and Friday night (February 6, 2009) we'll be part of the fun. It's hard to overstate how important MRR is for the music scenes it covers, so we hope you'll come out for this good cause.
]]>I've always been really impressed by ONION FLAVORED RINGS' vocal melodies. With the simple rhythms of Steve and Paul's stringed partnership and Erick's sharp drumming, the songs are super sing-songy, almost like nursery rhymes, which creates an incredibly satisfying listening experience. Funny is just another excellent presentation from this Bay Area pop-punk outfit that met in Amsterdam in 1972 at the squat that the RFA fled to at the peak of their infamy. Which is also funny.
No, we don't understand the penultimate sentence either.
]]>We'll also be following the Twitters* and the MySpaces † and who knows what all. And, uh, posting? Come explain all this newfangled technology to us at any or all of the following places:
Sept 21 (Mon)
Chattanooga @ Anarchtica
w/ This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, ADDC, Stupid Party, Bad Blood
Sept 22 (Tue)
Athens, GA @ The Hanger
w/ Stupid Party, Bad Blood, Witches
Sept 23 (Wed)
Asheville, NC @ 288 Deaverview (house)
w/ Stupid Party, Bad Blood, Tent City Rollers
Sept 24 (Thur)
Wash, D.C. @ Black Cat
w/ Screaming Females
Sept 25 (Fri)
Philly @ The Barbery
w/ forgetters, Amateur Party
Sept 26 (Sat)
New Brunswick, NJ @ house tba
w/ Stupid Party, Bad Blood
Sept 27 (Sun)
Brooklyn, NY @ The Silent Barn
w/ forgetters, Stupid Party, Bad Blood, Wrd Wthr
Sept 28 (Mon)
Pittsburgh, PA @ tba
w/Confidence Men
Sept 29 (Tue)
Athens, OH @ tba
w/ Snarla, Delay
Sept 30 (Wed)
Columbus, OH @ 15th House (369 E. 15th Ave)
w/ Cruddy, The Read, Haywire Desire
Oct 1 (Thur)
Chicago, IL @ tba
w/Canadian Rifle, The Terribles
Oct 2 (Fri)
Milwaukee, WI @ a house(2650 N. Richards St.)
w/ The Terribles, Cruddy, Holy Shit, The Murder Trees
Oct 3 (Sat)
Minneapolis, MN @ house tba
w/ Dirtyard
Oct 4 (Sun)
Duluth, MN @ Bohemia Arts
w/ Cruddy, The Undesirables, The Delaneys, The Brothers Band
Oct 5 (Mon)
Minot, ND @ Pangea House
w/ Holy Smokes Father
Oct 7 (Wed)
Seattle, WA @ FBK house
w/ Revivr, Snuggle
Oct 8 (Thur)
Portland, OR @ The No
w/ The Estranged, Desconocidos
Oct 10 (Sat)
San Francisco, CA @ tba
w/ Year One, Dirty Marquee, Fleabag
Oct 12 (Mon)
Oakland, CA @ Purple House
w/ Al Scorch
If you come to all of the shows listed above, and you're not actually in the van with us, at the last show we'll all shake your hand!
* - Yes we Twitter: http://twitter.com/onionflavored
† - Alas, we MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/onionflavoredrings
And of course if you want to download to view offline rather than in your browser, right click (PCs) or ctrl-click (Macs--or how about option-clicking to download immediately?) and blah blah blah, you've heard it all before.
And if you use the MP3s and PDFs to make your own bootleg copies of our records, well, we salute your gritty resolve and determination. It really makes us proud.
]]>We'll be traveling from Chattanooga to Seattle, with stops in New York City and Duluth, plus two different cities of Athens, and lots more. Exact dates and details will appear here when we know them for sure.
We'll be on the road some three weeks, late September to mid-October, with new songs and a new record, playing with some great bands. We hope you can come out to see us. We can't wait to see you!
]]>This week--tonight, 27 Feb 2009--our Portland pals Defect Defect are playing at a house in West Oakland. Again, OFR will be there, but this time...to play!
The address? Ummmm...12th Street-ish? "Acts of Sedition House?" It's nestled among all the other houses where there've been shows over there the last few years. Pine St.? Wood St.? It's all a blur to me.
But we'll be there tonight, Fischer from Santa Cruz will be there, and you can be there, too. Just listen for the joyous noises emanating from one house or another. And come on in!
]]>
and Friday night (February 6, 2009) we'll be part of the fun. It's hard to overstate how important MRR is for the music scenes it covers, so we hope you'll come out for this good cause.
]]>Back here in the Bay Area, OFR eagerly anticipates the next show, with old pals (Blonde Ambition), friends we haven't met yet (Landlord), and the intriguingly named Schlitz Claiborne. But why tell when you can show?
I've seen lots of bands at this place since they started up last summer, and it's always a great time. We're really excited to finally get our chance to play here, too. Not to mention playing a little ping-pong in the garage between bands.
Also...it will be show-organizer Julia's birthday. I can't promise cake and ice cream, but you never know.
]]>We still played, though, and have been working on some new songs. Don't believe it? Come hear for yourself at Gilman Street Saturday night, 10 Jan 2009. The lineup is as follows:
Trainwreck Riders
The Measure (NY/NJ)
Sourpatch
Kicked In
We're actually the top-billed band on Gilman's calendar page. This means low attendance is virtually guaranteed, and you'll be able to stand comfortably even in the middle of an almost certain to be sparse mosh pit.
It's the usual Gilman style: $7 admission, plus a $2 membership card (good for a year) if you don't already have one.
]]>Erick travelled to talk about his book On the Lower Frequencies and then toured quite a bit with Black Rainbow, who also have a new record out.
Next month we'll all be together again. Hopefully we'll be playing some shows right away, and there's a couple of new songs we want to record. Stay tuned!
]]>Probably on that same long-ago tour, we played in Bloomington, Indiana. I'm not sure when we'll get back there, but one of my favorite products of the Bloomington scene, Ghost Mice, are coming to Thrillhouse this Friday with some friends they made on a tour of Ireland, the Heathers. Also playing will be their old friends from San Francisco, Onion Flavored Rings.
This is probably going to be our last show for a while. Erick is headed off on another trip, possibly related to his book. No, definitely related: either he's promoting it, or recovering from it. And we thought putting out a record was hard!
Which reminds me, we still have newish records out: our epic 7" concept record, 5 billion years in the making, on Thrillhouse Records; and our split with Future Virgins on 1234Go Records. If you think you don't need the OFR/FV split on vinyl because there's a digital version floating around out there on the web, I beg to differ: I've heard the MP3s, and they're not only low-quality, but about 5% too fast. Fine if you're in a hurry, but not exactly what either band sounds like.
Eventually, we'll issue a proper CD version, and MP3s will be here for you. You miss out on the artwork, though. And there's nothing like colored vinyl.
]]>For the first time in several years, an intact OFR will be in New York on June 15, 2008. This presents the opportunity for a show, and it happens that our old pals Tulsa, on that very day, indeed have a show in Brooklyn. Et voila.
When the possibility first arose, we got excited. Now that it's on, we're really excited, and we hope to see you there!
]]>In fact, you can see the funyons today at Annie's Social Club. This show kind of brings it all together: the funyons is the direct progenitor of OFR, and the headlining band is The Unit Breed, featuring none other than Joe Demaree, who recorded the first OFR record in his San Jose garage. Showtime is 7pm, or possibly "7pm" (read 8:30pm…or 9pm?).
The July 11 show, if you're interested, is at Thrillhouse with our old friends Ghost Mice and their new friends from Ireland, The Heathers. We can hardly wait!
]]>As you may recall, Thrillhouse is located at Mission and 30th St. in San Francisco. There's a blue fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus (or is it Godzilla?) over the front door. The fun happens in the basement, around 6pm. Which might mean 7pm, but we hope not.
Also on the bill is the always exciting Blonde Ambition, and the more exciting possibilities of who else might be playing. They'll hit you up at the door for a donation, don't be a tightwad.
The synthetic onion-y snack loop theme continues with the funyons at Annie's Social Club on Sunday night, 7pm. This is the band featuring Robert from Kreamy 'Lectric Santa and Steve from OFR, the one that ultimately led to OFR's very existence, playing a somewhat rare indoor show. Usually we're found on random sidewalks playing to complete strangers. Perhaps even on Friday, around the Powell Street Muni station, about 2:30pm?
]]>The result? A couple hundred more records for sale, satisfying perhaps dozens of unfilled orders. We'll just bury the excess in the Thrillhouse basement.
To get your own copy of this vinyl--sorry, no CD release is currently planned--try the Thrillhouse website. Or drop in to the store at Mission and 30th in San Francisco.
Also check out some of the usual suspects, such as Little Type and No Idea.
]]>In the meantime, we've all stayed busy with other projects as well. On top of a thousand other things, Paul is often seen playing bass for Surrender. That is, when he's not singing Cheap Trick cover songs.
Erick has just published SCAM #6, while Soft Skull Press has published his book On the Lower Frequencies: A Secret History of the City. Look for him on his upcoming national book tour!
Steve can be found occasionally busking with Priya from Kreamy 'Lectric Santa and performing on random sidewalks or in random art galleries as part of the funyons. Avoid if you can!
]]>