuzzies that come from viewing yourself and family from so long ago, I was completely dumbfounded by a vision I had completely forgotten about.  Prior to today, my earliest musical memory that still lingered was of me sitting on my bedroom floor listening to Michael Jackson’s Thriller on my Fisher-Price record player.  I had completely forgotten about the piano we had in the living room for the first few years of my life (until termites got to it).

young Michael at the piano

I had somehow forgotten about this piano, probably because it really wasn’t around that long, and I didn’t do much more than fiddle around with it.  But it got me really thinking . . . through all the years, and all the changes I’ve gone through, music has always been there. I played drums, then guitar, and now I sing and play KEYBOARD!  How funny that I should one day return to the first instrument I really had some interaction with.  And what impact did that piano have on my life?

So I guess the short of it is . . . MUSIC IS IMPORTANT TO KIDS.  Even in small, seemingly inconsequential doses.  Please encourage your kids to play music.  Get them to listen to, and appreciate music.  It will make them smarter, probably happier, and that old upright piano just may stick with them for the rest of their life.

Have any early childhood music memories?  Please share them.
Cheers,
Michael Kunz

Romeo Spike selected to showcase at Driven Music Conference

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We are VERY excited to announce that Romeo Spike has been selected as a featured showcase performer at this year’s Driven Music Conference in Atlanta, GA!  This is a national conference where we will be performing in front of record industry professionals from all over the country.  This is exciting stuff, kids!  You can read more about the conference at http://www.drivenatlanta.com/

Beast of Burden – my ’73 Fender Rhodes

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So a few years ago when thoughts of Romeo Spike were still in their infancy, Donn and I (Michael) made the early decision to forgo the light, easy, and versatile choice of a modern synth keyboard in favor of the vintage, stubborn, heavy beast of a Fender Rhodes. If you don’t know, Rhodes were early electric keyboards from the 70′s:

Michael at the Fender Rhodes

Now, why would we do such a thing?
Why destroy our backs, hands, and back hatch of my car?
Why deal with broken parts, tuning, finicky sustain pedal, and weird, random ghostly problems that creep up in vintage gear?
VIBE!!!!  that’s why!
I have nothing against a modern synth, and will probably start adding one to our live set very soon in addition to the Rhodes.  But the fact is, NOTHING sounds, feels, and looks like the real thing.  Sure it may be a total pain in the ass sometimes, but sometimes the art is in the struggle, right?

What do you think?  Worth the hassle, or do you fans just not care?
haha!

One more thin gypsy thief

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Just can’t get over how much I love this line from the Leonard Cohen song “Famous Blue Raincoat.”  The full line is, “Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth / one more thin gypsy thief.”  The song itself has been one of my favorite “sad” songs for a long time, but that line in particular has always stood out.  It just says so much in so little space.  One more thin gypsy thief.  There’s visuals, questions, implications.  It’s the perfect mini-line! When we write music we always wish the perfect lines would just pop out, but the reality is that there is a lot of crafting that goes into great lyrics.  I guess what I’m saying is we’re always trying to get to lines like that one.  It’s just beautiful art.

What other lyrics do you think fall into that category?