JANUARY 19, 2010
The Hemlock show was quite a success:
The Bay Bridged just posted a demo from our upcoming album.
SF Station send a photographer and have pictures of the show. Now we are right near Sonic Youth and spitting distance from Jay-Z. Awww yeah!
JANUARY 13, 2010
The San Francisco Chronicle piece just showed up on-line. It is quite an honor and accomplishment to be in such a prestigious paper. I have been reading it for years on the BART. Oh, John Carroll and Tim Goodman! Even you Mick LaSalle! Peruse it here! Or better yet, buy a paper. They're still around.
Also, we just got added to two new shows. One is January 20th at the Elbo Room and one is February 11th at The Blue Macaw. Please see the shows page for more info.
JANUARY 6, 2010
We have a show coming up Thursday, January 14th at the Hemlock Tavern with the Shants and Ash Reiter. Really excited for this show.
Also I am pleased to announce that we have won a The Bay Bridged Recording Grant!!!. We are going to be recording at Tiny Telephone at the end of February and mixing in the beginning of April. As such, hopefully the full album, "All these Slippery things", will be out in May or June. It has been a long time coming, but as we have been working tirelessly on the composition it should be pretty amazing.
DECEMBER 4, 2009
So, the details are so close to being finalized for our February recording which is so exciting. We are also pretty close to being able to release some demo tracks we recorded a couple weekends ago. And SXSW is looking more and more official.
The show at Adobe Books was amazing (plus it was pick of the day at The Bay Bridged!!!). Wolf & Crow are so good and you should without a doubt check them out at some point. We are most definitely going to be playing more shows with them in the future. Annie Bacon's The Folk Opera was a delight as always. They are just getting better and better. And to play acoustically in a quiet space with all those books was surely a treat.
Also, we received some press from the San Francisco Chronicle, who even quoted a Jim Jarmusch film. Awesome!:
"Remember the film, "Down By Law", where Roberto Benigni says over and over, "It's a sad and beautiful world"?
Walking away from an il gato song reminds me...yes it is a sad and beautiful world.
Fun with instruments in the theme here as il gato utilize guitars, loop pedals, mandolin, banjo, upright bass and more. On their Myspace they describe themselves as indie-baroque-folk."
OCTOBER 30, 2009
The First ever il gato tour was a huge success. We played a place in Seattle where Nirvana once played, we went to the Pizza Research Institute in Eugene where we had a curried cauliflower, apple and cranberry pizza (yum!), we ate biscuits and played music in Portland (plus vegan Cap n' Crunch donuts at Voodoo Donuts!). Plus we got to see all the leaves changing color (yellow, orange, red, and every shade in between).
Now we have T-shirts and a couple shows coming up before we finally record at the very beginning of the year. In the meantime we will try to leak a few alternative tracks, but we are oh so excited about the album. It is going to be ambitiously epic. Let's hope!
One show is at the wonderful Amnesia on Sunday, November 22nd with a couple of extremely fun bands.
Another is at Adobe Books on Thursday, December 3rd which will be an intimate affair with Annie Bacon's The Folk Opera which is a 30 minute song cycle comprising one really big story. There also will be new San Francisco band, Wolf & Crow, who have some gorgeous songs. Please come check it out.
OCTOBER 5, 2009
Yes!
SEPTEMBER 19, 2009
More exciting news! The excellent Bay Area resource, The Bay Bridged, just posted "On Feathers and Arrows (on Burnt Pine)" and had this to say....
"Local folk-rock band, il gato, has been working on a new album. Here is a preview that makes us want to hear more..."
Additionally, the Pacific NW tour seems to be coming together and I am super excited! Will post the official dates when they become, well, official.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
Exciting news!
Two new songs ("Blue Skies" and "On Feathers and Arrows (on Burnt Pine") were just posted on Largehearted Boy. They combine literature, music and film, and I honestly pretty much go there every day. I mean where else can you learn that Pearl Jam is the Grateful Dead of our times (seriously!) and find a link for a shirt that say "I Listen to Bands That Don't Even Exist Yet"?
ON FEATHERS AND ARROWS (ON BURNT PINE)
Additionally, soon we will be embarking on a Pacific Northwest tour at the end of October. Tour!
SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
Hello, we just updated our Myspace with 2 new videos from our recent show at El Rio. Our great friend, Howard Cockrill videotaped the songs, and though they miss the beginnings (Touche, Howard!), hopefully it captures the feeling.
"On Feathers and Arrows (on Burnt Pine)" and "The Sky Seemed So Red Today", both off of our upcoming full-length, "All These Slippery Things". Please do go check them out.
And be our fan on Facebook. You know where we are.
AUGUST 12, 2009
Hello, we just updated our Myspace with 2 new songs: "Blue Skies" and "On Feathers and Arrows (on Burnt Pine)". Please go check them out.
And be sure to come out to our show on Friday, August 28th at El Rio. I love El Rio!
JULY 28, 2009
We send our deepest love to Kenneth Blackwood, a dear friend and il gato cohort. You will live on.
Hello, we are in the midst of completing the mixing on a few songs we recorded awhile ago. Currently, there are some rough mixes of "Blue Skies" and "On Feathers and Arrows (on burnt pine)" on Myspace.
The Developments:
* We are about to book some recording time to have a full length.
* We are about to book an October West Coast tour.
* A new website design should be up within a couple of weeks.
* Daimian sat in with Annie Bacon at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn and helped on kazoo with the inestimable George Michael's "Careless Whispers".
Additionally, August 28th we have a show at El Rio in the Mission District of San Francisco which should be amazing!
Hope to see you soon!
JUNE 12, 2009
We are just about finished mixing a couple songs we recently recorded and those should be posted on the Myspace extremely soon. They are sounding really great and I am excited to show a sampling of the revitalized il gato sound.
Additionally, June 27th we have a show in Davis presented by Cool As Folk and opening for a long-time favorite, Tom Brosseau. Cool As Folk is a tremendous Davis institution and it is an honor to be affiliated with them. Please come on down!
JUNE 2, 2009
MAY 1, 2009
APRIL 4, 2009
Lots of developments:
We now have a bassist who will truly complement the drum and add a needed low-end sound. We are soon to start recording our demo for our future Studio album and some of our newer songs are really starting to come together quite nicely. I have also started going to check-out all the local studios to see which one seems like it would be the best fit for the sound we are going for.
We have also booked a show in Davis at Sophia's Thai Kitchen playing on a bill with Tom Brosseau. Personally, I am truly excited for this show as I have loved Davis for awhile and still have the firm belief that someday Tom Brosseau will be a legend. He is such a genuine, talented individual.
Additionally, we will be performing on Pirate Cat Radio's "Baghdad by the Bay" on May 14th. Please listen to us on the radio, your computer or come on down to the cafe and see us in action.
MARCH 1, 2009
Exciting news!
A song off of the debut, stripped-down il gato album was just posted on Largehearted Boy, which is truly one of my favorite blogs around. They combine literature, music and film, and rarely feature any performer who doesn't combine elements from all of the three.
It truly is an honor.
FEBRUARY 20, 2009
FEBRUARY 15, 2009
JANUARY 28, 2009
JANUARY 12, 2009
DECEMBER 10, 2008
SEPTEMBER 28, 2008
Coming up next Friday, October 10th, is a show at Smiley's Saloon in the wonderfully mystical town of Bolinas, California. Escape the city, come hang out with you mother. Enjoy the beach. See the blog for more information.
MAY 26, 2008
Coming up next Thursday, June 5, is a sure to be a wonderful show supporting Annie Bacon (dear friend and fellow il gato member) at her first official show. The show will be at Amnesia and we will also be joined by local luminary Jessie DeNatale. See the blog for more information.
APRIL 7, 2008
We were just added as the featured guest of KALX Live this Saturday night at 9. We will perform a set of music and then be a part of a brief interview. See the blog for more information.
FEBRUARY 22, 2008
Hello, il gato is on hiatus to practice and demo and record. We will have occassional appearances. Call us the Loch Ness monsters of the San Franciscan music world. We need the time, though. We are trying to record our "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea".
Please wish us well. We will need it.
FEBRUARY 20, 2008
So, I got added to a show at the new venue, Retox Lounge in the Dogpatch. There is word the inside looks exactly like the interior of a large plane. I will be supporting the unestimable Chinatown Bakeries, Ash Reiter & Beat Beat Whisper. I will go on early and be performing solo. Live a little, come out!
Big thanks to the wonderful Sonic Living for the poster. Automatically generated.Get out!
JANUARY 10, 2008
There is a show coming up at The Hotel Utah which should be quite enjoyable. It is also the last show I actively booked before I take a little hiatus while trying to prepare to record the first professional, studio-based il gato album. Presently, I have home-recorded my debut demo album, "conversationmusic" (which is available for purchase), but this will be the first album incorporating the full collective and loop pedal. I have high hopes. And I just bought a melodica.
For this show, expect a more stripped-down performance, some new instruments, and joining us will be my old cronies Coloring, the indie-folk-country Lesser Lights, and This Union Standard (performing with Harbours as This Union Sidecar).
DECEMBER 3, 2007
The show at Outta Sight was alot of fun, though I flubbed my one chance to perform the holiday classic I penned ("You're the Turkey" - see other songs page for words), and the show at The Make-Out Room was the new and improved il gato coming out party. It was pretty special.
One coming show is part of a monthly musical celebration at Club Waziema called City Sessions. Something interesting about this show is that even though now Waziema is mostly known as an Ethiopian restaurant, back in the day Billie Holiday, Ike & Tina Turner, and a young Devendra Banhart all played there. The show is Tuesday, December 11th.
Most importantly, though, we have a show coming up at The Hotel Utah on Thursday, December 20th. We will be joined by the venerable San Francisco institution Chinatown Bakeries, the wonderful prairiedog, the new-to-me Messes and also my parents who will be in town for the holidays from Gainesville, Florida (home of Tom Petty and Gatorade).
We have been trying out a few new songs and just really touched on the inner acoustic/goth/trip-hop soul of one. Sure to be interesting. Currently our line-up is banjo, trumpet, drums, acoustic guitar, harmonica, and loop pedal, but I think we will be joined by mandolin and an additional guitar for the Hotel Utah show. We hope you can join us.
NOVEMBER 19, 2007
Two shows coming up this week: one is a solo performance featuring two songs and the second has the full band (banjo, trumpet, drums, acoustic guitar, harmonica, loop pedal) and is a full show as support for Benjamin Winter.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21st : OUTTTA SIGHT - The Holiday Showcase
Edinburgh Castle
I will be performing two songs, including an original Holiday composition
called "You're the Turkey" (about laboratory mice, the Da Vinci code, the
Native Americans, corn casserole and more).
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd : THE MAKE-OUT ROOM w/ Benjamin Winter
7:30 - 9:30
So, this could be great as the The Make-Out Room has early shows so the
floor can break into a dance party afterwards. This also is great for you
early to bed folks as we literally go on almost exactly at 7:30. Awesome, right! It would be most excellent if you can join us.
Also, more shows to come in December.
OCTOBER 14, 2007
So, apologies to those who were going to be able to make it to the Hotel Utah on this Friday, October 19th. It seems I am being replaced by a most worthyadversary: Mr. Frank Black of The Pixies. The show should be great if you get a chance to mosey on down to the Hotel Utah. Frank Black, Waz (Pete Yorn's guitarist) and Lissie (from L.A.).
Hopefully I will have a show there soon and there are a number of other shows on the horizon, I will pass word along as soon as the shows are confirmed. The practices lately have been excellent with a drummer, banjo, trumpet, acoustic guitar and loop pedal. Something special is brewing.
In the meantime I just saw a most wonderful show featuring Alaska in Winter (who had a highly deconstructivist performance and nice electronic meets the new Balkan-Indie rock genre sound), Colleen (a French woman making elegiac, Phillip Glass-style sound creations. Stunningly beautiful.) and Beirut, who are such an enjoyable band to see live. They left this theater usually reserved for lectures and operas of the highest regard with images of a 17th century Bavarian beer hall. Thanks to them.
I also caught some of the amazing San Franciscan tradition "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass" and saw Jeff Tweedy solo and acoustic. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. He and Connor Oberst are both in contention for Bob Dylan of our time; however, as noted by the upcoming "I'm Not There", Dylan surely had a number of personas. I have only seen a few clips, but one of the best actresses of our time, Cate Blanchett, nails "Don't Look Back" era Dylan to the tiniest detail. It really is uncanny.
Additionally, please check out the sounds page as I posted a live show from theHotel Utah from several months back which includes pretty much all new songs and a raucous cover of The Arcade Fire's "Wake Up". Please check it out.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
So, I am working on some new songs and trying to get some other new material up to a demo album quality so I can go record at an official studio. Because of this I will probably not be having alot of shows around these San Franciscan parts. But,ideally, also because of this I will then be able to have alot more shows both here and abroad.
My first album (hear songs on the sounds page) is still available. The CD was recorded, produced and designed by me. The packaging was designed via rubber stamps I had made and there are only a limited amount of personally numbered albums left. I am asking $10 for the album (plus postage and handling - $2). If interested please contact me through my myspace page. Thanks alot.
AUGUST 12, 2007
Hello, I kinda am super excited about the upcoming show at Amnesia. First of all, it feels like there is something in the air and I am going to do my best to grab on to it and go for the ride. Second, come on, it's at Amnesia, Amnesia! One of my ideal places to play in the city, right behind the Swedish American Music Hall. I like intimate, and this is intimate, and bathed in seductive red light. Third, the two opening acts are pretty special. The first act, Coloring, are just forming and are really quite good. Go listen to the songs and the claps. Claps! The other act, Molloy, is a nice individual I met and when I went to go see them they not only had a violin, but a melodica. A melodica! And il gato, jeez, something else! This time they will be composed of accordion, banjo, loop pedal, funky beats, static and trumpet. Trumpet!
JULY 8, 2007
Hey, i just got added to this great local show, Penny Arcade SF: A Semi-acoustic Monthly series. it happens every month, and generally is based at the Make-Out Room. the show starts at 9, and the il gato collective take the stage around 9:30 (we are the second of four acts). the cost is $6, see the flyer on the home page for more info. we will be joined by The Aerosols, Sonya Cotton and Propel.
Additionally, there is even some more exciting news just around the corner, just you wait!
JUNE 29, 2007
There are so many wonderful new things to update about.
First of all, i am super-psyched to present a sure to be stellar show at The Hotel Utah Saloon. if you haven't been to the Hotel Utah, it is an old saloon located inthe SOMA district of San Francisco and fully has the ambiance to match it's history. Most of the interior is made out of wood and then it has a balcony so close to the stage it feels as if you can just reach out and touch the musicians's head (don't however).
I am going to be joined at this show by the wonderful ian bjornstad (and his beartown mates: husband/wife duo howie cockrill and kate cosby). Ian plays a gypsy folk meets elvis costello hybrid. Others have mentioned the indie rock band 'Destroyer'. Regardless, fresh from pursuing the wiles of the world on national/international tours as john vanderslice's keyboardist, we have him gracing our fine city again. Additionally we have a band called caves who are an interesting pscyedellic/folk band playing a stripped-down set for this show. And the il gato set is going to feature an accordion, banjo, mandolin, bass, loop pedal and more suprises, and, get this, end with a sing/clap along. You really don't want to miss it!
Also, there is an il gato show (with a more stripped-down accompaniment) on July 12 as part of The Red Vic Sessions (on Haight Street, by Cole). i will be performing at 7:15.
Additionally, there is now a new video up, and a larger verson of an old video. please check out the sights page.
Also, please revisit the sounds page for live performances as well as post-show audio regarding the il gato experience.
APRIL 21, 2007
I want to send the most heartful thanks to all tens of tens of you who made it out to the CD release party. It was an overwhelming success both for the heart of my music and the music of my heart. All of your kind words are what keeps me going when i think about the daunting task ahead. Hopefully, there will be more moments soon to spend time.
Also, there should be another video (much more proper, yet lo-fi, music video available extremely soon), please check back. And, hey, even a mailing list? Is that too crazy?
Much love,
il gato