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12.5.07 check out this wicked new music video of "ghost in your mind" from one of 2007's new black lab albums, Passion Leaves a Trace. edited by Scott Chestnut, using Black Hawk Down footage. |
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** facebook & iLike, off the hook. |
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| 7.7.07 click the link above to see today's newsletter. of the hook! we are putting out a new album. why? I mean - we just put one out in january, right? it's july. why? because we can. we've been writing and recording a bunch of electronic stuff the last few years, and in honor of the transformers movie (and the lovely cover of the transformers theme we had made) we decided to put it out now. check it out. also check out the more than 300,000 views of our fake transformers trailer on youtube, featuring our cover of the theme. a whole mashup circus going on here. anyway, read the newsletter, listen to the music, buy it & support us -- now you can get it right here, right now via download: 192 mp3s or 256 aacs for only 9 bucks. rawwwwwwwwwwwwk!!!! |
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| 5.29.07 so many things to report. newsletter going out tomorrow so if you don't get it soon check the 'newsletter' link above...... meanwhile, Evan Hinthorne has won the video chop contest for Passion Leaves a Trace's 'this night.' his amazing animation combined with Andy's and my amazingly vital stage performance took the cake. check it here! also, finally got some audio from the hotel cafe show in march. this is 'remember' with Andy on piano and Kristin from cake or death on background vocals. it's kinda cool I must say. click here to hear. five other live tracks from this show were offered as downloads in the april issue of the mp3 of the month club, volume II. we're winding up our second year of the club - click here to read about it. cake or death featured on ABC's 6 Degrees, "mine again" song of the day at garageband.com, all kindsa stuff going on. it's been a big year at blacklabworld already. and it's about to get bigger (more soon...) rawk!!!!!! |
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3.24.07 |
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3.23.07 |
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3.22.07 |
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| 3.15.07 ok, only one week to go until the massively insane Bum Rush The Charts campaign initiates. 1 SONG, 1 DAY, #1 on the iTUNES CHART. that song is "mine again," off of our new album passion leaves a trace. we were chosen from thousands of podcasting bands to be the guinea pig in this major effort, supported by every major music podcast dj and highlighted in a number of mainstream publications, including the BBC, the CBC, the San Jose Mercury News, and others. by purchasing the song next thursday via the affiliate link (which will be available here as well as the bumrush home page), 5% of every purchase will go towards the Financial Aid Podcast's college scholarship fund. black lab is also throwing in half of everything we make that day, so together we should be able to make an impact. please visit www.bumrushthecharts.com and check out the circus surrounding this thing, get banners and hear some of the things people are saying. and please remember to use the affiliate link on March 22 to buy "mine again" from iTunes. what, already own "mine again"? don't really understand why you should buy it again? we understand. try this -- on March 22 use our link to GIFT "mine again" to a friend or two (or five). you'll be supporting the podcaster's effort as well as using this unique opportunity to turn people on to black lab. hope you're with us next thursday. thanks! paul  (to use banner, paste: <a href="http://bumrushthecharts.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://blacklabworld.com/blw/banners/blacklab_bumrushbanner1.jpg" /></a> |
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| 3.12.07 hey check us out, paul & andy rocking acoustic at the hotel cafe on the 7th. thanks to everyone who traveled nationally (and internationally) to be there, sorry to everyone who couldn't. we missed you. |
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| 2.14.07 so, we're having a video-shop contest. take the video of Andy and I that can be found right here, chop it up with your favorite footage, and send it back to us. we'll post stuff we like and whomever makes the best video is gonna be psyched. yeah. also, we're having a little record release party at the hotel cafe, wednesday march 7 in hollywood. Andy and I will be on hand to say hi, sign cd's, take photos, whatever. then we'll do an acoustic set around 9 and be hanging around in the outer bar afterwards. come see us. |
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| 1.17.07 the third album, passion leaves a trace, is here. it looks and sounds beautiful and I can't wait to send it to you. 12 songs of haunting modern rock (with a hidden bonus track), all for $12. |
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1.1.07
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12.25.06 |
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| 12.12.06 omg how time flies. here's some news: get your reissues of black lab's debut now for x-mas. we'll be shipping within 24 hours of all orders for the next week so get 'em while they hot. to celebrate, check out the sweet slice of the original 'time ago' video, now up in the gallery. ahhhh the nineties. speaking of videos, we've been the featured artist over at podshow.com for the last week. they're featuring our new vid for 'lonely boy,' which has been tearing up their charts. if you're not hip to the whole podcast thing you need to get hip. that's all I'm gonna say. keep your eyes peeled for the new spot promoting FX's season debut of 'the shield.' oh, and listen too... did anyone hear our song 'good' at the top of that episode of 'Numb3rs' in November? does anyone watch tv anymore? ok, take care of yourselves. |
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| 09.13.06 hi. I'm playing again next week in LA at the hotel cafe, thursday july 21 at 11 pm. probably 21 and up (sorry). Ben and Ian of the band Gomez at 9 and the band Pedestrian at 10. The Hotel Café is located at 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood. hopefully post some pics... |
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| 07.25.06 man, have I been neglecting the the news page or what? had a great show the other night. somehow in the midst of the heatwave it felt very warm and relaxed. here's a rough mp3, straight from the board, of 'sleeps' -- at the request of someone at the show (I can't remember who b/c my brain doesn't function after shows). anyway, here it is: left-click me to download. what else... oh, check out a few wicked seconds of black lab, rocking the latest techno joint called "River of Joy" in the trailer for a new teen horror movie called The Covenant. right here. the trailer is also available at apple.com AND THE SONG IS NOW AVAILABLE AT iTUNES. oh, and check this shit out: tommy lee! black lab rules. certified. |
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| 03.22.06 so, check this out. sweet little podcast called 'the little show' with scott st. john. just did a fairly extensive interview interspersed with songs, you get to hear my beautiful speaking voice thru my crappy cordless phone. to download the mp3, click here. to go to scott's website, subscribe, and/or check out the whole podcasting phenom, click here. peace out. |
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| 03.17.06 probably should have gotten this up before: cake or death, the story (straight from the newsletter. if you're not subscribed, you really should, by clicking above on 'subscribe.') |
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| cake or death
is a side project I've been working on for a couple of years. we finally
finished our record and it has just become available at blacklabworld.com.
I am completely psyched about this thing and thought I'd let you in
on the story of the band. a couple of years ago, three very close friends of mine who live up here came to me and said "hey, herr rock star, why should you get to have all the fun. we want to be in a band too." and I was like, "whoa, do you really think you can handle the intense fun quotient we're talking about here?" and they were like, "um, yeah, we think we can handle it." none of these people had been in bands before. in fact, quite frankly, none of them played any musical instruments. Joshua, who I've known for almost twenty years, had been carting this cheap Ibanez bass around for a decade but had never learned to play. Kristin could sing, fo sho', but she'd never sung into a mic before and those fourth grade piano lessons weren't exactly current. Olya grew up in Russia, without running water or rock and roll, and wanted to play drums. it seemed like something of a challenge. Olya posed a special problem because in order to play the drums, one has to do different things with each hand and each foot. kind of like driving a car except when you're driving a car your hands and feet are all doing different things which lead to the same thing: maneuvering the car down the road without killing self or others. but with the drums, all the different things are doing both the same thing (as in the horrifically difficult task of hitting things at the same time when they're hit at the same time, keeping steady tempo) and very different (right hand playing steady 8ths, right foot playing on the downbeat of 1 and the upbeat after 3). not easy. try it sometime. it's a nightmare. you start trying to play something and your brain instantly jams up like an LA freeway after a shooting. but Olya is also special in that, as a massage therapist (the best on the planet), she has tremendous control of her various limbs. AND, extra bonus, she is pissed. by which I mean, you could say, she has an anger-based personality. probably why we get along so well. of course, all good drummers are extremely angry, and all great drummers are nothing short of psychotic. dunno about her psychosis level. still sussing it out. anyway, they had this guy named Andrew (who happens to be my brother) playing guitar, so I said no problem, I'll teach you how to do this. I showed Olya the torturous drum patterns she would have to pound out for hundreds of hours in order to gain even a passing competency. I made a little chart of the notes for Joshua, showed him how to finger, and basically left him alone to figure out what to do with his right hand. Kristin stuck to the mic and tinkling with one hand on my expensive Roland keyboard. Andrew pretty much knew what he was doing, so all I had to tell him was to play fewer notes. I worked with them on learning some covers and would check in from time to time. It was cute. then Andrew had to quit. they had no guitarist, and for some reason (feeling left out no doubt) I agreed to step in. now, I have never played lead guitar before. I have always had guys who actually knew what they were doing for that. but I thought what every human thinks when offered the possibility of playing lead guitar: cool. I'm gonna get to play solos. you may or may not know my position on guitar solos. guitar solos suck. they're a wankfest. they're uncreative. only geniuses like Michael Belfer should be allowed to play guitar solos and even they should probably play a lot fewer than they do. if you must have a guitar 'instrumental' section, please do the decent thing and play a freakin melody. or just do like Kurt, and play the notes of the verse. of course, these rules all apply to OTHER people playing guitar solos. not me. special rules apply to me: since I can't really play guitar, and barely get by strumming first position chords (always the same voicings), I have infinite lease to wank away in the vague hope of coming up with something someone would want to listen to. so, guitar solos 'R us. additional rules: Olya, since she didn't know how to play drums, couldn't play fills. just the beats (which she was quite good at). this is awesome, and something I have wanted from every drummer I've ever played with. she didn't have a problem with it. she just likes hitting things. also: Joshua, who had been dreaming of laying down fat sticky grooves, was not allowed to play anything remotely resembling reggae. so, long story less-long, we learned covers, and we sucked really bad. this went on for a year. it was strange. we sucked (and I mean hard) but it was fun. like high school. then I went to LA and came back to find they were jamming. yes, jamming. it was kind of cool. I sang on top of it, told Joshua to play something different for the chorus, and it was almost, dare I say it, a song. this happened repeatedly over the course of the next year. I would go to LA, come back, and make their jams into songs. we were a lot better playing our songs than Tom Petty's songs, since you didn't really have to know how to play your instrument to play our songs. it was one of the good things about our songs. then the songs got better. Olya got better. Joshua started writing bass lines that were unlike anything else. Kristin started bringing some serious melodies with nice phrases dug into them. we worked harder and the songs got even better. at some point, I said, just for a laugh, "we should make a record." it seemed cool, right? just toss off a record on my protools rig. no pressure, just for fun. the only problem was -- the stuff had gotten really good. Fleetwood Mac harmonies called out for a late 70's sleaze production treatment. Kristin's excellent singing alongside mine demanded some decent guitar playing. the lyrics and transitions started to come together and the balance between 80's melodicism and the pomo aesthetics of right now found a nice balance. it was all too good, actually, for just a toss-off recording process, as I discovered nine weeks in, trying to make the tracks as good as the songs. I sweated blood I swear. it feels like the best combination I've ever gotten of spontaneous, no-pressure songwriting, brute-simple performances, and micro-tweak production. dry, moody, at times pissed or horny or goofy, this record brings a true taste of variety to my thing. I think this shit is tight, and the people so far who have heard it tend to agree. I have a suspicion you'll like it. so give it a listen -- click here to preview seven songs from the record. check out the forum -- post & read people's opinions about the new machine. click here to go the shop and like, buy it (remember the 'any 3 cd's for $30' deal -- we ship everywhere!). there's even a wicked photo of kidrobot's new munny figure on the cover. kidrobot.com is a company my friend paul budnitz started that sells awesome urban vinyl action figures, kind of like fine art crossed with anime crossed with hip hop culture (see the article about him in the new time magazine). anyway, he also took the band photo and wrote the meta-hilarious liner notes. he's a good guy to have around. maybe I'll start a band with him... |
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02.16.06 |
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| 01.22.06 whoa, we're #1 this week at Kingsley's Corner. not really sure what that means. go there and find out (and vote! yeah!). cool. |
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01.09.06 |
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11.23.05 |
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07.14.05 oh my god how the time goes. so, we're rocking, we're making things happening. got some new stuff going on. got digital downloads of the album now at alternative addiction for all you who need it NOW. we're on the charts over there and you can vote for "without you."got a new track or two in an upcoming movie called "lovewrecked." got the first song out to the Mp3 of the Month Club folks. got the 90 second "see the sun" video up in the images section [remember, please, our resident photographer paul budnitz made this for us on a $10 budget. we bought the camera and tape, shot it, dumped it into the computer, then returned the camera the next day. couldn't return the tape. sets courtesy of the city of hollywood, ca]. got the myspace thing up and cranking - become a friend and subscribe to my blog right here. what else... been getting wonderful emails and reviews from people who have picked up the new album. check them out. that's been very nice after all our sweat and blood. and tears. it's unbelievable people still dig this stuff as much as it seems they do, especially when sometimes it seems like total crap to us and there are always industry execs on hand ready to confirm our opinion. but your care and attention do provide a reason to get out of bed in the morning. spent a couple of weeks in LA writing songs, doing lunch (fab!), moving Andy into a new studio (pics soon), going to the beach, seeing 'batman begins' (on the IMAX), hanging out with Matt and the other cool guys in Beck's band. starting to work a little on radio, on getting the charts up, on getting the street team put together, getting a links section going, etc. etc. etc. I need two of me... well, it's late. more later. enjoy,  paul 06.12.05 hey, how goes it. welcome to blacklabworld, our latest attempt to stay in touch with all y'all. in case you don't know who we are, we are black lab, paul durham & andy ellis (et al.), the american rock band from hell, releaser of your body above me, "wash it away," and "time ago" and non-releaser of our second album, see the sun. but wait, we ARE releasing see the sun. after years with our heads buried in the sand, making music on our computers and waiting for someone to come and save us, andy and I realized that there are other cool things that can be done with computers. like making websites. so after much handwringing and bookreading, we here we are. if you've been hanging around through the agony and ecstasy (mostly agony) of the last five years, you know that we got lost in interscope's acquisition of geffen records, that I got us a new deal with epic records, and that everyone we knew and worked with at epic got let go in one horrible week at the beginning of the decline of the music business.r> our brilliant lawyer adam ritholz was able to get us out of the quicksand at sony and we went underground, convinced we could set radio and the rest of the world on fire with "see the sun," "lonely boy," and the myriad other hits on our record. alas, it was not to be. we weren't able to penetrate the big machine of the biz and have therefore stayed underground, writing and producing new music for ourselves as well as for other artists and film & television. it's all good, though. we're coming up for air with see the sun and blacklabworld.com, committing to the business as well as the artistic pursuit of independence. we realized how much fun we've been having making music without record companies breathing down our neck and asked ourselves an obvious question: why would we want to court another one? the model of the big record company is broken, and we're here to kick it when it's down. our ultimate goal is to build our audience back up to the point where we can tour again, where we can come to your town and blow the ceiling off the local club. that's what I miss most... so please check out the site. there's free downloads of the new record, or you can listen to 90 second samples of most of the album right now by clicking here. there's new photos, cool new t-shirts for sale, as well as an awesome idea we had for delivering music to you directly called the Mp3 of the Month Club. hope to see you back here a lot - there will be new stuff every week, new words and sounds and visions. let us know what you think. yours. paul |
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