West Indian Girl

in honor of my intern’s one year anniversary of slavery i have decided to give him a promotion. no longer will he be called “intern” — he has paid his dues long enough. his new title will be “operations manager/sherpa”. you’ve done a great job dino - everyone loves you and u r actually starting to listen and execute my orders with speed and efficiency.

in celebration of this promotion i have decided to name my new fighting fish santino - which is dino’s real name. this is a tad bittersweet though because tessio my most recent fish died earlier this week. rip tessio…your life was a bit shorter than the rest but u were a true warrior. you battled back a couple times from some sort of fish disease - it was tough watching u die. i wish these fighting fish had a longer lifespan than just the one year average. anyway, dino…meet santino - ur now in charge of feeding him when u are over here.

so we just came back from a 3 day run up north and i wanted to post some polaroids that chad elder took of melissa and i right after our last show in goleta. these were last minute shots right before melissa left the club. i couldnt pass up a polaroid moment because they are inevitably classic. i also couldnt pass up the opportunity to say a few things about melissa because i fucking love having her in the band! she’s doing so well and is quickly establishing herself as a force. her performance, energy and enthusiasm is honest, powerful, sincere and infectious. our new material is by far our best stuff to date and that will be evident all too soon when start releasing the shit over the course of the next few months. thanx to everyone who came out to support us this past week! we love u guys too!

i’m gonna be moderating a panel at the sf music tech summit next monday dec 7th. if you’re in town please try to make it. i’m pretty sure u can watch it live on web….of course

Hey guys on way to play sd right now. I will have the letter c video response and letter d up on Monday - I’m also planning on bringing back the show reports but this time adding a video for most of it

quick note from the road via my iphone wordpress ap. I’m en route with dino to a private house party we r playing tonight. I know that I’m late with the next 2 w/ ten post but it’s coming. I will post the video hopefully by tomorrow. This has been a great success because I have discovered some cool new bands. We all need upgrades in our life— health, diet, style and music. I’m glad I’m getting my music upgrades from all of u like this. Keep em coming. Bookmark or rss the site so u know when the next post is up. Thanx again

this is a total drag but it seems like we wont be playing the shows in santa cruz, berkley, and san fran in early nov. the shows are being rescheduled and i will post when the new dates get confirmed. this news is indeed a drag and leaves me with the same feelings i had the other night after i saw a screening of where the wild things are. that would be a not so warm and fuzzy feeling.

when i was in college i took a public speaking class and dropped it after 2 weeks. maybe it was because i had nothing to say but i really think it was due to being super shy…my how things change. this year im one of the speakers at the digital music forum west conference on oct 7-8. this conference looks pretty good and im honored to have been invited. plus, it’s at the roosevelt hotel and how do u not end up at the pool with a drink in your hand when ur there? doesnt happen. i have been enjoying the speaking opportunities that have been coming my way this year because it gives me the opportunity to connect with even more struggling musicians that are looking for answers. it’s a pretty rough line of work these days and we should all be helping each other out. as a general rule i think that if u can help someone that’s in ur line of work facing the same obstacles and hurdles that u have faced then why not help them. it’s dickish not too. so… if u have roughly 800 bucks for a ticket come say hello. damn…that’s pricey but i think it includes a prostitute and a personal assistant in your gift bag so all is not lost.

speaking of speaking here’s a song called speak by i will never be the same. more on that band in an upcoming post though.

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Bits of press and interviews are finally trickling in from the summer festivals …  Outside Lands was probably one of the most professionally organized festivals we’ve ever played, and rocking Street Scene’s Casbah stage at sunset was by far the most enjoyable 45 minutes of the weekend.

A deep and special thanks goes out to our guest drummer extraordinaire Brendan Buckley & the marvelous and ethereal Miranda Lee Richards. It was an honor to play by their side and absorb all that  professionalism and phenomenal energy.

Check out our feature on LA2Day’s online coverage of Outside Lands (thank you Chrissy!) and  USD Radio’s interview with the chicas (thanks Nick!).

SPIN EXAMINER

Thanks to all for coming out, supporting and sharing in the love of music.

the other night amy, melissa and i attended the macy’s passport gala at the barker hangar in santa monica. it’s a fashion and theatric show which raises money to support local hiv/aids organizations. the cause is indeed epic —how come we dont have a cure for that by now—you would think we would after 27 years right? anyway it was the first time i got to spend some quality time with melissa and she’s a really really great person to be around. it was fun walking the red carpet and doing interviews with her…she’s quick, well spoken and fucking hilarious all at the same time. special thanx to heidi richmond and wente vineyards for making us their special guests. heidi is officially my new favorite person of 09. the whole passport event was very well done. i think the highlights of my evening would be seeing liz taylor and eating the curry chicken. i didnt realize this but liz taylor is actually dame liz taylor…which really means she was knighted in the uk. dame = sir. other big plus was the valet guys who were super cool with me having tony with us. they let me valet my truck myself and gave me a nice spot in the shade for him. that’s huge.

in the hopes of being a bit more “communal” we have added a news section to the website. this news section is for “official” band news and will function as more of a group “collective voice” so to speak. in addition this page will now be the site’s main landing page. when i redesigned the site earlier this year i was trying to roll the blog and news all into one page but since since i do 95% of the blogging it’s only natural that my voice ended up becoming the default voice of the band. obviously u can see where this goes…my voice will never reflect or fall in line with everyone else in this band and that sometimes isnt a good thing. this format change ironically gives the blog a bit more freedom now as it doesnt have to represent a collective (read be so pc). the blog will be much more active now so please check in as it’s not the main page on the site any longer. in 04 i started the blog as personal blog and soon thereafter it became adopted as the band blog…i guess now we have come full circle. that said, this blog should be a bit more fun as the shackles are now lifted. im free

for all of those who have asked…here’s a picture of melissa. yup, i know…crazy to think her voice, personality, vibe and everything else is just as cool.

i will be on halloran’s coup d’etat show this sunday at 6pm. should be fucking fun to see him again we have lots to talk about…specially the day after st scene. i’m already getting my mental playlist ready. love going to 94.9 - why don’t stations like that exist in la?

of course you guys already know we are playing st scene sat night 6:45 at the casbah stage. see you there.

we are very happy to announce that the lovely and talented miranda lee richards will be our very special guest vocalist for both the outside lands festival and san diego street scene. it should be a real fun time having her on stage with us. miranda is awesome - these shows will be very special treat for both of our respective fan bases. in the meantime the search for a permanent female vocalist replacement for our live show continues….we will keep you posted.

recently some comments were deleted from a post announcing our last singer’s departure. i actually had no problem with them. they are what they are- comments and opinions. that’s why i have the option there. if i just wanted every comment to align with exactly what i wanted to hear i would have called the section “kiss my ass” instead of comments. so to everyone who took the time to write a comment and it was deleted im sorry. that’s not how i want this website to operate. i value being real and being honest and being able to say what you think. that’s what i do and quite often faulted for it. i also have no problems with any critic. you are entitled to your opinion. if you do however make it personal with me or my CURRENT band mates that’s another story. that’s where the web and things like twitter gets interesting…. it’s easy to be a real big tough guy. the real test is if you could actually go nose to nose and say it to our face — that’s the kind of stuff i like. anyway, the story here is this… i could give a shit what you say about people that arent in my band and i also dont care if you liked this band for reasons that had nothing to do with the music. talk soon. bye bye

We’d like to thank each and everyone of you who participated in our little contest! Thank you all for sharing our music and spreading the love…

Here are the 3 winners who went above and beyond:

1. Kampy (who will be joining us with his lady at Street Scene!)

2. Ester (will be hanging up north with us at Outside Lands!)

3. BlueGuru (who will be rocking out with us at the HOB tomorrow night!)

Congrats to all of you and thanks again for your continued support!

from the very very sad and unfortunate department we announce that west indian girl and mariqueen have parted ways. due to her recent life and priority changes she will no longer be part of our group. we wish her nothing but the best as she embarks on a new chapter of her new life outside of this band. she sacrificed a lot over the years and her loyalty and professionalism to this family will sorely be missed. she will, however, always remain in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. thank you q, we love and miss you.

how does this affect our upcoming shows in august? well, as cliche as it may sound “the show must go on”. due to the incredibly short notice of this situation there will be NO replacement for the 2 upcoming house of blues shows this week. there will be some sort of replacement or the possibility of multiple guest vocalists for the 2 festival shows in late august. i hope all our loyal west indian girl fans will understand this difficult situation and bear with us during this transition.

that said… bring on the american idol west indian girl show. if you’re a creative female with a killer voice then get in touch. effective immediately we are officially auditioning for her permanent replacement. please email info@westindiangirl.com if you would like to audition. thanx

on july 11th we’re playing a really rad show at the henry fonda theatre in la. we’re going to be part of the labyrinth of jareth masquerade ball show. this is an incredibly intense event which takes a year of planning and prep to put on. strider and the loj crew have been so kind to outfit the band in elaborate costumes….we’re talking powdered wigs, tight pants, big gowns, cloaks and daggers etc etc. this should be fun as hell to play. if you want to go you cant because its already sold out. bummer. we will post pics though

Finally, our album of rarities is out today via Origami Records (the rad new vinyl store by the Echo in Echo Park)!

the collection includes 2 b-sides from our debut on Astralwerks; one unreleased remix from our Remix EP; 6 digitally unreleased remixes from 4th on the floor remixes, vol.2; and last but not least, a dreamy and vulnerable interpretation of the Beatles classic, 8 days a week. Available @ all the usual online music retailers or here! Buy It Now!

listen people, our contest is so f’n easy to win. all u have to do is email your friends some music. you can enter multiple emails at once too so its pretty low on the demanding scale. in fact it cant get any easier - just copy an email addy then put a comma and another email addy….repeat again and again and again and win. check out the contest page/tab for all the details on how u get to hang out and watch the show of your choice with us from backstage. you’ll be photographed and videotaped with all of us - all for sharing our “We Believe” album and our “In The Studio” video with as many friends as possible. this contest doesnt suck.

last night i came across this clip from family guy and i couldnt help but think about my old friend jc chamboredom. ahhh…if only stewie was real.