'And still...' Blake Jones and the Trike Shop flies that art-pop flag
Plus, a '90s Fresno shoegaze album rediscovered, plus a new video from Gabriel Francisco's Killer Sunset.
Blake Jones and the Trike Shop in mid-production on a new album on BigStir Records.
Working title; “And still…”
As in: A band that seen nearly 30 years of playing Zappa-inspired Beatles-esque melodic art-pop find itself in the older (or elder) generation of local musicians with all the struggles that entails. “And still…”
“It’s a shout of hope and a stubbornly rebellious cry to the Fates that sometimes throw some serious rocks at us all,” Jones says, in advance of the band’s upcoming trip across the pond as part of the International Pop Overthrow Festival.
The band will play four shows in the UK at the end of this month; in Canterbury and Croydon (a famous rock n’ roll stop on the southern edge of London) and Liverpool, where it has two gigs at the iconic Cavern Club, including a midnight set on May 31.
This is the Trike’s fifth trip to the UK over the last 15 years and also a pandemic redo.
“We had our plane tickets and hotel reservations for a tour of the UK all set up when March 2020 struck and closed all of those doors,” Jones says.
That was followed by two-plus years of those other struggles, including health challenges. Jones had a second open-heart surgery, which he says almost ended his “humble career on this planet.”
And still, Jones says, “the Trike Shop sails on, flying its uplifting flags of artsy, melodic, guitar pop.”
You can find the full catalog from Blake Jones and the Trike Shop, including the 2020 EP “The Homebound Tapes,” at Big Stir Records.
Rediscovered: ‘90s shoegaze project Vitamin Gun
Here’s a fun project idea for someone that’s not me (but maybe also me): A full, historic deep dive in Fresno’s shoegaze scene.
And a place to start: Ryan Gregory Tallman’s project Vitamin Gun.
Tallman was 16 when he released “Spaceaged,” in 1994. The six-song album was self-produced on a Tascam PortaStudio 02, mastered on a Sony cassette deck and released in a run of 50 cassettes that eventually sold out (but still exist in someone’s box of old tapes, no doubt).
The project’s live band included Luke Giffen, Vince Corsaro, Jeff Martin and later Ellison Todd Williams. Giffen and Corsaro would go on to form the quintessential Fresno shoegaze band Sleepover Disaster in 1997.
Earlier this month, Tallman made “Spaceaged” available on Bandcamp and teased a possible full re-release for its 30th anniversary next year. You can watch Tallman explain the genesis for Vitamin Gun on Instagram.
Killer Sunset gets a video for ‘Killer Sunset’ and it is a wild ride
Gabriel Francisco released his Killer Sunset rap-alter ego in 2021.
“Tales From the Online Beat Circus,” was a departure for The Redcoats singer, especially the track from whence he took his name.
“Killer Sunset” is about cereal, somehow, but also about music as a sort of irresistible force.
And the pitfalls of hardcore drug use.
As Francisco described it: “The idea of the killer cereal came to me one day when I was looking in my pantry and saw the Cap’n Crunch next to the Hawaiian Punch.
The fact that they rhymed made me laugh. From there, it evolved to the idea of my music being irresistible, like a drug, which turned into this whole metaphor for drug abuse, and the tale of the spiral from initial contact, through to an actual death as a result.”
On Friday, Francisco released a video for “Killer Sunset.”
It’s a six- and half- minute mini-movie that is weirdly literal to the lyrics and really hammers the “dangers of drug use” angle.
It’s also wildly trippy and (in parts) just kind gross. The video was made in the span of five days, over 16 months. You can watch it below (trigger warning for those with Trypophobia).
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com