My band, We Leave at Midnight, perfomed at Limelight a few months back and Miranda Studios just released another song from that set, “Hold On.” This song will be on WLAM’s first LP, due out early 2012. Enjoy.

This week’s cover is devoted to local San Antonio rock band Girl in a Coma, who went from being just another SA female rock band to touring with Morrissey, signing with Joan Jett’s record label, and collaborating with director Robert Rodriguez (they’ve got a song on the Machete soundtrack). Despite the fact that their success was a direct result of touring outside of Texas as much as possible, GIAC reps San Antonio in their songs and music videos, and still hang out at the same bars and record stores whenever they aren’t on the road. On top of all that, they’re nice people, too.

Since this week coincided with our Halloween issue, I wanted the girls to dress up for the cover shoot. Some ideas that were floated around were Ziggy Stardust-style glam-rockers, Rocky Horror characters, Wizard of Oz (with singer Nina Diaz as a punk Dorothy with tattoos and braids). (Another idea that was too hilarious to take seriously: Harry, Ron, and Hermoine.) But the band didn’t bite on costumes, so our back-up concept was to go with what I kept calling “punk-rock Nancy Drew:” the band exploring a spooky setting with flashlights. The thought of Girl in a Coma riding around in a van playing shows and solving mysteries was funny without being potentially humiliating, so that’s what we shot. Photographer Josh Huskin took the band to local haunted house Nightmare on Grayson, and the results were gorgeous. Josh also deserves credit for the eerie lighting effects.

You can read Music Editor Enrique Lopetegui’s cover story here, and check out the video below, shot by Stephen Castro of Miranda Studios (and now official Current videographer).

My friends Blowing Trees have released a video for the opening track off their newest album Wolf Waltz and the Big Nothing Now. The intro features spooky illustrations that frontman Chris Maddin and I created for the album artwork and was later animated by the filmmakers. The video was directed by Richard Canfield with help from Stephen Castro at Miranda Studios. Enjoy, and listen to the entire Wolf Waltz album for free here.

Last weekend, the San Antonio Current celebrated its 25th anniversary with a free 1980s party at La Villita in the heart of downtown. My band, Bad Breaks, performed a short, one-time-only ’80s set (featuring Genesis, Tears for Fears, The Romantics, New Order, and an semi-unironic cover of WHAM!’s “Careless Whisper”), decked out in our retro ’80s finest. (If footage from our set surfaces, I’ll post it here.) Everybody had a blast, and Stephen Castro of Miranda Studios was filming all night to produce the Current‘s official video recap. Check it out, plus some party photos below.

Last month my musical friends and I did a full live album cover of Radiohead’s Kid A, continuing a series of live album covers that has included Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, Arcade Fire’s Funeral, Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and OK Computer. But we are not a cover or tribute band: Each show was put together in roughly four weeks, and every performance was 100% free of charge. And, with the exception of OK Computer, we’ve never performed any album twice.

Which is why we are so thrilled to have the night documented. Our comrades at Magic Spoon Productions and Miranda Studios collaborated to produce the definitive film experience of the performance. Everyone did an amazing job that night; I’m glad to have such talented friends. Check out more videos by Magic Spoon and Miranda Studios, including videos from some of our previous live album covers (linked above).

Here’s a video of one of my musical projects, We Leave at Midnight. Led by singer/guitarist John Dailey, WLAM is a melting pot of Motown, country, Beatles pop, and Beach Boys harmonies. This is a new, untitled song, performed at John’s birthday show. Big thanks to Miranda Studios for producing another great video!

Miranda Studios — the hardest-working videographer in San Antonio — shot a sweet video recap of my recent Second Saturday art show at LoneStar Studios. Check it out! (And watch for the amazing Marvel Films-style intro, which might be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen).

Everyone involved with the event did an awesome job, and they deserve a huge “thank you” on the internets: LoneStar owner Sean Fitzgibbons, Current publisher Michael Wagner, Current editor Greg Harman, Chuck Maurer at Alternative Ink (who produced the gorgeous prints), Andy Benavides, Say.She.Ate gourmet food truck, Rocker Dogz, Nicolette Good and Jesse Basham, Travis Simpson, my bandmates in Bad Breaks, illustrator Alex Fine (who drew the kickass Jackie Earle Haley/Rorschach illo featured in the video), and Justin Parr. And, of course, big thanks to everyone who came to the show — especially if you went home with a cover.

Two weeks ago, Chris Maddin, Chris Guerra, Leonard Rader, Matt Thomas, Jaime Rader, and myself performed Radiohead’s Kid A in its entirety for a packed house of more than 250 Radiohead fans at the Broadway 5050 in San Antonio, Texas. Just like last year’s full live album cover shows (which included Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Radiohead’s OK Computer), this was a 100% free show, put on to salute one of our all-time favorite albums. We’re not a cover band, either — we deconstruct and learn an album for a few weeks, perform it, and then we move on to another project. (The only exception was performing OK Computer again for my favorite local radio station, KRTU 91.7 Indie Overnight).

Stephen Castro of local video production house Miranda Studios was front-row and recorded the whole event, and it really captures what it was like to be inside the room with us. Fun fact: YouTube contacted Stephen to take these videos down, citing copyright infringement — but we only sampled a few bits and pieces of the album. So apparently our live version was good enough to fool YouTube’s lawyers. I can’t think of a higher compliment.

Below is all six parts of Kid A live, for your viewing and listening pleasure. Once again, a huge thanks to my fellow musicians, Miranda Studios, the Broadway 5050, and everyone who packed it like sardines in a crushed tin box. Most of all, huge thanks to Radiohead for being the best band in the world.

Enjoy!

“Everything in its Right Place” and “Kid A”:

“The National Anthem” and “How to Disappear Completely”:

“Treefingers” (audio only):

“Optimistic” and “In Limbo”:

“Idioteque” and “Morning Bell”:

“Motion Picture Soundtrack” and special encore “15 Step”:

The “Kid A” band:
Chris Maddin (vocals, guitar)
Chuck Kerr (drums, drum samples, iPad 2)
Chris Guerra (Fender Rhodes, synths)
Leonard Rader (guitar, vocals, synths, loops)
Matt Thomas (bass)
Jaime Rader (samples, loops, synths, guitar)

Ok, I’ve been not so great at updating this blog in the past week or two, so get ready for some housecleaning posts. First, I just found this video by Miranda Studios of Nicolette Good, Jesse Basham, and myself playing Nico’s new song “Clementine” in the basement of her house. Great song, great video. Check it out, and check out more Nicolette Good stuff at her new site!

Last Wednesday, me and a group of musician friends performed Radiohead’s classic 2000 album, Kid A, live in its entirety at the Broadway 5050, to kick off our second season of live album covers. (You can read more about our 2010 season — which included Radiohead’s OK Computer, Arcade Fire’s Funeral, and Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot among others — by searching the “album covers series” tag on my site.) Videographer Stephen Castro of Miranda Studios was filming from the “front row” and has released the first four songs of the set: “Everything in its Right Place,” “Kid A,” “The National Anthem.” and “How to Disappear Completely.” The Kid A band consisted of Chris Maddin (vocals), Chris Guerra (Rhodes and keyboards), Leonard Rader (background vocals, guitar, samples and effects), Matt Thomas (bass), Jaime Rader (samples, loops, guitar), and myself on acoustic/electronic drums and an iPad. “The National Anthem” also featured Ryan Teter (trombone), Steve Mohacey (tenor sax), and Jacinto Lefebre (trumpet). Meg Lobasso played cello on “How to Disappear.” Everyone did an amazing job bringing this album to life, I will post more videos as they pop up. Cheers!