Verellen amps on the Seattle Channel

The Seattle Channel recently did a feature on Verellen Amps. Also featured are three ugly hairy dudes in Akimbo, one of which plays an amp called the Dynamo.

Local broseph Seattle Rock Guy has posted the video. Click HERE to watch it.

1 Day in 1 Hour by Joseph Weisnewski

My dad is a damn good musician. He was in rowdy bands touring europe before I was born, he's been a music teacher my whole life, he got me my first guitar, he pointed me in all the right directions when I was learning how to play it, when he heard me listening to Rancid and NOFX he suggested I try Dead Kennedys and Oingo Boingo, and he made sure music was all around me and my sisters for our entire upbringing. He drove me to practices as a 14 year old, he helped record my first demos in a teenage band with Nat.

One of his more recent personal projects is called "One Day in One Hour / 1d1h", which is a captivating auditory exploration of an every-man's trial through the grind of office work. It is not background music, it is meant to be listened to. From the CD Baby link:

"Many contemporary listeners, especially those who have grown up with minimal exposure to western classical music, have had little contact with the concept of program music. The term ‘program’ is believed to have first been used by Liszt to describe music attempting to communicate extra-musical ideas such as a poem or a story. There are many examples of program music that pre-date Liszt however. From text painting in madrigals, to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, to Beethoven’s 6th and the works of Berlioz, many composers have engaged in this kind of musical story telling.
This work was begun in a spirit of fun and adventure. It is the composer’s hope that you the listener can experience it in the same light-hearted manner."

I have heard it in various stages of completion and seen it performed live with accompanying dancers and imagery. The piece is compelling, complex, catchy, and interesting. It definitely isn't the racket Akimbo is known for, but nonetheless I highly recommend it to everyone here.

Samples and MP3s available, full album is $9.99

CD Baby
iTunes
Amazon

Paris, 2005

We played Paris back in October 2005 while on tour with The Assailant. It was a last minute show in the cellar of this tiny bar, only about 30 people showed up, but when we started playing the place blew up like a fucking powder keg. This was when Patrick Cunningham was still playing with us, the tour happened right after we finished recording Forging Steel and Laying Stone but before it was released.

I stumbled across these photos with Maria the other night so I'm posting them now.

This show was without a doubt the craziest we've ever played, and is easily my favorite of the thousands of shows in our history.

Update!

Hello dudes and babes.

Here we are destroying Tokyo like God-damn-zilla.

The Japan tour was fan-fucking-tastic. We owe many thanks to Phillip at Red Cobalt Industries for the Jersey Shores release and the potent 4 day tour through Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. We played with some great bands: Eternal Elysium, Vomit Monster, Coffins, Terror Squad, Birushanah, AKBK, and tons more. Also super great to see our bros from Green Milk From the Planet Orange: T, K, and Ace!

I'm also happy to announce we sold all the fart shirts.

 The year ending show with BuzzOven was also sweet. Thanks for raging.

Our friends in The Ruby Doe released a new album this year, which is a stripped down rock album very reminiscent of their first record. It's called "Getting Ahead in the Music Business". Follow the links on their myspace to buy it.

When the fuck is Dog Shredder gonna release an album?

Going into 2011 we are going to keep on playing around the northwest and keep working on new jams. We are a number of songs deep into a new album and the intent is to record it this year. Our pace has slowed considerably but we are still stoked on making brutal jams and raging with you fuckers.

Jersey Shores - Japanese Release

Jersey Shores is also getting a Japanese release (a first for us) through Red Cobalt Industries. The pressing features all new art design by resident Nat Damm, but still incorporating Jesse's work.

Available now for $15 USD / 1,500 Yen

FEATURES:
• First pressing of 500 units worldwide.
• Randomly mixed colour 12" vinyl and CD included in the same package
• 420 x 594mm Colour Poster on matte poster paper
• 560 x 276mm double-sided colour insert on matte poster paper
• All artwork and designs by Nat Damm
• 279mm x 279mm double-sided full-colour insert

Jersey Shores Vinyl

Vinyl available through Alternative Tentacles. - $12

CD available through Neurot.

Half drunken ramblings after the pictures...

So we released Jersey Shores in October 2008, the release show was also our 10 year anniversary as a band, free to the public, and populated with all our close friends, family, and long time fans. Writing, recording, and especially performing the album was a taxing, yet ultimately rewarding experience. I feel like we grew substantially as musicians in that time, and it was a central part of solidifying the band's sound with Aaron as an established and talented contributor. Blah blah blah, yeah... But it's special to me. The fucking record means a lot to us.

Neurot released the CD, and I still feel like they are the perfect home for the tone of the album. It fits better next to Neurosis and US Christmas than it does Dead Kennedys and Triclops. The moniker on the inside of the record "Get dark. Get high. Get loud." is meant as a very sincere listening suggestion. It sold about as well as all our other records, which is not very much. Due to various financial and political reasons with Neurot and Revolver the album never got pressed to vinyl. Revolver are shit by the way, just as shady as the Mordam/Lumberjack capitalist mayhem that occurred just before they went under. Akimbo stopped touring all the time which killed the momentum that normally fuels our prolific behavior, and I started worrying that the vinyl would get forgotten and possibly never be released.

It's weird to me that we don't play these songs live all that much. It feels like there's an unspoken understanding that this record is a unique departure for us, and it deserves its own special place in our history. It's also meant to be heard as a single cohesive piece, so it feels weird playing just a song and then stopping when you know it should go on for another 40, 30 or 20 minutes. Somehow it feels very okay to just leave this album alone as a time stamp on a moment.

After two goddamn years I'm now holding the vinyl in my living room. A few good friends ended up stepping to the plate for us on putting the vinyl out and while I truly thank them all, we ended up going with Mr. Biafra and Alternative Tentacles. Jesse Roberts' beautiful oil paintings can now be appreciated at the size and majesty that they were created at, and I can finally breathe easy knowing the record has ran a full lap around the underground apathy course. More importantly though, I have it. We're not the kind of band that has a ravenous following. We persevere because we like the music and it's fun, and having a physical manifestation of the trials and memories is extremely important to me.

Verellen amps show recap

It was hot. Peace!

Dungeon Bastard

Hope everyone who went to PAX enjoyed it.

I know I did.

Sept 16th: Verellen Amps Night @ Neumos w/ Helms Alee, Akimbo, Narrows, The Dark

Playing a very awesome show Sept 16th at Neumos. Here's a picture of the massive poster on capitol hill if you haven't see it yet. The show is a Verellen Amps showcase night. Come see my new DYNAMO in person.

Photos from Black Flag set, 5/31/2010