After 3 great years of making music Not There is coming to an end. We’d like to thank everyone who came to our shows and supported us. A special shout out to Gabriel Clermont who made so many great videos for us, Anna K for her amazing design work, Karen for her album artwork, Susan who helped us book & promote shows and everyone who danced.
The album we’ve been working on will be finished and released but we’re not sure when.
Goodbye & thanks for all the fun.
Edo
Nick
Marco
Jon
1. The ballads. Because this is the best hungover in Beijing album. Ever. I got drunk just so I could listen to it hungover.
2. Stable Condition leads the league in asides. If you don’t know what a banjo sounds like, don’t worry, someone in the band is happy to yell BANJO before the nimble thumbed @peterschloss thwacks away. #educational
3. The drummer from the Beijing Dead plays bass. And drums.
4. It turns out Josh sounds exactly like Mike Gordon from Phish. No really, check it out. Next album someone needs to yell CACTUS before Josh does anything. Actually every time Josh does Josh things in Beijing, @gabrieltrane should yell CACTUS. #playitcactus
5. I heard the Banjo player produced it. From now on, I am going to yell PRODUCER at him whenever he does Schlossie things.
Remember when we threw that bash at 4corners? Here are some great photos from that concert we’ve been sitting on.
We’ve also got more pics from that night on our Facebook page.
This is what happens when Not There and a singer get together. A live recording. With the amazing Astin.
We all have influences. If you’re doing creative things, you’re constantly doing a dance: trying to have a dialogue with your influences while keeping them just out of sight. There’s nothing more cutting than hearing that you sound like X.
Phil Lesh, the bassist for the Grateful Dead, is my biggest influence. Every note I play is in conversation with his style, which is a problem because Lesh is so distinctive that it’s easy to hear when someone is imitating him.
Lesh is different than every other bassist I’ve ever heard. He isn’t simply holding the groove down, but he’s not really a bass god like Victor Wooten or Stanley Clarke. He doesn’t slap. He hardly ever solos (but he’s always kind of soloing too). He screws with groove and plays with a pick, but everything he does just seems to work. His influences on the electric bass were Bach and 20th century classical music. He has perfect pitch and studied classical composition. Real bassists either hate him or love him.
In other words, Phil Lesh is a pretty formidable influence and he infects your playing if you let him inside you.
I listen to my playing in Not There, which is about as far away from the Dead as you can get, and I still hear Phil Lesh everywhere: the way I like to start with a high note then play something really deep and bass-y or the way I kind of swing everything even when I don’t. Even though my playing is much more repetitive than Phil’s (Marco wants me to write a book called Over and Over and Over Again: My Life in Not There) it still has his imprint.
Recently, some friends and I started a Dead cover band. I don’t know why they’re into it, but for me it’s almost like I’m trying to cast out Phil Lesh’s influence by letting it run wild within certain boundaries. (Spoiler: it won’t work)
At the end of his life Picasso re-painted the old masters, mutilating and cannibalizing them in a vain attempt to make them his own. I’m no Picasso, and if he struggled with the grip exerted on him by his influences maybe we’re all damned to imitate and copy what we love.
The Beijing Dead and Illness Sickness are rocking Hot Cat this Friday Night. Get your Grateful Dead fix in China. The show starts at 9pm. It’s free. Hot Cat Club is located at 46 Fangjia Hutong. Dig.
As only he could, Marco is hosting a Birthday party this Saturday Night (June 1) at 4 Corners. Modestly, he’s calling it MarcoStock. 4 bands are playing and 3 of them feature Marco. The fun starts at 8 pm sharp and goes very, very late. The Dead open, everything after that is a surprise…
MarcoStock Featuring:
Not There
Solid Gold
Groove Collective
The Beijing Dead
At 4 Corners
27 Dashibei Hutong
烟袋斜街北侧大石碑胡同27号
nottherebeijing 