Play ketchup with us

Well, it's been a while. Not only since we've posted here, but also since we've actually played together. About 4 months for the latter, and even longer before that weekend and so on and so on. So I will do my best to catch you up, with all the good stuff that is going on and has gone on, as chronologically as possible with my memory and given resources like calendars and calculators and things. Here goes...

First off, Bearison encountered quite a large road block for bands back in November. We were "forced" out of our rehearsal space by threats of a class action lawsuit against us because we rock too hard for the neighborhood. Normally we ignore threats like this but this threatener just happens to be a cop. Luck be a bitch that night. We haven't had a place since, but have forged ahead with a few acoustic practices, a couple at my father's workplace, and one at Michael's mother's home. But have yet to find a permanent or semi-permanent home. Feel a little bit like listening to Damien Rice in Broad Ripple? Read on for hope.

Secondly, we have written 2 songs since the last post I think. One named "Solid Koala" that probably won't see the light of day, and a badass one called "Zach's Pegasus" that is one of my personal favorites so far. In addition, we've all been writing countless snippets here and there awaiting the reunion to unleash them upon the ears of our mates.

Thirdly, none of us have cut our hair since April. We made a pact so we would A: have something to do during our hiatus, and B: look like actual rock musicians instead of a collective of young misfits searching for our place in this world. Like The Goonies. Michael would be Chunk I think. I would definitely be Mikey if Bono played Mikey because I look like a straight up douchebag with long hair, and Bono is a douchebag straight up. He'd probably pay attention to me if I were either a third-world country or a $900 pair of sunglasses. Both seem to be in the sun too much for me.

4thly, we are all hard at work with our SOLO PROJECTS. Having the insatiable minds that we do, we constantly need to create. Lucas is Terrorizing Tokyo. I've heard several unreleased songs and they are great. Michael is Pacifist Caveman. I've heard his first two songs, and they are wicked. Jesse is The New Don (no page yet, that's his personal one), which is a (sort of) hip-hop project so far, and was no-doubt spawned by his recent fascination with Kanye. I've heard his first track and it's awesome. And I am Knee-High and Determined. I'm excited about this new album, my first in around 5 years (jesus, I'm getting old). Wake Up will be out in about a month. I hope you will check out all of these while you wait for those Bearison bastards to play again.

One hundred twenty-ninthly, Bearison is moving into their new home around September! We're so excited to play again. Updates, songs, shows, and ultimately our highly-anticipated first album will follow. Keep in touch.

- Matthew

Store Grand Opening!

This is just a short update to let everyone know that The Bearison Online Store is now OPEN!

It's a page on our fancy flash website: BEARISON.COM

The site itself has also been updated to Version 1.3, which sounds pretty sweet. It just looks better than it did. It's also about half the size of the previous version, which means about half the load time. You're welcome.

Now go buy some stuff!!!! That required 4 exclamations.

- Matthew

Michael not Dunston checks in...

So, let me start this by saying that all the members of Bearison looked awesome this Halloween.
Lucas was a spitting image of Heath Ledger's joker.
Matt went as the sex machine Brian Fantana from Anchorman.
Jesse dressed up as the legendary Ron Burgundy from Anchorman.
As for myself I was just a zombie with a big bolt sticking out of my face.

We had a good practice yesterday(11/2/08). The creative juices were definitely flowing between the four of us. We have 2 more songs started that I think are awesome. I can't wait to get all of our other unfinished material....well....finished! It is going to be interesting next week when we try to finish some of these songs. Keep your fingers crossed for us and maybe we'll get something completed.

I made french toast for the first time this weekend too. It was awesome, but it would've been better if I had powdered sugar to add to it. Sugar makes everything better. Wait, so does ranch dressing. Hmm french toast with ranch dressing...I wonder....nope nevermind that sounds gross!

I'm finally getting my tattoo started this Saturday. I'll post some in progress pics once I get this beast started. I'm hoping it will only takes a couple sessions, but who knows when it will be done.

Well my bear cubs story time is over and winter is approaching. You better go and get ready to hibernate.

-Michael

jesse at the helm...

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band news:
we had practice today, and it was really nice. we've had a bugger of practices lately, but this one went really smoothly. we hung out, worked on two new songs that have a lot of potential, and a mere 75% of us ate papa bear's chili (while a wholehearted 100% of us nibbled at papa bear's new culinary delight - salmon biscuit things).

overall participation points for the day:

mike | 100
lucas | -20
matt | -30
jesse | 110

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too hunkered out (from rocking so ridiculously hard) to do links.

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personal news:
may be heading northeastish at the end of this semester or for next school year. back to the indy area. doing my classes online next semester. more time in a comfortable place (ie. the internet) and less time in an uncomfortable place (ie. a classroom). i signed up for astronomy and earth science and some classes unworthy of a mention. lyns'll be going to iupui maybe, and i'll be in the fifth dimension (the internet), so i'll just follow her. why wouldn't i?

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books:
i got some new books. i love reading so much all of the sudden. i can't stand reading what i'm supposed to (college), but i am completely infatuated with space right now. the cosmos and all.

currently reading/looking at:
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Notes From the Holocene by Dorion Sagan
Cosmos by Giles Sparrow
and all kinds of shit on the internet...

i picked out a telescope i want.

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music:
currently listening:
The Hawk Is Howling by Mogwai
The Lemon Of Pink by The Books
Dear Science by TV On the Radio
Intimacy by Bloc Party

first two = really good. second two = jury's still out thus far.

anyone on earth could potentially find something in The Books. just give 'em a chance.

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currently awaiting:
Thursday split with Envy
Selftitled by United Nations
Eros by Deftones
Mean Everything To Nothing by Manchester Orchestra
No Siraeb by Bearison
whatever's next from Animal Collective

i just ordered the first two, and should get them this week... i'll definitely let you (the BeariSONS) know.

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notes:
i need to go to a beach or a concert soon.

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p.s. - i know chad's reading, but is anyone else?

Matthew's Update - 10/28/08

Good evening. Well we had another practice Sunday. It was good. We actually played "Storm" and "Shelter", both for the first time since our show on 8/23. We remembered them perfectly and it felt really good. We also polished "Jukebox Hero" a little bit. I tell you what, Michael adding that bassline just takes it to a whole new level. Also, adding to our current attempts at Thrice songs, we learned some of "Firebreather", which felt really cool.



Equipment updates: I put a new jack in the Rhodes finally. It sounds more beautiful than it did. I bought a 12 channel firewire mixer for us to record with. This allows for 12 independent channels to be sent to a computer at the same time. Freaking amazing. We also purchased a drum mic kit. And in the very near future will invest in some mic cables/stands and a headphone mixer. Then our album will definitely be underway.



Site updates: I have set up a PayPal merchant account and a store page for the site so we can sell some stuff now. It's not live yet, but we'll let you know. I've also been messing with audio players and streaming options for our site. I've made major headway, but there are several things hindering it from happening yet. Legal issues, servers, bandwidth, copyright, all that sort of stuff. We'll let you know on that also.


Other things: Baxter got neutered. Awesome. I drunk dialed my apartment office and told them I wasn't renewing my lease. So I guess I will have to move soon. My dad acquired and gave me Peter Gabriel - Security on vinyl, which I have been looking for forever. Jesse will be Ron Burgundy for Halloween and Lucas will be The Joker. I'm still deciding on mine. Mos def something with a moustache though. I think Michael might be too cool for school this year. I love all of the edited horror/sci-fi on TV now. AMC is the shit. I'm carving a pumpkin for a contest at my workplace. Gonna win that FOSHO. Listening to Air right now. I would kill for a vibraphone. Just listened to "Double Bass" by Gorillaz. I would kill for half of Damon's talent. My older, wiser sibling Chris bought the old-school hip-hop CD that we've all thought about buying. Been listening to Kurtis Blow, Run, Coolio, and I think Digable Planets are DOPE. If only music now had the magic that this stuff had. I guess that's it. I'm gonna go roll with Kid 'N Play.



- Matthew

Matthew's Update - 10/12/08

We had practice today. Unfortunately, Michael was a little under the weather, so he had to sit this one out and get better. We wish him a speedy recovery.

We other three, basically just hung out. We discussed Halloween costumes. We watched some football. Ate some food. Lucas made a friend in the dog Banks. Watched the trailer for Big Trouble in Little China. Awesome.

Then we attempted to play Lost Continent and Jukebox Hero. Lost Continent was tough, and we'll blame that on not having a bassist.

But Jukebox Hero was sweet and that will be a crowd favorite for sure. "JUST ONE GUITAAAAARR!!!"

We won't be able to practice next weekend. Jesse has a concert Saturday, and I'm going to a badass craft fair Sunday. I'm fuckin pumped! The following weekend, Lucas has to work Sunday, so we'll see if Saturday will work out.

On a personal note, Chris needs to get Baxter neutered. Ask Jesse about that. I got $100 for opening a Chase account. Got some frozen pizzas from my dad. Happy birthday to Katie on Tuesday. Got a cool peach crate for my records. I'm excited about moving. Got the previous post's issues taken care of except for the car recall. Ummmm. That's all I guess. We'll post regularly throughout this couple week break. Stay sweet.


- Matthew

So dark the con of Bearison

OH MY GOD
THE INTERNETS
You can literally do anything you want on here.
I just finished somehow transferring my face...an actual captured image of my own features, onto a yearbook picture of someone from what looks to be the 1970's? How this is physically possible is beyond me. Matt tells me it all has to do with pixels and such. He said "it's way beyond you, gingerballs."
And I believe him.

Photo by Lynne Hulbert.

(For details on how to help Michael and I cope with this new way of life, visit Coping with Technology. Thank you Thomas Kuk, American Society of Baking. The International Web of America is too important a discovery to let slide.)

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As Matt has stated, we will be working on covers at this Sunday's practice. Earlier in the week I finally picked up Thrice's The Alchemy Index vol. I & II. My brothers are grand. They were right, it was a necessary purchase. I'm excited to cover "Lost Continent." "Night Diving," track 4 on Water, totally blows me away. I think Bearison could do something similar, or possibly a cover. Doubtless I will be purchasing volumes III & IV soon enough.

As for Bitch: it's almost there, but a break won't hurt a thing. I think it definitely has the potential to be the masterpiece we intended it to be.

I'm excited about Bearison, and I have been for a long time. To prove my point, here is a "list of excitements," if you will.

List of Excitements~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Writing & Recording our Album
2. Producing the Album
3. Shows after we have finished our Album
4. Going on tour with Mogwai next spring

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In my individual endeavors, I seem to be in transition. Still trying to move to Bloomington, go back to college, whatnots. Until I get that jazz figured out, I'll be working pretty much full-time with my two jobs. I've been doing a lot of reading, lately Cosmos by Carl Sagan. It kicks my ass every day with new insights about the entire multiverse. You guys, I think I really want to be an astronaut. Not kidding. (p.s. - thanks to the helms for introducing me to that book. and almost every other good media ever.)

Things are pretty swell though. I love my jew, and I love my Bearison.


-Lucas