Top 10 Of 2011

This will be the final post of the year 2011. We have decided to make a list (last minute) of the top 10 contributing influences to our record making process. I hope this finds you well:

1. The love we all have for each other


2. Our parents & their fortunes


3. The Law


4. Special Bands


5. Good sound


6. Weird feelings


7. Cold weather 


8. Balcony's


9. Interior design


10. Stater Brothers


I hope you all have a very merry new year and that we all don't die.
With utmost respect, 
Mike & Chasing Kings

Kickstarter

Hey Blog,

I know I neglect you quite frequently, but I have reasonable excuses...really, I promise. I mean I have been making a record and pulling my hair out trying to make it sound as good as possible with microphones and recording space that most record producers would go insane over.  And now...it is done, and now, it is getting mixed...and now I can finally start doing the fun things that being in a band is all about-like writing blog posts, because this record sounds really fucking great and we are really proud of it. Unfortunately, working hard in this case does not just make a bunch of money show up and unfortunately, releasing a record takes a significant amount of money.

We have launched a Kickstarter, which is a platform where fans can help artists out financially and get really cool prizes in return.

If anyone is reading this here thing, we would really appreciate you checking out our page and letting some rich friends know too. At the very least you get to watch a bunch of pretentious puppets talk about record making-so that is cool.

We are incredibly excited about this record and we really want to reach our goal so we can have a proper self-release of this record. Thank you for reading. Hope to see you soon!

Chasing Kings Kickstarter

United States Open of Surf

Bring some shorts. Should be chill.

Empathy Music Video

Directed by our friend Matt Heder, here is our music video for Empathy. We shot it in about 7 hours in an abandoned concrete factory in the desert just east of Las Vegas. We are really excited to share this with all of you. Hope you enjoy.

KXLU Guest DJ/The Bootleg Theater Tonight

We will be hanging out on 88.9 KXLU Los Angeles at Noon today with host Jen. We will be playing some music that we have been listening to lately as well as playing a demo or two of songs that we are working on. You can tune in on your dial or STREAM KXLU HERE. Should be fun. 

Very excited for the show at The Bootleg Theater tonight as well. The show starts at 8...and we are so excited to be playing with all of these bands. We had a late one last night with Priory in San Diego and we can't wait for round two this evening.  In case you need some GPS assistance  the venue is located at 2220 Beverly Boulevard.  It is 21+ but fortunately only costs $5. Hope to see you there.

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Also...video release about to happen. Stay close.

Blue Microphones Podcast

Our friends at Blue Microphones recently invited us to their studios in Westlake Village to hang out, record a couple songs and talk about the band. Seems like an appropriate time to put this on this here site as it has been a bit stale lately. If you have some time, make some special tea #specialtea ...light some candles, and do it to our self. Mike does tell some pretty funny stories and we share some of our favorite recorded songs with Tyler in a very special one hour interview.


You can click on the Blue Logo below or on the Soundcloud player to listen.

Chasing Kings - Official Blue Microphones Podcast by Blue Microphones

Ida Maria-Tonight

We support Ida Maria this evening at the Roxy Theatre. The show starts about 8:30 PM and offers the rare chance for all you young folks to make your way out. The show is all ages and we are delighted to be returning to the Roxy. 

LOTS more soon. Promise!

Jare Bear

The decision between sending Jared to the top bunk or the cage was one I did not want to make but in the wake of my axeity and exhaustion I opted for offering my fury friend the cage. A look of shame quickly took over Jare's face. I instantly regretted my decision but attempted to save the situation by explaining that the bunk bed was not safe for either of us as it was ridden with termites. I jumped first into the cage and looked at him expectingly. "This is where I usually sleep too" I announced. Jared quickly hopped in and the awkwardness began...

Mike

P.S.
One more Jare Bear post to come. The conclusion!

Top 12 Weekend Records

 TOP 12 VAN RECORDS 3/24-3/27

1. Bright Eyes-Im Wide Awake, It's Morning
Found this on the Web...liked the artwork, decided to give it a go-it's pretty good. I think they have a twitter too.

2. Simon and Garfunkel-Sound of Silence (Re-Re-Re Release)

It's rare you find a new band that can sing as well as these guys. Says here that someone named Bob Johnston produced this...never heard him. Best of luck guys, you rock!

3. Elliott Smith-Either/Or

Surprise...it's not "From A Basement on the Hill" it's "Either/Or". I annoy everyone talking about my "Rose Parade" video idea.

4. Fergus & Geronimo-Unlearn

Laughing all the way, laughing all the way, I can hear you...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

5. Tighty Willis & the Friends Forever BAND-The Pelican

Aaron from Eyes Lips Eyes produced this record-his little brother Colin who wrote most of the songs handed it to me after he played the party at The Parlor in Provo after our show on Friday. It's amazing. We spent most of Saturday before the show in Logan listening to it.

6. Mike Bones-A Fool For Everyone

Saw him play with Blake a while ago-Thanks Drew for buying a real good one. You're driving too!

 

7. The Arcade Fire-The Suburbs

An oldie but a goodie.

8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Show Your Bones

Driving through the Nevada dessert at Noon. Zinger?

9. Patrick Watson-Close To Paradise

Since I was handed the second Patrick Watson record "Wooden Arms" last October, it has been very difficult for me to go more than a couple days without listening to it. Thankfully I brought his first record for this trip and happened to listen to it while I drove through one of the most beautiful canyon passes in the country-Thank you Sir!

10. Stranger Than Fiction Soundtrack

Some dude named Britt from Austin helped with this. It's chill.

 

11. John Isaac Waters-Parachute Tramps

Made for a nice morning with some freshly fallen snow...and burritos.

12. The Megaphonic Thrift-?
Not to be confused with Coldplay.

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Honorable Mention-The Flaming Lips-Embryonic
We listened on our way to Las Vegas with tacos in our belly feeling very content after The Bootleg. It's good for the dessert at 2AM and it lasted for about a quarter of the drive.

Thanks for reading,

Jason 

KCRW Live Session

Hello blog...hello website. You look nice today.

This Sunday March 13, Nic Harcourt will be airing a live session that we recorded last week. The show airs from 6-9 PM and our set and interview will air during the 8 o'clock hour. For those of you in Los Angeles you can listen on the terrestrial waves at FM 89.9 or tune in online by clicking below.

We are very excited about this and we would love you to tune in and listen. If you can't listen on Sunday the show will of course be archived at KCRW.com

Jare Bear

After a long night of fighting, arguing, discussing, reminiscing, 'Sorry' playing, story telling and drinking, Jared and I were exhausted. Being that Jare was on a pilgrimage of sorts, I thought it was my duty to let him stay the night. Drew happily agreed. At this point Jared was too inebriated to walk. As seen in the picture I hoisted Jare on my shoulder and began carrying him to the guest room (Luckily Jared is made of mostly polyester and synthetic fibres as I am not strong enough to carry a real live bear). My anxiety rose as I began contemplating whether I should take him to Drew's over sized dog cage or the bunk bed. I didn't want to offend the bear but I also didn't want to sleep underneath a bear in a bunk as I prefer the bottom. I have a fear of heights.
Stay tuned to see what I do!

Mike
BTW: My use of both names "Jared" and "Jare" is not at all an error. It is me switching between his nick name and proper name.

Jare Bear

Do to being enveloped in this *gnarley tour I have been unable to post another link in the chain of my Majestic tale.

Although Jared and I had reconciled our differences, there was thick competitive tension in there air. We decided to settle it by a light hearted game of 'Sorry'. I was surprised by the wit of the Bear. I guess the advantage of not being domesticated is the strategy you gain in the wild. Jared had all four of his pieces in before I even had two around the board! I knew this was the beginning of something great.

Mike


*Gnarley: A Southern Californian slang term meaning; crazy, nuts, tremendous, insane, banal or, in this case, all of the above.

Jare Bear

   

*parts of this post are based off a true encounter, though the names, locations and species have been slightly altered.

As you can probably tell per our embrace, I survived the brawl. Turns out Bears are people just like me and you. We had an experience similar to that of Aiden and Big from Sex and The City, when they fought in upstate New York, then became friends. The intensity of the battle formed a bond between us and we became fast friends. We threw societie's opinions to the wind, we broke the norm, we shattered the barriers. Then we got to reminiscing.

Jared is a south american brown bear. He is not really indigenous to Lake Arrowhead, but rather Nevada, near Las Vegas. He is 7 years old (29 in Bear years) and has two boys, Henry and Jasper. His wife left him for a Grizzly 6 months ago and he couldn't support his sons on his own. He left them with his sister Claire and went off in search of work. Proceeding his intrusion on our household Jared had been trying to rob some local Arrowheadeons for some cash. Being a bear there is a certain stipulated toughness that goes with the territory. Jared is in fact a kind hearted and sensitive bear. After being shrugged off by inebriated bar go-ers he decided to embark on harassing what appeared to be the bottom of the human food chain, us. I think what he really wanted was a friend and he certainly found one in me.

Seen in this above picture is Jared apologizing for being so abrasive and me employing empathy.

Check back tomorrow because stuff starts getting wild!

-Mike

Jare Bear

I am going to be taking over the telling of the Jared story as Matt wasn't even there. I am tired of dictating to a scribe. This will be my first blog post ever.

Just before this picture was taken Jared and I had some words about his behavior. It being my pet peeve when someone you don't know grabs your personal possessions, I grabbed the guitar from him in an attempt to defend Drews honor. He then proceeded to attack me with the knife on the table. I had never been in a fight before so he had the advantage, being a Bear. Luckily I had Drew and Nick cheering me on and berating Jare for his lack of thumbs, which made it challenging for him to firmly grip the knife, and for being de-clawed. 

Then..........

Tune in tomorrow to find out if died!

-Mike

Jare Bear

Jared continued making himself at home and started drinking a bunch of beer. It was a bit annoying and as you can see, he just sort of threw a few back real quick and picked up this guitar. This is not just any guitar, some beater that sits around the living room and suffers the injustices of greasy hands and spilled beer at two in the morning. This is Drew's favorite acoustic guitar, worn on the neck from the grip of his delicate hands, pickguard perfectly placed when playing soft lullabies, its protected fade of five years showing in the dim of the light.

He just sort of sat there.

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I write from a small coffee shop just down the street from Bar Pink, I'm probably going to be up all night as this is my fourth cup of coffee today but we are looking forward to the show tonight-forgot how cold it's gets around these parts. Nice to be back in San Diego. Not sure who is coming out tonight but hopefully we see you.

More Jare Bear tomorrow-make sure if you plan on coming to our midnight set at the Shadow Shadow Shade show at The satelliteb tomorrow you RSVP HERE to get your name on a discounted $5 list.

..

u

Out and About

Many thanks to those of you that came out to Origami Vinyl on Friday night. We went outside a little before 8 for a walk/talk about what songs we would play and when we returned upstairs to the loft Zach and Brad who were filming had plugged in some very soothing lights and we wound up overloadin' the circuit. After they calmly sorted out that little mishap and quickly grabbed some batteries to for their sound recorder we played our songs to an amazing crowd. Origami was a treat and we are honored that we were asked to play in the loft and that our songs are being sold at such a wonderful establishment.

We will be playing a number of shows over the next two weeks as we begin Wednesday Feb 9 at Bar Pink in San Diego.

this poster-nice right?




















We make the quick turnaround Thursday for a show that we have been looking forward to for quite a while at The Satellite in support of Shadow Shadow Shade (Afternoons) as they play songs from their new record which is unbelievable. We have been in love with this band since we first saw them at The Hammer a few summers ago. The Hundred Days will be on at 9, Le Switch at 10 and we will be playing the Midnight slot which has been deemed a special Happy Hour at the bar...pretty awesome to get a nice draft beer for 3 dollars. Last week was amazing and Justin Gage from Aquarium Drunkard is playing songs this week...

We would love to see you and if you plan on coming out-definitely facebook RSVP HERE and your name will be added to a $5 list. Should be a really great night!

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Also if you are reading this on the blogspot page-check out our brand new website www.chasingkings.com where this blog is hosted and you can grab a free download of Just Our Luck for the price of an email.

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Jare Bear #2

Nearly a minute after Jared walked into the house he just sort of wandered over to the fridge and looked for something to eat...it was a bit strange how quickly he made himself at home. Mike was particularly shocked by Jares lack of respect but in the young bears defense...it was late, he had been drinking and was very hungry.

Origami Vinyl In-Store Perfromance

We will be doing a free in-store performance this Friday February 4 at Origami Vinyl in Echo Park in support of our Ten Inch Double A-Side Just Our Luck/Maybe It's The Distance. It's completely free and if you plan on chillwaving out at the sweet Tennis show at The Echo on Friday night, stop by next door a bit early and completely maximize your evening. Even if you don't own a beard or a hat like the gentleman above, the show is still completely free and we will probably be giving out some nifty little treats.

Hope to see you there.

Wussup Wednesday #1

Ah, the middle of the week. This guy looks so much like Matt it's scary. Almost weird.

Oh yea...

Also here is the second of the two songs that we did with the wonderful folks at The Wild Honey Pie. No one took a horn solo in this one. Many thanks to Eric and everyone at The Wild Honey Pie for making the long trek and being so wonderful.



Just Our Luck - Chasing Kings (Buzzsessions LA) from The Wild Honey Pie on Vimeo.

Jare Bear #1

Meet Jare Bear. He will be appearing on this here blog over the next few months each day we have a show. We were in Lake Arrowhead a few months ago and had the opportunity to hang out with him and do a photo shoot. He is a very sweet soul and we can't wait to share some of our experiences together with you...the shot above was at around 1AM when he decided to pay us a surprise visit. Photo Credit:Nick Sandler.


We will be playing an early set this evening at Aviator Nation on Abbot Kinney. If you plan on being out on the west side the festivities start at 7PM...we will be playing our set at 7:30 or so and would love to see you there. The event is put on by westside blog WeLoveVenice  and The Surfrider Foundation. There will be free beer and wine and a suggested donation at the door. For those of you that don't feel like being harassed by the border patrol it always is so annoying when they tell you that your car/hair isn't clean enough and force you to turn around when you have already made it to the 10 and Western...maybe we will see you at our in-store at Origami Vinyl next Friday February 4th at 8 PM. 


For those of you that do wish to join us, here is a link for some more info http://welovenice.com/2011/01/28/tonight-2011-surfrider-foundation-kickoff-party-hosted-by-welovenice-aviator-nation/ 


Bye Bye!

Wild Honey Pies

Last night we played one of the most fulfilling shows in recent memory. I suppose the inspiration to tell you about it after my terrible lack of blogging  in the past month arises from wishing that everyone that has ever seen us live or heard our music or read this blog had been there last night. I don't say this because I think you would have fallen in love with our band or thought we were as good as Local Natives or anything like that, but it was the first time it felt like the worst set we could have chosen was the best set we have ever played. There were really awkward conversations with the audience about making guitar picks, some pretty bad musical mistakes, some funny conversations amongst the 5 of us on stage (we never talk to  eachother on stage) and a really awkward, what seemed like 10 minute break as I tuned my guitar down a whole step to play what is by far the hardest song we have ever showed to an audience.  

Over the last two years since we put everything (sans day-jobs) on hold...it seemed like shows were just a way to bring what we had figured out in a small space sitting down, sweating, all looking at one another, oftentimes not really understanding why the fuck we were doing this..,playing to our friends and the people that cared about us. We went back and forth all at different paces between drinking too much, not drinking, warming up, not warming up enough, tuning, not tuning and all the silly little nuances that will drive a band crazy as they are in their infant stages. And Not to be overly sentimental on this here lazy blog, but last night I don't think any of us were really thinking about any of that, at all. It was almost as if 2011 being here, had made us realize that when we made the decision to do this it was in 2008 and the fact that we had the opportunity to try out a bunch of crazy untested songs at cozy little Dipiazzas still playing at the club that gave us one of our first shows ever, was one of the most rewarding experiences I can remember.

Thank you to everyone who came out, we really appreciate you.
-Matt

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Oh yea!!!

Below is a version of Empathy that we recorded in Echo Park in December with The Wild Honey Pie.

If you reading this are the one that started honking during the bridge>>>thanks, that worked well.