2010 Resolutions

Most people I know hate New Year’s Resolutions and think the whole process is trite. They’re usually all about how we’re going to stop this or quit some vice or another.

But I love the idea that we try to recreate ourselves once a year. What do we want to see happen? What do we “resolve” to create? Whether it’s just trying to be more healthy or more loving or have more fun, it’s awesome to affirm those ideas. Most of the time we’re just wandering around reacting to things, bumping like a pinball from one situation to another.

We pick a day (and sure it’s just a date, restarting the cycle around a solstice or an actual astronomical event might make more sense, but whatevs...) and on that day, we hit a reset button. We try new things, make drastic changes, purposefully act differently towards others. We do things more consciously around the New Year, because hey, we let ourselves have another chance now. This is us giving ourselves another opportunity to actualize all the things that we haven’t made happen in the last year. Like anything, the only significance that counts is the importance that we give to it. So, if you want to remake yourself in a new way and choose to do it around this time of the calendar, then go for it! I’ll join you.

So, what are my resolutions with Sunspot in the New Year?

1. Give you something new
Sunspot’s been around for a long time now, especially in the context of music groups. We’ve seen several cycles of bands get together, break up, reform, start new bands, etc... We’ve seen music trends spike and dip in popularity (ska, rap-metal, garage, indie, etc...) In the last year, we started making videos a regular part of what we do, we’ve started integrating different musical elements into the live show, we’ve tried to make every event we’ve played special in some way. That’s not going to stop, but I promise that we’re going to do keep experimenting and trying different things. That when you download a new song or video or come to a show that we’re not just repeating what’s worked before. You’re going to get something special every single time.

2. Give you our absolute best
There’s some shows that are tougher than others and there’s moments in the creative process where it feels like “okay, that should be good enough, just finish the damn thing.” That’s something we’ve always tried to avoid in the past and something that we resolve never to do. Many of you reading this have been watching and listening to us for over a decade. That means so much and that really means you deserve to hear and see us when we’re performing the best we possibly can. We resolve to give you the most exciting show and songs that we know how to do. It doesn’t matter where the show is or how long it takes to make a song as close to perfect as possible. If you show up or you’re listening to Sunspot, then you’re going to get our full effort every time.

3. To Fulfill Your Trust and Faith In Us
You come to our shows and bring new friends, you spend your hard-earned money on t-shirts and CDs, and you ask us to be part of the soundtrack to the important events in your life. I know this sounds grandiose and we’re just talking about rock n’ roll, but rock n’ roll is our #$%@in’ life. You believe in us and trust us and we resolve not to let you down. You’re part of the community and part of who we are, and I promise we don’t take a single ounce of your support lightly. If there’s something that’s important to you, please don’t hesitate to say something. We take every comment, question, thought, remark, and idea seriously. It’s important to know that if we say we’re going to do something, we do it.

That’s the plan for 2010. This past year was the best one yet and I know that we’re going to surpass it. Have an awesome New Year and good luck with however you decide to reinvent yourself!

"Path of Most Resistance" Pop-Up Video

It's "Path of Most Resistance" all done up VH1-style. You can download the song, purchase the album, and check out the full lyrics at http://sunspot.bandcamp.com/track/path-of-most-resistance.



You can download the Pop-Up at http://www.sunspotmusic.com/sunspot_path_of_most_resistance_popup.mp4 or view it on YouTube directly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CqKGemQeKo

If you're looking for the original video, you can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYOucORr1ks

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 12/19/09 @ Club Tavern in Middleton, WI

What a party! Thanks everyone for making Saturday's show a lively and festive one, and a great finally to this decade!

And if you're wondering about other DrummerCams from throughout the year that have not been posted, stay tuned because I'll be going through all of them and posting the "missing" ones before the New Year.

A Holiday Greeting from Sunspot

Sunspot wishes you a very happy Holiday Season this year!



And don't forget that you can find Sunspot gifts for your loved ones at store.sunspotmusic.com.

You can watch our message directly on YouTube or download the movie file here.

Madison Bands on The Run (including us!)

Thanks to Brett Newski and the guys from Dane101 for posting this article that includes us on Madison bands hitting the road.

It also features some quotes from our man, Darwin, from The Frequency and one of the guys from "Steez", who I interviewed for Max Ink a few months back.

You can read it directly by visiting the link here: http://www.dane101.com/tour/2009/12/10/madison_bands_on_the_run

Old-School Sunspot Video "Prozac Girl" 2001

That's right, friends, the hits just keep on coming. This is the third week in a row we've brought you "classic" (classic, ha, there's nothing classic about the peroxide blonde in this video and did I steal that bowling shirt from a Big Lebowski convention?) Sunspot songs that have been sitting on VHS for the past few years.

This one's a live performance of "Prozac Girl" from the James Madison Memorial High School Arts Week in 2001.



Next week, we'll be back with some newer material (maybe another pop-up video if we can work up enough jokes this weekend) but since we're reaching the end of the Aughts, I thought it would be fun to check in on where we were at the beginning of the decade. We have hours and hours of tape from Sunspot concerts, tours, and television appearances over the past few years so we'll be putting up videos from all throughout our history on the weeks in between podcasts. By the way, we'll be coming up on our 100th podcast soon and I promise we'll do it before the end of the year, we'll definitely be featuring the highlights from this year's Sunspot Christmas Party on the 19th!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 11/28/09 @ McAuliffe's Pub in Racine, WI

2009 Thoughts for Food Fall Harvest Benefit... Thanks all for your generosity!

Old School Sunspot Video: Meat Market

This one's even older than last week's, but just in time for the holiday, here's another one from the vaults. "Meat Market" is the first actual music video we ever released (thanks to our man, Steve Concotelli for putting it together!) from our first album, Radio Free Earth. Live, we usually dedicate it to Bullwinkle's (a wonderfully sleazy dance club in Madison that the aforementioned Steve introduced me to on underage night when I was still in high school), and we didn't know at the time that years later, Sunspot would host two CD release parties there and before it was full of butt-shaking, sweaty, oversexed young adults dancing to techno (and my favorite, 80's night!) it was a club called Headliners that hosted everyone from U2 to Sonic Youth to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

The footage from the club we're playing at in this video is the fondly remembered and long-lost O'Cayz Corral and funny enough, the studio we're recording in is Cactus Studios, which was in the basement of the building that now holds O'Cayz' successor, The High Noon Saloon.

This year I'm thankful that I no longer sport that goatee (or that wicked gut!) but I'm also thankful for the fact that we've had over a dozen excellent years of writing songs, playing shows, traveling, and generally carrying on in the most ridiculous fashion possible. And we're positively thankful that we've got a lot to be really excited about what we've got in store for 2010.

Change The World Old-School Video

I almost forgot we had this one. Wendy's first video editing project was a mash-up of some of our live performances throughout the late 90's set to "Change The World" from our first album, Radio Free Earth. We sent this tape out to booking agents right around the turn of the century and I thought you guys might enjoy a trip down Memory Lane with us.

I just got a decent Elgato video capture card, so I'll be going through the VHS collection and putting up "classic" stuff as I find it!

I think I have at least 4 different hair colors in this video as well.

"My Own Worst Enemy" Live at The Annex

Here's a live version of "My Own Worst Enemy" from the Maximum Ink Halloween Spooktacular at The Annex.

I had a wardrobe malfunction, so I guess my costume went from ROTJ Luke to the Rancor Keeper!

Thanks to Joe Guerilla for the great footage!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 10/31/09 @ The Annex in Madison, WI

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 10/30/09 @ McAuliffe's on the Square in Racine, WI

Pop-Up Videos for "Grand Guignol" and "More Than My Degree"

For all the people that missed their World Premiere on the WYOU telethon awhile back, here's our versions of Pop-Up Videos for a couple of the videos off the Singularity album. Let us know if you enjoy them and we'll make some more soon!

Happy Halloween!

Live Madison Area Performance on the WYOU Telethon 10/21 9PM

We're back to my old stomping grounds, WYOU, and that's the sweetness of community access television. We'll be on the telethon performing live tonight with our friends in Axiom. We'll be up right at 9pm with Axiom following at 10. Hosting will be our good friend, Rokker, from Maximum Ink. We'll be playing some live songs, showing some videos (including premiering a couple of Sunspot "Pop-Up" videos!), and hanging out on the air. You can call to talk to us or make a donation at 608-258-9644!

Here's some pictures from our very first performance on WYOU about a thousand years ago (excuse the web 0.1 quality graphics!)

Who doesn't miss Gwen Stefani shirts?

Hey Ben, Don Johnson called and wants his coat back. Actually, I think that one was mine.

Is that Ronald McDonald's evil goateed brother?

Find out more at the WYOU website and watch on Channel 95 on regular cable and Channel 991 on your digital dial!

Songs That Actually Terrify Me For Halloween

Halloween is almost upon us and I absolutely love it. From the horror movies at the theater to slutty nurse costumes to bobbing for apples (the forerunner of the choking game?), as humans, it feels like we need to embrace our dark nature sometimes. And nobody does destruction like humans do destruction. We're awesome at being awesomely bad to each other, it's built in. For all the wonderful things that we can do, we're equally matched by the horrible. At Christmas, we celebrate our generosity and at Halloween we celebrate our ferocity. We mock our fears (dressing children up as tiny monsters!), weigh our mortality (ghost stories!), and (in Wisconsin at least) party like November 1st is the end of the world. We can rationalize the different reasons we celebrate the day, but let's face it, most of the time we do stuff because it's #1, everyone else is doing it, #2, it's tradition, or #3, we're too busy to consciously worry about what's going on around us, so as long as it doesn't hurt, let's do it.

I've thought about Halloween for you, though, and I've decided it owns. There's some songs that evoke a fear reaction in me so I can only listen to them every once in awhile. (There's only been one picture that's ever done that to me, which you can see right here.)

"Tomorrow, Wendy" by Concrete Blonde

Tragic and poetic and a reminder of mortality that makes me want to cry and flee at the same time.

"Only God says jump,

So I set the time,
'Cause if he ever saw her,
It was through these eyes of mine.
And if he ever suffered it was me who did his crying."

"Dead Skin Mask" by Slayer

When you want to find the right notes on the guitar to elicit a fear response, Slayer is your go-to band. And the spoken part with the child and Ed Gein is obvious, but it works.

Superheroes from Rocky Horror

The piano always gets me here for some reason. I love the part, but I can only handle it for a few seconds.

Dexter - Closing Theme

I turn the show off or hit mute before the end theme plays.

I'd love to hear what other songs people are actually scared of. Not just songs about scary themes, but songs they have a hard time listening to because they sound terrifying. Email me and I'll postthem too. Have a great Halloween! We'll be at The Annex in Madison to celebrate (with one of the guys from GWAR!)

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 10/10/09 @ Howie's in La Crosse, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 10/2/09 @ R & A Stoltz's in Mosinee, WI

Radio Ad for Max Ink Halloween Spooktacular 2009

Check out the radio ad for this year's Halloween party at The Annex! You might recognize the songs they use. ;)

No cover, free food, and FREE BEER! With us, The Skintones, Axiom, and Lords of Discipline. It's gonna be the most fun Halloween show we've had for a long time.

Thanks to Rokker and Paul Schluter from Megatone for putting together the ad!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 99

Some September snapshots with Sunspot stopping by Eau Claire, UW's Engineering Hall in Madison, and Cudahy - with some music by Velvet Dog from Milwaukee.



Download it here.

Wendy's DrummerCam: Tuesday 9/15/09 @ The Frequency in Madison, WI

Thanks to each and every one of you who made it to the show Tuesday... I KISS YOU!

TONIGHT: Tuesday 9/15/09 at The Frequency with MARK MALLMAN!

The day is finally here!



Tonight we will be putting on a rare TUESDAY night show in Madison, and for good reason: Minneapolis rocker Mark Mallman is in town!

If you haven't had the opportunity to see or hear Mallman, here's a sneak peek of one of his new singles:



and here's another one that I love:



If that's not enough to convince you, I have a personal testimonial. I saw Mallman perform in June at The Frequency on a Sunday night, and let's just say he gave new meaning to "giving 110 percent". His show was so full of energy, showmanship, and raw talent I was stunned.

In honor of Mallman's brand new CD entitled "Invincible Criminal", the night's theme will be VILLAINS AND SUPERHEROES. Dress up as your favorite superhero or villain and get your photo taken in our mugshot photo booth! We'll have some other surprises for you too.

Sunspot has prepared a special set list just for tonight, and we'll also be doing our *enhanced* multimedia show w/videos. It's been a while since we played in Madison and we are excited to see you again and show you what we've been working on!

The show is a bargain at just $5- you'll get more than your money's worth at this one, friends!

Join the Facebook Event here

DISCLAIMER: You don't have to worry about staying up too late on a school night. The show starts at 9 and we'll be done by 11 (you stay up to watch Conan or Dave anyway, stay up with us instead! We promise it will be worthwhile or we'll drive you to work the next day if you're too tired.)

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 9/12/09 @ Double Play Sports Bar in Antioch, IL

Sorry about the poor quality. I forgot my camera last weekend and had to use my phone. :(

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 9/11/09 @ Champs in Lake Geneva, WI

Sunspot featured in latest Film101 podcast

Make sure you check out the latest Film101 podcast , they feature some tracks off our new CD and DVD, but it's also a fun listen if you love movies!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Sunday 9/6/09 @ On The Limiter in Cudahy, WI

Awesome name for a band

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 9/5/09 @ Siemer's Cruise In in Walworth, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 9/4/09 @ The Monkey Bar, Milwaukee, WI

Listen to us on FM 102.1 this morning!

Wendy and I are going to be with Kramp and Adler on the morning show today at 9:15. If you're in the Milwaukee area, tune in to 102.1 on your FM dial, if you're out of the listening area then you can check us out on the live stream at their website!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 8/29/09 @ House of Rock in Eau Claire, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 8/22/09 @ EDGEFEST in Wisconsin Dells, WI

Hollywood Ending (Or Confounding Expectations)

So, I was watching 1408 yesterday for the first time (this post will contain spoilers for a couple of movies, so tread carefully.) And when I reached the end, I started thinking “how weird is it that the protagonist lived at the end of a modern horror film?” So John Cusack (who I’ve thought was awesome since The Journey of Natty Gann by the way) didn’t die at the finish and there wasn’t any “surprise” in a mirror where a ghost shows up behind a character or somebody’s sucked through a window or portal. He lives, his wife lives, Samuel L. Jackson even tells him “good job” (unfortunately without using our favorite term for a person that copulates with female parents.) I thought it was unusual, so I looked up the movie on Wikipedia and saw that the original ending was that the main guy dies at the end in the fire and then his estranged wife is haunted by him, but it proved unpopular with test audiences, so they reshot it for American audiences.

I usually laugh at the people who like “happy endings” and I like my movies (especially horror) “hardcore”. And I often think American audiences are immature and foolish for wanting a happy ending. But I thought about it for a little while as to why I enjoyed the fact that the ending was different than what I expected. I’ve come to expect tragic endings now and that’s just as absurd as a Deus ex machina that saves everyone. Why is dark better or more realistic? Because we expect things in our regular lives to end in tragedy? Because everyone dies? The world doesn’t have to always be tragic and sometimes good things do happen. That’s why I liked the ending, because it was true to the story. There was no dramatically satisfying reason to kill John Cusack off. He didn’t believe in ghosts, so what? Either does 30% of the Czech Republic but we’re not going to do anything nasty to them (yet.)

Anyway, this is one case where I really thought that the original ending was inferior to the one they replaced it with, because it confounded my expectations. It’s a cliche since Night of the Living Dead to kill off the main character and at least Romero was trying to make a point about humans becoming monsters. If you want a dark ending, watch The Mist (that’s an ending that won’t leave you for a week, and a gut punch that actually was effective because it was true to the theme of fear changing people’s behavior in horrifying ways.) But why does every story have to be “dark” to feel realistic? What aspects of life are being documented? And why do these images have to be so brutal? I know that horror movies are usually supposed to be “commentaries” on things happening in the real world, but most of the time I feel like I’m really just covering up the fact that I like blood and guts. There might be some commentary involved, but it’s usually just to make me feel better about indulging in violent fantasies (otherwise how do I laugh and cheer on Dexter?) It may be healthy to for humans to express these ideas, but the conventions are getting old. The gloom that I used to see as being true to the world now just feels artificially constructed to get a rise or shock the adolescent in me who wants to be scared because I’ve never experienced what real fear-for-my-life horror is like. It’s that last dip on the roller coaster when you think you’re out of the woods, but it’s a sucker punch.

Yes, Hollywood endings are usually contrived and that’s the fault of the writer not setting up the pieces to make the climax dramatically satisfying, but I thought my reaction to 1408 was interesting specifically because it’s not the reaction I thought I’d have. I usually seek out the “original endings” because I think they’re more honest, but here I had the exact opposite reaction. So now I noticed something different in myself and how I see things.

That got me to thinking about the band and how when we release a song are we serving the song’s message in each lyric, in the song structure, even in our ridiculous a capella moments at live shows where we get everyone to sing along.

It’s time to start writing new songs again (I know we just released Singularity, but we’re always looking to write the perfect song) and sometimes I find myself struggling with repeating formats and plugging into templates of what’s worked before. It does help to make sure that the idea is clearly delineated before creating the actual work. We definitely did that with a lot of the tracks on Singularity, and most of the songs feel pretty complete (On most of the tracks, I wouldn’t know what else to add and on tracks like “Hypnogogic” there’s probably a lot more words than necessary to convey the idea!)

Thinking about how my own expectations need to be shaken and thrown around to get a different and surprising reaction out of me, I feel like that’s something we need to do creatively to get that reaction out of the listener.

What do you or don’t you expect from Sunspot would be the best question? How can we either exceed what you’re looking for or how can we confuse you enough to make it interesting? I’d love to hear what people think as we start to work on new material and develop the new live show. Feel free to email, DM, Myspace, or Facebook me any ideas or thoughts you might have.

Please vote for Sunspot on the Mad City Music Podcast

Mad City Music Podcast is a great resource for checking out new local music and they're running a poll on their website for who you'd like to see in an upcoming episode. It's a chance to make a great-looking (and sounding) live recording and we'd love to be a part of it. Think about the DVD that came with Metallica's Some Kind of Monster that was a live recording in the studio and it looked and sounded awesome. Those are the kind of things that the Mad City Music Podcast is doing and it would be a lot of fun to do some Sunspot tunes on it. Plus, if we get in, we'll run a poll for the requests that people want to hear on the podcast as well.

Please click on this link to vote and thanks!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 8/15/09 @ The Dry Bean in Fitchburg, WI

London ( wi) beerfest

Look at this local brewmaster at work!

No Place Like Home

Everyone wants to escape their small town, everyone thinks they're a fish out of water or a man out of time.

But sometimes the last place you want to be is the place where you belong the most.

This one has a Police meets U2 meets Weezer vibe.



Lyrics and download available at: http://sunspot.bandcamp.com/track/no-place-like-home
Or download the full video by clicking here.

Sweet

I finally won after 4 years (I Always vote for chorizo)

Yikes

Look at what they're serving in Rhinelander

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 8/1/09 @ Liquor Sweets in Milwaukee, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 7/31/09 @ McAuliffe's Pub in Racine, WI

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 98

Sunspot at McAuliffe's in Racine and Liquor Sweets in Milwaukee with Billy Orphan, The Andes, and Cynergy 67. Special guest: JJ McAuliffe, himself!



Full download right here!

Singularity review from Madison Examiner

Thanks to the Madison Examiner for reviewing our new CD/DVD, "Singularity". You can read it right here.

"Even after 13 years and five albums, Sunspot manages to create fresh, interesting pop-rock with catchy hooks and witty lyrics." That's a really nice thing to say and it made my day!

Thanks to Examiner.com and Jacquelyn Askins for the write-up!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 7/25/09 @ UW Memorial Union Terrace in Madison, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 7/25/09 @ Noah's Ark in Wisconsin Dells, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 7/18/09 @ Wild Horse Saloon in Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 7/17/09 @ Rock Island Resort in Merrill, WI

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 97

Sunspot performing at Noah's Ark, hanging out at Memorial Union Terrace, and East Towne Mall the weekend of July 25th, 2009.



Direct download link: http://www.sunspotmusic.com/roadmania/Sunspot%20Road%20Mania%20-%20Ep.%2097%20(Medium).m4v

Hmmm... wonder where Ben is?

Just got this in my email...

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 96

Sunspot from Merrill, Wisconsin Rapids, and Madison hanging out the weekend of July 17th. Plus, a two-nosed cow from the Lincoln County Fair, a graveyard walk in Wisconsin Rapids, and see the new WSUM studios!



Direct download at http://www.sunspotmusic.com/roadmania/sunspot_rm_96.m4v

New Torchwood starts tonight on BBC America!

Just wanted to send out a reminder to everyone that the new Torchwood starts tonight at 8pm on BBC America. I cheated and watched the first one (but I'm still DVRing the BBCA version) and I can tell you that it is indeed, the best Torchwood ever. It's a definite "quantum leap" in quality.

To jog your memory back a little bit, here's a video we made last year using some of our favorite scenes from Season One with the demo version of our song, "Alive Day". I was thinking of putting the new verison from Singularity on it, but we'll probably do a different video for that tune or I'll use high-quality version of the movie files for the video. I'm tempted to tinker because it was our first fan video and one of the first demos we mixed, recorded, and did everything ourselves. It's not nearly as polished as the new stuff, but it's fun to look at it now.



Plus I can't wait to see what happens in the show!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 95

Sunspot partying at The Majestic July 15th opening up for Cowboy Mouth. The song "Tell The Girl Ur Sorry" from their set is in there as well. You can view this sweet baby in HD on YouTube right here.

Wendy's DrummerCam: Wednesday 7/15/09 @ The Majestic in Madison, WI

Opening for Cowboy Mouth at the Majestic!

I'm really excited to play The Majestic tonight because this will be our first show at the club and I heard that it's a great venue (but I haven't been inside it since Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie came out and I had to spend most of my time babysitting my drunk friend, Jeff (who eventually ended up back in his dorm sitting in a recliner in the elevator telling people that he was Captain Kenda of the Starship Elevatorprise), so I can't wait to see what they've done to the place.)

The past week so far has been all right, too. First, it was really nice to get featured in the Isthmus talking about Sunspot Road Mania (if you haven't read the article about Madison podcasts yet, check it out here.), Wendy and I stayed up all night on Friday working on a new track for the Radiate Hope event on Saturday and then had a great time at the show on Saturday and I personally drank enough Capital Amber to make Doug and Bob Mackenzie cry.

If you guys haven't heard Cowboy Mouth yet, check this video out and you'll definitely want to make it to the show tonight.


Here's a fun video form some shows over the past couple of years that our friend, Sam, just put up on the web as well.


We'll have a new Road Mania up tomorrow after the party tonight, stop down so you can get it on it!

Wendy's DrummerCam: 7/11/2009 @ Radiate Hope, Capital Brewery in Middleton, WI

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 94

Sunspot on the way and back from an undisclosed location as they talk about their new CD/DVD, Singularity, and prepare for their upcoming shows.



Direct download is right here: http://www.sunspotmusic.com/roadmania/Sunspot%20Road%20Mania%20Episode%2094.m4v

Have a Great Independence Day Weekend!

We’ll be taking this weekend off, but we’ll be back with a vengeance in the Madison area next week with Radiate Hope next Saturday, opening for Cowboy Mouth at The Majestic Theatre on Wednesday, July 15th, and a live acoustic set on WSUM on Sunday, July 18th.

The 4th of July is always a great excuse to party, so take the time to enjoy it! Even if the United States doesn’t represent the ideal that you or I hope for yet, there’s still plenty to celebrate. I’m not talking about the “USA, USA, USA #1” crap that we see at the Olympics, but the fact that most of us got here because our ancestors were big losers in their homelands. There was no hope, no resources, no way up, and no chance for a better life. Our lives are the way they are (for good or bad, but mostly for good I’m hoping) because they took that risk and this place offered them an opportunity that wasn’t available anywhere else on Earth. The other cool part is that even though the government might a gigantic corrupt behemoth of bureaucracy, we have realistic avenues that can change it. Agree with his ideas or not, two years ago, no one would have thought that a dude named Barack fricking Obama would be the most powerful person on the planet (#1 - his first name is a bad guy from Mortal Kombat, #2 - his last name rhymes with you-know-who.) There’s enough idealistic people still around that if you can convince them that you’re right, you can change things, no matter what kind of person (or Clinton) you’re up against.

You can say what you want, share your crazy ideas, make stupid YouTube videos, insult public figures, blog about Ron Jeremy, and make a living in almost any kind of way you’d like. You might get crucified in the court of public opinion, but you won’t get carted away by the secret police. That’s definitely something to celebrate, so I’ll start right now, have a killer weekend and we’ll see you next week!

Grand Guignol

"Grand Guignol" is a hard rock anthem about the people who just have to make a big deal out of everything.

Le Theatre du Grand-Guignol was where Parisians used to go to get shocked. They specialized in naturalistic horror plays that were over-dramatized, ridiculous, and over the top. It now comes to mean any gruesome or gory drama or event.

We all know at least one person who loves to turn every night into drama night, and this song is for them.




You can download the MP4 of the video right here and download the MP3 and check out the lyrics right here.

SINGULARITY now available on CDbaby.com

The new album is now available for purchase online:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/sunspot5

If you already own it and have had time to listen to / watch it, please visit the link above and enter your own review.

Thanks!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 6/12/09 @ Madison Avenue, SINGULARITY Release Party!

All I can say is that you are all AMAZING!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

Tonight's the night. 7pm at Madison Avenue!

I'm just about to leave my house and head down to the club to start getting ready.

Thanks to CC Chapman for talking about Singularity in the newest Accident Hash podcast. You can listen to it right here.

Also, if you want to check out some pics of the band, our good friend, Matt Apps, posted 10 years of Sunspot pics on his blog today. Thanks, Matt!

All right, we'll see you at the club in a couple of hours. 7pm is the pre-party for the VIPs (we'll have some VIP tickets at the door as well), and doors open at 8 for just coming to the show.

Thanks to The Daily Page

For featuring "Hypnogogic" for a MadTracks profile! Just click the link to take a look at it and also please click "Recommend this article" to let them know that it's cool they did an article on us!

If you haven't had a chance to hear the song, you can listen to it and download it right here. Also, don't forget to check out the video on YouTube!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 5/30/09 at The Beach House in Du Bay, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 5/29/09 @ Rock Island Resort in Merrill, WI

This was after making a mad break indoors when the storm swept through, ended our outdoor set, and changed the show to Sunspot acoustic!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 5/23/09 @ Maybash in Rio, WI

Special thanks to Chad aka MightyCud for letting me borrow his awesome camera for this one!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 5/22/09 @ Bratfest in Madison, WI

Four days to go...

First of all, thanks to Dane101 for the nice write-up for Friday's release party.

Second of all, we have two more dress rehearsals before Friday and I'm feeling pretty good about it so far. Almost everything's in place for the party, we're just working out the kinks right now. We will take some requests for some of the songs though, so make sure you email them in. We've already got a few ideas, but we'll always welcome more.

And in other good news, in addition to Jaegermeister, Point Beer is joining the party as a alcohol sponsor for the event! So, we'll be doing some Uff-da toasts and drinking their fine beer that night. Special thanks to General Beer Distribution for helping make the party great!

Wendy has phone again!

I waited in line early this morning and got myself the new Palm Pre. So far I love it!

I'll do a more indepth review at a later time... But right now I need to catch a nap!

Just wanted to let you know that I can be reached by phone again.

Wendy's Phone is Inoperable

If you've sent me a text or called me after about 10 PM yesterday, I didn't receive the message. I'm currently without phone... So if you need to reach me, please send an email! Thanks!

Announcing: SINGULARITY!

The blog has been a little slow lately, but not for lack of activity on the Sunspot front. We've been crazy busy working on finalizing everything for the new CD/DVD... and now it's just about ready to go!

The June 12th release party is quickly approaching. If you haven't already purchased your tickets, please do so as soon as you can! We want to make sure we have enough swag bags, food, and free beer for everyone who attends.

We've got some big surprises in store, and can't wait for you to see and hear the final result!

Return of Camp Sunspot

It's a beautiful day and we're enjoying it here by Lake Du Bay. We're saving a few bucks and getting in touch with nature tonight after our show at the Beach House... Reminiscent of some of our first tours to the East Coast as well as the Burning Flipside camp-a-thon in Texas!

The van's first car wash!

Just got her an oil change and now she's all clean... And ready for more miles!

Hypnogogic

Here's the video for our latest single, "Hypnogogic", about the state between waking and dreaming. The split seconds where your dreams seem solid and appear in the real world. Full lyrics and the MP3 is available for download at http://sunspot.bandcamp.com/track/hypnogogic.

The CD and DVD are finished and off to reproduction

And I've finally got a chance to write here after the insane week that the last one was. Not that I didn't have a great time, but in order to make the ship date for the CD and DVD, we had to pull a couple of all-nighters with editing, rendering video, and mastering. But, the finished product is awesome and I'm looking forward to everyone hearing it. The last three songs are great and I think we'll release one more of the videos before the party on June 12th. I dunno, would you rather hear a heavy new song or a not so heavy new song? I think that would be the question. Feel free to email me at mike@sunspotmusic.com, Facebook, tweet me or comment here on what your pick would be and that's the last one we'll put out before the release (probably tomorrow so I can send it out with the newsletter.) The album will also have a bonus track to it that we recorded over the year, so you'll get a little more bang for your buck.

This last weekend was also one of my favorites in a long time and I completely wrecked my voice and my body over the course of it. (I spent the past two days recovering though, had a good colonic, and feel much better.) Friday's Bratfest was a ton of fun even though I spent most of the time after our performance in the van finishing up the DVD creation process (thanks to Watson for bringing me a beer and a tasty Not Brat!) And the Rockfest Jam was ridiculous (except for the guy who walked up onstage during the song with Niiko, Masino, Michael Alexander, and Jessi Lynn, grabbed my microphone and proceeded to sing like he owned the fucking place, that dude was amateur, me and him are done professionally. Did you see me go up to his microphone and trash his fucking lights? ) Then getting to see The Mighty Short Bus afterwards was sweet as well (thanks again to those guys for the ride after the show!)

KDK's reception was lovely on Saturday and her and her husband looked really happy, so it was fun to be able to share that with them and I was honored they'd want to hear our music on their day. Saturday night was Maybash with Axiom, Kill Junior, and Lords of Discipline (I felt like we were playing Jason Fucking Mraz va-jay-jay-rock compared to those guys!) I would definitely recommend Maybash next year, it reminded me of the Burning Man spinoff we used to play over Memorial Day in Austin, except more sunburns, all-terrain vehicles, terrifying fireworks, and death metal. The ending jam around the fire was great too and reminded me of the party where Uncle Tim played Weezer's Blue Album from start to finish on acoustic without missing a word! That was really an exceptional event and it makes me think of Barn Bash in Oshkosh and how truly great it is when regular people like to put on shows and festivals that aren't for profit, but just for the fuck of it. Sometimes people just want to have a good time and do it themselves, and not worry about all the bullshit that goes along with the world of bars, clubs, and festivals. I wish it was easier to do things like that.

Sunday started out great with my girlfriend finishing the marathon (for the people that congratulated me when I said I was at the finish line, nope, that was me just cheering her on!) and then ended up great with a show in La Crosse with Caroline's Spine. I haven't been as juiced to see a band in a long time as I was to see them. When that song, "Sullivan", used to come on JJO I would always turn it up and watching them at the Dane County Fair was one of my favorite memories. So, getting the chance to open for them really was an honor. And, they were great. Good band and nice guys. Three guitar killer line-up onstage, their sound was huge. When we got onstage, though, my voice was totally shot from the rockathons the days before and the lack of sleep the week while finishing up the record. By the third song, I'd found it again, but I was completely dry for the first couple. I must've sounded like the dude from Rancid.

Anyway, I just wanted to talk a little about the weekend and let everyone know how we're doing. We're back up north performing tomorrow night and we'll have the link up to purchase your release party tickets online ASAP. We're also finishing up our summer dates right now and have a couple left in July and June, is there anywhere you'd like to see us in the next couple of months? Any venue you think is perfect or would be fun? Let us know if you do, because we'll contact them and see if we can set something up.

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 5/16/09 @ R&A Stoltz's in Mosinee, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 5/15/09 @ Cruise In in Wausau, WI

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 93

Sunspot at the Madison Area Music Awards 2009, celebrating their award for Video of the Year, and discussing the release of their new CD and DVD on June 12th, 2009.



You can download the full movie file right here.

Sunspot Roadmania Playlist on YouTube

I've created a playlist with all of the video RoadMania's thus far. They're ordered according with the newest ones first... The earlier (audio only) ones are not in the playlist yet, but I'm working on that.

Enjoy!

Wii baseball

So I tried out 3 different baseball games for the wii and thank god one was free (they cost like twice as much as movies to rent). MLB 2k9 is the most realistic baseball I've ever played, but the learning curve is pretty steep to be a decent hitter.
MLB Power Pros is cute because it has little charicatures of real players, but the controls aren't as fun because you aren't actually swinging, you just push a button.
My favorite of the three is Mario Super Sluggers. It's totally a Mario game through and through complete with minigames and all the usual suspects, but the controls are pretty sweet. It's challenging enough, but easy enough to play at parties and such. Plus you can use your Mii, which seems to be a rarity in lots of games.

"Sweet Relief" Wins Video of the Year 2009

Thanks to the Madison Area Music Awards for the great time last night and congratulations to all the winners and nominees. Especially thank you to all who voted for us and showed your support, we sincerely appreciate it.

If you'd like to watch the video, here it is:



You can download the song for free right here. Full lyrics are available there as well. Here's an article on the video from 77Square. We'll be releasing the album and DVD that will feature this track next month on June 12th at Madison Avenue. We'll have full information up about the show this week, including how to get your advanced tickets.

Animalien wins with Art Paul

Damn my iPhone camera

Music teacher of the year

Clyde Stubblefield at MAMAs 2009

Song Meanings

For a long time, I really wasn't cool with the whole "explain the meaning of your song to me" thing because I thought it was an experience best left for the listener to decipher. But I don't know if it's a result of the way that we consume music now or it's the way that people don't just experience music, but you watch videos, you read reviews and learn more about the artists.

Really, is there any artist, musical or otherwise, anymore who has any sense of mystery? Don't we know almost everything about the people who are creating in this culture and doesn't that shape our appreciation of that media? Whether it's true or not, what we know about the artist will affect exactly how we react to the work. For example, "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton, we know is about the accidental death of his son, Conor. That means that when we hear the song, it taints (haha, I said taint) our imaginations while we listen. Or James Frey and his Million LIttle Pieces book. Why should it matter if it's autobiographical or not? How does that affect how we process the story? We "think" it's a true story coming into the book and then when we find out that parts are "fiction", it's us that changes, our view of the work. It's not the words in the book that have changed, it's our interpretation.

So, I used to think it was cool to let people interpret everything for themselves, thinking their own interpretation would be as interesting or more interesting than ours and that everyone's experience could be personalized. Let things retain some mystery.

But I've come to the realization, there's no mystery about us. We show ourselves on video the day after all-night parties and shows, where we look horrible, we let people decide songs for the setlist, we make videos that help with the meaning of the song, and I take my shirt off at the drop of a hat. We're already doing things that take away the "mystique" of the whole thing. And really, the concept of mystique is kinda lame anyway, it's a press stunt, from "LonelyGirl15" or "The Blair Witch Project" or "Faces of Death" to "The Bachelor" it's all about manipulating the perspective that the audience brings to take advantage of their desire for fictional excitement in a non-fiction world. Playing with fantasy is how you sell trinkets and soda. And Sunspot is not trying to create sounds and images designed to sell products (even though we would happily take sponsorships from companies and products that we do believe in!)

We're trying to fashion something meaningful from the ugly parts of our lives. To celebrate the good parts and beautify the nasty parts. These songs aren't jingles.

Anyway, so since I'm slowly going through the Bandcamp site and adding descriptions that talk about the meanings and inspirations behind our music, I was wondering if anyone had any particular tunes that they might be interested in knowing about first? What part of Sunspot do you have no clue as to what we're talking about, so that we can help explain it.

The main reason for this is to make it easier for people who are new to understand our Hokey Pokey a little better. We have a lot of songs in a bunch of different styles and it would be a lot easier for people to figure out where to start if they had some kind of expectation of the experience beforehand.

Also, when you recommend our songs to your friends who haven't heard us. What songs do you usually play for them?

Wendy's DrummerCam: 5/2/09 @ Terminal Bar in Minneapolis, MN

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 92

Here we go on the way and back from The Terminal Bar for our show on May 2nd, 2009. It's our first experiment with an HD podcast (at least the YouTube version, the downloadable version is a more reasonable resolution!)



Download it right here!

yup

It IS as beautiful out here as I remember it.