10.18.04: It’s funny how over the years, being a skateboarder, I’ve always gravitated to good old San Jose. I remember when I was a kid, maybe 13 I took transit bus from my home in Carmel Valley to the greyhound station in Monterey, just to take the insanely long trip to “Skate city U.S.A.” Long in time spent on the bus, not the 40 miles from point a to point b! My friend would have his older Rasta buddy pick me up. From there we’d go skate all the killer ramps, ditches, and street spots.
So here I find myself, 18 years later with a chance to go back to San Jo to rock out at one of the coolest dive bars in town! Except there’s a catch. We have to drive up from Orange County Friday morning, maybe skate, play the show, pack up and drive back. In one go! What the hell! Let’s do it! The ride up was no problem, we loaded the van, picked up Hoggo and his boys John and Anthony and we were off! During a stop in Bakersfield, I saw a little parking block thing that looked like it might be fun to skate. Should have shined….
I did something and the kink in my back was propelled from a 4 to 9.5 I almost shit in my pants. It was so bad that I had a hard time sitting. It was my turn to drive. Hot. Whatever, Mark gave my some Advil, man up and drive. Racing the Fall sun, we decided to shine the Sunnyvale park and mainline it to Ripon. Good call. The great lines at Ripon actually gave my back a good stretch. (The Coors tall boy wasn't bad either.)
After a fun session we took off for S.J. We arrived in plenty early, so it was meal time. When we got to the bar (Caravan) we started loading our equipment, everything looked good. Until the bar tender spotted Javi, our 18 year old bass player. Normally the deal is, we set up, play, and Javi splits (or chills in the corner). But this guy was not having it! “Sorry man, but I’m not losing my job for some kid” AWESOME! We just drove 8 1/2 hours, just to get denied. Pissed.
Anyway, Mark skated down the street, past the Greyhound station, to The Black Club, where the place is skater owned, localed by skaters, and books skate-rock bands. That night the mighty Clay Wheels were playing. Salba was even there rocking with the boys! Anyhow, Ray Stevens was cool enough to let us go on and play three songs, they were the best three songs of my life! The crowd was GREAT! People were dancing and hopping around. Hell, they even clapped and shouted for more! The club was packed, but funny enough I knew tons of people. Had a pint with Scottish Stu and Louie Barletta. And hit the road. I’d like to thank Ray Stevens and The Clay Wheels, Corey O, and Boozy for driving down from Redwood City to hear our three songs.
See, it aint over till it’s over.
Tom
10.1.04: We played at Cerritos College Art Gallery on Wednesday. It was the best-received show we've played, and it was acoustic. Seems kind of weird. We practiced last night and it was good to be able to jump around and sweat and rock, instead of playing acoustically. Although I do have to say that it was good to practice a few times and get the songs sort of stripped down to their basic elements... Hagop's songs are mostly written with the acoustic, so for some of them it was defintiely back to basics. And our CDs are in, and we're really happy with everything. I'm also hoping to get a little online store going... $10 postage paid.
9.18.04: We just found out that we're going to be playing at Hagop's school next week. In the art gallery, I think, during the day. I'm sure we'll post details here on the site once we get them. We're thinking about making it a Rock Against Bush show, and they're talking about having a voter registration booth, too. Our record was supposed to be here yesterday but they shipped them all ground, so I hope they're going to arrive before next Wednesday.
9.14.04: We played at ASR last Friday. It was the best show we've played at the trade show, yet. The sound was good, we played well, it was pretty relaxed, and Duane Peters came up and sang Career Opportunities with us at the end. How perfect! Our CDs are supposed to arrive in two days!
9.7.04: We're going to be playing another show this week at ASR. We all sort of have mixed feelings about doing these shows--the crowd at the trade show isn't really there to watch bands, and the message gets diluted. But at the same time, it's always fun to play, and there are usually friends there. Let's just hope the sound continues to get better. That's not rock star posturing. We need all the help we can get.
8.29.04: We mastered on Friday and it's pretty hard to believe that we recorded this thing ourselves in our garage. Technology has come a long way when a bunch of guys can learn how tAl o do something this easily in such a short amount of time. Anyway, we hear some things when we listen that we'd love to have done differently, but we like the way the record sounds and can't wait to share it with our friends and family.
8.25.04: We're mastering the record at John Golden this Friday! The artwork is done and is an extension of the theme here on the Contribution website: basic, clean, centered around meaningful colors (i.e., green for growth, etc) and the Contribution logo that GSD worked up for us. The title of the record is "What Is Your?" and includes 10 tracks. They are: Wake Up America; What Have You Got?; Live Learn Die; Contribution; Police Line; Nothing Is Forever; That's What They Tell You; Comfort Zone; Become Human, and Wake Up America (reprise), which features a chorus of our friends and families. The CD comes complete with lyrics and will be released on Goldenrod Records. It will be available here for $10 postage paid within the US in Mid September, although the release date won't actually be until early October. More soon.
8.8.04: After a month's working sabbatical we're finally back at practice and scheduling shows again. The record, with a working title of "What Is Your?" will be released in October and we're planning on playing some dates to promote it. Right now we've got a show at Club Static in Anaheim on August 27th, plus an ASR show, and hopefully a show at the etnies Skatepark for their Goofy vs. Regular contest in early October, as well as more club dates and hopefully a couple of all-ages shows. Stay tuned for more details!
6.25.04: We've been working our asses off to get the whole album done. It's getting close. We haven't been playing any shows at all, and have just been playing in the garage and working on the record for 10 weeks now. We've got 10 songs very close to being done. Tonight I took off the old version of What Have You Got that's been up since April 13...More soon.
4.13.04: The decision was made to remix Wake Up America so it's now been removed. I've put up What Have You Got, which will stay here until we decide that the mix sucks, but until then, enjoy our follies!
4.8.04: Last night we did some rough mixes on two songs: What Have You Got, and Wake Up America. You can, for a limited time, get this rough mix of Wake Up America. Don't lag on downloading it, because this will probably be the only place you'll ever be able to hear this version, and it'll be gone soon.
4.4.04: It's 6 in the morning, and daylight savings time is now in effect. I almost shouldn't bother with sleeping. Just got back from the show--the most fun show yet. Good crowd, good bands to play with, and a cool club and club owner who was relaxed about El Nada showing up to play, even though they'd pulled out a while back... The sound was reasonably good considering what the sound system looks like--a really fun place to play. I've already posted some photos in the photo section, including some of rippers the Cacti Widders--they're a great band. Goodnight. Actually, I'll turn this thing over to Tom: OK, now that's more like it! What a show! Last night's follies at the Anarchy Library were by far the best! We went on before the Cacti Widders (who, by the way are awesome!) to a packed house, lots of friends and friends of friends. The Anarchy Library, if you've never been there, is a cool little pool and beer joint. The bartender is actually nice, and the owner, Kevin, who also does the sound, was totally on it! Speaking of the sound, if i have one gripe, (and i always do) i couldn't quite hear Hoggo's guitar, but only on a few occasions (no one seemed to care). That being my only complaint, I'd say all in all- a killer show!On a personal note, I'd like to thank Mike, Rita and Scott for driving down from L. A. Where was bulky? Mis-spelled by Tom.
4.2.04: Hadn't worked on the site for a bit, but last night added the photo page sections, changing it up a little. Also set up the guestbook, updated the shows page, added more photos from the Belly Up show, and added Tom's rants about the last couple shows. Hagop's got Spring Break so we're going to see that manifesto this week, too. We made our first stickers and did the artwork for buttons, but I couldn't find the button-maker, so we probably won't have those for tomorrow night's show...
4.1.04: Journal entry by Tom. Here's what happened, we were trying to get some shows lined up, you know, a few local ones, no big deal. I came up with the idea of piggy-backing with my friend Ashley's band Lower Lip--they're an all-girl metal/punk band. I put Mark in touch with her, and it was set, we had a show lined-up. Our first show with the ladies was to be at a San Marcos bar called The Jumping Turtle, and we kind of squeezed in, but were told we'd get to play a 45 minute set. So we make the hectic drive from OC for the opening slot, set up, and after a brief sound check, we broke straight into our franken-song Pipetruck, a combo of Police Truck by the Dead Kennedys and Pipeline by Agent Orange. The sound was pretty good, but more important, we were dead on! After we finished that song, someone (local good ole boy) yelled "faggots!" I thought it was one of our friends, egging us on, buy apparently not. About four songs in, the sound guy runs up to mark and tell him "to wrap it up." Huh? What? Why? Well, needless to say we were disappointed, I mean here we are a 90-minute drive, not getting paid, Hagop was actually on vacation with his family in Carlsbad! He took time out of his schedule to drive over to meet up with us, and this dope is telling us to wrap it up? Lame. As we broke down the stage, several people came up to me and said we were "killer" Later I was told we and Lower Lip were the best acts of the seven or eight that played that night. Good job Jumping Turtle! We'll make sure to let everyone know about your "killer" night life!
Now, on the other hand, the show at The Belly Up in Solana Beach was, in contrast, totally killer! Good venue, good sound, good beer in the green room! We went on first, followed by Operatic, Jesse Fritsch's band. The only complaint I'd have, is the possible mis-match of bands--we sound a lot different from the other two bands, but Jesse hooked up the show so it's all good. Thanks! If thats my only gripe...we'll be ok! (I gripe about everything.) It was cool to look out from behind my kit to see Neil Blender holding Hagop's little tape recorder, Kristian Svitak and John Ponts rocking out, a few people in the back pogoing, and members from the other bands, side stage, yelling for more!
This Saturday we open for the Cacti Widders. Tom Knox plays drums, one of the Hum brothers plays guitar--I've seen them before in San Luis Obispo when I was up there with Steve Olson and Duane Peters, and they packed the house and sounded great! Totally destroyed the place! Hopefully this Saturday, we'll destroy it, too!
3.4.04: Added some photos in the last couple days, and added the show at the Anarchy Library on the 3rd of April--thanks, Tom Knox and the Cacti Widders. Also added a few songs to the list of songs we're doing, and we're still waiting on the tentative shows. Stay tuned.
2.29.04: There's a date you don't see too often. I was out of town on Thursday so we didn't practice, but our friend Tom Knox is helping us get a show with his band the Cacti Widders at the Anarchy Library, and some of our other friends in a band called Lower Lip have asked to play a few shows in San Diego. And Art and Steve Godoy and their band the Exploding F*** Dolls have asked about a couple of shows in Orange County as well. So we'll finally be playing again...
2.22.04: We practiced a new song tonight: Hagop's new one is called "Comfort Zone" and it's got this sixties San Francisco feel to it. Pretty cool. We also shot some photos for the first time, unless you count the one photo Hagop shot of us before the show in Long Beach a few weeks ago. It looks like there may be a couple shows coming up in March...details to follow if they get confirmed.
2.15.04: We've been recording a demo type thing in the garage, and it's about halfway done. Were hoping to use that to get some shows and start playing our friends' places all over California, and have tentative plans for a western US skate and band trip for sometime this summer. The songs we're recording are: Wake Up America, Contribution, Something For Free, Live Learn and Die, Become Human, All The Greatest Things, If The Kids Are United (Sham 69), Pipetruck (our original instrumental arrangement of the JFA song, which is an original combination arrangement of The Surfaris "Pipeline" and Dead Kennedys "Police Truck"), and maybe a couple others. Hagop's voice has been sort of shot lately and so things have been a little slow.
2.2.04: So here's how this all came about: Another band that Hagop and I are in had an opportunity to play a show with the Hunns, but we didn't really have a bass player, and our friend/drummer just wasn't into to playing the show. So we asked two other friends if they wanted to try to practice and learn the songs and do the show, and it was on. We kind of just never looked back. The other band would still be fun to play with--we'd love to, if all four of us could ever get together, but for now, since that's not possible, we're doing this. Our first practice was on January 2, and we came up with the name right before the Hunns show. The weekend before that we had a 'live practice' at the ASR trade show in San Diego, where, as usual, we couldn't hear ourselves. Considering it was Javi's first time on stage, two weeks after learning the songs, we did pretty well...
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We don't have any T-Shirts yet, but they're on their way, too.
Contribution is four guys from Southern California who play songs about the world they see around them every day. Avoiding trivial subject matter, Contribution celebrates life's greatest things, and closely inspects the daily threats to those treasures: love, family, innocence, and joy, as well as war, greed, power, and hatred are common themes. Like many punk bands before them, they not only play political music, but they are politically active, often playing Rock Against Bush and Rock The Vote benefit shows, and they are steadfastly D.I.Y., even having recorded their debut album What Is Your? in the garage where they practice.
Fusing sixties garage rock, seventies punk, and timeless rock hooks, Contribution’s music is a grooving soundtrack to positive life, a guide to hope on personal and global levels, even as they examine life's harsh realities. Live, the boys throw everything they've got into each show--it's not hard to feel passionate about such personal, emotionally charged songs. And that translates throughout everything they play--even as they throw out the occasional live cover by the Clash, Joy Division, Fang, or Los Olvidados--Contribution is a band you can feel good about.