Respect | 40 Years Ago

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

June 4, 1976. Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England. (thx oc, and 24HPP)



January 14, 1978. Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, USA. (thx oc)



Raise a toast. (thx asl)

gossip rag September 2013

Slow and steady has been the Kenji Must Die! Toro! Toro! motto for a long time. We've been steadier at times, and we've been slower... but today is still almost two sentences further along than we were yesterday... or a minute ago.

Since we're here in September, 2013, I guess it's time to present the first issue of the gossip rag, the comings and goings of the month as seen through the eyes (or lied through the teeth) of KMDTT. After all, we're right on schedule... this month marks the fourth anniversary of when we decided to start calling ourselves a "band". Very excitinzzzzzzZZZZ.

Sorry. Fell asleep for a second. Let's get juicy. (Not really. But it's fun to say.)

A quick update on the progress of our second EP... the name of the EP has been revealed! It's "For Darkness is a Source of Light to Me." The EP contains eight tracks, and we are putting the final touches on the recording and mixing, and expect to release by the end of this year, which means probably next year. Or 2016. Regardless, eventually the EP will be available... slow and steady, bub. In the meantime, go check out our first EP, available on iTunes.

With the 2013 edition of the usual summer semi-hiatus behind us, we're back on the "rust-shaker" schedule in preparation for the next Kenji World Boozcan... let's say it'll happen sometime in autumn, the final date soon to be announced! For the uninitiated, Kenji World Boozcans are invite-only live shows in secret locations. The guest list is closely guarded and extremely limited, chosen by random lot, by rsvp only. If you'd like to come to a Kenji World Boozcan, please write your name and contact information on a piece of paper and then burn that piece of paper because we don't care if you'd like to come or not. If you are noted on The All-Inclusive Invite List we already know who you are.

And some quick notes on other developments --

Our long-neglected online store is currently being re-vamped and will be unveiled in time for the Winter Holiday Shopping Season. Looking for that perfect something for the Indie-Band Lover and Kenji-Hater in your life? We'll deck you out... soon!

We're also sad to announce the passing of our percussion player, Paddy... sorry, I meant to say "the passing through" of our percussion player. Paddy returned to Vancouver for a visit after several months of tramping through the wilds of northern British Columbia in his relentless quest to plant ever more trees in the forest (over a million so far, and counting!), while on the way to his Butter Nut farm on Vancouver Island. We're sad because he won't be able to sit in as regularly as he did previously... but happy for him and the Butter Nuts. We love Butter Nut. (And yes, I am being silly, and yes, that IS a girl.)

Finally, congratulations to the first recipient of the Kenji World "What the Hell Was That About" Award, a trumpet-shaped empty bottle of vodka spray-painted gold... drumroll, please... the first recipient is: the person who stole the gold-spray-painted-vodka-bottle from behind the dumpster we left it to dry.

Second place is to whoever stole (and ate!) the Sin Bin hot wings we forgot on the top of said dumpster before going into our studio to jam. We found the box several streets south, and were more disappointed by the litter than the theft.

Third place is to the incredibly-drunk gentleman that (literally, in the literal sense of the word) screamed at El (who was only just telling us a story), "Are you so insecure you can't let your friends say a single word?!" before staring at us slightly unfocussed for several seconds and without another word moving to the bar, attempting to chug the remains of his beer, failing, then lumbering unsteadily out of the Sin Bin... all while staring us down.

I can't wait to see who's in the running for October!

Until next month... don't step on an avocado!

(h)Ello

Hey there,

Um, I’m supposed to say hi.  So, …hi.  I’m El.  Nice to meet write you.  I won't go into the when or how I got here.  Although those do carry a big effect on everything we and I do, they don't carry as heavy a maintainability as the more important question,...why I am here?

When you find something that you love to do and be a part of in general, and then you meet a group of people who share that distinct love of the same thing in the same way,……you can’t ignore that. I don’t actually have a choice but to be here.  I just am.  Obviously not in a literal sense.  I just can’t imagine anything else right now.  You also can’t plan how this sort of thing will evolve.  You see, that’s what we do.  We evolve, in the most organic sense.  Tomorrow is not plan-able until we know what has happened today.  And when nobody is worried about what will happen today, no one can conceptually worry about tomorrow.  When that line of freedom is given to the thoughts being put into today, you can be almost guaranteed that tomorrow is going to be awesome.

Why am I here?

Because I love awesome tomorrows.

Cheers,

El

Lucky Us

In keeping up with our consistently inconsistent process of blog updates, we are here to say we held our first private "booze-can open jam" show in our gathering space known as Kenji World (VanBC). If you were one of the select few to obtain a golden ticket, then lucky us, if you were not able to attend or didn't know about it, then lucky you; hopefully we can deafen you in the near future.

A note on our next EP progress: there is little progress. A few bass tracks have been done, but general life gets in the way at times, and we have all experienced times recently.

Check us out at http://kenjimustdietorotoro.com and from there go to one of the many sites streaming our first EP that is available on iTunes.

Drop us a line if inclined,

REd

EP Progress

Well here we are, and there you is.

I am very excited to announce that the drum bed tracks were completed recently and we are now moving on to the other exciting pieces... especially the guitar parts. Don't tell me that you hear some other part of a song first, like say the vocals or something, I don't think my ego could take that. That's all I had to say, sorry if you were looking for more info, but there is nothing more. You are dimissed.

Drop us a line if you feel so inclined.

Take care,

REd

Legions of Fans

So for all of you who were eagerly awaiting our next blog, I apologize for the delay in posting this one; for you see we are a DIY Indie band who all have real lives, and we take vacations, hang out with friends, pass out drunk and wake up in other countries, you know, the usual stuff.

Excited to work on recording the next collection of songs, for those of you in the know, recording can be a monotonous experience that not all musicians enjoy, however I am not one of those musicians and do enjoy recording. This does not make me an elitist, but more like a boring music geek. The next release shall be called…. Oh you will just have to wait and see, I would hate to leak that information to our legion of fans that has reached DOUBLE DIGITS!

Thanks for reading, and drop us a note if you feel so inclined.

Red

Have yah met... Andy...?!

Photo by Jon Dy, 2011

A few words about myself... ok... you can call me Andy, sometimes Andy Desperado, sometimes thecorpse, sometimes Scott Anderson. While we all mix up what we do in the band, write songs or lyrics, and produce everything together, the drums are usually mine.

I was born and raised in Princeton, British Columbia, and my family has a deep history in the Similkameen Valley. I spent a year in Zamboanga City in the Philippines as an exchange student, mostly trying to keep from getting kidnapped or shot, though I also took liberal arts classes at the Ateneo. I moved to Vancouver and started working at the Vancouver Stock Exchange until they closed down the trade floor. Then I worked at a newspaper, went back to work for a brokerage firm, and eventually ended up working in a medical library, where I am now. I'm also the president of the Vancouver Historical Society.

Alongside the wanderings of my career within respectable society, I've also been in some independent bands. My last one, Solarbaby, allowed me do lots of cool stuff, like play live on tv, radio, webcasts and lots of shows, here in Vancouver and BC, in Washington State, and in Ontario. We were signed, for a time, to an independent record company in Toronto called teenage USA.

I live in Kitsilano with my wife, Ams, sometimes abomb, sometimes Amber. I like a good lager, Ams likes ale. We like going to the pub. My favourite "go-to" band for listening is Radiohead. My favourite food is steak and potatoes. I enjoy a good book, usually non-fiction. I like the internet, I can always find something to distract me. It's good to keep busy.

Have yah met... REd?!

My father was a farmer, and allied bombs were dropping on the hospital when my mother was born in the latter days of WWII (true). I was born 9.5 years after my only sibling, and therefore I believe I was an unexpected (although my parents deny this) joy. I come from the Western Coastal village of Ladner, where everyone knows your business, but few outside knows the village exists.

I have been called many things over my life, but here you can call me REd, short for RacyEd deSalt. Those who know me should be able to decipher my pseudonym rather easily. I love music; guitar, stories and long walks on…… oh wait. Some stories of which I plan to share will be true, and others fiction; I will let you decide which is which, for that makes the thought so much more intriguing.

Keep in touch,
REd

Some self-deprecating words about Production Value

I'm going to go all geeky for a post and talk about how we recorded our EP, Seymmone O'Jhae reveals "My Life as a Fake."

(I know... I set myself up on that one: my geek-ness will not be limited to this single post. It's sort of hardwired.)

We recorded everything in our rehearsal space and living rooms, and mixed it ourselves on our laptops. Other than Todd Stefanson at Spare Room Studios (yeahh Todd!) who took pity upon us and mastered it for us, no professionals were harmed in the creation of these tunes. It may not be the slickest batch of tunes you'll hear, or the most-polished production value you'll come across (other than the mastering), but it is 100% the DIY (do-it-yourself) attitude of four guys in a room that are trying to share their stuff with their friends.

For the most part, the songs were recorded into a program called Logic on Apple MacBook Pros using a Motu Pre8 digital interface (which converts sound into a digital file), and then mixed down with Logic. None of us are recording or sound engineers, so we started from scratch to learn this stuff. We still have a long way to go, but we're far enough along that we don't feel too silly in sharing our efforts at this point!

Some of the songs were put together in a process that sort of resembles what goes on in an actual recording studio, with one part being played, such as the drums, and then the other parts being overdubbed on top of that original recording. Other songs were live-off-the-floor performances with a few minor overdubs to add parts or fix things up. At least one of them was pretty much a straight-up live-off-the-floor effort, at least as far as the music went. And a couple of them were built with a combination of sound samples and live performance.

Gone are the days of just pressing "record" on a ghetto-blaster. (Haha. I referenced a ghetto-blaster. I am so 1980s it's ridiculous.)

nobody just like everybody else

Yes, I know, we have this fancy album, a shiny web site, and lots of online network profiles. You can buy our music on iTunes. We have guitar picks with the band name on them. It's obvious that we have Made It. We are what we in the industry like to call "Huge." We're kind of a Big Deal. I'm going through my wardrobe at this very moment to decide what I'm wearing to our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. I'll bet you never thought you'd be this (virtually) close to honest-to-goodness Rock Gods.

Kidding. If you're here it's an extremely high probability you know (or are related to!) one or more of us personally, and likely feel a little sorry for us -- I've met us, and I know I do... (again, kidding).

We like to create music, have some beverages, kick back, and just have fun getting together to play. Some of you have asked about listening to our stuff, or if we ever record or put out albums. It's nice of you to ask, thanks.

It's funny that music is actually a pretty solitary activity if you're not trying to be a rock star, where promoting oneself to everyone and anyone is really important. We have careers we enjoy, family and friends we love, outside interests that... interest us... we have lives... we are pretty content. Life is good. And we love to play music together and record everything we do, but don't really think anybody else is interested. It's not that we're against sharing some of the stuff we do with our collective circles of friends, we just don't really think about it!

This first EP of songs, the social network profiles, the web site, this blog... this is so we can share stuff with you, our friends (which I'll bet you are, if you've bothered to read this far!), however you're able to connect with us. It's not much, and it certainly isn't a slick effort, but hopefully it's enough to let you know what we're doing, if you wanted to know.

Thanks for visiting. Keep in touch.

New Release! Seymmone O'Jhae reveals "My Life as a Fake!"

We are pleased to announce our first EP is now available, both free-streaming and for purchase on iTunes and other digital download music stores.

It's called Seymmone O'Jhae reveals "My Life as a Fake!"

Thanks to everyone who kept at us, wondering about what we've been up to, asking if we were ever going to share any music, and basically reminding us that you're still waiting to hear from us. We're not exactly the best at keeping to a schedule... but we'll try to be in touch more often!

In fact, we've started collecting emails so we can send you stuff every so often. Sign up on our central web site, or one of our "social-media" sites (a list of which is on our central site) and once in a while you might get a picture, a pdf-booklet, a poster, a never-to-be-released jam... as long as we can roll it up so it fits in the internet tube we might send it to you...

Kenji World

The motto we've worked under is "Slow and Steady" and it's served us well so far. Our first EP is in the final stages of preparation, and there is more on the horizon.