The Story Changes/The Sound for Language/Stone the Mayor Sheriffs/8-Bit Revival-Tonight @ Blind Bob's

...having recently returned from a 6-week bout of touring that took them from coast to coast, The Story Changes make their triumphant return to the Gem City tonight at Blind Bob's to celebrate the release of their new split album, Analogies. Sharing disc time with AZ outift Let Go, Analogies is the result of a trip out west earlier this year to record with producer Jaime Woolford (Let Go/Punchline/Gin Blossoms) who mixed the songs together for a consistent sound and feel. This is the first release from TSC since 2007's The Way of the Dinosaur. Also along for the ride this evening are good friends The Sound for Language (with a new lineup), Stone the Mayor Sheriffs, and 8-Bit Revival. See you there...

MP3: The Story Changes "Move Forward"
MP3: The Sound for Language "You're Not Alone"
MP3: Stone the Mayor Sheriffs "Intuition Is Now"
MP3: 8-Bit Revival "We Space Out"

Halloween Rundown

...tonight is the close of all the Halloween festivities kids, and you've got some excellent options to help you celebrate...


...if you head out early, swing by the Dayton Dirt Collective for their Misfits Tribute show. Twenty bands are gonna take turns bashing out a couple of tunes each, so it should be a good time...

...after that, you've got some choices to make. You can head over to Blind Bob's for a fun bill with good friends. The Story Changes is hosting and have brought compatriots The Sound For Language, Stone the Mayor Sheriffs, and 8-Bit Revival along for the ride...


...or...you've got one of the single-longest-running annual events in Dayton music with the Monster Hop over at Canal Street Tavern. Brought to you by local punk icon Jamy Holliday, his Luxury Pushers will host Toronto's Saigon Hookers and yet another local icon, Mitch Mitchell's Terrifying Experience. Your eardrums will never be the same....

Legalize Telephones

...as is becoming typical in Dayton these days, you've got a couple of good options for showgoing tonight...

...over at Gilly's, you've got some of Dayton's finest doing a retake of last year's highly successful Legalize Gassett benefit. This one's for the bands, however, so head on down and check out Mouth of the Architect, Captain of Industry (whose latest album, The Bronze, entered the CMJ charts this week), 8-Bit Revival, and Goatherd...

...there's also a good one over at Dayton Dirt Collective tonight with the ambient Tin Can Telephone, Men as Trees, and one of our newer favorites, Lvngs. Get on out and check these shows out...

The Buddha Den Presents: Grizzzzy Bear (Friday Night Vampire Club)/Pretty & Nice/Eat Sugar/8-Bit Revival-Tonight @ Canal Street Tavern

...tonight at Canal Street Tavern, The Buddha Den kicks off its month-long birthday celebration with a bill of monumental proportions. Headlining the evening, the newly christened Friday Night Vampire Club (formerly Grizzzzy Bear) will be celebrating a birthday of their own with frontman Brian Baker. Also along for the ride will be the patented tazer rock of Boston's Pretty & Nice who are currently out on tour in advance of their new album due out on Hardly Art. Add in the frenetic electro-soul of Eat Sugar (from Cincinnati) and one of Dayton's longest running outfits, 8-Bit Revival, and you've got a show that you know everyone will be talking about tomorrow....

Grizzzzy Bear Changes Name

...perhaps it was all the confusion with Grizzly Bear, perhaps it was the confusion between the solo work of Brian Baker and the live band, but whatever the reasoning Grizzzzy Bear has announced that will now be known as Friday Night Vampire Club. They will make their first appearance under the new moniker next Wednesday night at Canal Street Tavern for The Buddha Den Presents with Pretty & Nice (Boston), Eat Sugar (Cincinnati), and 8-Bit Revival....

8-Bit Revival/The Sound for Language-Tonight @ Dayton Dirt Collective

...if you feel like warming up yr weekend, head on over to Dayton Dirt Collective tonight where two of Dayton's finest will be serving it up. Indie mainstays 8-Bit Revival and indie punks The Sound for Language kick things off early at 7 pm. Don't forget kids, this is an all ages show...

The Sound for Language/Speakerfire/8-Bit Revival/New Vega-Tonight @ Pearl

...well kids, you've got a good to wrap up yr first weekend in May tonight over at Pearl. Heavy-hitters The Sound for Language headline, Speakerfire (in from Buffalo) are a special treat for afar, 8-Bit Revival dishes out big hooks and scrambles them up in a synthetic soup du jour, and New Vega will make their debut this evening as well. See you down there...

8-Bit Revival/Pretty & Nice/Exit Clov @ Pearl 3.20.08

...following the forgettable set by locals After the Accident, DC's Exit Clov took to the stage, fronted by twin females and recalling everything from The Breeders to Teagan and Sara as far as vocals are concerned. With the twins also employing guitars, keys, and dualing violins, the band's inventive and driving rhythm section which were seemingly hellbent on twisting the group's sugary pop overtones into an arty postpunk amalagam. The standout of their set was the song "MK Ultra", which is already a huge hit in a parallel universe....



...making their fourth tour stop in the Gem City in just over a year, Boston's Pretty & Nice dished out their trademark Tazer Rock in copious doses. The newer material unleashed during their set left us with high hopes for the upcoming album due out late summer on Hardly Art. As the band oscillated across the stage like electrocution victims, the audience stood amazed at what was happening before their eyes...



...closing out the evening, 8-Bit Revival celebrated their return to Dayton after more than a week spent touring through the deep South. The band was clearly in jovial spirits, as bassist Alan Baker climbed speakers and ventured out into the audience on numerous occasions. Even without the antics, 8-Bit turned in an inspired set...



For more photos from the show, click here. All b/w photos of 8-Bit Revival by Marla Bremer.

8-Bit Revival/Pretty & Nice/Exit Clov/After the Accident-Tonight @ Pearl

...your good friends over at Sarasvati have set up another good one for you tonight with their Machine Art Show tonight at Pearl. Headling the evening you've got local faves 8-Bit Revival, who just returned from a jaunt through the South that included a stop at SXSW. Also on the bill are Pretty & Nice (Tazer Rock from Boston, who we profiled earlier this week), Exit Clov (indie/new wave from DC), and local alterna-rockers After the Accident. With four bands and dozens of artists exhibiting, why would you want to miss this one? See you there...

PROFILE: Pretty & Nice

..we caught up with the kings of Tazer Rock, Boston's Pretty & Nice, traveling out of Austin following the flurry of South By Southwest.The band, who recently signed to Sub Pop subsidiary Hardly Art, will be making a tour stop in Dayton this Thursday night at Pearl. Here's what they had to say as they made their way across the Plains states...

The Buddha Den: So this tour you’re on, this is the first jaunt of the new year, correct?

Jeremy: This is the first undertaking of ’08.

TBD: So do you have a name for this tour?

J: The poster says ‘Pretty & Nice vs. South By Southwest

TBD: And who won?

J: I’d like to say, barely justifiably, that we came out on top, or it was right neck and neck where we escaped before the buzzer went off. One or the other, I’m not entirely sure. I’ll have to give it a day or two. I’m still recovering from the game points.

TBD: You did a bunch of dates, right? You went through the South before you hit Austin?

J: We had few dates on the way down, and now we’re doing a week’s worth of dates on the way back [to Boston]. Not an extensive tour, more of an easing into and out of SXSW. Any excuse to play a show.

TBD: Whatever excuse you need, right?

J: And usually we don’t need an excuse. We feel fairly righteous about touring all the time.

TBD: Yeah, I think you’ve proven that point. So, how was SXSW for you guys? How did it go over?

J: It was really good. We finally got a chance to hang out with Sarah and Montana from Hardly Art and Tony Jewel [sp?] from Sub Pop a ton and they are totally wonderful, excellent human beings and we’re really, really, really, really, really excited to work with them and have them around to play Hangman and Boggle and such.

TBD: Yeah, since the last time we saw you you’re now on Hardly Art. How did this all transpire?

Holden: The straight dope is that the A&R guy for Hardly Art and Sub Pop, this swell guy named Tony heard us on the Paper Thin Walls blog. Which I guess as our Dayton guy you would be well to know that, in the first place, Juan [Monasterio of Model/Actress, ex-Brainiac] saw us in Dayton and emailed John Schmersal the same day we emailed John Schmersal if Enon would do a show with us in Boston. Then John blogged about us on Paper Thin Walls. One of the reasons he even listened to us was that Juan had heard us. So, it’s all your fault. It kinda took a while. We’d been talking to them since September.

TBD: Oh no, I helped somebody. I’m such a horrible person.

H: I know. We do that sometimes then we kick ourselves.

TBD: So they’re gonna put out the next release, correct?

H: Exactly.

TBD: Excellent. When should we expect something new to come along?

H: Something new will come along on our tour this summer. The album won’t be out until late summer/early fall. I think we’re gonna have some kind of goodies or something for summer.

TBD: Like a self-released something or other?

H: Totally undecided right now. We’ve talked to Hardly Art about doing a pre-album fun pack or something. I dunno.

TBD: Sounds good. Did you guys record some new stuff over the winter?

H: Yeah, we’ve got a good bunch of it already moving and then some sweet inspiration happened. Actually a lot more writing than we expected, and that will probably be included. It’s underway.

TBD: Any working titles yet for the album?

H: It’s a secret. We wrote the name down and then we put it in a box with a dead cat and buried it in the backyard. Then we’re gonna open it up when the album’s done and if the cat’s alive, we’re gonna use it as the title.

TBD: Like if the title brings the cat back alive?

H: Exactly.

TBD: Clearly then you’ll have a magical title on your hands.

H: That’s the plan. We’re just gonna keep killing cats and burying them until we find the right title.

TBD: I think that’s a new working model you got there. Let it never be said that you don’t innovate.

H: No. I appreciate you saying so.

TBD: So how many shows did you pick up at SXSW?

J: So, we didn’t play with any yaks at SXSW, but we hope to in the future.

TBD: Good to know.

J: We played an awesome showcase about an hour after we rolled in. We were technically opening for The Lemonheads, which was hilarious. The Von Bondies played, and a couple other bands we didn’t know. We dropped the snare drum and it got holes. Then our stage manager, who was a gem and a half, ran back to his house and got some old snare heads for us. That was really fun. We got to hang with our label cats. And we played a parking lot. No, wait, we played a warehouse the next night. Like 15 minutes outside of Austin. Then at the end of the night a couple of us almost got snuffed by a promoter who is a rabid, raving methhead. Then the next morning we played a parking lot, which was totally awesome, with a band called Birds and Batteries. So we got a little bit sunstroked, then we played the back of a coffee house on Saturday night. So, a bunch of cool little shows. Everything went totally smoothly.

TBD: So, you’re going to Tulsa tonight, right?

J: Yeah, we’re in Tulsa tonight. Then Columbia (Missouri), then Bloomington (Indiana), then we knock on your door. And hopefully it shall sound good.

TBD: This time you’re hitting Dayton on the way back rather than on your way out.

J: We like our tour route. We really love going down the East Coast then coming back up and around. We do that often. We don’t mean to, it’s just that it makes sense. But this summer we’ll finally be venturing out of our stomping route and making our way to the West Coast, to go surfing. We’ll have fun, fun, fun ‘til daddy takes the t-bird away. So, summer: west coast, record. Or it’ll be summer, then record then west coast, or west coast, then record, then west coast again. Maybe we’ll get out of country…

TBD: Maybe go to Europe and far away places?

H: Maybe Japan and China. We’re trying.

TBD: Is there anything else you wanna make sure that The Buddha Den readers know about at this point in time?

J: We’re too busy singing to put anybody down.

TBD: I’ll be sure to let everybody know that.

Pretty & Nice, who are out on tour with Exit Clov (DC) will be stopping at Pearl this Thursday night for Sarasvati's Machine art show, featuring locals 8-Bit Revival and After the Accident.

Legobone/The Give Ups/8-Bit Revival/Cocaine Wolves-Tonight @ Oregon Express

...now that most of the snow and ice has melted, we're sure you're hungry for a good night of rock n' roll. Yeah, we know. Well, here's a good one for you: over at the Oregon Express tonight, you've got an incredible bill and birthday celebration as well. Headliners Legbone are sure to prove yet again why they are one of Dayton's longest running punk outfits. The Give Ups will be celebrating bassist Steve's 30th Birthday. 8-Bit Revival will make their first stage appearance in several months as they warm up for a trip down to SXSW in the coming weeks. Special guests The Cocaine Wolves from Muncie, Indiana will open the evening, expectedly setting the pace for the evening...

8-Bit Revival/Pretty & Nice/Mascot @ Nite Owl 10.30.07

As expected, the show at Nite Owl last night was an excellent show. Despite the thin crowd, everyone turned in incredible performances and those who were in attendance received musical treats sweeter than any Halloween candy....

...opening the evening was Mascot, offering up a solo acoustic set filled with quick bursts of pop tunes and historical rants....



...turning the corner was Pretty & Nice, out on tour from Boston. Their incendiary stage presence and propensity toward melodic bliss left everyone in the room fairly breathless. Although we're already big fans of their first two discs, the unveiling of several new tunes left us eager for their next offering...



...closing out the evening was local favorites 8-Bit Revival, who gave what looks to be their last performance of the year. Their gigantic angular tunes were the perfect conclusion to an evening of ecstatic fun times...



....yep, you missed another good one...

Photos of Mascot and 8-Bit Revival by Marla Bremer

8-Bit Revival/Pretty & Nice/Mascot Tonight @ Nite Owl

We know it's only Tuesday and that you might still be rebounding from the weekend, but you need to know a few things about tonight....

...Pretty & Nice are coming in from Boston. With their patented tazer rock they will blow your minds and move your feets. You really want to catch them, since you probably missed them the last two times they played Dayton this year. Also, on the bill are 8-Bit Revival and Mascot. see you there....

Legalize Gassett!!!

Tomorrow night should be more than anyone can handle....

Over at the rarely-used Gilly's, we've got a fantastic local bill. Captain of Industry, 8-Bit Revival, John Gassett's new project Goatherd, and the recently reconfigured Mouth of the Architect are poised to have one of the best local shows of the season. If you want to know more about the "benefit" aspect of the show, ask someone there....


Meanwhile...up Fifth Street at the Nite Owl, touring juggernauts The Story Changes will make an appearance before their Dayton Music Fest set next weekend. Also on the bill will be Simply Waiting, Accidently on Purpose, and Fairweather Fan....


One more good show on Saturday...over at the Oregon Express, a little lighter fare with Wes Tirey opening for Sleepybird, who will be heading out on tour in the next few weeks...

This should be a good warm-up for the Dayton Music Fest next weekend....