PHOTOS: FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS @ RED SCOOT INN

Check out duglife's complete photoset of the show on his flickr.

THE SKYLINE 50: PART THREE

Part Three of our all-week series sharing our 50 favorite tracks to come out of the city this year.

Hearts Break – Hearts of Animals
Lemming Baby
We’re not entirely convinced that Mlee Marie didn’t just get dropped off by some well meaning spirit in the sky, complete with a back-story, back-catalog and pointy auburn guitar. A year ago, we didn’t know her from Eve, today, we can’t turn around without stumbling upon some new project she’s involved with. But this was the song that got it started for us – simple, sweet, coy; freight trains and hearts you really believe are broken. Yes, it's true, we made a Doctor and the Medics reference.


Hello Boss!!! – Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum ****ing
Remember when you were a kid and there were still tapes and it always seemed like the first thing you did when you tore one out of its shrink-plastic was fast-forward it to the first song on the second side – like it was the FCC mandated position for the most bangin’ radio single of all times of that week. OH SNAP! MOTOWN PHILLY BACK AGAIN! Now somewhat older, possessed of more wisdom perhaps but less likely to act on it, we tend to listen to our records straight through. That’s why we love a break you off somethin’ lead off like this one. (Excluding the intro, of course. By the way, what ever happened to that original French Kiss name-checking intro that had the back bacon references?) A total next-level departure from previous Guilloteen full lengths is stuffed in the ballot box from the get go, and isn’t it great to hear McManus in action one last time?


Honesty – Papermoons
Papermoons 7”
Sitting on a grassy little embankement watching a girl you’ll never get teach the neighborhood kids how to play kickball is not how one should spend their Sunday afternoons. You should be at home with your mates planning a tour where you take a day off to catch the Superdrag reunion show and coaxing worthwhile sounds out of an accordion you bought for a dollar off the wall of a bootmaker’s shed at a flea market. Pinhole cameras, pinwheels on beachbikes and songs like this are antidote to the too much of anything we are all sometimes seduced into feeling. Grab your kite.


I Drempt of a Terrible Adieu – Listen Listen
Listen Listen
The Listen Listen ep is made of wood. The packaging anyways. Sometimes we wonder if perhaps this is because, once the recording was complete, they chopped their instruments up with axes so as to exile the demons that had no doubt taken residence inside during the creation of such a melancholy opus. Prolly the saddest song on our countdown (oh and bonus – suicide lyrical content), only a master along the lines of Kacey Kasem could ever segue between this banjo plucking dirge and, say, an Arthur Yoria song that happened to have the same instrument in the background.


I Told You Not To Write Again – Arthur Yoria
Handshake Smiles
Here’s a tip on how to get into this countdown every year. Be Arthur Yoria. Write a song about some impossibly common aspect of the human condition that had somehow not occurred to anyone was an impossibly common aspect of the human condition. Add some egg shakers. Play a banjo in the background. Arthur: please record another record soon, we need more insight into our own lives. kthanx


In Piles/Files – Bring Back the Guns
Dry Futures
ATTN T-PAIN: We got your next remix ring-tone right here. Piles/Files is a rock club shredertainer that is to the 2007 live show what apple is to strudel and unfortunate berry combinations is to Kosher wine. If this jam was cattle, it would be an entire cow made of whips pre-seasoned center-cut fillet (is that even possible?) served on a solid 28” platinum plate to Kanye West in his V inspired mothership hovering above the Source Awards. PARTY CALL ME.


James Ralph Brown Part II – Riff Tiffs
Afflictinnitus
Judging by the reaction of their fans to our review of their full length, there is an entire legion of the Riff Tiff Army that does not think it is a compliment to have your music designated as the eternal soundtrack to Puff Daddy’s voyages through the ocean depths should he ever be transformed into a Dolphin. Whatever. Those people have no idea what they’re even talking about. If they can think of a better song to glide along to should you ever awaken to discover you’ve been metamophesized into a marine mammal named Franz, we’re all flippers to hear what it is.


Legion of Serpents – Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum ****ing
We heard this uncharacteristically long and tempoed song was the first ever Roy Mata Guilloteens composition. This is no doubt why we are so GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT. (rewind) GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT (rewind). (Realize we have drive all the way to Juarez with this song on repeat when our intent was only to goto La Tapatia.)


Lonely Goodbye – Paris Falls
Lonely Goodbye (single)
It says something when a local band goes to the trouble of self-releasing a two-song single when they’ve just dropped one pretty aces full length and have a second all wrapped up and in shop-around mode. It’s a special song to them, to be sure - one they had to get out there in the intra-release interim for whatever reason (if we were a thoughtful site, it might have occurred to us to ask them before this moment what that reason might be). It’s a tender and warm lullaby; a blanket of leaves in a rural yard beyond the times. It’s why more musicians should get married and till death do they record.


Lucky – Paris Falls
Vol. I
Paris Falls has their own lighting rig, complete with the ability to trigger it for choreography with what they’re playing at the moment. If you have such a setup, you’ve got to bring the minerals to the water, or else you’re just going to be that group of wankers who thought they were too good for the illumination options the rest of the bands were ok with. But here’s the key – PF aren’t just great musicians and songwriters, they’re great showmen too. Not in the spandex pants kick and splits jump vein, mind you, but in the fact that they see a gig as more than just a thing – as something more akin to the original meaning of the word ‘show’. The whole thing tells the tale of a quartet who take things a bit further than just showing up. The same care went into their Vol I, and this song especially.

BONUS VIDEO: FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS - REVEAL THE RATS

Eh what the heck. So the first several seconds of the song are cut off cause the 'record' button wasn't hit. Big deal. It's not like the dude who was shooting it has a film degree with honors from UT or anything. Oh wait. This song kills, as you shall see, and it's worth even a truncated viewing.

VIDEO: FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS - TIGER VS. GATOR

In this very special Halloween episode of Gilligan's Island, something is made of a banana that could get them rescued, but in the end, little buddy, sad to say they're still stuck there.

ROAD UPDATES: GUILLOTEENS, GUNS GO CMJAZY! WESTERN CIV TAKE A SHOWER! PAPERMOONS SLACK FOR SUPERDRAG!

Well it must be Fall, because CMJ, New York’s considerably more leaf-turned version of SXSW (but with larger distances between venues) is kicking off this very day. And two of our own have forked over the dough to Jet Blue for a little fun in the Big Apple sun. Specifically, we’re talking about Bring Back the Guns and the Fatal Flying Guilloteens, who both decided that October was the month to release a pair of knock-out party rockers. The Guilloteens have up to four shows that they can take the wrong subway to, while the Guns have a single show. So, all you Houston exiles, get yr ass out and see what these kids have been up to. Also, lend them a floor and a place to shower.

Guilloteens Shows:
Oct 17 – Soundfix Records (Brooklyn) w/The Big Sleep
Oct 18 – Paino’s (Manhattan) w/The Big Sleep & Cut Off Your Hands
Oct 19 – R Bar (Brooklyn) w/ Islands, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Black Kids and Other Passangers
Oct 19 – Galapagos (Brooklyn) w/Jay Retard, Foreign Born, A Place to Bury Stranges , Holy Hail and More

Bring Back the Guns
Oct 20 – The Annex (Lower East Side)

Speaking of taking a shower, we got word from Reggie of the presently free-agent Western Civilization that, as of Monday, they had finally broken down, gotten a hotel room and taken their first shower in seven days. HOT. Can’t wait to hear the b-side about that. The kids who make the birds sing were holed up in Baltimore and should be back on the road by now. They’ve still got a few shows left before they return in the big white van to the 713, so if you happen to cross their paths, stop in for a listen:

Oct 17 - TBA - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Oct 22 - TBA - Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 23 - The Nite Owl - Dayton, Ohio
Oct 26 - MEMORIAL UNION - der Rathskeller (UW Campus) Madison, Wisconsin
Oct 29 - The Way Out - St. Louis, Missouri
Oct 31 - The Gypsy - Fayetteville, Arkansas
Nov 1 - Convergence - Oklahoma City
Nov 3 - Emo’s – Austin

Also out on the road at present are none other than the Civ’s kindred spirits, the Papermoons, who knocked our socks off last month at Walter’s. We’ve been studying their 7” ever since and think that you should to, if for no other reason than that this drifting duo is taking a day off from their current tour to see a Superdrag reunion show. Yep. Superdrag. If there is anyone we love as much as Spacehog, it may well be the Knoxville power-poppers, and had we known about this event, it might be possible that we’d be driving their van. Check the rest of their scheduled romp through some of John Cougar Melloncamp’s favorite parts of the country.

Oct 17 - The Matinee - Highland Square, Ohio
Oct 18 - The DAAC - Grand Rapids, Michigan
Oct 19 - 403 Kling St. - AKRON, Ohio
Oct 20 - Day off for SUPERDRAG reunion!
Oct 21 - Old City Java - Knoxville, Tennessee
Oct 22 - The Mug - Mobile, Alabama
Oct 28 - 1982 Bar - Gainesville, Florida

That’s all we have on their schedule right now – not sure what they’re up to between Florida and here. Maybe something. Maybe nothing. Maybe a Better than Ezra reunion in New Orleans. Who can say. Drive safe everyone.

Van Photo by IwateBuddy.

REVIEW: FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS - QUANTUM FUCKING

It’s a big oaken relief to listen to a Fatal Flying Guilloteens record. Seriously, you’ll have all your teeth afterwards. And leave that foundation in the makeup bag ladies – no black eye for you tonight. Yes, the recorded shrieks and stabs are a nice easy breezy listening experience compared to their live shows, which often seem about as safe as riding shotgun in a soft-side jeep wrangler in the rain with your drunk, one-eyed thirteen year old cousin behind the wheel. It’s probably the biggest cliché in rock to say that “this band’s live performance is teetering on the brink of spinning out of control!!!” But imagine if while you were saying that, the guy who founded Hallmark Greetings rolled up and exclaimed “you’re a soft boring lightweight of a pansy” and then swallowed you whole and pissed you out into a swimming pool of fresh jalapeños with a slide made of Ebola. Real talk: it would still be the same cliché, but atleast you’d have a better idea of what it means when something is totally Guilloteens-on-the-stage nuts.

Scuffles with each other, fisticuffs with bands they are on tour with, flaming motorcoaches – our five favorite boys are a long ways away from the once cowboy outfit bedecked Humble trio in sound, swagger and stature alike. It’s not particularly common for Bayou City rollers to keep it strong in the couples skate category for so long, but somehow (seriously – against the odds), the Guilloteens have done just that. And the next time you see one of them, pull them aside and dole out a total gripper of a hug for us – cause Quantum Fucking is butterdish of bliss, and we’re totally rolling our collective corncob in it. Fuck yes with the paprika dusting too – this shit rules.

More than Get Knifed, New Hustle or even their recent split with This Moment in Black History, QF is the Guilloteens coming into their own. We can’t even listen to those records anymore. We’re throwing them away – noble efforts but weaksauce in comparison. They’re nowhere near as puffy taco filling, bedsheet ripping or keno machine addicting. SBT nostalgia. The upgrade in the musicianship, songwriting and engineering of QF over the past is a breakthrough on the magnitude of scar-free tit jobs.

Still ripping it up with zip-code traitor and Erik Bogle-replaced Brian McManus for this recording, QF storms into your living room with ‘Hello Boss!!!,’ (a gift to you on this Bosses’ Day, perhaps) and right away lets you know that you are listening to a record that, while still carrying forward the mustardy flag of their previous works, has more craftsmanship to it. Yes, there are still those creaking hinge guitar leads whose notes refuse to come in sets of four, and they sound just as barely in-tune as ever – but they’re sharper. When Roy Mata’s bass switches from trampoline spring to low end - it’s lower.
Hearing Shawn Adolph and Mike, who usually trade vocal duties, actually share them (even if just for a moment) is one of those dirt simple/flying-car smart ideas that makes us totally stoked for the future. And damn John Adams, are those your hands clapping? We’d like to hold them. Totally Brohomo.

QF kicks you to the curb with the longest and slowest Guillojam to date, the semi-epic Legion of Serpents - a payoff the size of a negative pregnancy test with a riff worthy of God’s Temple of Family Deliverance. It’s a reminder that, when things get older they don’t necessarily mellow out – they get refined, and this is the oak barrel at it’s best. Recommended.

MP3: Fatal Flying Guilloteens - Reveal the Rats

THE TRUE HISTORY OF GREY GHOST – PART ONE: ORIGINS

One of the best revivals this summer, and please oh please if you think the second half of this sentence is going to be about Hairspray, is the return of John Sears’ Grey Ghost series. Basically, every week, they’ll be a new CDr single at Domy featuring tracks from a local great of times past or times present (and maybe even times future). But if you pick up the latest installment (currently a two-track explosion by Punkin Pie), you may notice “wait – this number if far too high for it to be the beginning of the series!” Where did this come from? What are the earlier recordings? How did this happen? WELL, these were questions we too were dying to know, and rightly so since our memory in this town is certainly not the most sage. So we got in touch with Mr Robuck and Company himself to get the skinny. John was more than accommodating in our thirsty thirst for the Sparky knowledge, and so, we are pleased to present to you PART ONE of THE TRUE HISTORY OF GREY GOST – ORIGINS as told to us by John Sears:

somewhere around 1996, i decided it was time to go to college. i had spent the past five years playing in some very polvo/slint/sonic youth inspired bands (i used at least three different guitars at a show to accommodate all of the alternate tunings) and working cool kid jobs at brother's coffee (now diedrich's), amy's ice creams, and a really cool used guitar store that only scenesters knew about. something was missing, a true punk would try and make the world a better place, not just hang out at bars looking cool. so school it was.

anyway, i relocated to Trinity Texas (pop. about 2000) and went to school in Huntsville. It was a culture shock to move out there, so I came to Houston every weekend and worked shifts at Amy's. During the school week there was no night life, so I recorded on my 4-track a lot. Songs to try and pick up girls, songs about books I was reading, songs based on stories by Truman Capote and Flannery O'Conner, songs about getting your heart broke, songs about not taking your easy life for granted. I also visited my friend Dan Smith at his radio shift at KTRU. Dan had started his underground pop radio show with Will Adams (The Ka-Nives) and they called it "the Fantastic Cat Show" after a song of that title by Japanese songsters, Takako Minekawa.

One night at the radio show, Dan challenged me to make a cassingle a week of the 4 track music I was making in Trinity.

Two weeks later, I brought Dan my first cassingle. I called the "band" Sears, as I called all of my solo stuff that. I packaged it with a full color laser copy cover. I named my label "grey ghost" in honor of my dad. Back in the seventies we had a "Dove Grey" Ford Econoline van equipped with a CB radio. My dad liked to talk to the truckers when we were driving on road trips. You know, to look out for smokey and all that jazz. Rent the movie Convoy and it will all make sense. So every CB radio operator has a "handle". That's the name you go by when you are talking to everyone else. Our handle was the "Grey Ghost" because our van was grey and like a ghost we could spirit through smokey's radar detectors thus eluding a dreaded speeding ticket.

Dan played both sides of the cassingle on his radio show and I took 13 copies of the cassingle up to Sound Exchange. I only made 13 copies of each single because I was always depressed by the thought of seeing multiple copies of my local release sitting gathering dust at Sound Exchange. This was when Sound Exchange was in the strip center next to Empire Cafe on Westhiemer. Oh yeah, Sound Exchange and I decided that two dollars was an appropriate price for the cassingle.

I decided to make 13 Cassingles, one a week for the next 13 weeks. Every week, Dan would play the whole cassingle on his radio show (he had the 11PM to 1AM shift at KTRU). Every week I would take 13 copies up to Sound Exchange. When I was at Sound Exchange, I would take back all copies left of the previous week's cassingle. I think my worst week I only sold 8 copies, so I took 5 home. I sold all 13 copies maybe 3 times.

After releasing the first 13 copies, I decided to take a break from putting out my music. I don't remember what grey ghost #14 was, but I do know that grey ghost #15 was the first non-demo release of the Fatal Flying Guilloteens. i made 100 of the fatal flying tapes all on clear red cassettes. i am still very proud of the packaging for this release. The band lost over 50 of the tapes on a road trip to austin. good luck finding one of the remaining 50. Maybe Shawn Adolf has one still.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? HOW DID IT ALL GET STARTED AGAIN? Check back tomorrow when we’ll bring you up to the present, with Sears’ retelling the tale of why he’s back in the CdrSingle business. Plus, we’ll give you the word up on some of the bands that are slated for release in the near future. In the meantime, head on over to Domy and pick up this week’s Grey Ghost installment, which still clocks in at a measly $2. Don’t blow it.

GLITTERATI: SCENE ON THE TOWN

Oh beautiful Houston scene, you are so captured better in image than word. Scope who online made our A list this week:


Elaine Greer (Elaine and the Boys) flashing her trademark “I’m younger and funner than you” smile during the hootenanny-filled country records throw down at Leon’s Lounge earlier this month. Is that a vest? LOVE IT. (from a chron.com Scenester gallery shot by Jordan Graber).



At Danseparc’s 5th Anniversary party, DJ’s Shoe and Stacey show up the young Mrs. Greer with a duo of vests. And Michael, what is that pattern? Fun flirty summer sun. We love it, don’t just keep it for the night time. (from Danseparc’s gallery of the nights beautiful and sweaty goings on).



Lauren of Ume, who has traded in her straight locks for something with a bit more body, showing all the ladies (and gents) that the best accessory for a summer dress is still a Stratocaster (from Jvan’s flickr collection of the Ume/Those Peabodies/Che Arthur Show).



By The End of Tonight’s Jeff Wilson (who saddens us with his impending departure from the band), shows of this season’s hottest footwear. But darling, please, save the shorts for the gardening won’t you? (from John Sear’s flickr).



Roy Mata: a man for every season with a plaid for every day. You’ve got it, and it works baby. Don’t change for noithin. (from Carrie Murphy’s flickr of the recent Fatal Flying Guilloteens show in Austin)

Want to get your photos of the beautiful fashionistas you catch out on the town up here? Be sure you flickr tag them theskylinenetwork. Love it baby, love it.

FATAL FLYING ROAD-O-TEENS

What was perhaps the worst kept secret in the scene was finally broken by the Press this week - the Fatal Flying Guilloteens have tapped Erik Bogle (Bring Back the Guns) to take over Brian McManus' guitar duties in the band. Now all we need is a new press picture. That's not really news, unless you're the sort of person that thinks Saliva might make a good headlining act over the sum total of Houston's best talent. God the Press is weaksauce.

Back to matters - one of the great things about Bogle being in the band is that, in addition to being a four star shredertainer, he can read, write and use the internet. He put these three skills to work for us yesterday, sending updates from the road and his first show with the old FFG.

First show whipped a lot of ass; It was at the drunken unicorn in Atlanta. The dudes from Mastodon showed up and hung out backstage with us a lot. Nice enough dudes; the singer ... started talking about how it's hard to leave the house when you're making pop tarts. A couple of the Black Lips showed up and made nice. I guess we are all going to put that near fight behind us.

We just ate at Mike Stipe's restaurant and a guy I know that was in that band Macha that did a split with Bedhead a few years back was there. I went over to say hi to him and he was eating with the big fat dude from Widespread Panic. Crazy. What a famous people sighting tour this is.

We have stayed in some amazingly terrible hotels. Last night in Atlanta we stayed a couple of doors down from a guy who offered us drugs and women. We saw several prostitutes and figured out that it was kind of a pimp land where everyone but us was there to [bone] prostitutes. I slept in the van. When I woke up at 9 AM because it got too hot, I was walking up the stairs to the room, two dudes started asking me "trick trick?" I was like "Man, it's 9 AM, I don't even [make the beast with two backs with] my girlfriend this early in the morning." It was awesome.

Sounds like a good start. And it may as well be, as the Guilloteens and their young new squire have quite a few more stops in the weeks ahead, including an opening slot at Les Savy Fav's upcoming CD release party in New York and (more locally) a Halloween gig at the Proletariat. Get into it.

Upcoming dates:
08-03 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon (w/Pelican)
08-04 Austin, TX - Emo's (w/Pelican)
08-05 Denton, TX - Hailey's (w/Pelican)
09-21 New York, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg (LSF release party)
10-31 Houston, TX - The Proletariat (Halloween party)

MP3: Fatal Flying Guilloteens - Reveal the Rats

WEEKEND WRAP-UP: FALLING ON OUR ASS EDITION

You may have heard, but we were a little busy this weekend. So much so that we let a number of things not get done. The fruit-fly population in our office kitchen is beyond epic, to say the least. But, back from a trip to Austin and with the planning and preping and decorating and stage managing and pure rockuledge of some festival or another behind us, we are stoked to be back on the job. Here's the dirt on this past weekend.

• The Feel Good Hits of the Summer Fest was a great time. A big thanks to all the bands, especially Paris Falls, who was kind enough to bring their lighting rig when some problems popped up with The Proletariat's array. The Western Civilization and The Watermarks both moved their cribbage piece up a notch in the category of ACES Local Indie Pop Band You Have Never See Live Which have a Definitive Article in Their Name (we should stop and point out here that Coach Springer, owner of more enviable records and listening taste than we will ever have and consulting muse to the Skyline Network seemed pretty stoked on The Watermarks' set). We could go on and on about all the performances - like whats up Kimonos, way to shred the heck out of a Zeppelin tune?! - but how about that decorating?!
  

• A big thanks again to all the bands, the Proletariat, Gilbert, Dunnock, the hard working folks behind the bar, and the door and in the sound-booth and all the people that showed up. With as much of a success as it was, very unlikely that this will be a one-off. Also, while we didn't see too many flash-bulbs throughout the evening, we did see a few - if you took some pictures, post links in the comments section.

• Speaking of Paris Falls, their first CD, the succinctly titled Volume One, was finally available at the show on Saturday. We picked up a copy and are looking forward to bringing our review of it to you soon.

• Speaking of the Kimonos, their next release is in the mastering stage and we are hopeful to have a sneak peak for you soon.
  

• Speaking of record reviews we are looking forward to bringing you soon, we've been blaring Wicked Poseur's 7" ep around the office for the last week, though sadly we were unable to come up with the words to describe it in time to share with you before his show with Dan Deacon at the Mink last night. We also were so flubterghasted from Saturday that not one of our correspondents actually made it to the show. Had we wrote about it in advance, we would have told you that, Mr Deacon, in an inspired moment, was the source behind the name for Jana Hunter's dance troupe, Bony Poner.
  

• Speaking of Jana Hunter, she left Sunday morning for the next stretch of her tour. Pitchfork has the dates as well as the deets on some other stuff she has going on. For this stretch of the tour she is joined by Ray of the Castanets as well as a photographer whose name we are completely drawing a blank on and cannot locate the napkin we used for notes.
  

• Speaking of people who practice in Jana's living room, we learned that Bring Back the Guns have been notified that they are up for a Houston Press Music Award; ditto for the Fatal Flying Guilloteens (we had previously reported that Something Fierce is also on the ballot).

• Speaking of things we are unable to connect to other things, we ran into Bianca of Heist at Hand over the weekend. She's moved back into town after a series of escapades we'd eventually like to get a summary of, and HAH is gearing up for some shows once again. Welcome back kid.

MATT AND KIM REVEAL HOUSTON CONNECTION

“The, uh ceiling is sagging” commented one of the hopefuls who showed up too late to make it into sold-out O Pioneers!!!/Fatal Flying Guilloteens/Matt and Kim show upstairs at the Mink last night. In that tiny hall, a riot of jumping smiles is escalating non-stop, punctuated only by the breaks between songs when Matt stood on his perch (prolly only the first few rows of people actually caught glimpses of them while they performed) to tell anecdotes. Two in particular revealed a way way rad close connection between the adobrable duo and Houston (though one that, frankly, wasn’t so surprising considering that Brooklyn is essentially an outpost of Montrose).

First up, Matt relayed a tale of how his former band was playing a show on the roof of their place in Bedsty with the Guilloteens. At some point in the evening, one of our local heroes (or perhaps their entourage)(key word, RAGE) propelled a beer bottle off the roof, with a glorious arc right across the street, tumbling ever downward… towards the park located opposite… and smashing down only feet from the children playing there (yes, children were playing at the park at one AM). Police were called. Threats were made, the party was shut down, everyone stayed. Unfortunately, once the police left, the older siblings of those in the park showed up and proceeded to beat exiting party-goers with canes. So, the police were called again, this time to protect the party-goers. Unfortunately, due to miscommunication, the police thought the party was the source of the trouble and joined in on the insult to injury. “Man, Those Guilloteens are bastards,” Matt chuckled.



One song later, Matt explained how “we have this one video where people throw food at us,” which, it turns out, was 100% inspired by their last show in Houston at the Proletariat (where it was approximated that there were 13 people in attendance, btw). While playing, the notorious Montrose institution that is the Five Dollar Pizza Guy Hot Fresh Pizza showed up. Some local friends of the kids bought pizza, and proceeded to throw it at them while they were playing. No joke. Immediately after launching into their Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, none other than their pal Brett Shirley (Cedars of Lebanon) suddenly appeared on (not in, on) the crowd wearing a Bannanna costume they had sent thim. If it was possible for the crowd to be more stoked to hear that song, the only thing that might have it better would have been a man in a banna costume. What a fun night.

Not seen the video? You can watch it in your cave or under your rock below.


Matt and Kim wound their evening down back in the Castlecourt with friends. They’re cool kids. They’re on our side, definately UN-SUSPECT for a pair of New Yorkers and we wish them well.

(PS – Lomax tried to pull rank and get into the show for free. He had to pay. LOL!)
(PPS – Check out Chester Soria’s ACES shots of the show, including the ones we stole, above).

BUMMER: MCMANUS LEAVING GUILLOTEENS

You may have already read by now, but ace of strings, songbird and one of our favorite scribes Brian McManus is set to play his last show with local lads Fatal Flying Guilloteens tonight. You prolly didn't need another excuse to goto the Matt and Kim show that they're opening for, but just in case, I would expect his swan song to be nothing left that teeth-removing. When reached for comment regarding his departure, Guilloteens manager Runtrel Davenport was barely able to choke out something about the high cost and difficulty of procuring cheese steaks on tour before launching into an obscenity laced diatribe about "not leaving my job in the Ship Channel to have it end up like this."

We wish Brian all the best, knowing that we can always listen to our records whenever the salty stain starts collecting in our tear-ducts heavy with memories. And for the Guilloteens, three piece, four piece, five piece - it matters not - you are still Where The Rock Comes From. Hugs.

The Fatal Flying Guilloteens are on the bill tonight when Matt and Kim and O Pioneers!!! destroy the upstairs back room at the Mink. The Guilloteens next album, Quantum Fcking, is due out in July on French Kiss Records.

EXCLUSIVE - FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS: WE <3 EXTREME SPORTZ

No, they may not be a new RAPMETAL version of your favorite Huey Lewis and the News record, but at SXSW the Fatal Flying Guilloteens were interviewed by none other than the extreme-sports cable television channel Fuel TV. Taking a moment out from covering snowmobile racing and people doing untoward things with motorcycles, Spike TV's younger, angrier brother took note of one of the G_TEENS many sxsw sets and pulled in their cameras for a close up and a few questions.


Though we don't know when the segment will air, we were given the razor thin on the final moments of the interview, when the Frenchkiss boys were asked to say "We're the Fatal Flying Guilloteens and you're watching Fuel TV." According to our source, after a bit of prodding, the coup de gras went down as follows: Guitarist/Drummer and Skyline contributor John Adams stared into space while Vox/Guitardo Shawn Adolph talked on the phone and other guitarrior/singer Brian McManus applied ample amounts of Fuel branded chap-stick, all the while mustachioed bassoonist Roy Mata spoke into the microphone as voxy/drummery Mike Bonilla whispered into his ear what to say.


It was pointed out to us that the above Fuel TV button looks very much like an ACES illustration of said bassist. In other SXSW/Guilloteen related news, we were informed that they were, infact, at the Vice Party when the structure of the building at which the party was being held gave way. According to our source, again, no one was hurt, but it did pretty much end the show and will lead to a pretty bummerific Monday meeting for the local Elks Lodge. BRUTAL.

MORE FRIDAY & SATURDAY TEXT MESSAGE UPDATES!

OH ME OH MY! Many more good updates came in yesterday and today from our tireless field reporters. Here are thee updates:

FRIDAY
7:04 PM Will Adams (The Ka-Nives)
Wiggins confuses the crap out of a bar full of working class Mexicans on the East side.

8:25 PM John Adams (Fatal Flying Guilloteens)
Beauty Bar was mini Houston and Kiss Kiss Kill Kill Played. Free drinks, my new fave is whiskey and grapefruit.

8:50 PM Chris Ryan (Dead City Sound)
Stood in line for Les Savy Fav for 3.5 hours. Got 4 people from the front and then they told eveyone to go away. Pissed!

SATURDAY
2:59 AM Will Adams (The Ka-Nives)
Ran into Thurston Moore at a party. He asks "Hey are you in the Ka-Something?"

6:32 AM Jana Hunter
[Jana sends us a video of Health playing, but we can't get it from our phone to YouTube]

10:20 AM John Adams (Fatal Flying Guilloteens)
Jordan Graber is throwing some d's on it. Taking pics of basketball players at the hotel.

2:37 PM Will Adams
A wasted Ariel Pink was man-handled by a sound man because he wouldn't stop playing.

2:38 PM Will Adams
I'm having difficulty finding [the right accessories] to take before the Jandek show.

2:39 PM Will Adams
Boris [unprintable]ing ruled.

SXSW UPDATES

Our intrepid cadre of reporters continues to scour Austin's streets for all the REAL TALK info about SXSW goings on. Here are some check-ins and check-outs:

Carrie Murphy (Awesome!)
Open barz. Wasted by noon. Lotsa Vanz. Hipsters. More Later.

John Adams (Fatal Flying Guilloteens)
Heard Spacehog yesterday. MSTRKRFT mashed it up with Matt and Kim

Matt Brownlie (Bring Back the Guns)
At the Mess With Texas party front and center. Matt and Kim about the play, the someone, then ERASE ERRATA. Not moving from this spot until after Les Savy Fav. Having way more fun than expected.

Jana Hunter
First stop: Marnie Stern, then Health, again. Furniture Records was putting this (amazing show) on, free, at Hole In the Wall. Met Will Adams to pick up the bell set. Biked (in pain) with a heavy bag and a heavier bell set to the church, dropped off the set, biked to Pedernales and 5th for as much as possible of the Dirty Projectors packed and incredible set. Stopped by Arthur tent at the French Legation Museum, to say hi, no one was on. Further gathering of equipment for the show. Ate pizza (and like, wtf, cause I work at a pizza place.) Ran the set. PLAYED IN A CHURCH. Ate a myspace hot dog, slammed beers in the van, watched Nina Nastasia & Jim White.

Highlight of the day - hearing Jim White play in that church. Somehow missed every Baltimore related event all day long, still bummed. Watched Vashti and crew. Watched Castanets (full band, so goooood!) Met Houston at a bar, more Houston, punched folks, had to go, had to
get out of there, helped tremendously by [Guilloteen Shawn] Adolf and [notorious Houston photographer Jordan] Graber in getting a cab, went "home", crashed hard, crashing ever since.

EDIT:

Marnie Stern got turned down and then cut off cause the Willie Nelson bartender fcking HATED it. I liked it.

UPDATE:
sorry. wet brain.

THE MELVINS! were great. Sharber got me in to free food. Rhapsody party? I think. A+ tacos. I think that makes for tacos, pizza and hotdogs yesterday. I win. Ran into [impossible hot/cool Houstonians] Delaney HF and Adriana on campus. They're even hotter when you think they're in college. This is all out of order. There is no method of keeping track. There is no allowance for open containers on 6th street.

In talking to Jim White, discovered that the friend at his side was from Houston. Jonathan Tobin, I think? Dated somebody in deSchmog, left way before I got there, but was familiar/friends with a lot of the old Lexington scene. We talked Houston, mostly to try to explain it to Jim, who seemed curious but wary. Appropriate!

John Hunter (Inoculist, Dethro Skull) and Will Adams decided on starting an annual music conference in Houston.

I won't be out again til later tonight, to bounce around between the Monitor, Carpark, and Ecstatic Peace showcases. I'll try to get some vids, pics, soundbytes.

Thankee to all our contributors, especially Jana, who obviously had more than a cell phone at her disposal for sending in the latest. We'll keep you updated throughout the day and night. ACES! Are you at SXSW? Do you have Houstonesque updates, texts, camera phone pix or videos? Send them to adifferentryan@gmail.com or (713) 202-8968. Don't forget to include your name.

VIDEO: FFG @ Frenchkiss Records Showcase

YUSS. First video from our WIDE ANGLE LENSE on everything SXSW. From Brian McManus' Hanging Out His Onion, video of the Fatal Flying Guilloteens at their record showcase last night. BE THEE DESTROY-ED.


AND

FATAL FLYING WHIRLYBALL

Peep this vid from Erik Bogle's 5dayweekend LJ - guitarer, drummer, funner John Adams (Yellow something) and flat-hat-brim photog Jordan Graber (Yellow #1) playing Whirlyball at the Atlanta venue for the recent Fatal Flying Guilloteens tour (hear the band playing in the background?). Sadly, much of what happens outside the city cannot be retold inside the city, but we're sure just as much tomfoolery will be on display at their upcoming appearance at the SXSW Mess With Texas party.

On the Road: Fatal Flying Guilloteens

Hide your shampoo bottles oh people of the South, Houston’s Fatal Flying Guilloteens left this morning for a three city mini-tour of Old Dixie. After meeting up with guitarist, sometime vocalist and Philly transplant Brian McManus at the Birmingham airport, the quintent, who haven’t played a show since November’s CMJ Festival, will try hard not to get into a situation where they have to write their own letter from a local jail (RECOGNIZE: Black History Month).

From Alabama, the Guilloteens, along with tour-mates Black Lips and Dark Meat will travel to Atlanta and Athens before returning home weeks before a full SXSW performance schedule. Joining them on the road is can’t- go- a- week- without- his-work- appearing- on- the-chron.com- frontpage photographer Jordan Graber and driver/van owner/Bring Back the Guns shredertainer Erik Bogle. Hopefully their transport and things in general does better than on their last tour.

In other Guilloteens news, they have recently completed the recording for their next album, due out in May on French Kiss Records. No word yet on a title or tracklisting, but if their NSFW website revamp is any indication, they haven’t forgotten how to do nasty Right On!

REAL TALK: THE NEW PUBLIC NEWS

As of this week, the long-gone Public News is back in the racks. We won't ponder on the folly of launching a newspaper into the current publishing environment (though if we did, it would be pretty much Mike McGruff's insights read verbatim), and will consider that separate and unrelated to our inquest of her editorial.

We are of the commonly held view that Houston, as perfect as she is, contains among her few flaws a lack of indigenous publishing, comment, promotion and critique (this has been on a lot of lips lately, in private conversation, a recent Lomax Houston Press column and even Houstonist's post on the PN's return).

In his inaugural column, publisher Ken Petty states with no uncertainty his thoughts on the state of music coverage in this town:

It’s always fun to see what these guys think is important to cover. The one thing that I recall is the continual glaring and almost intentional omissions of notice that there is even a music scene in Houston. One writer, who will remain nameless, but we shall call him ‘One Lova Nomax’, continues to cover things that no one really gives a rat’s asterisk about.

Great local bands are being birthed and are dying out with out much more than a mere mention of their existence in the newsweekly paper’s entertainment section. One of them, since 2004, decided that Harris County was not for them and they won’t distribute their product here anymore.

So, as it is with us and others, local music is more than a little important to the Public News' publisher. So is it with sharp vision that they tackle their first local artist feature, an interview with members of Savage Evolution?

Absolutely not.

Though the piece is unattributed, its hard not to suspect that it was penned by the author of the accompanying sidebar, Connie Parker, the Promotions Director for the Houston Band Coalition. The ham-handed incorporation of the Coalition into both pieces is beyond snikerable; whether they are local or not, having a PR person write about the bands they rep is not the hallmark of serious editorialship. A band listing a Clear Lake club as their “favorite Houston venue” and holding down a monthly gig at Rocbar is anything but underground rock and roll, and it begs the question does the PN know that the meaning of the word ‘Alternative’ has shifted radically since they last published?

Locals like Jana Hunter, Spain Colored Orange, Indian Jewelry and the Fatal Flying Guilloteens are slowly gaining national attention but are still virtual unknowns where they live; did none of these blindly innovative acts merit more exposure than a band opening up for Winger next month?

The Public News is back, but not yet back on its feet. We’re not looking to push them down. We hope that they turn it around, ditch the spokesmenship and take a harder look at what’s really going on here. You can diss on local coverage all you want Public News, but show you’re not part of the problem first.

PS - What the hell is with the cover?

REVEALED: 713 @ SXSW

Having put the poo poo on day party schedulers and festival attendees for long enough, the mighty and predicatble SXSW official band list has finally been revealed. Though not un-deserving, the list of Houston rock kids getting wrist bands of their own is to be expected (with a few notables snubbed again). Take solace in the fact that you are already digging on the best in the city, and that there isn't some whip-ass scene in Jersey Village that you have been missing out on. Possible exception is Pekaboo Theory, whose electro-chill-whatchamacallits might be an new unknown up your alley. THE LIST:

Ceeplus and the House of Bad Knives, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, Jana Hunter, Jandek, Indian Jewelry, The Jonbenet and Rusted Shut.


ALSO, while we here at The Skyline Network don't know thing one about the rap game in our city, far more of them will be at SouthBy than their guitar toting area-code sharers. Let the assasinations begin:

Billy Cook, Chingo Bling, Devin the Dude, DJ Chill, Young Samm, Short Texas, Kenika, Lil Boom, 2 Deep, DJ Domo, 14K, Rob G, Magno, Big Tike, Lester Roy, Lil Mario, Big Pic, Lower Life Form, Southern Intellect and the Studemont Project.

Best Bets This Weekend

Let's face it, when you discover that you have all six of the signs you've stayed at your job too long, it's all about working for the weekend. Here's my picks for how to spend this week's most livable 48 hours:

Friday
Le Tigre / Electrelane Afterparty @ 2905 Rusk
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Electrelane, but I enjoy Le Tigre about as much as a rock-chip on a new car window. Who Put the Bomb? has got to be the most obnoxious dancefloor hit of all time. Yes, I include Informer in that equation. This show is sold out, so you already know if you are going.

On the upside, however, Damon and Fredster are throwing an afterparty nearby with the Fatal Flying Guilloteens, Champa Moore and Stiletto. They usually throw a good party, the Guilloteens always put on a good show and Stiletto has the midas touch on the dancefloor. VIP or Bust.


Saturday
Watermelon Dance and Summer Social @ The Last Concert Cafe
Ok, I am sort of wierded out by the Last Concert Cafe. It's like watching a concert on a beach, except that you're not on a beach and It's not clear why they are trying to make it seem like one. It also has a bit of a Phishy vibe on it that I cannot put my finger on. It is nice, though, to have a Mexican restaurant at your disposal for before or after a show.

This being said, I have heard great things about Sean Reefer and the Resin Valley Boys (and I think they were up for a HPMA, which they may or may not have won). They are broadly described as a country/swing group and are alleged to be playing at 8pm. Also on the bill is the jazz ensemble Drop Trio (likewise a HPMA nominee). I cannot vouch for the rest of the bands, but I can say that the $10 cover benefits KPFT. If you can track down a schedule of when any of the bands for this festival are playing (yep, its a full blown festival, including stuff for sale and presumably watermelon to eat), please post it in the comments.

Good luck, and Happy Weekending.