no more kings

tumblr

2010-03-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

i've been checking out other blogging options lately. and while i love the simplicity of blogger, there are some things i can't do here. this lead me to discover tumblr.com
for the time being, i will be focusing on posting over there. so come on over!

check me out at: http://daspetey.tumblr.com/

-pete

obey the groove video - making-of part 2: alchemy

2009-07-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

there are an infinite number of ways to start any creative project. i’ve tried almost all of them. some of my favorite methods involve starting from a random prompt, and then trying to bend the chaos into order. i love starting music that way. i haven’t started much art that way. and i certainly haven’t started any animation that way.

i’m still in, what would be considered, pre-production for the ‘obey the groove’ video. it’s going to involve a lot of animation. a lot of things need to be designed. there are aliens, robots, a pete-headed planet, a petey cosmonaut, guns, explosions… all kinds of fun stuff. so i sit down to sketch. some ideas come out. but they are starting to look the same. i’m having trouble finding new, interesting designs.

then i stumble on this amazing little piece of software: alchemy. it’s an experimental new digital drawing and painting program. the concept is that it randomizes the drawing process just enough to spark new ideas. for example, there are modes which alter the brush width based on an audio signal. other modes pull random shapes from a folder and let you paint with them.

it took me a little while to catch on to the freedom this sort of approach allows for. but once i did, i started making aliens, robots and cosmonaut poses pretty quickly. i think there’s still a lot more exploration to be done. and as i said before, there are countless other interesting ways to spark the creative process.

what kinds of fun ways have you found to start projects? have you had any success starting with some sort of random seed? tell me some stories about your experiments.

-pete

obey the groove video - making-of: part 1

2009-07-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

our first video for this album is for ‘obey the groove’. the basic idea is: a planet, made out of my head, gets overrun with alien robots, and pete and neil cosmonauts come to save the day. there are puppets, and robots, and lasers. big fun.
after figuring out the rough timeline and plot points, i decided to do some concept paintings.

next i had to figure out what the robots might look like. i took a trip to the 99 cent store and bought anything i thought i could turn into a robot. then i went to a hobby shop and bought couple battleship models. i took all the parts and hot glued them onto the 99 cent store bodies i had built. after a quick coat of spraypaint, i went in and detailed the robots a little, until i ended up with this:

for the cosmonauts, i found a fantastic puppet builder and hired him. his name is russ walko, and this is what he built:

after seeing the little cosmonaut petey, i got quite giddy. i started talking to the puppet, tucking it in at night. i tried to feed him, but he wouldn’t eat. i told him he needed food and rest after his journey from space. he was silent.

next, i’m going to do a test shoot of the petey head planet. then i’ve got to design and build some more robots. finally, after the alien puppet is built, it’s time to shoot!
-pete

fly me to the 'moon'

2009-06-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

when you venture to make a film where one actor is essentially on screen alone for the duration of the film, you’d better pick a pretty interesting actor. director duncan jones did: he picked sam rockwell. sam is just enough equal parts quirky, charming, and dark to be engaging for any length of time. which is apparently at least 97 minutes, in this case.

this is duncan jones’ first film. and it’s great. while it’s a little reminiscent of a few other sci-fi classics, like ‘outland’, ‘2001’, and ‘solaris’ — great films to be reminiscent of, by the way — it’s strong enough and unique enough to stand on its own. of course, a lot of that rides on sam rockwell’s performance. too many of the reviews on rottentomatoes.com call it a ‘tour de force’, which sounds like a bicycle race to me. i agree that it’s a great performance, but there are no bikes in the movie. only a treadmill and a few moon rovers. i hope people laud my first feature acting performance as a ‘tour de farce’. that is my hope.

i didn’t know this going in, but duncan jones is david bowie’s son. awesome. so he’s no stranger to sci-fi space odysseys. actually i would’ve peed myself if david bowie floated by on a tin can. and it’s apparent that duncan studied philosophy in school; the movie is more a thinking film than a doing film. there’s painfully little action in it. which is okay, except at one point the story seems to be heading towards a bit of a showdown, but then doesn’t. it was starting to feel like the end of ‘outland’, when sean connery is preparing to fight the small crew of professionals sent to take him out. as in kill him, not date him. although who knows how it would’ve ended up. maybe sean jumped to conclusions. maybe there’s a deleted scene somewhere with a shot of a backpack full of pinot noir and truffles.

i am a patient film-watcher. as long as the film deserves my patience. this film does. and i think it deserves yours.

-pete

for more about duncan jones read this interview: boston globe interview with duncan jones

pig pile

2009-06-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

hey kids.
i designed another silly tshirt for threadless.com
i figure, eventually, they'll print one. finger and toes crossed.

if you have time, i'd love for you to vote for it: http://www.threadless.com/submission/216645/pig_pile_buffet

thanks!

-pete

a week in vegas

2009-06-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

terry fator's sister debi called me a few weeks ago, to invite me to a birthday dinner she was throwing for terry. i hadn't seen him since i went to the soft-opening of his mirage show back in february. that was an interesting time for me, because i had just driven from kentucky to l.a. and i hadn't found an apartment yet. i remember staying on billy zabka's couch one night thinking 'this is a little surreal'.

i got into vegas around 6, and terry's show started at 7:30. i quickly checked in to my room and ran to drop my stuff off before meeting terry in his dressing room. i put the keycard in and it made its little R2D2 noise. i opened the door to reveal an entire family of people, sitting on the bed, watching tv. one woman was in a towel putting on her makeup in front of the mirror. i slowly closed the door and backed away, as if from a wild panther.

after i got that sorted out at the front desk i went to terry's dressing room. it was full of family members and friends. people kept pouring in the door to meet terry and wish him happy birthday. suddenly i see kirk thatcher, a guy i used to work with at henson. we hadn't seen each other in years. stunned we both asked 'what the heck are you doing here?'

on our way to the theatre we passed comedian brad garret. he and his family were there to see terry's show. also, brad was in town for a two-man show he's doing with ray romano. we shook his hand and moved on.

we all took our seats in the terry fator theatre. my seat was just behind kirk's, so i could throw small things at his head. but then the usher signaled me. then terry's manager, john, started calling and gesturing to me. i looked up to see brad garret approaching my seat. the ushers checked my ticket and found that i was in the wrong seat. i was in brad garret's seat. he is a big man. i am a small man. but he was nice, and didn't kill me.

the show was fantastic. they added a lot of new material, and the pacing was great. kirk, who was a comedy writer and director at henson, was quite impressed with the show.

after the show, we all met at a restaurant in the mirage for terry's birthday dinner. there were maybe fifty people seated at the long table. i sat next to terry's wife, across from kirk. about halfway through dinner, robin leach and his date showed up. they sat next to kirk, across from me. for some weird reason, robin decided that i was short, and proceeded to make short jokes about me all night. it was very bizarre. at one point he called me a short kenny loggins. awesome.

the next day terry asked me to stay the rest of the week. he wanted to work on writing a song with me. it was a lot of fun. we played a lot of tiger woods golf on the wii. it has a frisbee golf mode.

i've been to vegas millions of times. but i've never stayed for more than three days. that's about how much vegas i can take. but something weird happened this time. i stayed past that threshhold, and suddenly that magic of vegas sort of lifted. it became a normal place for me. with a starbucks and a target. each day, driving from my hotel to terry's condo felt normal. i always used to wonder how people could live in vegas. and now i know. they live there just like they would anywhere. it was sort of a fascinated feeling, but i don't know if i should be sad that vegas lost its spark for me.

8 reasons you need to see star trek

2009-06-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

jj abrams had, what i imagine was, a daunting task in front of him. rebooting a franchise as classic and beloved as star trek would require a delicate balance. he had to respect the source material and satisfy a notoriously obsessive and critical fan-base. at the same time, he had to reinvigorate the material so it would appeal to an audience who had never watched the original series. with this film, he succeeds wildly in all respects. here’s why:

1 the cast - manages to capture the essence of original characters, without ever becoming caricatures of them. each character gets to say a signature line or phrase. in some cases, the actors speak with the same cadence.

2 chris pine as kirk - pine does a wonderful job of maintaining kirk’s reckless, head-strong manner. he brings such charisma and presence to the role, that there is a distinct glimmer of a young shatner.

3 zachary quinto as spock - likewise, quinto digs into the core of spock. but much in the way daniel craig played an early bond, spock comes off as more human, more jagged.

4 eric bana as nero! - bana brings a ferocity to the romulan baddie, but also plays him very casual, almost condescending.

5 seamless, believable fx. - the characters felt like they were really in the settings, as opposed to feeling composited into a videogame.

6 good pacing, high energy - the movie has a great balance of tension, high-octane action, and light-hearted playfulness.

7 great music - the score, by michael giacchino (who i actually met when i worked at the henson company. he did music for our first two video games!), is never distracting or overpowering. and there’s my favorite beastie boys song - sabotage! woohoo!

8 the heart of a budding buddy-cop tale - this is my favorite thing about the film. the core of the movie centers on the importance of spock and kirk’s friendship - one that will become the backbone of all that the enterprise will accomplish. this was essential to the original series, as well as the films. spock and kirk, as characters, really make the perfect buddy team. they are almost complete opposites at first glance. spock tries so hard to conceal his human nature, his emotion. kirk lives by his. but in truth, kirk understands logic, and spock understands passion. they compliment each other, and magnify each other’s strengths.

so do yourself a favor and see this film. i saw it three times, and loved it each time.
have you seen it already? what did you think?

-pete

some thoughts on 'wolverine'

2009-05-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

after we left the theatre, most of my friends were pretty obviously disappointed. i didn't hate the movie, but i definitely agreed with their feeling. there were some things i could analytically point out as flaws, but then there were some other things that i couldn't quite put my finger on.

we got lunch and hung out and talked for a bit, and collectively starting making sense of why we felt a little let down. here are a couple of reasons:

1. wolverine isn't much of a hero in the movie. he sort of meanders through it all, as things happen to him. when he finally decides to act, it isn't really motivated anything noble.
i understand that in the comics, his character was always the reluctant/disconnected hero. but even still, he was a hero.

2. the effects are pretty stinky. there's a big moment in the film where wolvie admires his new metal claws, and the CG is so bad that it's almost laughable. even the audio is weird in that scene. it's like they forgot that the claws are the most important part of wolverine.

3. deadpool was awesome in the beginning. then they ruined him. poo.

4. kindof stinky pacing, and weird story point choice. there's this whole montage section showing wolvie through the decades, fighting in different wars. it made me want to stay in each one for a little longer. there could have been some great character building moments. but instead we got a slideshow.

5. it's not much of an origins story. it's more of a straight-up prequel. in an origins story, we want to see the hero figuring out his powers, making choices and decisions that set him on the hero's path. this was more of a fast-forwarded bio-timeline until he gets his metal bones and claws. then its a couple of mortal kombat fight scenes.

now, despite all this, i still enjoyed the movie. it's always fun to watch wolverine kick butt. and hugh jackman is great, liev shrieber is great.. i guess i just felt -- we all felt -- things could've been done better.

what do you guys think?
-pete

pre-order the boombox!

2009-04-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

may 12th is approaching! i'm getting pretty excited to find out what you all think of our newest concoction.

so, apparently you can pre-order it now, and you'll get it a week early. or so. or so i hear.
so clickety here: pre-order 'and the flying boombox'

we're working on getting the new nmk website up by then. it's gonna be a lot cleaner and easier to update. which is good, cause that means there will actually be new stuff on it periodically. unlike our last site. which was like an old sweater that i kept forgetting to wash.

things are a little bit on hold for the 'obey the groove' video. i'll let you know as soon as production picks back up on it. we're tweaking the concept for it, but it may or may not involve space puppets. and chocolate sauce.

also, i'd love it if you followed me on twitter: http://twitter.com/daspetey
that is, if you're not too busy following ashton kutcher.

cosmonaut petey - out!
-pete

'how i became the bomb' video

2009-01-30T18:40:00.000-08:00

hello fishes.
i got the posters in the mail the other day. i'm going to mail out the pre-orders right away, before i send out the full announcement. i've been in kentucky for a while now working on stuff, and we just got hit with a ridiculous snowstorm. i'm hoping the roads will clear up soon enough for me to mail these out. my poor little miata was trapped under a mound of frosty white badness. which also stinks for me because i was planning on driving it back to l.a. this week. apparently jack frost disapproves of my plan.

in other news, i just finished working on a music video with my friend travis in nashville, for a band called 'how i became the bomb'. you can see it here: mothership. please let me know what you think. or you can leave a comment there. =)

i hope everyone is keeping warm. oh, i'm finishing up the album artwork for our new album. so, pretty soon it will be ready for the world!

-pete

poster update

2009-01-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

hey monkeys.
i sent the files off to the printer on friday. so hopefully i'll have the finished prints sometime this week. i wanna send something extra along for the people who pre-ordered. any ideas?

also, i was at taco bell yesterday and hanson came on the radio again! i know i've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: their new album 'the walk' outright rocks. please check it out, and buy it, if you haven't already: hanson myspace. seriously well-crafted funky pop-rock. those guys know how to write melodies!

have a good monday night.
-pete

limited edition poster print

2009-01-12T18:38:00.000-08:00

hello monkeys.
we have a new album coming out in march. so for the next few weeks we'll be offering some album one related limited edition poster prints, to make way for all the yummy new album two stuff we'll have! i'm gonna send out a mass email about it, once the posters are printed, but i thought i would post here first, in case any of you little fuzzies wanted to pre-order.

the poster is 11"x17" and is a limited edition of 200. each one will be signed and numbered on the back. they are $10 each. i tried to get em scratch-n-sniff, but to no avail. the only scent they had left was 'june beach volleyball sweat'.

anyway, click here to preorder: poster print pre-order

thanks!
-pete

a very petey year in review: 2008

2008-12-31T18:37:00.000-08:00

well this is it. the end of a beautiful year. tomorrow is a brand new one. as my hot chocolate cools down, i take a wiggly flashback-style look at the montage of 2008.

• i got to be on vh1's 'i love the millennium' for almost 35 seconds, talking about spiderman. woohoo!
• 'sweep the leg' featured in MLB 08, on the playstation3 and xbox360.
• directed my first animated music video, and got to work with one of my favorite animation studios: ghostbot.
• went to billy zabka's wedding and didn't spill anything on my suit.
• neil and i wrote and recorded our second studio album, due out march 09. yay!
• played some great shows: linton music fest, sky show in new hampshire, … in san diego, .. in denver. met a lot of really great people.
• cornell university's renowned acapella group, the chordials, recorded a version of 'sweep the leg' for their CD 'smash'.
• finally put some artwork up for sale online at daspetey.com. hooray for procrastination.

some great moovees and music came out this year. here are some of my favorites:

top ten movies:
1 the dark knight
2 wall-e
3 iron man
4 hulk
5 kung fu panda
6 quantum of solace
7 horton hears a who
8 pineapple express
9 tropic thunder
10 cloverfield

top ten songs:
1 grounds for divorce - elbow
2 lost - coldplay
3 modern guilt - beck
4 gran torino - jamie cullum
5 i'm good, i'm gone - lykke li
6 robots - flight of the conchords
7 another way to die - jack white + alicia keys
8 the scrolls - el rick haun
9 love save the empty - erin mccarley
10 ghosts - nine inch nails

so that's it i guess. i hope you all are having a great new year's eve. and i hope next year is superawesome.
-pete

happy holidays!

2008-12-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

i was joined by a few close friends to sing you all this holiday tune!

i hope your holidays are awesome!
-pete

rock for hunger in orlando

2008-11-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

hello everyone,
i'm gonna be at the 'rock for hunger' in orlando this weekend. i'm gonna have a booth there, and try to sell some artwork. so if you're in the area, please stop by! i'd love to say hi. (that rhymed and i didn't mean it (anybody want a peanut?))

this from the official site:

"On Saturday, November 15th, it's time for Orlando to Rock for Hunger once again! This year ROCK FOR HUNGER FEST 3 will be held at The Plaza Theatre. The lineup features over 20 artists including top local names, rising regional acts and chart topping artist KARDINAL OFFISHALL. The festivities will take place from 2pm until midnight with three stages filled with live music, arts and crafts and many great vendors. "

for more info, check out their site: rockforhunger.org

hope to see you there!
-pete

sweep the commentary

2008-11-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

hello leg-sweepers,
i just posted the audio commentary for the 'sweep the leg' video. it's from the DVD that we're selling on the astonish store. (feel free to buy that puppy if you don't have it yet)

here's the video with commentary by me and billy z.

(thanks jordan for putting this together. you rock!)

-pete

interview with ’inner ear’

2008-10-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.last.fm/user/innerearmedia/journal/2008/10/28/28v58x_interview%3A_no_more_kings

be sure and leave a comment on their page, so they think people like us. =)
-pete

elbow

2008-10-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

hello,
neil turned me on to this awesome UK band called 'elbow'.
check em out: http://www.myspace.com/elbowmusic
especially their song 'grounds for divorce'. holy crap. pure awesome.

i hope you're having a good wednesday. i might play volleyball a little later.
-pete

lost

2008-10-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

hello.
my good friend jacob courtney helped me cover a coldplay song.

-pete

appaloosa

2008-10-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

i just got back from seeing appaloosa, the new ed harris/ viggo mortrensen western.
i really liked it. it's the second time ed harris directed a film, and the second time he stars in a movie he's directing ('pollock' was the first). it's capably directed, if not a little clunky.

the movie is slow, deliberately slow. it is meant very much to be a classic western. the dialog is fantasticly curt and wry. the humor never seems out of place, and is never distracting. the two leads are as great as you would expect them to be. and it's fun to see them as partners rather than enemies ('a history of violence'). the sparse dialog allows for some great moments of silent understanding, and sometimes even tension.

to say the movie is slow, does not mean there's no action. with an 'unforgiven' flavor, the gunfights are appropriately real and explosively short.

it's a good movie. it's definitely worth seeing. but i'd love to hear what you guys think.
-pete

saturday in the park with george

2008-10-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

ok, well not really in the park. in my gloomy room.

oh, by the way, if you haven't heard it yet, or don't own it, you need to get hanson's new cd 'the walk'. holy crap! it's fantastic.

happy saturday
-pete

how tshirts are born (or ’more old tour footage’)

2008-09-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

an informative and entirely factual look at the inner workings of the 'no more kings' merchandise sweat-shop.

please to enjoy:

NMK podcast 09 - how tshirts are born from pete mitchell on Vimeo.

-pete

two things i found online or "why i love the internet’

2008-09-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

okay, one of my favorite indie animators is a guy named pat smith. i was reading his blog today and i found links to two other great sites.

when i first learned flash, i wanted to make all these cool experimental interactive animated playthings. i never really followed through, because i am a dorkface, but thank goodness this guy did: http://www.vectorpark.com/head/

(that site ate up most of my evening!)

aaand, last time i visited my parents, my dad told me he thought that i was too critical on my blog movie reviews. of course, defensive, i said, 'no i'm not! it's important to be critical of things!' or something equally whiny. anyway, i've been thinking about that a lot lately. in fact, i haven't posted any movie reviews since.

so when i found this: http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-character-arcs-in-raiders-makes.html i smiled. i was reminded at how important it is to critically analyse art and storytelling. (that post is a long read, but worth the investment)

i hope you all are having a happy monday. i might go see 'burn after reading' tonight. maybe i'll tell you how i liked it =)

-pete

old nmk live footage

2008-09-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

hello,
i was cleaning out my hardrive yesterday and i found some old nmk tour footage.
i'll post some more as i get a chance to comb through it.

nmk podcast 08 from pete mitchell on Vimeo.

-pete

art for sale?

2008-09-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

hello again,
i'm going to be working with topher at the label over the next week or so to try and get some of my paintings online in the astonish store. i'm really excited to see how that goes.

in the meantime, i set up a little shop at etsy.com to sell smaller stuff: block prints and small works on paper. if you get a chance, i'd love it if you dropped by and checked it out.

http://www.daspetey.etsy.com

thanks!

-pete

thank you linton!

2008-09-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

we just got back from playing the linton music festival in indiana. woohoo, it was awesome!
we played there last year and had such a blast. we couldn't wait to play it again this year.
we got a chance to unveil two new songs, from our new album (coming out early next year).

we met some absolutely fantastic fans. i got a supercool gift from karl and meg:

thanks guys! and thanks all of linton. we're already excited about LMF 09.
-pete

woody harellson

2008-08-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

go here. now.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ib06feef71f62cc174740970bb2b5e90d

-pete

block printing zombies

2008-08-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

hello friends.
i went to the art store the other day, which is becoming an addiction for me lately. i can't really afford to be spending any money right now, and what do i do? i go to the art store twice a week. yikes
anyway, i bought some linoleum blocks and some carving tools and started making block prints! i haven't done that since high school. it's so fun! i love being able to take a single image and make multiple iterations of it, altering each slightly.

i started printing on anything i could find:

i think i'm going to start selling these so i can afford to buy more linoleum blocks!
this may or may not be a severe obsession.

-pete

golfday

2008-08-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

hello,
one of my roommates, jacob, and i invented a new day: golfday
which involved us going to a driving range to hit golf balls, playing wii golf, watching a golf movie, and finishing the night with a blazing round of minigolf.

-pete

dead anyway

2008-08-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

hello,
i started working on a couple of new projects recently. one of them is an animated short film, about zombies (of course), tentatively titled 'dead anyway'. one night, when i couldn't fall asleep for a few hours, i played out the whole story in my mind. when i woke up the next day, i tried to write down as much of it as i could remember.

then about a week ago, i went to my cousin's wedding. i bought myself the crappiest flights ever, so i had a LOT of time sitting in the airport. in an uncharacteristic spurt of productivity, i used that time to map out all the steps needed to finish the animation. i even made little deadlines for myself for each phase, marking them in iCal.

so, while i was hanging out at the house today, i glanced at my calendar and noticed, according to my plan, storyboards were due today. yikes! i hadn't even started them! sooo i ran to 'fido', a little cafe here in nashville, and drew storyboards for 2 and a half hours.

the short will probably be around 5 or 6 minutes long, which came to 166 separate storyboard panels. very rough drawings of course. some of the major moments i might redraw, cleaner. i just spent the rest of my night importing the drawings into flash and arranging them in order.

next, i must make an animatic, which is sort of a roughly animated storyboard. my iCal tells me that's due friday. =)

here are two pages of my rough storyboards:

goodnight all!
-pete

amoebas on threadless

2008-08-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

hello my little multi-celled organisms,
i just finished a teeshirt design, and i submitted it to 'threadless.com'.

if you get a chance, it would be a huge help to me if yall voted for it over at threadless.com

thanks!
-pete

tiny zombies

2008-07-28T00:53:00.001-07:00

i keep getting sidetracked. this happens to me anytime i'm working on a project. i'm really obsessive about something when i first start it, but then my brain goes on tangents. it makes it hard to finish anything.

along those lines, i've interupted my zombie canvases to start making tiny little zombie watercolors. the good thing is, at least they're still zombies. which means i can kindof stay on task. progress? digress? dress?

so here's the last full-sized zombie painting. he managed to talk me into finishing him before i started on the little one.

and then here are some of the little zombies. they're done on a quarter of a sheet of watercolor paper. so 4x5 inches or something. also, there's a sheet of rough thumbnail drawings for possible new paintings. i like to work out the shape and composition at that size first. then if i like it, i redraw it bigger.

here are two of the small watercolors close up:

thanks for looking
-pete

the dark knight

2008-07-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

hey yall.
i saw batman the other night, and again yesterday. imax style! holy crap! it's amazing.
if it's playing in imax near you, please see it that way. don't see it normally if you can avoid it. some of the scenes are simply breathtaking in imax. especially with that sound system! by the end of the film, i was sitting in a puddle of my own pee. too gross? sorry.

the movie is absolutely perfect. i had a little trouble with the ending the first time i saw it. something didn't sit right with me about it. like the writers were forcing us towards something. but then after the second viewing i was okay with it.

i know this has been said a million times, but it's such a shame that heath ledger can no longer give us spellbinding performances like this one. he is simple mesmerizing as the joker. in every respect. his mannerisms, voice, attitude. all perfect.

the other night i saw a special on the history channel about batman and all his gadgets. it was a really cool show, because they basically showed you that everything batman has is completely plausible. and in some cases, the military is already using a lot of it. i so love that christopher nolan went to such ends to make sure the series is grounded in reality. i mean, i love the tim burton batman(s?) as much as anyone, but i definitely prefer this direction.

yikes, that's a lot of babbling. in any case, see it. multiple times.

in other news, i just went to michael's crafts and bought a bunch of zombie-making supplies

and oh, here's that target lamp, graciela =)

-pete, the dork knight

listening party

2008-07-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

we had the listening party last night at georgetown masters in nashville. it was a lot of fun. we invited everyone who was on the album, plus people from the label. we also had a few other friends come by. we put chairs in two of georgetown’s three studios.

it was so exciting for me to finally hear all the songs together, as one big piece. people responded very positively. it was very encouraging to have everyone noticeably impressed with it. neil and i are extremely proud of this album, and we’re both quite excited to get it out into the world.

mastering

2008-07-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

mastering is the process of making every song sound like it belongs on the same record. usually it involves making everything a little louder. some decisions are made about lead vocals levels, to let them sit right above the instruments. we listen for clarity. we listen to make sure nothing is distorting, or is pushed too hard. this process usually takes a day.

my favorite part of mastering is the giant speakers we get to listen on. each speaker is taller than me. there’s a magic spot in the room to sit, so that you hear everything sonically just right. tomorrow night, we’re going to have a listening party to hear the whole album straight through.

[picture of speakers]

two more zombies!

2008-07-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

hello again,
i just finished two more zombie paintings today. i bought a lamp from target, so i can actually see what i'm painting. =)
i'm thinking of making prints of this series to sell in the online store. is that a silly idea?

-pete

mixing

2008-07-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

we approached mixing a little differently this time. last album, neil and i sat in the studio with craig, our mixing engineer, while he worked. mixes take about a day per song, so we were there for almost two weeks. sitting. this time, neil decided to send a harddrive down to craig with neil’s rough mixes. craig worked his mixey magic and sent mp3s to neil for review. then after all the songs were at a comfortable place, neil came down to nashville for two days of final touches.
since i am staying here in nashville, it was easy for me to drive by the studio to hear craig’s progress. which was fun for me. it was exciting to hear how each song was progressing at this stage. a lot of times, craig has to make decisions about instrumentation. sometimes instruments occupy the same sonic space and it gets confusing. sometimes, he needs to punch a hole for the lead vocals to poke through.

[use critical hit verse example rough vs final]

zombie paintings!

2008-07-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

hi superfriends,
i finished a couple zombie paintings today. here they are:

it's been raining a lot these last few days here in nashville. i hope that stops soon.
-pete

wanted

2008-07-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

i really wanted 'wanted' to be good. i wanted to enjoy 'wanted'. i can say that i had fun watching it. but alas, it's not a good movie. not at all. i can forgive a lot in action films. especially when they try to create an interesting world, like 'the matrix', where the rules are different from our world.

in 'wanted', you have to be willing to accept a world where people can bend bullets. you have to be ready to suppress the gag reflex when watching a man leap through glass from one building to another. i can. accept that, i mean, not leap from buildings.

but whatever rules a movie sets up for its world, they have to be consistent. and the world of 'wanted' is not. and unfortunately, the worst infraction of its own rules happens at the film's climax.and then of course there's the message. the final line of the film made me feel a little annoyed. i said, 'really? that's really how you want me to feel right now?'

what did you guys think?
-pete

john hancock

2008-07-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

we've been in the van for two straight days on our way to casper, wyoming for a fourth of july show.
14 hours yesterday and 10 hours today. so of course, the first thing we do when we get to town is go see a movie! woohoo! and already i love this town: there are four movie theatres within 100 feet of each other. next to one of them is an art supply store. and next to that is a commercial space for rent. hmm. i could live there and paint and see movies everyday.

ok, so on to hancock. superb! (that's super with a b). it was waaay better than i expected. it's very funny. of course jason bateman is amazing. i love that guy. i'll see just about anything with him in it (apparently they are making an 'arrested development' movie?).

it's a fun, unique story, with a lot of unexpected moments. the action is exciting. the performances are all great. the effects are sortof stinky. but they are consistent, so it ends up working as a 'look'.

anyway, it was a lot of fun. i'm interested to hear what you all think. tomorrow, i'm going to see 'wanted'. and then apparently we have to play a show? =)

-pete

wall-e and vh1

2008-06-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

i saw wall-e last night and loved it. it was adorable. it's another eco-film, but much more effective than m.night's the happening. also, the little short they show before the film is one of pixar's best shorts. i love the idea of short film as a medium. i wish more people did stuff in that realm.

the movie is very well paced, and manages to keep your attention despite the fact that there's very little dialog. it's a simple love story with lots of social undercurrents. somehow coming from pixar, none of it ever feels preachy. just cute.

the only thing i maybe didn't love was the use of real actors in the 'propaganda' footage. fred willard is in it, though, which is pretty rockin. i understand what they were going for by using real people for the old footage, and animated people for the future world. but it took me out of the world for a bit. felt inconsistent.

oh, in other news, i'm on vh1's 'i love the new millennium'. woohoo! so far, i only know for sure that i'm in the 2002 episode. but i'm hoping to pop up in more. who knows. lemme know if you see me =)

-pete

short nmk vegas video podcast

2008-06-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

hello everyone.
this is just a quick video podcast i put together from some footage eric shot of us in vegas.
sorry it got all compressy. not sure why.
-pete

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37121391

tweaking

2008-06-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

we just finished putting all the finishing touches on everything. so now everything is officially recorded, and the next step is to mix it all. neil’s going to come down to nashville monday to start that. i’m so excited; it’s so close to being done!

bgvs

2008-06-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

sadly, i was on the road touring while neil recorded the background vocals. but i just got to hear them and they sound fantastic! we got this amazing singer, brooks ritter, to sing on a few tracks. and of course neil sang on most of the stuff too. everything has a great michael jackson vibe. i’m loving it! sounds great with headphones on.

what’s the buzz, tell me whatsa-Happening

2008-06-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

hmm.. ok. so we're in vegas for a few days, and what do i do? i go see a bunch of movies.
the first one was m.night's 'the happening', which i had super high hopes for. i loved the trailers; the imagery was spookycool. it seemed like a darker direction for our old buddy.

let me interject here to say i hated 'the lady in the water', which i also had super high hopes for.

so, i've realized that m.night cannot direct humans. he suffers from lucas-disease methinks. he has great vision, super ideas, and great sense of building interesting, dynamic characters... but, he can't direct humans. i guess. in some cases, outstanding actors are able to bring it without his help. and in 'the happening' i think john leguizamo did just that.

now i love zooey deschanel and mark wahlberg. i really do. and this is why i must blame m.night. the script was awkward at points, which may account for some of the clumsy interactions. the overall premise is a bit of a letdown. not quite 'indianna jones 4' letdown. but still a heavy sigh.
all in all, this film seemed like m.night wanted to show these horrific scenes of people killing themselves, and decided to scribble a story to string them on. i give it a 55. it needs to repeat the semester. and bring in a signed note from mom.

in other news, 'hulk' was incredible (pun intended). seriously. a wonderful film. full review tomorrow.
-pete

i'd love to hear what you all think. maybe i'm just an cranky old man =)

resident wii-vil and the zohan

2008-06-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

the past three nights in a row i've been up until 3am playing resident evil 4 on the wii. sooo awesome and creepy! i played it on the ps2 a while ago, but it's always so hard to aim and shoot when multiple zombie-people are trying to get you. but now, it's so much more fun! i feel like milla jovovich! (if i looked like her, i would make out with myself).

zohan: funny. not super funny, but funny. there are many moments where i was laughing out loud. embarassingly loud. and there were huge gaps in laughter. i think a lot of these formula-comedies have the same problem. they try to emulate the structure of a normal film. that is to say, they have a love relationship that misses and then finally gets it together. they have some sort of feel-good ending. some sort of character arc where our hero learns something. all the stuff that we expect from a real movie. but with a silly action-comedy like this, we don't need it. i think it actually gets in the way. i don't really care if zohan gets the girl. because he's not a real person to me. so i'd rather see more gags and moments.
napoleon dynomite works particularly well because it doesn't go for those moments. or if it does, it's in a severely downplayed way. it's more about funny/dysfunctional characters in situations, saying and doing funny things. sort of like my life.
-pete

thank you new hampshire!!!

2008-05-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

ahhh! what a blast! we had a great time at the sky show 17 in new hampshire this weekend. rock 101 kicks booty! everyone from the station was super nice! and despite our band name, they treated us like kings. special thanks to the mosh pit. doc, laura, greg, roadkill, and scorch: i love you all and miss you already!
kim, thanks for taking us to the yummy tiny diner. it was a little awkward eating with a row of hungry people behind us waiting for our chairs =)
the fireworks were fantastic! they had their own soundtrack. i want my own soundtrack.
my parents were there. they had a lot of fun, and it was great to be able to hang out with them.

so i can't wait for sky show 18! (cut to: one year later, pete waits by the mail, where no invitation comes.)

we're in pittsburg tonight. sleeping. on our two day trek back to nashville. if you see us on the road, honk.
-pete

indiana jones and the temple of scientology

2008-05-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

sooo the continuation of the saga that we've been waiting 20 years for is finally here. and i gotta say, i was a bit sad. i won't go into too much until all yall have seen it, but i thought i'd give some general impressions:

1. premise - what??! the indy movies have always had fun curses and supernatural baddies, but this one goes a little too far.
2. action - the action sequences and stunts were a lot of fun. typical indy wackiness: swinging from rafters with the whip, racing against collapsing bridges, jumping from moving jeeps. most of these moments were perfect, but some were over-the-top even for indy. it reminded me of peter jackson's king kong in spots. i could almost hear the boardroom meeting. "hey, can we make it bigger?"

overall i give it a C-

in related news, i bought a wii the other night. so our extensive time in hotel rooms are a little more enjoyable now.

played a show in newport, rhode island the other night. it was awesome to see my family and some friends i haven't seen in years. tomorrow we play in new hampshire, at an awesome outdoor festival. i'm told there will be thousands of people there. that's a lot of people methinks. too many for me to buy gummi bears for.

anyway, let me know what you think of indy when you guys see it. misery loves company.
-pete

horn tracking

2008-05-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

we just finished tracking horns at this beautiful studio in lincoln, tn; about an hour outside of nashville. the studio is called darkhorse, and it’s basically a bunch of log cabins stretched out over these beautiful, soft rolling hills. each cabins is connected by cool wooden bridges.
max and his gang played fantastically. everything sounds so good! we had a lot of fun.

[video clip]

go go speed racer

2008-05-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

hi kids.
i saw speed racer the other day in wichita, in between shows. wow. umm. i think it was a pinata of flourescent cg candy. some of it is still in my eye. there's some really cool stuff, some great moments. but all in all, a pretty stinky film. i'm probably 25 years past their demographic though. the effects were on par with a sega dreamcast game, and the compositing looked like it was done in the trial version of after effects. but jack, from lost, is in it. and he was cool. and he did kungfu.

on a similar note, i saw 'redbelt' last night, and it was really good. slow, and not a lot of fighting (for a movie named after the highest butt-kicking accessory). but chewatel (the bad guy from 'serenity'), was fantastic. he's a great, honorable, likable character, but maintains a calculated calmness that implies tremendous confidence. the confidence of a jiu-jitsu mastah! in any case, if it's in town near you, go see it. tell me what you think. maybe me and billy zabka will remake it =)
-pete

"iron man" is superawesome

2008-05-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

did anyone else see it? i totallysuperloved it. rdj is fantastic in it.
i want a metal suit now. and a pony.

soo, i'm going to wichita this week. that will be fun. neil is still playing guitar with us, which is ubercool. like a little mini nmk reunion.

indiana jones is out soon. woohoo!

-pete

vocals

2008-04-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

lead vocals were fun. we usually get through a song a day. neil doesn’t like me to sing for more than 2 hours or so each day. usually he gets up early (waaay earlier than me) and edits together the stuff from the previous day. then i’ll get up. we’ll grab lunch, and then start tracking.
the first few takes, we run straight through. just for me to get a feel for the song and mood. neil gives me feedback on things to change, or things to push. then we take the song piece by piece. verses, choruses, and bridge. all separate. finally we do a few passes to get any parts that i didn’t do very well.
these songs have been a lot more challenging for me, vocally, than the songs on the first album. the range is a little wider. the highest points feel higher. we tried to get a little more character into the performances. things like that are tough to nail down.
all in all, i’m pretty happy with the way everything is coming out. i’m really excited to hear what these will sound like with horns and background vocals.

[video clip]

sheep in the woods

2008-04-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

apparently this is old, but it made me laugh a lot when i found it today.

http://vimeo.com/99317

kristen schaal is on one of my favorite new shows, flight of the conchords.

how are you all on this rainy friday?

-pete

horn arranging

2008-04-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

neil and i went down to nashville yesterday to meet up with our friend max. max is writing and arranging some brass and string parts for the album. he’s a great guy, and really funny. neil and i did our mouth-trumpet versions of what we had in mind and he asked, ‘what do you need me for? just do that!’
every time neil and i drive down to nashville it rains. downpour. buckets. only while we are driving. once we get there, it’s fine. and then, when it’s time to drive home: flood. monsoon.

go fish cards

2008-04-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

hey pookies.
i made a couple sets of ’go fish’ cards for my niece and nephews for christmas, and i had to make a bunch. so i had a few sets left over. we decided to put them up for sale on the astonish store, here.
i might do a normal deck of cards, nmk-style, depending on how many of these we’re left with =)
anyway, check em out. and let us know if you’d like to see more stuff like this. i like making things. that, and ice cream. i like ice cream too. maybe more.
-pete

happy april foo’s day

2008-04-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

yo foos. check it. no one played any april fool’s jokes on me today. i’m sad.
-pete

background and layout design

2008-03-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

i’ve never been good at drawing backgrounds. for some reason it just never works out for me. i guess i’m more interested in drawing goofy characters. thankfully ghostbot is brilliant at both. roque whipped up some beautiful background designs that completely stand on their own as art pieces. his sense of color and space make them really engaging. in the video, it’s hard to focus on the background because of all the wonderful action happening in the foreground. but it’s definitely worth your time to watch it again with an eye bent towards the great environments.
in ghostbot’s timeline on any project, they usually jump right on backgrounds and layout just after the animatic is complete. layout involves positioning all the key elements in the frame to create an interesting and functional composition. if this composition doesn’t work, then the entire scene can fall flat. sometimes layout are done in black and white, or shades of grey, just to block out the light and dark and large and small areas.
for this video, the backgrounds had to be relatively simple. strong graphic shapes, pleasing subdued colors. they couldn’t conflict with the action, but had to enhance it. enhance the mood.
here are a few layouts from roque:

-pete

next: the art of collaboration

terry fator on oprah!

2008-03-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

hello egg-finders..
my friend terry fator (last season’s winner of the hit show ’america’s got talent’) was recently on oprah. they played a great little intro video about him, and then he performed a short piece featuring three of his impersonations. you can see the segment here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw91DGOpNrI

he’s an amazing guy, and absolutely deserves all the success on the planet.
-pete

happy easter!

2008-03-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

hello my little chocolate bunnies.
i hope you all have a wonderful easter. wear cute little pastel dresses and carry little wicker baskets around all day. i’m going to wander around looking for rabbits to dip in chocolate.

since there’s almost nothing out in the theatre world these days, i’ve been renting a bunch of movies (thanks itunes!). some good, some bad. i thought i would give you my quick reviews to save you from repeating my potential bad decisions.

the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford: very good. slow, but good. great dialogue, shot beautifully (if not a little forcefully artsy).

gone baby gone: holy crap, this was good. ben affleck has been on the wrong side of the camera all these years. this is where he belongs. the story is pretty heavy, pretty dark stuff. but the writing is smart, the performances are great. pretty weighty stuff.

then my streak ended. the following movies should only be rented if you won the lottery and are running out of things to spend money on: war, chaos, next and death sentence. i was warned about most of these by rotten tomatoes. i was warned and i ignored them. i have since clawed out my eyes.

then a surprise: 30 days of night. i thought this would suck (ha! a pun!), but i have a thing for zombie and vampire movies. thankfully i was wrong, it was very cool. the ending cheesed me out a bit, but i forgave it. it had a great look, it was well-acted and paced.

and then there are two that i feel weird about. the nines: pretty confusing (intentionally), but well acted and sort-of well written, except its premise is so silly that i don’t think it needed to be a film. certainly not a feature length film. it’s one of those endings that pees all over the audience.

and then last night was ’martian child’, which i wanted to see when it was in theatres, but it got slammed by rotten tomatoes. so i didn’t. but my curiosity got the better of me. i didn’t hate it. but it definitely could have used a re-write. maybe? i’m not even sure if that’s what was wrong with it. i mean, john cusack is always good, so it wasn’t that. i think the dialog, while smart, was a little goofy? or something. not sure. i liked it, mostly, so i would recommend it to you, oh dear chocolate bunny.

well that’s it for rentals.

then neil and kate and i took story to see ’horton hears a who’. it rocked! i laughed out loud several times. several embarrassing times. louder than i should have. the thing is, steve carrel and jim carrey aren’t particularly funny in it. in fact, i might’ve liked it more if someone else were in those parts. but the secondary characters are so charming! and the animators looked for every opportunity to punch up a gag, or make a moment. anyway, i am looking forward to seeing it again. that’s two times seeing.

-pete

character designs 1

2008-03-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

it was an interesting challenge for me, and for ghostbot, to design characters that were based on real people, but completely stylized and cartoony. there were four main characters that fell into this group, as well as dozens of other characters that weren’t based on real people, but had to fit the style of the video. we did a fair amount of back-and-forthing to get the characters to work. they had to feel connected to my drawing style, but also work for ghostbot.
my character, pete, took a bit of tweaking to get right. we wanted a strong graphic design to all the characters, and i liked the sort of squiggly flow of the arms and legs. so our first step was to get rid of any harsh angles: elbows, knees, etc. then we worked on getting a simple shape for the hair, rather than a bunch of scratchy, messy lines (which is what my hair really is). it’s always a delicate balance between reworking a drawing enough to get it tight and graphic, but also remembering to retain the charm and spontaneity of the original sketch. the cats at ghostbot have perfected that balance.
here’s the final pete design:

the co-star of the piece, and the second “character” to be fleshed out, was my car. the car was meant to be a makeshift version of KITT, from knight rider. the idea was that my character, who is obsessively trying to follow his hero’s footsteps, has transformed his beat-up gremlin into a crime-fighting super-car. he achieved this by taping some red flashlights to the hood. and probably adding a blinking red readout on the dashboard. oh, and he also installed the world’s longest sun visor.
in ghostbot’s version of the animatic, the car was dark green. but in the character design phase, they thought it would make more sense if the car wasn’t painted. but was instead a beige, primer color. ultimately, we went back to the green, feeling that it was closer to the black transam my character would be emulating.

-pete

next: background designs

LOST and found

2008-03-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

woohoo! LOST was awesome sauce last night. i won’t spoil it for anyone that isn’t caught up yet, but i was so excited that i was right about ben’s inside man on the boat. i’m almost never right about LOST-related stuff. in fact i thought the polar bear was hurley in a bear suit. and i thought the smoke monster came from sawyer’s butt. i still think, at any minute, gilligan and skipper are going to appear. i haven’t given up hope.

so how are you guys? has anyone seen any good movies? these past few weeks have been horrible movie weeks. the top 5 box office leaders were all under 40% at rottentomatoes. yikes.

i just watched the trailer for the new edward norton hulk. i’m not sure what to think yet. i think it looks well written, well shot, and well acted. but the cg.. hmm. apparently hulk is played by eddie murphy in a muscley green fatsuit. at one point i heard hulk yell ’norbit!’

-pete

animatic!

2008-03-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

an animatic is basically storyboard that has been timed out to play sequentially. it’s a great tool to test the pacing of a scene. some animatics can be as simple as a storyboard slideshow, while others can be quite complex, with camera moves and bits of action.

we did two major versions of the animatic. the first pass was one i had done when i thought the video was going to be live-action. so it’s a bit weird, compared to what we ended up with. but the big moments are there. then ghostbot remade the entire thing themselves, in flash. this way they could use that file to work from: updated assets, moments, backgrounds, etc.

i immediately loved the animatic that ghostbot sent me. they managed to make it charming and playful, while still being very loose and rough. it was wonderful, because it was very easy for me to get a sense of what the final piece would feel like.

animatics can be a tricky thing. just like demos for songs, you have to include just enough information to convey your intent, without including too much that people might get bogged down on (“can we make it less green”, “can the explosion look like a q-tip”). i think ghostbot hit that mark perfectly.

here’s a look at the progression of the action montage section of the video (the bridge of the song).

my storyboard version:

my animatic version:

ghostbot’s animatic:

thanks for reading/watching.

-pete

next: character designs

drums

2008-03-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

we just got back from tracking drums in nashville. it was supercool! neil found an amazing drummer, jason tiemann, to lay down some serious funk grooves for two days. jason was an absolute machine! everyone involved in recording was excited about the process. jordan came up from florida to film. he had me on a separate wireless mic. i kept forgetting it was on. so while jordan was in the other room filming jason drumming, or neil playing the b3 organ, i was in the studio making obscene noises. of course. or singing really bad harmonies to the playback. hmm. jordan’s going to have a lot of fun capturing all that footage.
we finished early enough that neil had a full day to record piano and organ. it was so fun! he was coming up with all these amazing space dance parts. our engineer, craig alvin, is unbelievable. his super attuned ear, and obsessive attention to detail got incredible sound quality from the drums. he’s also fun because he has a great sense of experimentation and play. he tried all these fun echo effects for the organ parts.
oh, and i ate waaaay too many tootsie rolls. uncountable. my teeth just gave their two week notice.

[video clip?] [stills from video footage]

MLB 08 the show

2008-03-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

woohooo! so neil just ran to the store and picked up the new MLB 08 game by sony, that 'sweep the leg' is featured in. it's the fourth song down on the list, too. which means you can see it right away when you go to jukebox mode. i'm so excited! our first song in a video game! now i'm still waiting to hear back about 'yars revenge'.
thanks so much to eddy and the guys at sony for including us in such an awesome game.
-pete

michael video mentioned at cartoonbrew and coldhardflash

2008-03-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

hey everyone, just a quick post to say that we were featured at cartoonbrew (a fantastic website devoted to great animation). the post is about halfway down the main page. or direct link here: direct link

thanks so much amid!

-pete

edit: i just found out, it's also featured on coldhardflash.com

storyboard

2008-03-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

before ghostbot came onboard, adam, neil, jordan and i came up with dozens of fun ‘moments’ that we wanted to see in the video. we were pretending that this would be the opening credits of an awesome cheesey cop show that never aired. we knew we wanted someone sliding across the hood of a car. we knew we wanted a big explosion. we knew we wanted crazy car jumps.

before we got together, i had the idea of making the video about me trying to be a good-samaritan vigilante-type hero. saving the world one cat-in-a-tree at a time. but i knew it had to be silly. big efforts for small outcomes. if a cat was stuck in a tree, i had to jump a car off a ramp to save it. if a lady needed help crossing the street, i would dive-roll somersault across traffic to get to her. i wanted my character to be so single-focussed on his task, that he often caused peripheral damage.

so when we all started talking, all these ideas started meshing together. a structure started to emerge. the early storyline had the explosion happening early on, with the jump off the parking garage as the final stunt. it lead into the ending of landing into the pool. so structurally, the storyline was very similar to what we ended up with. but once ghostbot came onboard, they helped to sculpt the story into something more cohesive. more connected.

some storyboard pages

-pete

next: the animatic - moving storyboad

don’t forget to check out ghosbot’s blog: http://ghostbot.blogspot.com/

more demos

2008-02-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

we’ve got four demos done now:
dance alone
leroy and me
paper airplane
something to hide

we’re going to track drums in just over a week, so we gotta get a move-on to finish up the other demos in time. there’s four more that we’ve got in the pipe, but we’ll need to write probably another three or four after that. as of now, the other four we need to track are:
mayor of the moon
cellphone
floyd’s bluff
no disassemble

jump in, let's save the world

2008-02-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

hello everybody. a few months ago, me, neil robins (my writing partner/ producer), adam degraide (ceo of astonish), and jordan chesney (videographer), all got together in a little room in rhode island to discuss the ‘michael’ video. we knew it had to be as fun as the ’sweep the leg’ video was, but we didn’t want to cannibalize ourselves. once our ideas got rolling, it became clear that we wanted to do something in the vein of the spike jonze video for the beastie boys’ ’sabotage’. something retro, something silly. we wanted to reference old buddy-cop shows (essentially ‘michael’ is a buddy-cop song, only one of the ‘cops’ is a talking car).
but during the course of the discussions, our ideas had started to exceed our resources. we had cars crashing into storefronts, gas stations exploding, cars flying off the roofs of parking garages. great, fun stuff, but difficult to achieve. then we started thinking about the idea of doing an animated video, and it all started to come together.

a while ago, i was researching animation houses with the intent of doing a short, simple animated video for ‘mr b’. i found a small studio in san fransisco called ‘ghostbot’. they launched the esurance spy-action series of ads starring erin. their work is stylish and simple and super-cool. i contacted them about ‘mr b’ and they seemed excited to work on it. and of course, i was excited to work with them! soon, things started to shift, and we realized that it was too soon to make a video for a song that we weren’t planning on releasing to radio. it made much more sense to make a video for the next single. sooo i sadly told ghostbot that we would have to wait to work together.

once adam made the decision to do ‘michael’ as an animated video, i leapt for the phone to see if ghostbot was interested/available. they were!

(at the ghostbot studio in san fransisco)

-pete

next: a storyboard emerges

don’t forget to check out ghosbot’s blog: http://ghostbot.blogspot.com/

working titles

2008-02-22T15:59:00.000-08:00

right now i’ve got a couple of working titles. most of them are fleshed out lyrically. some i just have a general idea. i’ll have to match them with one of the instrumental pieces we have sitting around.

dance alone
leroy and me
paper airplane
the lonely futurist
cellphone

demos

2008-02-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

recording demos is sort of like inking drawings in a sketchbook. the demos are not quite as rough as the initial sketch, but not nearly as polished as the final song. the purpose of a demo is to invoke the feeling and energy of the song, without getting hung up on specific arrangement ideas.

neil has this great new program for scratching out great drum tracks quickly. they are samples of real drums, so they aren’t quite as cheesy as the casio keyboard drums we used to demo the first album. it’s great because it gives us a pretty solid idea of the feel of the song. obviously when a real drummer comes into the studio to track, that’s when it really comes to life. but again, in the demo phase, this is just fine.
then neil throws down a guitar track and bassline. maybe keys or piano if he thinks the song needs that. i take this stuff into garageband until i figure out the melody and lyrics. it’s perfect for me, because it lets me play around with things, recording multiple takes until i get something i like. sometimes i just play with rhythm, no melody, no lyrics. when i get something that feels good i start scatting a melody of nonsense words. then its a matter of poring through my index cards, matching up phrases with the rhythm.

for this stuff, i’ve been sketching out a general format for each song. what i want to happen/say in each verse. progressing towards the them or meaning of the song. then i try to find the most concise or fun way to say what that verse needs. there’s a lot of back-and-forth going on at this point. push and pull. like a painting.
when i’m painting, it’s always a conversation between me and the piece. i’ll talk (paint) for a little, and then i’ll listen (look) for a little. i try not to push too much. i like to stop at points and see what the painting needs. it’s like that with songs too. sometimes i get stuck in the forest, and can only see tree trunks, and so i’ll bring it to neil. usually he’ll find a spot that’s out of place, or weak, or just not right. then i can go back in an rework that stuff.

then we record a scratch demo vocal, which of course sounds better than me singing into my macbook. everyday we burn a cd of our newest pass, and we listen to that in the car while we go out to lunch or dinner. that way we can start to make notes on what’s working and what’s not. and we know what to play with for the next day.

[studio shots] [audio clip? demo?]

writing

2008-02-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

songwriting has always been a tricky gypsy lover for me. like any creative endeavor, sometimes everything falls into place serendipitously, and you have a good song without much laboring. but most times, it’s a hard-fought battle to bend the wills of words and melodies. you wrestle them into submission, but not so hard that you hurt them.

the first album came with its own set of tricky issues. a lot of the songs were older songs, from college, that we had to rework. so they required new arrangements, new melodies sometimes, and almost always new words. ‘mr b’ is probably the song that survived the most intact from its first incarnation. most of his siblings on the album got wrestled pretty bad.

with this album, we are starting completely from scratch. all new songs, and all new ideas. which is a lot of fun for me. it’s like buying a brand new sketchbook. blank pages waiting to be filled. so this was a welcome challenge.

my approach to writing songs is a lot like how i approach painting. usually my first step is to get a kernel of an idea and then research it to death. i fill index cards with weird phrases and bits of trivia. character traits. possible titles. then i spread them all out on my floor and start making connections. putting cards together. re-ordereing and ranking. i think it’s important, when dealing with an open-ended problem, to limit the possible solutions that i’ll spend time on. so a good first pass is a shotgun approach. shoot wide. generate too many ideas. then filter them down. keep everything for later, but limit the scope of the material i have in front of me. i’ll have to do this a few times, each time whittling the cards down.

meanwhile neil is recording demo versions of the instrumentation for the songs. when he finishes them, i throw them into garageband and start matching up themes and ideas with songs that fit the vibe. then i can start playing around with melody and lyric ideas.

or [picture of index cards]
for example, here are a couple index card worth of goofy notes/ideas:

~another fine mess we’ve gotten into
me and leroy
hercules (to ioulaus)

~triskaidekaphobia (tris-ky-deka-phobia)
napolean? roosevelt? afraid of all things 13

~dirty harry had a magnum and magnum had a 45

~the serpent of the nile - cleopatra (medusa?)

~planet mercury has the shortest year
new year’s eve parties are more frequent?

i think i’ve got something for ‘me and leroy’. or ‘leroy and me’. that sounds better.

pre-production

2008-02-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

i flew to kentucky this week to hang out with neil. we’re starting pre-production on album two, which is very exciting for me. i love playing live; playing all the songs from the first album. but that project is over two years old now. so i’m definitely ready to make some new music.
we’re approaching this album a little differently from our last album. we’re hoping to make it a little funkier. maybe a little bit of a sixties and seventies vibe. (i guess we’re working backwards through the decades! the 20’s album should be awesome). so we’re referencing a lot of ‘sly and the family stone’, ‘bill withers’, ‘jackson 5’ and aretha franklin.
so the next step is to start writing and demo-ing songs. then we can choose the most successful ones and record them for real.

happy oh ate

2008-01-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

hello furry monkeys.
so i had this big plan to do a 'year in review' NMK style, but alas i am lame.
it was going to be filled with all the cool things that have happened this year for us. things like having our first album in stores, getting my first song on the radio, having my first music video played on teevee, winning our first awards. you know, that kind of stuff.

oh, and then i was gonna tell you all about the cool new stuff we're going to do this year. things like an animated video for 'michael jump in", a great dvd of the behind-the-scenes from the 'sweep the leg' video shoot, a new animated comedy series called 'found object theatre', beginning production of our second album. that sort of thing.

but i didn't. i never got around to doing it because i am a dork. so i apologize.
in any case, i hope the first two days of this glorious new year have been good to you. and i hope you have at least 363 more glorious days this year. i know i will.

-pete

bottles of sound

2007-12-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

too much free time. and too many empty water bottles.

bottles of sound

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-pete

me and my LAMA

2007-12-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

hello my little cornflowers
we won our first award the other night! it was so fun! neil and i went to the awards ceremony (LAMA- los angeles music awards) dressed in spacesuits. for some reason people kept thinking we were knights of the round table. they asked us if we played dungeons and dragons. but we had fun. i really never expected to win, so that was a pleasant surprise.
last night i saw an excellent improv show at improv olympics in hollywood. i've been seeing a lot of great stuff there these past few weeks. last night's show featured tim meadows, former SNL cast member. he was great, all the performers were.
and also, if you get a chance, please go check out my buddy david martin's new christmas single 'fall la la in love'. its on his myspace page here: http://myspace.com/davidmartin
and its also for sale on itunes, along with his cover of 'the christmas song'. go check em out!
i think that's all i have to say. i still haven't seen 'no country for old men' yet, and it's burnin me up! but i ran into billy zabka last night at dinner, and we decided that we'll go see it next week. on a little date. a forbidden date. i made this awkward didn't i. sorry.
-pete

nmk online merch store open

2007-11-21T15:21:00.000-08:00

hello my lovlies. so, finally, our store has launched! which is good for me, because previously you either had to come to a show or you had to come to my house to get a shirt. which was awkward. for everybody involved. and what a perfect way to save three dollars! think of all the cool stuff you can do with your extra three dollars...gummi bears...a brushless car wash…the first 25 minutes of a feature film. anyway, please check out the store. we've got big plans for new merchandise items coming soon. and until then you can buy enough shirts to clothe the cast of Rent.

click here to visit the store: nmk store

-Pete

a video message of thanks.. and a plea

2007-11-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

hello hello.
i made a little video message for yalls. it's scratch-and-sniff, so sit close to your screen.
-pete

thankyou!

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it worked!!!

2007-11-14T15:19:00.000-08:00

holy crap! all of your clickety-clickin' worked! we're in round three!
i'm gonna send a bottle of advil out to everyone! and next time i see you, i will hug and kiss your little clicky fingers! (unless some of you used your feet to vote... then, you're out of luck.)
i really don't know what to say. i know every band thinks they have the best fans, but in my case, i really do.
thanks so so much to everyone who helped get us in round three. rest up, and get ready to start voting again! hehe! it never ends! =)
-pete

boyzeee

2007-11-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

woohoo! we had a superfun show in boise tonight. we got to play with a great band, 'mistress and the misters'. we played with them last time we were in town, and we were very excited to learn that we'd be playing with them again tonight.
it was great to see so many people from last time. and people did their homework! more than half the audience knew my lyrics better than i did! it was a very fun time, and i can't wait to come back. such a supportive town.
oh, and i apologize again to anyone who had to hug my sweaty body. next time i'll hire a stunt hugger.

and thanks so much to everyone who voted to get us in round two of the mtv thing! i just found out about all of this tonight, and i'm so grateful/excited that we were able to get over 5000 votes. i'm not sure how far into the contest we'll make it, but it's great to have such supportive fans. with such itchy clicky mouse fingers.

-pete

more paintings

2007-10-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

here's my newest batch of paintings:

-pete

day off: day two

2007-10-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

did some more painting today. i'll post soon.
tim and i just got back from seeing 'we own the night'. holy poop what an awesome movie! such a great job of creating tension. wonderful performances by everyone. really good stuff. go see it.

oh, and the new radiohead album kicks booty!

-pete

grape street: take 5

2007-10-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

we played our fifth show at grape street in philli last night. it was a lot of fun. lot of familiar faces, lots of new ones. the other day we were on a local philli radio show, preston and steve on wmmr, and the guest after us was jason schwartzman! i got a chance to talk with him for a few minutes. he was really cool.

we have a few days off here in new jersey before our next show in new york. i'm going to try to do some more painting. oh, have you seen the new behind-the-scenes piece on sweeptheleg.com? it rocks! jordan is doing an awesome job putting these together. anyway, check it out and tell me what you think.

bye!
-pete

paintings from my day off

2007-10-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

we had a day off yesterday (something we havent had in a while!), so i did some paintings:

a painting on a bunch of receipts that i had in my pocket:

and a quick drawing i did on an ad that was lying around in our hotel, for hbo's 'tell me you love me':

thanks for looking.
-pete

more broken tires

2007-10-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

hello my little loveducks.
sorry i havent posted in so long. we've been pretty busy driving all over this great big country.
in fact, we had two tire blowouts recently. fun. we've done a bunch of teevee and radio stuff, and had some really yummy mexican food. i really need to see the new 'resident evil'. my zombie power meter is empty and needs to be refilled.

the blowout

gas station in texas where they told us they were 'out of gas'

i think i get to sleep in tomorrow! woohoo! and i've already found a theatre nearby playing 'resident evil'. so i think tomorrow should be a good day. oh, and 7 more days until radiohead's new cd!!

-pete

boise noisy

2007-09-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

hello crimefighters.

we just had a superfun show in boise. at the bouquet. we really didn't know what to expect. we'd played here a year ago, and i think we played for something like 7 people at that time. so we had our fingers crossed for at least 12 people for tonight. and to our surprise many more people than 12 showed up. it was so great, and energizing, to see people dancing and singing along!

we were on 100.3 the x, a local boise station, this morning. we did a little acoustic action. we had a great time hanging with big j and nic. we owe most of tonight's turnout to them. they took a chance, adding 'sweep the leg' into rotation on their station (rhyme-zilla up in here), and having us in the studio. we really couldn't have asked for a better show. i'm looking forward to coming back around here in a month or so.

oh, and we played with this great band from spokane, called 'mistress and the misters'. they were so fun! really talented, great sound and excellent energy. and they were really cool guys too. i
wish i got to talk to them a little more. we're going to try to get them to play with us again next time too. (again and too in the same sentence? hmm grammar evaporates after midnight i guess).

tomorrow we set sail for washington. roslyn. where northern exposure was filmed. we played ther almost a year ago too. so it'll be fun to go back.

ok. i'm going to bed. thanks for listening.

-pete

red rocks

2007-09-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

we had a great show in colorado the other night. we played at red rocks amphitheatre, but not on the awesome outside stage. we play indoors, at a tinier stage downstairs. we still had a great time, and i met some really nice people from esurance. we hung out and watched 'cake' play afterwards. what a show that was! cake was amazing live.

DG getting ready to rock

the big awesome stage that we wished we played on

the rock where simba was born.

thanks for listening. i'll be back soon.
-pete

balls of fury

2007-09-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

part of hollywood blvd was closed yesterday. apparently they were filming a apocalyptic street scene for a new will smith movie coming out. i could barely see some cars being pulled by cables as lights flashed and extras screamed and ran. after the take, will came over to the crowd of people that had formed to watch, and he totally shook my hand! woohoo!
then on my way to the cinerama dome to watch 'balls of fury', my friend mike calls me. he was driving in a car behind me, following me to the theatre. "pete, look to your left". i do, and jimmy kimmel is driving next to me!

so that was cool. oh, and 'balls of fury' was fun. not great, but fun. christopher walken was, of course, awesome. i hope he puts out a rap album someday.

oh, and here's a bird:

-pete

3:10 to yuma

2007-09-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

i just got back from seeing '3:10 to yuma'. it was fantastic. christian bale is the man. i don't think he's capable of a bad performance. and of course russell crowe is great too. i remember as the movie started i was thinking, 'the two lead roles in a western, are both non-americans'. but they both pulled off flawless american accents. way better than my british, or australian accents.

i guess that's it. i just wanted to recommend the movie, to anyone who is so inclined. i was going to go see 'war' with jet li. but rotten tomatoes gave it an 16%. yikes! so maybe i'll wait for the dvdvd.

-pete

shoot em up

2007-09-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

i saw 'shoot em up' the other night. it was a lot of fun! in the same vein as 'grindhouse'. over-the-top action/violence. crazy stunts. limited dialog and plot. like a good testosterone injection.

school started back up for many of you. i hope you all got your summer reading done. got your new trapper-keepers ready to go. lunchboxes full of fruit-roll-ups and pudding cups. sit next to the dorky kid for once. that dorky kid was me.

hmmm i guess that's it. i've got my improv class today. so fun! i went and saw my improv teacher, david's show last night. he was great. very funny. i wish i could take the class everyday.

ok. talk to you soon. oh, you look good, by the way. i like what you've done with your hair.

-pete

warm front in indianna with 90% chance of rock!

2007-09-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

good grief!! what a weekend i've had! friday morning i got a chance to co-host the morning show in terre haute indianna, and it was sooo much fun! julie and matt, the actual anchors, were so friendly and fun! julie even let me do the weather (which has always been a dream of mine). of course, i did an awful job (i'll post a clip of my meteorological debut). then they let me sit at the desk with them for the whole show. it was such a great time. then i was on julie's radio show in the afternoon, followed by sketch's radio show a little later on. we played acoustic versions of a few songs, and DG played the plastic spoons as accompaniment. then last night we had the linton music festival! this was seriously the best response we've ever had! we sold more tshirts and cds than ever before. i signed stuff for over an hour (usually i'm begging people to let me sign stuff. socks, underwear, napkins. i dont care).

now i'm chillin in louisville with neil for a little bit before i head back to l.a. neil and i are cooking up a little something-something to put on itunes. i'm excited about it.

well that's it for now. i'll post some video stuff soon. thanks for reading!!

-pete

on the road again

2007-08-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

we just had our first show back on the road after 5 weeks off. it was great to play again. and even better, it was an astonish showcase. so we got to hear, and hang out with all the other great artists on our label.
but what was funny for me was, after the show, we were hanging out outside, and this guy came by and said 'hey, are you the guy from that 'sweep the leg' video?' i thought he was kidding. like he had just seen the show and was just being funny. but he actually had no idea that we had played. so it was my first time being spotted on the street!

-pete

america's got hasselhoff

2007-07-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

hey crimefighters.
i met terry fator the other night. he's one of the country's top ventriloquists and all around amazing entertainer. he's currently in the top 20 of america's got talent. and tonight is a very important night for him. so if you are reading this, please please watch the show tonight and vote for terry!

terry invited me to a jamie cullum concert at the hollywood bowl last week. it was incredible. that boy can sing! it was amazing to watch the la philharmonic back him up too. i kept dreaming about how cool that would be, to someday be in that position.

so i guess that's all for today. i finished up the tshirt designs last week, so we should have those on the road with us on our next leg. the next leg of the tour. not that we'll be wearing tshirts on our legs. not like we've never done that before though.
so please please vote for terry tonight. and we'll talk again soon. thanks for listening

-pete

oh, hey, our myspace plays have been crazy high these past few weeks! whats up with that! woohoo!

rats and shirts

2007-07-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

hello. how are you?
i saw rat-a-tat-tooie the other day. it was so cute! very charming. great story, and of course, stellar animation. the little short film they showed before it was really cute too. i love pixar. i wanna hug em.
billy zabka and i are going to be on the adam corolla show next week. woohoo! i think thats gonna be fun. i have a friend who is an editor on the jimmy kimmel show, so theres a fun connection.
oh, so i've been designing a new batch of teeshirts to sell on the road (and on our website). i am pretty excited about them. i hope you guys like them too. here's a test of some color options (the final shirt will only have one girl. not three. its not 'girls in the sea', although i guess i could write a sequel). and of course a zombie shirt.

-pete

die hardest

2007-07-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

ok, i saw die hard 4 the other night.. ug. you know, i absolutely love bruce willis, and he did a great job, but this movie forgot everything that worked about the first one. they kept trying to outdo the previous stunt. i read a review that i think sums it up perfectly. it said 'in the first movie, john maclane was human. in this one, he's the terminator'.

i'm in la. i get to be here for a while. which is cool. lately i've been zipping in and out of it so quickly that i don't really get to enjoy it. jordan and topher from astonish were here over the weekend to shoot some behind the scenes interview stuff with me and billy zabka. it'll be for the 'sweeptheleg.com' website. that was fun. but even they were like 'man, its beautiful here'. they are right.

in entertainment, it seems like people are either new york folk, or l.a. folk. and whichever they are, they truly identify with. i guess there is a small subset of people who are a bit of both.

oh, here's an adorable drawing my nephew david did:

the little sign says "beware of me". so cute!

-pete

happy fourth

2007-07-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

happy fourth of july everybody! i hope you all ate american flag cake until your bellies itched.
i went swimming today. i like swimming. its my favorite. swimming and smiling. my favorites.

oh, our new favorite, over here at no more kings headquarters is the new HBO comedy series called 'flight of the conchords', eponymously named after the new zealand comedy/music duo by the same name. (grammar jokes are tough, because if the joke doesnt work, then smart people just think you're stupid). anyway; check out their stuff here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&ChannelID=187189765

mmm.. i've been back in l.a. for two days now, and i've had in-n-out both nights. that's doing it right. doing the life thing, right. living right. we'll see what happens tomorrow.

oh, i watched 'evan almighty' tonight. ug. please don't hate me for saying this: i think i maybe loathed it. i really wished i had seen 'die hard' instead. did you know, in spain, 'die hard' is called 'the concrete jungle'? cool huh. probably because 'die hard' doesn't translate to anything meaningful. not like here in the states. where 'die hard' is a very meaningful proverb. (that was a joke, what the heck does 'die hard' mean here? i thought maybe it meant he was hard to kill, like it was hard for him to die because he was so damned cool. and barefoot. is he barefoot in this new one? why is he hanging around with Mac. is PC in it too, or just Mac? its nice to see that Mac is getting work. i was afraid he would be upstaged by his little brother iPhone.)

goodnight. and happy day of independence.

-pete

creme-filled

2007-06-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

hello again crimefighters. so its been far too long between postings, and i aim to remedy that. ive installed a chip in my frontal lobe that will transmit blog messages as i oooh donut - i guess i'm hungrier than i th— woa cute doggy - wait where was i — oh yes, transmit messages as i think them. which may or may not work out.

we saw the movie 1408 last night. i liked it a lot, but the audience was seriously the worst audience i've ever seen a movie with. every ounce of tension in the film was met with laughter. at one of the key moments, john cusack, crying, delivering a great performance, someone behind me exclaims 'damn, he's a good actor. isn't he a good actor?'

so we're in virginia today. tomorrow night we have a show here, and then we're off to boston, to eat lots of creme-filled donuts. then that's it for this leg. word. oh, here are some more drawings:

-pete

gypsy g's and dirt poor robins

2007-06-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

whew! i've been a bad bad monkey, not posting in so long! how have you been? how's the family?

so we've had a couple of great shows this run. we played three nights in a row with dirt poor robins, which is always a blast. the other night, we played at gypsy g's in south carolina. it was so fun! we met some super nice people (chris and amy, whats up!) and had a really good time playing.

we brought guitar hero 2 out on the road with us, so the last two nights have been pure guitar hero rockathon. my little fingers are about to fall off. we have today off, and most of tomorrow. tomorrow night at like 2 am, we have a crazy radio thing, and then we have a show in nyc at arlene's grocery. i love playing in new york. we have a boston show coming up, which is exciting for me because my family is going to go to it. it'll be the first time any of them have seen me play with this new band.

soooo all in all, things are going well. thanks for asking.
oh, here's a new raindrop animation. let me know what you think.

-pete

louisville

2007-06-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

i just got into to louisville last night. its great to have a chance to work on music with neil for a little while. we have a couple of things we're trying to track before i take off on the next tour leg. we're playing a show together next week, here in town, which is great. i love being able to play with dirt poor robins. as a fan and as a friend, its a great experience.
i did a video shoot with livevideo.com a few weeks ago, which was an absolute blast! anyway, they are starting to put up some of the clips. i think they are going to release two a week for the next few weeks. you can see the first one here: http://livevideo.com/nomorekings
i guess that's it for now. i have been falling quickly behind in my book of face drawings. i'll try to get a few more of those up soon. but i started a series of talking raindrop animations. do i still get a biscuit? no? poo..

-pete

recent shows and more faces

2007-05-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

we've had a cool couple of shows. the show in pioneertown was awesome! we totally fell in love with the place. great vibe. the knitting factory was supercool! we had so much fun that night. our friends from livevideo.com came down to film the show, and do a quick interview with us.. (which was insane. i dont know if youve ever tried to have a conversation with six guys at once. especially when most of them are schiznophrenic.. so it made it like 10 guys)
last night, we played in fullerton, at this little place called 'the alley'. small show. we played a short set. but it was fun.
i havent drawn faces since ive been out on this leg. so im a little behind. but heres a few that i worked on during my downtime in l.a.:

-pete

whale's what now?

2007-05-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

hallo.
we are in sunny san diego today. we have the day off, mostly, and i love that!
josh and i just did a quick radio thing this morning. it was fun. the people from the station were really cool. they also gave us a live recording they made of us when we were in town for the sunset sessions. that was cool of them, and fun to listen to. we dont have many live recordings of ourselves, so its fun to get them. (jeez, how many times can i say 'fun' in one post)
i think the guys are gonna go bowling today. i just looked, and there are no mooovies i wanna see. so that stinks. but theres a target across the street. maybe i can kill two hours there? lawn and garden aisle?
so tomorrow, we play in pioneer town!! im so excited. apparently its an old set from the days of hollywood westerns. and now people actually live there! they have little mock-gunfights in the streets on weekends. so its a little like l.a. (j/k.. jaaay kayyyy...)
ummm.. i think thats all the gnus. i'm hungry. is that news?
-pete