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We've got a split, double single coming out on the Touchy Feely label in the next couple of months with our pals, the recently retired Grandhorse. They decided to throw in the towel at the peak of their powers, playing a final gig at the great Mississippi Studios - But they are sitting on some really nice unreleased material that we hope to help shine some light onto. Our split release is going to be Mountain Man and Zomburbia by Bubble Cats on one side and Little Blue Car and Greener Pastures by Grandhorse on the other.

This coming Saturday we’re back at The World Famous Kenton Club probably for the last time this year. Medicine Family has asked us to support their gig and I’m very excited. I dig Medicine Family, a band made up of a lot of really great musicians, most of whom played in another band I really enjoyed, The Git Rights.

When I first moved into the Kenton neighborhood about 7 years ago, The Git Rights would play a Sunday "Gospel Brunch" show once or twice a month. Basically a cover band that played everything from traditional gospels tunes to Tom Waits' Chocolate Jesus. I suppose if the song mentions Jesus it might get a chance to be part of the set. The frontman Michael, would set up behind a white pulpit with a goat skull affixed to the front (super metal). He'd dress up like an old west gunslinger turn preacher, sometimes with crazy feathers and shit coming out of his white cowboy hat. He played a black flying v acoustic guitar for fucks sake. The whole thing was a blend of sacrilegious fun, outlaw country, metal posturing but also a warm and genuine celebration of music and community. The Kenton Club would be packed to the gills on a Sunday afternoon in a way that would shame some of the bigger weekend nights. People loved that band, I know I did. Turns out they still play every once in awhile, I believe they played Doug Fir last summer with Hillstomp, it's just not as frequent as it once was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80fzhMimvEU

Anyhow, now I will remove my puckered lips from The Git Rights and place it directly on the ass of Medicine Family. They’re fucking cool. They kinda remind me of Wilco in that they are rooted American Rock but allow their sound to breath outside of those confines. They remind me of Bubble Cats in a way, refusing to have a singular sound - they are stylistically eclectic. The singer Jesse, used to drum in my old band Curious Hands. Another incestuous point I'd like to make is, Chris, Medicine Family's drummer and morning bartender at The KC, was the drummer of my very first Portland band, The Tallboys back in 2000-2001. We lived together with the rest of the band over in felony flats. I was with him on 9/11/01 people and that makes us run deep like baby seals. We used to get stoned (before it was legal) and watch Pokemon weekday afternoons at 4:30pm. Ah, the simpler times.

Tis the season I suppose. Seems like every year they start wheeling out Christmas shit earlier and earlier. I was up at Lowes near the end of September and I saw a fucking Christmas display. This shit needs to chill the fuck out.

Christmas is one of my least favorite holidays. I will admit taking pleasure in some of the aesthetic. I like lights, trees, food, snow, national lampoons xmas movie (at least my memory of it) but as an adult there’s something much more sinister about the holiday. It starts with those awful fucking songs. Who actually likes those obnoxious songs? Then it’s the buying of the shit. Then of course it’s how everything from December 15 to January 7 is basically a wash. Forget about playing shows, everyone is hunkered down by the commercially induced stress. If in the future there’s an option to go into a medically induced coma for the 3 weeks around Christmas, I’d be the first to sign up.

My theory is Santa Claus is actually the earthbound secret identity of Lucifer. Think about it. They both wear red. They both seem immortal and have magical powers. They both keep lists of who’s been bad and good. They both live somewhere no one living has ever seen. They’re associated with fire - Santa climbs down chimneys? Isn’t it fucking obvious? Satan/Santa all you have to do is move a letter. And the elves with their pointy ears, ever seen a drawing of a demon? Here’s a hint: POINTY EARS! And why the fuck do they work for his royal jollyness? Almost seems like they’re all enslaved, thralls, or perhaps just afraid of worse punishments.

Our first show back in town and it's a Halloween house party at the Alberta Lighthouse! From the looks of my facebook feed it seems like everyone got rightly down last night. Shred of the Dead looked like it went swimmingly (Great work Buzzface presents!) - Minden, Animal Eyes, Tango Alpha Tango - some of Portland's best bands. Our buddy John Barnaby from Manx played 7 different shows over the last 6 nights, ending with a cover performance as Thin Lizzy last night at The Know. Wish I could have seen that!

House parties are typically our best shows. People seem to be more open and willing to get into the music than a bar or venue show. We in turn, take that energy and throw it back into our music. This exchange is the best thing that can having playing live for me; a symbiosis that seems to reinvigorate the band and appease the demons of song, not to mention the effects it has on my appearance. Have you seen my skin? Smooth as a new born baby.... but it smells more like an adult diaper.

Plans are in motion for some new recording sessions during the month of November. Here's to hoping we can summon some of the wild from the house party and get it onto tape.

Here's the second episode of a little show we like to call CAKE AWAY. A band comes in, they play a cover, and we eat some cake. Bada bing, bada boom. This ti...

Last night of the trip, Bombs Away Cafe, Corvallis, OR. I’ve been running on an average of 3 to 4 hours of sleep since this thing started. Team Bubble Cats are all pretty out of it and we’re coming up with stupid jokes to pass time. Bits that technically shouldn’t be funny, but to a carload of stinky, sleep deprived dudes, it’s comedy genius. I’m eating a yogurt. “What are you eating there, is that a muscle milk shooter?” Somehow the idea of muscle milk is the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard. My dormant 13-year-old sense of humor has risen to the surface, and is now completely in control. That hill over there looks like a butt.

I’ve learned a lot of this trip. 1. Don’t assume anything about anyone. Give people a chance to show you who they are. Some of the nicest people are right in front of you. 2. Sleep more. Naps would have helped moods and general health. 3. Water. Put it inside of you, as well as using it to wash up.

I know in a lot of these post I’ve focused on the debauchery and crazy shit we’ve encountered. It’s more colorful to talk about that stuff I suppose, and often I’m just trying to track what I think might be the more interesting details. But in doing so maybe I’ve left out the heart of the story.

I’m going back over this blog, trying to correct my grammar, and now I have a chance to reflect on what it is I’m trying to say here. I wanted to add some of the other points that maybe weren’t as extreme, reactionary, grumpy, or just plain stupid. In between all the driving there were those thoughtful, quiet moments. Starring out at the ocean from Baker Beach (before the naked man and his gray baby arm). Admiring the rolling green fantasy-esque atmosphere of Southern Oregon from the window of a van. The forever brown, garbage covered plains, punctured by wind turbines between SF and Modesto, CA. The sea of Crackheads, scratching and shuffling around The Mission district. The pirates and wenches who operate Oberon’s Tavern. The plague that is the California driver - seriously no turn signals, you fucking ass?

I’m thankful for the conversations I had with my band, as well as The Violent Psalms beardos. I don’t feel like I got to know them better as people in the traditional way of becoming friends, it was something else. Going on tour with another band lets you see them in an entirely unique light. I’m not sure what the word for it is, but speaking for myself, I feel there is a bond between the 7 of us now, that couldn’t have happened any other way.

Seeing a band night after night, their music sneaks its way inside your soul. Now those wilting, well-crafted tunes are the soundtrack of my subconscious. All day they are playing over and over in my head. At times I think this is what its like being a dirty hippie who follows Phish, except my Phish is these three bearded dudes, singing about some really sad stuff. Never did I find myself spinning with my arms raised or taping into someone’s mellow. I wasn’t even wearing my tie-dye socks (I didn’t even pack them)… Wait, it’s nothing like following Phish. It’s more like having that single CD in your car and just letting it play every single day, as you make the one hour commute to a job that is killing you. You don’t realize it at first, but slowly the noise peels back the layers of your mind, and you notice that there’s something about this band, there’s something meaningful here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT_n-ut2EPU