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)