Sunspot

Sunspot Road Mania Ep. 174 - NAMM 2012 Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:44:14 PST

Sunspot at NAMM Day 4

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 173 - NAMM 2012 Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:43:43 PST

Sunspot at NAMM Day 3!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 172 - NAMM 2012 Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:42:57 PST

Sunspot at NAMM 2012 Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:56:59 PST

Sunspot on Broadjam

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:29:20 PST

We Are Retiring The Sunspot Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:25:49 PDT

Hey readers,Back in 2004 when we started the blog, it was a fun way to communicate with everyone. We could put in pictures, road updates, random thoughts, and ideas. However, now we've all moved onto social networks and we end up posting pics to Twitter, Facebook, etc... We don't really keep a proper blog now (but we still update the podcast regularly with new videos!) it's just more of a place that we update once in awhile. We still have a very active presence on Facebook and Twitter and that's where you'll be able to find our latest updates.To all the people that have been faithfully reading the blog for the past seven years, no worries. We'll still be writing, observing, and saying moronic things to keep you entertained. Blogging is fun, but as we enter the next stage of the web's existence, we're finding that we're getting more feedback on social networks and by creating videos, pictures, and quick audio updates rather than just writing. A blog is not the ideal format for those things. And that's why we're moving on. So, make sure that you like is on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to us on YouTube, because we're still extremely active in creating music, videos, and communicating with you. The world is changing and we're changing with it!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 165

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 09:47:00 PDT

Taste of Madison, Sunspot rocking live, Crash Test Dummies, didgeridoos, our new CD, and more! Mmmm mmmm mmmm mmmm, it's a good time this month!Download the podcast directly here.

SUNSPOT TO DELIVER SIXTH STUDIO ALBUM WITH SCI-FI BENT

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:53:02 PDT

Madison Rock Band Returns with The Slingshot Effect November 22

Madison, WI—As a trio that has staked its very existence on making obscure references and turning them into something universally palatable, Madison rock band Sunspot has once again pushed its musical boundaries with a forthcoming album, The Slingshot Effect (November 22 release). Sunspot will celebrate with a release party in Madison at The Frequency on Friday, November 18. As the theme this time around, singer/bassist Mike Huberty says that The Slingshot Effect is the “rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of the Sci-Fi Channel.”

“This is Sunspot’s electro-space rock record,” Huberty adds. “Whenever we would watch a movie about the future when we were growing up, the music they listened to was always very industrial-sounding. Since we are living in the future now, we wanted to bring those influences into our new album.”

The full-length, which is an extension of the EP the band released in March, Deus Ex Machina (and those three songs are also featured on The Slingshot Effect) pushes the envelope thematically. That means turning monsters into the heroes of “We Are The Darkness,” reframing humanity as celestial beings in “Stardust,” and showing how protectors aren’t always saving the right people in “Guardian Angel”. “Cannibal" has a little bit of all history's favorite man-eaters in it. And “The Slingshot Effect” itself is inspired by the method of time travel in Star Trek (whipping a spaceship around the sun at faster-than-light speed), wherein a person can’t alter the past no matter how badly he or she might want to.

Also true to form, Sunspot put much of the focus on the music and on the studio aspect itself. “The recording process for this album was unique for us in that we worked a lot more with different percussion sounds, on top of our usual live drum sound,” says drummer Wendy Lynn Staats. “The Major Arcana (rock opera) tour made us comfortable with incorporating electronic sounds and samples into our standard live rock format. I think it impacted our whole approach to writing and performing this album, and took our songs in a new and fun direction.”

The band also took advantage of some new gear, including guitars that Huberty and guitarist Ben Jaeger received as part of an endorsement with German company Hoyer. “We generated some great sounds and our engineer, Eric Katte (Doug Stone, Ricky Skaggs, and Kenny Rogers), continues to show his mastery of the mixing board and his passion for our music,” said Jaeger.

But along with that passion comes a love for what Sunspot does best—which is to surprise its fan base and entertain them thoroughly at the same time. “The fun part is taking something conventional and twisting its meaning completely around,” said Huberty. “We love finding the fantastic in the ordinary.”

About Sunspot:
Rock band Sunspot has racked up a few awards and a lot of recognition during the past decade, including winning Rock Album of the Year in the Madison Area Music Association Awards for Singularity (2010) and Loser of the Year (2004). Sunspot is a symphony of guitars and voices, soaring melodies wrapped around hyper literate poetry and wicked rhythms. Male and female harmonies collide with expert guitar work and pop sensibility. Sunspot is rock music that's smart, fun, and powerful. Think the Fountains of Wayne or Barenaked Ladies with Lars Ulrich on drums and Eddie Van Halen on guitar. The band has recorded six albums, a DVD and an EP, as well as over 150 biweekly video podcasts (Sunspot Road Mania), and have shared the stage with Death Cab for Cutie, The Flaming Lips, Sponge, SevenMaryThree, Hot Hot Heat, Crash Test Dummies and Sick Puppies. In 2010, Sunspot released the DVD version of their multimedia spectacle, Major Arcana. That was followed by the EP, Deus Ex Machina in March 2011. Also in early 2011, Sunspot licensed their song, “Go, Pack!” to FOX Sports for their Super Bowl coverage, with some residual coverage for the song on NPR as well as numerous Wisconsin radio stations.
 For more information and tour dates, please visit http://www.sunspotmusic.com

Publicity: Mike Farley/ Michael J. Media Group/ 608-848-9707/ mike@michaeljmedia.com

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 163

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:49:30 PDT

We give Philly the cheese steak and run away from Hurricane Irene!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 164

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:47:20 PDT

We penetrate deep into the heart of Pittsburgh and bring the rock to The Smiling Moose, find maybe the coolest toy store on the planet, and then head back home!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 162

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:48:41 PDT

Rocking the Mad Hatter with some killer bands and scarfing down some chili as we hit the Cincy area again!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 161

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:46:32 PDT

Our first time at Reggie's Rock Joint in Chicago! Also Mike and Wendy sing some karaoke with Liquid Courage (literally, that was the band name!)

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 160

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:48:12 PDT

We eat everything in sight at the WIsconsin State Fair, rock the Barneveld Luau, and go back to the studio.

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 159

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:02:20 PDT

Sunspot in the Racine 4th of July parade, some classic cars in Reedsburg, and then hanging out in The Bastard Den.

Download the SD version here: http://sunspotmusic.com/roadmania/sunspot_rm_159_sd.m4vv

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 158

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 09:08:11 PDT

Rocking out and hanging out in Chicago and Milwaukee for our first podcast of the summer of 2011!

Download the SD version of the podcast here: http://sunspotmusic.com/roadmania/SunspotRoadManiaEp158SD-3270121-10381.m4v

Welcome to the Prozac World

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:05:59 PDT

Looks like we actually are becoming a Prozac World, because we're getting our drugs into the water supply.

Here's the article in National Geographic about Prozac being found in our Great Lakes and actually killing off bacteria there. We aren't just overmedicating our people now, we're actually doing it to our environment.

I started thinking about this a few months ago when I read a great New York Times article about how psychiatry is becoming more about pharmaceutical adjustments than it is about therapy. The gist of the article is that the "talking cure" has now become bad psychology because insurance companies can make more money by sending patients on 15-minute consultations with psychiatrists (who can prescribe "medications") and then send them to less-trained counselors for actual therapy. So the doctors who got into the business to actually help people are limited to chemical therapies because it's better for the bottom line. Over the past twenty years, psychotherapy declined while the amount of Americans taking antidepressants jumped.

I know that drugs can help. Whether it's self-medication through booze and pot or it's prescribed Xanax by your trusty doctor, chemicals can make us feel better, they can help us forget. But they're the just attacking the symptoms and not the causes. The cause isn't the chemical imbalance in your head, that's the symptom. The chemical imbalance is a result of the neural pathways being forged by feeling bad and as a result of those pathways being used again and again, it becomes easier for electrical impulses to flow through them, it's just becomes easier to feel bad or depressed. Chemicals can alleviate that and they can help create the new healthier pathways, but you have to get at the cause. You have to discover the root of the problem and deal with it.

When we sing about our Prozac Girl it's not about her being a loser, it's a criticism of the system that's not designed to make her better, but designed to make money off of her insurance company. She's given a panacea miracle drug that's supposed to make her feel good, but she's a teenage girl. When's the last time you met a teenage girl who's not prone to mood swings?

Depression is a fucking real and intense thing and it can ruin your life. And we need to help our friends that are affected by the Black Dog (as Churchill used to call his melancholy.) But shouldn't we be helping them by discovering the root causes and then working to fix them? Is depression just a bunch of chemicals floating around in our heads or is it a result of shit actually going wrong? We can use chemicals to help (I've seen people have complete changes of hearts under the influence of LSD - by the way, that's not a fucking recommendation to use LSD to change your life, that's fucking stupid.) I've seen prescribed medications really work to help people that can't make that step to being healthy through cognition and talking therapy alone. But shouldn't fucking with the chemistry of your mind be the last resort?

Don't our friends deserve better? Don't we all deserve the absolute goddamn best? The best means all of us helping you work through your problems in a real way, not just pushing them under the surface. And now we're only going deeper under the surface by poisoning our water with MAO Inhibitors. And we have no idea what kind of effect that's going to have.

There's no easy solution and we all hate E. Coli but this has to stop. We have to find a better way because right now we're a bunch of Frankensteins who are fucking with our environment in ways that we have no idea how it will turn out. I was shocked by this article because I didn't expect to see that the level of medication has become so prevalent that it's turning up in our water.

Oh well, shift the blame and everything will be just fine.

Sunspot Live From Space!

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:18:28 PDT

Ben couldn't make our show in La Crosse on May 13th, 2011 because he was called on a mission to the International Space Station. But the show must go on, so we called some friends at NASA to set up a satellite link. Here's some of our favorite bits!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 157

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:23:47 PDT

Adventures in Madison, Racine, Merrill, Elcho, and Marshfield. Hoyer Guitars, motorcycles, special videotaping to make sure that Ben can still make it to our La Crosse show, recumbent bicycles, tornado damage, all our love to Sean Kingston, and a special appearance by Leo Laporte from This Week in Tech!

Download the full SD version here.

Sunspot Request Page

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:25:45 PDT

So, with a bunch of all-nighter shows coming up, we often get questions about the set list and if we take requests and the answer is YOU BET... but we only take requests for Sunspot original tunes. Yeah, we're dicks like that.

Sure, we love a good cover tune and we always play our favorites. We adore bands like Radiohead, Metallica, Social D, Ramones, Pixies, Andrew WK, Queen, and Green Day and those songs are fun to play. We've learned a million songs over the years and we'll happily play the ones that we really dig. And for our friends' special events (like weddings or birthday parties) we'll even learn some because they gave us the honor of rocking one of their most important days on Earth. That being said...

#1 - We don't take requests for Creed or Nickelback. We've never actually heard of either of those bands, sorry.

#2 - Country? Sure, we'll play some country, but it's not going to be what you expect.

#3 - Lady Gaga or any disco song. Are you kidding me? Yeah, I've got a soft spot for ABBA in my dark heart, but c'mon now, we're a rock band. Would you go to an Elton John concert and ask for a Slayer song? (Come to think about it, a piano version of "Dead Skin Mask" might be badass.)

But, I can hear you say, I know some of your songs, but I don't know the name of my favorite. Well, we'll make it easy for you. We made a special Sunspot Request Page of all the original tunes we've ever played live. If you wanna hear any of our tracks live, just fill out the form and hit "send". We'll get the email and we'll do our damnedest to put it into the set. And if you get it to us at least 10 days before a show, we'll guarantee it's going to be in the set.

We love you guys and we wanna play your favorites at shows, so please use the form by clicking HERE and we'll get you those tunes live!

I thought we still lived in America

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Sun, 01 May 2011 15:16:08 PDT

Roller derby semi finals

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:39:15 PDT

Vixens are beating quad squad going into the half!

Mike as a guru? Ha! But here's some thoughts on D-I-Y

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:30:57 PDT

So, this week I posted my first real music business blog on Broadjam.com and along with hosting a music publicity seminar last month for the Madison Area Music Association, a couple of people have asked me whether or not I’m in the market to become a “music business guru”. Ha, not really. I don’t know the exact qualifications to be a guru (in fact, I think they encompass something about not quite making it, but realizing there’s an income stream in telling people about your experience - I’ve always had a problem in taking advice from people who aren’t where you want to be. Do you really want a financial advisor who’s not rich?), but one thing that I do think being a member of this band for the past 15 years has taught me is the power of DIY. When I was 21 years old, I really thought that a major label would pick us up, that we’d find our way into a recording contract and that we were going to be rich and famous. Our songs seemed to fit in to the alternative rock that was going on at the time in the late 90’s, we were quirky in that smartass marketable way, we had momentum, energy, and enthusiasm. I remember taking a full-time job for the summer working for the University and telling my boss that I could commit for now but as soon as the band takes off, well, I’m going to have to go be a rockstar, sorry (haha, I hope I didn’t sound like too much of an asshole.) I thought that we were going to have to come back to finish college, after all there wouldn’t be time with our schedule of world tours, filming videos, and copious amounts of partying and getting laid.

Well, that didn’t happen now, did it? (Well, we were always really good at partying.)

What did happen? D-I-Motherfucking-Y. Now, it’s the preferred way to do it (look at the hard-on everyone has for The Arcade Fire) and there’s a million indie music biz blogs and books with tips. It’s gone from books on “How To Get a Record Deal” to books about how to tackle the industry yourself. There’s awesome home recording software (Garageband if you’re an Apple person, but shit, Reaper is free and PCs are dirt cheap.) Back in the day, I watched bands who were trying to make it, to get in front of the right people, to get that A&R guy or manager or promoter to take an interest in you and the promise was that they’d take care of you, that they’d hold your hand all the way to the top. Sunspot even had a manager that was “connected” (whatever the fuck that means) and was working all of the angles he could. Shit, when Garageband.com was throwing around a quarter-million dollar record contract, it was even won by a Madison band (the awesome Monovox, I must’ve seen them a hundred times and we even had the honor of rocking with them a few times.) I just knew it that we were next. There was a promise that there was an industry you could “break into” and I watched bands like Monovox and Rockford’s immortal The Pimps break into it. How far behind could we be? Those guys were a little older, and all we had to do was pay our dues to get there. But success didn’t come fast enough, we were shopping around demos, hoping that they’d catch someone important’s attention. I read up on every single music industry resource that I could. I wanted to make sure that we were following the path that seemed to work. Besides the awful fashion sense of the era, we were doing everything we thought we were supposed to do. We followed every single rule except for moving out to one of the coasts. So, if we weren’t getting the attention we thought that we deserved, what were we going to do?

What was left to do? If we couldn’t get a company to pay for radio-ready versions of our songs, then that means it was time our demos graduated to full albums. If there was no one to make music videos for us, then godammit, we’re going to record our own. If we can’t find a booking agent to get us on a national tour with a big band, then we’re going to book a show in whatever city we want to play in, promote the living Hell out of it, and play. We were going to be the record label, publishing company, booking agent, publicist, and promoter ourselves. There’s only so much waiting that you can do. There were a ton of people who were supportive and wanted to help, there were a ton of clubs willing to take a chance on a band from the land of cheese, and there were a ton of people who enjoyed our music even though it was produced and paid for by ourselves, that came out to our live shows to see us play with a $300 PA and a lighting rig that Ben made from coffee cans in the basement of the house that we shared (and for the record, even though we’ve upgraded to a computer-run DMX light show, those coffee can lights still work!)

D-I-Y means to not wait for the magical record label fairy, it means to not wait for anyone to do anything for you that you’re not willing to do yourself. It means that you’re going to make your artistic statement to the best of your abilities. Shit, last year we made our first live concert DVD from our national tour. Booking each show was a struggle, how were we going to promote, how would we make the show successful? Figuring out how to make a stage show with synced videos and lights felt fucking impossible. Who else was doing this without a crew? How were they doing it? Why can’t I find an Internet forum that gives instructions? Well, we can’t, so screw it, let’s figure it out from scratch. Making the DVD was damn hard because I’d never edited anything much longer than 15 minutes before (and certainly not something on the lines of a cut every four seconds!) and we didn’t know how to create special features or a commentary or any of that stuff. But it felt important, it felt like our statement, it felt like we had to make this thing and deliver it to the world and nothing was going to stop us. And that’s it.

And that’s what I want to tell other bands. We’ve met so many talented musicians, amazing songwriters, and incredible performers. People that have just blown me the fuck away. People that I knew were going to be huge. And now most of them have broken up their band, quit playing, given up the dream and settled. So, what does that mean? It means you’ve got to not just love it, but you have to want it more than anything else in the world. And that’s not hy-fucking-perbole. You have to want it more than sleep, you have to want it more than security. You have to love it so much that you would run away with your Frankenstein’s Monster. The desire to create something awesome has to burn so hot that it itches so that you can’t rest until you’ve achieved it.

And that’s it.

I’m not complaining one iota. I escaped the cubicle, but only through a series of freelance projects in addition to rocking and rolling. And security is an illusion (usually fleeting), but it just doesn’t matter as long as you’re doing what you love and what you believe in.

Do. It. Yourself. Every single moment.

Every minute that we’re working on a song or a show or a video, there is nothing else in the world that I’d rather be doing. I know I’m in the right place. There is no second wasted, if it’s a second that’s devoted to Sunspot. You are your record label, you are your recording studio and you are your booking agent. Your open mic is Alpine Valley, your after-party is Hollywood Babylon. The power of refusing to wait is the greatest thing in the world. If you want to do something, do it. Now. That’s the power of D-I-Y, you’re creating the things that you want to create with absolute freedom. We’ve been the luckiest trio in the world and have had the best time in the world by not waiting for anything. Can’t get booked? Host your own party. Can’t make a video? Shoot it with your cellphone! Don’t know how to reach people? Try Facebook. My 74-year old father is on it, your friends and potential fans probably are too. You know what to do.

And know that it sucks sometimes. But know that when you’ve really done your best, there is no greater feeling. There’s no shot that goes down as smooth. There’s no hit that feels as righteous.

I just want to tell bands to please give a damn. You’re doing my favorite thing in the world, something sacred, something awesome. Doesn’t everyone have a pre-show ritual? Me, I hate playing without my necklace or spiking my hair, (call me Mister Shallow) I can’t stand the thought of performing without doing those things. That’s my ritual. Do you have one too? That means that it’s sacred, that means that it’s special, that means that it’s yours! That means that you can be proud because you created something beautiful from scratch and if there’s something better than that, I haven’t found it. What’s more awesome than playing a show or playing the shit out of a great song? What’s better than creation? After all, it’s our evolutionary imperative. We are driven to make.

Anyway, I’ve got some practical advice somewhere in there too, but we all know what we have to do. A million Facebook tutorials or intros to Tumblr (learn to fucking spell) aren’t going to do what just calling everyone you know before a show will do. Or just telling everyone you meet about your band. Or using Google and calling a newspaper to let them know you’ll be in there town. Don’t half-ass this, please. You’re disrespecting what I love. Don’t make music look like a refuge for the lazy and stoned. Do us all proud.

We’re in this together and the better my fellow rockers do, the better I do. The more I create myself, the better I’ll get at it. The less I wait for life to happen is the more that I’ve lived, So, really, I just want you to see you go for it, I want to see you Do It Yourself. I want other bands to kick ass because that’s what it’s all about. Why wait? Shit’s happening now! Your career (whatever the fuck that means!) is happening now, so let’s do it! Let’s get it going. I’ve tried to live by that with varying degrees of success, and I wouldn’t change it, even the shitty parts.

That’s as close as I get to guru-dom or music business advice, but it’s worth sharing because this way of life is extraordinary and making your way in the Wild West is something to be proud of. And it deserves you giving it your all.

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 156

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:23:02 PDT

A recap of the events of the past few weeks, including the Deus Ex Machina EP release party, a battle of the bands in Milwaukee, and some heavy metal welding of the trailer!

Direct download is available here: http://sunspotmusic.com/roadmania/sunspot_rm_156.mp4

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 4/9/2011 @ BBC in Milwaukee, WI

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:40:58 PDT

From 2011 DrummerCams

Battle of the Bands in Milwaukee on Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Sunspot) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:25:19 PDT

It's back to one of our favorite places in Milwaukee this weekend as we hit The BBC this Saturday night and this one is a Battle of the Bands so we're literally going to hit it.

It's been a long time since we've done one of these, but we're definitely ready and itching for a fight. I've been working out all week, punching things, and sparring to get ready to crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentation of their women. We've been watching videos of the other bands to see what kind of fighting style they use (wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, etc...) and honestly we haven't been able to tell. For some reason, in all of their videos, instead of kicking people's butts, ummm... they're playing music. Just like a bunch of grandmas. So it shouldn't be much trouble to defeat them. After all, are you going to serenade me to death with that keyboard when I'm beating you mercilessly with a chain? Are you going to tap out a little solo on us with a pair of drumsticks while being whomped with a sledge hammer? I doubt it. You'll be too busy screaming for mama to sing a song.

We've never actually fought anyone at the BBC yet, but I figure that throwing people down those deadly steep stairs is going to be essential to our strategy. Did I mention I've been working out? I have been. We've also been debating whether or not to rub baby oil all over our muscles before we get onstage just to intimidate the other bands with our rippling pecs and abs, glistening in the sun. Baby oil also makes you more slippery in case they get you in a chokehold or try a move like the dreaded Rear Admiral. I'm not sure on all the rules yet, but I'm assuming that edged weapons aren't allowed and I'm cool with that, blunt force trauma is fine and I totally agree about eye gouging, it's a cheap shot and it has no place in something dignified like a Battle of the Bands.

Skrude Loose has 5 guys so they've got an advantage there, and they don't care about spelling, which probably means that they're the kind of guys who aren't afraid to break the rules- that makes me a little nervous. Behemoth and Leviathan, however, is a duo, and judging from their pictures, they're not as big as their name would have you believe. I'm thinking if we team up on Skrude Loose first then we have a chance of taking those guys out and battling each other for the crown. That way we'd both stand a better chance. We'll see if we can trust those guys soon enough.

Anyway, I'm keeping a few things up our sleeves so that these guys won't know what hit them. I heard the winners get to pillage the other bands' equipment and make out with their girlfriends. We get into the ring at 9:30 sharp on Saturday. Our pain, your entertainment.

Three bands enter, one band leaves!