snake cable!

so… i was able to find a great deal on an 8 channel snake, but it had a different type of connectors on one end than will work for us, so i spent some time today in the backyard soldering 1/4″ connectors where there were previously XLR’s.. sounds fun right?? well, i suppose it sort of is for me,, not really the soldering part, but the knowing what the cable is gonna do for us and getting excited about the tour!

the trusty soldering iron

the original XLR plugs i chopped off!

the new 1/4" plugs attached,soldered, and ready to rock!!

i am off to the post office right now to send out TOUR POSTERS! to all the venues:

onward-upward-poster

then,,, spending the rest of the day (probably rest of weekend) getting the word out about the tour! – sending press releases to press, blogs, clubs, record stores, etc…  otherwise we are pretty set for the tour.. still trying to find a show for sat sept 25th near santa cruz…. and the week of 10/3-10/9 something in fresno and bakersfield… we’ve never had  shows in the central valley before, so would love to get those towns lined up!! if anyone knows anyone…  ?? !!

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tour poster!

fall tour is shaping up …. more shows added,, more record store appearances.. Hot Topic in stores to be announced soon, new TShirts… and more!  The tour poster art is another beautiful Heather Lloyd drawing!! (see more of her work at www.blackbirdflying.net) we have officially named the tour the “Onward & Upward Tour” !!

thanks to everyone’s help so far in getting the shows lined up, and the other support – its already looking onward and upward and we havnt even hit the road yet!

you’ll be able to get the tour posters in the merch store later this week!

here’s how the schedule is looking so far:

we’d love all the help you can give in spreading the word about the tour shows — if you know anyone in the cities we are playing, please please let them know! we hope to have these shows be the best we’ve ever had. even 2 more people at a show is huge for us! and we’d love to spread our music to as many people as possible….  :)

a LOT of the shows on the upcoming tour are FREE !! so no need to save up $ to see us, just come on down! there are some ALL AGES shows as well and most likely a few more to be added at Hot Topic Stores, Record stores, and shopping malls.

thank you!!!

—-

we played a little acoustic shindig last week called the ISGOODmusic Firelight6…. we played 3 tunes: if i go, why am i, and sleep tight. we actually remembered to get the video camera rolling… so here are the videos for the songs:

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HUGE-abc-family

so a funny little song i wrote was just used on an episode of ABC Family’s show “HUGE” !!  they have posted the episode on their website here :

http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/huge

the song was performed by td band BAP ATTAK  (bapattak.bandcamp.com) and is called “Happy”

it is the very last song on the show at the very end , the last scene, and then into the credits. !!!

go check it out and have a smile, its a fun silly song

hopefully they’ll use a brightmillion song next!! i’ll let you know if they do, and let you know when it is airing so you can watch it live!!

tony and i have been writing a bunch of new material and are excited to share it with you on the next tour!! i am very excited about how things are coming together

WARNING!! the rest of this post is serious music gear nerd talk… non-gear nerds be-warned,,, !!!!

we investigated the non-working amp situation and Oh Happy Day , it was just a blown fuse!! i was worried because most amps have a fuse holder on the back of the amp to quickly change fuses, but this ol guy didnt….. — but we took it apart and found that the fuse was on the circuit board on the inside of the amp.. not a very good place to have the fuse, but oh well, at least thats all it was. so a quick trip to “The Shack”  (what they are calling Radio Shack these days to sound more hip i guess.,…) and we are good to go with a new fuse! amp #2 back in business..   we also put some heavy duty surge protectors on all the amps between the amps and the extension cords, to hopefully catch this problem next time before a fuse blows. hopefully just the surge protector trips and we can just flip it back on and keep rockin!

ive been trolling ebay today getting afew odds and ends for our live show— we have lots of cables running everywhere with our backing tracks, mics for the in-ears system, etc and it gets a little complicated on stage if there is aproblem to quickly identify  the culprit,, lots of black cables tangled everywhere in the dark! so…. its all about making our set up easier, so… i got some Colored Mic Cables! woohoo! this way everybody has a different goofy colored cable for easy quick recognition! every little bit helps since we are only 2 guys setting up 4 people’s worth of gear on stage. and when we are not the first or last band of the night, we have to get on and off the stage quick and painlessly!

we also had a bum mic splitter to feed the house PA and our In-ear system, so i picked up a new Whirlwind SP1×2 transformer splitter,,, crossing my fingers that it does the trick, we’ve had lots of bad luck with ground loops and buzz,,,,,, so this little box better fix that!!!

hmmm what else,,,,, oh yeah, looking for a sennheiser e609 guitar cab mic,,, anyone got one? we’ve been using a 57 on my guitar amp to feed our in-ear system but i have a plan to make things even simpler… since the 57 needs a little stand to be on in front of the amp, thats one more little thing we have to carry around and set up on stage, so instead, the e609 mic is a “side address” mic :

sennheiser e609 guitar amp mic

so… basically, i can hang it from its mic cable over the top if the amp and in front of the speaker…. thus eliminating the mic stand! one less thing to set up! oh, how the little things make me happy… some people like fancy cars, i like simplifying the stage set-up by eliminating a 2lb  mic stand!

i am also in the process of rigging up a system so that i can control my in-ear mix from my front of stage position… right now, tony has the in-ear mixer in the rack next to him, so if i need changes to my mix mid show i have to try to communicate them to him, which can be hard since we both have in-ear monitors plugging our ears! this way, i’ll have a little mixer by my pedal board that i can control my mix of vocals, guitars, drums, bass,etc. HEAVEN!  i’ll post some pics once its all rigged up! i’m also putting a tuner on my pedal board that will be constantly on so i can see/ adjust my tuning mid song without having to stop/ mute the signal!  as i’ve mentioned in the past, my heavy hands when playing seems to get guitars out of tune real quick! it has been a plague of my live show for awhile now.. AND i just switched my SG#2 ’s tuning pegs to Planet Waves Locking Auto-Trim tuners !! i tried them at the last show and they are AWESOME!!! the ol SG stayed in pretty good tune throughout the show! they make re-stringing super easy and fast too! they dont require the string to be wound around the peg at- all so just put the string through and you are done! then when you start to turn the peg to tune, it automatically trims off the string excess too!! WOOHOO!! these things were designed by a super genius!  no tools, cutters, winders required!! again, making things easier and more efficient.. can you see the theme here… i am OBSESSED with making things EASY! and painless! !!!

i tried some new in-ear monitors at the show and they worked pretty good! they are actually not professional in ears at all,,,, but some cheapo earphones i found online that are made for people riding motorcycles/  hmm what? yup, i guess people riding motorcycles have issues hearing their music or talking with passengers, etc, which i guess makes sense.. so the deal is this the earphones come with this putty stuff that you mold to your outer ears and then it hardens… thus making a “custom” seal to your individual ears!   sorta like a poor man’s version of pro custom molded in ears, just like $1000 less expensive!  sure, the sound quality is prob not as good, but man did they fit in my ears nice! no more popping out of the ears when i head bang! they stayed in my ears thru the whole show no problem! here’s the site if you want to check them out: they are called ear fuze

ear fuze inear monitors !!

http://earfuze.com/

ultimate ears cost $1000, earfuse cost $44  woohoo!! they will do for now,,, when the money starts rolling in, i guess we’ll upgrade to the real deal,, but hooray for inexpensive workarounds for now!

ok, end gear nerd talk for today!   more to come for sure…..

hope everyone  is having a great week !! remember, you only live ONCE!!! so make the best of it TODAY!!! it is easy to let the routine set in and let the days pass, but hey, have some fun today, and spend some time with the people you love and doing the things you love. there is plenty of other people to get the work done and do the monotonous things done…!! as they say, very few people look back and say, ‘gee, i wish i woulda spent more time at the office…..”

LIVE FULL _ DIE EMPTY   !!!

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the new ride

more sunny days here in LA.. ive been soaking up some sun and working on my new ride…. a 1992 volvo 240 ..!! it needed alittle love, so i gave it a full tune up, spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, oil filter, oil change, and front brake pads! next is a fuel filter .. seems the fuel pressure is a bit low,, hopefully its just a clogged filter… well, enough about car stuff,,,,actually, i dont know much at all about cars/ mechanic type things, but have been trying to learn more about it lately… mostly out of necessity!!  with the “new” old volvo and the bandvan… there is plenty of “vintage” car work to be done.. and without unlimited funds, mechanics can get spendy! with the magic of the interweb, there is alot of info avail to us all about how to do most everything. so… why not get dirty and give it a try !  i prob saved us a ton of $ by doing these things myself,, even if you take in the account of the time spent to learn how to do it//  and i see it this way- i can either pay a mechanic $500 to do the work, which means i have to somehow work x-number of hours to come up with the $500… OR   i can skip the “work” middle man, spend my time learning a new skill and not have to pay anyone.. prob the same amount of hours of my time spent, but at doing something new and productive!!  work smarter not harder!  so… i think we can all work less and be a little craftier in our daily lives to make up the difference!! if you dont spend as much, you dont have to make as much, etc…. but that doesnt mean you have to have less.. just acquire the extra stuff in a craftier way then $ exchange.. in my opinion bartering &  DIY can get a lot value bang for the buck than simple $ exchange… most everyone thinks they dont get paid enough per hour to their day job, so why not try to work less of those “not paid enough” hours by not needing as much cash to get the things you want?>??    so—- grow some food! change your own break pads!! – dont know how??, just ask, i’ll help you out! or we can prob figure it out on the web somewhere  ;)   of course, this is not to say anything against mechanics! by all means if you hate cars and have the $ let em do the dirty work! im just sayin, sometimes its more interesting to learn how to do it yourself.

i’ve been reading “the conquest of happiness” by bertrand russell and he was actually talking about this very thing today,, saying that a lot of folks are unhappy in their day to day lives for no real apparent reason,,, he suggested that some of it might be from the modern society making the small things in life almost too easy to acquire, so there is no real struggle for the necessities  of life..  not that people dont struggle to work to make $ to pay for necessities, but that once you have the $ , the $ exchange isnt fulfilling. you didnt have to grow or catch your food, build your shelter, etc, so the small instinctual survival needs and drives are in a way ignored and never fulfilled… maybe we can all get a little more in this area by becoming a bit more self sufficient..?? be a little handier grow a veggie in a pot on the patio, sew up that shirt with the hole in it rather than just buying new one..? it feels good to be productive on a base level, to take of yourself and your family, or dog or cat or whatever.!! its easy to buy things, just get some $ and hand it over! anyone can do that… but not anyone can learn how to build something or make something, or grow something or whatnot….  the table you build may not be as pretty as the one at ikea, but it will probably be more beautiful  :)

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my typewriter

frantically booking the next CA tour for sept/oct… seems to far away, BUT in the venue booking world its already getting booked up quick!  we’ve been focusing on our album writing/recording so much lately, that i havent had as much time as needed to book the tour… so i’ve spent the last couple days working in it. — we want to play in your city! if you have an idea of where we should play in your town, let us know we will be on the road sept 10-oct 13 this time around, going from  san diego to SF bay area, over to vegas and back. some dates are already confirmed, and are listed on the the “tour” page of brightmillion.com  more dates are being worked out as we speak, i’ll let you know as soon as they are confirmed.

this tour should be a little more relaxed on our prep, since we have the bandvan in good shape now – new brakes and its running good…. we have our T-Shirt printing press rockin, and have some CDs left over from our last assembly run. — its more a ffocus on getting as many shows as we can in the time allotted… we are still looking for shows in Santa Barbara, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Jose,,, if anyone can suggest places????

we are toying with the idea of converting the bandvan into a sleepervan & then towing our gear in a trailer,, that way we always have our home on wheels, and dont need to rely in motels…  its just a thought right now, still need to figure out how big a trailer we’d need and if we can get the jacuzzi into the back of the van!!

the new songs are coming along….. recording isnt going quite as quick as we’d hoped…. but i guess it pays to get it right

tony is in michigan for the week visiting his family, so its up to me to hold down the brightmillion fort…. planning on spending a lot of the week in various parks pondering lyrics…….

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monterey, ca

hey! long time no blog…. we’ve been busy locked up in the studio working on new songs for the album and havnt been getting out much….

but, i have been working late nights to get the brightmillion.com website up and running… !!! i dont know anything about websites.. but it all seems to work, so cross your fingers! chances are ,, if you are reading this, you are finding it o the brighmtillion.com site, so all should be working… if thats not where you found this.. go check it out now! — @ www.brightmillion.com

I wanted a single site that you can find out everything you need to know about the band, all in one place. – status updates, tour dates, photos and videos (updated almost daily), music- you can listen to and download MP3s directly from our site now! , also a complete brightmillion merch store- all new products are up there- the new Tour T-Shirts, 4 different Posters, CDs, etc,etc////  check back often to get the latest news. — better yet, sign up on the email newsletter to get important updates directly to your inbox-  for more frequent updates, follow us on twitter (twitter.com/brightmillion), facebook (facebook.com/brightmillion) and youtube (youtube.com/brightmillion)

we look forward to having more frequent photos, videos, blogs etc to share with you!!

the album is sort of behind sched in the sense that we were hoping to start recording it by now,, but we’ve been making such good progress in the writing stages, that we’ve been taking a bit more time before hitting record…… slow and steady wins the race,,, right??  we will however be playing some of the new songs at our live shows in the near future with or without finished recordings////

recording guitars

what else is new…. hmmm… it HOT here in LA, seems like everywhere in the US it is right now, so that’s prob not big news to anyone

ummm….. the brightmillion farm is growing good, i’ve been picking lots of yummy produce lately, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, tomato, peppers,celery, kale, dandelion,onions, mint, oregano, and more.!!!!!!

seems like its been awhile since my last blog that there should be more news to catch up on,,, um,,,, the bandvan got new brakes! so we can stop again… which is always good. it seems it works best when it both goes and stops..

tony’s been gearing up his kit with new hardware, soon to be unveiled at the next show. i havnt even seen it yet, but i hear its real purty

i sorta broke off a tuning peg from one of my SGs at a recent show, seems swinging a guitar and hitting the head stock into an amp doesnt fare well with little knobbies..  i’ve been looking for replacement tuners.. anyone got suggestions? got my eye on the sperzel trim-locks, which should help me stay in better tuning while beating up the guitars live… also maybe upgrading to graphite bridges to lessen string breakage.

go go gadget guitar

i am still booking the fall tour, so hopefully will get a few more dates in YOUR area check the tour page for the complete listing.

2:50 am, i guess time for bed. oh yeah, we got anew little kitty named billy :

billy

he was abandoned at our vet’s office and they found that he had FeLV … which unfortunately means he would most likely never get adopted  so… they knew we had a house full of FeLV cats, so gave us ring!  he is a typical 3 month old kitten WIRED AND CRAZY! i also got a call from the kitten rescue shelter we work with that they have a female calico that is in desperate need of a foster home, so looks like we’ll be getting yet another member of the household soon….!!!! yes, i am becoming the ‘crazy cat lady’

ammpper

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its been a busy couple days– since i dont know anything about websites or programming or html,etc… but decided i should just teach myself… hmmm what??  the old interweb/google search is a beautiful thing!! you cn  learn anything if you put your mind to it!  so, please be gentle, its my first website build, but i think it should have everything you could be looking for from brightmillion… photos. videos. blog. news. links. merch. oh my!

well, im a gettin back to more html’n so the site is hopefully finished tonight…..???!!!!

oh, so go to this link! – a blogger posted this live recording of us in las vegas, from our last tour-!!  go to the link and scroll down to find a music player of us playin!!

http://joys-of-rotation.blogspot.com/search/label/brightmillion

!!!!!!

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http://joys-of-rotation.blogspot.com/2010/06/your-
pretty-face-is-going-to-hell.html

here is the audio file if you want to download it/ hear it-

brightmillion_intro_waiting wires

it is our new yet-to -be- titled instrumental, and ‘waiting wires’ thanks to the unknown blogger for posting it!

our next show is in Los Angeles, this thursday, june 10th @ 11pm – @ LaBries in Glendale. then next friday june 18 in Pasadena – @ Old Town pub. – off to water the raspberries and unload the van from tour time.. more pics, vids, etc real soon from the shows.

brightmillion_intro_waiting wires

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