Say hello again...to new reviews!!!

So it's been quite the fortnight (or bazillionight) since we've posted on here, but it's time we take a break for Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Sonic Bids, steadymacheteband.com, and whatever else I'm forgetting that we've been building up over the months, and post a blog.  We promise to do a better job at this, if you promise to read it.  Deal?  Deal.

Well without doing a whole since-you-last-heard-from-us type of post, let's just get down to business.  Our first, full-length album was just released.  Worldwide, I might add.  How so?  Tunecore.  They are a wonderful little company that allowed us to put our album on every single iTunes store in the world plus Amazon.com, PLUS Amazon On Demand.  All for less than what I spend on a good dinner.  So as of today, you can all go to one of the aforementioned stores, and purchase it.  Or, send us an email and we'll tell you how you can buy it directly from us.

Next up, obviously, would be the reviews.  Two came out today that we've been waiting for anxiously.  Nervously, even.  Being our first "real" album (complete with cover art and credits) we couldn't help but fear what the critics would say.  Luckily, they understand us and we them.

First up from SLUG (Salt Lake Underground) a certain Jon Robertson gives us the most sought after nod in the SLC scene.  The SLUG nod.  Sought after because, from what we've seen, they can be awfully brutal there.  Deservedly brutal, but brutal nonetheless.  So it really tilted our skirts to read his amazing critique.  Especially the one criticism he has, which, honestly we share 100%.  And we're working on fixing that for the next album.  See it here.

Next, also showing its pretty face online today, is the review from IN Utah This Week Magazine.  We love this publication so much.   We are not new to them and they have been giving us respect for some time now by a previous write up, and having us play at their "Scene In SLC Party."  Which was one of our best shows to date.  Spencer Sutherland goes a little further in the way of reviews as he tells his opinion of what we're good at.  We liked that a lot, and are taking that to heart.  You can find that here.

So now that we got the reviews we hoped for, we're now going to be taking an official band picture tomorrow which will complete our EPK.  This is vitally important since this is the final week to submit to South by South West music festival.  A dream since I first saw a documentary on it years ago.  I can't describe how amazing it would be to get chosen, and how well we'd fit in down there.  We truly believe that.  So wish us luck!!!

Our EPK

Sub Pop, Sundance, and EP update

A few weeks ago we were invited to play once again at the Star Bar in Park City, this time during the Sundance Film Festival. Of course our immediate expectations are playing to a full club after doing shots with Scarlett Johanson, and signing a million dollar record deal. Totally possible.

Star Bar is located at the very top of the hill on Main Street and in years past, has been the sole official music venue for Sundance. As we were setting up and sound checking for our last show there, the extremely friendly and capable sound tech was giving us glory stories about Slash and Scott Ian making impromptu appearances on the stage with other veteran metal bands. Playing in any venue that is rich in history is always a rare pleasure. Playing there again on a night that just might make history--at least for us--is just plain exciting.

The manager of the bar asked us to play on a Tuesday night, but thought better of it upon organizing a show Sunday with the Washington Film Society, and Sub Pop Records. Very kind of him to think of us to play when a record company throws a party during Sundance. Turns out we're playing with a band called, Handsome Furs who are, naturally, signed to Sub Pop Records. For those who don't know Sub Pop, think Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and more recently, Wolf Parade (singer/guitarist is the same for Handsome Furs), Postal Service, and a personal favorite, Band of Horses.

So we're working double time to finish up our "new" EP which will probably once again be called "Fisticuffs." Hey, it won best EP of 2008 according to like 20 people on PostFontaine's blog. Why fix it if it's not broke? The official line-up of songs will be as follows:

Fisticuffs
Adios
My Engine
The Cause
The Sun Rose in the West

These are all redone, and recorded by Tommy on his several-year old Powerbook using Garage Band. I hate to break it to the local studios, but so far, this mix sounds remarkably better than the $50/hour stuff. We're so excited to release this new disc. If it ends up sounding as good as we think, we're going to actually do the album art and have them manufactured as a real CD ready to sell. Now if we could just get Love Monkey 4000 to finish our t-shirts, we'd be in business. But back to the upcoming show:

We really just can't say how flattered and excited we are to be playing this show. Of course, often times we find out we're playing a show and we think, wow, there's gonna be TONS of people here, or we may get noticed/signed! But alas, we end up playing with really great bands for a handful of really great fans. Nevertheless, ScarJo could still find her way to the top of the hill--Ryan Reynolds in tow--and wonder, "what is this fantastic music I'm hearing?"

The Late Greats

So I decided more people should read this. In order for that to happen though, perhaps we should write more frequently. So this is my pre-new-year's resolution.

Jake Moran, our drummer which is no longer categorized as "new", has proven to be the best decision we've ever made. He's worked out wonderfully as far as learning the oldies and what we've written since his presence, is very exciting. I thought it would be a good time to let everyone in on our album/EP plans. We have 8 songs that we consider "old." They are:

Adios
Broad Street
Fisticuffs
Dirty Mouth
Insolvent
The King and I
The Cause
Taken

Then we have our "new" songs:

My Engine
Bonnie Parker
Jack Knife
country song
piano song
new song #1

So the last three don't have names, in case you can't tell. Now, we have battled and battled with different "studios" and recording persons and have come to the conclusion that unless someone wants to record us for free, we're taking this project into our own hands. Miraculously, we've done some sample recordings on Garage Band (Apple's standard FREE recording app that also happens to be the world's BEST app. Free or paid fo') and it sounds BETTER than our $25 - $50 per hour recordings. Infuriating. So we're going to start with a new 3-song demo and include the following songs:

Adios
My Engine
Fisticuffs

These songs will be re-recorded and re-mastered 100% by us in our practice space. They will have a much more live feel to them and will better represent how we really sound. What we'd like to do is record those first 8 songs and put them on an EP and release it on iTunes, etc. and then work on a full length album that will include the new songs and some of the old ones.


Donations are appreciated. :)

Big Ass (hole) Show

Okay, we've posted enough about how much of a hassle it was to get to compete to play this thing--here's how it went.

First let's say how grateful we were/are that we got to play. Thanks, seriously.

Anyway, we arrived right at 8am as instructed. Speaking of instructions, when we received the email that explained how to proceed, our time slots, set time, etc. we were completely blown away at how condescending it was. I don't know if Randi from X96 is a dick in real life, but this letter, was insulting. I know you gotta be tough with local bands and make sure they don't run wild, but why can't you just say that we're not allowed to sell our merch unless we go through the venue's booth? Instead, it reads: "Local bands are not allowed to 'pedal their wares.'" That makes us feel like beggars. Ridiculous.

After finally finding the entrance and talking with the surliest staff member we could find, we made our way to the Live and Local stage. Now, if that stage were set up next to my childhood doghouse, with its broken chain link fence, rusty nails, and rotten, swollen boards, this stage would have appeared impressive. Not being in the vicinity of any kennels, the stage looked quite pathetic next to the grandeur that is the USANA Amphitheatre. Not to mention the location.

Imagine a baseball diamond and the concession stands along the outer wall. Then imagine a parking lot on the other side of the concession stands. That's where the Live and Local stage was. It actually looked like you weren't supposed to go back there. Very uninviting, no signs whatsoever as to what went on through the small entrance between the bathroom and security guard station, nor was there a line-up posted of local bands. In fact, there was no mention at all that there was even another stage! X96 has, in the past, been known to overshadow one of their events with another under their same sponsorship.

So while we unloaded our gear onto the grass, we heard all of the other local bands complaining that this was a tad bit insulting. Listen, it's not that we feel entitled to equal treatment as the national acts, but this was seriously embarrassing. We had fans paying $20 (before smithstix wonderful 8$ surcharge) just to see us play in a parking lot.

Fast forward to our set. We stuck by the local stage the entire time because the main stage had absolutely NOTHING to offer. We were supposed to get 20 minutes--we ended up at about 16 because of being "behind schedule." What schedule? The local stage was done at 3:30pm and the main show went until 9 o'clock. What's the rush? Anyway, despite a lot of negative aspects, we had a WONDERFUL show. Something must have ended at the main stage because during our second song, I kid you not, the people showed up in droves. Literally hundreds of people! It was fantastic. The response was amazing and we even had a lovely woman from City Weekly come over to us after our first song and give us waters. We didn't have any and we were quite worried that one of us would pass out in the heat.

So, yes, the stage was in a poor location with literally zero advertisement and there was not a single friendly staff person on the grounds. But despite all that, we had one of our funnest shows to date--albeit the shortest.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

It is with deepest regret that we announce that our drummer, Te Lawrence, has decided to leave the band. Without getting into it too much, let's just say that it had to do with some conflicting personalities and priorities. We do wish him the best and hopefully any of you that are fans of Steady Machete will keep an eye out for him in another band if he ever decides to continue his drumming career.

So what does that mean for us? No, we're not breaking up. Tommy and I immediately started looking for a replacement as soon as the threat of Te's departure appeared. We actually were quite lucky and found someone to fill the position almost immediately. His name is Jake (don't think I ever got his last name). He has a style quite different from that of the dearly departed, but so far it has proven to be a good thing. We will be working on five songs for our two upcoming shows this month. They are, Dirty Mouth, The Cause, Taken, Adios, and My Engine. The King and I might make an appearance since we don't need a drummer for that song. You'll have to come to the shows to find out. We will be redoing our entire cataloug and start our self-produced record.

Monday October 13th
Muse Music w/ Man Without Wax and The Stiletto Formal
Provo
7:30pm
$5

Tuesday October 14th
Kilby Court w/ The Wanteds and Seve Vs. Evan
SLC
7:00pm
$6

Foolish bailout or economic rescue?

Since my day job is in finance, I too am going to weigh in on this behemoth of a topic. This is how sad it is folks, even rock bands are prone to discuss politics and economic status. Mama Cass is choking on a sandwich all over again. Don't worry though, this will be short.

After digesting what I've read and heard about the so-called "bailout" or "economic rescue package" as the proponents like to call it, I've come to a few conclusions and a few questions. First the questions:

Why is so hard to get all the facts? This obviously pertains to everything in life, but in this particular case, it really shouldn't be so hard. I mean, how can there possibly be such a division amongst people and politician about this bill? I may be naive, but this is something that should be either good for the economy or bad for it. Let me explain. If the banks really are in so much trouble, then can't people agree that something has to be done? Even if it is an added burden on the tax payers? Let's say Citigroup, the largest bank by assets, has too many credit default swaps on their books. Even if the accounting rules are changed from mark-to-market to more of a value-at-time-of-purchase system, they still are stuck with the mounting premium costs going out. With so much outgoing expenses, any entity runs the risk of becoming insolvent. So what if the big boys started drying up? Citi, JP Morgan, BofA. The government would HAVE to step in. So the bailout is just a minor form of the massive socialization that would eventually occur anyway.

But wait! The other side is that the banks aren't in that much trouble. Then the complete opposite is true and those that made those risky bets (most are now gone anyway) pay/paid the price and the larger, smarter firms dominate. Sure the market won't like it for a while, but I don't retire for another 30 years so I'm fine with waiting for the upturn. This is what I'm talking about when I say we should have the facts. Being that this whole plan is based upon saving banks by buying their POS assets, there should be complete transparency for us tax-payers to view their balance sheets and decide for ourselves if they run a risk of becoming insolvent. We have a song called "Insolvent." Check it out. When I saw "us tax-payers," I mean a committee of private, independent auditing firms hired to represent the public.

So there are the questions. My conclusion: The banks and Wall Street seem to have pulled a Donald Trump on the government. In "Art of the Deal" Donald tells about how he became so leveraged, that when confronted with an utter failure of his business, he approached the very banks that lent him the money in the first place and basically said, "either we both lose or we both win." They ended up lending him more money so they didn't have to write off so much bad debt to the Donald. We seem to be essentially dealing with the same thing here. The common folk are saying, "if my bakery goes under because I buy too much flour and it gets full of weevils, no one bails me out." Well, if you were the only bakery in the country and we would no longer have bread to sustain us, someone would bail you out. So unfortunately for us, without having all of the facts and perfectly transparent balance sheets, the banks/Wall Street are holding all the cards even after they've made all the risky bets they could.

So what to do? Well, I'm getting married in Vegas in two weeks and I tell you what: I'm pulling out my 401(k) money and putting it all on black and odd. If I lose, I'll just apply for government assistance.

Review!

So like other self-absorbed nerds, I constantly google "Steady Machete" to see if by chance someone is writing about us without our knowledge. Finally, today was that day when I found this review on The Local Landing:

Steady Machete
Sep 6th, 2008 by Mark Hardcore.

"This band is definitely worth writing home about. They had great stage presence and a unique Depeche Mode meets Against Me! sound. They also had a great interaction with the crowd, putting on a great stage show. And one of their songs, Adios, really stood out as a bouncy, memorable tune that you’ll want to listen to over and over again, with a fantastic sing-along chorus you won’t be able to get out of your head. Definitely worth the drive from Ogden!"

I'm not sure who this Mark Hardcore person is, but he's a champ in our book! Thanks Mark for the great review! It's actually the first real one we've had. "Real" meaning unsolicited and an actualy description of whether we're a good band or not.

Direct link here.