|
|
Friday, November 21st, 2008
| |
11:29 am - A (non-)commercial break...
|
We just found this video by Adam of Desa that uses "The Spice Must Flow" from "The Impossible Leap..." [Link to iTunes] Can't believe we slept on this one. Thanks Adam! I love it.
Sorry for the "Debbie Downer", but I can't ignore the advertisement that strimoo.com placed on the right of the video (based on the Vietnam content of the video) when I was checking it out. If ya didn't know, Sex Tourism and Trafficking run rampant in the Third World, especially in countries with existing or a legacy of US Military Bases. Websites like this advertiser (eg. VietnamCupid.com as well as its related exploitive sites like AsianEuro.com, FilipinaHeart.com, KoreanCupid.com, MilitaryLoveLinks.com, etc.) make their money playing up First World sexism and racism.
What's your take? Help fill in the word bubble below by commenting on this post.
Oh, and since we had such an intense time in Europe with very few breaks and spotty Internet connections, we'll be blogging a retroactive European Tour Blog in the next couple of weeks. Look out for those. Personally, I just need a few days to wind down.
Isulong!
Sergio / FMTM
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, November 20th, 2008
| |
6:48 pm - People make some cool sh*t with FMTM music...
|
Just noticed this. I have no idea who made it or for what ultimate purpose, but it's pretty powerful and I'm happy they chose FMTM music for it (though it is a sobering, if not horrifying video.) Check a check it out.
current mood:  busy
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, November 8th, 2008
| |
12:38 pm - FMTM in Europe via YouTube
|
|
| Friday, November 7th, 2008
| |
1:37 pm - FMTM in Europe as viewed through my camera...
|
|
Well, with only 8 days left I've finally gotten to blogging. Unfortunately routing of this tour's been insane, leaving little time think or rest, much less blog. We pretty much wake, drive, soundcheck, play, sleep, repeat. Haven't had a single day off except for yesterday so we could break up a 10+ hour drive in two from Belgium to Scotland. Here's some of what I've seen. (The other two seem allergic to cameras.) Sergio / FMTM
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
| |
9:25 am - Europa Europa!
|
Hey. Greetings from Dortmund, Germany. At long last FMTM has a morning off, and at long last the USA has elected someone besides a white man to the office of president. I'm sad that I wasn't there to vote or to celebrate, but when I was leaving the country with FMTM, for once I actually trusted that Americans would make the right decision. It's certainly not the ultimate victory for the people and it doesn't represent all the changes we need to see, but it's a start... and FMTM is all about starting shit.
So, blogging. Sadly, we haven't done much of it, but it's not for lack of trying. This tour has been jam packed full of relentless travel and relatively few reliable internet access points. We still manage all our online stuff ourselves, so our ability to stay on top of it has been severely compromised. anyway, to anyone who has actually been expecting to read tour updates: sorry. but we've been shooting hella video cuz francis bought a new palmcorder before we left. We'll post some crap on youtube soon. our buddies A. Armada just left us this morning - we weren't supposed to part ways until tomorrow... but for them, the worst happened. Their bookings didn't pan out for the following week when they would have been touring solo - they had some cancellations and, evidently, no representation - so they had to make the difficult decision to just bail out now rather than waste a bunch of gear/van rental money. it was a drag to see them go through that and to not be able to be of much help... but it can happen to pretty much any band at any time, so we sympathize with them. It'll be weird to play the show in Liege, Belgium tonight without them. We'll miss those dudes cuz they're fucking hilarious and they're a great band. And who's going to carry all that heavy shit for us now? Timo, our tour manager, I guess.
Welp. I have a million stories I want to tell, but I've gotta get out of this crazy band apartment (from the guestbook I see that Parts & Labor just slept here like a week ago) and go get some fresh air. German coffee has gotten a little better over the years. Germany must have listened to me complaining back in 04 about how sucky their coffee was. We'll be posting more soon. I'm going to repost this on the DM site. I love this tour so far... it's difficult... but I had no idea that so many people in Europe like FMTM. It's an inspiration. Tchuss! Matthew/FMTM
My friend Peter's photos of FMTM in Berlin:
http://www.matthes-foto.com/4images/categories.php?cat_id=46
current mood:  awake
current music: Obama
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Friday, September 26th, 2008
| |
2:19 pm - Some big FMTM updates!
|
|
Theres a lot going on with From Monument To Masses. New record, new single, new tour...new, new, new. First off, the band's about to hit the road!!! They'll be playing one U.S. show in NYC and then returning to Europe for the first time since 2004 playing most of the shows with special guests, A. Armada. As you might've seen on FMTM's MySpace, the first single from the record, "Beyond God & Elvis", has been uploaded, so take a listen if you haven't. A maxi-CD single will be available in Europe on Golden Antenna Records which includes two remixes of the single by FMTM, a B-side track entitled "The Role Traversal", and video of live performances from the band's 2007 Japanese tour. (The audio tracks will be available in the U.S. and elsewhere through iTunes and other digital download spots.)
All of these things are building up to the aforementioned release of FMTM's fourth record, </i>"On Little Known Frequencies"</i>, due out in January 2009 on Dim Mak Records. Please help get the word out about everything FMTM's got going on by posting the message below to folks on MySpace, your blog, etc. Click the image below or here to get the code. Thanks!
[ click to zoom ]
From Monument To Masses
Fall 2008 Tour
with special guests A. Armada
FMTM is getting ready to hit the road to promote their Golden Antenna Records European Maxi-CD Single for "Beyond God & Elvis" (October 10, 2008), the first track to be released from the band's long-awaited fourth album on Dim Mak Records entitled "On Little Known Frequencies" (January 2009).
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, July 17th, 2008
| |
9:57 pm - Episode 2: "checksum"
|
|
| Monday, July 7th, 2008
| |
1:35 pm - How it all went down...
|
|
On May 5 we headed back into the studio to start recording our 4th album (due out in Fall 2008). We were lucky to be able to work with Matt Bayles whose amazing recording/mixing work with Minus The Bear, Russian Circles, and Isis were good indicators of the kinds of sound(s) we were looking to achieve. As of last Thursday, we wrapped up this part of the process. Now that we're freed up a little, we'll be pouring through the hours of video and photos we shot and posting them here and on our journal. Anyway, here's a little teaser video of things to come.
s/FMTM
current mood:  accomplished
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
| |
7:24 pm - Matt Bayles is a sweet and gentle human being...
|
We're almost 8 years old as a band and we're now recording our 4th album. Sometimes I don't know whether to be proud of that fact, or indignant. Either way, I am ecstatic about our new record that's finally in the pipeline. We just finished a grueling 8-day marathon of tracking, composing on the fly, problem solving, and fearing the wrath enjoying the pleasant and agreeable personality of our engineer/co-producer Matt Bayles at John Vanderslice's studio in SF, Tiny Telephone.
The first meeting we ever had with Dim Mak about this record, which took place about five months ago, we tossed around names of potential engineers. Engineering FMTM is a tall order because our songs are long and densely layered, and all three of us tend to be perfectionists about our music. We wanted to be sure to push our sound to a higher level on this one. Bayles' name came up as one option, but honestly, we figured he was out of our league. Couple months later, when we felt ready to book studio time, we wrote to Matt's manager; she got right back to us and was like "yeah, Matt's a fan of yours and would love to do it." We all shat an eggroll. We started talking to him on the phone about the project, and we could tell right away that we were going to get along with him cuz he had the three P's: Positivity, Professionalism, and Patience. We were like, dude... we're a good band, but we wrote the majority of this record over the internet, we haven't been practicing, and we argue over details a lot... so we're going to seem like sucky amateurs to you for the first few days... and he was like, dudes... believe me, no matter how bad you think you are; I've dealt with worse.
Bayles should be in the business of band making. He sees exactly what a bands strengths and weaknesses are right away, and he challenges everyone to simply be a BETTER band. If you're stressing about tiny details, he gets you to see the bigger picture. If you're just looking at the big picture and fucking up little details, he lets you know and gets you to stop fucking up. He hears what you're supposed to sound like, and then he takes you there. He is always on time. It seems that any project he accepts he believes in thoroughly and will see it through to the end come hell or high water. Right now, I am waiting to download our rough mixes... and I'm vibrating with enthusiasm. We're scheduled to fly up to Seattle to do the final mix with him at the end of June. For the next month, FMTM's job is basically to find & edit the spoken word samples & other sounds in order to imbue the album with thoughts, meanings, and atmosphere. We're having a lot of discussions about where we want to take the record thematically - and once we've done that, we can name the songs and announce an album title.
love,
Matthew/FMTM
Here's a picture of the guitars I used to record this album. L-R they are a 1992 Model 650A, a 2006 Model 650D (which belongs to my girlfriend Robin), and a 1973 Model 480.
current mood: productive
current music: rough mixes
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, May 9th, 2008
| |
5:53 am - In the studio...
|
|
It feels so good to be back in the studio working on the new From Monument To Masses record. Personally feeling anxious about getting my shtuff together. But what makes this time around especially great is being in there with Seattle's Matt Bayles who's keeping us on task and constantly pushing our performance. I'm the first to admit how green I am to this whole recording thing, and all three of us are learning so much about the studio process just being around this guy. He's worked with some amazing bands—Russian Circles, Isis, Blood Brothers, Mastodon, Botch, Murder City Devils, Pearl Jam, etc.—and recorded and played in Minus The Bear, whose music has definitely inspired me to think about what's possible in this whole guitar-based music thing dubbed "rock". The best part: He's a really nice guy. (If you know FMTM personally, we're all really mellow, dorky sweethearts, so the "nice guy" thing suits us best.) So yeah, we're in top form working with some inspiring talent. Things are lookin good. More pics / videos to come.
s/FMTM
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
| |
2:47 pm - recording...
|
the new full-length record right now in san francisco, california.
some perspective: our last full-length album was recorded/released in 2003. since then, we have all turned 30, plus some, moved to opposite ends of the country and grown a lot more facial hair.
more later...
f/fmtm
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
| |
10:40 pm - FMTM activity, new album, et cetera...
|
Hey. We're too busy lately to update our sites, so livejournal is a fun and surreptitious way to exchange some info. If anybody reads this, please comment, cuz we have no clue whether this reaches anyone anymore or not.
Whelp, I think it's safe to make this info public now cuz, why not? FMTM is still working out the details of our contract, but we've decided to continue working with Dim Mak Records... and we're going into Tiny Telephone Studios in SF in May 2008 with Matt Bayles (Minus the Bear) as engineer and co-producer... and we're going to record the best album of all time, which we're hoping to release in Fall '08, and then we will embark on a long and frustrating series of international tours. This is going to be our "Songs From the Big Chair". All of this is subject to change, so pretend you heard this from an unreliable source... like Forbes.
Anyway, is anyone familiar with this site?: http://www.the-impossible-leap.com ??? Whoever made this site is our hero and has single-handedly accomplished what we have wanted to do for years and just didn't have the time and chutzpa to put together. I've tried all the conventional methods of getting in touch with the site admin, but to no avail. If any of you more web savvy folks can figure out how to track her/him down, you will be richly rewarded... with... heartfelt e-mails thanking you for being a cool person.
Love and Rage,
M/FMTM
Post Script: ...next to Maserati, Del Rey, and FMTM, this is the greatest instrumental rock band in the USA right now: http://www.myspace.com/silianrailmusic and they're currently touring the west coast.
current mood:  enthralled
current music: Silian Rail
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, October 24th, 2006
| |
9:58 pm - Sergio - It's on!!!
|
|
The new From Monument To Masses. record is officially in progress. We've been in the studio recording some demos with Dan Racanelli of possible material to be recorded f'reals in February 2007. And yes, Francis has officially left the Bay Area for NYC, but FMTM's still a band and still doing its thing...only bicoastal. If our friends Maserati can do it with bandmembers in NYC, Atlanta, and Portland, I think we'll be okay. So sit tight...the shtuff's comin'. In the meantime, go listen to Amputechture and see why they're they only band I'd consider leaving Matthew and Francis for (clearly I'm not good enough for The Mars Volta). I'm such the geeky fan.
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, October 2nd, 2006
| |
11:46 am - Miniature Airlines Remix...
|
Hey. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us play in Pomona on Thursday... we had a great time. Thanks to Sparta and Spartafans for welcoming us.
Our buddy Dylan from Seattle remixed the song "Sharpshooter" and his remix was released on the Bindlestiff Studios Benefit Compilation. It's really a total re-invention of the song (like many of the remixes on Schools of Thought Contend) and I like it a lot. It contains completely new spoken-word samples and other nice additions by Dylan (aka Airliner, Miniature Airlines).
Peace,
M, FMTM
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
| |
9:23 pm - Its Use and Abuse...
|
"...Out of this music of the fifties developed today's billion dollar rock music industy. And today 'rock and roll' is not only directed at working class youth but has expanded to include the middle class students. Supposedly the rock music of today offers more than disillusionment and a privatized existence. It claims to offer an alternative: joy happiness, a kind of communal orgasm based on the brotherhood of man. In reality, however, does the rock music culture offer anything of the kind? Between Chuck Berry's music of the fifties and the music of the Beatles and Rolling Stones today, the American businessmen have increased their profits through an even more vicious exploitation of working people both at home and the Third World countries. What hope does rock music offer for these people? What hope do communes and Woodstocks offer for the millions of poeple who must work long hours with small wages to support their families while the bosses become richer and richer? The answer is quite simple: nothing. In fact rock music today serves the same purpose that it served twenty years ago. It allows people to personalize their problems rather than struggling to change conditions around them. It makes people think that they can somehow liberate themselves by escaping the horrors of society. And at the same time as this it continues to make huge profits for the businessmen.
The main function of the whole 'youth culture' movement of which rock music is a major force is a co-optive one. It is designed and carried out by the rich businessmen of this country to get people to act out their frustrations symbolically and personally. Some movement groups would argue that what was wrong with Woodstock was that 'our music' was exploited by a group of opportunists, failing to see that Woodstock served a much more insidious puropse; that of turning people off to struggle. Why else would Life Magazine acclaim Woodstock as the 'dawning of a new age'? Precisely because Woodstock was nothing more than a turning away from political struggle and into narcissistic jubilation. It need be said, corporate businessmen will sponsor a thousand Woodstocks and provide the drugs themselves rather than have young people engage in political struggles which threaten their profits.
All this does not mean that we should stop listening to the Beatles' records at parties or start feeling guilty if we attended Woodstock. What it does mean is that we must not allow these things to substitute for the real changes needed in the society around us. And those changes require that we fight back. That we fight back in alliance with working people, who are not only the most exploited segment of the population but are the only segment capable of bringing about the needed social changes. Rock music rather than being a liberating force can be an obstacle to liberation if it is not viewed in this social context. A Rolling Stones album or a Woodstock can never free us. It is only our ability to struggle against and defeat those who reap profits from the sweat of others that will pave the way to a liberated society."
-Excerpt from the article "ROCK AND ROLL: Its Use and Abuse" by Glen Pritzker, San Fracisco State University SDS, from New Left Notes, 1970.
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, August 17th, 2006
| |
12:19 am - Sergio - The come down...
|
|
Stay tuned for a tour journal retrospective.
current mood:  sleepy
current music: Maserati - Inventions for the Outside World
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, July 27th, 2006
| |
5:52 pm
|
|
This tour's been pretty fun, despite a minor hiccup
on the way to Kentucky. So many updates. They'll be coming soon. But
for now... From Monument To
Masses U.S. Tour 2006 Jul 14 at
SLIM's in San Francisco, CA
Jul 15 at THE KNITTING
FACTORY in Los Angeles, CA
Jul 16 at THE GLASS HOUSE in
Pomona, CA
Jul 17 at MODIFIED ARTS in Phoenix, AZ
Jul 18
at WAREHOUSE 21 in Santa Fe, NM
Jul 20 at RUBBER
GLOVES in Denton, TX
Jul 21 at THE WIGGLE ROOM in San
Antonio, TX
Jul 22 at THE WHISKEY BAR (EARLY SHOW) in Austin,
TX
Jul 24 at SOUTH GATE HOUSE in Newport, KY
Jul 25 at
THE EARL in Atlanta, GA
Jul 26 at THE BLACK CAT in
Washington, DC
Jul 27 at RELATIVE THEORY RECORDS in Norfolk,
VA
Jul 28 at CIRCLE OF HOPE in Philadelphia,
PA
Jul 29 at SIN-E in New York, NY
Aug 1 at TT's THE
BEAR'S PLACE in 10 Brookline St., MA
Aug 2 at THE BUG JAR
in Rochester, NY
Aug 3 at SOUNDLAB in Buffalo, NY
Aug 4 at
SMALL'S in Detroit, MI
Aug 5 at THE NOTE in Chicago,
IL
Aug 7 at TURF CLUB in Saint Paul, MN
Aug 8 at THE
RECORD BAR in Kansas City, MO
Aug 9 at LARIMER LOUNGE in
Denver, CO
Aug 10 at KILBY COURT in Salt Lake City, UT
Aug
11 at NEUROLUX in Boise, ID
Aug 12 at THE FEZ BALLROOM
in Portland, OR
Aug 13 at EL CORAZON in Seattle,
WA
Oh, and some cool images from the Pomona show are over
here. 
current mood: accomplished
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Monday, July 24th, 2006
| |
10:53 am - Kentucky Fried U-Joint
|
|
Bad news. Had car trouble yesterday near Texarkana on our way to Newport, Kentucky. Motel 6 was homebase while we figured things out. Seems likely we won't get this thing—something about the U-joint or Universal joint...what the hell do I know about cars—taken care of in time to do the 12 hours needed to get to the show. Grrrr. I was so looking forward to doing some impromptu ghost hunting (the venue's an old converted mansion that's supposedly haunted). So if you know of anyone who was coming to check us out, especially those driving out from Cincinatti or other surrounding areas, please spread the word. We're really sorry and hate to let folks down.
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, July 23rd, 2006
| |
1:33 pm - On tour w/ FMTM on my birthday...
|
|
Hey. Myspace is so passe, so I thought I'd give Livejournal some love. I turned 31 today. Hurray. I'm hoping Francis & Sergio buy me a cupcake or something. We're hanging out in Austin, fearing the 16 hour drive ahead of us in order to be in Newport, KY by tomorrow night. but it's nice to chill for a while and have a night off. We're at a little coffee shop called Quacks. The Texas shows have been really fun, though a little less organized than other shows -- the shows still work out, but it's a little more stressful when we have no soundcheck or have to improvise our own sound engineering. The fans & new people we're meeting are great!! it's kickass to meet folks from all over the country who have actually been waiting for years to see us, due to our somewhat bovine capacity for touring. Throughout the first five shows, Saxon Shore and Denison Witmer (D-Wit) made great music and we had fun getting to know them a little bit. Looking forward to more shows with them on the east coast. In Texas, we connected with In Dot Dat from Denton, who hosted us for the night and treated us to Whataburger at 3:00 AM. not really a good idea, digestively speaking, but appreciated nonetheless. The next morning the landlord stopped by and interrogated Jay's hungover roommate, Scott, about the nature of the 3 dudes sleeping on air mattresses. In Dot Dat's music was kickass and we really appreciated them opening the show and bringing out all their fans. In Denton we also met Sparrows Swarm & Sing (Boston) and This Will Destroy You (San Marcos, TX) who would join us for all 3 Texas shows. Both bands played incredible music and were super nice people. Chris from TWDY put us up for the night in San Marcos, and his roommate Kyle entertained us 'til we passed out. We wanted to bring that guy on tour with us for constant hilarity. He said no though. Last night we played in Austin - the sound in the room was surprisingly good cuz Hazmat the soundman was really talented - and there were a fair amount of people there -- and all the bands played really well --- but for some reason our show felt a little flat to us... well, to me anyway... maybe cuz we were weirded out by the tiny stage. but whatever. our new friends Chase & Adnan brought us to a late night breakfast place and we all got down on some queso, eggs, & bacon while listening to The Fvcking Champs V. Overall, I'd say the 3 of us are having a kickass time and doing what we set out to do. I love playing music with Francis & Sergio -- they rule. speaking of ruling, here's a pic of me ruling at the Glass House in Pomona. Photo by Geordy Pearson. Love & Respect, M,FMTM 
current mood: accomplished
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, October 30th, 2005
| |
7:59 am - FMTM by Geordy Pearson (More photos to come.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
