Auld Lang Syne

Posted on 2011.12.30 by Ali Mills

As I reflect on 2011 and prepare to ring in the new year in spongebob pajamas, I just want to say thank you and tell you a little bit about what to expect in 2012. First of all, we’ll have been around as a band for 6 years! Hard to believe, what started as 3 has grown to 7. Even harder to believe we still all get along… in that brother/sister kinda of way when one chases the other out the door then slams it on the others finger while they cry, yell, kick and scream, and then hug each other and laugh about it the next door. Yeah.

Here’s a quick year in review. We began promoting our album (technically released in December 2010) by venturing out on our first tour. We hit 6 states in 2 weeks and met some great people, and some flat out weirdos. We got to play at SXSW, with several of our LA friends by putting on our own showcase at Cheer Up Charlies. We hope to get to play there again this year because that place is all sorts of cool, plus our good friend India Gail is a bartender there, so be sure you tip the shit out of her if you ever stop by.

After getting back from the road, a few of us got some god awful day jobs and hit the LA venues back up for the rest of the year. Thanks to all our bosses who probably aren’t reading this, and think that we are low life musicians with no focus or plan for the future. Sorry, we still aren’t going to shave… Well, most of us.

We added Nikki Kilker on Piano and Keys, and she is the only reason we sound any good now ;-)

Some of the highlights of playing in LA this past year were at the Silverlake Lounge, Satellite and Bootleg Bar. Having an audience full of people who understand and appreciate your music speaks volumes compared to a full room of people who would rather chatter. Sometimes, we just want to join in on the conversation you know, but we’re stuck on stage. We’ll have to figure out a way to find a balance in 2012.

Another great one (though I had to be reminded about it because I blocked it out of my mind on account of having to play the show with the stomach flu), was our Hotel Cafe show w/ new friend Alana Sweetwater, in support of the Covenant House Charity Event.  What an amazing night!  Seriously though, thank you hipsters, for listening to our music and sharing it with your hip friends. We can’t wait for Pitchfork to tear us a new one…

In all honesty, 2011 was a huge successful year for us. Plus, Britton got married and that was a big enough deal in itself. We accomplished everything we set out to do, and we can only hope for the same in 2012.

Next year you’ll hear a new album, chalk full of new songs, some you haven’t even heard at live shows, and some that you’ve been requesting to have in your iPod for months. With that new album, we’ll be hitting the lovely Snake River Saloon again, in Keystone, CO to kick off a short road trip down to Austin again for SXSW. Thanks for making last year so awesome we had to come back and do it again! For now, that’s all we’ve got lined up. If you want to hear us play in your town, please reach out, leave a comment, send us hate-mail, whatever you gotta do. We appreciate the growing support and love you’ve sent our way. Cheers to 2012.

We now leave you with this exciting baby octopus footage…

Baby Octopus

and our favorite 2011 photos…

Posted in RCU Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Back in Studio…

Posted on 2011.12.04 by Ali Mills

It’s been a bit. We’ve seen a lot of you out at shows, but we can’t give away enough damn copies of our old album. What happened to people liking free shit? I guess we’ll have to make something new, and that’s what we have been working on. With a new member on keys (Ms. Nikki Kilker), and an arsenal of new songs (many of which have already been debuted live), we are now shacked up in a studio on the outskirts of LA, in Hidden Hills, with our producer/engineer extraordinaire, Joseph Holiday (The Diamond Light, Lady Sinatra, The Glory Stompers, The Binges, The Shakers). Stay tuned for photos, videos, sneak previews, and hilarity as we begin our second full-length album!

We like hearing from you, in fact, we kinda miss it… Let us know if you have a favorite new song, idea for an epic album title, or perhaps you have a story you’d like to share about your worst experience in a doctors office.

(We reserve the right to sensor your graphic, disgusting, vile, remarks- though we probably won’t cause most of us have minds that are just as vile)

Posted in RCU Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Posted on 2011.04.18 by Administrator

It’s been busy around the RCU camp. After nearly a month I, and the rest of the band, have finally recovered from tour and SXSW.  We have been hard at work on pumping out some new tunes for everyone.  We are currently seeking a new producer for our next album and are aiming to be back in the studio by this Summer.  This past Saturday we had an amazing show at The Viper Room.  It was very last minute, but the turnout was fucking brilliant!  The energy of everyone in the crowd really lifted the rock spirit.  We played a few new tunes that night, and we even pulled out a surprise cover of “Tusk” by Fleetwood Mac, which the crowd ate up.

We have some more great shows coming up in the next month.  Our next big show will be on May 10, 2011 at Silverlake Lounge.  We got some tricks up our sleeves for this one and are excited for you all to see and hear.  We will also be heading up to San Fran at the end of May, for a Memorial Day weekend show…stay tuned for more info Bay area.

For now I leave you with a fun video that always makes me laugh….

Afro Ninja

Peace,

Britton

Posted in RCU Posts | Leave a comment

We’ll All Float On

Posted on 2011.03.11 by Ali Mills

The last 24 hours in Portland were amazing. What a cool city, we will definately be back. Big ups to Nate Robinson for hosting us for 2 days, and for helping to get us a gig with 2 great local acts, Cathead & The Blistering Sons and Ex Cowboys. Also, thanks to Katie Foster and Andrea Burrell for coming out. Its great to see familiar faces out in uncharted RCU territory. Our show was great, Jonah’s voice is back and better than ever, and everyone is loving being on the road more and more. It’s starting to feel like we could get used to this.

Some of our portland highlights include:

Porque No? Mexican Restaurant- Tasty Mexican Fare

Pine Street Biscuit Company- Delicious Southern Style Biscuits and gravy

Exiled Record Store- We purchased the following records for Nate as a thank you gift (Velvet Underground’s “Loaded”, Led Zeppelin’s “Into the Outdoors”, and James Brown’s “Payback”). Hope you enjoy those Nate! Thanks Again!

Voodoo Donut- had some epic donut creations. So tasty, our stomachs still haven’t recovered but it was worth every cap’n crunch berry bite.

Bar of The Gods- They didn’t believe us when we ordered 10 different things to go, the Mac n Cheese was incredible, and they had a great variety of things on their menu. The boys had fun down there at the bar, I opted out to chat on the phone for an hour with a friend from back home.

And last but not least, Float On- the build up to this adventure was bigger than the adventure itself. It seemed as though everyone we talked to had a friend or a brother or a sister who had “floated” before and raved about it. The place was right down the street from us, so we reserved a 2 hour block of time to “float”. Where did we find 2 hours during our busy trip, you ask? 3am-5am, cause who needs to sleep when you can float?

For those who don’t know what floating is, imagine the dead sea’s salinity times 3. One’s body is weightless and in a state of relaxation as the lights are lowered and you submerge almost completely into the water. The goal is to be completely deprived of any sensory stimulation. The consensus from the 4 of us who did it was that it’s worth trying a few times, but it ain’t no acid trip.

Also, we got pulled over by the cops, and Dylan Grey is the Man.

Now we are on the road to Eugene, where we will be setting up shop at The Astoria Bar & Poker Room. Hopefully someone will win big tonight, Hope that someone is ME.

If you’re reading this and live in the Eugene area, we hope to see you tonight.

Cheers,

Ali

Continuous Road Soundtrack-

Portugal. The Man- The Satanic Satanist

Photos:

Posted in RCU Posts | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Boise Kicked My Ass With a Pita

Posted on 2011.03.09 by Ali Mills

In honor of a tradition none of us know anything about, we played an early set at the Linen Building in Boise Idaho with our friends, Interstate, and decided to check into a hotel downtown and hit the streets. As none of us had ever been to Boise, we were curious what it had in store for us, on Mardi Gras’ Fat Tuesdays. We were led by the guys from Interstate to 6th & Main, where Britton, Kevin, Stipp, Dylan and I were faced with hundreds of inebriated college students having the time of their life. As the boys chased tail around I looked for a bar that would ensure us a complete and worthwhile “Boise” experience. We stumbled into Tom McGradys, a packed pub with a DJ spinning what else, todays hits and yesterdays favorites.

We danced for a bit and made some friends. We hope they will still be friends with all of us, but we also recognize that Kevin’s Dance Moves are enough to make anyone swoon. So maybe it was just wishful thinking that anyone would actually want to be friends with the rest of us.

After we had enough of the MC Hammer and Lady GaGa, we decided to duck in to a dive bar for one last beer. Stipp came back with a round of Jager shots, then he came back again with another round of Jager shots. If you know Stipp, you know that this is rule #1 on the list of How to Lose Stipp in the next 2 hours.

The smells coming from the Pita Pit next door were too good to pass up. We enter, so does a group of 4 local Boise guys, one is wearing the tightest long sleeved thermal shirt I’d ever seen, and he was colorfully decorated with charms of domestic beer branded beads. Stipp is intrigued by this kid, and decided to address the boy, “What’d you have to do to get all those beads, bro” and tries to give the guy a hug. Thank You Jager shots, for bringing out the cute cuddly teddy bear side in Stipp that has at this point already resulted in an escalting pita pit brawl. Luckily, I was feeling frisky and got involved by chatting these “Bros” up, and telling them that we are in a band and we’re just out having fun and that there’s no reason to fight. I told these “Bros” that they were being overly aggressive with me to which they responded “Yeah, Fuck You”. Awesome, I’m sure your girlfriends are stoked to have such poised and eloquent boyfriends. Jerks. As Stipp and I decided to get out of there we saw a group of cops, and walked towards them as the Fitted Shirt Bro’s dogged us mumbling things like “Faggot” under their breath. Really Bro? You’re shirt is tighter than a fat kid wearing spandex in the summer. Cops sided with us and politely asked the children to go home. To which they did and no punches were ever exchanged. Hooooooray!

Back in the hotel where our trusty leader lay, vocal chords slain, and pizza box empty, we fill him in on the night’s adventures and Kevin jumps on top of the TV. We pass out and Dylan enters the room laughing histerically crying “You’ll never guess what happened…”. he explains to us that as he is laying in bed next to Stipp who is passed out, he looks over to see Stipp (still fast asleep) yank the pillow out from under Dylan, and chuck it at Kevin (also sleeping) in the bed across from them. Kevin: Snoring noises, Stipp: mumbles something back to him in his sleep. Are these two cute or what?

So Boise, just when I thought you couldn’t get any dumber, you go and do something like this and totally redeem yourself…

Looking forward to Portland,

Ali & The Gang

Road Soundtrack:

Gnarls Barkley: St Elsewhere
Dr. Dog: Fate
Moondoggies: Don’t Be A Stranger
MGMT: The first album that everyone’s sick of
Moby: Wait for Me
Yeasayer: Odd Blood
RCU Instrumental Album
Ween: Chocolate & Cheese
Flying Burrito Bros: The Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe
“We Built This City”- Starship in honor of our friends in XYZYX

and this…

Posted in RCU Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

4 Day Run Down of RCU’s UNEMPLOYMENT TOUR

Posted on 2011.03.09 by Ali Mills

Good afternoon friends, fans and fam,

It came to our attention today that there is actually another living human other than one of us who reads our blog. Thank you Dave in CO for reminding us that there is a reason for sharing our madness.

So if you haven’t heard, Red Circle Underground left last Friday the 4th for our first tour outside of our home state of California, (the Phantom Planet song is circulating in our heads). We stopped in Denver first to pick up our tour van, courtesy of Ali’s cousin and his band, Black Square. This rig is pretty sweet. We’ve got beds and power outlets which makes life on the road more comfortable- but certainly not like home.

In Colorado, we played the Snake 2 nights in a row, and an afternoon set at The Kickapoo Tavern. Kickapoo was a bust, as 2 minutes into our first song the PA board caught fire. As we waited for a second sound board to be brought in, we began to drink, because, shit, what else can you do in a bar full of skiers and a burning PA?

After that show, we headed back to the Snake River Saloon, to prepare for what would later become a pretty epic 4 hour set. As we were nice and warmed up (literally) from our Kickapoo gig, we sank our teeth into four 30-40 min sets many which included a lot of free jams between the bandmembers. The bar was packed and we are so thankful to have made some new wonderful friends and fans. It was the first time we’ve ever got a chugging contest going to give away free CD’s…

We arrived in Utah on Sunday night, to a hotel with a 24 hour pool and hot tub. Now, if any of you know us or have partied at Britton’s, you know how dangerous hot tubs can be. Thankfully there was not a cover for Kevin to break, but there were a few cute young mormon girls Kev had his eye on.

Free breakfast, cookies and coffee all day long and a constant dumping of snow made our SLC stay quite a hit.

SNOW MAN

Our show last night at Bar Deluxe was probably the best sounding show/venue we’ve ever played. We are so stoked for the 5 people who came to see us (Ali’s family). The other band we played with, Fauna, was incredible and definately worth a listen http://www.facebook.com/pages/fauna/108108713852

Now you’re pretty much caught up on the last 4 days of our tour…

So here we are in the van, driving up the 84 into Boise, and I’m looking around seeing nothing but weeds and melting snow piles… a sign that maybe better weather is to come? Somehow I doubt it will be.

We’re looking forward to this Boise show, and hear that The Linden Building is a really interesting place to play. As band morale is at it’s highest, we’ve been hashing out old tunes, new tunes and even writing new ones on the spot. It’s been great and we look forward to remembering some of them so you can all hear them too.

Thats it for now, we’ll continue to update this thing more often now that we know that we have Dave as a loyal reader.

Keep On L-I-V-I-N

Posted in RCU Posts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Friends, Fans, Future Plans.

Posted on 2011.01.26 by Ali Mills

A late night ‘hello’ to all that are reading. I felt it was time for an update. Straight up, Red Circle Underground is hitting the road for a 10 day tour. With the help of my cousin, and his band Black Square (Hawaii based) we have secured a van, and some extra bits and pieces of dough to help us embark on what we have dubbed the “2011 Unemployment Tour”. As some of us have felt the clench of California’s economic fist, we have taken things into our own hands. We will be crossing borders for the first time as a band, and putting our music where our mouths are. We will be playing 3 hour sets in Denver, CO. Then, traveling through Salt Lake City, Boise, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco… and then if everything works out (because I can’t say officially yet), we may be heading to the south… west… (see what I did there? Eh? No? Whatever).

So as I get amped for the road trip, I’ve begun to compile a playlist, seeking out some old classics, and digging deeper for some unheard treasures. One recent discovery comes from a lucky iTunes suggestion. As most of you know of and hopefully are fans of Grizzly Bear, I looked into this band’s history and discovered that before there were Grizzly Bears, there were in fact, Eagles. A Department of Eagles (See posted clip below). Department of Eagles is comprised of 3 members, Fred Nicolaus, Daniel Rossen, and Chris Taylor. Daniel and Chris would later go on to form the critically acclaimed, Grizzly Bear, aka Johnny Greenwood’s kitschy new favorite band. I fell in love with the second song on Department of Eagles latest release ‘In Ear Park’. The album is very reminiscent of the Grizzly bear sound, but with a lot more structure and toe tapping rhythms during songs. Give it a listen…

02 No One Does It Like You

We have a show tomorrow night, at the Silverlake Lounge, with Exiles and Goldsboro, two bands with significantly recognizable names in them. If you do your homework, you may figure it out. We are excited for this one, it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve played out. We are debuting a new cover we’ve been working on for the tour. Most of all, we’re excited to see all of our friends and fans again. So folks, cheers to a terrific hump day tomorrow. Hope to see you at the show.

Ali

Posted in RCU Posts | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

When it rains it pours…

Posted on 2010.12.05 by Ali Mills

As we are out and about in our hometown, we constantly meet new people, new influences, we discover new fun bars, hangouts and coffee shops. This past weekend, I encountered a chatty group of gentlemen (who’s “well known” band will remain nameless), and had the opportunity to discuss the stigmas that are attached to the L.A. Music Scene.

I argued that certain areas of our hometown are secluding themselves, and isolating themselves only cater to a certain “type” of music. Am I the only one who feels that this is kind of ridiculous? Furthermore, a lot of these isolationist music communities are beginning to define their types of music based on the high society people that they are associated with, or the ridiculous clothes they wear. Now, I know I’m guilty of wearing ridiculous things at times, who isn’t? The difference is, Like our music, I don’t exclusively associate my crazy cowboy boots with the stage over at Spaceland or the Echo. The thankless crowds that gather at some of these venues out here baffle me. If you like a band, or you like a certain style of music, it shouldn’t be limited to a 5 block radius. No matter how many vegan or vegetarian restaurants you have. Sorry.

When it comes to music, I feel like artists should know better. We reach out to everyone, knowing that not everyone is going to be as accepting as we hope, but also discovering that people we have never met or talked to will become fans. It’s like there is a growing trend of bands that are judging their fans before these fans are even given the opportunity to become fans!

It’s a weird feeling to be able to accept the uncertainty of a music career. Why didn’t we just listen to our parents when they told us to go to college and work office jobs, hold a steady career for the rest of our lives… Get married… Have kids… Be “happy”… Perhaps it’s the same reason that has drawn us together in this band now. Perhaps it’s because we are never ready to settle. Perhaps we are perfectly content knowing that what we are making IS making us happy, and shit, perhaps it will make others happy too.

That said… enjoy the rainy day all you LA Folk :-)

Ali

Posted in RCU Posts | Leave a comment

New album/New site

Posted on 2010.12.05 by Britton Sparkman

After sitting on my ass for a while, I finally racked my brain and figured out how to set up a webpage.  It feels great to finally know that we have completed our first album.  It’s been 4 years in the making and I couldn’t be more pleased with the final product.  I truly hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do.  Spread the word…

In other news, we are in the process of getting a limited edition Vinyl printing for the album so keep an eye out about pre-orders.  Also, as our minds never seem to rest, we are beginning to work out details on our next Record.  We’ve already begun writing new tunes and can’t wait for you to hear them in full recorded glory.

peace

Posted in RCU Posts | Leave a comment

Our first full length album has finally arrived!

Posted on 2010.12.03 by Administrator


Band email marketing
Quantcast

Posted in RCU Posts | Leave a comment