I Heart Lung

I Heart Lung Tour Texana

A year after I Heart Lung lurched out toward the East Coast we are venturing out for one week of Big Texas Fun. According to the Austin Chronicle: “I Heart Lung – guitarist Chris Schlarb and drummer Tom Steck – is a wily creature, jumping right to left brain with amphetamine grace.” Flattery will get you two shows in Austin.

All dates feature young fire-keepers Rare Grooves. March 11th features I Heart Lung in quartet mode with special guests Chris Cogburn and C.J. Boyd.

Not coincidentally, I will be speaking on a panel at the NX35 Music Festival in Denton, Texas on March 12th. Many thanks to Michael Seman for inviting me out and making this little tour a possibility.

March 10th at Salvage Vanguard Theater, Austin, TX. Presented by Church of the Friendly Ghost.
March 11th at Hot Mamas Espresso, Austin, TX. with Chris Cogburn and C.J. Boyd. Presented by Church of the Friendly Ghost.
March 12th at NX35 Festival, Denton, TX. (Chris Schlarb Discussion Panel)
March 13th at NX35 Festival, Denton, TX. with Shiny Around The Edges
March 14th at Resonant Sound Series, Houston, TX. with C.J. Boyd
March 15th at Avant Garden, Houston, TX. with C.J. Boyd

For maps, links, and detailed show listings, check this out.

Another Great Convergence

Everything is starting to come together again. I usually have so many projects ongoing that this sort of thing is inevitable and happens a few times a year.

Here, for example, is a short list of what has transpired in the last month:

  • Finished mixing the new I Heart Lung album, Interoceans.
  • Drove out to master it with Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering in Phoenix, Arizona.
  • Toured the West Coast with I Heart Lung and Sounds Are Active label-mates, ellul.
  • Took some photos of the tour and posted them on Flickr.
  • Recorded five new compositions with I Heart Lung for a 16mm video project with Jonathan Dueck.
  • Drove 19 hours straight home from Portland, Oregon to Long Beach, California. Stopped in San Francisco to drop off ellul, picked up some In-N-Out and then kept on trucking.
  • Started reading an interesting Steely Dan biography written by British author Brian Sweet.
  • Also started Yelping.
  • Mixed down and mastered The Widow Babies forthcoming album, The Mike Watt EP.
  • Then mixed it down again. Gotta master again.
  • Filled in over at Spud! for a few days. Worked 23 hours in 48 hours.
  • Spent a day filming a few interesting on location live performances with I Heart Lung and Sean Carnage.
  • Soon I will be finishing up an album with singer/songwriter Steve Gerstein. Then I will start mixing down the recordings from the first couple of sessions I had with Liz Janes and the band at the Compound a few months ago.

    Then I will be jumping into the studio with LA-based progressive instrumental band Charts and Maps and will try to get I Heart Lung into the studio to record our side of the “Ecstatic Duos” series being released by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions.

    All the while I will be working on finishing the score for an aforementioned video game project with game designer Nifflas Nygren.

    I need to have my electric guitar intonated too.

    I Heart Lung Gets Asthmatic, Tours

    Wow. What a few weeks it has been. Tom Steck and I have been working on wrapping up all things Interoceans and yesterday, our good friends at Asthmatic Kitty Records announced the signing of seven new artists to their roster, among them, I Heart Lung. Fine company indeed.

    Now, we gladly leave for a week on the road. Beginning this Saturday, May 3rd, we embark on a quick West Coast tour with Sounds Are Active label-mates ellul. This will be the first trip up the coast for I Heart Lung, so come out and see us if you can.

    All dates and times confirmed:

    Saturday May 3rd at The Cocaine, Los Angeles, CA.
    w/ improv set with ellul, Ars Poetria
    8:30pm // $5 ($7 non-drinking)

    Sunday May 4th at OPEN, Long Beach, CA.
    w/ ellul
    5pm (Matinee Show) // $5 (all ages)

    Monday May 5th at Retox Lounge, San Francisco, CA.
    w/ ellul, Dominique Leone
    8pm // $3

    Tuesday May 6th at Pearl Lounge, Eureka, CA.
    w/ ellul, Brother Mitya, The Beat Nun
    9pm // $5

    Thursday May 8th at Helm Gallery, Tacoma, WA.
    w/ ellul
    8pm // $5

    Friday May 9th at Towne Lounge, Portland, OR.
    w/ ellul, buh-bLAM
    9pm // $5

    Seven Days

    Last Thursday my wife and I had the incomparable pleasure of watching and listening to Herbie Hancock perform live in front of a tiny crowd of 200 people. And if one musical legend wasn’t enough, Joni Mitchell made an unannounced three song cameo and brought the house down and, honestly, me to tears. I wrote a review of the performance for L.A. Record which you can read here. UPDATE: Yahoo! has now posted the entire performance online.

    That Saturday I was in the studio with L.A. band The Widow Babies and we recorded a forthcoming E.P. of epic proportions. I will say only this: The Lamb Lies Down in San Pedro.

    Monday saw a vocal overdub session for local singer/songwriter Steve Gerstein and his girlfriend Caroline. I have been working with Steve on his debut album for a few months now and things have been going really well. It’s not my usual gig but I am enjoying the back and forth of experimental and more conventional pop music that have sent me ping-ponging lately.

    I Heart Lung gathered on Tuesday for a mixing/recording session for Interoceans. We are coming dangerously close to finishing the album (see Thursday).

    Last night I had a recording session with Awol One who laid down a monstrous verse and two choruses for the upcoming I Heart Lung remix album. More on that much later.

    Today, Thursday, I recorded with Anthony Shadduck who is adding the final upright bass touches to Interoceans in what I think will be the final compositional element for this fearsome record.

    I also synced up and processed a killer vocal track from Serengeti for that aforementioned I Heart Lung remix project.

    Not a bad seven days.

    Snow Din

    Just last week my fingers were numb from rehearsing and recording songs for the new Liz Janes album due out later this year on Asthmatic Kitty Records. Today, they are suffering from a slight frost bite thanks to a weekend trip to the mountains near Big Bear, California.

    With focus returned, this week will see the mix down of the new I Heart Lung album, Interoceans with my other(worldly) half, Tom Steck.

    I Heart Lung will also be performing a rare matinee show at OPEN this coming Sunday @ 4pm. Along for the ride are PWRFL POWER and Capillary Action. Suggested donation of $5.

    I Heart Lung, PWRFL POWER, Capillary Action
    OPEN // 4pm // $5
    2226 E. 4th Street
    Long Beach, Ca 90814

    UPDATE: Long Beach Culture’s Greggory Moore reviews the show.