Kamikaze on Rock Band

Dig Your Grave is now playable on Rock Band. Go download it here.

Flip out with your nip out?

So it's been a while since I last updated everyone on the happenings of Kamikaze, and I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear what we've been up to. Well, we traveled to San Diego, we played on a rocket boat and we've been working on new songs, one of which we debuted last Thursday at the Down & Out in downtown LA.

Caution: Earsplitting rock ahead. Photo by Felix Salazar.

Every Thursday night, the Down & Out (which incidentally is the site where Kamikaze played our first LA show, back when it was falling apart as Charlie O's) hosts No Future Thursdays - a night of rock 'n roll that has turned out to be consistently kick ass. It is the place to be on Thursday nights in LA, I promise you. Last Thursday, we set up a show with our partners-in-crime, Sassafras, and The Slighted, who we've been wanting to share the stage with since we played together at Mime School over a year ago and only finally made it happen. Like I said, the DNO is the place to be on Thursday nights and last Thursday was no exception. The crowd was plentiful and enthusiastic, and the DJ was playing hits by the Stooges and the Dead Boys in between sets. The whole night had a really great vibe and I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all.

So now that you are sad you missed our last show, let me give you the good news. Tonight- Kamikaze is rocking a strip club. Yes, that's right. Kamikaze, along with several scantily clad women, will be showing our goods tonight on this stage at Cheetahs Gentleman's Club in Hollywood.

We'll be playing after the High Life Cavaliers and Strong Killings from Seattle, so show up around 10 to see all the bands.

Check out the event page on Facebook for more info, and I'll see you there tonight!

Keep Rockin',

Nicole Kamikaze

Kamikaze, over time.

Hello there, Rockers!

Brad and Matt killing it at our record release party, 1/7/11

I wanted to post a quick update, mainly to show off some photos of us over the past six months or so by the talents Felix Salazar (http://www.felixsalazar.com).  Felix has, in all honesty, seen us at our best and worst, and I'm sure has many a picture that he could use as blackmail if he wanted.  We are lucky he likes us! Anyway, he recently posted a series of photos exclusively of Kamikaze.  Check it out here and "Like" his page while your at it. Then, if you ever need professional photos taken of your band/wedding/bat mitzvah/carnival, think of him.

Don't miss it.

Besides that, we are playing a show this SATURDAY, APRIL 23 at EL CORITA in Lincoln Heights. We are debuting another new song, so you don't want to miss it! Get the deets here or from the flyer above.

See you Saturday!

Nicole

Practice Blue Balls = New Blog Post

Hello there, punk rockers! Since we were supposed to have practice tonight but had to postpone it to tomorrow, I got home itching to do something Kamikaze related.  In lieu of driving my car straight into my bitchy neighbor's Saab,  I decided to post a blog entry about all the exciting shit we've been up to and will be up to in the next few weeks.

Vlad's - Thursday, March 31

First up, we are playing a show on Thursday, March 31st (that's this Thursday, people!) at Vlad the Retailer on Heliotrope at Melrose.  You may remember we played a few shows at Vlad's last year, but at our last show there in August, we were forced to shut the show down by the Los Angeles Fire Marshall before we even had a chance to play.  For all we know, that could have been the show that skyrocketed us to the top (more popular than Katy Perry's cleavage), but alas, we will never know.

Cowabunga, indeed!

Anyway, ever since that show we have been begging The Retailer to throw gigs again, because it is a really cool spot and he's the only person who has ever congratulated us for literally rocking the art off of his walls.  Unfortunately, that really hasn't been feasible - until now. Vlad's is in a new space (at the same intersection as the old ones) and let me tell you, it is awesome.  Brad and I went to check it out tonight, and it amped me up even more for this show on Thursday.  The walls are blood red with black accents, there is a loft area where people can watch the bands from above, and there is tons. of. cool. shit. everywhere.  For example, when we were there tonight, I got this sweet TMNT shirt for $5, Power Axe CD and an Abba Zabba - and I wasn't even there to buy anything!  I've previously gotten an awesome dress there and hooked Brad up with an extendable fork so he can easily finish my leftovers.  Seriously, I am always wanting to buy everything when I go to Vlad's, and I feel good about buying stuff because he is supporting local businesses and artists by selling their wares and letting us musicians play in his space.  In addition to all of this, the line-up for this show is AWESOME. Power Axe is a two piece in khaki shorts and pastel polo shirts, Spider Problem are our lovers and ever since we played with The Slighted at Mime School last year, I keep their record on my iPod and listen to it all of the time.  In short, come for the awesome shit that Vlad sells and stay for the music!

Japanese Benefit Show - Wed, 4/6

Whew! Okay- next up is Wednesday, April 6th, we are playing a benefit show at the Redwood Bar for the Japanese Red Cross.  I don't know if you've heard, but there was a motherfucker of an earthquake off the coast of Japan earlier this month, which subsequently caused a devastating tsunami and major nuclear crisis.  So far, there are over 18,000 casualties and hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced by this trifecta of shittiness. When I heard that Sassafras was putting together a show to raise money for these victims, I jumped on the opportunity to help out.  If you need convincing, watch this, wipe your tears and then come to the Redwood Bar on April 6th. If you need further convincing, April 6th is also the last day in my 25th year of life, so come mourn the passing of my first quarter century.

Again, we are lucky to be part of such a great line up for this show. We are excited to be playing for the first time with Roman Candle Wars, who we recently met through our producer Jason. He just finished recording their first EP, Wildfire. Like I mentioned earlier, our buds Sassafras put the whole thing together, and our close friend Lukas (the honorary 4th member of Kamikaze) is now playing in the Sass, so I am really looking forward to rocking the stage with them again.  Sex Wolf brings some sexy grungy punk to the table and alt-rockers Brainspoon make us long for the days of flannel shirts and acid washed jeans.

So... now that I've written a manifesto, I bid you farewell, and hope to see you at least once within the next ten days.  We have three or four new songs in the works and will be debuting one of them on Tursday at Vlad's so come to hear it first and head bang with me.

Keep rockin',

Nicole
Kamikaze

Record Release Recap, New Videos and Upcoming Mayhem

Our record release show at the Redwood Bar, January 7, 2011.

Whoa, 2011. You have seriously kicked some ass for ol' Kamikaze so far.

Last Friday we packed the Redwood Bar for our first show of the year, which also happened to be the record release party for our first EP, Tinnitus. One of the best parts about putting a show together is being able to hand pick the other bands. Not to toot our own horn or anything, but we picked a pretty killer line up for this show. First, the Mo-Odds hit the stage with a garage rock fury not seen since the MC5 played the Grande Ballroom on Halloween '68. Next up, an all-new Sassafras assaulted our ears with their death blues rock. After Sassafras, Spider Problem took the stage for a shock and awe campaign of screeching guitars and booming drums that dominated the audience.

Honestly, it was one of the best shows we've ever played. Thanks to all the bands that played, everyone that came out to see us and the Redwood Bar and Bob Cantu for letting us play and supporting the scene we love.

Our producer, Jason, plugged his ears for the whole time we played at KXLU.

On the Wednesday before our record release show, we were asked for the third time to play on KXLU's Livation radio broadcast.  Livation is awesome because it features local bands playing a full set of live music in the studio.  They put us in a room with our equipment and trust us with 45-60 minutes of air time and basically no supervision.  Not surprisingly, Brad dropped a few F-bombs on air, but otherwise we did pretty well kicking our set's ass.  Matt almost passed out in the middle of one of his songs (he had a fever all last week and was a trooper getting through 2 shows and a radio interview), but he kept it together so I think we can chalk that up as a success.  Listen to one of our brand new songs, Day of the Zero, that we debuted on air.





Day of the Zero - Live on KXLU

Shayne Eastin of Spider Problem @ indie1031.com

And to cap off our preparation for the record release, on Friday we sat down for an interview on Indie1031.com with DJ Jason Urbanczyk and our friends from Spider Problem. Here we extolled the virtues of analog recording, rambled on about our favorite bands, and seized the opportunity to plug our Redwood gig just a few hours from showtime, while Jason played the EP in its entirety throughout the show. We were super stoked to see him at the Redwood later that night!

Just in time for the release of our EP, our friends Nick Veith and Sean Kidder put together a video for Dig Your Grave, using live footage of us from the past two years of shows we've played.  We are lucky to have such talented and artistic friends.  Check it out: 




Now that we have gotten through all of this craziness, we are moving on to our next show, which will be at the Blvd in Boyle Heights this Saturday, January 15th.  There are 10 bands playing, including The Mormons, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Spider Problem, Lightnin' Woodcock and the Bad Motherfuckers, The Dharma Bums and others.  The show is only $6, so it's a pretty good deal for a full night of live music.  Check out the Facebook event page for more info.

We are also scheduled to play Alex's Bar in Long Beach later in the month with Sassafras and Anesthetic Frank, so keep your eyes peeled for details.

(All photos by Carl Mahoney)