Hate in the Box

Been back in NYC for a few hours and it’s starting to sink in now just how great a time we had playing for you in Rhode Island with Wednesday 13’s new band. It was out third time in Providence and each visit just blows away the last!

Sometimes you can’t really tell from the internet what a band is going to be like live. Every time we have a show we look up info about the other bands booked for the event and do our best to cross promote. It’s a cool way for fans to find out about new bands to check out, and it’s always more fun to see a band when you know a little something about them.

So anyway, the local opener was Vagora. Pretty cool rock band with a seriously talented guitarist. Usually local openers a little hit or miss, but this guy helped push it over into “whoa! really?” territory.

Hanging out in the back we met some pretty hardcore old school punk/metal/I-eat-children types. Having left that life behind a while back and accidentally evolving into a bit of a pretty boy I probably shouldn’t have felt so comfortable, but sometimes I just blithely get along without really noticing how different we are. It’s a good way to be because it wasn’t long before we were trading stories of our experiences with Pantera, Arch Enemy and blacking out.

So it turns out these hooligans (all seven of them!), armed with instruments of rockitude , masks of human flesh and more than a few metal objects to bring Armageddon closer with, are the maniacal 10/31. And they’re not fucking around.

I stopped listening to metal at about the point I realized every song I loved was from the before-time, and finding new metal songs to love was like trying to pick up girls at Planned Parenthood. So when these guys came ON (and I do mean a capital ON!) I can only assume that the reason the audience didn’t flip out and join in the bludgeoning because they were so in AWE of the full on ROCKITUDE they were being ambushed with!

We were slotted to play next so I was standing there, banging my head like “Yeah! No. Wait. We play next! Oh shit we have to follow this!” Before I could worry about it their momentum was slightly undone by an accidental burst of smoke worthy of Spinal Tap. Being a clan of experienced movie monsters on stage though that didn’t slow them down for shit. These are guys who play smoking SOLOS with not just masks on, but one guy was rocking his instrument with a fucking BURLAP SACK over his head!

It ruled.

So after it was time for us to go on. It was our first time rocking the three piece in Providence. Just Blight, Teddy and myself. We’ve done it in New York before at some fancy places like the Highline Ballroom, but New York is our hometown so we feel invincible there and can do pretty much anything. Here on a bill with all live rock and roll style bands we knew we were going to have to BRING IT if we were going to come correct with no live rhythm section. And judging by the reaction you gave us, we totally did =D That was our first time doing that particular set and it just felt so perfect musically. I can’t wait to bring it to where you live!

After that it was time to give away the free CDs to fans that got advance tickets. We met soooo many cool people, made silly drawings and signed things. Gave away candy and kisses, I mean um.. shook hands and made new friends… yeah… yeah that’s it. Those were some hot handshakes too!

Later that night Wednesday found Blight.
Wednesday 13 : So. I heard you played one of my songs tonight.
Blight: Yeah, I hope you don’t mind.
Wednesday 13: Yeah, my manager actually taped it. We’re going to sue the bejeebuz out of you.
Blight: O.O

Just kidding, he was really cool with it and said their manager recorded us. So when do we get to see that? I don’t know. Comment on their MySpace and maybe they’ll post it faster.

So by the time Gunfire 76 was done playing I’d had a lot of generous donations to the kill my liver foundation. And some delicious handshakes. Mmmm.

Next thing I knew, Blight made french toast and everyone was happy.

The End =D

Thank you everyone who came out to help us rock Club Hell and show Gunfire 76 a good time!

If you have pics or video let us know!!!

xoxo

Noise and Beauty,
Optimus Crime
AOL IM: HateInTheBoxBand

Greetings toys and ghouls! Halloween is over, but my cheer has yet to dissipate!

As we spend more and more time rehearsing, booking, traveling and other behind the scenes invisible stuff we realized we’re having less time to spend on IM with you. Well that sucks! For those of you who don’t know, Teddy, Blight and I take turns on AOL IM as HateInTheBoxBand chatting with you all. Or we did anyway, before getting too many show bookings to chill out on there with you as often.

So at some point along the way, probably the point where we were mixing up conversations flipping between way too many windows, we started using Xat.com to make one big chat room to hang out in. That’s at http://xat.com/brokentoys . Apparently the word Hate isn’t allowed on 80% of the “civilized” internet. We all hate, but that’s a one sided argument for another day. Anyway, we linked the chat box into http://www.hateinthebox.com so you’ll be able to find it if you lose the link above. Praise be to the Tech Gnomes!

So anyway, that started at random basically. Sometimes Blight or myself would be on IM at 3AM and… hmm, it’s 3:49AM right now actually so there you go. Yeah, so we’d get a bunch of IM’s coming in and suddenly think “Self, what if we put all these people in that one chat room?” Then we’d do that and have a big silly time together. But then we’d feel the guilt of knowing we never told anybody else and kept all the fun to ourselves. Ok, so maybe we weren’t really feeling that guilty. But still… it was a bit more fun for being spontaneous and unplanned but some of you suggested we try telling everyone to be there at a given day and time and see what happens.

What day? I don’t know. Comment and pick one I guess

As for my beloved keyboard, it is fucking wrecked. Fortunately, our new bassist knew of a white haired wizard on a magical island whose magicks are far more powerful than my science when it comes to things like this. I humbly went on a voyage with Thadius the Wise to visit the bespectacled mage known only as Flash. Finding the unmarked door, solving the puzzle at the gate, and intoning the correct incantations we gained entry to his tower, clearly in the presence of one who’s abilities commanded respect.

Humbly presenting the lifeless husk I carried so far with my hopes, his eyebrows rose. There was no sense of worry, only curiosity. This man, if he is still among the race of man, could actually bring this love of mine back to the world of the rocking. I was ecstatic!

Only the correct spells would require sacrificing many parts to the fates, and accepting new parts from a faraway land where gnomes and fairies grow the necessary components. A land so far away and so secretive that locating the creatures and convincing them to give up the parts wouldn’t be possible until after the New Year. NoOoOOoOoOo!

Leaving the wizard to his wizardly deeds, we returned to the land of mortals and puzzled over what to do. Thadius being a bit of a cantrip flinger himself, located a clone of my beloved in the far off exotic land of Maryland. Apparently a land so far off and exotic that Blight, Holly Horror, an Australian ladyfriend and myself could party and not have our loose morals and disregard for social norms reflect poorly on our band.

So yes, we did venture into Maryland and abduct a clone so we can perform for you the rest of this year. And it was awesome. I feel like I’m cheating a bit playing this other keyboard, but I can’t cancel these shows and miss seeing you!

Speaking of playing for you and New Year’s, we’ve been trying really really hard to put together the best New Year’s party ever for you since it’s going to be twenty motherfucking ten! That’s like some hardcore sci-fi cyberpunk Ministry meets the Jetsons shit right there! If my imagination could make an event for that brains would melt. It’s so rich for imagery I can hardly stand to type it all out.

Instead of driving myself berserk with the impossible, we’ve decided to pick a place where reality meets imagination a little more easily. A place far from anywhere we’ve been before. A place where the steel beasts that roam free in classics like Mad Max, Tank Girl and other fan fave post apocalyptic mindscapes take form in real life. For the start of the year that marks the beginning of the FUTURE!

Detroit 2010! Motor City Apocalypse!

Yeah, if we can pull together everything we’ve been imagining it’s going to be out of control!

Ok this blog post is way longer than I expected, and I can’t sit still long enough to find pictures for this right now so I’ll end it here.

Thanks all for listening to our creations and following us on our eccentric journey to your city, wherever you may be!

Noise and Beauty,
Optimus Crime

Devils Night at Ottos Shrunken Head 2009

Well, you asked, we delivered and EVERYONE had an amazing time! The staff was welcoming to devil and angel alike, super heroes put aside grudges to clink bottles with criminal masterminds, and I finally got to kiss Wednesday Addams.

keyboard goes bye bye

Finally succumbing to Death’s cold caress, my musical lifemate met it’s end, hanging on just long enough for us to finish our encore for all of you who made the Ulteria Helloween celebration the amazing evening it was.

I’ve had that keyboard for so long I’m not really ready to part with it even after that. Performing with her was like having your lover become a zombie and not wanting to acknowledge it. Slowly, over time, she changed (ok, broke down more and more) and I kept repairing what I could and adjusting my playing to work with what parts of her were still cooperative, but after so many nights giving pleasure to others together, the cracks reopened, the tape I lovingly wrapped her wounds in unwound, and the music came out one last time.

It doesn’t seem fitting to just put her in the earth. Should my mad science not be enough to reanimate her again, I’d really love to find a way to spread the creativity that she gave to me to everyone who loves what we’ve created together.

Maybe it would be a more fairy tale ending if some of you could keep a part of her close to your heart?