This past Friday evening, atop the USS Midway, Funeral Party put on a show for a small group of loyal comic book and music lovers alike. And as any Comic-Con after party goes, the drama never ceased to impress, making this, without a doubt, the best party I have ever been to... on an aircraft carrier. William Shatner has already landed his helicopter atop the out-of-commission WWII boat. David Hasselhoff was spotted making his rounds and taking his dogs for a walk on the upper deck. Lead singer Chad Elliott underwent a mysterious allergic reaction and was rushed to the hospital. He never quite made it back to the boat, but Funeral Party still managed to put on a pretty sweet instrumental performance (don’t worry, Chad’s all better now).
Before the show, I managed to grab a quick Q&A with lead guitarist and back-up vocalist, James Torres:
So, can you tell me a little bit about Funeral Party’s history?
I wanted to start a band four years ago, and I approached the singer, Chad Elliott, and I asked him to start a band, and it kind of went from there. We had other members. Quite a few change outs of drummers, but officially for two years we’ve been a band. We used to just play backyard parties and crazy stuff like that… people would get shot and stabbed. We moved up from there to venues and then we got signed last year to Sony. And our album is coming out in January.
Where’d the name Funeral Party come from?
Our singer [Chad] came into his sister’s room one day and she was listening to The Cure, the song called “The Funeral Party.” He asked her about it… Long story short she told him the name of the song and he knew that was gonna be the title of the band.
Tonight, who are you most excited to party with on the boat?
David Hasselhoff’s daughters.
What can you tell me about your upcoming album?
Well, its our first efforts and the music itself captures youthfulness and the whole scene that we came from. The theme of the album is escapism. It’s like trying to leave. Pick up from where you’re at and just take off on a whim, in a moment’s notice. Which is what we’ve been doing, touring around the world. Being able to escape Whittier, which is where we are from. Which is so hard - everybody that is born there is considered under the Whittier curse. You know you’re never gonna escape, but luckily we managed to escape that whole stereotype.
Are you excited about all the hype behind the band and the dance-rock genre?
I’m more or less excited to just be able to be travelling. Just be in a different city every day. It’s really fun. As for the album itself, yeah I’m really excited that we are gonna be projecting onto a higher level, a higher platform. To be able to express our music and get what we want out there. Yeah, I’m really excited.
Around 8:30, the band began to play… minus Chad. They were still dead on, completely synchronized even with the absence of lyrical cues. Playing for half and hour, I can only assume they played the majority of their upcoming album and even though I couldn’t exactly tell what the songs will sound like with vocals, instrumentally they all make for quite the dance party. Should be a good time. Who doesn’t love a funeral party?
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Funeral Party’s debut album should be out around the second week of January, 2011. Check out their first single:
“Finale”
For more photos check out Danielle Polikoff’s set on flickr
Posted By adam | 7/28/2010 | 10:08 AM | Add a Comment
Join Sezio, Set & Drift, and Turista Libre for a bicycle-powered street art tour of Tijuego (Tijuana + San Diego). The tour will be split into two rides and will visit urban art installations decorating both of our sister cities.
TJ Ride // Saturday, July 31 // 1:00 pm
Meet at the gates on the South side of the pedestrian border crossing in Colonia Federal. After-party at Pop Diner starting at 4pm
SD Ride // Sunday, August 1 // 11:00 am
Meet at Urban Outfitters, Hillcrest by the OBEY mural
The ride will conclude at MCASD Downtown at 2pm
After-party at Super El Camino in Little Italy at 4pm
Photo Scavenger Hunt
We're encouraging all participants to document this ride, and the art we'll experience along the way. After the weekend, upload your photos to Flickr and email the set link to info@sezio.org. We'll choose two winning albums, one based on quantity of photos and one based on quality photos. Each winner will be granted a one year membership to Sezio and to MCASD, along with gift certificates to El Camino and El Take It Easy.
Border Crossing Details
We recommend taking the trolley to the border. If you choose to drive, park at San Ysidro and cross through the first turnstile into Mexico. Walk down the promenade with a mural on the right and a row of official-looking teller windows on the left. Soon thereafter you'll come to a fork where you can keep going straight or turn right. Turn right, go through the second turnstile, and we'll be right there on the other side waiting for you.
Bike to the Museum Day @ MCASD
The SD Ride corresponds with Bike to the Museum Day at MCASD's downtown location, and the Viva La Revolucion exhibit. A free bike valet will be provided at the TNT location (across from the museum). Your bike valet ticket will be good for 1/2 price museum entrance and for a 2 for 1 drink special at the El Camino after-party. If you can't make the 11am start time, you can meet us along the way. Here is our route.
Posted By zack | 7/27/2010 | 10:52 AM | Add a Comment
After a long weekend of Comic Con-ing and boozing, I settled into the sofa Sunday night with a bottle of wine and a red box rental. I always get pretty bummed on my last day of freedom before the work week begins, but The Runaways was finally out on DVD and I couldn't have been more excited to see it. All of the drug induced scenes and aggro girl power got me jumping around yelling "ch ch ch ch cherry bomb!" much to the delight of my boyfriend and his roommates. There's something really special about knowing what you will be for Halloween three months in advance.
Here are the real The Runaways performing "Cherry Bomb"
Posted By carly | 7/26/2010 | 12:21 PM | Add a Comment
On the one day of blistering heat thus far this summer, Station Tavern hosted a collaborative event put on by Threadless, Holiday Matinee and yours truly. While printing neighborhood tees, we snapped through a half full black and white disposable and a couple rolls of Polaroid film. Check out a few examples below, the full album is over on our Facebook page.
Check out the rest of the pics on our Facebook page.
Posted By adam | 7/23/2010 | 12:16 PM | Add a Comment