Summer Fest is coming up next weekend but if you’re into comic books make sure to clear your schedule this weekend for another festival. Comicpalooza has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 2024. According to the website, the festival was originally just a small signing event in the lobby of Katy’s Alamo Drafthouse but this year’s incarnation will be held on a much grander scale at the George R. Brown Center.

In addition to boasting a long list of guest artists there will be local bands, comedy troupes, and even a musical production of “Evil Dead” courtesy of San Jac. College.

Get your tickets here. The convention will go from the 27-29th.

-Jack Daniel Betz

-Jack Daniel Betz

Working in a day-glo palette of bright, analog synths, samples, and surreal vocoder tones Thomas Fec is able to create musical psychedelia sure to shock the even the most adventurous of listeners.

Fec, driving force behind Black Moth Super Rainbow and solo project Tobacco, will be serenading Summer Fest goers on the Budwesier stage at 7 p.m. June 4.

FPH: What would you say is different about your role in Tobacco than in BMSR, besides the obvious?

TF: I mean my role is exactly the same but the way I approach it is a bit different. I guess the Black Moth stuff, none of its really normal but- I guess the Tobacco is more of like the stuff I’d be too worried about people getting freaked out by -that I wouldn’t do with Black Moth. I did an interview recently where someone called Tobacco my id and I guess that would be the best way to explain it.

FPH: I actually just realized today that you did two songs where you collaborated with Beck, what was that like?

TF:There wasn’t really a whole lot to it. It was just an email thing. I sent him stuff and he sent stuff back. Yeah, not a whole lot of communication or anything.

FPH: Another thing that’s kind of fascinated me is how you use all this analog equipment when so many people seem to be avoiding it. Comparing advances that have been made now to back then, do you think you still could have made the same albums 20 years ago?

TF: Not quite. No. Well you say twenty years ago, maybe that. I just have to be a little bit more of a musician. I get lucky and write something quick and then I can play with it in the computer and the sampler. The only difference about if I did this 20 years ago I’d have to know how to play it for the whole length of the song or whatever. There’s a lot more shortcuts these days.

FPH: Yeah, and that’s not a bad thing. That allows you to finish something quicker you have in your mind.

TF: It allows people who are really not talented like myself to do shit and trick people into thinking that I know what I’m doing [laughter].

FPH: You could put it that way I guess. I’m kind of a bed room composer and dabble in some stuff similar to what you do but on a much simpler degree. Technology is definitely a help.

What is it like working with the analog technology though, is it real hard to find people to help you out with it and is there still a lot of it around?

TF: I think the analog thing -I think a lot of people assume that that’s pure analog but really I’m sitting in a room right now with one, two, three analog synths and I’ve got a couple of tape echoes. I record everything into a sampler now and really it’s just a couple analog keyboards that are the perfect keyboards. It’s not as intense as it seems or at least how I made it seem a few years ago. Because I used to record to tape and everything. I don’t even remember how long ago, like 8,000 years ago. But now I think if you have the right sampler it sounds better than tape.

FPH: I’ll bet it’s a bitch recording to tape all the time.

TF: You know it was stupid. I realized I couldn’t even get it sound as good as I wanted. It was more of like -I was just trying to be an analog purist just for the sake of being an analog purist. There’s some good things about using digital too and using tape is just really limiting and it’s not always the best sounding option.

FPH: The fact that you use digital and that you’ve moved on to using more digital things hasn’t affected the sound at all in any detrimental way. And it makes perfect sense that you say you still have those three analog synths that sound perfect because there’s still that warmth as opposed to people who are using purely digital equipment.

TF: That’s really all it is. I could really cut that down to one synth and use that for everything and be totally fine. There’s just a big difference between this stuff and the new stuff. Companies like Moog -and I don’t want to say just them and single them out because there’s a ton of them, they try to tell you like its all analog and that it sounds like the original and it doesn’t sound anything like the original. There’s no presence to anything these days. I think that’s the heart of the sound, the presence. I guess the new synths are warm technically but they sound like they’re wrapped in plastic.

FPH: Yeah that’s a good way to put it. I’ve played around with lots- I can’t really afford anything I want now but any kind of Moog clone I’ve heard, it never lives up to the few times I’ve been able to play around with an original one.

TF: Yeah and they do all these tests on them where they compare the straight sine waves or whatever on both of them and it comes out exactly the same but that’s not like a relevant test for a synth because it all has to do with the filters and the way all the circuits are reacting. It’s just a completely different thing. If you go out and buy a new 3,000 dollar Mini Moog Voyager you’ll spend another 6,000 dollars in processing gear just to make it sound like the original. I think that stuff is worthless. They’ll sell you on it so hard. They’ve been spending all these years, trying to tell people that it’s just as good if not superior and its just bullshit. You can hear it.

FPH: You touched upon it a little before but what’s your songwriting process like because maybe there’s not actually as much going on as it sounds like but it definitely does sound like it.

TF: There’s really no process. It’s probably exactly the same as anyone with one keyboard and a drum machine. I don’t know. I’ll either write a beat or play around with the keyboard until I find something I like and keep layering and layering and strip away all the layers and take away all the bullshit and get it down to the couple of things that might matter.

FPH: What’s your live setup like? I haven’t seen you live yet. Do you tour as just one person or do you bring session musicians on or people from BMSR? It just seems like it would be a daunting thing to do on your own.

TF: We come out as a three piece now -this is for the Houston show, right? They’ll be a drummer and another synth player with me.

FPH: Yeah because when I think of Tobacco I know it’s basically just you and I’m picturing you running around doing all these different things.

TF: No, no. Not at all. Tobacco is more of DJ kind of thing and I guess we’re kind of morphing it into a band but this actually going to be one of the last Tobacco shows for a very long time. We’re actually going to go back to the Black Moth.

FPH: I guess what in the music community today, whether it’s fans or execs or other musicians, what annoys you? What are your pet peeves?

TF: Oh man. Everything. [laughter] There’s an aspect to everything that annoys me. I started off making music and kind of felt like I was on a deserted island. No one wanted to deal with me, I was just kind on my own and we’ve gone out into the world and I feel like I want to go back to that desert island again. I think I’m just at that point where I need to hire a manager to deal with everything and I don’t need to deal with anyone ever again. It’s just too fucking much. I’ve never had a real manager or anything and I’ve always had to be involved, like way too involved. Most bands come up and as soon as they get a little bit of buzz, all the vulture managers kind of circle around them and then start taking their money and the kids never know anything. I kind of thought all these bands were assholes for doing that but now I wish I’d kind of done that because I just feel like I know too much. I know the evils of everything.

FPH: I had no idea that you guys had no manager. I can totally see why you’d want one though so you could deal with less bullshit and just focus on the music.

TF: You know, I think so many things a manager would just jump on I would just ignore. Like 9 or 10 emails, whether they’re good or bad just go straight into my trash. I just don’t want to deal with it.

FPH: I know it’s uncomfortable and no one really likes to do this, but if someone held a gun to your head and said, “place yourself in a genre!” what would you do?

TF: What would I put myself in? Well I guess like what I was saying before, even though I don’t agree with it and I don’t listen to it and I don’t listen to any of that stuff, everyone seems to call it psych music. So if I had a gun to my head I would have to say that because otherwise I just don’t know what else I would say.

The Houston Palestine Film Festival launches its fifth year this weekend and this kind of wealth of film deserves your attention. Over the next two weekends a combination of short films, and fictional narratives unfold at the Rice Media Center and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Click here for the full schedule.

Over the next ten days many of the films will feature receptions or Q&A’s with directors or people involved with the films. A party closing night (5/21) at the Nouveau Antique Art Bar (2913 Main) promises to put things in perspective. Announced attendees include Eyal Sivan (director of Jaffa, The Orange’s Clockwork), Sama Alshaibi (director of short End of September), and actor Jose Maria de Tavira (The Imperialists Are Still Alive!).

Obviously the thematic content of these films are about the Palestinian experience a subject given short shift in regular movie programming. Although there are films out there dealing with similar subjects they tend to be foreign or specialty titles like Miral or A Prophet. Check out the upcoming movie Incendies (from Canada, and a contender for this years best foreign film Oscar) for an example of an excellent film dealing with the Middle East and its complex issues. In the meantime, the HPFF is the place to be.

End of September (at the RMC as part of a series of shorts on 5/14 at 7 pm.) unwinds in a surreal almost fragmented manner as we watch a woman on a bus relive flashbacks of her life. The roadblock scene surely gets its facts right.

Zeinna Dura’s The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Festival, offers slice of life realism coupled with the Palestinian experience. A conceptual artist in NYC hooks up with a new boyfriend and meets friend around town while she anxiously awaits news of her family who are trying to evacuate from Beirut during a military offensive from Israel.

At the very beginning of TIASA lead actress Elodie Bouchez appears naked before the audience asking them not so much to ogle her as to understand her plight. Born in France but of Cyprus and Lebanese descent she goes from party to art opening to date to lunch, all the while interacting with people from all over the world. The magic of this film is how rapidly Bouchez assimilates the attitudes of Arabs as well as Mexicans and Asians. The film offers quiet moments where people who look anything but activists are sitting in a limo discussing human rights. The Imperialists Are Still Alive! will be the festival’s hot ticket with its cool altruistic attitude and one-time showing.

– Michael Bergeron

By Alex Wukman

Taken moments before Perry decided to use the dog for target practice

After word came out in early March that Texas Governor Rick Perry was blocking reporters from his twitter account Free Press decided to see if we could sign up. Not surprisingly we are among the few reporters in Texas that Rick Perry hasn’t gotten around to blocking. What is surprising is how little Rick Perry has to say on twitter.

No one has ever accused Perry of being the most tech savvy guy, we were going to say high tech Texan, but then we realized Michael Garfield registered that shit in, like, 1994, but in the middle of a monumental budget crisis, that has gotten national attention, one would think the Governor of Texas would have something relevant to say to his nearly 40,000 followers.

On the same day that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that one of Perry’s aides requested an additional $20 million incentives for TV and film productions, and the San Angelo Standard-Times reported teachers are rallying to protest cuts in education spending, Rick Perry tweeted a link to a story about a family dog watching over a two-yeard-old boy in Wisconsin with the phrase “Man’s best friend or in this case….boy’s best friend!! Love on your dog.”

We had actually planned on spending more time looking for instances of Rick Perry being out of touch, but we found it in his three most recent tweets. Aside from dog stories from Wisconsin Perry tweeted about a bonfire for Texas A&M’s women’s basketball team and a link to a press release about a bet that he and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnel made that Notre Dame would beat the Lady Aggies. The bet is a case of wine from each state.

Then there is the retweet of a photo showing him hanging out with Dallas area pop “rock” band Forever The Sickest Kids. And those tweets were just from April 1 through April 5.

By Jacob Calle

I couldn’t imagine being any where else other than seeing Arcade Fire perform at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion last night on May the fourth, which fell on national Star Wars day. Have never watched Star Wars, I was perfectly okay with knowing that May the fourth was a day that Arcade Fire played their latest album in a town that inspired the record.

As I sat in my seat along next to the Houston Press “Rocks Off” gang a young professional type guy nudged me, “This band is from The Woodlands!”. Well…kinda… Each song had the amount of energy that one would think it was their encore set. In-between songs lead singer, Win Butler would make statements about living in The Woodlands including his opening mark, “It’s good to be back home.” as well as how he was hassled by Woodlands police when he lived here. Win made a shout out to his old friends and family that attended his performance, a group of old folk in front of us raised their hands in joyous glee. Had I made any connection with the man’s lips, he probably said “That’s my boy.” Not too sure if it really was his family, but they seemed pretty ecstatic about his statement. They seemed like the type that would have went to see Bob Seger, who played a few nights before, not an Arcade Fire concert.

The band pelted through their set without giving any of the audience pity of their broken feet. We danced till the last beat of the drum. The grassy lawn was closed for this night as the whole concert took place underneath the canopy giving everyone a more intimate experience with Arcade Fire. Butler confessed that he once worked at Cynthia Woods and was quite lazy with the ticket checking. He would let people pass through without ticket inspection. Later in the set just before “Power Out” he mentioned it again giving a “hint hint” for everyone to come up front. A large rush of Arcade fans from the back ran to the front to dance in this religious experience. There could have easily been rattlesnakes on stage as Arcade Fire prayed to the Gods of the suburbs and rockn’ roll.

It was a very magical moment for those who went. This was a show that will never have the same affect anywhere else in the US. The closest would be their home town show in Canada, but this is the United States and we own that. The show ended with Regine’s magical “Sprawl II”. There is a spark about that girl that does not dwell in others. She is from another country that you have never heard before, because it does not exist. She is not a human nor animal. She is Regine. A delicate spirit with copious amounts of energy. She put the audience back into reality as she danced with ribbons on stage with a smile across her face. The show was over, but the memories that we have are there to last forever. This being my 5th time to see this band. I was just as excited from the first time I saw them. By far the great live performance in a rock band that I have ever seen.

Roky Moon and BOLT are more than a band. They are great friends of mine that I hope the best for. Knowing them separately through out the years and then watching them form together to become one of Houston’s most favored rock bands is very endearing to me. The band is going on their American Honey tour soon and is having their tour kickoff this Friday at The Mink. So please purchase a ticket and support them before they embark on their magical journey.

Jacob: First off how do feel that I am inteviewing the drummer of Bolt rather than Roky himself.

Jeoff: Actually I’m kinda wondering why you’re talking to the drummer too?

Jacob: Well I don’t have Roky’s number and Chad never picks up his phone. I’m kidding! (laughs)

Jeoff: Chad just got back from England last night, so I think he might be jet lagged.

Jacob: Yeh, lets hear for the drummers!

Jeoff: Yeah for drummers….

Jacob: So you’re going on tour and this Friday is the tour kick off at The Mink. You purchase a ticket…well not you per se, you’re BOLT. Okay, so everyone else buys a ticket in a wax sealed envelope. In it is a golden ticket. Tell me what’s so special about THE golden ticket.

Jeoff: It was a cool way to make it kinda classy I guess. The ticket themselves are printed on shiny gold card stock. One in four tickets will have a prize in fine print. So you’ll be able to walk away with free drinks from the bar or a t-shirt that we are doing only for the show. Ya know, little novelties that we decided to throw in for fun.

Jacob: Bummer, my golden tickets fine print is the designer of the tickets website. I guess I can say that your music is magic, which makes you guys magicians. So what tricks have you guys got for us on stage?

Jeoff: As far as sorcery goes or in terms of what we are going to do for stage show on Friday?

Jacob: Yes to both!

Jeoff: In terms of sorcery Roky Moon has perfected walking on water. I personally can communicate with animals and Aaron can fly. Everyone else is still working on their powers. In terms of Friday I can not dispose any of these surprises of what we are going to do.

Jacob: So Lady Gaga is on the same night…

Jeoff: Yeh, we fucked that up didn’t we! (laughs)

Jacob: A little! (laughs) How are you going to compete against that!

Jeoff: Shit, it’s not just Lady Gaga. It’s also the Astros home opener, George Clinton at House of Blues. Warpaint is playing at Fitz.

Jacob: And Weeman from Jackass as Lucies Liquor!

Jeoff: I dunno, we’ll probably try and get her to come over and hangout with us or maybe do some backup vocals on one of the songs.

Jacob: Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that. I hear Lady Gaga is going to do back up vocals for your next album. I dunno, I heard it on April 1st. I think they were foolin’, but they seemed pretty serious. Tell me about that.

Jeoff: Well did you hear it on KTRU? Because Ian has that dry wit, but that is true. She will be singing on the new record. About 60% of the time she will be singing lead.

Jacob: So it’s Roky that is doing back up now?

Jeoff: Yeah, on 40% of the record. yup.

Jacob: So this show is your tour kick off. Where are you guys going on this Peewee’s big adventure of yours?

Jeoff: On the big adventure, this time we are going to California. Make a couple of stops in El Paso, and hopefully Arizona. We are still waiting to confirm some dates. These are just warm up dates because the promotor wanted us to come back again to play a big festival. He asked us to come out this spring to familiarize ourselves with people.

Jacob: Nice, so are you guys playing at The Percolator in El Paso?

Jeoff: I don’t think so? This tour has been going up and down with getting shows. It’s been a weird cycle. We still have promotors working on the tour within a few days of our kick off.

Jacob: I guess if you guys aren’t playing at The Percolator you’re playing at The Tool Box, which is a gay club across the street. (laughs) Yep, looks like you’ll be playing there!

Jeoff: Well that is where we will definately be hanging out! Is it really called The Tool Box?

Jacob: Yes.

Jeoff: That is phenomenal! Did you know that Walter’s used to be called The Male Box? Did you know that?

Jacob: Na-uh.

Jeoff: It was this really seedy gay hook up bar.

Jacob: Was it m-a-l-e?

Jeoff: Yeah! It was! If you go in Walter’s and look in that little window near the front door there is some kind of permit to The Male Box stuck in the left top hand corner!

Jacob: That’s funny. So last time you guys went on tour there was a special bus. Do you remember seeing that huge bus that read BOLT?

Jeoff: Yeh! The Bolt bus! I’m still not sure what that was all about. I think it was some kind of transportation system to go in and out of New York.

Jacob: So I’m assuming this upcoming tour that will be the band’s new tour bus eh?

Jeoff: (laughs) That is the plan! Buy a broken down one and fix it up!

Jacob: Alrighty, so going on tour I always bring a book that I never read because there is something always too interesting to be looked at in a new city. What five things do you always bring?

Jeoff: The first thing that I always pack is a towel for showers and stuff. The second would be my iPod so that I can sleep in the back of the bus when I am not driving. The third thing, musical instruments always come in handy when you go on tour. The fourth…extra socks and underwear so that you don’t get athlete’s foot. The worst thing you can get on tour is foot fungus and swamp ass. And the fifth thing we would take on tour is a secret bottle of some sort to partake in the back of the bus.

Jacob: When you guys perform could you Chat Roulette it so that I can hopefully find the right channel and watch you guys jam?

Jeoff: Aaron’s pretty good with his iPhone, so I imagine he can probably make that happen.

Jacob: Just watch out for the guys jerking off.

Jeoff: Well we’ll all be….I will be jerking off….

Jacob: Of course! Why not?

Jeoff: I thought that was the terms of agreement when you sign on?

By Jack Daniel Betz

Cut Copy’s first two albums Bright Like Neon Love and In Ghost Colours were certainly crowd-pleasers. The song writing was tight and poppy with the occasional flight of fancy outside regular pop structure.

Zonoscope however, gives the band an opportunity to show a little more of their id and indulge their experimental side. While there are choruses and refrains, the album feels a little more like a jam than past efforts. This shift in method becomes most obvious on Zonoscope’s last track “Sun God” which is a whopping fifteen minutes long and fades into an enthralling ambient instrumental.

At the same time though there are still a number of catchy, self-contained, pop numbers like “Take Me Over” and “Alisa”. Fans will not be disappointed by the mixture of old and new writing on this record.

By Jacob Calle:

By the end of tonight (Temporary Residence Limited) is probably one of Texas’ greatest instrumental math rock bands. Four boys out of Alvin, Texas also home of Nolan Ryan. I guess Alvin ain’t so bad after all? BTEOT passed away three years ago and has recently resurrected from the ground to play a show. Heh, one short season of “Walking Dead” and everyone is jumping on the band wagon. Hehum…I hope At the Drive in watched it! Eh? So anyways, BTEOT will be performing one night at Fitzgerald’s March 5th not because they want to, but because they have to.

A few weeks ago bassist and guitarist James Templeton and Brett Taylor had their gear stolen along with their storage unit, their tour van. Luckily, the van was found, but not their gear in the amount of $10,000. In hopes of collecting their gear back Brett of now Sings and James of computer rock band LIMB will morph together with Stefan Mach of ipod rock, Lisa’s Sons and Jeff Wilson of 5-piece drum catastrophe group, Fucking Thief to play a By the end of Tonight show. All proceeds will be handed over to Brett and James. The van was filled with equipment and props due to a music video shoot with LIMB. Now everything has been pushed back and will have to be reorganized. I spoke with James of LIMB last night and he said that everything is coming back into order. They found their new lead character and will be fitted for her costume soon.

By the end of Tonight will be performing Saturday 5 March of 2024 at Fitz with B L A C K I E, Young Mammals, and Caddywhompus. Tickets are $10, but if you can donate more that would be wonderful. Seeya there.

Here’s what the boys are missing:

(1) North Star 10,000 Watt Generator; Model # M165967G; Serial # 07086450 ($3,500)

(1) JBL MRX515 PA Speaker; Serial # P053225952 ($700)

(8) MBT Par 38 Par cans (lights) ($160)

(1) Carvin DCM2000 power amplifier ($500)

(1)Carvin DCM1000 power amplifier ($350)

(1) Carvin PA speaker 15″ with Horn ($500)

(1) Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier guitar amplifier ($1,800)

(2) 4X10 Marshall Speaker Cabinets ($600)

(1) Gibson “Flying V” guitar (faded red, in black case) ($800)

(1) Ampeg Micro VR Amplifier ($350)

(1) Boss Chromatic Tuner guitar pedal ($100)

(1) Boss RC-20 XL Loop Station guitar pedal ($350)

(1) RC-2 Loop Station guitar pedal ($200)

(1) Ernie Ball Volume Pedal ($80)

(1) Boss Super Shifter guitar pedal ($150)

(1) “Pork Lion” soft clip injector “Way Huge” ($180)

(1) Boss Reverb guitar pedal ($150)

(1) EBow (for guitar) ($100)

(2) One Spot power adaptors ($40)

(15) Power Cables ($250)

(10) Instrument/speaker cables ($200)

(2) ramps (aluminum) ($200)

by Ramon LP4

I made a brief stop by Saturday’s Metal Summit IV at Sound Exchange.  The show was awesome and the fans? Fucking phenomenal!!!  I only were able to catch two of the bands playing but that’s OK because I mainly wanted to catch some of the fans and just show off how cool they all were.  So consider this post just that, a celebration of the fans who keep the Metal alive – this one’s for you.

The Gravestones - a flurry of hair and metal!

Dallas' The Gravestones

Tom Arnold and Frasier Dawson "Up The Irons!"

Chris Herrera battles the metal section of Sound Exchange.

Gary Sulivan & James O'Reilly: "Gary, how could you leave our beer unattended?!"

Andrew Wells and Joshua Vickery. Joshua explains it all, 'This is about scene unity and awareness and getting young blood to come in and keep the scene alive which is something the scene desperately needs.'

Kim Gordon, Carly, Papa Josh, and Cary Gordon. Papa Josh (of MSRcast.com) says "Support or abort!"

Mike Depravis Nocturnus, Carly, Michelle "Wife of Kriptos"

Ulfr - Bassist of Epic Death "Self promotion is very metal."

 

Jeff of Mhinotahn "The heavier, the better"

Ryan Metts, Ward Drawhorn, Jason Reno, and Scott. "Metal Never Dies."

 

Kurt Brennan of Sound Exchange flying the Motorhead and the B.O.C.

Vaste Burai from Longview, TX were pretty awesome.

...and ends our visit to Sound Exchange and the fourth metal summit.

Complete slideshow:

There are only a few weeks left of 2024 so make the most of them by squeezing in a few more local shows. Temporary Insanity at Dean’s and Notsuoh is the most efficient way to do this because on the 17th and 18th, showgoers can expect to see over twenty live bands including local favorites the Energy and Muhamadali. A measly 8 dollar cover per night will get you access to both Dean’s and Notsuoh for maximum music appreciation. For more details, visit the facebook event.

–Jack Daniel Betz