West Indian Girl

another interesting day in los angeles. first though, can i tell you how much it sucks to NOT be on the road playing shows….”it sucks and i’m going crazy”. ok, so my day started by picking up marc goldstein for lunch (his lunch, my breakfast, his treat). we went to real food daily over on la cienega. as i was parking the car marc says “hey is that gina gershon?” i didnt know if it was cos the girl was wearing a hat and i was parallel parking with tony all up in my face. anyway, marc goes and talks to her and yes, it was indeed her. she was driving a cadillac….i never really pegged her as a cadillac girl and unfortunately she wasnt wearing that outfit in the picture on the left. you gotta love the random sightings in la… one day you’re eating sushi next to cameron diaz and the next minute your getting your toe nails painted next to the chick from that 70′s show…um…yeah, that’s another story. anyway, the lunch was great…maybe too much raw healthy food though cos i ended up sitting on the toilet one too many times yesterday.

after lunch we made a trip to the virgin megastore cos goldstein wanted to get a magazine that he shot the cover for. it wasnt there. while in line i asked marc what cd he was getting and he said “the courageously” (this band name is changed cos i dont want to start overtly ripping on other bands). i asked him why he was getting it because i thought they sounded like every other 80′s revival band with one good song that’s out right now. marc kindly agreed to disagree with me on this topic. just before he was going to pay he left the line and told me he wanted to introduce me to dj dave. i was down with that plan. dj dave is the dj at virgin. he’s been the dj at the store for over ten years i think. dj dave was really cool and after hanging out with him for a while he de-flowered my station id virginity. yup, i gave it up for the first time “hi, this is francis ten from west indian girl and you’re listening to dj dave…” awesome. so get this, while we were chatting with dave both he and another employee asked goldstein the same question i did “why are you getting that courageously cd?” hahah it was too funny…marc, trusting our musical opinions enough, ultimately put the cd down…it was magical. so that was my afternoon, i got a free lunch, a free coffee, met dj dave, did a station id while goldstein paid for my food, didnt get his magazine and got talked out of buying the cd he wanted…but at least he set up a secret rendezvous with gina gershon…or at least that’s how my version goes. —F.TEN

interesting site: when i google’d gina gershon’s name i found this random site that posts pictures of people smoking cigars. kinda funny. i have never smoked a cuban cigar but now i think i want to try one because i cant make fun of something i havent tried. i mean i can, but i wont…even though i want to.

rehearsal notes: been working on 2 new songs, one is an epic, appropriately called “indian ocean”. this song is one huge tremendous wave of cool.

it’s funny how people meet up. so i was working our merch booth in austin when somehow i started having a really funny conversation with this tall english guy. he was quick witted and hilarious and he kept kidding me about the band’s name…asking me if there really was a west indian girl or if it was just some blonde dude. i told him to just check out the show cos we have the perfect west indian girl not to mention that we rock balls. well, little did i know this dude’s name was also rock…mick rock. for those of you who don’t know who mick rock is, he’s basically a rock photography legend/icon.

come to daddy

anyway, during our set i saw him standing towards the front and i knew he knew all my bullshit wasn’t bullshit. after the show i didnt see him again but i heard he was having a laugh with the band. i guess he was backstage hanging out with rob and mariqueen and kept referring to me as “little sicilian” hahaha (if you can imagine his accent you would be cracking up). so as life would have it i gave him a call on wednesday cos he happened to be in LA for the opening of his exhibition. i wasnt expecting a red carpet event but this exhibition turned out to be all that and more. when we got there it was already packed with everybody in hollywood that desperately wanted to be seen there. i guess the most notable person that i remember seeing besides random actors was marilyn manson and his girl ditta von something. anyway, after hanging for a bit with mick we split to get a burger. i think he might shoot the band when we’re in ny in may. that would cool cos he has taken some classics. —F.TEN 4:48am

Hmmmm, can u believe this is already the seventh 10 with TEN?! Since seven is such a mysterious number it seemed fitting to reserve it for the exotic and enigmatic mariqueen maandig. Seven is also Mariqueens favorite number so it’s even more appropriate. We did it at a coffee shop in downtown LA. – she had a triple venti white chocolate mocha and I had an espresso with a biscotti. Needless to say, this 10 with TEN was by far the most stimulating.

1. Describe your role in the band? I harmonize with Rob, shake both my ass and the tambourine, play the harmonica and smile a lot… BEST. JOB. EVER.

2. What special qualities do you bring to the band? god… I don’t know., you tell me… since you’re pouting at me and pressuring me for an answer I suppose I’ll say an easy going sensuality that was missing from the whole ensemble… that and I have a powerful set of pipes. Oh yeah… and I have a vagina. Awesome.

3. You’ve had to learn how to play harmonica for the song “trip” and you play it so well – so what is your secret, suck or blow?Sucking and blowing. It’s a talent I’ve carried ever since high school… recognize. I mean, hi mom, I love you.

4. I understand you used to sing in some cover bands – what was your best cover band moment and what is your favorite cover to sing??I didn’t sing in cover bands, actually… I sang in a band when I was fifteen filled with at least twenty other old men. It was crazy. We sang at banquets and what not… good times. I think my best moment was singing in Arizona for a doctor’s party and realizing that no one was eating their dinner because they were all watching me. Pretty nifty. My most favoritest cover song would have to be “Last Dance” by Donna Summer cause I get to belt out like a maniac and I love the reaction I get from the audience. Mmm… I’m in the mood to karaoke now.

5. You seem to have a lot of male fans – why do you think (besides the huge breasts and plump lips) that is? You know what? You can just suck my ass with a boba straw, Fran… you’re a douche bag and a half… next question please. (um, that’s not very lady like)

6. Speaking of lips…how do you define the perfect kiss….what makes a good kisser? Hmmm… I define the perfect kiss by just doing it. A good kisser needs the following… great lips, good breath, the right amount of tongue, good timing, great variety and please, for the love of god, hold back on the saliva.

7.What are you listening to lately – who are your favorite bands out right now?I don’t keep up with current music… but I’m into Bill Withers, Spoon, Lamb, Massive Attack, Alpha, Queens Of The Stone Age, Miho, Astrud Gilberto, Beck, Bloc Party, She Wants Revenge, Poe, The Beatles, The Cinematic Orchestra, Van Morrison, Doves, Air and really early Rolling Stones oh and DJ Shadow… you know… good stuff.

Down tempo puts me in a sexy mood… jazz makes me happy… rock and roll completes me… dirty dirty dirty beats (a la Detroit Ghetto Tech) makes me tickle in my you know where… and the Miss Saigon soundtrack puts me in a blissful childlike state which I love. I could go on and on about what else I listen to but I’m over it.

8. Describe the last show you went to – did it suck? The last show I went to was the Phoenix show that we had to go to at the troub… it didn’t suck at all. As far as I can remember, I had the time of my life… just don’t refer to any of the pictures that were taken that night cause I’d like to keep a nice reputation. Hey, can I have a bite of your biscotti?

9. You’re the only girl in the band, is that a difficult thing to deal with? Do you wish we had another girl (besides carter) in the band to keep you company? this probably sounds super cliché but I feel like a man in a woman’s body so being around all of you guys isn’t difficult at all… plus, I like the fact that I am the only girl… it means never having to move equipment. Rrrad.

10. How have you liked being my DBD (date-by –default) for all the little band events we have had to go to? how were you able to control yourself? Well… being your DBD is pretty chill… I get to listen to you jibber jabber at everyone and in turn get a good laugh. It’s highly amusing. YOU are highly amusing. I’ve been able to control myself by just listening to you go off on random tangents. That is enough to send me on four or eighteen smoke breaks on our “dates”. I mean, just kidding, Fran… you’re not THAT annoying.

Bonus Question You’re the only other band member that religiously takes a bunch of pics like me. I noticed that not only is your digi camera cooler, more expensive, and takes better pictures than mine but it always seems to capture the two of us in some questionable pose. Do you think that the pictures you’ve taken of us raise too many eyebrows? Well… to be honest, I think they’ve raised too many eyebrows to count. it’s annoying and funny and it makes me want to take more right this second. Here… put that biscotti somewhere obscene while i dig in my purse for that camera.

hahahah um, ok, well, mariqueen you are the best. you bring alot of fire to this band. hey uh, what sign are you? what are you doing later tonight? wanna go grab a drink?— F. Ten 3:03AM

photo credit for shot 3 – the one and only marc goldstein(again!)

WE KICKED ASS IN AUSTIN!

I’m really proud of everyone in west indian girl because they all stepped up and performed amazingly on saturday. this was the first time we played in front of all of the peeps from astralwerks, cherry lane and little big man and we delivered…even without a sound check and with some technical difficulties (ie rob’s monitor no being plugged in) we were clutch when we had to be. i walked away from this show knowing in my heart that west indian girl is going to play some mind blowing shows in the future. i also need to thank bernie (cos he delivered with a great mix) and troy (cos he’s the best stage manager/tech around). those guys allowed us to play better because in the back of our minds we knew that if anything went wrong they had our asses covered. this makes a huge difference when you’re up on stage….at least for me it does cos i don’t worry about anything except jamming. i would also like to say thanx to all the people at astralwerks that were so positive and supportive…errol, glenn, alison, lawrence, scott, katie and of of course dayna. i’m glad we made you all proud.

well, strangely enough there arent too many pics here. i guess we were all just too busy to deal with cameras that night. too bad i dont have any pics of the show cos im interested in how it looked. i did take 2 classic pics while i was at the merch booth though – the first one is of our agent jonathan from little big man (incredible roster). jonathan is our main man and busts his ass for us on a daily basis. thanx bro – we appreciate it. the next picture is of brooke, rich, and christa from cherry lane. i wasnt expecting to see them all at the show (paul was there too but i didnt see him) – seriously i was stunned for a second. whenever i see anyone from cherry lane i’m immediately reminded as to why we signed with them…cos they fucking rock and they’re all just really nice and genuine. you guys are awesome and we’re glad to have you in your corner. thanx for making the show…shit…i think i’m gonna cry.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: Where did we play? I forget… oh yeah Antone’s… right? I don’t know… I wasn’t impressed with the backstage area at all. I definitely wasn’t into having to fall in line to use the restroom with the rest of the antone’s patrons two minutes before stage time. The guy manning the door was a sweetheart though. That’s all I have to say about that. I feel like I should say something nicer but I can’t find anything truthful to say… so… on to what I think about Austin…
The City: Seeing as how I was so rudely awakened from my slumber in our van by Francis… I was pleasantly surprised when I got to my hotel room. It was pet friendly, humongous and the balcony was big enough to do cartwheels on without freaking out about hitting anything. I was excited about walking around the city during the day and checking out the shows but my mind, body and vocal chords needed sleep so I didn’t end up getting out of bed until about two in the afternoon. What I saw of Austin was cool… musicians everywhere… you could just smell the angst around you… it was like myspace.com had puked on sixth street. I wanted to buy a t-shirt that said “Fuck y’all I’m from Texas” for someone special but I decided against it. Besides Antone’s I went to a Starbucks with Bernie and then another coffee shop with Carter five hours later. Give me caffeine or give me death.
The Show: Three words — It was magical.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was sketched out about the fact that we didn’t get a soundcheck but seriously, as soon as we started playing I didn’t even care. I knew we had a job to do and I came to fucking bring it… so I put aside all my worries and concentrated on the audience’s vibe and gave our fantastic soundman, Bernie the occasional look of love. I had such an amazing time on stage at this particular show. There were so many people in the audience… it was great. I saw my friend Ken Blau and an ex boss. Crazy. I danced with Rob a little, I vibed with Lewscious, as always… I even made special eye contact with Frandizzle and Carter… we as a band were a single beating heart and it was fantastic. God, I really really love us. I am so happy to be working with four talented men. I read a Juliette Lewis quote a week prior to the show that said, “I am in love with my band like you are in love with your lover” or something like that… she is so right. I love you Chris, Mark, Rob and Fran. Gah! Now I want to hug the shit out of each and everyone of you. This is too much for me to handle I have to stop. Oh yeah… and I love Troy… he is the fucking best tech manager ever. EVER. Kbye.
Interesting Things After The Show: Mick Rock introduced himself and snapped pictures of Rob, Carter and I. We all joked and laughed and then Mick and I exchanged phone numbers. I hung out with Mark a lot and walked through the crowd. I met a really sweet girl who told me how (insert tons of flattering adjectives here) I was and she teared up. This pretty much made my whole life. Billie Joe, if you’re reading this, get at me… you’re on the guestlist forever ♥. I loved how I didn’t have to buy a single drink all night long. The douchebag bartenders did however, give me shit for trying to get a glass of wine with my drink ticket… apparently they were only good for miller beer. Um, gross. I raised my eyebrow and got my way. I was drunk by the end of the night and was trying to decide where to go party. My friend Tommy said he would pick me up and then there was Aaron from the Brazilian Girls who had also contacted me and knew of something happening. I was so tired and intoxicated from the showcase that I decided to just go back to my room and sleep. Being in a rock band is not endless parties, kids. It’s a lot of rehearsing, stress, love, labor, caffeine and lack of sleep. Seriously though, BEST JOB EVER.

Carter’s Conscience Austin. Saturday. The main event. South by Southwest. Starving musicians from around the world converge on a few streets to celebrate. Started off the day with some interviews set up by our lovely publicist Allison, and hung out with our labelmates, the golden republic. Those guys were great, so fucking cool. I hope we get to tour together, it would be a blast. Anyway, there was a line around the block to get into the show, 500 people plus in the audience, lots of em “important” people in the industry. The show was incredible, such a great energy coming from the crowd. One of my favorite shows we’ve played. MariQ was just melting hearts, she sounded amazing. I was really impressed with the Golden Republic, they played a great set. Thats it really. Astrelwerks is a really cool label, with genuine people working there, and it was a great party. Now lets go tour. Carter
here are the remaining pics from the evening:
below is an old friend of mine dave feeney. dave’s in a detroit alt country band called blanche. he also played pedal steel on loretta lynn’s record. you know the one that jack white won a grammy for and dave’s name wasn’t even mentioned on it even though he helped record it all…weird how that works.

carter and dave feeney from blanche

back stage – errol, k-os, and mariqueen.

voted best road dawg ever.

creepy texas gas station.

funny story about the pic above is that somewhere out in buttfuck texas i went into this gas station to take a piss. when i walked out the van was gone. hahaha! it was kinda funny but scary at the same time cos the locals in the station were looking at me like i was sports illustrated swimsuit model. anyway, i started walking down the road and took a picture of this creepy place when i saw the van parked behind a building. needless to say rob and troy were cracking up when i got in. it’s always funny until someone gets hurt kids…remember that —F.TEN

veronica and mario drove 5 hours to see us!

we played the gypsy tea room on friday night and i barely have any pics from this show. actually, i dont have any of the show. the promoter told me that because of SXSW this was one of the 2 worst days of the year to play in dallas (the other day is xmas eve). even though dallas was deserted it was still fun to play there. the gypsy tea room has a great stage and system. i thought we put on an excellent show. our set list included one new song plus 7 from the cd. still lost, trip, miles from monterey, hollywood, new song (untitled), northern sky, what are you afraid of. we played an extended extended version of what are you afraid of. i really love jamming on that song because i have no idea what’s going to happen from night to night. although the atendance to the show wasnt amazing the people that were there to see us enjoyed a killer set. one guy, jeremy j, even sent us an email saying this: “Your show in Dallas last night was great. I was the guy in the orange shirt taking up the floor space. On behalf of Dallas, I apologize for the piss poor showing. Always merry and bright.” that’s great huh. there was also a couple that drove up from san antonio just to see us – veronica and mario. anyway, they were real cool. i kinda wish we would have played longer just for them cos they drove so far…next time we will. anyway dallas, we’ll meet again soon.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: The Gypsy Tea Room was kind of gangster. I loved how they had two rooms… one huge performance bar and the not so ginormous one at the front. Our dressing room(s) were probably as big as our rehearsal space. I dig I dig. The Gypsy Tea Room treated West Indian Girl proper. We had an amazing soundcheck, which is rare and they stocked our dressing room with all the water, towels, fruit and chocolate my little figure could handle. I’m all about going back there. Fer Sher…
The City: Downtown Dallas is visually stimulating. It’s urban and dirty but not filthy… you know? I wanted to walk around and take snapshots of all the amazing graffiti art I saw on the various building walls I passed, but I was a little cracked out from my serious lack of sleep. I managed to slip in two hours in between Los Angeles, Phoenix and Dallas. The city was surprisingly dead during the day but at night… oh… oh my… let’s just say the freaks come out. Yee haw. No just kidding, I didn’t see a single cowboy, I did however see lots of freaks. Take it the way you want to… freaks could be a good thing or a bad… but I really really enjoyed Dallas. I went shopping with Lewscious and Carter and got some super choice items at this place called Counter Culture. We went to two other stores but I don’t remember their names so I think my “The City” section should end right here. Moving on…
The Show: I was running on two hours of sleep and a total of six shots espresso. viva la caffeine… ole! I think this show, pardon my french, kicked some serious asshole. No really, we killed it… I think the progression of our performance as a band is just unreal. I fucking love us. Pardon my french again. Too bad there were only like, twenty five people at that bar… whatever though… twenty five people left The Gypsy Tea Room completely in love with West Indian Girl and that’s all that matters.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how wonderful it is to have caffeine in my life. That was pretty much it. Seriously.
Interesting Things After The Show: After the show we proceeded to journey on to Austin… to my surprise, Bernie drove the big van and he stopped at some czech bakery or whatever and all the boys except for Carter (he was on the same page as I was and was passed out) decided to load up on sammiches at three in the morning. Nothing makes my stomach turn more than eating at three in the morning so I opted for a parliament light and some quality time with the back bench and dreamland. Too bad I got woken up by fucking Fran (pardon my french once more) at like five in the morning. He decided to tenderly wake me by shaking me and yelling “Q bert, Q bert, wake up!” He’s awesome.

Carter’s Conscience LAX international airport. Thusday Morning: Way too many people. Way too little sleep. I have a theory that Mark Lewis used to get trouble a lot back in elementary school for things he didn’t do. He accidently cut in front of a quarter mile line to go through security, and got yelled at by airport security as well as the other people in line. It was funny really, because he honestly just didn’t see the 500 other people standing there. Dallas: Friday. Playing at the Gypsy Tea Room. The particular part of town where the Gypsy Tea Room is located is amazing. Incredible graffiti art everywhere, a tatoo parlor, coffee shops, etc.. Reminded me of the Silverlake area in LA. And the weirdest thing is, it was almost deserted. Hardly any people. That town just has an intense energy to it, you can feel the ghosts. Props to the vintage store there, I think its called Counter Culture. The show itself was a little quiet cuz we booked it last minute, and everyone was at SXSW but the people that were there were really cool and the venue sounded great.

…lewscious

that’s bernie with tony while we were in the van

our little gangsters..lewscious, ryanne, mariqueen, and carter

every now and then we get a night off from rehearsing and every now and then there happens to be something somewhat cool to go do on that specific night off. well, on this particular night off we all went to to a party at the W for my friend jade howe’s clothing line –it’s called howe denim. i did a 10 with Ten with jade a while back that’s worth checking out. the party was great and jade’s new clothes are all super dope. the band wears a ton of his stuff all the time. i just scored an xs black hoodie which is now on heavy rotation in my closet. thanx jade.

heidi, let the good times…pop out

i like the W hotel - i think it’s a pretty nice place. i was just checking out their site and they are so fucking cool. scroll down on the left column and click on the “pets are welcome” sign. now that is great. you would think nice hotels would bum out about big dogs but they are way down with the program. anyway, heidi good times and her breasts were at the party. we love heidi – she kind of runs LA. after jade’s we all went to Tokio, a bar in hollywood that she promotes. they were having movie karaoke there… you act out scenes to films. looked kinda lame but who knows. while i was outside i bumped into 2 of my good friends that i dont see nearly enough of. steven melrose and jeremy. jeremy owns a bar called “the room”. a lot of that movie “swingers” was shot in there. melrose works for atlantic records as well as manages a bunch of great bands in la. melrose helped get west indian girl signed so he will forever reside in the west indian girl hall of fame – i love that guy.

english thugs – melrose and jeremy

below is a picture of my friend AC – he works at one of my favorite bars in los angeles called el carmen. i found this blurb about el carmen on the web: “Opened by L.A. restaurant-and-bar impresario Sean Macpherson, the man with the mescal touch, El Carmen conjures the feel of a back-alley Mexican cantina of a bygone era. Vintage Mexican movie posters, vibrant Latin American colors, and oil paintings of masked Mexican wrestlers decorate the Quonset-hut interior, while an eclectic jukebox offers an array of tunes from Tito Puente to the Foo Fighters. The busy bar boasts a gargantuan list of more than 100 tequilas and a small menu of tacos and light fare.” sounds good huh? thanx for all the drinks ac, you’ve seen me buzzed more than anyone else in los angeles.

AC is great guy, go talk to him

—F.TEN 7:40pm

today we’re in texas and today is st patrick’s day. i should know who st patrick is but i dont…i was raised catholic for christ’s sake. um, mom, i’m sorry i wasnt really paying attention at church. can you blame me though? i could never concentrate cos there was always an old man dressed in drag speaking in latin that kept distracting me…oh wait, that was the priest. well, speaking of church and state, let’s talk about the republic of texas. i really didnt see any hot chicks at any of the truck stops we ended up hanging out in…go figure. driving thru texas absolutely sucks. at one point i wanted to get out of the van and smash it with a sledge hammer. on friday morning we picked up the rest of the band at the airport and that is where i snapped the rare photo of tony actually smiling. troy told me he thought tony was the best road dog he has ever been around and that meant a lot. i’m pretty proud of tone –no barking or anything….just chill

dallas airport – tony smiling, troy driving

the beautiful texas landscape

i can’t wait to play these next 2 shows. we’re all ready to kick some texas ass —F.TEN

we drove 800 miles today (mostly on the 40) and im totally burnt out. as far as arizona goes…that was a fucking smooth ass drive. thank you arizona highway department – your roads are great. plus the view was pretty nice. this is also tony’s first road trip – i’m not sure how much he is diggin it but he hasnt barked once. so…im in a hotel in albuquerque right now. it’s called the motel 76, not the motel 6 but 76. this has got to be one of the more stranger rooms i’ve stayed in. it’s a triple with 2 bathrooms. me, rob, troy, and tony. sort like the 3 little bears in the ghetto.

momma bear, poppa bear, and baby bear

oh yeah, show reports show reports show reports… well, i still have 4 on the way, san fran, eugene, portland and seattle. i am still sorting through all the pics. i will crank those out soon….yeah yeah yeah i know i know. —F.TEN

below is a post by chris carter. usually chris doesnt doesnt say too much in the blog but this is a special occasion. remember, this is a true story, no names have been replaced or facts changed. take it away carter.

Yesterday at the end of the photo shoot I experienced one of the most surreal, hilarious, and disturbing experiences in the history of my life as Chris Carter.It took place on the corner of 4th and Wall in broad daylight, right outside our practice space. I was throwing away an empty coke can. Something that resembled a woman was walking towards me with, shall we say, a crazy look in her eyes. She was more odious and disturbed than your average cardboard box dweller downtown, and she was grinning stupidly and pointing at me. She grabbed the empty coke can out of my hand and managed to squeeze a few drops into her mouth, after which she laughed like she had just won the lottery. She was probably on some acid mixed with who knows what, and she started following me slowly down the street, laughing hysterically and pointing. Apparently she was very grateful for the coke can, because she proceeded to stop, squat, and lift up her skirt, pulling out her hairy lap curtains right on the sidewalk! In broad daylight! Luckily I turned my head just in time, or I could easily have been turned to stone, gone blind, or lost my ability to bear children one day. Marc Goldstein bravely documented the carnage, snapping two shots that are absolutely priceless. I’m convinced that this is some kind of omen for our band, but I can’t discern what it means. It just keeps getting stranger and stranger. . . with love, Carter

here she comes

a good deed never goes unnoticed

thanks for the coke chris

—F.TEN

west indio girl

the photo shoot with marc goldstein went extremely well. our first day of shooting was monday. we drove out to a remote area in indio, ca. and got some pretty sweet shots. it was our first “real” photo shoot with mariqueen. there are so many different variables to consider when doing a group shot. overall cohesion is what you look for and i think this depends on a few variables such as wardrobe, comfort with yourself, ease in front of the camera, and group togetherness. in the end i think we got some good stuff. the next day we woke up early again and went on location to a bar called the white lotus. normally this bar is packed to the gills with hollywood scenesters but on this sunny afternoon it was just filled with west indian girl people and therefore a very great location. once again i know marc got some great shots.

band with the crew(victoria,marc,jesse,odessy)

after all the good times at the white lotus we switched locations and went downtown to our studio roof top. our studio is on the 5th floor. for these pics goldstein was experimenting with exposures of up to ten seconds in length cool shit man. the other picture is of mariqueen with victoria and jesse (make-up and stylist).

well…do i have to even say it

F.TEN 5:05pm

oh man, seattle was drinking…and more drinking

and trying to stand straight so you can go sight seeing

we played at chop suey on wednesday. it was the last, and probably best show of our west coast tour. seattle is officially our new “home away from home”. seriously, there’s a great and exciting fan base to play in front of in seattle. i love this club too. the mercir boys opened the show and put on a great one indeed…this is their home town and they didnt disappoint. oh yeah, did i mention that we co-headlined with the brazilian girls who i really didnt get a chance to hang out with. they seemed a bit stand-offish to me…or maybe they’re just from new york…whatever. anyway, our show kicked ass and part of that was because of the fans. gotta thank my old friend juan (on the right) for watching the merch booth. i left him there only to come back to a wad of cash. thanx bitch. also want to thank the mercir crew again, misti for buying another shirt, ryanne for taking some pics (of which are posted), and last but not least my main mofo Afrakkah-Dukkah who not only came down to the show but came down prepared to play an acoustic version of “dream” for us. ADMF is DOPE. i’m glad you showed up man.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: Chop Suey… ah, I lost my performance virginity at this venue when we opened up for Phoenix. I was excited on coming back and showing them how “experienced” I had become since our “first time”.
The City:I was happy that it wasn’t raining and they fixed the pothole that caused me a chipped tooth and a very bruised ego. Whoopee. I had sushi that was disappointing… how weird is that? Bad fish in Seattle. Stranger things have happened I suppose… like me choosing to get coffee at a 7-11 instead of a Starbucks… sometimes I’m such a moron.
The Show: Well, the beginning of the set was a little nerve racking because I found out that my tambourine and harmonica were missing. I didn’t want this to affect our performance so I just released all my stress through sweating and dancing throughout our whole set. It was by far the most fun I have ever had on stage.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how hot it was onstage because the lights were right in my face, how awesome the house monitor guy, Julian, was… I was wondering where my tambourine and harmonica had magically walked off to and some other things that are totally private and really, none of your business. Kisses.
Interesting Things After The Show: I don’t know about interesting, but as I mentioned before, my harmonica and tambourines were missing… big bum out. Then I found out someone stole a hundred and something dollars in cash out of my purse, which is always really awesome. Bah. I think meeting Affrakah Dukka Muthafucka, I hope I spelled his name right, might’ve been, not only the highlight of Chop Suey but the whole trip in general… that kid is amazing…

Carter’s Conscience Seattle– Great crowd, lot of fun what can I say about Seattle. A lot of people come out to see us up there, and its so inspiring to play shows where I see people in the audience singing along. My big keyboard was acting really strange at that show. Thats the thing about the synthesizers I play. They are like people, and they can get a little bitchy sometimes. During the song Green, which is one of the most intimate, beautiful and quiet songs in our set, my big Moog let out one of the loudest, ugliest sounds I’ve ever heard! I think my leg brushed a cable while i was playing, it sounded like a huge set of dishes breaking – right during the quietest part of the song. to make matters worse the cable was running through my delay pedal, so the sound was repeated for about five seconds, which seemed like an eternity. So my bad Seattle for ruining the moment, but we went on to finish the set strong. At least it didn’t happen on Saturday night live or something like that!

gotta love this kreid shot – a man and his guitar tech


afrakkah-dukkah giving us a great rendition of “dream”

juan trying to hit on mariqueen

hi ryanne thanx for the pics!

steven and julian (booker and soundman extraordinaire)

i’m into this picture of james but i think mark “thumby” lewscious took it

we drove 2 days just to get back home…boring

ryanne gerry took the b&w pic, and the 2 live shots
kreider took the the marquee, admf with rob, troy, admf with us, and juan with q pics

—F.TEN/>

oh yeah – there’s a tour being promoted saying we will be opening for the wonderstuff on their U.S. tour. we will not be doing that tour…repeat….not doing that tour. we will be touring though and i will post all the dates as soon as i know the details —F.TEN 8:53pm

Hey everybody, sorry i have been the biggest slacker with the show reports lately – i have 7 on the way! the first one from san diego is posted below. believe it or not, Mariqueen and Carter are now contributing their thoughts to the show reports. i think this is going to be really interesting as you will get more of an idea of what’s going on at each show.

that photo shoot with marc goldstein is fianlly happening on mon and tues – i believe we are going to death valley because with all the rain we have had it is suppossed to be in bloom there…cool. that means say good bye to pictures like the one on the right. although it was cool at the time(thanx lionel deluy), things change and so does west indian girl (ie mariqueen is now our girl and 5 is the magic number)

check out the lastest issue of FOAM mag cos we are in it. it’s really cool actually under “must haves gear for the new year” is our record…it’s the only cd they list. cool fucking shit man.

cold play played at the troubadour tonight (which is right around the block from my place)…i kind of wanted to go but instead ate korean food with carter —F.TEN 4:15am

can i have the fir burger please?

we played at the doug fir lounge in portland on tuesday. this place rocks for a few reasons. 1. the restaurant upstairs is killer 2. the hotel that is attached to the bar is like the standard in l.a. 3. the sound system and club is brand new. this place is a stylish relaxing rock n roll compound that makes for a great tour pit stop. the hotel doors are one big chalk board and there are fire pits outside. kreider took some pics that i posted below. as far as the show went, well we rocked…carlos, our soundman, finally hit his stride on this, his third show with us and krieder also took the projections to new levels. the only bad thing about the night was doug fir’s crappy merch booth. it literally was stuck inside of a coat check room….lame. we played with a local band nordic, (whose cover of the cure’s “fascination street” was way cool) and mercir again. all in all the show and the night was one big party. i posted some video for the first time and i hope it works. i also posted a pic of carter wheeling lewscious around on a dolly in the loading dock. it was hilarious at the time cos we were all pretty drunk. i also posted some pics that xilia faye sent me. she was at the show and took some really rad shots. thanks xilia! anyway, on to mariqueen.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: this is by far the best venue I’ve ever played. It doesn’t get better than Doug Fir. The place is aesthetically pleasing and classy and the food is fucking amayyyzing. Hi Brent, you’re outstanding… for real.
The City: Portland is definitely on my top ten best cities in the United States list, I wish I could spend more time there.
The Show: for a Tuesday night the turn out was great and even though there were a lot of technical difficulties I think we had a great show. the response from the crowd was great and there were some people dancing like they were tripping on psychedelics right infront of me, that’s always inspiring.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: hmmm, I wonder if you can guess? Yeh, I was trippin about how I could NOT hear myself at all. It was bumming me out more so than any other show. I think it was because I didn’t expect this to happen… at all. I stress out way too much on my monitors. maybe I should get over it. Hmmm, highly unlikely, when it comes to my vocals I’m a perfectionist on the verge of having a disorder, but that could be a whole other entry in itself. Or not. I was very amused by the dancers in the dark and a little cold because there was a slight breeze coming up my dress that made me tickle in my special place. Rad.
Interesting Things After The Show: I met some really groovy ladies and after awhile Fran, Carter, Mark and I went to Galaxy to karaoke it up. The highlight of that night had to have been when they met that stripper, Kitty and she was making googly eyes at Fran and he just totally blew her off because we were in deep discussion. Band drama over groupies rule… It wasn’t really band drama… I think just drunken bickering on our part. When you’re in a band you become a family so arguing is a given. Mix in some alcohol and you might find some of us on the verge of a fist fight. Making up is always nice though… oh god, I love our West Indian Girl family I might just tear up. Over it… moving on… ohhh but the super duper highlight was when Carter and I went onstage and did “Flashdance” and I got to see Mark’s alter ego, Lewscious, dancing and jumping and practically body slamming innocent bystanders. This inspired Chris to writhe on the floor a la Madonna at the very first MTV video music awards. Fantastic.

mariqueen and carter karaoke video 1
mariqeen and carter karaoke video 2

Carter’s Conscience Tuesday– Douglas Fir– Great hotel rooms, cherry blossoms blooming, Portland was beautiful. Did a little karaoke, MariQ and I did “what a feeling” by Irene Cara. A stripper gave a rendition of Black Velvet that brought a tear to my eye. Karaoke is just good clean fun. [as usual, carter really letting us get to know him]

carter dialing it in

q during sound check – i like this picture

cara is the best waitress around

carlos and troy is the best crew bar none

carlos finally getting brazilian on us

view from the hotel room

view of the restaurant

view of the downstairs bar where we played

rob and q rehearsing before the show

zadok and i at doug fir’s shitty merch booth

xilia faye’s photography




kried picture credits: the 3 hotel shots, carlos smiling, rob and Q, zadok at merch

—F.TEN

playing in eugene the night after san francisco always presents you with the unenviable problem of an 11 hour van ride. that means right after san fran you have to haul ass and drive as far as you can before you have to crash. when we got to eugene i kept wondering if people actually lived there cos i didnt see too many. as far as the show went we played at john henry’s with Mercir (our boys from seattle) and Gram Rabbit. that’s colin from mercir with me in the pic….colin, who loves ya baby? the show was cool but like i said, i dont think people live in eugene and the club kinda creeped me out. some guy tried getting me to give him a cd and kept saying he didnt have any money to buy it. i finally broke him down only to see a wad of twenties in his pocket. weird how people will try to low ball you for a cd you are already selling at cost….anyway loser i hope you enjoy the music.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: I thought the stage set up was perfect. I liked the fact that it was easy for the rest of the band to wheel their equipment up. The bathroom was especially fascinating. There was random graffiti and safe shooting stickers plastered everywhere… how rock and roll can Eugene get?
The City: it’s a really sleepy college town where the Starbuck’s closes at seven pm. I was upset by this but thank heaven for 7-11. The people were sweet and enthusiastic and supportive. Rrrock.
The Show: I was delirious by the time we actually played. We didn’t start our set until midnight and I had been running solely on caffeine and five hours of sleep. Yet once again, I couldn’t hear myself but I still had a good time. Kevin Reid’s visuals might’ve added to my feeling of euphoria… I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but I still had fun, I ALWAYS have fun.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was fantasizing about my bed and my powerbookG4 and how funny it was to be playing for ten people at twelve thirty in the morning.
Interesting Things After The Show: I met a nice girl named Katrina and we talked extensively on how rad we both are because we’re both Aries and have pretty fresh ink on random parts of our bodies. There was also a really sweet bouncer who bashfully asked for an autograph and a picture. He looks like he could kill you and skin you and not even blink an eyelash while doing so but in the picture we took he looks like a big ol’ teddy bear. Apparently, he was dubbed my boyfriend by Francesca, but he’s a douchebag ♥ so whatever.

Carter’s Conscience Monday — Eugene. Check out a band called Gram Rabbit. Things can get a little strange in the desert, they are from Joshua tree and sing about cowboys and aliens. Its more of a cult than a band. Anyway, I loved it. Here is a poem I recited at the show: Eugene Eugene made a machine-Joe Joe made it go-Art Art blew a fart-and blew the whole damn thing apart. I was proud of the poem ( I learned it in kindergarten) but at least one girl in the front said that it sucked. the lesson, leave the poetry to Rob.

finally, a picture of mariqueen’s boyfriend
mariqueen and zadok of mercir at the merch booth

carlos loving the short drive up from sf

great picture of lewscious

18 beers later…lewscious spell bound by gram rabbit

pic credit – kevin reid took the mountain, eugene sign, and lewscious u haul shots.

Don’t haight us cos we’re from LA

we played at cafe du nord on sunday and to be honest with you, i wasnt really expecting too much given that it was a sunday night, the oscars were on, and it was pouring rain outside. loading all of our gear down the stairs at nord also sucked major ass by the way. to my surprise, the evening turned out to be real fun – i really had a blast. the crowd was very very warm and easy to draw inspiration from. for some reason it was one of our more looser times on stage. i was sick all day but playing the show knocked out whatever i had left of a cold. the most memorable part of the evening was meeting drew and erin who drove down from sacramento. we met drew and erin at the fillmore when we opened for gomez. they are starting a real cool website called 420synema.com that synchs up movies to cds… it is difficult to explain but if you ever read about the wizard of oz synching up perfectly with pink floyd’s “dark side of the moon” then you will understand what they are doing. according to them our cd eerily synchs up to the move “the cell”. i cant wait to try this and i cant wait for drew to finish the site. i hope the show was worth the drive you guys. ialso want to thank max and her sister for helping me with merch, birdmonster for helping to make the bill a much better one, and mike and john from the band mansville for showing up and getting wasted. oh yeah, also rick audet who sent me the live shots i posted in this blog. thanx guys!!!

Carter’s Conscience
Saturday– Boring drive at night to San Fran. Learned a valuable lesson. try to avoid any kind of conflict with your girl before leaving to tour. Your mind can beat you up when your the only one wide awake on a six hour car ride in the middle of the night.

Sunday– San Fran! Troy, our tech, is a pretty funny dude. He does most of the driving, and he brought a total of four CD’s on tour. Of those four, he only played one for almost the entire trip. It is this funk CD by the Eisley brothers. Troy gets himself enough red bull to kill a raver, plugs in the Eisley brothers, starts rocking out, and I swear to god that guy could drive to New york without stopping. If there was a soundtrack to Troy’s life it would be “Girl I want to be with you” by the Eisley brothers. Anyway, the show was cool being that it was Oscar night and it was raining. Fran stopped the show and presented me with an Oscar award, and I gave a nice little acceptance speech during the middle of our set.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: I thought Café Du Nord’s atmosphere was really groovy and intimate. Thank god I have boobs, if I had had to load the equipment up and down those killer steps with you guys I might’ve collapsed from a heart attack.
The City: I love San Fran but I was bummed about not being able to really enjoy the sights and shops of the city because of the rain. Shopping makes me happy and rain makes me want to cuddle… I had no one to spoon… insert sad face here.
The Show: This was our first show with our new sound man on the road, Carlos. I thought it was great even though only ninety people showed up… I suppose that’s a decent crowd for a rainy, Sunday, Oscar night and yet once again, I couldn’t hear myself through the monitors… but seriously, I can NEVER hear myself… I think the band should invest in some ear pieces… ahem.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how cold I was and how great Rob’s guitar sounded but I was also thinking about how stressed out he might’ve been because I knew he couldn’t hear himself… I know I couldn’t.
Interesting Things After The Show: I met a really dope couple from New York who insisted that we come there and play because they believed that we would have a cult following… how awesome. Around this time Troy started to freak out because he lost his wallet and Kevin Reid sat on an equipment case, smoking, with one pant leg rolled up and a big bag of ice on his exposed knee. Poor Kreider, those killer steps I had mentioned aggravated an old knee problem or something… I capitalized on the moment to get some amazing shots of our amazing on hand photographer. The pictures are great if I do say so myself. If a photographer likes a picture you took of him then you know you did good.(picture to be included)…

mansville and mariqueen

kreider after he busted up his knee

downtown before the show at a cool cafe



more down time…lewscious

good times in the van playing scrabble…stoned

note the use of the words “whaler” and “bandy”

and “anus”

kevin reid took the following shots: red wall band, carter’s head, mansville, the 3 cafe shots, lewscious skate boarding, 2 van shots

—F.TEN

Peace and Love ALWAYS at a sold out troubadour! thanx to all our friends that came out to support. the evening was a complete success and there was a ton of good music to be had. ironically, our set was hilighted (in my mind) by a technical glitch in the first song. not a good way to get started but i dont think too many people noticed. a sample was triggered incorrectly. far from it being an ashlee simpson moment, it was only one keyboard sample track from the song hollywood that was somehow playing during still lost. it was bizarre. in retrospect it was pretty funny cos i kept listening and thinking “holy fucking shit, is that the sample for hollywood? why is this happening? who is going to stop this? is everyone else freaking out?” anyway, we got through it and went on to play a hot show. we even pulled out an acoustic version of dream to end the evening. now that’s a tender way to send’em home.

Carter’s Conscience
Friday at the Troubadour– I love LA. There, I came right out and said it. Everyone knows theres a lot of glitz and bullshit, but there’s also a lot of cool, creative people and energy in this town. We got a great crew of friends, and everyone showed on Friday. The highlight of the night? Mark Lewis coming out from behind the drums to play the shaker on Dream, our encore song. Genius. [photo credit jessica daschner]

Once again…Chris Carter…a man of few words

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: I LOVE playing here. Great backstage lounge area always stocked with the essentials – fruit, tons of water and champagne. PERFECT.
The Show: That show was great. The vibe of the audience was outstanding and I felt that, at the time, this was one of the best shows I’’d done thus far. I love playing the Troub, nothing beats home.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how many of my friends were in the audience and how many people might be able to see up my skirt. I think about really bizarre things. Most of the time, my mind is preparing me for the next note to hit.
Interesting Things After The Show: I don’t know about interesting, but, I missed soundcheck due to heinous Friday gridlock to the Troub from Orange County. Then, I was so sketched out about not being able to soundcheck that my stomach was acting up and I dropped a deuce in the bathroom and almost burned Fran’’s nostril hairs off. Sexy, right? During the show my friend told me that I was inaudible… perhaps it was because of the bass cabinet right in her face, I dunno. After the show, nothing too interesting happened except… um, hmm… well… nothing. it was just good times with great people. I don’t find that interesting at all, it’s the norm and I love it. [photo credit jessica daschner]

all of the pictures in this entry were taken by marc goldstein except where noted

lewscious


the many sides of chris carter


jones and holtzman asking rob to not take 15 minute solos

rob not listening

thanx tommy t for helping me unload the truck (photo credit – me)

thanx bernie and carlos for doing sound (photo credit – me)

thanx marcos and brooke for selling merch!

dressing room – pre show bathroom moments

total 70′s soft focus playboy centerfold shot…love it

did anyone say

fleetwood mac

mai, marcos and tatiana

chocolate…back from the betty ford clinic

my asian twin louie

q’s crue = debbie, jenn and malytziah

vela and vivi backstage

there’s sammy

—F.TEN

surprise surprise…hello laguna!

we played an announced show in laguna at the ocean st brewery as a warm up to our west coast tour on thursday night. it was laid back and fun…just like you would expect something in laguna to be. we would definitely like to thank thiery who was the man with all the hook ups at the brewery…thanx bro. the whole show was a good dress rehearsal for the band, kevin (who was doing visuals) and troy who was guitar tech’ing. at the end of the night and a bunch of wheat beer…mission accomplished – the people at the brewery were stoked, bought a bunch of cds and got us wasted. what more could you ask for? i’m sure somebody got lewscious stoned too. dj jon thayer closed the show for us – it was good seeing jon (even though he lives right across the hall from me in my apt building i never really get to hang out with him). his parents even made the show. gotta like that kind of support…touching. as far as the pics posted below i didnt take most of them…i handed my camera to mariqueen’s cousin/body double debbie right before we played and these pics are what she gave back to me.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The Venue: I was extremely excited about playing this particular venue because this was where all the magic BEGAN. Memories from when I had first met Rob and told you that I was perfect for the band fondly filled my head and made me determined to prove that I don’t bs. Despite the small size of the bar I think Ocean St. Brewery is lovely. The outside area was right next to where we played so EVERYONE could hear how amazing we are. I just wish the sound system was more befitting for our band… but ya know… we played a great show so whatevs.The City: Hmm, what can I say about Laguna that hasn’t already been said? I love Laguna for one reason and four words… The Boom Boom Room. Viva la gay men. Ole. That is all.

The Show: Despite the fact that it was extremely hard to hear myself sing, I thought the show was a success. All of my friends that came were BLOWN AWAY by the band. They loved all of the songs especially “Out Of Pink” and “What Are You Afraid Of”. I received a lot of positive feedback from the audience as well. The male audience attendees were especially sweet. They always make me blush in the most flattering way possible. Aw… hugs. Anyway, the Laguna show was fun and stress free… exactly how every show should be.

What You Were Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about what I sounded like. We had absolutely no monitors and no sound check so I really had to find my voice in those speakers which was difficult. I then realized that the key to finding your voice isn’t really to look for it in the speakers but to really find it within yourself. Does that sound super cheesy? Well it’s true, so bite me, ok?

Interesting Things After The Show: Ha! Before the show I went to the bathroom, like, a million times. I also remember a moment where I saw our names as “West Indian Girls” and I thought to myself, “That would make a great picture to put up at the studio”. Nothing interesting in particular happened during the show, but after… oh myyy… some overly inebriated individual was staggering and spitting compliments all over me. He told me he was from Canada and started comparing my voice and sex appeal to Esthero and even threw in an, “eh” at the end of his drunken babble. he then proceeded to hit on someone else after I told him my boyfriend would be flattered to know he thought I was extremely sexy. Classic. There was also a really sweet sweet man who said he was going to be opening a new venue in the city and that he really really really wanted us to play there. He was absolutely blown away. It was sincere and sweet. I wish I could remember his name.

Carter’s Conscience
Laguna – The unofficial first day of our tour! I love playing a show in my home town, and everyone at the ocean ave. it’s like family. All the local Laguna jokesters came down, it was great. Worth mentioning that we played our very first show there only a few short months ago.

As you can see Chris Carter is a man of few words…
anyway check out these pics below

dj jon thayer


…lewscious

check out troy tuning in the back

—F.TEN

SXSW tour poster

SXSW is official and the Astralwerks showcase is going to rock. It’s gonna be great to hook up with Phoenix again as well as meet some of our other label mates that evening. The night before (on friday) we will be playing in Dallas at the Gypsy Tea Room. I will post more details about both theses shows soon. — F.TEN 5:38PM

i would like to take this opportunity clear the air about something. the views and comments expressed in this blog are 100% all mine unless otherwise noted. often times my opinions might not be shared with by the rest of west indian girl and it is important to note this. basically, i write everything in this blog and if i have said something that has offended you please take it up with me and not anyone else in the band. the buck stops here. so, for example, if i say the drummer of a band we had open for us was acting like a little bitch during our sound check…i’m the one saying that, not chris carter or mariqueen or lewscious or rob. if i say i hate another band or someone is a douche bag i’m the one saying it. i mean, this blog can’t always be a love fest with pc icing on it. ok enough said. let’s get on with happier thoughts — F.TEN 11:25pm