A little something for your Halloween party playlists. Listen to it, download it (click the play button to listen, title to download), do what you want with it. And please feel free to give a copy to friends or point people in this direction. My first journey into seasonal song territory. Hope you like it.
I’ve included the artwork above to appease you fellow anal-retentive iTunes users out there who can’t stand to have blank art gaps in your library. I feel your pain.
I can also post the lyrics if anybody’s interested.
Happy Halloween, you ghouls.
Update: Z from Hipster, Please! was nice enough to include this track on his most recent Halloween podcast. Check it out here!
Not sure what I’m going to do with it. I like the way it turned out, but I either need to add more samples from the movie or drop some rhymes in there. Maybe both.
Give it a listen, won’t you? And many props to Rick Dees.
Posted in Wock's Thoughts on August 27th, 2009 by Wockenfuss
Making beats and writing rhymes. Had a hectic past two months, but now it’s time to get down to some business. Working on booking some shows and recording a bunch of new songs. They’re coming out nicely, but far from polished. Eh, that’s the fun part: the tinkering.
Hey, check it out: we got our own little page on Urbnet.
Z at Hipster, Please! has been kind enough to feature us (again!) on his Radio Free Hipster podcast. Check out the Pajama Jams episode here.
Urbnet Magazine reviewed When the Belt Changes Hands and had some nice stuff to say about it/us. Check it out here.
Some photos of the Sticks Downey/Coolzey/Rhombus/So Sadly Fucked mini-tour can be found here.
Any interest in a Sticks Downey t-shirt? I’ve got a ton of ‘em. If you want one, drop me a line or leave a comment. They should be on CD Baby soon, but I just haven’t made that happen yet.
If you’re not following us (me) on Twitter, you should be.
Posted in Show Recaps on July 27th, 2009 by Wockenfuss
My apologies for taking such a long time to post this. The last few weeks have been mad hectic. I’m settled back down now, and ready to get back to the business at hand. So, here we go.
We played at The Space in Salem on July 2nd, and though the show was sparsely attended, we had a good time. Emerson Valentine Lyon brought the skewed R&B/hip hop dopeness, and was cool as shit. I hope we get to play with him again soon. My main man Mike Daily opened the proceedings with some spoken word, and as always, he brought the goods. Somehow I failed to get any usable photos of any of this. Bummer. But I may come up on some.
Our set at The Tonic on July 9th was slightly amended because there we so many acts on the bill (see the full list in the preview below), but I think it may have been our strongest outing yet. Lots of sweat, lots of energy, and a great crowd. And the best part: we got to watch all the other artists do their dang thing. The photo above is from the show, and yeah, it’s a bit blurry. Trying to see if anyone has any better shots of this show, too (I’m having camera issues).
Another couple shows under our belt, and some more fun times. I’ve been on a vacation for the past few weeks, but now it’s back to it. Keep it here for more shows as we book ‘em.
Posted in Show Previews on June 27th, 2009 by Wockenfuss
In addition to the aforementioned Tonic Lounge show on July 9, we’ve also lined up a set at The Space in Salem exactly one week before. Here’s the breakdown:
We played The Space during our initial string of first shows and had a helluva time. It’s a great little spot, and Salem, though it never gets any credit, has a tight-knit and dedicated music scene. Looking forward to watching Mr. Lyon; he seems like a character.
Huge props to Mike D. from Mr. Viced Honest for putting this stacked-to-the-gills show together. Sticks is going on right around 10, so if you want to catch us, get there by then. I haven’t played at The Tonic in years. Really looking forward to it. Wonder if they still have that projector?
I listed the acts for both shows with the headliners at the top, btw. So, reverse order, I suppose. You’re sharp. You can figure it out.
Hope to see you at one or both. We’ve got plenty of t-shirts, stickers, buttons, and CDs to badger you into buying. Just let it happen.
Posted in Show Recaps on June 1st, 2009 by Wockenfuss
Sorry for the delay in posting this; I’ve been trying to get this new site design in order. Now that it’s all ship-shape, I can recount the tales of our mid-May Saturday night at the good ol’ Ash St.
It had been a long while since I had set foot on that stage, and it was nice to be back. Heather, the booker/soundlady/showrunner is always easy to deal with and I’ve been lucky enough (as I think every musician in town has) to get to know her over the years, but even luckier to remain on good terms with her and the venue the whole time I’ve been playing shows in Portland. So, it was nice to know it would go smoothly, and we were also looking forward to being backed up by a reliable sound system, given our shaky start (I’m looking at you, Report Lounge).
Local new jack crooners The Beauty opened the show, and though I’d listened to some of their stuff online and had heard they were great live, I was not prepared for their stage show. In fact, they didn’t even use the stage, instead opting to work the floor and randomly serenade members of the gaggle of friends and family they brought along. One of the Beauty dudes was celebrating a birthday, and they had the whole place in party mode from the get-go. Three-part harmonies the likes of which I had never heard before, but I wish to one day hear again. I really hope we get to play with them in the future. Next time I will remember to take a picture of them.
My old pals The Buttery Lords were up next, and as usual, they were electric. It’s clear they’ve been in the lab–the boys are breaking out more and more new material each time I see them, and it’s been consistently great. As with any good Buttery set, things got sweaty, Hub stripped down to his tank top, and the ladies swooned. This was the first Sticks Downey/Buttery Lords bill, but there will, I’m sure, be many more. Though the word on the street is that they’re considering changing their name to Boner Patrol, so if you see that on a poster, you know what’s happenin’.
We were up next, and the highlight of our set was getting the Butteries back up on stage for a rousing rendition of “Sticks of Butter.” Hadn’t played a game of Pass the Mic in a while, but I wasn’t as rusty as I feared I might be. The rest of our set went just fine, and we had a blast up there. A good amount of friends turned out, and even some unfamiliar faces, which is always nice. Though I was disappointed at the lack of drunken hippie dancers, because that’s usually a mainstay at the Ash St. Maybe they’re trying to keep the riffraff to a minimum these days. Other than that, I can’t complain. We had a great time, and both Talik and the Footstress were fantastic up there.
Another group of old chums closed down the show, The Wall Hits. They had been booked randomly, but I’ve known these guys since high school. They just keep changing their band name, so it’s hard to keep up. They’ve stepped up the visual aspect of their show since I saw them last, and it (their projection screen rolling video insanity) made for some good watchin’ and listenin’.
So, yes, a fun night. A hot night. We were all perspiring. Here’s a picture of me and Foots hawking the wares post-set:
You can’t see it, but my hat was soaked through. And my beard was glistening.
Posted in Show Recaps on April 21st, 2009 by Wockenfuss
Playing our first three shows back-to-back-to-back (daywise) initially seemed like a dicey prospect, but it ended up being the best idea ever. Anything that didn’t work (and there wasn’t much, thankfully) was able to be remedied quickly, both because it had to be and because the last show was fresh in our minds.
“This must be how a real-life touring band operates,” I thought to myself. And I was right, except for the going home and sleeping in our own beds every night thing, and not having to worry about where our next meal was coming from. So, really, it was nothing like that at all, and as usual, I was romanticizing my blip-on-the-radar life and trying to feel like a big shot. But is there anything more thirst-quenching than an ice-cold glass of your very own Kool-Aid? Nah, and that’s why I continue to brew it up and drink it down.
Here’s how the shows went.
April 7, 2009: Olympia, WA – The 4th Ave.
So this would be the site of Sticks’ maiden voyage into the vast seas of live-and-in-person mic rockery.
We showed up around 8, immediately scanning the premises for Coolzey, with whom we would be playing all three shows. We found him, hugged it out (it had been a while!), met the gents who comprised The Rhombus (with whom we would also be playing all three shows), and went about checking out the room. There was a stage with monitors on it. Good enough. Having done that, we walked up the block, got some pizza, and came back.
One of the guys from The Rhombus asked me if I had designed the posters that were hung up in the venue, and when I replied that I had not, he explained that they advertised Cool As Cucumbers as the headlining act. Now, some of you may know that I was formerly in a group called CAC, and our debut CD was called Cool As Cucumbers. A lot of people thought this was our name (I don’t blame them; the CD art was unclear), and it became a point of contention/a bit of a sore spot for us.
So, that was an odd start to things. Luckily, the posters were really nice looking, and it didn’t matter anyway: nobody showed up to see CAC, because nobody really showed up at all. We didn’t care, and in fact, we may have been a bit relieved to luck into what seasoned veterans refer to as “a practice show” (a fine euphemism if I’ve ever heard one). And it wasn’t like the place was empty–we did have some friends there.
The lineup for all three nights was the same, and in this order: So Sadly Fucked, The Rhombus, Coolzey, and Sticks Downey. It was really great to see all the bands play for the first time, and while our first show was fairly uneventful, we had a lot of fun. All three of the groups that went on before us played action-packed sets, and the room itself was quite nice. The highlight for me was seeing Coolzey and Dr. Don do “My Cell Phone,” a track from back in the Sucka MC’s days. Brilliant.
Here’s a video of our first song at our first show.
We got back to Portland and 3am and immediately began mentally preparing for the next night.
April 8, 2009: Salem, OR – The Space.
My friend Doug runs The Space in Salem, and he’s really turned it from a nice little hole-in-the-wall into a great club. He had made some changes since the last time I was there, and the place looked great. This was Night Two of the three-night extravaganza, and I think we all felt confident that it was going to go off without a hitch. The fact that there were actually people hanging out there when the music started helped ease our worries that it was going to be another night of tumbleweeds and coyotes howling.
Things got off to a confusing start when local Salem MC L-Train was seen roaming around the venue, both asking permission to open the show, and claiming that he was slated to open the show. This was the first any of us had heard about this, but he said he’d keep it brief. Thankfully, he did. I’ll leave it at that.
So Sadly Fucked played beautifully, with Brian (lead guitar/vocals) breaking out a song about his cat that he had not played the previous night. It was my favorite song of the night. The Rhombus played next, keeping it loud and a bit ramshackle, but in a good way. Coolzey had joked (or so I thought) before the show about putting the music on hold for the evening and performing stand-up comedy, but I didn’t believe him. When I saw him put the wig and the sportcoat on, I realized he wasn’t fucking with us.
Yep, he even dropped his trousers. It was a sight.
Following that was tough, but Footsy and I gave it our all. When Coolzey came up for “Do You Know?,” we were all feeling the flow. I think this turned out pretty well:
Coolzey, dropping the knowledge.
We had a blast in Salem. I can’t wait to play there again. The bartender was really good to us all night, helping out with sound and whatnot, and it made for a really fun evening. Not a ton of people there, but some folks stuck around. A big thanks to those stragglers.
Two down, the hometown show to go.
April 10, 2009: Portland, OR – The Report Lounge
We had worries that The Report wasn’t set up to handle live bands (it’s a long story), and in the end, they were and they weren’t. They had a nice little makeshift stage that accommodated a few people snugly, and while that wasn’t a problem, the lack of a proper PA system was. Dudes were sent scrambling, and thanks to some footwork and ingenuity (none of which was any of my doing), things got worked out. Kind of.
The live bands (SSF and The Rhombus) had less trouble achieving and maintaining a solid mix than Coolzey and we did, but it was still a struggle. The PA was old, and it sounded pretty brutal. I actually thought it made The Rhombus sound sort of cool, but the SSF dudes were having trouble being heard. They still played great, but the finer plinks and plucks of their acoustic guitars were rendered dead before they could reach an ear. No matter; fun was had by all.
We were happy to be playing our first show in Portland, and though it was on a Thursday night at a place nobody had heard of, we still got a solid little turnout. Coolzey put on a high-energy show that was slightly hindered by sound issues, and I’d like to think we did the same. Talik was with us on live bass (he hadn’t been there for the previous shows), so we bumped a little bit more, but I fear our vocals were muffled to shit. On top of that, my iPod decided to freeze up twice and it brought our show to a halt a few times. Luckily, it happened between tracks.
Overall, I think we closed strong, both in the set and the little mini-tour as a whole. Here’s a few action shots:
Yeah, yes, and uh-huh.
Sorry this was so long. Sadly, I feel like I’m leaving stuff out. Next time, it’ll just be about ONE show.
And I hope you come to that show. I got a new VCR with a remote control that has a cord on it. It’ll be front and center onstage with us and it’ll blow your mind.
Time to get this blog rollin’. Please use that RSS feed, as I’ll be updating it whenever the mood strikes me.
We’ve got four shows coming up. We’re excited to be playing three shows in three nights (April 7-9) with Coolzey, as it’s shaping up to be a great way to get our feet wet and see how this stuff is going to translate live. Practices have been going great, and the live show promises to be a sweat-inducing experience. We’ll be having our “official” record release show on Saturday, May 16, at the Ash St. in downtown Portland. The Buttery Lords are confirmed to perform with us, and we’re working on solidifying the rest of the bill. It’s gonna be a rager.
I just set up a Twitter account for all things Sticks, which you can check out here.
