We hope to cap off another year with you at The Note on Tuesday, Dec. 26th (our last full set for a while) and/or at Empty Bottle on Thursday, Dec. 28th (to play a couple Big Star covers for the Alex Chilton Birthday Bash). In case you miss both of these not-to-be-missed events (; perhaps you can catch us in March-July '007 somewheres.
Speaking of '07, what will happen for/to us? In our private world of friends and fellow musicians, we consider our first album "The Monster Within" a very decent one. Yet, zooming out of our own scene, we're still trying to figure out if the record is stillborn or still born. Such is the lot of many a fledgling indie band. We deeply thank you folks who own the record or sang or will sing its praises, or played it to others or invited us to perform its tunes to others, or saw us or captured us live. You all gave the album, and our band, life. "Monster" could have been more fussed over in the studio (esp. on vocals), but we think it was a worthwhile exercise. If a re-release or an unexpected champion-on-roids gives it stronger wings, great - either way we'll keep on supporting our ole freeloading basement "Monster," but we're still of the mind to release fresh material in '07, as soon as we can pump some more gas into this jalopy. Some songs seemingly worth a shot are 1) Parade Rest, 2) This Gift, 3) Bitchin', 4) Heavy Into You, 5) Common Bond, 6) Have It Out With Me, 7) Masters of the Universe, 8) Forever Be True, 9) Gimme Some Love, 10) Her Signs Are, 11) Amazingly Crazy, 12) Simon, You're Wasting Your Time, as well as some neglected oldies-but-goodies like Treehouse (Phenomenal Cat), Vicious Circle (Mant), Sane December (Mant), etc. We'd love your opinion on that score, but it's more likely this list means nothing to you -- we'll have to post some rough mixes on MySpace soon. Let there be action.
Have a great Christmastime and 2007, dear reader. Hope to see you soon!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
Nice Peter vs. 50 Cent
Nice Peter's YouTube video for "50 Cent is a *****" is now approaching 100,000 plays fueled by recent AllHipHop.com coverage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1eQKjya0VQ. As you may know, the lovely lady behind the kit lent us her drumming talents last year while on break from Nice Peter. We wish Pete and Kristen every success -- they worked their tails off for it!
Thursday, December 7, 2006
A.N. Pritzker gig postponed
A school-wide assembly (remember those?) forced A.N. Pritzker Elementary School to postpone our Dec. 15th kindergarten gig to early next year. We'll let you know when we find out the new date.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Archived Website News up to 11/29/06
(((((NEWS/BLOG)))))
11/08/06 Sorry for the lack of updates. You can see from the clusterf*ck our past shows list has become that this website has been a bit glitchy. Well, the friendly powerfulpopsters Daemon Familiar have come through again with a gig for us, this time at Elbo Room tonight. Thanks in advance if you're able to make it. Since our last update, work demands have eclipsed our efforts to craft the next album. For the present time it's been a slow burn of perusing "Home Recording for Dummies" and brainstorming priorities in view of the latest (and seemingly most-stable-to-date) lineup of Candy/Derek/Joe/Tris. Fortunately, exuberant multi-instrumentalist David Bravos has expressed interest in lending his talents to the next project. We hope the next disc will prove to be a noteworthy excursion. We have no illusions, but we can quit day jobs with the best of 'em! Candy & Tris' Metapuffs are buying a van despite their album not yet being in the can. That's confidence! They're still frustrated with the mix, but it'll be nice collection of classic rock tunes! Finally, we have a kindergarten classroom show coming up. More details on that later.
9/20/06 Thanks if you made it to this past weekend's Heroes Helping Legends benefit, which was a huge success. Special thanks to the organizers and to Daemon Familiar for involving us, and also to host Mercury Cafe for putting up with the loud musics from us and our esteemed billmates. We plan to pull away from live performance for awhile to focus on recording, retooling this website (and possibly doing a lo-fi Youtube video?). Also, Tris and Candy gotta get that Metapuffs album done already! See ya.
9/8/06 Thax a lot if you made it out to one of our gigs this week! At the Thax thing...Some equipment failures (and unexpectedly opening) dragged us down a bit, but quite a few songs still went well, and the rest of the evening with Rich X, Joe Roarty (Fool Moon) and Detholz! was golden! The Beat Kitchen last night went greatly... solid entertainment DELIVERED by Brando, The Lavellas, and Unlucky Atlas made the evening complete. Soft as Fuck DJs are sorry their own equipment problems derailed their set... be sure to catch them soon for some "slow dancin,' swayin' to the music." Finally, thanks to Neptali/Housecall and Beat Kitchen for their hospitality. See you soon, we hope.
8/10/06 We recently discovered some friendly coverage of our "Monster Within" album at Evil Sponge. A six sponge rating is quite an honor - hit our "Press" tab for the link! (One fine day, we're going to revamp this clunker of a website so you can link directly to stuff like this.)
8/6/06 Thanks a bunch if you caught us at Cal's last night. Thanks too to our superb billmates Brother and Sister, Shopping, and Tris and Candy's Metapuffs, and finally to Mike for setting it all up. See you soon!
8/4/06 The show described below will go on at the almighty Big Horse Lounge! (Thanks Elle!) We're expected to finish up our part of the evening before other bands start doin' their thing at 10:20 PM, so be sure to arrive early (8-8:30) to catch all the action. Cover is $3.
8/3/06 My solo show (as "Brother Derek") @ Pontiac w/ Adam Faucett, Royce Petersen, is cancelled. I can't see for the tears in my eyes. Please check back soon, as we're working on an alternative date/venue. -Derek
6/26/06 Thanks if you made it to the Darkroom benefit yesterday, helping raise over $1,000 for the late Anthony Salazar's family. It's tough to get out of the house on a Sunday evening, but those who did were treated to a lot of super performances and a raffle with great prizes. Thanks to Arunas/Darkroom and the Chicago Co-Labbers (and Julie, Megan/Chi*Town Sirens & MC Jeremy) for staging or supporting the event. A fitting tribute to a complete musician.
6/18/06 The show at DePaul's air-conditioned McGaw Hall was a fun one. Newcomer Tris proved to be a quick study, and things felt pleasantly ramshackle. The many other bands we checked out cranked out some hot sounds. Thanks if you came out and supported both us and the good cause behind the whole thing. Special thanks to Brandon Wetherbee for setting up the event.
6/14/06 Idiocy prevailed when I published our entire email list to everyone who received our most recent email. Sorry -- Joe has been commissioned to bitchslap me if I ever let that happen again! -D
6/12/06 Just learned that a demo of one of our songs is on the soundtrack of a documentary on Thax Douglas. As fans of Thax, we think that's neato. Unfortunately, we don't know if or when the documentary will be released for public (or our) consumption. Check back for updates!
5/16/06 Our little world will morph on June 9th when our lead guitarist and bassist extraordinaire Johnny Action leaves Chicago for New York to get situated for law school in the fall. We wish him the best and thank him for his energy and talents. Our overeducated frontman knows from experience that the first year of law school demands significant time away from the rock. Unfortunately, our recent, procrastinated scramble for a nice gig to give Johnny a proper sendoff has yielded nada. We take comfort in the concept of rocking a venue with him in New York in the fall. Hopefully that will happen. As far as this summer, we're about to start jamming with Mr. Tris Lucas (frontman and guitarist of Candy Lane's impressive main band Lost Monkey, n/k/a Metapuffs) in the interest of fortifying the lineup for our upcoming charity gigs. Hope to see you soon. Peace out.
4/22/06 A big thanks to those who made it to our little pajama party at Viaduct last night. With our frontman ailing and our poor drummer home sick, your show of support meant that much more. Thanks also to Matt and Steve of Last Alley and to Frank for making the evening happen. Thanks too to MiLkBabY for inviting us to join the bill (and for putting on such an excellent set) and to openers Frequency Below for their satisfyingly trip-hoppy numbers. And finally, here's to good health, we certainly appreciate it!
4/8/06 We've reconfigured this site a bit, creating a press page (and deleting press stuff from this column) and temporarily expanding our FREE MP3 offerings to six songs (the first half of "The Monster Within"). See the "Sounds, etc." tab for the free MP3s. Later!
4/5/6 If you saw us last night at the cavernous Double Door, THANKS! Thanks too to Simon, Jesse, Seth & Co. at Double Door for their support. Our pals Canteen were predictably fabulous. We also enjoyed Roma Saddam's atmospheric rock and Butterfat Trio's jazzy sounds.
3/16/06 A quick thanks to Canteen for inviting us to join their bill for our first-ever performance on Double Door's grand stage on Tuesday, April 4th. If you're on our email list you'll soon receive our flier or comp-pass image enabling your FREE ENTRY. Please note that whatever we send out will be enough to get in for free as long as the thing's legible: They're not sticklers about accepting only original Ticketmaster-issued comp tickets with fancy bar codes. Hell, you could probably design your own flier and get in free yourself. Another thing - on the day of the show, we plan to make a stack of fliers or tix available at Reckless Records down the street. Hope you can make it! As it stands, Canteen and Recent Photo will play early.
3/13/06 Thanks to all who braved the sheets of rain, as opposed to ides of March, to come see us last night. As expected, guests Johnny Action and Candy Lane delivered quite nicely. Thanks too to Empty Bottle - to Sean who handled the complicated sound design, Bill the lights, Cara for her hospitality, and Pete for setting it all up. We also thank The Its! and Field Music for their rocktastic sets. We're rooting for Field Music to kill 'em at SXSW - they wowed us despite horrendous jet lag! In case you're curious what songs we played, we just updated the set list page. See you next time, I hope!
2/6/06 Kristen will be on tour in England with fun rock 'n roll humorist Nice Peter through most of March, so thankfully Candy Lane (of Lost Monkey) will cover us on drums for our highly-anticipated March 12th show with Field Music & the Its! at Empty Bottle. We expect Johnny "Rocket" Action to make another appearance with us as well, adding to the "big bottom." Our sometime-vocalist Emma recently moved away to Detroit, but may arrange a return visit with her peeps here in Chicago to enable an appearance at this gig. Meanwhile, for shites and giggles, check out Derek's old "band" Food at www.myspace.com/food1985.
1/3/06 DeKalb gig cancelled! We'll have an opportunity to make it up to you DeKalb-ers soon, I hope.
1/1/06 Happy New Year! Please join us in toasting to 2006! Thanks to anyone and everyone who helped us in 2005 by booking us at your club, attending a show, playing in our band (obvious but important), buying our music, photographing us, recommending us to a friend or fellow music lover, or by simply enjoying our music. Also, those mentioned in our album credits - thanks again. Some milestones. A debut full-length album emerged. Our first EP was released as a FreeMusic CD. We debuted at Empty Bottle, Darkroom, Bottom Lounge, Subterranean, and Bar Vertigo. "Too Odd" was selected for NPR's online open mic. Let's see if we can build on this in the coming year. Peace out, enjoy the pork.
12/29/05 If you came to our Mutiny show last night, THANKS! Special thanks to those who weathered the glitch-riddled first part of our set: the dance cluster that formed after Kristen took over the drumkit was a most gratifying thing to see through the beer goggles. We also thank Ed & Rhonda and everyone at Mutiny, Joe Roarty, DJ Thom Nykiel and lastly but not leastly Canteen for entrusting us with their fun debut performance.
12/12/05 Unable to catch our recent radio show on WHPK? Well, a live recording of one of the songs we performed - "Common Mind" - is now streaming on our MySpace site, along with the three other "middle" album tracks from the Monster Within CD.
12/9/05 Thanks to the hard-core folks who made it out to Hotti Biscotti last night. Even we had trouble getting there thanks to the snowstorm - and it was our show! Thanks also to Rich X and DJ Thom Nykiel for their solid sets.
In this season of giving, we're doling out the free shows -- the next is a live radio show tonight at 9PM (WHPK - 88.5) and the following will be at the Mutiny on Wed. Dec. 28th. At the latter show, free Glome EPs will be offered, so grab one while supplies last! (Only one per person, please).
12/4/05 Thanks to all who attended the Bar Vertigo show last Friday. We'll be setting up a compensation fund for those blinded by our gold lame. Appearances by Kristen (on drums) and Emma Grace (on vocals) helped us immensely, so we thank them. Impressive sets by Sally and Dan Wallace rounded out a delightful evening. Those denied a free EP because a snapped cable confined my car - and our merch - in my garage that evening, can contact me to get one, or pick one up at one of our upcoming shows.
11/11/05 Our dearly departed drummer Brad and his girlfriend Kimberly formed a new pop groop called Canteen. Check it out at www.myspace.com/canteen. Psychedelic dream-pop at its finest!
11/8/05 Hey digital purists! We just noticed that our "Monster Within" release is now available in the Apple iTunes store.
10/17/05 We're pleased to announce our selection for this week's NPR "All Songs Considered" online Open Mic program - Stage 105. The song they chose, the decidedly Beatlesque "Too Odd to be a Star," will be presented on NPR's website (along with about a half a dozen songs by other artists) starting Wednesday, October 19th. The link is http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/openmic/index.php?episode=105. Check it out!
10/04/05 Halloween is fast approaching, so we decided to offer two of the scariest/gloomiest cuts from our new album as FREE DOWNLOADS off of our Myspace.com site. This is a limited-time offer, so act fast, and tell your friends! www.myspace.com/recentphoto.
9/26/05 Thanks if you came out to our Sub-T show last night (instead of watching the season premiere of "Desperate Housewives"). Special thanks to Emma Grace Ketner for her fabulous vocal contributions and to Russen Guggemos for his swashbuckling cello debut with us. Props as well to Nyco and The Charms for their fun-tastic sets.
9/21/05 New photos up. Some grainy Darkroom footage with a Roxy Music vibe.
9/2/05 Thanks to those who came to Empty Bottle for a fun time last night. Special props to Kristen Regester for doing such a great job on drums (on such short notice), and to guest vocalist Emma Grace Ketner who was quite on the mark with "Criminal Boy." Thanks as well to billmates Jester the Filipino Fist and Grand Buffet for their great sets.
8/24/05 We're getting a spin on WLUW 's Radio One program this Thursday (tomorrow) in the early evening. It's one of Chicago's finest weekly broadcasts of local music, so tune in to be relentlessly pummeled with great tunes! Thanks to Eric of Radio One.
8/22/05 Well, it's final. Brad has gracefully bowed out of competition, so to speak, which creates a potential opening as a drummer with our band. He or she will have big shoes to fill. Fortunately, we feel we can deliver the goods at the Empty Bottle on September 1st, having successfully beta-tested a drummerless set at the Landmark earlier this summer. But do not despair if you're in need of a dose of skins 'n tins, as we've planned to have a fabulous drummer play part of our Bottle gig to spice things up. Who knows what'll happen? Stay tuned...
7/30/05 Thanks to those of you who came out for the Darkroom show! Special thanks also to the Modernist Society, Darkroom's Arunas, Thax and DJs John Dugan, Jason Mojica, and Ben of Civilized Age for helping create what Arunas predicted would be a "smashing evening." It's a shame Civilized Age couldn't perform, but Ben made everything right again with a dope set of what seemed to be some grossly underappreciated Motown gems and out-and-out buttshakers. DJs John Dugan and Jason Mojica also dished out splendid warm-up sets. Finally, Derek says "thanks for all the birthday shots."
7/14/05 "The Monster Within" is now also available at Tower.com and Tower.co.uk.
7/13/05 "The Monster Within" is now available at www.cdbaby.com/recentphoto for only $9.99 plus postage. If you've already heard the record, please feel free to visit that site to write a review. Although the CD just came out, we band "insiders" have been around it so long now that we've grown a bit numb to it, so your fresh perspectives would be appreciated!
6/24/05 On Sunday, June 26th at 7:30PM, tune in to WXRT 93.1 FM (Chicago) to catch us on their Local Anesthetic program hosted by Richard Milne. Thanks to Richard for the airplay!
6/23/05 Immense thanks to those who came out to and/or helped us out at our Bottom Lounge release show last night. Special thanks also to Brian Peterson of MPShows for the opportunity, and to Thax who introduced us with "Recent Photo #2," a superb poem appearing elsewhere on this site. We are setting up distribution of "The Monster Within" CD on CDBaby.com (and their download partners iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.) and it's also currently available at Reckless Records, Laurie's Planet of Sound, and Hard Boiled in Chicago. Thankfully, Brad now seems open to playing with us again in the future, so if you missed the show, you may well get to see Brad behind the kit before too long!
5/26/05 GOOD NEWS: Brad returns to play drums with us FOR THE LAST TIME at our Record Release show at Bottom Lounge on June 22nd. If you've seen us before with Brad in the lineup, you'd know that this is a show to see!!
5/6/05 We're finally starting to set up shop at MySpace.com: Come visit!
Check me out!
5/4/05 We have not yet released "The Monster Within," but have nonetheless decided, for a limited time, to confound global markets by making it available at a few beloved Chicago record stores, starting with HARD BOILED at Damen & Roscoe and RECKLESS RECORDS just SE of Milwaukee/North/Damen. If you're so inclined, please don't hesitate to pick up a copy - we'll do our darndest to keep it continually in stock. Reckless Records is an established Wicker Park brand, but you may not have heard of Hard Boiled - a nice, compact Roscoe Village store. Last time I was there, they were jamming some good early '70's Korean psych rock.
5/3/05 Tough news. Brad quit to focus more squarely on his own musical projects (i.e., projects he did not feel comfortable pursuing in the context of Recent Photo). Until we line up his replacement, we'll forge ahead with Mr. Seeburg, our fake drummist in the form of a 1968 "Select-a-Rhythm" beatbox. Brad should be applauded for his massive contributions to Recent Photo both on stage and in the studio. Thanks to everyone who showed up at Phyllis' on April 8th to witness his last performance with us. We wish him the best...
4/20/05 We received the discs in good shape. What now? A CD release party at a venue TBA...
2/22/05 The debut album will be called "The Monster Within." Cover art is being prepared by the supremely talented Ezra Claytan Daniels, of "Changers" fame. His website is www.dream-chocolate.com.
2/2/05 Debut album tracks submitted to Mike Hagler of Kingsize for mastering. This baby's close to full-term!
1/24/05 A new tentative song list for the debut album. "Gigantaur Obscura" has been added.
01 The Slightest Slight
02 A Small Crumb
03 BMX Motorcade
04 Gigantaur Obscura
05 Common Mind
06 Love My Keyboard
07 Derailment
08 Criminal Boy
09 Clouds In Your Room
10 Hi Love You
11 Bullshit
12 Too Odd to be a Star
We're hoping to finish cleanup this month. Stay tuned!
12/20/04 Here's a tentative song list for the upcoming debut album, which is still in the works:
01 The Slightest Slight
02 A Small Crumb
03 BMX Motorcade
04 Common Mind
05 Love My Keyboard
06 Derailment
07 Criminal Boy
08 Clouds In Your Room
09 Hi Love You
10 Bullshit
11 Too Odd to be a Star
12/9/04 Check out one third of Recent Photo at rock photographer Drew Reynolds' website (www.drewreynolds.com). Curiously, the charismatic CEO of Daimler Chrysler, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, appears amongst a slew of indie rockers. -D [11/05 Update: We're no longer featured there. Thanks to Drew for his cyber-hospitality!]
12/6/04 Nice outing in the studio, but more work to do.
10/16/04 If you own a copy of the Glome EP, you are officially a special person because we've decided to stop pressing it in anticipation of the upcoming full-length. A few tracks will survive the cut for the full-length. If you don't own the Glome EP, but wish to, you may well find the last available copy in the local jams section of Laurie's Planet of Sound in Chicago.
10/10/04 Just finished some basic tracking at Phantom Manor for four songs to be included on RECENT PHOTO'S upcoming release. Mike Lust is engineering along with Andy Bosnak who is also shouldering production duties. Andy had previously lent his considerable talents to the production and engineering of the Bound Stems' lovely Caught it on the Continent EP. Looking to wrap by December, release early 2005. Stay tuned!
9/2/04 A recording schedule is set somewhere in mid-October for RECENT PHOTO'S upcoming full-length. We'll be recording at Mike Lust's Phantom Manor. Any song suggestions should be emailed to derek@glome.us as soon as possible!
7/1/04 RECENT PHOTO'S Glome EP now available at Laurie's Planet of Sound in Chicago's Lincoln Square. This neat little record store is located where Lincoln Avenue and the Brown Line el tracks intersect just off Western Avenue.
6/9/04 Leading Chicago photographer DREW REYNOLDS recruits Recent Photo to participate in his ambitious indie band photo album project. Other participants include the Faint, the Kills, Pretty Girls Make Graves, the Rogers Sisters, the Album Leaf, and Four Tet. [11/05 Update: We're no longer featured there. Thanks to Drew for his cyber-hospitality!]
4/1/04 RECENT PHOTO MP3s are now available online at mp3lizard.com. See this homepage's Recordings/MP3s section for a link to the site.
2/2/04 "THE GLOME EP" reviewed by Splendid. Our first review! Click http://splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=107495881486940 to see Allan Harrison's musings. Thanks to Allan for the encouragement!
12/9/03 ANOINTED BY THAX
On December 9th, the band was bestowed the great honor of a poetry reading by scene legend Thax Douglas. [See Old Set List & Thaxetry page for full text of poem]
11/08/06 Sorry for the lack of updates. You can see from the clusterf*ck our past shows list has become that this website has been a bit glitchy. Well, the friendly powerfulpopsters Daemon Familiar have come through again with a gig for us, this time at Elbo Room tonight. Thanks in advance if you're able to make it. Since our last update, work demands have eclipsed our efforts to craft the next album. For the present time it's been a slow burn of perusing "Home Recording for Dummies" and brainstorming priorities in view of the latest (and seemingly most-stable-to-date) lineup of Candy/Derek/Joe/Tris. Fortunately, exuberant multi-instrumentalist David Bravos has expressed interest in lending his talents to the next project. We hope the next disc will prove to be a noteworthy excursion. We have no illusions, but we can quit day jobs with the best of 'em! Candy & Tris' Metapuffs are buying a van despite their album not yet being in the can. That's confidence! They're still frustrated with the mix, but it'll be nice collection of classic rock tunes! Finally, we have a kindergarten classroom show coming up. More details on that later.
9/20/06 Thanks if you made it to this past weekend's Heroes Helping Legends benefit, which was a huge success. Special thanks to the organizers and to Daemon Familiar for involving us, and also to host Mercury Cafe for putting up with the loud musics from us and our esteemed billmates. We plan to pull away from live performance for awhile to focus on recording, retooling this website (and possibly doing a lo-fi Youtube video?). Also, Tris and Candy gotta get that Metapuffs album done already! See ya.
9/8/06 Thax a lot if you made it out to one of our gigs this week! At the Thax thing...Some equipment failures (and unexpectedly opening) dragged us down a bit, but quite a few songs still went well, and the rest of the evening with Rich X, Joe Roarty (Fool Moon) and Detholz! was golden! The Beat Kitchen last night went greatly... solid entertainment DELIVERED by Brando, The Lavellas, and Unlucky Atlas made the evening complete. Soft as Fuck DJs are sorry their own equipment problems derailed their set... be sure to catch them soon for some "slow dancin,' swayin' to the music." Finally, thanks to Neptali/Housecall and Beat Kitchen for their hospitality. See you soon, we hope.
8/10/06 We recently discovered some friendly coverage of our "Monster Within" album at Evil Sponge. A six sponge rating is quite an honor - hit our "Press" tab for the link! (One fine day, we're going to revamp this clunker of a website so you can link directly to stuff like this.)
8/6/06 Thanks a bunch if you caught us at Cal's last night. Thanks too to our superb billmates Brother and Sister, Shopping, and Tris and Candy's Metapuffs, and finally to Mike for setting it all up. See you soon!
8/4/06 The show described below will go on at the almighty Big Horse Lounge! (Thanks Elle!) We're expected to finish up our part of the evening before other bands start doin' their thing at 10:20 PM, so be sure to arrive early (8-8:30) to catch all the action. Cover is $3.
8/3/06 My solo show (as "Brother Derek") @ Pontiac w/ Adam Faucett, Royce Petersen, is cancelled. I can't see for the tears in my eyes. Please check back soon, as we're working on an alternative date/venue. -Derek
6/26/06 Thanks if you made it to the Darkroom benefit yesterday, helping raise over $1,000 for the late Anthony Salazar's family. It's tough to get out of the house on a Sunday evening, but those who did were treated to a lot of super performances and a raffle with great prizes. Thanks to Arunas/Darkroom and the Chicago Co-Labbers (and Julie, Megan/Chi*Town Sirens & MC Jeremy) for staging or supporting the event. A fitting tribute to a complete musician.
6/18/06 The show at DePaul's air-conditioned McGaw Hall was a fun one. Newcomer Tris proved to be a quick study, and things felt pleasantly ramshackle. The many other bands we checked out cranked out some hot sounds. Thanks if you came out and supported both us and the good cause behind the whole thing. Special thanks to Brandon Wetherbee for setting up the event.
6/14/06 Idiocy prevailed when I published our entire email list to everyone who received our most recent email. Sorry -- Joe has been commissioned to bitchslap me if I ever let that happen again! -D
6/12/06 Just learned that a demo of one of our songs is on the soundtrack of a documentary on Thax Douglas. As fans of Thax, we think that's neato. Unfortunately, we don't know if or when the documentary will be released for public (or our) consumption. Check back for updates!
5/16/06 Our little world will morph on June 9th when our lead guitarist and bassist extraordinaire Johnny Action leaves Chicago for New York to get situated for law school in the fall. We wish him the best and thank him for his energy and talents. Our overeducated frontman knows from experience that the first year of law school demands significant time away from the rock. Unfortunately, our recent, procrastinated scramble for a nice gig to give Johnny a proper sendoff has yielded nada. We take comfort in the concept of rocking a venue with him in New York in the fall. Hopefully that will happen. As far as this summer, we're about to start jamming with Mr. Tris Lucas (frontman and guitarist of Candy Lane's impressive main band Lost Monkey, n/k/a Metapuffs) in the interest of fortifying the lineup for our upcoming charity gigs. Hope to see you soon. Peace out.
4/22/06 A big thanks to those who made it to our little pajama party at Viaduct last night. With our frontman ailing and our poor drummer home sick, your show of support meant that much more. Thanks also to Matt and Steve of Last Alley and to Frank for making the evening happen. Thanks too to MiLkBabY for inviting us to join the bill (and for putting on such an excellent set) and to openers Frequency Below for their satisfyingly trip-hoppy numbers. And finally, here's to good health, we certainly appreciate it!
4/8/06 We've reconfigured this site a bit, creating a press page (and deleting press stuff from this column) and temporarily expanding our FREE MP3 offerings to six songs (the first half of "The Monster Within"). See the "Sounds, etc." tab for the free MP3s. Later!
4/5/6 If you saw us last night at the cavernous Double Door, THANKS! Thanks too to Simon, Jesse, Seth & Co. at Double Door for their support. Our pals Canteen were predictably fabulous. We also enjoyed Roma Saddam's atmospheric rock and Butterfat Trio's jazzy sounds.
3/16/06 A quick thanks to Canteen for inviting us to join their bill for our first-ever performance on Double Door's grand stage on Tuesday, April 4th. If you're on our email list you'll soon receive our flier or comp-pass image enabling your FREE ENTRY. Please note that whatever we send out will be enough to get in for free as long as the thing's legible: They're not sticklers about accepting only original Ticketmaster-issued comp tickets with fancy bar codes. Hell, you could probably design your own flier and get in free yourself. Another thing - on the day of the show, we plan to make a stack of fliers or tix available at Reckless Records down the street. Hope you can make it! As it stands, Canteen and Recent Photo will play early.
3/13/06 Thanks to all who braved the sheets of rain, as opposed to ides of March, to come see us last night. As expected, guests Johnny Action and Candy Lane delivered quite nicely. Thanks too to Empty Bottle - to Sean who handled the complicated sound design, Bill the lights, Cara for her hospitality, and Pete for setting it all up. We also thank The Its! and Field Music for their rocktastic sets. We're rooting for Field Music to kill 'em at SXSW - they wowed us despite horrendous jet lag! In case you're curious what songs we played, we just updated the set list page. See you next time, I hope!
2/6/06 Kristen will be on tour in England with fun rock 'n roll humorist Nice Peter through most of March, so thankfully Candy Lane (of Lost Monkey) will cover us on drums for our highly-anticipated March 12th show with Field Music & the Its! at Empty Bottle. We expect Johnny "Rocket" Action to make another appearance with us as well, adding to the "big bottom." Our sometime-vocalist Emma recently moved away to Detroit, but may arrange a return visit with her peeps here in Chicago to enable an appearance at this gig. Meanwhile, for shites and giggles, check out Derek's old "band" Food at www.myspace.com/food1985.
1/3/06 DeKalb gig cancelled! We'll have an opportunity to make it up to you DeKalb-ers soon, I hope.
1/1/06 Happy New Year! Please join us in toasting to 2006! Thanks to anyone and everyone who helped us in 2005 by booking us at your club, attending a show, playing in our band (obvious but important), buying our music, photographing us, recommending us to a friend or fellow music lover, or by simply enjoying our music. Also, those mentioned in our album credits - thanks again. Some milestones. A debut full-length album emerged. Our first EP was released as a FreeMusic CD. We debuted at Empty Bottle, Darkroom, Bottom Lounge, Subterranean, and Bar Vertigo. "Too Odd" was selected for NPR's online open mic. Let's see if we can build on this in the coming year. Peace out, enjoy the pork.
12/29/05 If you came to our Mutiny show last night, THANKS! Special thanks to those who weathered the glitch-riddled first part of our set: the dance cluster that formed after Kristen took over the drumkit was a most gratifying thing to see through the beer goggles. We also thank Ed & Rhonda and everyone at Mutiny, Joe Roarty, DJ Thom Nykiel and lastly but not leastly Canteen for entrusting us with their fun debut performance.
12/12/05 Unable to catch our recent radio show on WHPK? Well, a live recording of one of the songs we performed - "Common Mind" - is now streaming on our MySpace site, along with the three other "middle" album tracks from the Monster Within CD.
12/9/05 Thanks to the hard-core folks who made it out to Hotti Biscotti last night. Even we had trouble getting there thanks to the snowstorm - and it was our show! Thanks also to Rich X and DJ Thom Nykiel for their solid sets.
In this season of giving, we're doling out the free shows -- the next is a live radio show tonight at 9PM (WHPK - 88.5) and the following will be at the Mutiny on Wed. Dec. 28th. At the latter show, free Glome EPs will be offered, so grab one while supplies last! (Only one per person, please).
12/4/05 Thanks to all who attended the Bar Vertigo show last Friday. We'll be setting up a compensation fund for those blinded by our gold lame. Appearances by Kristen (on drums) and Emma Grace (on vocals) helped us immensely, so we thank them. Impressive sets by Sally and Dan Wallace rounded out a delightful evening. Those denied a free EP because a snapped cable confined my car - and our merch - in my garage that evening, can contact me to get one, or pick one up at one of our upcoming shows.
11/11/05 Our dearly departed drummer Brad and his girlfriend Kimberly formed a new pop groop called Canteen. Check it out at www.myspace.com/canteen. Psychedelic dream-pop at its finest!
11/8/05 Hey digital purists! We just noticed that our "Monster Within" release is now available in the Apple iTunes store.
10/17/05 We're pleased to announce our selection for this week's NPR "All Songs Considered" online Open Mic program - Stage 105. The song they chose, the decidedly Beatlesque "Too Odd to be a Star," will be presented on NPR's website (along with about a half a dozen songs by other artists) starting Wednesday, October 19th. The link is http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/openmic/index.php?episode=105. Check it out!
10/04/05 Halloween is fast approaching, so we decided to offer two of the scariest/gloomiest cuts from our new album as FREE DOWNLOADS off of our Myspace.com site. This is a limited-time offer, so act fast, and tell your friends! www.myspace.com/recentphoto.
9/26/05 Thanks if you came out to our Sub-T show last night (instead of watching the season premiere of "Desperate Housewives"). Special thanks to Emma Grace Ketner for her fabulous vocal contributions and to Russen Guggemos for his swashbuckling cello debut with us. Props as well to Nyco and The Charms for their fun-tastic sets.
9/21/05 New photos up. Some grainy Darkroom footage with a Roxy Music vibe.
9/2/05 Thanks to those who came to Empty Bottle for a fun time last night. Special props to Kristen Regester for doing such a great job on drums (on such short notice), and to guest vocalist Emma Grace Ketner who was quite on the mark with "Criminal Boy." Thanks as well to billmates Jester the Filipino Fist and Grand Buffet for their great sets.
8/24/05 We're getting a spin on WLUW 's Radio One program this Thursday (tomorrow) in the early evening. It's one of Chicago's finest weekly broadcasts of local music, so tune in to be relentlessly pummeled with great tunes! Thanks to Eric of Radio One.
8/22/05 Well, it's final. Brad has gracefully bowed out of competition, so to speak, which creates a potential opening as a drummer with our band. He or she will have big shoes to fill. Fortunately, we feel we can deliver the goods at the Empty Bottle on September 1st, having successfully beta-tested a drummerless set at the Landmark earlier this summer. But do not despair if you're in need of a dose of skins 'n tins, as we've planned to have a fabulous drummer play part of our Bottle gig to spice things up. Who knows what'll happen? Stay tuned...
7/30/05 Thanks to those of you who came out for the Darkroom show! Special thanks also to the Modernist Society, Darkroom's Arunas, Thax and DJs John Dugan, Jason Mojica, and Ben of Civilized Age for helping create what Arunas predicted would be a "smashing evening." It's a shame Civilized Age couldn't perform, but Ben made everything right again with a dope set of what seemed to be some grossly underappreciated Motown gems and out-and-out buttshakers. DJs John Dugan and Jason Mojica also dished out splendid warm-up sets. Finally, Derek says "thanks for all the birthday shots."
7/14/05 "The Monster Within" is now also available at Tower.com and Tower.co.uk.
7/13/05 "The Monster Within" is now available at www.cdbaby.com/recentphoto for only $9.99 plus postage. If you've already heard the record, please feel free to visit that site to write a review. Although the CD just came out, we band "insiders" have been around it so long now that we've grown a bit numb to it, so your fresh perspectives would be appreciated!
6/24/05 On Sunday, June 26th at 7:30PM, tune in to WXRT 93.1 FM (Chicago) to catch us on their Local Anesthetic program hosted by Richard Milne. Thanks to Richard for the airplay!
6/23/05 Immense thanks to those who came out to and/or helped us out at our Bottom Lounge release show last night. Special thanks also to Brian Peterson of MPShows for the opportunity, and to Thax who introduced us with "Recent Photo #2," a superb poem appearing elsewhere on this site. We are setting up distribution of "The Monster Within" CD on CDBaby.com (and their download partners iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.) and it's also currently available at Reckless Records, Laurie's Planet of Sound, and Hard Boiled in Chicago. Thankfully, Brad now seems open to playing with us again in the future, so if you missed the show, you may well get to see Brad behind the kit before too long!
5/26/05 GOOD NEWS: Brad returns to play drums with us FOR THE LAST TIME at our Record Release show at Bottom Lounge on June 22nd. If you've seen us before with Brad in the lineup, you'd know that this is a show to see!!
5/6/05 We're finally starting to set up shop at MySpace.com: Come visit!
Check me out!
5/4/05 We have not yet released "The Monster Within," but have nonetheless decided, for a limited time, to confound global markets by making it available at a few beloved Chicago record stores, starting with HARD BOILED at Damen & Roscoe and RECKLESS RECORDS just SE of Milwaukee/North/Damen. If you're so inclined, please don't hesitate to pick up a copy - we'll do our darndest to keep it continually in stock. Reckless Records is an established Wicker Park brand, but you may not have heard of Hard Boiled - a nice, compact Roscoe Village store. Last time I was there, they were jamming some good early '70's Korean psych rock.
5/3/05 Tough news. Brad quit to focus more squarely on his own musical projects (i.e., projects he did not feel comfortable pursuing in the context of Recent Photo). Until we line up his replacement, we'll forge ahead with Mr. Seeburg, our fake drummist in the form of a 1968 "Select-a-Rhythm" beatbox. Brad should be applauded for his massive contributions to Recent Photo both on stage and in the studio. Thanks to everyone who showed up at Phyllis' on April 8th to witness his last performance with us. We wish him the best...
4/20/05 We received the discs in good shape. What now? A CD release party at a venue TBA...
2/22/05 The debut album will be called "The Monster Within." Cover art is being prepared by the supremely talented Ezra Claytan Daniels, of "Changers" fame. His website is www.dream-chocolate.com.
2/2/05 Debut album tracks submitted to Mike Hagler of Kingsize for mastering. This baby's close to full-term!
1/24/05 A new tentative song list for the debut album. "Gigantaur Obscura" has been added.
01 The Slightest Slight
02 A Small Crumb
03 BMX Motorcade
04 Gigantaur Obscura
05 Common Mind
06 Love My Keyboard
07 Derailment
08 Criminal Boy
09 Clouds In Your Room
10 Hi Love You
11 Bullshit
12 Too Odd to be a Star
We're hoping to finish cleanup this month. Stay tuned!
12/20/04 Here's a tentative song list for the upcoming debut album, which is still in the works:
01 The Slightest Slight
02 A Small Crumb
03 BMX Motorcade
04 Common Mind
05 Love My Keyboard
06 Derailment
07 Criminal Boy
08 Clouds In Your Room
09 Hi Love You
10 Bullshit
11 Too Odd to be a Star
12/9/04 Check out one third of Recent Photo at rock photographer Drew Reynolds' website (www.drewreynolds.com). Curiously, the charismatic CEO of Daimler Chrysler, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, appears amongst a slew of indie rockers. -D [11/05 Update: We're no longer featured there. Thanks to Drew for his cyber-hospitality!]
12/6/04 Nice outing in the studio, but more work to do.
10/16/04 If you own a copy of the Glome EP, you are officially a special person because we've decided to stop pressing it in anticipation of the upcoming full-length. A few tracks will survive the cut for the full-length. If you don't own the Glome EP, but wish to, you may well find the last available copy in the local jams section of Laurie's Planet of Sound in Chicago.
10/10/04 Just finished some basic tracking at Phantom Manor for four songs to be included on RECENT PHOTO'S upcoming release. Mike Lust is engineering along with Andy Bosnak who is also shouldering production duties. Andy had previously lent his considerable talents to the production and engineering of the Bound Stems' lovely Caught it on the Continent EP. Looking to wrap by December, release early 2005. Stay tuned!
9/2/04 A recording schedule is set somewhere in mid-October for RECENT PHOTO'S upcoming full-length. We'll be recording at Mike Lust's Phantom Manor. Any song suggestions should be emailed to derek@glome.us as soon as possible!
7/1/04 RECENT PHOTO'S Glome EP now available at Laurie's Planet of Sound in Chicago's Lincoln Square. This neat little record store is located where Lincoln Avenue and the Brown Line el tracks intersect just off Western Avenue.
6/9/04 Leading Chicago photographer DREW REYNOLDS recruits Recent Photo to participate in his ambitious indie band photo album project. Other participants include the Faint, the Kills, Pretty Girls Make Graves, the Rogers Sisters, the Album Leaf, and Four Tet. [11/05 Update: We're no longer featured there. Thanks to Drew for his cyber-hospitality!]
4/1/04 RECENT PHOTO MP3s are now available online at mp3lizard.com. See this homepage's Recordings/MP3s section for a link to the site.
2/2/04 "THE GLOME EP" reviewed by Splendid. Our first review! Click http://splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=107495881486940 to see Allan Harrison's musings. Thanks to Allan for the encouragement!
12/9/03 ANOINTED BY THAX
On December 9th, the band was bestowed the great honor of a poetry reading by scene legend Thax Douglas. [See Old Set List & Thaxetry page for full text of poem]
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