the Sobriquets: News

Hey all,

 

We haven't written from here much of late, though not for lack of news... we've mostly been using Facebook and emails (and if you haven't joined us on Facebook or signed up for the emails, you are missing out on some pearls of wisdom... or something), not to mention working our little fingers to the bone!

We've been gigging all around the Mid-Atlantic over the last few months, getting to DC for the first time, playing some festivals, some club dates, two rounds (so far) of a Battle of the  Bands... ya know, like we do.

But NOW!!!!

Our first single from "...Are Out Of Style" heads out into the world today! It should be (we hope) popping up on mp3 blogs and college and indie radio soon, so keep yer ears peeled! If you have any preferred blogs or radio stations, send us a note, make sure we've sent them the tunes...

AND!!!

We're heading off on tour in just a few short weeks! After some warm-up dates in Jersey, and the third round of the Philly Challenge (which, in addition to being at the Trocadero (AWESOME!!), is also ON MY 30th BIRTHDAY (LEGENwaitforitDARY!!!)), we pile into the van for a week of dates in New England and  a welcome home show at the Khyber! Visit the Dates page for details!

After the tour, we're gonna disappear for a few months, do some recording, get some sleep, let the van cool off... so MAKE SURE YOU CATCH THESE SHOWS!!

Anyway, much to do and no time to do it... See you on the road!!

Loves and Kisses,

 

James & the Sobriquets

Greetings and a happy New Year to all! The Sobriquets have been enjoying the holidays immensely, and can't wait to get back out there and play shows for all of you. Speaking of which...

January 9th, 2010 (that's a Saturday to you 9-5ers), The Sobriquets return to The Local Beat for a fine show with Los Locals and Northern Soul. We are definitely looking forward to our return, not only for the great bands that we get to share a stage with, but also for the great food that The Local Beat offers. For those of you debating whether or not to make the drive, we say "Hell yes!"

Hey everyone,

We've finished our run with Zombie! The Musical and we had a great time. The cast was a lot of fun to work with, and we'll be making an announcement about more Zombie! - related projects very soon.

For the near future, we'll be taking some time off while we readjust our sleep schedules. But we'll hit the road again at the end of this month. Check back often for more news and updates to the site!

- Nick

Hey y'all,

We have returned from the wilds of New England, throats raw, fingers bleeding, and a bag of mics and cable lighter, but we have returned! Thanks to anyone and everyone who came out, provided us lodging, directions, entertainment... couldn't have done it without you. Go tell your friends about good we look.

Also, check out our tourmates, Ashpark and Driftwood; we were blessed this tour to have hot and cold running great bands to share the evenings with!

Looking ahead: The Sobriquets announce officially that we will be orchestrating and performing as the pit band for "Zombie! the Musical" as part of this year's Philadelphia Fringe Festival! The show is in its early rehearsal stage, and we're thrilled to be a part of it. It will run the first full week of September at Plays and Players (dates up on our calendar). More info as we get it...

Also, we're in the early stages of booking our Fall Tour, which will be primarily New England based again (though with some expansion), and will be happening in early October. If you think we should come to your town, let us know where, when, and with whom; otherwise, check back for dates and BRING YOUR FRIENDS!

Beyond that, we'll be working "...Are Out Of Style" around to radio and press (any suggestions? Let us know!), as well as working on new material for the next record (our work is never done... *sigh*).

Hot. Unpleasant. Put up some pictures from the record release party... tour photos to go up soon...

Loves,

James

Hey y'all,

We'd like to OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCE the release of our NEW EP,
"The Sobriquets Are Out Of Style"!
This is our first full-band record: recorded in Virginia, mixed in Los Angeles, released THIS MONTH!!

July 17- Doc Watson's, Philadelphia
July 18- Sidewalk Cafe, New York
July 27- Midway Cafe, Boston
July 28- Tammany Hall, Worcester
July 29- Langdon St Cafe, Montpelier

Now, I'm sure you're all asking, "What can we do to help?"
I'm glad you asked...

PLEASE SUGGEST OUR PAGE TO ANYONE YOU KNOW, especially those in the areas around our tour dates!! If you've received an invite from us, PLEASE FORWARD IT TO ANYONE YOU KNOW in the area of the show!

If we aren't getting to your neighborhood, well: we'll be looking to Western NY in September, New England again in October, and elsewhere... whenever we get around to it... but have no fear, we're coming.

"...Are Out Of Style" will be available on CDBaby.com soon, on iTunes and Amazon and whatnot shortly thereafter, or OF COURSE from us in person!! Come to the shows! Tell your friends to come to the shows! Tell yer dog to come to the show (it's New England, they're pretty low-key about that kinda thing...)!

Loves,

the Sobriquets

Sorry to get this out at the last minute, I can't figure out how James works the mailing list.

The gig at the Red Cadillac tonight, as part of the Seaside Music Festival, will not include The Sobriquets. We apologize for anyone who had made plans to come out and see us, and we encourage you to attend the festival regardless to see the huge crop of great bands they have playing all weekend.

All following shows are still on, this is definitely a one-time deal. Keep checking back here, as we are getting ready to release a bunch of dates for the summer.

-Dan

DONE.

I think.

Except for the mastering.

And graphics.
And running order.
And promotion plans.
And release date.
Okay, not really done... but mixed (we think).

Rolled down to RBO this morning, did the obligatory last-minute vocal repairs, and hit the mixing floor. We got a huge assist today from Dan's brother, David, on gracious loan from the Denver Consortium; his ears and experience (especially in compressing drum mics) made a long day quite a bit shorter. Brad, Josh, Dan, David, and I went through, fixed the little problems, fixed the bigger problems, made everything sound purty...

Ate more Chicken Out, got in the car, rode back home to the sweet strains of Mastodon, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, and everyone's favorite night drivin' record, Thriller.

So sleepy. Go sleepy now.

More soon.
Loves,

J

Dan here.

Wednesday marked the last day of major recording. I laid down the rest of the electric guitars, most of the guitar solos and a heck of a lot of layered noise (it's what I do). It was a little weird to go in and do all these things without the rest of the guys there to hear it, but I think we came out with some very good stuff. I don't really have any amusing anecdotes about this session, as it was mostly me in a car, and me with headphones on, and me in a car again. I did sit in traffic around Rockville for a very long time. There's an REM song called "Don't Go Back To Rockville", but unfortunately I did not have that option for about 45 minutes.

This record is now almost done, and while it's been a blast, we will all definitely look forward to not spending most of our free time either on the road to the studio or on the road home. Making any kind of recording is always immensely satisfying, but it is definitely a draining ordeal. Any labor of love is taxing, but we are confident that this record will be worth all we've put into it, and that you will all enjoy it greatly.

In other Sobriquets news, we've got dates coming up: We'll be playing the Cape May Singer Songwriter Fest on the Jersey shore on March 28th. In April, we'll be heading back out to The Local Beat in Harrisburg on the 10th (we had such a blast playing there last month that we had to go back as soon as we could) and nice, rawkus evening back home in Philly at Doc Watson's on the 25th. Hope to see you all there!

-Dan

PS- Summer dates are starting to be booked. If you know of any awesome fest/club/large gathering of people that you would want the finely tuned harmonies of The Sobriquets to be a part of, e-mail us at booking@thesobriquets.com

Home at last, and let me tell ya, it's coming along... there may be an end in sight.

Dan, Josh, and I left last night; we enjoyed a rousing game of Six Degrees of Rock (can you get from Aerosmith to the Pixies? How about Metallica to Michael Jackson? Took us awhile), some tasty foods and drinks at Glory Days (and yes, we've been singing the Springsteen song ever since), and slept at Dan's aunt & uncle's house (which was lovely, and thanks so much!).

Went in this morning, recut a little acoustic guitar, piled harmony vocals on top of harmony vocals, and recut the last (I hope) lead vocals. Lunch at Chicken Out (which I still read as the oddly-phrased opposite of Chicken In, and not the much more obvious intent...).

More harmony stacking, and the beginning of Dan's lead guitar work. We have (I think) one track done, two more half finished.

Should be one more day of guitar (watch for a special guest version of Recording Journal this week!), and if all is just and right in this world, mixing next weekend. Then mastering, artwork, and the album's out in July (unless it's out in October).

On the ride back tonight, we decided that the wholly incoherent screaming of Lamb of God's "New American Gospel" record is actually telling the tale of the Hartford Whaler's ill-fated battles against various rare animals: Warthogs, giant Centipedes, the mighty Narwhal.

No, we weren't high.

Shower and bed now.

Loves,
J

Yes indeed, I am writing this update on my own [old, kinda crappy] desktop, rather than Mssr. Snoddy's [newer and nicer seeming] laptop... I'm HOME, BABY!!!!

Anyway.
Josh and I had breakfast with an old friend from home at Madelines in Georgetown (in a part of the neighborhood that danced a fine fine line between being "cute" and "cutesy"), then headed back to RBO Studios to continue the work.

We listened up front to all the bass and guitar work we'd finished yesterday, ascertaining that we actually finished it... I laid in the rest of the acoustic guitars, and then it was vocal time.

Managed to cut (I think) keepers on all the lead vocals in about 90 minutes, and Josh's and my harmonies on most of the material in another 45 or so.
Lunch at a bagel joint next to the Chicken Out, back to add a few keys (more to come, once I figure out what the hell to play), a couple more harmony spots, and then final listen-throughs and quick mixes. I'm not gonna post em. If you wanna hear em, bug yer favorite Sobriquet.

Next weekend, Dan, Josh, and I go back down to do the really tight 3 part harmonies that pretty much require us all to be in the room together to have a prayer of getting cleanly, plus the beginning of Dan's harmonies and guitar work.

We may finally have a record that sounds like us... will the wonders never cease?

Feelin' kinda gungy from car and studio and sleeping on couch. Gonna go shower and fall down.

Loves,
J

Hi there ho there...

Drunk on decent rum (thanks again, Snoddy!), so this should be a short update... which is odd, as today was an INCREDIBLY productive today.

We arrived in the morning (after an exhaustive search of the western suburbs of DC for a belt), listened to the work from yesterday, then put Nick to work. He gamely put down drum tracks to 3 songs in less than 3 hours, along with start-up bass tracks. We are having some fun thus far on the record by having Josh (and me) overdub different sections of songs with different instruments... so if the intro sounds like a fretless bass but the chorus sounds fretted, you might be CRAZY or it might be true.

Took a lunch break (ate at a local chain called, and I shit you not, "Chicken Out"... wherein Nick and I both missed the pun on for hours...), while Nick tried (and failed) to find a Starbucks whose free Wi-Fi worked for his laptop.
Got back, decided that Nick's parts were done (Q: How many recording engineers does it take to make a great record? A: I don't know, what do you think?), and did further bass overdubs (fretted, fretless, upright, fretted distorted, fretless distorted, fretless with chorus, etc), and began (finally!) to do guitars. Ole One-Take Bartlet [me] (as Jack Warner used to call me) got through 2.5 tracks (out of 5) in about 45 minutes before being told that we had to leave to get Nick to Union Station on time. Which we did. So there.

Anyway, got back to our couches in Georgetown, drank booze, watched Wii golf, drank more booze, argued politics, now it's time for bed.

Night!

Loves,
J

Hey all,

Checking in after our first real day in the studio (I'm choosing not to count the day Dan and I spent back in January, on the grounds that I forgot to do a journal, and that you'll never hear any of what we did that day... except for this month's Download of the Month, which is from that session)... We all rolled down to DC this morning to work, expecting only to set up the drums and mics and make the two agree; instead, we ended up with a couple of bass n drum keepers... which means we may have the chance to survive this recording process solvent (which is more than I could say for most of the financial industry at this point). Shameless plug/beg: We have added a "Donate" button on our front page... we're not proud... also not wealthy... also making a record right now... so if it should happen that you had maybe a dollar or two that you weren't planning on using, we'll take good care of it, and feed it, and walk it, and snuggle it, and never let it go. Until we go over budget on vocal tracking.

Um.

General good work all around; sounds found rapidly, takes not blown by laughter or dropped sticks (much), Dan and I wandered around suburban Virginia, serenading the golfers across the faux lake... good times.

Writing this on a borrowed laptop in an old friend's apartment; had a delightful dinner at Busboy's and Poets after the young master James Snoddy gave us a nice driving tour of our nation's capitol at night. Gonna go play Wii now. Further bulletins on the morrow, when we continue drum and bass tracking and hopefully get ourselves into rhythm guitars and/or vocals.

Loves,

J(H)

This should be a short update since IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE (which, I might add NEVER SEEMS TO F***IN' HAPPEN IN THIS TOWN!!) and I may have to go run around.

The Sobriquets passed a healthy and happy holiday season, and are back to work. Tomorrow, we plan to cheer and weep along with the rest of the nation as we inaugurate our first black president (also, the first thinking man in the oval office since before we could legally drink). So long, W... don't let the rotors of Marine 1 take yer head off on the way out...

We're hitting the practice room pretty heavily this month, as we're prepping to record a new EP (perhaps in DC, perhaps not) over the next couple months. Further bulletins (plus liveblogs) as scheduling warrants.

Also, SHOWS SHOWS SHOWS!!
Feb 7 in Philly, the 12th in Wilmington, the 13th in Harrisburg at the 2009 Millenium Music Conference, and the 24th in NYC!! Check out the shows page for details! Should have some new tunes, some new covers, some new arrangements of old tunes... We've been away from the stage too long...

Miss y'all... see ya soon.

Loves,
J

Here we sit at the verge of another year, another season come and gone, another chance to make ourselves new...

We here at Sobriquets HQ are nestled in the comforts of our families and friends as 2008 draws to a close, hoping the season finds you all healthy and happy. And in the spirit of the holidays we offer you, for one day and one day only,
ALL THE DOWNLOADS OF THE MONTH FROM 2008 AND MORE!!

After that, we're taking a little time to do some recording, but we'll be returning to the road in February and heading forward through the spring...

Enjoy!

Loves,

James
Dan
Josh
Nick

Hey hey...
As I write this update, the Phillies have just won their first playoff game since the '93 World Series... WHOOO!!

Anyway...

We'd like to officially (for those of you who weren't at the last two shows) introduce and welcome drummer Nick Hughes to the fold; he's been with us a month or so now, performing twice thus far, and man has he made a difference.

ALSO:
This month's Download of the Month marks the first of what may be several NAME THAT SONG contests. Marked "Untitled" in setlists, this is a newer tune that debuted in New York a couple months ago. We don't know what to call it, and maybe you do. We haven't decided what the winner gets yet... probably something cool. So post your suggestions in the guestbook, or join our group on Facebook and post it there... but HELP US NAME THIS SONG!!!

That is all.

Loves,
J

Hey folks...
Some news from les Sobriquets (which, really, doesn't look that different when typed with a French accent, does it?)...

Several shows confirmed, more on their way: NYC and Philly in September, Baltimore, Philly, CT, NYC, and ideally several more in October... keep checking the shows page for the most up-to-date info.

More and more new material will begin to filter into the sets as we prepare for the making of our sophomore album, which will begin in January in Los Angeles and finish when and where we say it's finished...

New Secret Surprise!! Come see us play and find out what it is!

Join the Sobriquets group on Facebook, if you're inclined; it just makes our lives easier...

New Download (well, it is the first of the month, right?)... go get it!!

See y'all soon....

Loves,

J

The show on the 25th at the Curiosity Shoppe has been cancelled. We shall reschedule, hopefully for September.

J

Okay, here's the situation. James is in beautiful and secluded northern Vermont on a week's vacation and he left the keys to the brand new Porsche. Are they mine? Well, um, of course...

We've had a heck of a spring, with shows in Manhattan, Baltimore, Phoenixville, Bryn Mawr and even a few here at home in Philly. We've played a lot of new songs, broken many strings, gotten lost in new and exciting places and endured many sleep deprived mornings-after at work. Our thanks to everyone who's come out and seen us, bought records and made us feel welcome away from home.

In other news, Josh graduated from University of the Arts (Yay Josh!!), we move practice venues this month and I finally started a new job that doesn't require me to wake up at five in the frickin' morning.

Over July and August, we've got dates in Stanhope, NJ at the Black Potatoe(sic) Festival, Bryn Mawr and Manhattan, and are planning a string of dates up through James and my old stomping grounds of Central and Western New York.

And as always, our debut, self-titled record is still available at CD Baby, iTunes and from our sweaty hands at all of our shows. And check out the Music page for the last few days of the June Download of the Month, followed by (you guessed it) the July Download of the Month.

Stay tuned to the site for more updates. We hope to see you out on the road!

Peace, Love and Jah,

Dan

[Ed. Note: Why are there all these miles on my brand new Porsche?]

Slow week here at Sobriquets HQ; no show until a week from Wednesday... probably a rehearsal or two in there somewhere... But!

OFFICIAL CD RELEASE PARTY SCHEDULED!!!!
APRIL 25TH AT THE FIRE!!!!!
WITH... SOME OTHER BANDS!!!

That's right, folks... the record does in fact exist, and it will, in fact, be released, and we WILL PARTY... in fact.
More info on the show once we get it...

Before that, of course, we'll be in NYC on the 26th (Manhattan) and April 5th (Brooklyn), as well as Villanova on April 2nd. And if by chance we bring a record to one of those shows, we'll probably sell it to ya...

Otherwise, just hunting some press for the record, looking for some new venues or some new dates at the old venues...
The usual.

Love ya lots,

J

Good evening; I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not.


(Sorry... been watching too much classic SNL...)

So, the record is BEING PRESSED as we speak. It will be available soon (hopefully by the end of March, if we can get a release show together). It will be entitled "The Sobriquets," and will be totally awesome.
Tracklist:
Jaked
Steve
This Old Town
Twelve
Push Me Away
Dry
Lowtide
Slided
Revolve
Train

We posted three songs from the album here, Jaked and Twelve for download and Dry just because. Further bulletins as events warrant...

Many shows in March... check out the calendar.

Bye... love you...

J

Well, folks, it's late on a rainy Sunday... Haven't added much recently, so here's the scoop:

We handed off our record to the able hands of Whorse for mixing. He's a super-talented singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist in his own right, and quite the sonic manipulator as well. Having heard only the most preliminary mixes, I can assure you that this record will own all of your minds and mp3 players upon its release (which at the moment is still looking like mid-March, but when you're doing everything yourself, sometimes these things change).

On the performance tip, we head to our Baltimore debut this coming Friday at Joe Squared, then back to Manhattan on Sunday (Parkside Lounge), and then we close out the month at the Khyber, where we haven't been in so long (four months) it's almost like it's a new venue. Maybe they cleaned.
February is mostly set aside for working the press end, but we are heading out to Phoenixville to the vaunted Steel City Coffee House on the 27th.
In early March, we've just been accepted to perform at the Cape May Singer Songwriter festival (details soon), we're nailing down a release party somewhere in mid-month, and we're back to NYC (Sidewalk Cafe) on the 26th.

Finally, if you've missed it thus far, we invite you to our new Download of the Month on the music page: every month, we'll be posting something from our bag of tricks, be it a new song, live recording, alternate arrangement, snippet of a drunken practice session, whatever we've got around. Remember to get it now, cuz once the month ends, it's gone forever (or until we have to drop a b-sides and rarities record for contractual reasons...).

Past that, we've been working hard, not sleeping enough, drinking perhaps more than we ought, but less than we could... ya know, living and whatnot.

See y'all this weekend!!

Loves,
J

More pre-mixing and fixing on a couple tracks. Added some keys to Revolve and some guitar to Twelve. Both are now prepped to sing on.
Progress is good and spirits are high.

Vocals soon.

Also... the New Year approaches. We have four shows so far in January (New York, our first trip to Baltimore, and two in Philly), and we'll have a new surprise for you in January as well.
Record should be out in mid-March.

Loves,

J

Worked two nights ago; much mixing done to the various, "record-ruining" parts I put in last week (though, strangely, none of the parts were referred to as "record-ruining"... maybe Dan's still not feeling well). Also, some replacement keys added to Twelve, discussion on Dry and Train, and soon on many of these tracks, we move to vocals. Ooh ooh girl ooh.

J

Supposed to have a session tonight. However, for once, Dan is sick and I'm not. Go fig.
So, because the studio setup is in my home and not his, I decided to ruin the record on my own recognizance. Or so I'm sure he'll claim.

Added some keys to Train and Dry. That's really it. Well... quite a few keys to Train... like I took out entire parts and replaced them. With better parts. Sez me.

Had a fresh listen to some of these tunes, as well... most sound totally awesome. Or will when the editing and recording is done. Fresh listens are a little bizarre while you're still visualizing arrangements; you're never quite sure what's actually on the track vs what's in your head.

Anyway... more later.

J

Short day... holiday hangover, you understand...
Started work on Dry. Took a fast left turn in arrangement. This should surprise those of you who've heard it before.
Rhythm track almost done. Sonic layering to follow.
Tired now. Ordering pizza. Laters, all...

J