Thanks for coming out to the Halloween show the other night at Bar 9, we had a blast! The band consisted of me on guitar/vocals, Boris Veysman on the bass geetar, Steve Honoshowsky on the drums, Peter J. Bellomo on guitar/piano/vocals, Brad Clymer on the trumpet and Paulie J Donofrio on percussion. They nailed it. The setlist was as follows:
The Whip I Rattle When I Run Sea Of Death Dire Straits Nothing Left To Live For Whore Bits & Pieces In My Head Stealing Coins From Wishing Wells/Hard Times My Chevrolet Batten Down The Hatches The Red Eye
I dressed up as the dark lord, Satan. Here's a couple pics. If anyone has any more, send 'em our way. Thanks! Oh yeah, and there's a few Halloween albums left over, if you want one, let me know, I'll get it to you free of charge!
Hi there, missed me? I didn't think so. Anyway, after a brief hiatus I'm happy to announce the return of Lifeguard Nights to the stage, to celebrate our favorite holiday (Halloween) at our favorite bar (Bar Nine) with our favorite band (Hrny Wrms)!
The party starts at 9 PM on Friday, October 30th (Devils Night) at Bar Nine on 807 9th Ave (between 53rd and 54th). We're going on first, followed by Hrny Wrms!
We're preparing a very special set just for the occasion, featuring some of the more dark/scary LGN material. Old hits, new hits, obscure hits galore! The band will (hopefully) be comprised of me on guitar and vocals, Boris Veysman on bass, Lil' Steve Honoshowsky on drums, Peter J. Bellomo on guitar/piano/vocals, Paulie Jo Donofrio on congas, Charles Brad Clymer on trumpet and Sarah Rose on viola. You've definitely never heard us like this before. I myself have never actually heard us like this before, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna be awesome.
IT'S A COSTUME PARTY SO DON'T BE LAME. I will personally be giving away a special prize for best costume.
In addition to all this greatness, I'll also be releasing a very special brand-spankin-new Uncle Vin HALLOWEEN ALBUM! It's fun stuff for the whole family, and it rocks pretty hard. Quite honestly, I myself am shocked at how hard some of these tunes rock. You won't be disappointed.
Hi there, how's it going? Another summer is rapidly coming to a close, and sadly, so is another chapter in the Lifeguard Nights movie of the week. As some of you know, Lifeguard Nights had been trying things out differently the past few months. Instead of recording at home and then rounding up whomever was willing and able to play gigs with me, I stripped the band down to a core group with some new players and we began working on a bunch of new material together. While the new modus operandi did yield some promising results, ultimately, it just didn't work for me. It became a complicated and difficult situation, and there's no need to go into all the details. Basically, I just wasn't having fun with it anymore, and that's not a feeling I ever want to have again.
So, I'm going back to my old ways of recording at home and then playing gigs with whomever wants to learn the songs and join me. I've got a ton of new songs in the on-deck circle waiting to be recorded and I'm pretty excited about them.
"How do you follow up a double-album," you ask? A 5 disc box set, of course.
As for shows, we have none scheduled at the moment while I get working on these new recordings. I'll keep you posted.
Yes indeed, we've just been added to a stellar bill featuring No Use For Humans and Recreation, Arts and Pets! It all goes down at the Brighton Bar this Saturday, August 15th. I don't know who all is going to be playing in our band, or what the order of the bands are, if there's a cover, or anything else. All I know is you should get to the Brighton around 9 and stay for all 3 sets of musical mayhem. You won't regret it.
Lifeguard Nights will be playing an acoustic set in the lovely backyard garden of Trophy Bar, our favorite Brooklyn watering hole!
Come have some hair of the dog and listen to some soothing rock and roll under the beautiful summer sun on a Sunday afternoon!
The bar opens at 2, we'll be going on around 3.
No Cover!
"Trophy is a warm, intimate space located at 351 Broadway between Keap and Rodney streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Conveniently accessible via public transit (JMZ to Marcy or Hewes, G to Broadway or L to Lorimer)"
Oh, look out all you rock and rollers! This here page is undergoing some changes at the moment, and soon it's gonna be all tricked out and shit (just like my Chevrolet, WOOT WOOT!)
As you can see I already added that fine-ass video player over there, and that half-ass music player, and some links and shit. Check back soon to see the real deal Sally Field!
Summer is officially here! I mean technically it is...the weather is still fucking rainy or cloudy every day, but is that going to stop us from having a damn good time? Hell no. We've got a plethora of wild happy fun shows coming up:
Sunday, June 28th at The Annex (Asbury Park, NJ) at 8 PM--with HRNY WRMS!
Tuesday, June 30th at Tommy's Tavern (Greenpoint), 8 PM--with LA Velvet!
Saturday, July 4th in Schwenksville, PA--Outdoor BBQ All Day/Nite w/Si Senorita!
Saturday, July 11th at All Asia Cafe, (Cambridge, MA) 8 PM
Thursday, July 16th at Bar Nine (807 9th Ave), 7 PM--B-Day Hootenanny featuring Boss Tweed, Lifeguard Nights, Hrny Wrms & much more! All for FREE
Wednesday, July 29th at The Delancey (168 Delancey), 8 PM
All of these shows are going to be spectacular. Go to them.
Finally, after months of tweaking, pruning, caressing, and some inappropriate fondling, "The Miss Factory" Volumes 1 and 2 are now up on iTunes for your downloading pleasure! Just in time for Summer!
If you actually download it, please let us know what you think!
So I finally finished up The Miss Factory, Volume 2, and it is officially a passport to wild times. As with Volume 1, a number of special guests joined me on these tunes, including Boris Veysman on bass licks, Drew Brady on keys and vocals, Brad Clymer on trumpet and groaning, Sarah Rose on keys and Gerard Egan on Slash lead guitar. They all kicked ass and I can't thank them enough for their time and effort. The tracklist for Volume 2 is as follows:
1. Open Season 2. Down And Out 3. Sorry 4. Hide And Seek 5. Keep Trying 6. Bury Me 7. In My Head 8. Bits And Pieces 9. Trash 10. Magazine 11. Circles 12. Road To Nowhere 13. Do The Stranglehold
Right now we're still trying to determine the best way to release "The Miss Factory," since getting double-albums made up is apparently rather costly, and coupled with the fact that nobody buys cds anymore, that's not awesome. But the alternative is risking having this gem lounge in obscurity (which it probably will anyway) and we can't take that chance. Once we figure out the game plan, we'll let you know. Whether or not we get physical copies made up, REST ASSURED the album(s) will be up on iTunes soon. If it's one thing I hate, it's you not resting assured. So please, rest away.
As for THE FUTURE (and boy do I love the future! In the future I'm a space-cop!), a few of us have been practicing regularly (like a real live band, how about that!) and have been working on some even newer material, which I think is going to shock and delight your pants off. It's a whole new sound, more electric and rocking and fun. These songs may end up part of my vague plan to attempt another concept album, called "Lifeboat For Fatty" or they may end up turning into something else. Who knows? I sure the fuck don't, but I'm pretty psyched about it. We'll be debuting some of these new gems at our upcoming shows, which are:
May 24th at the Mullet Convention BBQ in Guttenberg NJ May 27th at Bar 9 in NYC with Little Embers (8 PM) June 15th at Pianos in NYC (9 PM)
After many months collecting dust on the shelf, "ATE" is finally available on iTunes and various other digital outlets for your downloading pleasure. Recorded in the Summer/Fall of 2008, "ATE" is my 8th (see what I did there? BAM!) Lifeguard Nights home-recorded album. It's a little weird, I'm not going to lie to you. After the more polished (relatively) and deliberately constructed (sorta) "Following The Hollowing" album, I wanted to do something different, something a little more raw and off-the-cuff. Most of the songs on "ATE" were written and recorded in the same day, without too much hemming and hawing over the lyrics and instrumentation and whatnot. I just banged 'em out.
Musically, there is some pretty catchy stuff on here, but there's also some more far-out stuff as well, like "Smoke Signals" featuring a distorted vocal solo over a hypnotic banjo melody and castanets. "Right At Home" features slide guitar and some good ol' fashioned knee-slapping, and "The Loser Parade" features me on Charlie Brown sad (bad) trumpet. It's a pretty wild ride.
Lyrically, the album is pretty bitter and antagonistic, but hey, that's what I was feeling at the time and I felt I should "keep it real," as the kids say. Writing music is the only way I know how to get my frustration out. Cheaper than a shrink, and more fun, I imagine.
I sketched out the cover one day at the office:
Then one night after sucking down a Rotisserie chicken and a few baked potatoes, I had Eve take this photo of my gut, and Dave Biskup photoshopped the beautiful cover:
VOILA! A masterpiece was born...or a minorpiece....depends on your perspective I guess. It's a piece of some kind, I assure you. "of shit?" you ask. Why I oughta....don't make me come over there, buddy! I'll do it.
"ATE" Track Listing:
1. Let's Start Over 2. Good Riddance 3. Geeks On Dates 4. Hidden Torture 5. Imbecile Reign 6. Smoke Signals 7. Bloody City 8. Right At Home 9. Joy Boy Army 10. The Voice of Treason 11. Walking Through A Bad Dream 12. Thanks For Not Coming 13. The Loser Parade
After getting hitched back in September, Eve and I took off for Vegas to lounge around in the dry heat and piss our money away. That got old fast and so we decided to head to La Jolla, CA for a couple days. While there, we stopped by my favorite place in the world, the Torrey Pines cliffs. I started writing a song and Eve helped out and "In This Light" was born. We decided to compile the footage from that day and make a little video out of it. Here it is:
The rest of the honeymoon video will be available soon on various adult websites. Kidding, ma, kidding.
Inspired by the recent "Hangin' Out On E Street" series on The Boss's website(www.brucespringsteen.net/new/hanginout.html), I decided to shoot my own video detailing how the Boss has influenced my life, musically and otherwise. Enjoy!
Note: This video was not commissioned by The Boss or his people, I just have a lot of free time on my hands. I hope The Boss and his people don't mind that I did this.
Hi imaginary friends, I hope 2009 is treating you all well so far! It's treating me wonderfully. I have done nothing except write and record music every night, with the occasional exceptions of going to shows and making sweet love to my beautiful wife. The result of all this hard work is The Miss Factory, a double-album split into 2 volumes (13 songs each) that is quickly nearing completion and is hands down the best thing I've ever done in my life. Far better than that time I stripped butt naked right before nailing the winning shot in beer pong at Jess's house, and slightly better than that 3 foot long turd I dropped last week that snaked around a couple times and poked it's head out of the water. Needless to say, it's a great album. This is how excited I am about it:
A number of very special guests have lent their talents to the album, including Boris Veysman on the the bass, Dr.Ew Brady on keys, accordion and vocals, Katy Cunningham on vocals, John Dorocki on kalimba and harmonium, Brad Clymer on the trumpet, Sara Jacovino on trombone, Sarah Rose on viola and Gerard Egan on lead guitar. More guests are scheduled to record soon and hopefully the whole she-bang will be released this Spring. The tracklist for Volume 1 is as follows...
1. I Think It's Time You Moved to Florida 2. Melt Away 3. Frustrated 4. Lost 5. Andonandon 6. CLR 7. In This Light 8. Sex in the Morning 9. My Chevrolet 10. All Out Of... 11. Holy Now 12. Sunrise 13. This is a Demonstration
The tracklist for Volume 2 will be released soon. Not that it really matters. I'm only doing this so I remember what order to put the songs in on the album.
Hope you all enjoyed the holidays! 2009 is gearing up to be a big year for Lifeguard Nights. All systems go. Pedal to the metal. Balls to the wall. Skeet Skeet Skeet Skeet. As of today I've got 21 songs close to completion on "The Miss Factory", the 9th Lifeguard Nights home-recorded album, which just might end up a double album if the hits keep on coming. I've also got 11 tracks all sketched out for "The Way of the Hen", the first Lifeguard Nights collaboration with stupor-producer Mike Gallina.
In addition we've got a few gigs lined up at the end of the month. On Thursday January 29th we'll be performing with the band formerly known as but still at the moment known as Death mask, at The Goldhawk in Hoboken. We played a brief set there a couple months ago and it's a great room! The following night, Friday January 30th, we're performing with HRNY WRMS at Bar 9, for Eve's birthday! It was her idea, I swear. It's going to be awesome. Finally, the night after that, we're heading up to Cambridge, MA for a gig at All-Asia Cafe at 9 PM. 3 states, 3 nights, 3 shows, 3 hangovers. Actually February 1st is Superbowl Sunday, so let's just call it a bender.
Lastly, we are honored to have been invited back to the Willow Oak Farm Fest in Madison, GA on Memorial Day Weekend, and we'll be planning a little two week tour around this event, perhaps hitting up some places along the East Coast, the South and Midwest. If you have any suggestions for venues or know anybody in these areas (including yourself--if you know yourself) who could potentially help out in some way, let us know! The goodness will come back around to ya someday.
If you haven't bought your tickets for this show yet, you are a goddamn moron.
In other news, I'm currently working on 2 massive albums at the same time. One of these albums ("The Miss Factory") will be in my usual home-recording style, but with a little help from my lifeguard friends, various special guests AND real (fake) drums. The evolution continues! I've already got 14 rough tracks sketched out and ready to go, and I love them all deeply. The second album ("The Way of the Hen") is going to be a bit of a departure, in that I'm working with a very talented and mentally disturbed producer (I like to call him Dong Johnson) who is going to take my songs and add his own (ric) flair to them. We're close to completion on one track already and the results are beautifully unique. It's going to be a Lifeguard Nights album unlike any you've heard before. I'm psyched.
Hope you're all enjoying yourselves doing whatever it is that you do exactly! 2008 is quickly coming to a close, and I'm glad because I'm pretty sure 2008 has been trying to kill me. If you could charge a year with attempted murder, I'd have filed a police report months ago. It's been a heck of a roller-coaster ride these past 11 months and I'm willing to blow God himself if he lets up in 2009. Blasphemy probably isn't helping my cause, I realize, but between the Giants winning the Superbowl, getting deathly ill for a few weeks, getting engaged, having an old friend try to steal 1200 bucks from me, getting married, wacky private detective adventures, work drama, band drama, baby mama drama (just kidding, mom), I need a freakin break. Granted, getting married and having the Giants win the Superbowl in the same year is pretty freakin' awesome, so I figure the universe decided to pay me back by having other other aspect of my life suck balls.
However, ball-sucking usually leads to better song-writing, so that's good. I only recorded two solo albums this year, "Following the Hollowing" and "Ate" but I think they're my best and I'm pretty proud of them. Plus there was "Punch Sky", our second full band album which I also think is our finest collaborative effort to date. So while we might still be completely obscure, at least we're getting better in our obscurity. Onwards and upwards to nowhere! To round out the year, we've got the 2nd Annual X-Mas Spectacular coming up on December 12th at the Mercury Lounge. Check out the poster below!
I'm pretty psyched about this show for a number of reasons. It's always fun to play with our friends Wormburner and Knockout Drops, and especially at our favorite club in the city, the Mercury Lounge. Plus, there's the Yule Dogs all-star christmas-classics jam session which will blow your mind There's no better way to get in the holiday spirit than that, I guarantee you. In addition to all that awesomeness, I've assembled a great team for the show, featuring a couple of fresh faces (Jeff on drums, Sarah on viola) and a great set-list, featuring a wide variety of new and old songs, and a very special christmas cover song by my favorite band of all time, which I'll be performing solo. Barring any natural disasters/technical difficulties, I'm confident this will be our finest show to date. We do have a couple gigs after that before the New Year is up, (including a Bogmen after-party show at Bar 9), so check the myspace page for details on those!
Alrighty, I'm down to suck off a turkey! I mean, off to suck down a turkey. Same difference. Peace.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am back! Not that I really went anywhere, I just haven't posted anything in, oh, about 8 months. And it's not like anyone visits this page anyway, but has society's complete indifference to my artistic endeavors ever stopped me in the past? I THINK NOT.
Firstly, we are thrilled to announce that Headshop Records will be releasing our 2nd full-band studio album, "PUNCH SKY" on September 16th! Even though that's a week away, the album is up on iTunes NOW so stop reading this, go buy it, and then head back here to read the rest of this wonderful blog.
Recording this album was an incredible experience from start to finish. First we went into Retromedia Studios and laid down bass and drums on 11 tracks in 3 hours with our good buddy engineer Adam Vaccarelli. A couple of the songs ("Whore" and "Oh No") we pretty much learned on the spot, and they came out great.
After that we recorded most of the overdubs at my apartment, with everyone coming in on different days and laying their parts down. It was a truly collaborative experience and watching the songs grow and take shape was amazing. It was easily the best experience I've ever had making an album, personally, creatively, and financially. Here are some of the highlights of the recording sessions.
After the tracking was done we went back to Retromedia Studios for an intense mixing session with John Noll and came out with a gem of an album. Next we needed an album cover, so everyone decided to shoot me out of a cannon.
The landing kinda hurt, but I'm glad we got the shot! Special thanks to Dave Biskup for his fine photography skills. I owe you a handy, Dave.
Anyhow, overall I think this is our finest work to date, and possibly the first album I've ever produced that I'm 100% proud of! I honestly believe you will love it, no matter what type of music you like, so if you have a chance, give it a listen and let us know what you think!
In other news, I finished up my 7th Lifeguard Nights "solo" album, "Following the Hollowing", and much like "Punch Sky", I think it's hands-down, start-to-finish the best album I've ever created. Recording-wise, songwriting-wise, everything. It's a big album, with 13 fully-realized tracks in the tradition of "After the Disasters" and I can't wait to get it out there.
In even more recent news, I'm almost finished with my 8th Lifeguard Nights solo album, titled "Ate", featuring a plethora of indie-pop songs hovering around the 2 minute mark, with a couple of interesting and unusual detours thrown in for good measure.
Finally, within a couple months the ENTIRE Lifeguard Nights (including the two new albums just mentioned) and South Jersey Seashore Lifeguard Convention Band catalogs should be up on iTunes! I'm pretty excited about this, and the possibilities it opens up for the future. No longer will I have to wait to be able to afford duplication for every album, I can simply release albums digitally once they're completed! From my apartment to your ears in mere weeks! Everybody wins!
Hi there, this is Vincent Brue, founder of The South Jersey Seashore Lifeguard Convention Band and Lifeguard Nights. I've been recording music under these two band names with my buddies for over a decade now, amassing over 20 albums and 500+ original songs. We've played some of the finest venues in the NY/NJ area (Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Maxwell's, Stone Pony) as well as some of the shittiest (too many to list). We've toured all over the country, and made pals everywhere we went. Our music has been featured in films, tv shows and various weird youtube videos, but who cares...we only do this because it's fun, and we love it. So we're just gonna keep doing it.
