For Your Hannukah Listening Pleasure...

We are snowed out of our minds here in Portland! I wanted to share with you a song we recorded on tour last September! It is about the Oklahoma City Bombing. Please Have a happy holiday! Also there is another new song from the same session that I might post if you like this one.

Love, AristeiA


or download

Snow and Ice

We are very sorry to say that we are snowed in here in portland and Cannot make it to seattle tonight. :( We know we are dissapointing people and we are bummed. We will make up this show soon; later today I will post a new secret exclusive song to help make up for it.

our NIN cover

Hi! Here is a treat for everyone who likes covers! The original is from the Nine Inch Nails album 'the fragile''; it is titled 'the frail'.

And the reason I post this is because they are one of our favorites and they are playing portland tommorrow! We are also giving away sampler cds after the show.

enjoy!

AristeiA to open up for the Sea and Cake?!??

Yes, it's true. On Friday November 28th at Doug Fir we are going to open for a band that some of us have liked for a looooong time (The Sea and Cake, fools!). We are excited to play with then and perhaps even more excited to have AristeiA be one degree of seperation from Tortoise (depending on how you play that game). Sad Horse, another Portland band sharing the honor of opening for The Sea and Cake are also playing that night. Good times. The show is $15 and we go on first at 9 PM sharp.

playing up with the bombing

this is the best review i have read. it compares us to Mono and talk about our waves of guitars you know, "playing up with the bombing"...i'm speechless

"AristeiA album can be said to be very good, between the flu and played the melody was not saying that the first 2 "Feedback King" is full of Mono's Style, a strong sense of the destruction of the song, while violent and beautiful details are found everywhere In wave upon wave of guitar playing up with the bombing, a Fangruo the emergence of the end of the world."

Another review. aka Fensepost knows music

The reviews continue to pour in. Just this morning I found that Fensepost has a review of How To Kill A King. You can read it here. But if you cannot be bothered with reading the entire review, I have edited it down for you. "its genius."

Thanks Andy.

hawthorne is where the hippies live.

if you like me, which i know you do, you will be at this show tonight. we just got back from tour which means we now know how to play our songs which allow us to bring the rock to you just a little bit more.

also, in case you were wondering, there will be a fog machine tonight.

also, in case you were wondering. i will be there as well.

also, i'm addicted to these...

Willamete Week's Local Cut gives some Love

Michael Mannheimer (AristeiA fan)
photo courtesey of Local Cut's Flikr page


Hey, guess what. We are today's "cut of the day" on Willamette Week's Local Cut. I have always thought that Cut of the Day was a cool feature. You know a little info and a free mp3. See. Pretty cool. Anyway, I just want to give a shout out to Michael Mannheimer for writing the thing. What Up Mikey?!??

-Ben

Love from lazy town on the road

As every one knows lazy town lies on the road. Here are pics of our adventure so far. And we will explain each photo

Entrance to the Ghost Town Gallery, Oakland, California
We camped on this beach in  Santa Cruz, California
Our favorite little cafe in Santa Cruz. Cafe Brazil, home of Acai!
Adam is clearly a baby panther.  The Black Cat, Penngrove, CA

Recording some guitar tracks at Expression College Emeryville, CA

Adam and Jesse pretending like they know what they are doing
Broke the fuck down in the middle of the desert
$700 and 24 hours later

We are a folk/country band from Austin, TX. Right?

AristeiA Music Video

Aristea - Feedback King



Please leave a comment!
Here is mine. It reminds me of all those retro people playing their music nowadays. Except we don't play with silly.

In Berkeley.

Right now we are at Peets Coffee in Berkeley waking the fuck up. The tour is going well and we've met some super great people. So far we've stayed at a complete strangers house in Chico (thanks Erin) and our friend Gabe's house in Berkeley.

Today we drive off to Sacramento to play R5 Records and then coming back down to Penngrove to play The Black Cat. It's going to be a busy day.

We have some pictures but of course I left the cord for my camera in the car. Pictures will be posted soon.

We love and miss everybody. See you soon.
AristeiA

Split Seven Inch with Westfold

Check it out!

The Face of The Earth

I want to remind everyone that we are here. Tonight we rock in seattle at The Skylark Cafe.

The official AristeiA position is that Sarah Palin is a joke. I also cut my hair a bit. It is way shorter than in the picture below.

Also we shot a music video! We will post it here first and send a bulletin.

Take care of ourselves!!

sample art

stickers, etc.

like we said before. we've been extremely busy, trying to stock up on merch, trying to book this tour coming up and not to mention getting our new record finished up as i mentioned earlier on the blog.

now we've got some brand new stickers from sticker guy! they just came in the mail about 20 minutes ago and if we see you at our show on Saturday at the chaos cafe, then you will not only get to see them too but you will be the proud owner of such stickers if you desire. and i know you do desire.

new press photos

our friend kimba (unfortunately i can't find her website) recently took a bunch of photos for us. vote for your favorite one by leaving comments on our myspaceadoodle.

i like this one the most...this one is cute too.

Shows are awe some.

I met this promoter whom I shall name "Andy Warhol Junior". This is because he was a biter of a style which doesn't make sense to bite. Extra LONG red leather trench?>>?? NOOOOO, you are so GAYYYY!! You're 'art' space is a karate studio by day, and a practice space by night! I wouldn't even care that we had a bad show, but a good band on tour played tonight and they had to suffer to.

Thank god that the lord made sparks brand malt liqour instead.

-adam

Seattle Loves AristeiA (and AristeiA loves Seattle)

One week ago today we played The Comet, one of Seattle's staples in the indie music scene, with our friends Hockey and had a great time. The people seemed really into what we were doing. We felt good. The audience felt good. It was good times all around. Plus we actually sold some merch. Nice. The guys from the first band, Division of Mars, were super nice (going as far as letting us borrow some equipment when ours was being "difficult"). Then later Hockey blew the power for part of the club (the power that allows people to play music). But after a while, it was fixed and the dance party that is a Hockey show continued.

And, as it turns out, we got a little write up in Sound on the Sound, a popular local Seattle music blog. You can read it here.

Album Art almost done!

Our good friend Anthony has been kind enough to take on the challenge of creating the artwork for our forthcoming record. he has sent a few through email and i must say they are quite impressive. i'm really excited about the way these turned out and can't wait to see the originals!

once again, the album will be called "How to Kill A King" running at 6 songs and 25 minutes. It will be available sometime in early September if all goes accordingly.

there will be more posted about this soon.

that image is my favorite so far.

We got ourselves a nice trailer for tour

CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!! on friday ben, jesse and myself drove out to bend to pick up this sweet trailer.

while we bought the trailer, adam was busy finishing up gathering information for the 7" we've been working on with Westfold to send it out for printing.

yes, yes, my friends we have been busy. we are almost ready for tour and couldn't be more thrilled for the trip!

we are making a 7"

So, I thought it might interest the people to know that a split 7" will be released in the not so distant future. It will be between Westfold and yours truly. The pictures are the center label now just imagine splattered colored vinyl around those labels. Sweet, right? You can hear Westfold's song on their myspace page right here (I know that I linked to them earlier in the post, but seriously you should check Westfold out).

ps. did you notice that the songs are the exact same length? weird huh?

CRAzy pedal with CRazy labeled knobs!!!!

You know how summer movies are just getting crazier every year? This phenomenon started with Jaws, then Independence Day, Transformers, etc. Now we have

HELLBOY II: The Golden Army

It sounds like it looks like it want to be CRAZY!!!!!!!

New Shirts

We have new shirts. They are rad. They were printed at St. Valentine just like before.
buy them for $10 including shipping or $8 at our shows.

Don't forget, our next show is on Friday at The Crown Room.

album album album

sorry it's been so long since we've posted. we've been super busy booking our upcoming west coast tour. we are also getting ready to put artwork together for our new record! today jesse adam, and i are going to listen to the master copy. tracklisting below...

How to Kill a King:
1. The Might of the Sword
2. Feedback King
3. Stairway to Heaven pt. 2: The Stampede into Heaven
4. I'll Take Mine Black
5. Panda vs. Satan
6. The Might of the Dragon

MASTER BLASTER!

adam and i will both be master blasting...

bad news about friday's show

Nanda Devi had to cancel but that doesn't mean we won't be playing shows with them in the future. We are still planning on playing August 15th with them somewhere in town but it's just not confirmed yet.

Sometimes Ben thinks it's funny to alter fliers when there is a lineup change and this is the outcome. Don't be offended Nanda Devi, we still love you.



so yeah, that's the new band playing, The Hand that Bleeds. I've heard good things about them and look forward to seeing them and all of you on Friday night at Kelly's Olympian. Don't forget, this Friday night will not be enjoyable for you unless you attend this show. Also, don't for get Los Moustachios are doing a video show during our set!

where is the most comforatable place you have ever slept?

for me it would for sure have to be on the night of saturday june 21st, after playing a show on our way home from seattle.

i was in the van, on top of my amp and the fog machine while wedging my head between various guitar cases and jesse's kick drum to supplement for the lack of pillows.

maybe i'll publish pictures later. my camera is away from me right now.

oh, and big shout out to andy fenstermaker for taking photos. see them here.

seattle show TONIGHT!!!!!

we are playing second at a place called waldos. i think its in bellvue... you should come if you live in the seattle area. unfortunately i can't find a flyer for the show ANYWHERE!!!!


bring your cameras.

Finger Update.

my finger* is healing wonderfully, thanks for asking. liquid bandages, aka new skin has saved my life. you may remember from the previous post that i sliced my finger open. i should be healed in time for our show in seattle on saturday! yeah!

*DO NOT click this link unless you have a good stomach that doesn't get too unsettled.
ps that picture is not my finger, nor anyone's finger. it is prosthetic, but it looks real.

Custom Shop

Today has been a grand day; With the exception of going to work and slicing my finger to the bone. I got a brand new 4x12 speaker cab from avatar speakers! Adam and I then did a little custom work to it. Let us know what you think. - brandon

adam too

p.s. its velvet

New Record Almost Complete!!!!!!!

almost done with the record! we mixed yesterday.
get a preview on June 27th @ Kelly's Olympian with Westfold and Nanda Devi

drum staxxxxxxxs

today i played drums with Westfold. then their real drummer, Dustin, came, then we did dual drums. then i accidentally punched myself in the balls. somehow i feel like it was worth it. i love that band.
ps. we are playing with Westfold and Nanda Devi on Friday, June 27th @ Kelly's Olympian. it is a guaranteed positive experience. that is to say, great times are to be had.

Secret Practice Video!

Would you like to meet the Feedback King? We took some footage of him in his natural habitat; the video turned out a little FUZZY and DISTORTED. Will that scare you away?


Video by: Goldie

AristeiA featured band on Fense Post

Our little mutual admiration with Fensepost continues today. Check out this post. Thanks Andy! Don't forget we will be kinda in your area (Bellvue, WA) on June 21st at Waldo's.

'Aight,

Ben of AristeiA

Move Over Hans!!!

You know him from such film scores as The Thin Red Line, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Lion King.

Now he has to SUCK ON THIS HANS!

AristeiA has made you SUCK ON THIS HANS!

Listen to our new sound clips to the right.

Love ARISTEIA

more studio exclusivity!

Adam recording the end of Feedback King. Listen to that sweet tube overdrive mixed with big muff pi and that sweet sweet super hard on. mmmmmm.....

pretty rippin' for camera audio, don't ya think?

More details on upcoming AristeiA release!

So we are over at Nate's house recording up a storm. It occurred to me that we should share some of our information about the upcoming release with you guys. Basically it is going to be a maximum-album in mini-album form. (i.e. six tracks). It is about swords and dragons, politcally speaking of course.

Brandon wasn't flipping you off.

i bought a camera

so, i finally bought a digital camera so i can put awesome photos and short videos up. which is what i intended on doing tonight but alas, the camera is in the van and ben is at work with the van. now you all have to wait at least another day. trust me, it will be worth the wait cause adam recorded some guitars today and i got some really exciting videos to show all of you!

in due time.

This direction is the most metal.

This is what we did tonight in my room. Brain Wilson never sounded too good...

Things we got for our van, Eternity, on our baby tour:

A new motor for our windshield wipers. For the longest time we thought it was a fuse issue. Nope Jessi's (Awesome) Dad, Chuck, helped us figure this one out. So we made a trip to Napa Auto Parts and got a new motor. Next thing you know, chuck is going to town under the hood of our van. Our wipers now work. Nice.









We also picked up some other items while at Napa. For instance, a temporary rear view mirror for our passenger side door. We have been driving very dangerously without one for several months now using the buddy system of having the passenger give us the go ahead before making any movers that require changing lanes of turning right. The mirror is not the classiest but it totally works.




Check out this air freshener we got at Napa. Our van since the beginning has had a "wet dog" smell that creeps up from time to time. We figured we may as well fix it. This particular scent was picked by Brandon for two reasons. a) It is called eternity, and Brandon has always wanted to know what eternity smells like (I will admit I was curious too). b) Though you can't tell from the photo, the air freshener is gray and black which led Brandon to say that it was the most "metal" air freshener in the store and that we had to have it. As it turns out Eternity is the Calvin Cline fragrance. It also turns out that we have now named the van Eternity.





The last thing we got was this amazing blown out tire. This went down just 10 miles west of Spokane. Luckily we are AAA members. So we only had to wait an hour before someone could get a spare tire on Eternity. Unluckily it was Sunday and no tire shops are open on Sunday. More unlucky was that it was Memorial Day weekend so the tire shops that were all closed we really closed. But after calling around a bit we found out that Walmart could help us out. So five hours and two new tires later (Walmart has a policy of only changing an even amount of tires) we were back on the road.






But over all I think we had a lot of fun on this trip. Jessi's Family was/is super nice in welcoming us into their home. Coeur d'Alene is a very beautiful place. I am glad that we got to visit.

-Ben of AristeiA


This is what Adam and Brandon look like when they wait for AAA.

There is always one headbanger

So that live video we tried to shoot of us performing last night at the White Rabbits show ended up not working. Apparently , if you try to record like half an hour on photo booth it takes up all of your memory. Anyway, the headbanger didn't show until the second band, Oil of Angels. I did get some video of him though. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

-Ben of AristeiA



Not an actual member of the band

We are about to play a show in Spokane. Wish you were here.

We are about to play to play The Caterina Winery, one of Spokane's finest. It has really high celings so its gonna be a loud one. We are super stoked to be playing with NY's White Rabbits and local act Oil of Angels. Brandon just pointed out to me that we once opened up for Tokyo Police Club. Later he went to see them again when they were a bit bigger and White Rabbit opened up. Now we are opening up for them. It is only a matter of time before we are the big band. Anyway, we are going to try to record some video of the show and post it a little bit later.

Stay tuned,

-Ben of AristeiA

Making crazy sounds in the studio

The new AristeiA record is coming along really quickly. Spent 9 hours yesterday tracking guitar and adding effects and multiple layers. it is sounding really full/beautiful/epic.

also, i finally got a Moog Moogerfooger Ring Modulator. This thing makes the most fucked up crazy sounds i have ever heard. There are some sound samples on the Moog website via the above link. check them out.

we will be posting some sound clips when they start to come together a little more. keep checking back.

Grails

this band really trips me out. yesterday i was at jackpot records and saw that Grails have a new record out called 'Take Refuge in Clean Living.' i can't remember the last time i COULD NOT PREVENT MYSELF from taking a record home. i got into this band around the Black Tar Prophecies era because they make me feel like my brain is melting down (in the best way imaginable). i don't intend to give a record review, that's what these people are for. but just go listen to Grails, doesn't matter which record, and just space/trip/vibe out. they have a sort of crazy middle eastern feel/sound but they are based out of Portland, OR. you don't even need drugs to do it. i promise. although they could help.

highly recommended track (ie my personal favorite): 'Belgian Wake-Up Drill' off of BTP: Vol 2 on Aurora Borealis

Fensepost Review of the last EP

Dear Fense,

We have missed you too. We received your letter (review) and wanted to take the time to reply with a few words of our own. Most of them will verify that we have feelings for you too.

We regret that we haven't made it up to your town to throw down our newest tunes that are sure to destroy your preconceptions of our band (we are trying to tell you that we are better). We will be correcting this problem very soon. A couple times actually. Please feel free to come an celebrate our beautiful noise. Bring that girlfriend you mentioned. Bring your friends.

This summer we will be recording our new songs, so look forward to reviewing some more AristeiA by years end. Perhaps then you will hold some vinyl in your hands? Have I said too much? Probably.

So we will meet again sooner than you might have expecting. Did you mention a year? Way too long. Then, if you must, you may embrace us as old friends and buys us brew.

-AristeiA

Woolly Mammoth Bass Fuzz

this petal handmade by zvex effects


+ Ben Meyercord = BASS FACE!!!!!!!!!!



*unfortunately he is still working on achieving bass face