R E A C T A V O X
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REACTAVOX Diary: 02.14.06 - Hey...be my valentine! "Valentine" was a hip, title track off of COMPRESSOR that I always loved. The mix we did on that song at Chase Park Transductions in Athens with Dave Barbee and Andy Baker was sweet and thick, but yet roomy. Anyways....we're finally mixing the record and have already scheduled to master at Colassal in March...so the train is finally leaving the station. Please hold on...and Wish us luck. We luv Suede and he has really engineered/produced a great sound for us....he is a riot and we have really loved the whole studio experience this time around....fuzzy! Heading in the REACTABUS to wild Wisconsin in the snow...glad to have a furnace....bring the long johns and hot chocolate! 01.17.06- So...as if we we're already looney...we bought a huge camper/band bus to totally spoil ourselves in as we travel from show to show, canyon to geyser, waterfall to bison. You name it...we wanna see it up close and personal. It's totally like driving our house around...can;t wait to try out the shower! Nick is in charge of systems..I'm digging on figuring out where we can stop and plug in and gaze at wildebeasts. Anybody got any ideas of great relaxation spots in the middle of nowhere...and/or cool clubs to play in the midwest...email me...we're poised with atlas in hand! 01.06.06 - Thanks to everyone that came out to Donelli's for the holiday show and BIG thanks to Bob Remington for lining up last night's show with REACTAVOX, Karmegeddon, Zipperhead and Rollover. The Double Door is such an awesome Chicago venue and everyone is super nice. We love all of you that made it out to see us. Video came out great and thanks to Nate for uprighting (is that a word???) the camera mid set! Nate was a gem to play with us at the Holiday show at Donelli's......and Jack Yandell joined in on a couple of songs too. so thanks again to everyone for having a ball with us....Happy New Year too....new release this year...yeah! 12.15.05 - So, the recording sessions continue but we'll be taking a break now for a couple of weeks. Should be ready to mix down in Jan./Feb. with a spring release date. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that jazz. Looking forward to the 2st annual Holiday Remix show at Donelli's on Friday the 23rd. Jingle all the way! 10.24.05 - Just back from New York CEETAAAY!!! Had a blast playing at the infamous Arlene's Grocery and met a lot of great new friends and fellow artists. City was totallyrocking beyond our expectations. We roamed around Manhattan for 5 days and 4 nights just soaking in the vibe. Thanks to MeanyFest for the invite! It was a pleasure. See the NYC photo galleryand we'll post a live video soon from the show! 10.07.05 - One of a kind show at a Chicago coffee shop tonight. Papered the windows, kegs of beer, lot's o'noise...what more could you ask for. Played with some really great folks and had a lot of fun. Been recording for a couple of weeks now and it looks like we'll definitely get a full length release so we're happy about that. suede has been VERY awesome to work with....very refreshing for us weerdos! 09.23.05 - Yes---it's true! We are finally in the studio tracking our full length release!!!!! We're working with Darwin Records to birth our latest round of angst filled melodies and other sonic fits. We'll try and keep ya posted on our progress....and away we go!!!! 09.18.05 - Mac's Bar in Lansing is sweet :).............we had a great time sharing the stage with the Fallopian Dudes (one of our favorite Midwest bands) and the Fried Chinese Donalds.....finally a club that embraces stickers (and the carpet's alive too...which is always entertaining)..and the Papa John's down from the club makes a mean veggie pizza.....so thanks Matthew and the Dudes for the invite and can't wait to have you to Chicago to share another show here..... 09.01.05 - Double Door show with Shooting Blanks was a riot! Thanks to the club and everyone for showing up and to Hoffman for inviting us to tag along...that was a rocking Wednesday by any definition. Thanks to Jay for showing up and shooting pics even though he felt like %^&$. Thanks too to Nelly & Co. for the Columbia live video shoot.....next up Lansing with our pals, the mighty Fallopian Dudes! 08.11.05 - Thanks to everyone that came out to the backyard benefit for the Food Pantry. Too bad we only got through 3 measures of our tune before the cops came out on an "almost hit and run" and everybody got shy to the vibe. Next time..........so on the recording front...we're kinda on hold till after the Double Door show....more updates when we know what the %^&* we're doing. 07.06.05 - BREAKING NEWS! REACTAVOX Selected to perform at NYC's M.E.A.N.Y. FEST in October! This year's event will be an exciting one. M.E.A.N.Y. FEST will rock the best venues in NYC like CBGB, CONTINENTAL, The KNITTING FACTORY, ARLENE'S GROCERY, PIANOS, CBGB GALLERY, CBGB LOUNGE, TRIBECA and more! Finalists will also appear on Rockin Clubs' -Time Warner cable which airs in almost half a million NY households. Stellastar, a 2002 finalist has since been signed to RCA and is working on their 2nd album!! ONE DAY LEFT finalist in 2003 also has some big things in the works to be announced. New media partners for this year include ISC and NEMO. M.E.A.N.Y. FEST concluded last year's event on December 30th at CBGB with THE KIN being awarded the grand prize winner. The finalists rocked out with special guests BANDCAMP recently signed to Atlantic Records and special guest HALESTORM. Judges included Michael Musto- Village Voice, Jonathan Clarke from Q104.3, Dean Cramer from Kingsofar.com, Aaron Lovell- NY PRESS and Lourds. Over 260 bands performed in ten NYC venues and approximately 10,000 people attended over the week of rock. Please check out the M.E.A.N.Y. FEST web site for details and pictures from M.E.A.N.Y. FEST 2004. M.E.A.N.Y. FEST 2005 will rock NY like no other! 07.05.05 - Sometimes there's
nothing like a great read to clear your head of stale thoughts and replace
them with totally new tidbits of the human condition to consider...So
I picked up a copy of East of Eden by John Steinbeck at a yard
sale. Well....here's the beginning of Chapter 13....and it blew my mind
to the point where I am still thinking about it over a month later...."Sometimes
a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone.
You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning towards dynamite.
It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms.
The skin tastes like air, and every deepdrawn breath is sweet. Its beginning
has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain
and the whole world glows outside your eyes...T hen a man pours outward,
a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished. And I guess a man's
importance in the world can be measured by the quality and number of
his glories. It is a lonely thing but it relates us to the world. It
is the mother of all creativeness, and it sets each man separate from
all other men... There are monstrous changes taking place in the world,
forces shaping a future whose face we do not know. some of these forces
seem evil to us, perhaps not in themselves but because their tendency
is to eliminate other things we hold good...When our food and our housing
all are born in the complication of mass production, mass method is
bound to get into our thinking and to eliminate all other thinking.
In our time mass or collective production has entered into our economics,
our politics, and even our relgion, so that some nations have substituted
the idea collective for the idea God. There is great tension in the
world, tension toward a breaking point, and man are unhappy and confused. 06.11.05 - Laid the tracks for HIGH and we're off to OREO. Things seem to be working out pretty well technically...but it's really early on in the process...we're really enjoying the material and that feels good....the studio always tells you the truth about whether a song is worthy of release....there is nowhere to hide once you hit the record button...some of the stuff you thought was really good sounds like ^&*% and of course some of the songs you thought were weak end up really finding their vibe...fun! 06.09.05 - We are finallly in the studio!!!!!.....With any luck...the basic tracks for OTIS have been laid! Tried to nail HIGH too but the meter is just too wacky to get on a couple of takes...it's gonna be one of those songs that happens in the moment...if we think about it too much..we'll never find the groove....pretty cool to finally be tracking....it's so-o-o-o hard to be patient...never one of my virtures.....gotta work on it I suppose..good thing Nick is around to keep me focused...I am easily distracted....yet another flaw...S. 05.23.05 - Premature Emissions was a riot. Stu and Sean and Jason and everyone at the Note are just incredibly awesome people and treated us like Gods! We luv you! The fest was great fun and it was great to share the stage with the unbelievable Fallopian Dudes from Lansing, MI. Check this band out if you ever get the chance...they Rocked HARD and FAST! Hope the video was good to you! Stu-----hope all your dreams come true in the southern hills....good luck with everything! 05.06.05 - Lilliy's took good care of us...always an interesting experience....Nate fired up the Fender and closed out the set with some serious noise...thanks to Donna for taping...you are so sweet!....too tired even for Denny's.....no cheese fries for breakfast... 04.25.05 - We are back from Detroit with many stories to tell....the recap.........Thai place near Severance Gallery is the bomb!....There was no alcohol at our show which meant we spent a lot of time in the van cracking up at anything...mostly ourselves......Remind us to never ever agree to play in an exhibition hall....the sticker guy was the highlight of the trade show oddly enough...I bought a "Don't Fear the Reefer" sticker for Peggy & Nate.....................Jay, you are the best....thanks for tagging along and bringing the killer new camera....all the pics (for the most part..there are always some butt ugly ones that make you wanna schedule surgery) turned out great and you were most patient with the process....thank God for coffee......Silver Spine and Defunct Red were super nice and we dug the sounds too...enjoyed sharing the show with youz!....the turboplunger scared me...beer does not look like tea....the business of music has become reflective of several ills in our society...namely ignorance & greed...when did everyone become a rock star???....it's a good experience to be a minority now and then...I wish we coulda made it to Canada...don't take pics of the tunnel...they don't like that...casinos are tacky....so yeah..I slammed my guitar into the halfpipe and sliced my wrist open in the process...Third Coast to the rescue!...I gotta stop doing that.....next up Lilly's then off to Premature Emissions! 04.10.05 - We're changing the name of the band to FOGHAT. The Mutiny show was surreal. Ed rules. S. 04.07.05 - REACTAVOX is calling
all lovers of raw indie rock to join us this Sat. at the omnipotent
MUTINY!!! FREE SHOW. 21+. Music starts at 10pm. Of course....the REACTACAM
will be filming thanks to Jay Madden (www.paranoidnervosa.com)......so 03.02.05 - If you missed the Gunther's show last Thursday...you're in luck!!! Check out the LIVE footage of "Out of Body" by visitng the link below. Enter site...choose 02/05 video and view in full screen mode for max. enjoyment.....Audio is kinda crappy cuz we totally overdrove the camera mic...but it's still fun to watch... http://reactavox.neptune.com. Thanks to Jay Madden for videography, Gary for sound, David Ashdown for booking and all the kind folks at Gunther's for putting up with us. Most of all thanks to everyone who came to the show!!!! Next up...REACTAVOX live next Thursday, 3/10 at Silvies Lounge in Chicago. ...if you're in Chicagoland check out Shooting Blanks new video on JBTV at 11pm tonight too! 02.22.05 - REACTAVOX is alive and ready to make some noise at Gunther Murphy's this Thursday, 2/24. We go on first...around 9pm...so ya can still rock out AND make it to work on Friday AM. We'll be playing with Goldman, another Chicago duo...If you haven't already...check out the REACTAVOX Spotlight Interview with KIAC!!!! Check out the CHARTS too! Parasite and WIsh are getting a lot of airplay.... http://independentartistscompany.com/kiac/spotlight/spotlight.html. So we've finally entered the video age with help from the awesome videographer Jay Madden of www.paranoidnervosa.com (Where Chicago gets shot!). You can view the selections at http://reactavox.neptune.com. Sorry - I think this site only works with Windows Media Player..... Are you in our fan pics???????...check out the fun we're having on the road.... http://www.reactavox.com/photos-road.html. Be happy. Be free. Take care of each other....Luv - Shelia 01.31.05 - The Mutiny Rules! 01.15.05 show was unforgettable. The crowd roaring "We Shall Overcome" still rings in our memory and makes us smile. Nick's stage diving wounds are only visable as scratches now and Shelia's beer shampoo formula is being researched for patent rights. Thanks to everyone who came out...Ira (thanks for the generous tab and buying multiple copies of Weerdo!), Pearl, Tracy, Jebodiah (our new friend from the west coast), Peggy, Nate, Lara, the most talented Andy Bosnack and Fannie, our Myspace.com friends and special thanks to Shooting Blanks (you guys rock and we love you!), Ed (most gracious owner of the one and only Mutiny and provider of D-Licious B'Day cakes for Brey and Shelia...how sweet was that???), and to Remember the Tiger Tales and Solar Dive for their sets of fine rock. We hope to play The Mutiny again soon and often. 01.07.05 - Past month was a riot! Thanks to Alabaster, The Silent Treatment and Best Days Behind for sharing the stage with us at Ye Old Town Inn on 12.17.04. We went a little nuts at the end of the show and kinda smashed Nick's new drum kit after he broke the snare head mid-set. Very therapeutic... & everyone seemed to get off on the calamity....Then there was Donelli's Pub on 12.28.04 whereby Shelia went off into La La Land and when all was said and done the Fender Cyclone was diagnosed with a broken neck and Chuck's bar was scratched all to %^&*. The good folks at Third Coast Guitar in Chicago are attempting to repair the cyclone....let's hope for the best...an apology was issued to Chuck and he still luvs us...so all is healing....what excitement will this year hold??? Tune in to the upcoming awesome birthday bash at The Mutiny on Sat. 1.15.05 for John, guitarist for Shooting Blanks!!! It's Shelia's birthday too some come out and support these kids as they rack up another year...We'll be on the bill with Shooting Blanks, Solar Dive, and Remember the Tiger Tales. This show is FREE and 21+..so the year is off with a bang...don't miss the action-packed adventures of REACTAVOX in 2005! 12.27.04 - Please help the victims of the horrific Tsunami tradgedy...give what you can through the Red Cross International Relief Fund...go to RED CROSS to donate online or via mail or phone. We are one people...one planet... 12.17.04 - Van is still packed from last night's show at Chicago's Bottom Lounge so we might as well play a show tonight! Guess you could call this our last show of 2004...so come on out to YE OLD TOWN INN in Mt. Prospect tonight and hear some noise...check out our Shows link for more info. Will Shelia ride the Peavey 2 nights in a row???? Is her guitar even playable after the on stage beating at the Bottom Lounge??? We will all know in a few hours...ALSO check out XRT's Holiday Spectacular show on Chicago's 93FM this Sunday at 9pm. Listen to XRT on the Net if you're out of range...REACTAVOX prepared a delicious, homemade rendition of a holiday favorite for your listening pleasure...whole 1 hour show to feature local bands performing holiday diddies! Fun and festive! Thanks to Richard Milne for his support for emerging Chicago artists and also thanks to the guys at the Bottom Lounge...always a pleasure to hang out and rock out with you! 12.09.04 - Church of Girl out of the Portland, OR area has added 3 REACTAVOX songs to their playlist. Thanks COG! Check out their site for a ton of good rock. Also. REACTAVOX will be at The Mutiny on Jan. 01.15.05 for a kiiler birthday bash. Brey of Shooting blanks and Shelia will be celebrating in large style. We just played with Shooting Blanks at Hang Out's and had a blast! Thanks guys for the invite and the noise! Up next.....REACTAVOX at The Bottom Lounge on 12.16.04 with Streetwisemen and Rollo Tomasi.... 12.01.04 - Chicago Stoner Rock show tonight at The Note was way crazy! We ended up going on stage at like 3AM...Nate's steel will kept him along for the long ride. Tone Rodent from St. Louis put on a great show along with Ricky the Steamboat's opening noise set...thanks to Shawn for helping us out and to Denny's for the 5AM CLT... 11.11.04 - News Flash!...REACTAVOX added to the Nov. playlist at Babes in Boyland out of Montpellier, France! Thanks Babes for your support! and... hot of the press...the Bottom Lounge - Chicago welcomes REACTAVOX back to the stage on Thursday, Dec. 16th with The Streetwisemen and Rollo Tomasi...further breaking news...John Bowles of One Kind Radio (OKR) gives a blazin review of WEERDO! I haven't tried it myself...but..John recommends listening to WEERDO in the shower...interesting... 11.09.04 - UNDERGROUND goes Commercial???? REACTAVOX was featured this week on Chicago's rockin radio WXRT! Yes, that's right - Richard Milne, Chicago music guru and host of Local Anesthetic, played "Wish" and talked about the band and our upcoming shows. You can hear Richard's show on 93FM at 7:30pm every Sunday evening. It's a "weekly look at the Windy City's top musicians, and the music they're making. Features live performances and exclusive interviews." Hear us too on the November show at One Kind Radio featuring "Wish" AND a station plug from Nick and Shelia. Other great bands on this month's show include....Ducky Boys, Haymarket Riot, Dropkick Murphys, The Business, The Tossers, Bayside, Social Distortion, Piebald, The Donnas, The Slackers, Ministry, Pixies, Ocean Tribe, DUI Til You Die, & Johnny Jones & the Suffering Halos. Tune in and tune out the chatter! 10.23.04 - Read the latest review of WEERDO on SPLENDIDEZINE! Thanks to Justin Stewart for listening and reviewing....The HOSTAGE RADIO interview of 10.14 is available! Listen to the Interview with the most talented Billy and Shane and learn more about how we muscled a place at crowded table! .....and here's a couple pics from our 10.16 show at the Beat Kitchen - Chicago. Thanks to everyone for coming out and hanging AND big thanks to Jay Madden of Paranoid Nervosa (known fondly as Nervous Jay) for a great photo shoot. YOU rock Jay! ...we just cut a spot for One Kind Radio this past week! Click on the REQUEST link and tell 'em you want to hear REACTAVOX on this bleeding edge station!!! And if all of that was not enough REACTAVOX is now a member of the CHICAGO STONER ROCK community...visit the site for more than a mounthful of Chicago's finest underground noise hosted by none other than Stu Helm... 10.12.04 KILLER LAST MINUTE SHOW ADDED!!!! SAT. OCT. 16TH AT THE BEAT KITCHEN - CHICAGO - WITH L.P.. FROM NYC AND THE EXPLANATION. This promises to be a totally wide open show...L.P. is creating some serious buzz on their current tour and we will be priming the pump for them to take the stage at midnight. REACTAVOX goes on at 11pm. 10.11.04 Thanks to John Bowles at One Kind Radio for adding "Wish" from our Weerdo release to the October Local/Indie Rock Show! This site features some awesome rock so give a listen now...and thanks to Stu look for us on Chicago Stoner Rock where you can find lots of bands ready to quench your thirst for the real thing....and thanks to WWVU in Morganton, WV for xposure too! To our friends at KAOS...keep looking...we're around the studio somewhere...Catch us live at the one and only Scoreboard in Bridgeview, IL on Friday, Nov. 19th. Lineup to follow soon. 10.02.04 We will be spinning the sounds that inspire us at RODAN in Chicago on Sunday, Oct. 17th. Video will be provided by Jason Roberts. Thanks to Jrick for the invite and visit Jrick.com/LOCALE for the Oct. calendar and other info. We're also trying to hook up with local favs of ours...Shooting Blanks for another show so stay tuned for news of a date....Meanwhile we're plunging in head first on the production of the new full length release...AND at the same time doing a major airplay push on US and Canadian college radio!! Open wide....Oh yeah, don't forget to catch the next few debates...only 31 days left..and then WE MUST ROCK THE VOTE! 9.06.04 Check out the latest review of our ep, WEERDO, at Tuned-out.com!!! Tuned-out.com is dedicated to giving US and European artists much needed exposure, so take time to peruse the site to discover lots of great bands. Thanks to everyone who made it out to the Gunther Murphy's show in Chicago on 9.04.04. In classic REACTAVOX style we blew the club's fuse in the middle of the set (but it was only a temporary halt to the sonic pounding)...Shooting Blanks put on a blistering, albiet hilarious set, to end the night and also had very nice compliments for us...So thanks Shooting Blanks...and to Darling for their set. Stayed tuned for more posting of recent buzz on the band, a forthcoming interview, and news about progress on our next full length release...it is in pre-production!!! 09.01.04 Happy Day! Happy Day! Happy Day!...Just in time for the Republican Convention (blah, blah, blah)......REACTAVOX releases REJECT and 7 States!!! These demo recordings were cut "live" in a single take at Columbia College's Studio B in Chicago this past April. Shiraz and Jamie engineered and mixed. Nick mastered these in our studio on our new recorder thang that does lots of fancy stuff. Lyrics are available on our Music and Words page. Enjoy & ROCK the VOTE!!! 08.31.04 07.31.04 07.05.04 07.03.04 06.01.04 05.17.04 04.24.04 04.05.04 03.02.04 02.17.04 |
