1. Blip! Hi Tumblr!

    Oh god I’m so excited about the show tomorrow Imma die. I can’t sleep!

    -Zen

  2. heathenchemistry:

    Haunted Showdown Part I: An Autumn Overture 

    not charlie bear! damn those please do not fights!

  3. Format

    A couple of people have been ‘liking’ my Tumblr blogs and reblogging them and, well, thanks. It makes me excited to know that people are reading what I’m writing!

    It’s a long way off still but my thoughts have begun to turn to what the next album release will look like. Obviously we will be releasing it as a digital download of some (or maybe many) sorts. There will also be - at very least - promotional CD’s for the purposes of giving to radio DJ’s and people on the street.

    But what about the real deal? What about the just-for-you physical hold-in-your-hands version? The one at our merch table that we can be super proud of? Should it be Vinyl with huge beautiful art work and tons of liner notes? Maybe it should be a CD that’s packaged inside a book? Maybe a USB drive inside a metal box? Maybe just a regular old cardboard-wallet style CD?

    I’m sure most people will just score the digital download situation but - and maybe I’m old fashioned - I know I would feel better if there were also a physical version that was linked to the album. Something tangible that felt like it was part of what the album was.

    What do you think? What would you like to see?

    -Zen

  4. Local Shows

    I know some people don’t like going to local shows, but I do. Honestly. Some people go to local shows because they feel like they’re in a band and they should or because they feel like they need to support their friends. There’s that to it too, but I also go to shows just because I really like them. I mean, why wouldn’t I? I got into music in the first place because of attending shows and every time I see a good one it reminds me of how much fun the connection between a performer and a good audience is. If you ask me, I think I make a pretty good audience member.

    Don’t get me wrong, just because I like going to local shows doesn’t mean I like going to bad shows. I’m well aware that there are lots of bad local bands playings lots of bad local shows. I’ve definitely been one of them from time to time (sometimes still am).

    However, the pleasure of finding that legitimately good local band and supporting them is unparalleled. There is nothing like seeing people you believe in who play venues you play doing well. When they get success it’s like your favorite sports team has won your favorite sporting event. World champeens.

    And the best thing is that the more you support local music and find those good bands the more those good bands prosper and the more the local scene takes notice and has to live up to the hype and the better the bands get and, really, just everyone benefits.

    Anyways, Rin Tin Tiger is one of those bands and I am very excited to see them at The Rickshaw Stop on Wednesday with the Seattle-based band Fences. I saw Fences open up for Against Me! about a month ago and they were fantastic so it should be a killer show.

    Off topic but completely relevant, Geoff and I are in the middle of moving out of our apartment in Redwood City, CA into our non-apartment in San Francisco, CA. Right now. Seriously. As in, I just scrubbed the bathtub clean and Geoff is currently speckling holes in the wall so that we get our deposit back. Yes, we don’t have a place yet. Yes, we will be couch surfing for a week or two. No, this was no planned. Yes, we are adults.

    Finding an apartment in San Francisco is very hard. We would like our lives back.

    Anyways, I have to go. I have some posters to tear down and some CD’s to pack.

    Wish us luck.

    -Zen

  5. New Band Members

    I’m listening to Tom Waits, feeling nostalgic and thinking about how much auditioning band members is like dating. You both come into it with certain expectations - sometimes you’re let down, sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised or even excited and sometimes one person likes the other person more than the other person likes them.

    There are even the same kind of questions - “What kind of music do you listen to?” “What do you want out of this?” “What kind of commitment are you looking for?” “How serious are you about this?”

    It makes sense of course since being in a band is so much like being in a relationship.

    With four other people.

    Who all know about each other.

    When someone in the band isn’t able to make the time you think they should for you, you start to feel a little resentful. When they have another band they’re in you might get a little jealous and when they finally leave for good you miss them. You only reminisce about the good times and forget about all the times they stood you up or didn’t really listen to what you had to say. You also get better at it over time - the more time that passes, the more people that come and go, the less you become jealous or upset over the little things. You look back and think “Oh, I would do so much better now. If only I could go back and give it another shot!”

    When I started Please Do Not Fight it was with a collection of songs and a group of friends who were willing to record an album with me. Some of them stuck around after that. Eventually some of them left and new ones came. We wrote and recorded ‘MOVE’ and everything was different. Now things have changed again, people are gone, new people are here and we’re writing a new album and again, it’s going to be different.

    In a lot of ways it’s exciting - new talent means new sounds and new ideas and a fresh perspective. People moving on means no one is in the band feeling bored or stagnant or resentful. In other ways it’s really frustrating - a rotating line-up means a lot more time auditioning people and teaching them old songs. It means less time writing new material, booking tours and playing shows. It means constantly adapting to new personalities and new styles of playing. Recently it’s also meant Geoff and I have been learning keyboard parts and even some of each others guitar parts.

    I’ve often thought about just making music under my name so that I don’t have to deal with all the stuff that comes with being in a band - I could tour the country alone in my car whenever I wanted. Gas would be cheap, I wouldn’t even need much gear - loading in to shows would be a breeze! When I crashed on peoples floors it would be just me, not me and four other people who all need showers.

    The reality is that being in a band is what I love. It’s about the music for me but it’s also about the community, working with others and feeling like together we’ve created something completely unique and special that’s bigger than any one of us. That’s a vibe that we’re really trying to get back to and embrace in a big way after spending much of 2009 being entirely too serious and getting entirely too burnt out. We’re in this to have fun and make something we’re proud of. If it doesn’t fall under one of those two categories we’re not going to do it. Hopefully that will show in the music we’re making.

    I’ve also kicked around the idea - what with all the major line-up changes - of changing the band name. You know, starting over. In a lot of ways though it’s always been this way and Please Do Not Fight is it’s own thing. Not a solo project, not a normal band but a group of people who for whatever reason in the moment see something in the seeds of songs I’m creating and are willing to help me improve and grow them. It feels right to continue along this path under this banner.

    I’m eternally thankful to everyone who’s been involved in it in the past for getting us to where we are and I’m really excited to see what the Please Do Not Fight of the future ends up looking and sounding like. I hope you are too.

    Thanks for everything friends.

    -Zen

    Then I had me a girl in France
    Just wanted to get in my pants
    had me a girl in Toledo
    Boy she sure was neato
    Then I had me a girl in North Carolina
    She’s still on my mind

    And my doctor says I’ll be alright but I’m feelin’ blue

    - Tom Waits

  6. Dead Over Heels

    Hi everyone. Hi Tumblr. Hi.

    So it’s been a while - we kind of wiped the slate clean website/blog-wise in December. It felt right as we began the process of dusting ourselves off and picking ourselves up after the departure of Erin and Kubes from the band. A new year and new band members means new direction.

    More on that later though - right now I’m in the mood to write and Tumblr is going to be the output for that until the website is up and running again.

    The past three months have been pretty busy - Geoff and I are making the move to San Francisco this April so we’ve been prepping for that all the while auditioning new band members and writing new songs. The new songs are primarily for our next album but this month our main focus has been on the music for an upcoming Zombie Musical Short Film entitled ‘Dead Over Heels’ to be directed by Chelsea Christer. Chelsea directed our music video for Up Up Up and has a fantastic crew working with her so we’re very excited for the end result.

    Writing the songs for the musical has been a really fun experience - on top of writing in our traditional Please Do Not Fight-style there’s a couple of songs in there, in particular a traditional broadway musical number, that really stretch our creative abilities. I performed in musicals a bit when I was younger and my sister, Celestial, has done nothing but play after musical after play this year so it’s been fun to dig back into those roots. Writing lyrics from the perspective of a fictional character is a lot of fun and catering the music to fit with the mood and plot of the show has been a real challenge. So far we’re really enjoying the results and hopefully you will too.

    Unfortunately I don’t have many more details - Dead Over Heels will begin shooting this summer as will recording for Album 3. You’ll know when I know of course!

    In the meantime I hope you’re having a wonderful March. It’s cold out there - bundle up. Geoff and I will be living amongst all you San Franciscans soon enough.

    -Zen