ILLUMINATING DRINK: August 2009

Tuesday, 4 August 2009

The Pillbugs live at Village Idiot Maumee July 21 2009

"The show opened with Mark and Dan Playing "Get away for the summer". They then played "Chastity Rose","No Joke","May","Hanging around at Five",Then Davey joined for "Idiot Smiles" and "Paper Aeroplanes" . Dan and Mark continued with "Greeting Committee" and "Feeding the Seagulls" . Mark,Dan and Cecilia Johnson then played "Popcicle Island" and "It's so Good to be Alive"Mark then invited Muffy to sing "I can Never be a Bird" with he and Dan.Then Finally The four Bugs took the stage to play "Life as it Happens","Hold me so Near","Play the Hearback","Soundman",Son of Shirley","I deliver my Love to You" and an un-named tune from the forth coming Tabner disc.Mark then went solo with "Ball of String".Mark and Dan then played "The Kind of Trouble I want","Red Light Summer". Then Dan took the mic and they played "The Plot Next to Garcia". They continued with "Girl on a Lazer Beam".Then Davey came back for "The Peasant Girls". Dan and Mark continued with "Can't Get It Right (So I'm Loving It Wrong)",Then "Madeline"and"Comburda"(with Davey). "Tho Doth Warm me like the Sun", "Liberty Town of Love". "The Kick around Boy","Pretty Young and Free"(With Davey). "Faceless Wonder","Orange Sky People","Happy Birthday","Delicious","The King of Zorg" and "Out in the Midnight. For a grand total of 38 songs!"
Beistovin

"Still beaming after a few days. The presence of the Pillbugs all on stage was incredible energy unleashed and all I could think of is, they need to play live more! The onstage relationship of these incredible musicians and the power of the music was so palatable, one could eat it up with a spoon for dessert! Do you guys have any idea how great you all sound together? Seriously....I hope that it happens again soon and quite frankly, the whole band might consider doing gigs together first locally and then some light touring. I know family considerations and work schedules have a way of getting in the way but this is way too sweet to not share it with the world....I am a bit selfish and I am very fortunate to have you so close to home, hell, I could walk to the Idiot and back , but what we witnessed was beautiful and so powerful that I think the world is ready."
Moonbaking

photos by Anna

Welcome to the multicoloured world of The Pillbugs

Official Bio. The origin of The Pillbugs can be traced back to January of 1991. That's when Mark Kelley first called Mark Mikel up and asked him to form a new band. Kelley brought in drummer Dan Chalmers and Mikel brought in vocalist Dave Murnen and a guitarist who would eventually be replaced 4 times until they found the perfect fit with Scott Tabner (a mutual friend of Kelley and Mikel's).
They became The Mark Mikel Hallucination and started performing shows around Toledo. In 1996 after a respectable amount of local recognition and radio airplay, Mikel wanted to create a new identity for the group. "They deserved to be seen as equals and not just my backing band," Mikel said, "I came up with the idea of The Pillbugs and that we'd go WAY deeper into psychedelia. We released our first album on CD in 1998 on our own label (Omniphonic). I believe it was the first debut release to contain a double CD's worth of new and never-before-released music. Until someone proves me wrong - that's what I believe. The point is we wanted to make something people had to notice." This first release took off very slowly but eventually (with the help of the internet) became a somewhat sought after CD.
The second Pillbugs CD "The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream" (originally another double set) was completed in early 2001. With no real money to put behind it, it sat on the shelf until 2003 until later when they signed with indie label (Proverus). "Proverus had us strip down the album to 1 CD (a brilliant move actually) and then we inserted a 3D Viewmaster reel to make it really crazy," Mikel reveals.
That album was released during the summer of 2003. Proverus helped the group get a lot of notoriety (especially on the web) and also helped to book and manage gigs. 3D sold out of the first run in a matter of 2 months (most of them going to Japan). That was successful enough for Proverus to want a follow-up. The next summer they released their 3rd CD "Happy Birthday" though dark times were looming.
Mark Kelley had been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer in 1999. By the time "Happy Birthday" was released in August of 2004, Kelley had lost his voice completely and could hardly stand on his own two legs.
Knowing their wasn't much time left, the 5 friends took to recording one last album together. "Buzz for Aldrin" sessions began in Sept. 2004, just as Mark Kelley took another down turn and was admitted to the hospital. Recording continued with The Pillbugs not knowing if Kelley would ever return.
He eventually did return and was able to contribute the bass guitar to most of the album from his wheelchair- with a permanent breathing machine surgically attached to his throat. Then the studio recording equipment broke down and it was in repair for over seven months. "By the time the guy got around to fixing it," adds Mikel, "Mark Kelley was past the point of being able to record with us. It took me a long time to get back into the groove and finish the album."
"But we eventually finished it though the recording sessions seemed jinxed from start to finish."
To provide the right grandeur for the release, The Pillbugs employed renowned California artist Mark Roland* to supply the CD art.
The new Pillbugs double disc set "Buzz for Aldrin" was released by Proverus on June 19, 2007.
The Pillbugs signed with Rainbow Quartz and their first CD with RQ, "Monclovia" was released on Oct. 30, 2007.
Everybody Wants A Way Out their second rainbow Quartz album was released Nov. 10th, 2008.
In March 2011 Mark formed two new combos, The Mark Mikel Band and Dark Ocean Colors with Scott Hunt, with two albums by the latter coming soon on Rainbow Quartz

*Mark Roland is indeed a very talented artist look here for a few more examples of his art
http://www.orycon.org/orycon26/markroland.html

update...and his new website is here
The Art Of Mark Roland
http://www.rolandscapes.com/

Tuesday, 4 August 2009

The Pillbugs live at Village Idiot Maumee July 21 2009

Welcome to the multicoloured world of The Pillbugs

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