Vibra Optic's biorhythm for September has fluctuated almost as drastically as (insert Oprah weight-related punchline aqui)....

September 6th - Our third show scheduled for the Airliner w/Pursuit Utopia and Buffalo Electric goes horribly wrong when it gets so late that we don't even get to play. By 1am we find out that the booker for this event has taken off for the night, relieving himself of any responsibility for the few people who paid to see us play on a monday night. Explicative. As far as we are concerned, the Airliner's has firmly super glued itself onto our shitlist.

September 10th - Redeemingly successful show at the Dawg House in my backyard (Hacienda Heights) graciously shared with our friends Buffalo Electric. They owned the night, yet their shadow was very welcoming.

September 13th - We made our third appearance at the Commonwealth Lounge in Fullerton. Mixed in with an incredible lineup that included Adult Film and Beatmo, we played to the most packed house I had ever seen on a Monday night. Unfortuanately the sound was pretty off that night as there was a horrible buzz/cracking sound coming from the speakers that, as far as i know, no one was quite able to fix that night. Not only that, but the sustain pedal from the piano came loose that night during our slowest, most legato song (crucial time for a sustain). Kinda messed me up. I chose to drink that night away from recollection.

September 17th - Invited back at the dawg house on somewhat short notice. By this time, my sustain pedal decided to leave me indefinately for another woman. We battled through our technical issues nearly the entire set, though Bronson kept the beat going strong, which apparently was enough to generate interest in the crowd that night.

Sometimes I don't understand why were received so well during the times we sound like a menstral cycle, yet we're completely slept on the whenver we just kill it. But its at those times i turn on the tv and see Justin Beiber ride up in a limo and perform to thousands of screaming fans, and then I remember just how this world works.

Joey got PUNCHED IN THE FUCKIN' FACE

CLICK FOR RECORDINGS OF THIS SHOW
    
     That is correct, Joey at P.B.&J. took a shot to the face by our friend Liza. That was pretty gnarly. But, thanks to Liza's fists of fury, we now know that intermissions are extremely beneficial; you get to talk with the crowd on a personal level, rest ur arms and vocals, spit game at everybody's girlfriends, and do some cocaine**. But most importantly, you get to drink water.
     The show (with a few intermissions) went from about 10:30 to 1am or so. A Mexican dude came off the street and started singing on the mic while Chris and I improvised. That was cool. A fellow lyricist/musician by the name of "SuNWhoa! the black Samurai from the Circuit" also hopped on the mic and blessed our ears with a sick freestyle while Chris and I did our best impressions of black people music, (A.K.A. hip-hop. See Wu-Tang Clan). You can also check out his hip-hop trio The Circuit here. All in all, it was a pretty fun night and we got a lot of playing in, which is exactly what we needed. We got some good material from the show, pretty much pulled out all the stops and did the craziest shit we could think of. If you would like to hear the craziest/coolest part of the show, in my opinion, click here for the last track "Lady Day and John Coltrane" and listen to the breakdown/bridge thingy. That shit is nuts.
     Special thanks to all the people who stayed home and masturbated to pictures of Oprah when she was jailbait.

   
                   ....that would be everyone.

** Just kidding about the cocaine.
-love, bronson

I've had Diarrhea since 2007

      On Saturday the 21st of August, we played at a gig that was labeled, "Bud Pharm". It was in the High Desert, (get it.... High  Desert) and I thought it was a 5-acre Marijuana Farm with licensed growers, vendors, and patients, all stoned and ready to listen to some egotistical psychadelic music and reminisce about the good ol' days when they used to lick acid off of Jimi Hendrix's shaft. But, it was only a get-together at a fuckin Ranch in the middle of nowhere that druggies could go to if they wanted to get super baked and reminisce about the good ol' days when they used to lick acid off of Jimi Hendrix's roadie's shaft. It was kind of a bummer, but the stage was pretty big and one of the little stoners said that he drove around the desert picking up old telephone poles to help build the stage. As gone as these people were, that was the best stage we've ever played on. By far.
     Turns out I wasn't the only person to misinterpret an email; these guys thought we were a Bob Marley cover band. That's the only reason they booked our asses! The whole time they were telling us a really good Bob Marley cover band was going to play. We played one cover to stimulate their Bob Marley blue-balls, but we threw some musicianship into the mix and everybody went back to doing heroin. We'll probably never play that gig again unless they book some real bands or start paying.
     Our friend Gamaliel helped out as a roadie that day and kept us company while all the rednecks stared at his black ass like he just stole their bike. There was one other black guy there, and boy was he dark. He was a  pretty cool dude, and liked our music. He had a two-man band also, and they did the damn thing. The girls there were disgusting as all hell and reminded me of all the times I threw up.
    
      Vibra Optic '73, bitches.

   love, bronson

     these were the guys.
 

Official CD Release Coming Soon!

As I write this I'm listening to my new cd from the band Voice On Tape, whose set i caught last night at one of the Tuesday night residency shows being put on by KSPC 88.7 at The Press in Claremont. Voice On Tape gave a beautiful performance to say the least. The smooth, dark, and ever so passionate vocals of Lou Anda fill the air and cut through the perfectly blended mix of dirty acoustic guitar sounds and the hypnotic drumming style of Isaac. Following them was the equally charismatic So Many Wizards, who had the crowd up on their feet dancing around them as they carried on with their uptempo rythms and bittersweet chord progressions and melodies that when all put together, seem to generate a sense of longing for another time or place. Both bands performances provided me with yet another excellent reminder that great songwriters are continuing to emerge from the underground and are at least getting some palpable form of recognition, at least from the folks at the always ahead of the curve KSPC radiostation. This was my first time attending one of KSPC's weekly events at The Press, but I don't believe it will be the last. It's so nice to see a local radio station actually investing in its own music scene this way. So great job to 88.7, great job to Voice On Tape, and once more to So Many Wizards.

 These past couple of weeks we've been getting ready for our official CD release! Im so excited to see all the pieces finally falling into place. The artwork which we designed ourselves, the discpainter so we may print artwork on our cds at our leisure, our cd duplicator all the way up to the blank cd's themselves-all the materials that we ordered or designed in order to press up these cd's have just been arriving in the mail one package at a time. We've already put together a few finished products, so now were just waiting on one final piece (the jewel cases) so that we can continue with the mass production.

If you haven't gotten the hint already, this Record is the epitome of DIY. Everything about this record is the effort of two people. We've cut corners, haggled for equipment, recorded, produced, and licensed ourselves. We've managed our time to make a record while at the same time worked day jobs, played in other bands, and to a certain extent, maintained our daily lives. So for everything to come out with this level of quality, we are very pleased to say the least. Once a CD release date is set, we will begin taking preorders which will probably include some sort of bonus such as alternate cd artwork and a personal note. Who knows? Maybe even a "gas prices suck cock" t-shirt! In the meantime until all that is set up, feel free to hit us up on facebook or email us at vibraoptic73@gmail.com with a request for a preorder and well let you know when its ready.

 Other than that we have played a couple shows that I didn't get around to covering until now. One being a second show in Fullerton, and previous to that, an incredible mini-festival put on by the guys from Pursuit Utopia. That was that show in Long Beach, and man, it was dope!

Gustavo Franco

 (She Knew It Was There Somewhere)

Paul (drums) and Brion (bass)
 of Pursuit Utopia

Amazing sets by our friends from Stay Cool Forever, She knew it was there somewhere, and Pursuit Utopia along with many others. Finally having gotten to witness Pursuit Utopia's live show, i was thoroughly impressed. So much energy, so much soul,  and so much sound, and for it to have come out of one band of three people, i was astonished. They even had a conga set up for fans to come join them onstage. Now these people have love from their fans, and rightfully so. "Stay Cool" and "She Knew" both put on the best performances I've seen out of them as of yet. I'm very proud of them as they are my friends from which I've seen such a vast growth and musical development over the years. Great job guys!

Rene Carillo (guitar) of Pursuit Utopia

Stay Cool Forever

(Left to Right): Gustavo Franco,
Keith Yergens, Nina, Nicolas Chacon

We went on stage that night around 830 to be greeted with open arms and open minds. There was definitely a sense of love and respect in the air for one another at that party. We played our asses off and were received very well. Thanks again to Paul of Pursuit Utopia for setting that up and having everything run smoothly. Can't wait for the next one with you guys.

So stay posted and make sure to check for any updates on our FB page as well as this blog concerning our EP release.

-Peace

Christopher

(Vibra Optic '73)

Playing Saturday July 3 in Long Beach

Got to play another show with our friends Stay Cool Forever and a long beach band by the name of Wild Pack of Canaries. This time was at our newly beloved spot the Tribal Cafe in echo park. We played first, and unfortunately, I only was able to stick around for the first few songs of Wild Pack of Canaries which were definately interesting and energetic to say the least. And I completely missed Stay Cool Forever as well, as I had to go play the last of a four day Nigerian women's conference in Inglewood. Good thing is we will be seeing both of these bands along with many others this Saturday in Long Beach at a Show being put on by Paul, the bassist of the band Pursuit Utopia, who will of course be playing as well. Pursuit Utopia, btw is the band of high school friend, Rene Carillo, who as I recall was the only person in high school who had me jealous of his guitar skills and always advanced musical taste. I'm super eager to see his band finally, as well as to meet Paul who seems like a pretty cool guy just from our phone conversations regarding this show.

One cool thing with this last show we played is that we finally got a sound recording of it with our zoom handheld recorder (which we just so happened to use for a lot of what you'd hear on our record). The vocals are pretty hard to hear on account of the fact that the mic was placed behind us and there was no stage monitor, but other than that it came out pretty well with the mix between the keys and the drums despite our careless placement of the recorder. You can currently hear most of the recording here at the music tab of our facebook page. But I'm thinking for the near future we'll possibly release an album(s?) of bootleg recordings for your downloading pleasure, free of cost. So be on the lookout for that.

Lots of stuff has happened this week in our personal lives as well this band. And it seems the more we experience the more im taken away from this blog, but im doing my best to keep up with it all. But between all these random things like our other band, Ginger breaking up and my ever increasing disgust for pay to play concerts which I unknowingly was a part of last night, there's just too much to write. I'll just try to get all the Vibra Optic info in and whatever else I have the energy for afterwards will come second in priority. Until then, I gotta get back to this hustling business.

Upcoming Shows:
July 3, 2010 at 250 Oregon in Long Beach, CA. 6:40pm

Okay, so Adult Film wasn't on the bill for this last show in Fullerton after all. But Adrian Rodriguez (Adult Film) did book the night and apparently enjoyed us, so a future show with both Vibra Optic and Adult Film is in order, so stay tuned for that. In the mean time, we will be performing this Saturday 26 at the legendary Tribal Cafe in Echo Park. Its gonna be early, like 3pm so make sure you order your food around 2-2:15 or so to get it in time. I've already put in my order for the avocado club and I'm salivating.

The show in Fullerton was definately an enjoyable one, somewhat similar to the first show. It was later admitted to me by Bronson that our opening jam literally gave him an erection so i guess that should be a good indicator that things are functioning well. Special thanks to Stay Cool Forever for opening and coming thru in a clinch. They had about as much warning as we have for most of our shows, so I really appreciate it that they came and played even with sick/missing members. Real Troopers. Thanks guys, you killed it IMO.

Stay Cool Forever, to my understanding, started out as a two peice between Keith Yergens (keys, vox) and Nic Chacon (drums) and has now expanded to a five peice including my good friend Gustavo Franco of She Knew It Was There Somewhere, Franco's solo project. Now Stay Cool is definately something of a different nature-full of horror and irony. And I mean that in good way. Inhumanly uptempo beats over a sea of reasurring casio sounds remeniscent of a six year old's wet dreams stemmed from his Oedipus Complex. A blend of magical resolutions and cartoonish fantasies seem to run wild broken occasionally by brief outbursts of primal scream therapy. All the while that this is going on-and this is the scary ironic part- the band as a whole looks tormented and depressed! I like to think of them as the band version of the Christmas Critters from Southpark. All cute and fuzzy, yet scary and demented at the same time. Very trippy. If you haven't heard of them, make sure you give them a listen. Great Job, guys! I really enjoyed it.

This also marks the first show that we've gotten on tape. I'll post the videos as soon as we get them up. Anyways, lots of stuff going on in the works as far as shows go. July and August should see us pretty busy. Lots of other things on the sidelines as well. Speaking of which I played a gig last night for something called the Legends Ball. Which was basically a Playa's Ball like from hbo and that dave chappelle skit. I got a video of these guys talkin about their pimp game. Enjoy.

Shows:

Jun 26, 2010 at Tribal Cafe in Echo Park. 3pm

Playing June 14 in Fullerton

In our tradition of booking shows less than twenty-four hours in advance of the said performance, we latched ourselves on, last minute, to an event at the Airliner club this last monday the seventh. This marks our fourth performance, that is, if we are counting our stutter-laden visit to melrose the other day. Otherwise, that makes three appearances inside of a venue. Thanks to our friends Matt and Jr. for showing up and helping out. In case you have never been so fortunate as to lift a suitcase rhodes piano, trust me that it is an experience best enjoyed with the company of other helping hands. So guys, thank you for that along with a hilarious night at the Denny's in Downey.

We do have a show this next Monday 14th, at the Commonwealth Lounge in Fullerton. I dont have all the details just yet, but you can follow us on facebook to receive updates as they come and we'll let you know as soon as we know. Be glad, however, if your a fan (the both of you), because so far this is the greatest advance notice we've been given, and subsequently released for any of our shows, that being a whole week. Things are looking up!

Also I do believe we will be playing with our friends Adult Film lead by Adrian Rodriguez. Now this guy, Adrian, who I've known through mutual friends for a short while, has got to be one of the best song writers to come out of this region. And as far as I know all of his groups have seemed to generate a lot of steam pretty quickly, with his old bands ERS and Puzzle Being (puzzle being era was when I was introduced, I wasnt around to witness ERS), and now his new band Adult Film. There's a certain natural fluidity in this guy's songwriting, even while introducing odd time signatures or intricate phrasings in the songs. And these 'tricks' never seem to be put in a manner that attempt to "show off" or alienate anybody, but rather it seems the music flows best that way. All I'm saying is watch out for this band, and this next show should be a good one. Hope to see you there.