POSTED BY JAMIE

After a winter of song writing and recording some new tunes with Matt Bayles, we’re going to take a spring break trip down the West Coast.  Here’s where we’re playing – please come out and hang with us if you’re in these towns!

Friday, March 18th – Tour Kick-Off at The Black Lodge, Seattle
Saturday, March 19th – Mississippi Pizza, Portland
Sunday, March 20th – Mama Buzz, Oakland
Monday, March 21st – kickin’ it in SF
Tuesday, March 22nd – Slidebar, Fullerton
Wednesday, March 23rd – The Doll Hut, Anaheim
Thursday, March 24th – Biggest Little City Club, Reno
Friday, March 25th – El Rio, San Francisco
Saturday, March 26th – Black Forest, Eugene

You can hear on of the new songs we recorded, “Luck of the Elephants,” on the Burning Buildings Records compilation of Northwest music here.  The album will be available for purchase on March 29th.  You can get a free copy of the CD by showing up at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle on Thursday, March 31st for the release show which we will be performing.  Free stuff!

We hope to see you out and about!

Well turn that frown upside down – mofo.

On September 25th @ 9pm EIE will hit the stage at the Comet Tavern.

Now . . . It’s been awhile. Some ladies got married, congrats to them, and we’ve also taken some much needed time off. But we want to see your pretty faces, and we’ll have some new tunes for you. We’re playing with the Virgin Islands — it’ll be a good time.

IRENE SAYS SEE YOU AT THE SHOW!

Love you bitches-

Chrysti, EIE

EIE on Myspace

EIE.com

EIE on Facebook

What album title best describes your life? Our ep title, Slightly Frightened, Mostly Happy, initiates this conversation on NPR’s All Songs Considered. Check it out here!

The image on the cover is by the wonderful French photographer, Frederic Fontenoy. View his Metamorphose series here. Metamorphose is an energetic collection of photos that I find equally eerie as they are beautiful. Be careful! If you wander into his recent works, prepare for some risque imagery!

The spools of CDs, unassembled jewel cases, and artwork have arrived! We’re doing this DIY style and are having an assembly party tonight. I’ll post a picture of the final product when we’ve got a couple put together later this evening. A big thank you to Chris Murphy for doing all the printing pro bono!

Mark your calendars: Our debut ep, “Slightly Frightened, Mostly Happy” will be available online and in person starting January 5, 2010. To celebrate, we’re playing a CD release show January 7 at The Crocodile with The Globes, Elba, and Explone! Here’s the poster I made.

This morning I woke up and remembered that I’ve been asked to say something about the Girls Rock! Seattle (GR!S) camp tonight at the 50 Shows in 50 States Benefit concert at the High Dive.   Way to prepare, Hellgate. A few months ago, I volunteered at the week-long camp as a bass instructor and band coach.  Last year, I volunteered at the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland as a guitar instructor and band coach.  Currently, I do my best to show up to Community Outreach Committee meetings for GR!S. 

My testimonial for the program is always concise, possibly a little self-centered, but seemingly shared by most who are involved: I wish I would have had the opportunity to explore music and collaborate with other girls when I was 8-18 years old.   I can only begin to imagine how much more quickly my skills, confidence, and creativity would have developed had I the encouragement and opportunity to play music with other people, especially other girls. 

Instead, I spent ages 10 – 22 killing my finger tips attempting to master late 90′s rock riffs by myself in my room.  The few occasions that I had the courage to see if any of my guy friends needed another guitarist in their band were crushed by kindly intended responses that, between the lines, said that 1) they did not want me ruining their bro time or 2) I was not the right kind of girl to be in a band.  And by “right” they meant “hot.”   It didn’t even matter that I could play In Utero beginning-to-end flawlessly.  I’m sure those formative experiences have bestowed upon me the self-sufficiency I now have – I can be, and have been, my own entire band, playing guitar, bass, drums and keys…all by myself in my room. 

A guy friend asked me, “Why don’t they have a rock camp for boys?”  It was tough for me to answer because, even though I’d love to see more females involved in rock music, I don’t believe that anyone should be given preference because of their gender.  I believe that music should be evaluated based on the originality, emotions it elicits, composition, etc. - not based on who is making the music.  There are plenty of all-female bands whose music I can’t stand.   I’ve never thought I should get anything because I’m a girl and I’ve worked really hard to establish that I can hang with the dudes.  What the girls rock camps are about for me is the opportunity and encouragement to get more girls involved in music, to help make it a little less intimidating to put one’s creativity out into a business dominated by guys,  so that more voices are heard – voices that more accurately represent the demographic of the people listening to the music. 

Now, let’s rock:

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH, 8:00PM
High Dive, Seattle,WA
Goodness
The Redwood Plan
Eighteen Individual Eyes
Alicia Dara

I’ve been a Lou Reed fan since being musically massacred (and loving it) by his album Transformer. I have to add too that I’ve had an ongoing obsession with musicians and their poetic inspirations: ie – Marc Bolan and William Blake, Jim Morrison and Rimbaud, and newly discovered – Lou Reed and Edgar Allen Poe.

In his CD packet Reed tells us

“To my mind Poe is father to William Burroughs and Hubert Selby. I am forever fitting their blood to my melodies. Why do we do what we should not? Why do we love what we cannot have? Why do we have a passion for exactly the wrong thing? What do we mean by wrong? I became enamored of Poe – once again – and when given the opportunity to bring him to life through words and music, text and dance, why I leapt at it. I surged towards it like a Rottweiler chasing a bloody bone.” The Raven

The CD is not his newest, it’s from 2003. It’s called “The Raven,” which of course is the title of an Edgar Allen Poe narrative poem published in 1845, known for it’s musicality and stylized language. William Defoe and Steve Buscemi recite with flavor and intensity the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe in between the songs that Reed wrote about them. Antony Hegarty (from Antony and the Johnsons) sings “Perfect Day,” along with backup vocals on several other songs. I never imagined the day when I would hear Antony and Lou together. But it seals the deal. I haven’t  had my hands on such a priceless musical gem in a long, long time. I’m simply smitten.

All photos by Kelly Dale.  Check the myspace page for more shows.  And we promise, we’ll have music up soon.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Eighteen Individual Eyes

Jamie, Irene and stay away from mushrooms

Chrysti and the Ring of Shred

Sam and Kelly Dale

Tiny glasses of water

Post-tiny glasses of water.

Dammit, cats are funny.  Here’s a moment from this afternoon at the Hellgate Compound.   The kitty loves technology.  And, he’s really demanding about capturing “the performance.”  No edits – we’re doing this old school.

The blog is up and rolling — thought I’d start adding some bulk to it. Here’s an event I’m attending next week . . .

The Seattle Art Museum is hosting the Ghostly International 10 year show this Thursday, September 24. I am not terribly familiar with Ghostly artists, but I discovered a favorite ambient music-maker and graphic designer on one of their compilation albums last year.

Scott Hansen the musician is Tycho. I’ve posted “Cascade” — this is the song that got me Googling. Scott Hansen the digital artist is ISO50. I first became attracted to his designs while watching my favorite Friday afternoon sport, Layer Tennis. I’m a season ticket holder (it’s FREE), and I think the choice matches are the ones that feature Mr. Hansen as a competitor.

If you peruse the links above, I know you’ll get lost in the afternoon sounds and sun-kissed sights that make up Hansen’s world. And what better place to experience this world than the S.A.M auditorium?

Some ISO50 designs hanging in my apartment:

Hellgate’s house is tangled up in mic cords and guitar cables as we continue to record our first ep! We’re working with engineer, producer, and close friend Lucas Carlyle, and I can’t wait to share his/our efforts with you all. We’re shooting for an early-November official release followed by a CD release show in early December. Sounds like a swell plan to me.