THE SPINTO BAND

John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders

2012-01-28T13:05:00.003-05:00

We are honored to be performing on the February, 4th edition of John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders.

Here is a link for more info: http://citywinery.com/events/244324

If you can't make it....keep your ear tot he ground.....cause it might be on the radio in the near future.

We will be lucky enough to share the bandstand with some great artists...so it should be a fun night.

Here is the line up:

Edie Brickell

Eugene Mirman

Tom Perrotta

Punch Brothers

Josh Ritter

The Spinto Band

Haley Tanner

Sarah Vowell

Happy new year.

2012-01-09T19:24:00.002-05:00

More to come.

"Get down" with us on New Years Eve.

2011-12-29T21:19:00.005-05:00

For those of you who would like to be dancing in Philadelphia on the eve of 2012, may we suggest Johnny Brenda's.
As you can see, Nick will be dropping needles down onto grooves and perhaps you'll enjoy cutting the rug to them. Complete info HERE.

If we don't see you then, be sure to have a wonderful end of 2011. We have lots of things to show you in the new year!

A free holiday song from the Spinto Band

2011-12-18T12:15:00.008-05:00

Well, it looks like we've reached that time of year once again. When the chilling, unrelenting of onslaught Old Man Winter's steady blow pierces our skin and infects our bones. It can be a troublesome time, but not if you stop to appreciate the activities this sadist necessitates. Ultimately you shall be seeking warm fires, delicious food and good company. Perhaps even musical accompaniment? Well look no further:

This is a little recording we did two years ago and only gave out to a select group of people. Now it's available to everyone, only in exchange for an email address (BTW, we promise we will stop asking for email addresses once we've collected EVERY. SINGLE. ONE OF THEM).

Enjoy and stay warm!

The Latest in Teen Men

2011-12-12T11:00:00.002-05:00

New music video from Nick & Albert's Teen Men [featuring Jeff!]

Teen Men - René from Jubadaba on Vimeo.

The BIBA! soundtrack has arrived!

2011-12-02T11:17:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's true. Our soundtrack to the film, Biba! One Island, 879 Votes is now available for public consumption. We were combing through the archives and even added a SPECIAL BONUS EDITION which includes 4 more tracks than the original. All we ask in return from you is an email address (so we can keep you as informed on Spinto Band goings on). The Owl Mag even wrote up a very nice review here. Next step: OSCAR NOMS, YO.

To download the Biba! album for free, simply click on the "Free Download" tab on the right, or CLICK HERE.

Hope you enjoy it!

New song from a soundtrack we scored in the last few months.

2011-11-11T12:00:00.003-05:00

So while we continue to "get the artwork ready" for our new album, we have been keeping busy with a number of projects. One of them was scoring the soundtrack to Benjamin Bloodwell's film, Biba! One Island, 879 Votes. It's a wonderful documentary and you should see it if you get the chance!

If the film isn't playing anywhere near you, you can do the next best thing and listen to the music we created for it, as we will be releasing the album digitally for free in December. In the meantime, here is an sneak peek at one of the tracks!

RIGHT HERE!

Teen Men

2011-11-03T23:39:00.007-04:00

Teen Men - Fall Out A Tree from Jubadaba on Vimeo.

Over the last month I have been collaborating with filmmaker Albert Birney on a musical / visual project we are calling Teen Men.

The project was kind of birthed out of the fact that we were both coming off of really long and intense projects (The Spinto Band’s new LP "Shy Pursuit" for myself, and for Albert, his first feature film “The Beast Pageant.”) and we both needed to work on something spontaneous and make something that was more of a gut musical / visual thing than a really labored over project.

The impulsiveness and intuitive approach enabled us to produce work that is more pure and instinctual than I have made before. In the end, the experiences and skill sets we each developed during our prolonged projects allowed us to forget about the technical aspects of either the recording or filming and enabled us to present more visceral work.

We collaborated on both the musical and video aspect of Teen Men…with myself taking the lead in the studio and Albert taking the lead with the video.

The song also features Philadelphia musician Rick Flom playing piano, and Artist Catharine Maloney on vocals.

Special thanks to Gretchen Lohse for helping with the video too.

enjoy!

-nick

oh manji: the magician's secrets revealed

2011-08-24T21:06:00.004-04:00

Everyone here at the Spinto Band home office was so flattered to have our song made into a Jumanji song parody, that we just had to get to know the people behind it. Here is a nice little interview with Graham and Nat, the brains behind the video!

The Spinto Band: Who are you, and where are you from?

Graham: I am Graham and I am 28 years old. I have lived most my life in a little town called East Grinstead, which is about 30 miles from London - the only point of reference in England. It is also the World Scientology HQ. This may explain why I sit indoors making videos when I should be outside in the sunshine.

Nat: I am Nat and I live in the wonderful town of Sheffield in the north of England.

SB: What was your inspiration for an “Oh Mandy” / “Jumanji” parody?

N: Great song + great film + a bit of time to kill = Oh Manji. It started with just singing the chorus and then I thought...'I know...!'

SB: Do you do a lot of these videos? are there any other videos planned?

G: I have never edited video before in my life. However, since putting this together, I have just been constantly editing films down to 3 and a half minutes in length with instrumental versions of songs on top of them. That way, if Nat ever decides she wants to do this again, I might be able to save some time if she chances on one I've already prepared. I've got my fingers crossed for American Psycho / Man in the Mirror

N: I think this is a one off!

SB: How long did the video take?

G: The video itself took about 5-6 hours. It only took that long because
a.) FUN FACT: The word "Jumanji" is only spoken 3 times in the movie "Jumanji". This didn't give me much to work with.
b.) CONTINUITY FACT: Robin Williams actually goes to the shoe factory THEN has a shave. This made picking shots of the shoe factory quite difficult without suggesting that Robin Williams has a beard that grows back instantly. I bet he could totally do that if he wanted though.

N: Graham did the hard work here, I only spent about an hour writing the lyrics and then recording them (hence the continuity error)

SB: Do you do anything else music or video related?

N: I do (real, non-comedy) songs in my band Nat Johnson and the Figureheads: www.natjohnson.co.uk (and in my old band Monkey Swallows the Universe: www.mstu.co.uk)

SB: We have a song called "Later On" if you were to make a song parody
with it about the plot of "Star Trek II: the WRATH OF KHAN" what would
the first verse and chorus be?

G:
James Tiberius Kirk is rebuking Kirsty Alley
Her decisions killed the whole crew
Wait - it's fine. It was just a test run

So later on we meet Khan - he seems to want to know where Kirk is. KHAAAN
KHAAAN

Oh-ho-ho KHAAAAAAAN

Oh-ho-ho KHAAAAAAAN
Your mind worm's in Chekov's head
Oh-ho-ho KHAAAAAAAN
He's telling all our secrets
Oh-ho-ho KHAAAAAAAN
We'll get you in the end though

KHAAAAAN
Oh-ho-ho KHAAAAAAAN

SB: We recently became addicted to the board game Settlers of Catan.
Have you played that game? Do you know if it is as dangerous to play
as Jumanji?

G: I heard someone say it once. I think it is 34% less dangerous than Jumanji.

N: I've never heard of it but I'm pretty sure all games have an element of danger which is what makes them fun. I once lost at scrabble and the word 'loser' became magically tattooed across my face. I've since won a game and can go out in public again without a mask.

SB: What song would you use to parody Settlers of Catan?

G: I would use "Man in the Mirror". It is the only song I know. It also has the same number of syllables as "Settlers of Catan" (as long as you say "Settlers" as 2 syllables), which is the main criteria.

N: I'm not sure how you pronounce Catan (Cay - tan or Ca- Tan?) but if it's the latter I would probably try and do that 'Whatta Man, whatta mighty good man' song by Salt N Pepa/En Vogue.

SB: What is the best Robin Williams movie where he has a beard, and why?

G: Happy Feet. It's a shame you can't see it, but if you get the Blu-Ray version, you can hear it bristling in high definition audio.

N: Does he have a beard at the start of Mrs Doubtfire? I can't remember, but how about a video of Mrs Doubtfire to the song Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon?

SB: Is Robin Williams the hairiest man you've ever seen?

G: I just Googled "Hairiest Man" to properly research this. I found this: http://www.odditycentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/hypertrichosis.jpg. I don't have anything to add.

SB: If you were stuck on a desert island with Robin Williams and he died and you had to eat him what would be the first part of him you ate? Why?

G: In Dead Poets Society, he says "Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone." so I'd probably try that to see if he was right.

N: Any part of him I didn't have to shave first.

SB: Do you have anything else you would like to add? Or any special message for the eight people who read this blog?

N: Just that I saw you in Manchester a few years back and it was good, come back to the UK! Hi Spinto Band blog readers!

Oh Manji

2011-08-20T21:29:00.001-04:00

We've had a lot of wonderful things happen to us in our 10+ year career, but a musical synopsis of the movie JUMANJI parodying our song "Oh Mandy" has got to be in the top 5.

Two new songs in the back of our van.

2011-05-16T09:40:00.003-04:00

Caught by the Irish music blog Cock and Bull. (Also captured: Insulting the Irish, Nick telling a funny joke, Nick apologizing for how funny his joke was).

Kick it Mike

2011-04-12T09:20:00.002-04:00

MIKE QUINN - BIG SHIT from Mike Quinn on Vimeo.

Big Shit is the first video off one of our favorite albums of recent memory. Mike Quinn's Magico helped us get through the 14th hour of our drive back from Austin a few weeks ago and it helped us burn the bacon in our fry pan this morning. It helped us wash the snarkiness of LCD Soundsystem from our mouth even though we think the snark was ironic-snark. It helped us rethink the word "magic" and have a moment where magic isn't about wizards and potions, but about waves bouncing off the walls and into holes in your head that causes you to stop everything and start dancing.

How The Spinto Band tried to sneak into the Arthur Premiere

2011-04-07T12:02:00.003-04:00

So, in case you only read about the spinto band via RSS feed, we thought we should post this little story here as well. Hopefully you are all well and enjoying the changing of the seasons. With the exodus of winter here in Delaware, we find that not only does the weather change, but so does the quality of movies hitting the cineplex. We were surfing around Rotten Tomatoes the other day and something caught our eye. It seems as though the remake of Dudley Moore's spot on critique on socio-economic injustice is finally finished and being released this weekend. The Arthur remake stars the spicy Brit Russell Brand. We should add, his last name is quite fitting for a modern day celebrity.

Well, before we get too off topic, we wanted to let you know what caught our eye about the release of Arthur is that we hadn't heard back from the producers about our cover of Christopher Cross's Arthur Theme (Best That You Can Do). We recorded it about 6 months back, and were hoping it would be included in the horse scene of the movie.

Since it appears that they won't be using it, we might as well utilize it the best we can. Below is a new device someone has named a widget. Please enjoy:

Poetic blog or modern Mad Libs?

2011-04-01T22:55:00.005-04:00

There is someone who has been composing some very interesting HTML in the past month. This someone is either a 1) mad genius or 2) mindless bot. Regardless of the source, the results are striking. Look at it their work here (or click the image in case it's no longer there).

Not sure if you have "google alerts" for the "spinto band" such as we do, but it certainly helps with the discovery of these kind of gems. What is the thought that went into the writing / programming of this?!

Surely, only the most brilliant of poets would be capable of writing such odd but poignant verse as:

Hives have come by sacrificing that everything is considered with standard, and that this masculism told outside of supplement to buy the first-person. He's endless and has only been granted before at the cycle, spinto band.

Or perhaps it is a jumbled pile of copy-paste being created by a bot to generate "google alert" hits. But for what purpose? There are no links or hint of advertising that I can find.

I continue to look at the page with endless fascination in its deconstruction of the English language and post-modern web layout. William Burroughs and the Dadaists were known to do "cut-ups". Is this any different?

Live update from SXSW!

2011-03-20T00:59:00.001-04:00

Did we tell you we are playing South by Southwest?

2011-03-06T17:30:00.003-05:00

For our own benefit...

2011-02-23T21:59:00.005-05:00

We have a confession to make.

This month marks the anniversary of our addiction to the Super Nintendo game, Super Bomberman 2.

Yes, it has been a full year since we introduced this dangerous distraction into our lives. It seemed that whenever we got together we played a couple (or dozen) rounds of this game. It began as much-needed break from the long recording sessions, tiresome practices or grueling load-outs...but it soon grew into something it prevented us from doing those things entirely. We were not playing Bomberman anymore. It was playing us.

Just like David Hasselhoff's daughter famously filmed him drunkenly eating a Wendy's hamburger, Jeff secretly recorded footage of us during a round of Bomberman...So we could see for ourselves how this game affects us and how little control over it we have. These are the sobering results:

SXSW: Round 1

2011-02-16T21:03:00.005-05:00

this will no doubt be a true showdown, be sure to r.s.v.p. here: http://austin.noisepop.com/

"let it not be said that i could not play the game, or abide by the rules." - clair huxtable

Friends From Another (Milk) Mother

2011-02-14T08:09:00.004-05:00

This weekend The Beast Pageant made its west premiere in San Francisco. It was there that our dear friends Albert Birney and Jon Moses met up with another one of our dear friends, Jonathan Mann. To make things even crazier, Cheston Gasik showed up!

Jonathan is one of the most diligent, creative and prolific songwriters I know (he has been writing a song a day for over two years) and he was inspired to pen a number about the film. It is so thrilling to see these minds get together from afar. Some day we will all be living in a giant house together.

Something is happening.

2011-02-12T16:37:00.010-05:00

Experiment!

2011-01-27T22:36:00.004-05:00

1. Press PLAY on the top left YouTube video.

2. Count THREE "MISSISSIPPIS" and then play the next video.

3. Repeat step two until all videos are playing.

4. Enjoy

New year, new things.

2011-01-21T12:17:00.004-05:00

Happy 2011! The album is done and now we are hibernating / preparing for an international release / world tour / getting our clothing line together / negotiating promotional tie-in w/ Burger King (they are doing a makeover of the BK Kids Club Gang and basing the characters off of us!)

Ryan Cormier of the Wilmington News Journal wrote a nifty little piece about our studio. They also took some fun pictures of us pretending to play instruments (Jeff doesn't actually know how to play maraca! WHOOPS!). Read the entire thing HERE.

Also, we are playing another local show in our collective womb, MOJO MAIN in Newark, DE. We are playing with a spectacular act that you NEED TO HEAR. They are called Lost In The Trees. We're super excited. Here are the deets:

See you soon.

Happy Holidays from the Spinto Band & Friends.

2010-12-20T17:43:00.003-05:00

Yahoo! Answers

2010-12-07T22:05:00.001-05:00

Black Friday

2010-11-16T22:15:00.006-05:00

People home (home meaning within 30 miles from Newark, Delaware - Ed.) for the hoildays should surely drop by Mojo Main (formerly the East End Cafe) for a momentous event.

This is quite a traditional occasion for us, even if though it's been a while since it's happened. We first graced the stage with The Sin City Band on Black Friday almost a decade ago and attempted to make it an annual event. It was, for a while...but things got busy and venues changed management. Nonetheless, we are reuniting with the Sin City Band the day after this Thanksgiving and it's going to be really special. Please come out, drink & dance to avoid your family...(OR: come out, drink & dance to reunite with your family. - Ed.)

Related: The East End Cafe, RIP

We Ought to Autumn.

2010-10-28T07:41:00.004-04:00

We've been taking some time off, but things are about to get spicy...A cinnamon / nutmeg / pumpkin sort of spicy.

In addition to mixing of the new record, we've got a couple of things up our sleeve...The most exciting being our first show in Philadelphia in over 6 months!

...And it just happens to be with a bunch of cool bands (would we do anything else?). Yes, the ever so delightful Paper Masques are playing...but also there is a relatively new [SUPER?] group playing who will be celebrating the release of their debut EP! They are called the Daylight Savings and Loan and they are made up of some very good buddies of ours who all happen to have very good bands on their resumes: Mini Band, Portable Folk Band, Sw!ms (all of whom unfortunately require a parenthetical R.I.P). It is going to be a very fun time. We're also going to try to play more songs off of the upcoming record so that should be interesting. So remember:

November 11th at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia.

SEE YOU THERE.

Thomas on Touras

2010-09-13T00:53:00.008-04:00

Happy September!

Not really related, but fans of the Spinto Band may like to know...

Thomas is going to be going on tour this autumn under the name Carol Cleveland Sings. He's touring to support our friend Owen Evans and his new musical endeavor ROAR. Owen used to be in a really awesome band called Asleep in the Sea, which we've written about here in the past. His new EP was recorded by Nick and it's by far one of the best slices of music we've heard all year. Give a listen here or here or here.

Thomas will be backing Owen up and playing a couple of songs of his own. Possibly new Spinto Band songs? Possibly some cover songs? Most definitely a ukulele. Here's a list of dates but they are subject to change.

09/20 - Flagstaff, AZ - Mia's Lounge
09/21 - Phoenix, AZ - The Trunk Space
09/22 - Tucson, AZ - Dry River
09/24 - Lubbock, TX - TBA
09/25 - San Antonio, TX - Limelight [with Cartographers]
09/26 - Houston, TX - Super Happy Fun Land
09/27 - New Orleans, LA - Circle Bar [with Native America]
09/28 - Murfreesboro, TN - House Pride
09/29 - Athens, GA - The Go Bar
09/30 - Asheville, NC - BoBo Gallery
10/01 - Durham, NC - Duke Coffeehouse
10/02 - Charlottesville, VA - Tea Bazaar
10/06 - Philadelphia, PA - Danger! Danger! Gallery [with TRTL]
10/07 - Brooklyn, NY - Cameo Gallery [with TRTL]
10/08 - Bennington VT - TBA
10/09 - Scranton, PA - Vintage Theater [with Langor]
10/10 - State College, PA - Chronic Town [with Langor]
10/11 - Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks [with the Growlers]
10/12 - Kent, OH - TBA
10/14 - Madison, WI - The Frequency
10/15 - Omaha, NE - The Hole
10/16 - Boulder, CO - Astroland
10/17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10/19 - San Francisco, CA - The Hemlock Tavern [with Half-handed Cloud]
10/20 - Santa Barbara, CA - Biko Garage [with Half-handed Cloud]
10/21 - Los Angeles, CA - TBA
10/22 - San Diego, CA - TBA

You should come out and say hi!

Bros slimming bros

2010-08-22T10:58:00.005-04:00

Our epic tour with Miniature Tigers has reached its end, sadly. It was a wonderful experience and many good memories (and vibes) were created in the process.

One of the ongoing events were occurrences we call "Bros slimming bros" which involved a never-ending exchange of packaged beef jerky products between both bands. This little joke soon escalated into a war which culminated in this event at our last show together:

First there was Krillington Zero...

2010-08-20T21:12:00.001-04:00

Going west.

2010-07-16T22:36:00.009-04:00

About the only thing more thrilling than wrapping up the new record may be our upcoming tour with pop scientists Miniature Tigers. We've played a number of shows with these gentlemen over the years and have always dug their music, but doing an entire tour with them is just stupendous. We will be pinching ourselves every hour. Just look listen to the kind of stuff they cook up:

...Or the new single, "Gold Skull" from their awesome new album, FORTRESS (not the official video, but some beautiful, if a bit surreal live footage)

The other great thing about this tour is that it will be bringing us to places we haven't been in years (Portland? Seattle?! AKRON?!?!?!) and some places we've never been at all (Well, I guess just Sante Fe, but that's still awesome!).

Tomorrow morning we head west towards Seattle, faithfully following in the steps Lewis & Clark originally made. Come join us on this voyage in a city near you. (All links go to places you can buy tickets!)

07/21/10 - The High Dive - Seattle, WA (21+)
07/22/10 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR (21+)
07/23/10 - Hotel Utah Saloon - San Francisco, CA (21+)
07/24/10 - Spaceland - Los Angeles, CA (21+)
07/25/10 - House Of Blues - San Diego, CA (All Ages FREE show!)
07/27/10 - The Rhythm Room - Phoenix, AZ (All Ages)
07/29/10 - Kilby Court - Salt Lake City, UT (All Ages)
07/30/10 - Larimer Lounge - Denver, CO (21+)
07/31/10 - Santa Fe Brewing Company - Santa Fe, NM (All Ages)
08/02/10 - The Loft - Dallas, TX (All Ages)
08/03/10 - Stubbs Jr. Bar-B-Q - Austin, TX (All Ages)
08/05/10 - The Waiting Room - Omaha, NE (All Ages)
08/06/10 - Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN (18+)
08/07/10 - The Bottom Lounge* - Chicago, IL (FREE SHOW!)
08/08/10 - TBA
08/09/10 - TBA
08/10/10 - Pike Room @ Crofoot - Pontiac, MI (All Ages)
08/11/10 - Musica - Akron, OH (All Ages)
08/12/10 - T.T. The Bear's Place - Boston, MA (18+)
08/13/10 - The Mercury Lounge - New York, NY (21+)
08/17/10 - The Black Cat - Washington, D.C (All Ages)
08/18/10 - Sonar Club Stage - Baltimore, MD (All Ages)

* = Not with Miniature Tigers, unfortunately.

Almost...Finished...Recording...

2010-07-11T23:54:00.005-04:00

Readers of this blog may not be able tell based on the videos we've been posting, but we've ALMOST finished our new album. The recording process has been exciting, but oddly familiar to us. When the we first began creating music together (over a decade ago!) we were just kids recording in a moldy basement on a four track. Even though we recorded hundreds of songs there, we would always visit "real" recording studios to make our "real" albums. Now that we have a space of our own, we have returned to that similar, moldy basement environment.

There is time to take "sound voyages" in search of that perfect noise to use on the chorus. There is room to completely scrap an arrangement and start over without feeling we've wasted time and/money. There is freedom to take a 4 hour long siesta / BBQ in the middle of the day and then return to the studio. All of this creates a positive environment to work in which has lead to the best music we've ever made together.

Can't wait for you to hear it!

Someone's got a case of the shakes...

2010-07-06T19:14:00.003-04:00

Worst drum circle ever.

2010-06-29T08:17:00.002-04:00

For every 30 seconds, 1 is spent actually recording something.

2010-06-12T00:59:00.004-04:00

Jeff summons his inner Goron.

2010-06-06T20:01:00.002-04:00

Only half a month late...

2010-04-15T09:14:00.001-04:00

PEACE is OUT

2010-04-14T21:34:00.005-04:00

We are excited to announce that there is a new Spinto Band song circling the internet. This one is released through the fine folks at buffet libre in order to help benefit Amnesty International. The song we contributed is called Prune Twins. You can stream it on the Peace website by clicking on The North America continent, then scrolling down on the next screen. We are there in between Asobi Seksu and Port O'Brien.

Prune Twins was recorded last summer in Highlands North Carolina with some friends who go by The Beast Pageant Orchestra. All the music was recorded one night, then the lyrics came to Nick in a dream... about prune twins.

The boys describe the whole project nicely in this press release:

PEACE, a unique initiative co-produced by Buffetlibre and Amnesty International Catalunya, is finally available, including more than 180 exclusive and unreleased songs by artists from more than 50 countries. The compilation is digitally available worldwide here (http://www.buffetlibredjs.net/) and can be downloaded after making a donation to Amnesty International Catalunya. The collected money will be used for AI’s investigation and action campaigns aimed at preventing cases of Human Rights abuses around the world.

Among the 182 artists participating in this project there are acclaimed musicians and exciting new talents from countries and territories such us USA, England, France, Spain, China, Mali, Japan, Congo, Senegal, Venezuela, Cuba, Israel, Palestine, New Zealand, Tibet, Turkey or Thailand, to name only a few.

All the songs included in PEACE are available for streaming at http://www.buffetlibredjs.net/peace.html as well as information on all artists participating in the project. The full compilation, downloadable through a donation to Amnesty International Catalunya, includes all the songs in 320Kbps mp3 format.

Dance around the world. Enjoy PEACE.

Enjoy this song and please contribute to the cause and spread the word. Thanks.

Growing at the Garden Center

2010-04-05T17:17:00.001-04:00

5 Spintos 1 Crumar

2010-03-31T18:51:00.002-04:00

Boys gone wild.

2010-03-30T09:06:00.003-04:00

Photographs from our recent visit to Spain & Portugal

Tui's Play-Doc Festival

2010-03-27T17:24:00.002-04:00

Last week we were fortunate enough to do what we do in Galecia's Tui. We flew over as part of the town's amazing Play-Doc Festival.

Besides the amazing people, delicious food, and delightful friendships we found around every corner, we also managed to see some great films. Play-Doc is a festival built around documentary films. Filmmakers from all over the world flood the small Spanish town with the sorts of films that tell the best stories... true ones.

As I had not heard of these films before the festival, I figure a lot of you may not have heard of them either. So, here are the fraction of the films I was able to enjoy during the festival:

The Films of Jay Rosenblatt

Perhaps the greatest pleasure of the week were the creations of a New Yorker living in San Francisco. Jay Rosenblatt was a featured artist at the festival and I was able to catch 5 of his short films. Jay uses found footage and manipulates it to tell stories from his own life. Bullying, suicide, impending doom and the personal lives of dictators were 4 themes he took on. The fifth was a bit different. It was called 9 Lives. 9 Lives is simply footage of Jay's cat dreaming of its past lives.
Being able to see a collection of films by Jay Rosenblatt made each individual film stand out. Using found footage from old propaganda films, student instructional films and nature programs in all his work had a much lerger impact than I thought it would. He reimagines the footage to make it his own. Scenes in which Hitler is standing above the German masses would be soundtracked by a German voice actor, playing the role of Hitler, discussing what foods gave him gas. It was great. I wish I could have seen more of his work.

SweetGrass

Sweetgrass won the best feature length documentary at the festival. It documents a year in the life of a sheep farmer. The main chunk of the movie shows the crazy trip the farmer takes his sheep on so they can spend the summer grazing upon greener pastures atop a Montana mountain range. The film had long stretches in which little to no dialogue or music existed except for the sound of hundreds of sheep clopping up a mountain in a wave of wool. During a Q and A after the film, the director, Ilisa Barbash, mentioned that each shot was edited to be a bit longer than anyone could stand as it helps reflect the lifestyle of the cowboys featured. I got a kick out of that. There was also a great joke in the film that you will have to hear for yourself.

Disorder

The first film I was able to see spoke on the chaos of urbanized China. It was an effective film in that it made me fear life in an overpopulated city. It was basically the opposite of Sweetgrass. This picture was a collection of a few different documentarians showing the ridiculous difficulty of cramming millions of people atop millions of people in urbanized China. Pollution, insanity, and corruption within the police force are all shown. The most powerful scene is when a filmmaker captures an abandoned baby in a park. Many people gather and discuss what to do, but when the baby won't drink the milk they are offering, the crowd slowly dissipates until no one is left to help the baby. I had a friend living in China who had told me similar stories, so this film, unfortunately, left me being truly afraid of China.

The Marina Experiment

I wanted to briefly mention that one of Tom and Sam's favorites was the Marina Experiment. We ate a meal and had some drinks with the star and director, Marina Lutz, who was fascinating and friendly. She mentioned that the film will be up in its entirety on her website (linked above) for a few more days, so take a deep breath and see it for yourself.

Goodbye, How are you?

I just wanted to briefly touch on this film as I don't really know what it is about. I caught the final 20 minutes of it, but it was not in English. That being said, the audience laughter and the vivid cinematography make me want to track down an English version. Check out the clip on the Play-Doc site, it is beautiful.

Chryde and his takeaway shows

Finally, we need to give a shout out to Chryde and La Blogotheque. He was another featured artist at Play-Doc for the body of work that is known as Takeaway Shows. If you are unfamiliar with Chryde and his takeaway shows, you most definitely have to watch at least a dozen of them. The Spinto Band were the first band to be featured on the site, thus our invitation to Play-Doc, and ever since Chryde and V-Moon have been filming some true gems. Plus, Chryde is a great dancer and is starting work on something he calls Takeaway Chef.

There are clips of all the films up on the Play-Doc website. Upon leaving Tui, I had a new appreciation for documentary film and the love and devotion that is put into it. It exists happily in the center of art and storytelling and history.

Show Announcement

2010-03-23T16:46:00.003-04:00

Young and old alike... Come join us during a quieter kookier performance for a fun-tastic afternoon with the awesome kidrockers. This event is focused on youngsters. So if you are a youngster or look after a youngster, come on down to the world cafe in Philadelphia on April 10th at 11:30 am.

Spainwards...

2010-03-14T11:42:00.005-04:00

Well we are pretty excited to be taking a break from ~~playing nintendo~~ recording our album to perform at the 2010 pLAY-dOC Festival in Tui, Spain. It's an international documentary film festival so we hope to catch some good flicks as well. Sam's been practicing his Spanish, but he can't remember how to say "pleased to meet you" (it's "mucho gusto", by the way - Ed.) so we may be running the risk of seeming impolite.

If any readers of this blog are in the area that weekend, they should seriously stop by. I really hope that kid in the red cape and yellow crown is going to be there.

The East End Cafe, RIP

2010-03-07T17:32:00.018-05:00

Last week we said goodbye to a great part of our rock n roll childhood. Newark Delaware's East End Cafe, the first bar to ever allow the spinto band on stage, closed its doors forever. As you can read about over at Ryan's Pulp Culture, the final hurrah of the bar became quite the send off for a Main Street staple for everyone that has spent more than 8 semesters worth of time in the U of D town. We all loved those early East End days, and it all came rushing back when we spent one last night and had one last round of drinks. We were able to collect on the stage for one last photo before all mayhem broke out. When I got home that night, I wrote Scott Birney (of the Sin City Band) ... I figured I could paste in those words with some photos Tom had as our own little ode to the East End:

Hey Scott- just wanted to write as I stumble onto a computer tonite. The East End holds a great spot in my mind. I shed a few tears on the way home as I thought about those good old days. I remember getting all caught up in how high I should turn up my guitar just in case people caught me messing up...

back in the 7 man spinto band I used to struggle with another thought of whether or not to have a beer to help get rid of the butterflies in my stomach. Would the beer effect my shitty playing? probably... I better hold off.

The East End Cafe for me was an entrance to some sort of realm of adulthood. I don't know if that's an accurate statement, but it seems to speak the truth. The Spinto Band always had the East End. We played shows there before we knew how to play shows and its all thanks to you. You ushered us on stage and the whole audience knew they better not be too harsh as those were Scotto's boys on stage and that meant a lot.

We may never have stepped on stage in a bar if it weren't for the east end. After all the bars in all the lands, that statement seems preposterous, but I think its true. Everyone was perfectly content just hanging in the basement with the four track. In those early days, we had no desire to play live. But then those packed east end shows took place and all Jeff and Joe's friends were shaking their newly developed bodies all over and, upon that stage, we all became men.

I put that last sentence in as a chanelling of Albert Birney. Him and Moses always pull the "This used to be a hell of a country" Card and I think it stands true in the parking lot of the East End Cafe on closing night.

Here we are- a great monument of so much falls in newark, undoubtedly to be replaced by some sort of intolerable cement block and all I can think about is how you trusted a bunch of teenagers atop that stage and helped build our confidence in what has eventually shaped into a career. That stage is the most memorable part of everything for me being in the spinto band.

Thanks for giving us that opportunity. It really became something more than I imagined tonite. While I regret not hanging out at the east end cafe more during the last few years, I can undoubtedly say that the fondest of memories bellowed from its floorboards and resonated within its walls tonite. When I was in a time where hanging out in bars seemed like the coolest thing a dude could do, it was playing at a bar that set me straight and helped make me whatever the heck I am today.

So whether it is the era or the bar or just the whole process of growing up, I think we all owe one or two to that dingy bar.

The Pictures below were taken on the final night of the East End Cafe. March 1st 2010:

We were able to share the stage one last time with Sin City.

the marquee

the last time the spinto band took the stage at the east end cafe.

Up to our old tricks...

2010-03-04T09:08:00.002-05:00

Jeff Hobson dishes on some Tambo TRIX. A MUST SEE:

2010-02-25T22:41:00.003-05:00

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

2010-02-15T22:45:00.004-05:00

A few months ago we dropped by the ultra cool Art in the Age boutique in Philadelphia to perform some songs. Video footage of this event has just recently surfaced! Check it out here!

If you're ever in the Philadelphia area, you should check out their store. They make really neat things, such as this original liquor called ROOT. It's truly one of a kind spirit, made with a variety of wonderful spices such as birch bark, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg (amongst others). It's apparently the stuff original ROOT BEER was made of, which is exciting for beverage enthusiasts such as ourselves. It's perfect for keeping warm during the snowpocalypse.

Acoustic Filtering

2010-02-06T17:29:00.002-05:00

Father Hobson guests on the pedal steel.

2010-01-23T15:37:00.002-05:00

Done got caught!

2010-01-21T21:45:00.001-05:00

To catch a Squirrel...

2010-01-20T22:33:00.003-05:00

One weird thing leads to another...

2010-01-03T16:54:00.004-05:00

A couple years ago, we were flattered (and a little bit confounded) when DJ (or DJ's?) Them Jeans' decided to mash up Rich Boy's hit "Throw Some D's" with our song, "Oh Mandy". We were so pleased with the results that we even incorporated lyrics of the rap into the bridge of the song during live shows for a brief period of time (a Daytrotter session later immortalized this, however!).

What a strange thing it was to be providing music for Rich Boy to sing about girls having pictures of his dick "on they walls". The only thing that could have made it stranger would be a YouTube video of four dudes in animal hats dancing to said mashup.

Well, the internet is awesome:

Thomas' musical faves of 2009

2010-01-02T19:46:00.020-05:00

I don't know what it is about "year end" lists. I'm always intrigued to see what people put, but inevitably I get frustrated because of how incorrect they are. Luckily for anyone reading this, I've narrowed the year down the last year in music to the true winners.

RECORD OF THE YEAR: CRYPTACIZE - MYTHOMANIA

Cryptacize must know how to read my mind. They seem to have taken all of my favorite elements (or "tricks") in music and effortlessly seam them together. This entire record sounds like a minimalist Roy Orbison production with minor psychedelic tendencies. They have a Deerhoof-like propensity to wander around traditional song structure but without the tarnishing the integrity of a really good, if strange, pop song. The "lead" singer Nedelle has a beautiful, strong, and incredibly controlled voice. Kind of like a more subdued Neko Case? And I'm usually not into talkin' up musical instrument chops, but Chris Cohen's guitar is a delight as well...It's like the second lead singer of the band? The instrument...I mean, although Chris sings too...Maybe I'm not describing it correctly so here's a tune from the album so you can hear for yourself:

THESE RECORDS ARE REALLY GOOD AS WELL:

(From left to right, top to bottom):

Alvin Band - Mantis Preying
Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Bright
Broadcast and the Focus Group - Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Franklin Bruno - Local Currency - Solo 1992 - 1998
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Circulatory System - Signal Morning
Drug Rug - Paint The Fence Invisible
Generationals - Con Law
Half-handed Cloud - Cut Me Down and Count The Rings
Jonathan Mann - Barefoot in the Family Tree EP
Nellie Mckay - Normal as Blueberry Pie
St. Vincent - Actor
The Sw!ms - Itemlord

SONG OF THE YEAR: GENERATIONALS - WHEN THEY FIGHT THEY FIGHT

Apologies for the bootleg video. I'm not sure if I listened to any other song this year more than this one. So good.

2010 is the new 2009. Let's do it!

Fake it 'till you make it.

2009-12-19T16:12:00.002-05:00

Twofer

2009-12-16T23:27:00.003-05:00

Sammy shreds

2009-12-13T19:14:00.002-05:00

turned to paper

2009-12-11T07:19:00.005-05:00

jon's uncle robin is in town joining us for some recording for the next two weeks...along with bringing up a bunch of guitars and castanets, he also pulled up his sketch pad:

a view of some of the mic amps and slap-back echo tape recorder.

thomas channels his inner "craigermeister" and plays a bit of washboard.

jeff layin' track.

after being bit by a squirrel, nick decides to do some computing.

joe playing a little guit-box. looking good joe!

When Jeff calls in sick...

2009-12-04T17:53:00.002-05:00

We've started recording the new album...

2009-11-23T23:46:00.003-05:00

...So hopefully we'll have more updates on the process, such as this:

More to come!

"Jackhammer" music video.

2009-10-30T12:11:00.002-04:00

Created by the wonderful Phil Davis.

Dickerbocker of the Day Award

2009-10-26T12:02:00.002-04:00

One of the pleasures of touring is traveling about and being introduced to daily doses of new places and new faces. Sometimes, the new faces strike a chord and leave an imprint in our consciousness that needs a title. We have decided to title these people the Dickerbocker of the Day. The Dickerbocker of the Day excels in such talents as cutting you off on the highway, disrespecting your friends, walking away while you ask a question, or trying to steal your credit card number. Some days, it is tough to choose a winner of the Dickerbocker award, but other days, it takes some serious deliberation to narrow it down. We usually gather the selection committee in the van after the show, and as we drive to our nightly lodging, attempt to decide on the dickerbocker of the day.

For example, the Dickerbocker of the Tour (so far) goes to the Dickerbocker of the Day for last Friday (pictured below).

This dickerbocker-supreme happened to be behind a bar we stopped at with friends. We ordered some drinks from this man (shown here with a hoodied accomplice) and then ordered more drinks and sat at his bar for quite a while. During this time, it became apparent this guy was a total dickerbocker. He ignored us, and pretended to not remember who we were... He also charged us different amounts for the same drink! In the end though, he won the award for his contorted facial features and hand gestures that led us to believe he had a little baby raccoon that would squirm about whenever someone ordered a drink.

Runner up (so far) of the Dickerbocker of the Day is a guy attempting to steal a Credit Card number by offering a gift certificate from wal-mart. The committee apologizes to this man, if he called sincerely with a gift certificate, but found it hard to believe he lived in Nevada, but didn't know where Reno was when we asked.

The selection committe doesn't stop at the Dickerbocker Daily Award. They go the extra mile to award someone the prize of GOOFENBACKER OF THE DAY. Goofenbacker of the day is awarded to the person who excels in such traits as intoxicated flirtation with the waitress, actions resulting in wife or girlfriend sitting at least 40 feet away, over-competitiveness in non-competitive gaming, and an overall obliviousness to all actions. In summary, the goofenbacker of the day usually thinks, in his own head, that he is the coolerbacker of the day.

For example, the Goofenbacker of the Tour (so far) goes to a tremendous Goofenbacker. He won the award, almost sealing a lifetime achievement award in the process. It was a stranger (artistic rendering to the right) who ran away with bocker of the Day for last Thursday. Again we found ourselves in a bar, minding our business, when a neighboring patron approached us with a toast. Before any of us knew it, we were drinking to the following, "Cheers to being single, seeing double, and sleeping triple." It is important to note that Goofenbocker made this toast while sitting next to his wife and sister.That was just the start of the goof. Other amazing feats this gentleman accomplished were:

-Doing pushups in the middle of the bar
-singing Eye of The Tiger at maximum volume
-telling the waitress, "keep an eye on me! I'll be needing you a lot tonite."
-Utilizing erratic postures while attempting to dance with his wife, forcing his wife to exit the dance floor.

The list goes on from there, but the committee wants to let it be known that to win either Goofenbocker of the Day or Dickerbocker of the Day, one must portray unique traits not mentioned in this post as the most important feature of any Dickerbocker or Goofenbocker is the ability to make us laugh about them on the drive home.

We will be announcing the awards daily via our Twiiiittter feed.

Our Triumphant Return to America!

2009-10-08T22:26:00.013-04:00

In celebration of our newest release, Slim & Slender [now available in record shops and digital outlets!] we have decided to tour almost half of the U.S.A. Only half? Well, we here at the Spinto Band offices like to keep things conceptual. Since Slim & Slender is almost half of an album [in terms of quantity!] then it follows that we do almost half of a tour.

But upon reflecting we wondered, "How can we make this more than almost half a tour?". We came to a unanimous decision: recruit only the best and brightest of touring partners! Now, we've written about these greats before so some of you may already be familiar with them, but in case you're not, here's a refresher [with illustrations courtesy of Johnnie Cluney for Daytrotter]

GENERATIONALS

Earlier this year Generationals busted onto the scene with Con Law, a record of almost insurmountable pop music that has caused music makers around the globe to 1) Be inspired or 2) Give up.

PEPI GINSBERG

Pepi Ginsberg is a mysterious yet whimsical lady and her music conveys this. We were lucky enough to spend a week with her in the Highlands of North Carolina this summer and even got to be extras in a music video for her next single on her upcoming 2010 album! Her songs are musical bee-hives that leave you with memorable stings if you dare approach them.

As you can see we've got to step up our game. We'll be playing tunes from the new record, as well as some older tunes we haven't played in years, perhaps along with some fun covers? We're pretty excited about it. This'll be a "last hurrah" before we hibernate in the Garden Center this winter. So here it is, the Park The Van Family Values Tour:

OCT 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
OCT 22 - Cambridge, MA - TT The Bear's
OCT 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall [Park The Van Showcase]
OCT 24 - Washington, DC - Rock 'N Roll Hotel
OCT 25 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
OCT 27 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle Tavern
OCT 28 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
OCT 30 - New Orleans, LA - The Marginy Theatre [Park The Van 5th Anniversary Celebration]
NOV 01 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree Cafe
NOV 02 - Nashville, TN - The Basement
NOV 03 - Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
NOV 04 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's
NOV 05 - Urbana, IL - Illini Union Courtyard Cafe
NOV 06 - Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room at Crofoot
NOV 07 - Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks

Also of note: In addition to having some copies of the new 10" EP for sale, we'll be having a Spinto Band rummage sale full of old, odd, and out-of-print T-shirts for 5 bucks each! Also, you may noticed the lovely tour poster above which was designed by Strawberry Luna. We'll have a limited edition screen print for sale at all of the shows above (while supplies last!)

So please, drop by and say hi!

Oct. 1 2009 Yo! Noid goes down.

2009-10-01T17:31:00.002-04:00

For the past few months, Jon has been dedicating a few days out of the week for Yo!Noid training. Today he accomplished what everyone knew was coming:

for those of you unaware, Yo! Noid is a platform video game released in the United States for the NES by Capcom during November, 1990. It stars the Noid, the claymation mascot of Domino's Pizza in the late 80s, traipsing through fourteen different side-scrolling levels throughout various locations of New York City to battle his evil duplicate, Mr. Green, for the public good, and for the massive pizza reward[4]. The game is a modified version of an earlier Japanese release called Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru.

People weigh in on Slim & Slender

2009-09-27T09:54:00.000-04:00

The Spinto Band on the Sound of Young America LIVE!

2009-09-10T17:06:00.004-04:00

We are very pleased to announce that we will be performing on The Sound of Young America for a live taping in Philadelphia as part of the Philly Fringe Festival.

The taping occurs this Wednesday at the Adrienne Theater at 10:00 PM and costs 15 bucks. We'll be sharing the stage with some radical guests, such as the director of the Mütter Museum, talented artist / cartoonist Charles Burns and funny bunny comedian Kent Haines. We're going to be hopelessly struggling to compete with the level of awesome surrounding us...But come anyway, we're going to play a tune or two from Slim & Slender.

Buy tickets here!

New Spinto Band Release!

2009-08-23T10:37:00.007-04:00

Coming this fall we have a brand new EP entitled Slim & Slender. It is a collection of four little tunes we recorded at Nick's paper lab in Philadelphia earlier this summer. The songs were only loosely rehearsed and utilize more acoustic instruments than previous Spinto Band records. It contains a cover of one of our favorite songs, "Brazil" as well as three originals. The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Jackhammer (Slim Version)
2. Brazil
3. Keep Them Alive (Slender Version)
4. Thayer Function

The first half of this record is up now on our myspace and those of you that follow Hypemachine, "Jackhammer" is available and ready to be "loved" so please click that little heart for us!

The physical release will be in a special 10" vinyl format with artwork designed by the incredible Rachel Bone of Red Prairie Press (who also gave us the art of Moonwink). Park the Van Records will be distributing it worldwide on October 6th.

We'll be doing a small tour to this October as well, but more on that later. Back to working on the FULL LENGTH at our new GARDEN CENTER.

Lonely Europa

2009-08-22T11:43:00.004-04:00

Photos from our last tour of Europe. February through March.

Music for Listeners flipped 180 degrees...

2009-08-21T19:30:00.005-04:00

The Spinto Band has just participated in a (willing) takeover of San Antonio's finest music program, Music For Listeners. The wonderful hosts, Michael and Orlando, are putting their three hours in the hands of bands across the world and we were lucky enough to be one of them!

The show airs TONIGHT from 1:00 AM to 4:00 AM EST on KRTU (91.7 in San Antonio). If you're not in the area you can also listen directly on the internet here.

What can you expect to hear on the show? You can listen to Jon wax nostalgic on Frank Zappa's "Peaches en Regalia", take in Nick's Lomax-ian field recordings of local Philadelphia area musicians, indulge an essay and playlist by Thomas inspired by the drums of the Ronnettes' "Be My Baby" and hey, maybe even Joe will dispense some video game tips for "Yo! Noid". On the 180, anything can happen!

Once premiered our show will be archived here. Take a listen or something!

The Studio...Revealed.

2009-08-11T21:20:00.014-04:00

Friends, we give you the Garden Center.

If we were to give you a "virtual tour", we'd make your virtual-self turn 180 degrees to this sight:
This is an attempt to recreate what the world looks like to Jeff Hobson. It it also a general view of the tracking room. You may have noticed by this point (or our last studio update) that this building has horizontal lines running amongst its walls. These are what folks in the industry call "slatwall". It has many uses...Mainly:
Hanging up things on the walls like musical instruments! If you know the Spinto Band, then you know one of our biggest pet peeves is decisiveness. With new-fangled these "slatwalls", there is no commitment or consequence if you want to put something up on the wall! You can take things down or move them around as you see fit. Also, As you can probably see, we've adopted two pianosauruses from the local animal shelter. These two, Cassidy and Meadow, provide much needed 1) Security and 2) Unconditional Love within the Garden Center. Anyway, moving on...Let's visit the "Control Room".This is the room where we take control! Can anyone spot the burlap? Good. Now if you virtually turn around you'll find yourself looking at this:Yes, everybody. It's the "Chillaxin Zone". You can tell by the delicately placed acoustic guitar. It's either 1) Was just being played by someone who was chillaxin or 2) Chillaxin all by itself. Okay, enough of that...Let's go back into the tracking room!To play some video games! That's right! That white paper hanging above the television is entitled "Games beaten in the Garden Center". There are already five games on there and if that's not a sign of our [Lack of? - Ed.] productivity I don't know what is! Not sure if you can tell, but that is the Yo! Noid Nintendo game being played. I'll leave you with some wise words...taken directly from the Yo! Noid Game FAQ, written by someone who goes by the handle of simply "Psycho Penguin".

Yo! Noid has never really received the mainstream recognition it deserved in my
opinion, because it is one of my all time favorite games. Featuring lots of
innovative gameplay, the game is a fantastic side scrolling action/adventure
game that is great fun for the entire family! Overall, Yo! Noid for the NES is
one of my all time favorite games. I was also quite surprised to see that no
one wrote a guide for this great game yet, so I decided to!

under the covers

2009-07-30T08:29:00.004-04:00

hey everyone,

our RGBs (real good buds) National Eye just posted a song on their myspace page that is totally RTOE (radical to our ears). They are certainly SSR (super studio rats) and it is always EE (extremely exciting) to hear what they come up with. Uh Oh! this time the JOU (jokes on us) National Eye came up with a cover version of our song "late!" If you ask me you should GGALU (get going anf listen up) to this fresh new jawn (thing). They showed it to me AFMA (a few months ago) and it was really cool, and i can assure you it holds up and it is SCEWLTIASTNPM"U" (still cool even when listening to it after seeing the new pixar movie "up")

listen on my friends, and hopfully OEWMASDS (our ears will meet again some day soon)

link: http://www.myspace.com/nationaleye

.

...Are you ready for a Freakend?

2009-07-02T15:10:00.008-04:00

Probably the anticipated moment of the Summer happens on the [long] weekend starting July 16th, when we and our fellow battle beasts, The Sw!ms & And the Moneynotes tour and conquer the east coast. What cities will fall prey to our unstoppable musical cavalcade? Here's a HEADS UP:

July 16th - Baltimore, MD - The Talking Head
July 17th - Manhattan, NY - The Mercury Lounge with Big Bang TV!
July 18th* - Scranton, PA - The Bog
July 19th* - Jermyn, PA - Eleanor Rigby's

Since we're about to hunker down and actually start recording the next album (which should be any day now hopefully), we believe these may be our last shows on this side of the coast for quite sometime. Come out and say goodbye before we enter hibernation!

Those of you may know we play with these dudes alot, but there's a clear reason why: Because they're two of our favorite bands in the world. If you haven't familiarized yourselves with them yet, please do so now.

THE SW!MS

The Sw!ms released their phenomenal Itemlord LP a few months ago and are currently in the running for Wawa's Hoagiefest Contest. Their submission is clearly the best, but it wouldn't hurt to vote for it a couple more times! Go HERE to do so! Also, the Sw!ms singer/warrior Brian Langan designed the show poster above.

AND THE MONEYNOTES

And The Moneynotes just released their crazy-good "On The Town / On The Vine" EP on frickin RED VINYL so be sure to grab it [and pay for it] while supplies last!

* No official ATMoneynotes on these dates, but some members of the band may be playing!

Real Men...being Male

2009-06-29T16:23:00.017-04:00

The Spinto Band has long been characterized by the media with such words as "nerdy", "cute", "dandy", "diminutive", and "young". While some of those adjectives may be apt, we refuse to let such stereotypes define us. Just see for yourself how strong and manly we can be when we break out the tools and start buildin shit.As you see here, Joe is fuckin' cuttin the shit out of this piece of wood. Why? Who knows? You'll notice the garage door has to be kept open beacuse the odor of Joe's sweat, while pleasant to smell, can be toxic to people with allergies to testosterone. Sam folds his arms in the background while quietly chanting, "Cut that shit, Joe. Cut that shit."In this next image we find a confident Nick about to drill fuck a piece of 2X4. Jeff is helping, but he doesn't have to. Joe brings a tool to him while giving him a look of "Can you handle this shit?". You can't see it in this picture, but Jeff is mouthing "I can handle anything you give me, bro"Photographed here is essentially Sam's buldging biceps holding a mirror against a wall. He's lifting a it up and down effortlessly just like he does when he's bench pressing the weight of a sumo wrestler. What's the purpose of this task, you ask?Well, if you even have to ask you probably don't know a THING about acoustic reflections. Look it up and talk to us later. This photo is just to show you that Joe is simply practicing the manly tradition of putting smoke in your lungs. It's his 64th today and it's only 11:00 AM.
In this final photo we find Nick and Jeff hoisting up a 350 lb sound baffle to the ceiling with only the aid of their tape measurers. Why? Because they can. You can't see it very well, but that's Jon in the background making a list of every taxidermied animal head trophy he's slaughtered and where he plans on hanging them up.

Well, there you go! I hope next time you think of the Spinto Band you get scared just thinking about us.

On the joy of burlap...

2009-06-21T21:35:00.005-04:00

Well, it's about week two in the studio building process and we've been learning many lessons in the process. Introductory courses in plumbing, construction, and insulation have all been covered...But perhaps the most unexpected lesson was our first one: Burlap 101.

Don't ask us why or how, but we recently came into a gigantic surplus of free burlap...More burlap than you could ever dream of. Being the clever, resourceful and thrifty band that we are, we decided to put it to good use. It just so happens that the burlap turned out to be a perfect material for some of the sound baffles we were planning on making. The burlap could be used as a seal for the insulation filling the wooden frames.

How much do you think you know about burlap? On the surface it doesn't seem like the most exciting material, but we found it to be a lot more complex than it lets on.

First of all, its appearance. Burlap can house a great many items, but the previous tenants of our bags were cocoa beans. We were first awestruck by the charming simplicity of their design:

We were even more excited to find we had four different designs of cocoa bean bags. Each representing one of the four primary colors [taking into account both additive and traditional subtractive sets], or, sort of like the Super Famicom / SNES logo. And what a wonderful display of origins these bags had! From Ecuador to Indonesia to the Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast). What a cosmopolitan set of burlap! Here's some other examples from the internet demonstrating the diversity of burlap design

The next thing we discovered about burlap was how tricky it is to work with. We spent a good two days ripping burlap without proper tools such as scissors or knives and instantly felt like we were in Soviet Russia...[i.e: In Soviet Russia, you don't cut burlap...BURLAP CUTS YOU].

The final thing we learned about burlap is that it has the tendency to smell like sweaty locker room socks.

But they make for great sound baffles!

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009-06-14T21:08:00.000-04:00

We have a studio!

Sorry about the sparse postings, but over the past couple of months we've been on a quest for the perfect building for us to record our next album. For a while our journey seemed to consist of one disappointment after the other but we're happy to say we stumbled upon heaven.

Deep in the woods of Delaware, Spintonic Headquarters is slowly rising. We've got some pictures of the process [building, boasting, and burlap] for you but not quite yet.

I really hate to shove this word down your throats again, but we have a TWITTER and alot of the small pleasures [and pains] in studio-making can be more easily expressed in 140 characters.

But, psst: the best stuff is still on this weblog!

The People You'll Meet

2009-06-12T09:26:00.002-04:00

When a musician gets ready to hit the road on a tour, a lot of exciting thoughts pass through their head. They get to play their music to fans, make new fans by playing to strangers, and help, first-hand, spread their music around the world. It is an exciting part of the job.

There are other reasons to get excited for a tour though. The places you'll go and the people you'll meet are of particular interest to me. Especially when it is late at night in a peculiar town and the person you meet is totally wasted. I was lucky enough to capture two of the dozens of drunk people on a spot of video, and finally, get them online. These two meetings took place during a February/March tour in which we traveled all around Europe.

Guerilla Drive-Ins, MacGuffins, and a sample from our new EP...

2009-05-20T13:21:00.002-04:00

We've teamed up with our friends at West Chester's own Guerilla Drive-In to create their new MacGuffin message!

MacGuffin message? Well, to explain: The Guerilla Drive-In hosts "guerilla" style drive-in movies. They are "Guerilla" in the sense that they are unannounced and unpredictable except to those priveledged few who are GDI members. How do you become a GDI member? You need to FIND THE MACGUFFIN!

The MacGuffin is an AM transmitter, wired to an ex-Retropod Sony Sports Walkman, playing a continuous-loop answering machine cassette, all stuffed inside a weatherproof Pelican case. The MacGuffin broadcasts a short message on AM 1700. The message contains the secret access code you need to find out where and when Guerilla Drive-In movies will be shown.

Sounds fun to me!

Anyways, the Spinto Band has provided the background music for the current MacGuffin. It's a sample of our cover of "Brazil" that will be appearing on the next EP. In addition to that, we've also included a secret MESSAGE within a MESSAGE especially for Spinto Band fans. If you'd like to hear it, you need to go searching through the woods of West Chester, PA.

Or you could go to the Guerilla Drive-In website...

Or maybe even BoingBoing!

Regardless, the Guerilla Drive-In is an amazing institution we're happy to take be apart of...as long as it makes us all GDI members!

Spinto Band Bus Reviews: Wicker Man

2009-05-13T12:46:00.003-04:00

Back in March we found ourselves traveling around Europe on a sleeper bus. The great thing about being on this bus is that we had a fridge to keep our veggie burgers, and there was no bedtime, so we spent many a late night traveling on this bus nuking boca and sitting in the lounge and searching through the bus's hard drive filled with odd movies selected by our busdriver, Shameless Sean. I had forgotten that following some of these movies, we decided to record quick movie reviews as we are all critics, all of us, every one out there.

First up: Nicolas Cage's 2006 remake of Wicker Man. As producer and lead actor, the whole band, plus our pal Nik Minton, were intrigued to see how the Oscar winner would tackle the cult classic. The video picks up as the film ends and the credits roll:

The title frame and music balance is brought to us by the awesome editing software included in my flipcam. I think the future movie reviews will have to be edited some other way.

Spinto de Mayo

2009-05-03T18:28:00.008-04:00

Happy May Day, friends.

It's going to be a busy week in the east coast Spinto Band offices. So let's just cut straight to the chase and throw out a bunch of information in no particular order?

First of all, we are playing our [home?]town of Wilmington, Delaware this Thursday. It won't be the usual Spinto Band performance, however. The concert is in part of an all around benefit / celebration to raise money for the Delaware College of Art and Design's scholarship program. The show will be similar to our Kennett Flash show in respect that the Sin City Band will be playing as well. To top things off, Beast Pageant creator and Spinto Band visual collaborator ALBERT BIRNEY will be in attendance, showing some of his artwork. If you feel the need to donate to a good cause, come out and celebrate with us. More information her e.

Second of all, later that night Park the Van n00bz (aka recent signings) Generationals will be playing in Philadelphia that very same night at the Kung Fu Necktie. I'm informed this will be their FIRST EVER SHOW ON THE EAST COAST. Historical to the max. They are really good. You should listen to them and see them live! Plus, they're playing with Spinto Band favorites Cheers Elephant and Brian Ashby (of THE TEETH).

Third of all, we will be returning to Washington D.C this Friday opening for pop giants These United States. Our previous Washington D.C show was really one of the best of last tour. Must be all the taxation without representation.

Fourth of all, remember when YouTube was the internet site everybody was talking about? It provided information and entertainment in more than 140 characters. In fact, it had (and still has) thousands of of CHARACTERS. You know, like, entertaining people on it. It was such a big deal that they hosted their own celebratory event and invited us to perform at it! It was one of the all-time strangest events we've had the pleasure of doing and we're very proud of it. Oh yeah, here are some motionless photographs (I know, very anti-YouTube) that were taken during that lost weekend.

Recording Works in Progress

2009-04-24T12:11:00.008-04:00

In accordance with the Obama Administration's insistence on transparency, we thought you might like to take a peak at what we've been up to.

Here's Joe giving a deliberately delicate strum.Double the amps, double the fun.

Here's Sam about to give a good pounding to his tiny Casio.In the "biz", we call this "LAYIN DOWN SOME VOX"

Not sure if you know, but Jeff's brain is formatted like a drum machine. In this picture he is reprogramming his internal patterns to include a triplet of ride cymbal fills in the 3rd verse.

Sam whistling into a plastic telephone microphone.

Nick engineers, Jeff hears, and Jon covers his ears.A picture for nerds, by nerds: Instead of using a traditional headphone splitter, we have geniusly hooked up two tuning pedals in order to create a makeshift one!

A Pageant is Brewing...

2009-04-14T22:12:00.003-04:00

A few months ago, we contributed some music and instrumentation to a film entitled The Beast Pageant. It is a collaboration between the amazing minds of Jon Moses and Albert Birney. Judging by the trailer, this film looking to be a visual FEAST.

The film is still listed as "in production" on imdb, but if you donate $25, you will receive a DVD and CD soundtrack upon its completion...Not to mention your name in the credits! Now, I ask of you: HOW DOPE IS THAT?

Singing on the streets of Penn State after the bars close.

2009-04-06T22:35:00.002-04:00

Have you ever been on a college campus where 27 bars have been condensed into 5 blocks? Have you ever been on those streets once they close? Have you ever tried singing to them in hopes that their drunken judgment will be impaired enough to give you some money?

They probably won't, but it will still be fun.

We should have checked the internet...

2009-04-01T11:36:00.006-04:00

We were going to do a write up on our experience at our motel last night, but after looking at the reviews of it on Trip Advisor, we felt it could best be summed up by excerpts of other reviews:

NASTY DUMP! I checked into this motel for a week, but checked out after only one night. The room was disgusting with bugs under the bed and dirty carpet. There was no TV remote, the refridgerator didn't work, the microwave was broken and very dirty, and the staff was unhelpful. I spoke to the owner to request a refund for the portion of the week I did not use. He told me if I wanted service I should have gone to the Holiday Inn.

I have stayed in some real stink holes in my time, but this one was by far the worst! When I got to my room there was marijuana stems between the sheets and it appeared the sheets had been used by a hooker just before I arrived. I also found a used tampon in the dresser drawer.

We have a high tolerance for the occasional "mom & pop" or even a slightly "flea-bag" motel. This place was over our line, which was pretty low.

- Parked next to abandon vehicle with two flat tires
- Drunk approached us for beer, followed us in to the lobby and then we discovered he was a resident there.
- First room hadn't been cleaned. Second room was only slightly better.
- Large dog in next room barked
- Random person pounded on our door very late
- Hard core porn on the TV.

Only reason I stopped there was I had a coupon giving a reduced rate. They refused to honor it because the state fair was there that weekend. Found out later the state fair ended a few hour before we checked in.

1. Hair in bathroom shower
2. Toilet did not flush
3. No amenities (soap, shampoo)
4. Had to request towels
5. Rips in the comforter
6. Flat sheets instead of fitted sheets
7. Loud parties
8. Unrestricted PORN on channel 45
9. Newly Remodeled

Here are the reasons you should never stay there: (1) there was a horrible smell throught the building. (2) there was no clean linen in the room, just a dirty bath towel hanging over the shower door, and the blanket was in a ball on the bed _NO SHEETS< style="font-weight: bold;">when my husband called them from the room they came to the room showed him the laundry room and wanted him to make the bed. (3) no heat or airconditioner- did not work and the floor was soaking wet!!!!!!!!!!

The place was a dump! We decided not to stay and ask for a refund and the manager wouldn't refund our money. We ended up staying somewhere else, due to the unsanitary conditions and realizing they weren't going to give us a refund no matter what. We decided the money wasn't worth our safety and health to stay there. Terrible place, beware of this one!!!!

1. Pulled into what appeared to be a lobby with very undesireable people screaming profanities at each other.
2. Got to room stepping over trash and unsecured doors.
3. The bathroom floor was sticky so I kept my shoes on the entire night.
4. Porn on TV for no reason.
5. Recepticle covers were missing, and the one in the hallway was burnt like it was just recently on fire.
6. The boxspring to the bed was broken in half which made for a recliner type bed.
7. The peephole to see out of your room to the hallway was plugged up with toilet paper.
8. There were people fighting in the room next to me.
9. There was someone barfing all damn night in the other room next to me.
10. And to top it off, there were roaches in the drawers and in the doorjams...disgusting.

Recap:

I had to sleep in my clothes with the lights on to keep the roaches at bay and leave the AC on high to drown out the fighting and barfing along with the undesireables roaming the hallway. All in all I got about 1.5 hours of sleep which ruined my entire Sunday.

1) The whole hotel (including lobby and halls) reeks of stale cig smoke
2) There was garbage all over the parking lot
3) There was garbage bags and other trash floating in the pool
4) The carpeting in the hallways was peeling up
5) The room reeked of cigarette smoke even though it was non-smoking
6) The floors creaked really loudly, which kept us up all night
7) The shower was filthy (we didn't end up taking showers because we would have come out dirtier than when we got in)
8) The bedsheets on my bed were stained (Ugghh!!!) and ripped
9) The "free" breakfast consisted of a few cold english muffins and brown bananas
10) The only thing better than the price, is leaving the hotel after a horrible night of sleep

I know it's April 1st, but this is NO JOKE!

The only thing that was good about this hotel was that they were showing Scanner Cop on TV. If you haven't seen this fine film, do yourself a favor and watch this instead:

Rider Fail

2009-03-30T21:20:00.005-04:00

As fans of the Fail Blog, we often times find ourselves noting fails of our own. Such was the case the other night during an otherwise brilliant show at Denver's own Larimer Lounge. We encountered what we dubbed a Rider Fail.

If you are unfamiliar with what a rider is, check out The Smoking Gun's list of band's riders (I like the Chili Pepper's meditation room). A rider can be described as a list of junk the venue/promoter provides a band to make them more comfortable on their tour. The Spinto Band has one of these. While it is rarely filled, when it is, we get quite excited. We have items like a veggie tray w/hummus, a case of beer, case of water, and the all important chips and salsa.

We sometimes receive a smattering of these items. Denver was one of these nights, but we got a kick out of which items the promoter chose to include. Something is noticeably absent. Have you ever eaten salsa with apples? It's on the same plane as having a meditation room without an area rug or aromatherapy candles.

The blurriness here represents Tom's confusion as to how we can eat the salsa:

We consider this a Rider Fail, but perhaps one could consider it a Bartender Win. The bartender needed some salsa for his NCAA basketball party the following day so he decided to charge it to the show budget while conveniently forgetting to bring any tortilla chips. Either way we had a good laugh about it and left the salsa, untapped, atop the counter. We prefer it Spicy anyway.

Ocarina of Rhyme

2009-03-27T12:47:00.002-04:00

If you haven't heard of Team Teamwork's Ocarina of Rhyme yet, I thought I would post this link here for everyone to download.

We have been rocking out to it in the van. It's pretty fun for all of us Zelda fans.

Lost Woods - Clipse

Hyrule Market-Common

The Owl - JayZ

TOURannosaurus Rex

2009-03-23T01:10:00.004-04:00

Southbysouthwest was funzo, but now it's doneso. The real action is just about to begin:

The SPINTO BAND North American Tour 2009!

03.23 - Tuscon, AZ - Club Congress * #
03.24 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland ^ #
03.25 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill #
03.27 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court #
03.28 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge #
03.29 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown #
03.30 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Saloon #
03.31 - St. Louis, MO - The Billiken Club (St Louis University) %
04.01 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's %
04.02 - Newport, KY - Southgate House (Parlour) %
04.04 - Sate College, PA - Bar Bleu
04.05 - Brooklyn, NY - The Bell House %

We're particularly excited about the dates from Salt Lake City to St. Louis as we missed those cities the on our last tour.

But that's not all. We've got a couple of local shows in celebration of our 10th (yes, 10th) anniversary of playing our first show, a high school battle of bands. We came in second that time. Let's hope we get enough votes this time around!

4.10 - West Chester, PA - The Note
4.24 - Kennett Square, PA - The Kennett Flash **

We will be sharing the stage with tons of awesome groups, noted above by the following symbols:

* = Golden Boots
^ = Light FM
# = Maps & Atlases
% = The Rural Alberta Advantage
** = The Sin City Band

Come out and see us for possibly the last time in a while!

More South by Southwest Infotainment

2009-03-14T12:28:00.005-04:00

Not sure how many of you guys have your minds on Austin right now, but we certainly do. I mean, just look at this poster!

Some of the finest music in America will be heard in Room 710 that Saturday night, courtesy of Park the Van Records!

Also, here's a little infocard about our shows you can look at, print out, and use to write on the back when and where the Vivian Girls are playing:

The Spinto Band's Guide to FREE STUFF at SXSW.

2009-03-07T19:27:00.003-05:00

What is SXSW? It means "South by Southwest". What is "South by Southwest"? It's Italian for a bunch of free stuff. We've been around the block enough times to give you the INSIDE scoop on where to get it.

Observe:

The Spinto Band gets Songsmithed!

2009-03-04T17:37:00.003-05:00

A new sensation is taking over the nation. It is Microsoft Songsmith! If you're one of the few netizens not familiar with the program, you should watch this video NOW:

Basically, it's a program where you sing into it and it creates a backing music track based upon what you're singing. We decided to put some a capella Moonwink tracks into it to see what would happen. Here are the results of our first two UK Singles:

1. Summer Grof, as if done by the MIDI Eagles
2. Vivian Don't, as if done by the Casio Reggae All-Stars

Enjoy!

Songsmithed

The Walk of Fame in Rotterdam

2009-03-02T10:13:00.022-05:00

Well, today we had some free time in the beautiful city of Rotterdam and decided to do a little exploring. We saw some [closed] museums, coffee shops, and even some bicycles. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the day was when we stumbled upon the Rotterdam Walk of Fame, an institution we had no prior knowledge of. Keeping in similar fashion to the fame walk found in Hollywood, the Rotterdam Walk of Fame has its stars place their hands in the cement, forever marking their presence and influence within the sidewalk. There must have been hundreds of handprints. We braced ourselves and began walking.

One of the first markings that really took our breath away was this one from Ray Charles. What a graceful signature he had! We matched hands with his imprint and recounted all of the amazing music he made with it.

A few paces later we found ourselves looking at the cast of the man in black, Johnny Cash. Another hero of ours. Once again we were humbled to be looking up such hands of such a timeless icon. We collected ourselves and moved forward.

Within a few more footsteps we were greeted with the prints of one of the most influential men in American Blues, B.B King. It was quite awe-inspiring to be so close to the hands that were responsible for so much of popular music today. We took a moment of silence and then proceeded along. What legend would we stumble upon next?

OH OF COURSE!! IT'S SHREK!

After feeling a bit dismayed, we spoke with the manager at the Rotterdam Walk of Fame and were lucky enough to take a peek at the the advanced list of what legendary icons will be receiving spaces at the 2009 unveiling. Here they are:

Pikachu

Mr. Floppy from Unhappily Ever After

The Aflac Duck

Carlos Mencia

Big Mouth Billy Bass

Sam Hughes Reviews: X-TREME Edition

2009-02-27T13:18:00.002-05:00

A very exciting day at the Spintonic Offices indeed! We're pleased to announce that our "Sam Hughes Reviews" segments have been picked up to air on MTV2 Europe. It's for a new program entitled "Life from the Motorway" which focuses on different touring bands dispelling their thoughts on life, travel, and food. Sam was a perfect fit but they have asked him to review something a little different than the usual beverage this time. In conjunction with Walker Potato Crisps promotional "Do us a flavour: Pick a winner!" contest, Sam has chosen the "Fish and Chips" entry.

We had do make some comprimises on the editing / music selection process, but so it goes...

Dia De Los Muertos

2009-02-18T23:16:00.007-05:00

Do you ever wish you could abandon your east coast anchors and just....live it up in San Francisco?

Don't we all?

Well, then fortunately for all of us, the musical website Pandora has just launched its new website, "VirtuSF". The site allows you to experience the exciting, multicultural San Francisco lifestyle without having to leave your home (and without having to pay the RENT).

Even more fortunately for some (and unfortunately for most - Ed.) the site is in EXTREME Beta testing and only allows you to experience San Francisco on November 1st, 2008 from the inside of the Bottom of the Hill between the hours of 16:00 to 24:00 PDT.

Limited, I know, but the Pandora crew has been able to document four songs from a Spinto Band concert held during that time, and most importantly:

It has been able to document Jon Eaton's dedication to the Latin American holiday, Dia De Los Muertos.

See for yourself.

Sam Hughes Reviews: The Bearable Lightness of Energy Drinks

2009-02-12T08:20:00.001-05:00

Modern Rock Band covers "Oh Mandy"?

2009-02-08T18:26:00.007-05:00

This is pretty crazy. A friend of mine just sent me this article:

Krillington Zero? While that may not exactly role off your tongue, I would suggest you keep practicing because it won't be long before this band achieves household name status. Hailing from just outside of Akron, Ohio, this five-piece displays a wealth of talent on their debut album, Zero to Infinity which features an original blend of hard rock, metal, and even rap. Most surprisingly, though, is the choice of their lead-off single, "Oh Mandy" which is actually a cover of song by an obscure "indie" group, the Spinto Band. But even calling it a "cover" is a bit of a stretch considering how Krillington Zero transforms what was once off-key hipster garble into a powerful, yet emotional musical statement. "We wanted a record that would communicate with everyone, not just one group of people or another," says lead singer Matt Fantegrossi. "We're saying what we feel in a simple way with the hope that if you're a human being with a heart that's beating, you will appreciate at least some part of this record". If you share Fantegrossi's sentiment, be sure to catch them on the road opening for Staind on a national tour spring. Their already infamous stage show manages to turn up both the excitement AND volume. - Alternative Press

I found the track, too if anyone is curious:

A pump in a bump affair...

2009-02-05T17:07:00.003-05:00

The B - U - M - P.

'nuff said.

The barren west.

2009-02-03T21:48:00.006-05:00

New photographs of our travels on the last United States tour.

Getting back to work...

2009-01-28T16:40:00.004-05:00

The holidays are OVER, friends. It is time to get back into the swing of things. Return to the daily grind. Come back to where you left off in the rat race. Rally 'round da family. Polish off the last cat in the bag.

We're kicking off the 9-to-5 at Drexel University, a school which the Princeton Review ranked #4 in their list of "hardest working students", appropriately enough*. After that, we will pack our bags for what the press is already calling our "European Tour". France, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. No country is out of bounds**

02.06 - Philadelphia, US - Drexel University
02.21 - Aberdeen, GB - The Tunnels
02.22 - Edinburgh, GB - Cabaret Voltaire
02.23 - Manchester, GB - Night & Day
02.24 - London, GB - Dingwalls
02.26 - High Wycombe, GB - Bucks Uni
02.27 - Southampton, GB - Joiners
02.28 - Paris, FR- Point Ephemere
03.01 - Rotterdam, NL - Rotown
03.03 - Hamburg, DE - Headcrash
03.04 - Berlin, DE- Magnet
03.05 - Cologne, DE - Gebaude 9
03.06 - Rorschach, CH - Mariaberg
03.07 - Blogna, IT - Covo Club
03.09 - Madrid, ES - Moby Dick
03.10 - Barcelona, ES - Razzmatazz 3

*Ranking from 1973
**With the exception of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czhech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Polland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine

A Tee or two? Come visit the Spinto Band Web Store

2009-01-20T18:29:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, click on over to the new spinto band web store and pick up hard to find teeshirts and music. We ship all over the world and every time we ship to a new location we put a little red pushpin in a big map. Don't worry, we have plenty of pushpins.

The Spinto Band on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace

A set from Maine

2009-01-17T17:36:00.002-05:00

Last December, we played our first show in the state of Maine. The fine folks at the Space Gallery let us perform. It was a special show as we were able to perform with our mentor and father, Steve Hobson, on six stringed guitar. A friend was kind enough to record the performance, which we then posted on our imeem page as well as right here:

Live at the Space Gallery

Greek Salad Prank!

2009-01-08T20:39:00.002-05:00

Ah, the classic Greek Salad Prank. Simple in writing, but difficult in practice. For those not familiar with this gem, it is simply the act of delivering as many greek salads as possible to a victim while they are performing another (preferably important) activity. When done correctly, the victim should be left feeling debased and humiliated. Like that aristocrats joke, this prank has long been passed down through decades of the entertainment industry. For those of you unaware, here's a brief history of this staple of comedic tradition:

1947 - Devised by Preston Sturges and Howard Hughes during a late night of drinking.

1953 - Performed on President Eisenhower during his Inauguration speech

2008 - Perfected by the Spinto Band on the Oxford Collapse.

Enjoy: