TODAY IS THE DAY

Free CDs SOLD OUT (for the moment)

Thanks to everyone who got in touch re: the CDs... My send-out allocation has run out for the moment... there will be more up for grabs if there's any left over from the gig... but if you really want one, you're just gonna have to turn up!

Free CDs

We're giving away a limited number of Live Mixtape CDs at The Tote on Saturday... but if you can't make it and want one, just shoot me a message here, or email yis@aanet.com.au before tomorrow night... There'll be a total of 40 in existence. CD and postage are totally free, but I'll only have a handful to send out (plus any leftover from the gig), so get in quick.

There'll also be a couple of leftover posters at the gig too.

Favourites: Husker Du - Eight Miles High (Byrds Cover)

One of my favourite covers.

Studio Report: Mixtape #1

With time and technology against us, this afternoon we decided to blaze through the set "live to air" (if you will), and have recorded the whole thing for your listening pleasure. Five mics up in the room: one on the drums, one of the bass, one for each guitar, and a vocal in the middle... The end result is shambolic, messy, frequently annoying and a lot of fun... and now I have a headache. I'll be burning off a limited number to give out after the gig on Saturday.

Studio Banter - Husker Dus and Don'ts

Gear: Tym Guitars Bass Face

"This is another old school fuzz designed especially for you bass players. This is a "messy" bass fuzz for fat stoner rock and psychedelic. The circuit is based on the classic Shen-ei fuzz above using old stock C945 transistors. I've added more gain and true bypass etc. This design has been used by bass players in JAMC and Cosmic Psychos, among others."

Andre was lucky enough receive one of this bad boys for his birthday. It's a pretty crazy pedal, and we haven't given it a full workout yet... but so far it's been a lot of fun. Tim and the gang were also nice enough to include a birthday T-Shirt for him as well! Awesome dude. You can get one and other similarly awesome pedals over at the Tym Guitars site, which also has his own guitars, amps and cabs, as well as an outstanding collection of reasonably priced used guitars.

The graphics on the new Tym pedals are designed by Jackyl from Sixfthick, who has one of the best blogs going over at Guitar Nerd. Also an outstanding fellow.

YISCHEF: Trio of Salads, Tiramisu

These are some of the gastronomical delights Bron whipped up on Sunday... Recipes to come tomorrow...

Video: The Minpins - "Los Angeles Police" Live at YIS Manor, 25/10/09

Photos: The Minpins/YIS/The Strange Attractions/YIS-II at YIS Manor, 25/10/09

Today's 21st Birthday celebrations at YIS manor featured an impromptu backyard gig...

The gig opened with 3/4ths of YIS-II (Matthew decided to go out with his girlfriend) ran through a couple of tracks we're gonna perform next Saturday at the Tote)...

...which dovetailed into an amazing two-song-set by The Strange Attractions...

...who were reunited with ex-guitarist Aiden Rushton!

After a three-song YIS set (no photos, sadly), a miracle occurred... After five years, The Minpins reunited (with special guest Marc Nolte on drums) for the first public performance 'Los Angeles Police'... apparently never to be repeated...

...or will it?

Photos: The Strange Attractions @ Blue Tile Lounge, 23/10/09

Some average camera-phone shots of an above-average gig... These guys are getting very good... so much so that I'm gonna have to cut their set to 20 minutes at The Tote so that they don't destroy the place/Tim doesn't destroy himself/they don't upstage us...

More Band History: The Screaming Pigeons

The Screaming Pigeons, circa 2004.

Press Release

"Full denim outfits. Big rock poses. Stadium-sized riffs and similar sized egos. Admittedly, this band may have at least one of these things (the poses... and maybe the riffs), but no, this isn’t the newest, trendiest ‘the’ band on the block; this is the story of three brothers from the isolated suburbs of the north-east of Melbourne, Australia, coming together in the name of rock (and more importantly, fun); Simon, Andre and Matthew Fazio, otherwise known as The Screaming Pigeons.

Combining their favourite elements of the raw rock stylings of their favorite groups (whilst leaving behind the pretentiousness and the self-consciousness), The Screaming Pigeons are the perfect antithesis to the run-of-the-mill contrived retro-rock bands; a band you can dance and groove to sometimes, and rock out to others, and not have to worry about losing your indie cred.
The Pigeons draw much influence from heavily groove-orientated rock acts such as Fu Manchu and Kyuss, but also prefer the guitar stylings of groups ranging from the Stooges to KISS and Led Zeppelin, with Andre’s thunderous drumbeats drawing much from his favorite skinsmiths John Bonham and Danny Carey, whilst fourteen-year old Matthew’s unbelievably searing lead-guitar work was fashioned whilst rocking out to AC/DC and The Hellacopters in his room on a borrowed SG. With the group rounded off by older-brother Simon on bass (and the occasional vocal), the Pigeons are defiantly a force to be reckoned with.

The band are currently working on their debut release, entitled 'Molasses of Death', which will be available to the general public hopefully around the end of July."

(Of course, that never happened.)

Our first gig was June, 2004 at the Good Morning Captain (which is now some sort of Jamaican coffee house now?). I always get a bit nostagic walking past. Our set consisted of mostly instrumentals with a Kyuss medley at the end. We went on to play The Tote a few months later. We were pretty petrified about it, considering we had two underaged members (one of whom tried to get in the week before and was knocked back). Matt, who was 15 at the time, was pretty excited about it all. Eventually, due to growing tensions within the band (probably about who had the best hair), we stopped playing together a couple of years later... only to be reunited next Saturday at the Tote!

There wasn't much recorded of the band, but here's an early unfinished demo of a song. I don't even think I'm on it; Andre probably doubled up on bass and drums.

The Screaming Pigeons - Supercollider

Andre Fazio : A True Testimonial

Many of you would be aware of the momentous occasion happening tomorrow; the 21st anniversary of one of Melbourne's... no... the world's greatest drum and bass combinations: Andre Fazio. Sure, he's not techinally a drum and bass combo in the way that Sly and Robbie are, or Levon Helm and Rick Danko... or Entwistle and Moon... or Lightning Bolt... but if you could clone him, you'd probably have a set of them in every recording studio and another one doing the artwork as well...

So, Happy Birthday to him. Even though his birthday is tomorrow, come and have a drink with him next Saturday at The Tote for his official birthday drinks. Truly the engine of all my musical projects, and I couldn't concieve of being in a band without him doing something... even if he is an argumentative prick who hates my singing and antics. And that time where he grew chops to take the piss out of me wasn't nice either. Or the time he slapped the peanut butter toast in my room out of my hand and it looked like I shit the bed. I could go on. But I won't. Cheers!

YISCREAM: The Full List (so far)

Here's all the entries so far for the big competition...

Yours In Sympathy
Yep, I'm Simon
Youth Ignited Sounds
Your Idiotic Stupidity
Yesterday is Starting
Youth Inspired by Stooges
Youse is Sweet
Young In Spirit
Yodel in Sync
Yammering Identical Smurfs
Your image sucks
Yellow incremental scrolling
You're It Son!
Young Icecream Slut
young instant stereo
you i she
yelling inside stalactites
yard into story
yelling incompetent stooges
Yummy Icream bitcheS
YORICK'S INDIGO SKULLCAP.
YASSER IN SPORTSGIRL.
YOGA IS SHIT.
YOUTHS IN SOLITARY.
YOGHURT INCEST SUIT.
YIZZLE IZZLE SIZZLE.
YIS I IS
Young Infant Semen.
Yelling In Silence
Yanks In Suburbia
Yellow Inky Substance
Yobbos Infiltrating Sydney
Yawn Inducing Shit
Young Idiots Singing
Youth Informs Society
You'e In-fact Silly.
Yoda Implies Secrets
Yeltzen Is Smashed
YIS Isn't Subversive
Yes Its Shit
Yum Irish Sperm
Yodelling In Sync.
You Is Silly
Y'ALL IS SATISFIED.
yabbie is swimming!
yellow igloos stink!
yeast infection symptoms.
Yummy I Scream
you're in space!
yogurt is shit.
Yes, I'll sign.
Young Inocent Sluts
Yearing in Sactown
Yeild inside safty
Yasmines insatiable slit.
yearning in sactown.
Yauch Is Sick
Yeast Infecetion? Serious!
Yawn inthemidstof Sex
Yoshimi Is Slain.
Yusuf Islam/Stephens
Yarraville Ice-cream Shop
Yoni-In-Sadhu
Your Internetmarketingstrategyis Suspect.
Your insults sting. :(
You instantly sooked
Yeah, I suck.
Your Infuriating Sounds
Yemenis Impersonating Saudis
Young Innocent Sucks
Yearly Infested Scabs
YODA'S INEPTITUDE SYNTACTICAL.
Yourmom is sexy
YOU IS SILENCED!
young insects serious
your intelligence subverted
your interest sucks
Yahoo Image Search
Young Incompitant Staffe
Yak Incubator Surgeons

Still plenty of time left...

Friends: Kate Wilson of The Laurels & The Holy Soul

Seeing as Kate is in town this week, I thought it'd be appropriate to give her bands a plug.... not that they need it really, with The Holy Soul just having played a sold-out show with The Mess Hall at NSC over the weekend, and The Laurels playing a pair of sold-out shows with Tame Impala at the Corner tonight and on Friday (as well as a Karova Lounge show on Wednesday)... All that traveling must be tough, so, here's a sympathy plug: The Holy Soul are launching their album "Damn You, Ra" at The Oldie on Saturday, November 7th, and I reckon that they'll struggle to get a crowd supported by Mick Turner, Miniature Submarines and Late Arvo Sons... we might have to offer to do a free YIS T-Shirt signing out the front on the night to help get some people through the door...

YISCREAM: Day 1

The Ice Cream comp has gotten away to a flyer over here at Mess & Noise.

Some of the early entries include YORICK'S INDIGO SKULLCAP, Yoni-In-Sadhu, Yemenis Impersonating Saudis and Yusuf Islam/Stephens (which doesn't really count cos it was mine)... but there's plenty more ace ones on the thread as well.

Plenty of time to get your entries in!

Re: judging... Bron, Andre and I will each pick our own favourites and then confer on which should be the winner. If we all independently choose the same one, that'll automatically win. No playing favourites!

YISCHEF: Vegan Gyoza

Here’s rather nice recipe for vegan gyoza (aka Japanese potsticker dumplings) .

Okay, as per most of my other recipes, I don't measure anything, so it's adaptable to suit your tastes.

I use white gyoza skins from the Asian grocer as the casing and the filling is a combo of mashed roast chestnuts (also available from Asian grocers in vacuum sealed packs- the European varieties are a lot more pricey, but equally decent), finely chopped dried shiitake mushrooms that have been suitably rehydrated in hot water for at least an hour (sometimes I add fresh shiitake too, if I feel like it), finely chopped leeks (white part only), sesame oil (I use it VERY sparingly, as it tends to be horribly overpowering when added with a heavy hand), finely chopped garlic chives, grated ginger, cracked pepper, a spalsh of soy sauce and a shake of shichimi (which is optional, but I have a preference for one that has yuzu in it).

Mix all this shit together till it resembles something a bit like the consistency of hamburger mince, assemble mixture in gyoza skins, cover bottom of non-stick frying pan in neutral tasting oil (such as rice bran or peanut; I prefer the former), place gyoza in, fill two-thirds of the way up the sides of pan with boiling water water, cover with fitted lid, and wait till all the water has evaporated. This is when the gyoza are done.

Stuff yourself stupid, preferably accompanied by an Asahi or 10.

- B.L.

Competition: Win an Ice Cream Social with YIS

So, you're all aware of the YIS LIVE MIXTAPE coming up at the Tote in a couple of weeks, right? Inspired by Henry Rollins' and Ian Mackaye's stint as Häagen-Dazs managers, we're giving away a free all-you-can-eat* ice-cream session at Trampoline on Brunswick St... or, another ice-cream place, if you prefer. I like the ice-cream there. It can be after the gig, or if you wanna organise another time, we'll work it out.

Okay, so, what do you have to do to win? Simply come up with the most creative meaning behind YIS as an acronym; i.e. Yours in Satan, Young Interstellar Spacemen, etc. The winner will be judged by YIS and annouced on the night at The Tote (31st of October at 5pm). You have to be there to win it. You can post it here on the blog, or email to yis@aanet.com.au

Good luck!

*up to the value, of like, $30 bucks. How much ice-cream can you actually handle?! We might buy you a tub to take home as well.

YIS Unearthed

We're up on the Triple J Unearthed site now. "Happy Bears Forever" got some positive feedback from the Unearthed team:

"Hypnotic, crunched up, industrial buildy- uppyness. Thank you. Love where this is coming from."

rating: 4/5

Steph Hughes, triple j

And, despite somehow missing out on that fifth star, we're featured on the Unearthed Jukebox for the week.

Photos: YIS & The Thod, Pony, Sat 17/10/09

All shots by Matthew Fazio. Click to enlarge!

Thanks to everyone who came out last night; it was a really great night and we didn't suck! So, that was a pleasant surprise. Thanks to Aiden & James for organising, Luke for the bass amp and the rest of The Thod for an excellent set... and also JJ Symon and his Monochromes (Monocrettes??) as well, who were also great... and excellent dudes too.

Organising some more YIS/THOD action for Thursday, 3rd of December at Yah Yahs, which isn't confirmed, but pencil it in anyway.

Today is YIS-II practice with Andre, Tim, Matt and myself for our next gig; the YIS LIVE MIXTAPE #1 on Saturday October 31st at The Tote. (Also the unofficial pre-party for Wu Tang, and official birthday drinks for Andre.) FREE, 5pm start. 6pm YIS.