The Hundreds: five years in the game.

Oh how the hypebeasts and their ever geeked out brethren will be filling their plaid shorts with some weird shit starting August 1st!

Celebrating their fifth year as co-dominators of the street/skate/punk/hip-hop/urban culture fashion scene, The Hundreds will be throwing a party throughout the month of August in their home turf of Los Angeles at the Foreign Family Gallery.

According to their now legendary blog, held down by the man himself, Bobby Hundreds, "the space will showcase the history of our brand, unveiling original artwork, catalogs and line sheets, memorable photographs, our favorite tees, never-before-seen shirts, and other memorabilia that have built the house of The Hundreds. We will also be releasing our first set of 5TH t-shirts, along with vintage shirts and some tees that you will only be able to buy from the 5TH store."

As a rave up to the event, Bobby took his paints and a roll of blue tape over to Foreign Family and composed an original backdrop piece. It's HUGE, go peep it on The Hundreds blog.

You'd be crazy not to go and get a lesson from a couple of punk/hip-hop kids with big dreams that made it happen.

Also, Check Bobby's little reflection piece on The Hundreds first five years in the game here. It's masterful.

Today's Pig will be there killin fools on Friday!

Congrats fellas!

Super Sweet Dog Advice

Give a dog cheese. He will love you forever. Video coming soon.
Dogs hate vacuums. Don't vacuum a dog. That video is also coming soon.
I had the opportunity to sit down and interview a dog. Here's how it went down:

TP: Is it true you love cheese?
Dog: Yes
TP: Is it true you hate vacuums?
Dog: Yes

And there you have it.

Arrested Development theory

Fahqua, fahqua!

Thanks to our good buddies at Holiday Matinee for this little piece of magic. David Cross pretty much nails it in Mrs Featherbottom wardrobe.

No More Projection Screens

gim·mick /ˈgɪmɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation [gim-ik] noun

1.	an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.

2.	a concealed, usually devious aspect or feature of something, as a plan or deal: An offer that good must have a gimmick in it somewhere.

3.	a hidden mechanical device by which a magician works a trick or a gambler controls a game of chance.

4.	Electronics Informal. a capacitor formed by intertwining two insulated wires.

5.	to equip or embellish with unnecessary features, esp. in order to increase salability, acceptance, etc. (often fol. by up): to gimmick up a sports car with chrome and racing stripes.

I'm fascinated with the latest trend of "gimmicks" within the music world. If it's not a projected film, it's a costume. If it's not a costume, it's using trash as instruments. If it's not trash, it's stage props and so on and so on. Some of these gimmicks really help to enhance the live performance but most of the time, it simply annoys the shit out of me. At what point does a gimmick become unnecessary and over the top? It's so easy to do.


I think we need to stop and take a step back. Let's first start with closing your eyes and ACTUALLY listening to the music. Bands who can stand on their own live without the use of stage effects or visual aids should be allowed to be open to the possibility of a gimmick. If you close your eyes and realize you've just wasted somewhere between $5.00 to $25.00 on the show you are at and then you open your eyes only to see a pretentious Godard film being played silently in the background: you've just encountered a band who should NOT have used a gimmick. If I were to write a handbook on how to run a band, I would NEVER suggest introducing a gimmick into a live performance. There have only been a couple success stories. The Album Leaf is known for their use of projections in their live show. They are not the first band to use this tactic, but they are one of the only bands to really get it right. 1) The music alone is good. Their live show would still be great without the projections. The Album Leaf is littered with seasoned musicians who come and go but always get it right. 2) Their projections are not just some kid showing up with his laptop and playing an obscure French film. They are well thought out and programmed visual effects that actually took some time to create. Good job.

Why do I bring up this topic of gimmicks? While standing at Swim Party's cd release show at the Whistle Stop on Friday, July 25, my buddy turned to me and asked, "What do you think of the lights they have?" I stopped. I almost opened my mouth and poured out a bunch of pretentious art student bull shit referencing obscure New York light artists but stopped before any sound fell out. I had a quick realization in my head: I hadn't even really noticed the lights that they had. THAT'S when I realized that Swim Party's little gimmick wasn't pretentious or childish or cheesy. It was just a cool idea. Their simple, straight-to-the-point pop could hold its own. The lights merely illuminated the stage and provided bassist Eric Tremblay with something to hit with this headstock every now and then. Vocalist/guitarist Alex Devereaux provided most of the melodic beef with his echoey guitar and vocal lines that, at times, nebulously blended together beautifully. Petro Halkowycz fills in the space with simple and appropriate drum lines. Some three piece bands can tend to step on each other's toes but Swim Party was a well-balanced trio full of heart. The lights didn't retract from the music or the performance, therefore it didn't bother me.



Just as veterans The Album Leaf weave in and out their fellow musician buddies in live shows, Swim Party invited some of their buds to help with the show. Members of The Modlins, Writer, and even beloved blogger Natalie Kardos took turns ornamenting songs with guitars and keys. It really made me stop and smile. Maybe San Diego really does have a music scene. Maybe not every band in San Diego feels the need to have a cool hairdo or a pretentious attitude or only go to shows to be seen and hopefully be blogged about by CatDirt. It's bands like Swim Party who are genuine--and genuinely just trying to play music and have a great time. It's bands like Swim Party who make me want to go out and see more shows. It's bands like Swim Party who should be allowed to have their little gimmicks and be applauded for it.

But seriously please: no more projections.

jamuel saxon, fans of jimmy century, oughtnot show review 7.23.08

[play] deedle deedle -knob tweak- -knob tweak- deedle deedle [stop] was the fashion of this particular night. Starting with oughtnot track after track of relatively "safe" electronic music proceeded to blast through the beauty bar at raucous decibels. Fans of Jimmy Century (SF) played what seemed to be the same disco laden song over and over again. However, what I loathed from their music is what is probably much celebrated in euro clubs and gay bars.

Wolf Parade in San Diego: Enough scensters to fill a Wayfarer factory.

Here's the deal: Wolf Parade is fucking sick. That is all.

OK, that's not all, but god damn those guys put on one hell of a show. Over one hour of pure sweat, driving chords, weird keyboard sections (and and equally weird second keyboardist, Hadji Baraka), and a serious punk rock sense of urgency. You might ask yourself "how do they top Apologies?" Well, that's up for debate, but what I can say is that the new album they are touring behind, Mount Zoomer, is incredible and live they are tighter than a pair of black Levi's that some hipster dude will without a doubt be adorning at any of their US remaining shows. The show seems to be about 50/50 split on the Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug songs and they play most of the favorites from Apologies--Grounds for Divorce, This Hearts on Fire, You Are a Runner, Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts, Shine a Light, and of course, encore ender, I'll Believe in Anything, along with the new songs, which are loud, heavy rockers as well.

Wolf Parade brought the intensity and Today's Pig brought the sweat. Here's a few photos from the evenings events. Check our steez, fake out backstage perspective bitches!

This is The Listening Party the band they are touring with on their entire tour and the latest indie band to jump on the "two piece" arrangement trend. I must admit that they were pretty interesting however, with great vocals and vocal arrangements, and the singer was a nice enough guy and spoke with us for a minute after their set.

Notice the Rubbermaid 20 gallon trashcan for the bass drum and the generic white painters bucket for the snare. Kitchy? Maybe, who am I to judge, but I will say that after a discussion with my associate, we decided that these guys would do well with a big stand up bass and another somethin' somethin'. A little sparse, but worth a listen.

How many punk rock cliches can The Sess embrace in a minute?

Yeah, they snarl. Yeah, they're pissed. Yeah, they've got that "we don't give a shit" swag. Yeah, the energy at their shows ebb and flow like a human swell before it crashes at shore. Yeah, they write short, assaulting songs like Fuck the Navy and Don't Look Back. Yeah, they'll fuck your little sister and she'll probably like it. But my question is this: doesn't the punk rock mentality give the finger to all things conventional? And if so, doesn't the idea of a punk rock cliche seem so very....not punk?

Today's Pig is planning a "30 shows in 30 nights" tour of San Diego venues in hopes of exposing as many local bands as possible to kick things off. We decided that given the amount of buzz The Sess has been receiving lately, we thought, "holy shit, perfect!" We sent out a photographer, we sent out a correspondent, and the rest was history. Oh the disappointment we felt when word came back to headquarters: The Sess were a no show. A fucking no show! Gimmie a break.

Here's the deal, we all understand that shit happens and sometimes shows are cancelled last minute, but here's the back story.

Action Jackson Presents put together the show at The Beauty Bar billed to feature The Sess as the headliner and backed by opener Christmas Island and San Diego vets The Vision of a Dying World, and at 5 bucks a head? Deal. The show went on as planned without a hitch; Christmas Island ripped through their 30 minute set, Vision cruised through their set playing a couple new songs and a few stalwarts, and the crowd began to claim their spots to witness one of The Sess's pre-legendary performances. Much time passed, and nobody was setting anything up. There was just a lonely bass drum in a heavy black case with "The Sess" written in silver paint pen across the face of it. 45 minutes later and just past midnight, the natives were getting restless. What the fuck was this shit? A cruel joke? Some new antics to add to the growing legend? Nope, just a god damned crap out.

Word quickly spread through the bar that The Sess had simply not shown up for the gig. Oh, how fucking punk rock of you. All we have to say is this: be punk rock, no problem--it's interesting and edgy and dangerous--but at the same time, be a fucking professional. People came out to see you and you just don't show up without warning? Wow; punk rock, or just alienation? After speaking with promoter Action Jackson later that evening, we found out that not one person from The Sess even graced him with a phone call.

But wait! Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, rumor was spread, and later confirmed by an anonymous source that The Sess played, minus their bass player (who was the reason for The Beauty Bar no show in the first place), at a house party in South Park. OK, despite our nasty little rant, that's actually kind of cool and a perfect ending to a now truly punk rock story.

P.S. The Vision of a Dying World fucking killed it, per usual. Here are a few pics. Enjoy