We're considering recording again.  No specific plans or album titles or songs yet ... just the desire and will to make it happen.  Which brings up a few interesting questions for you, our kick ass fans ... 

    1) did you like MARC7?
    2) do you dig Start It Over?
    3) what's your dream Maktub recording senario?

I can't tell you that we'll follow your advice but it's fun to consider all of the above with the help of friends. One thing we've learned over the years is less planning is better for us. Well, maybe not less planning but fewer expectations about what's going to happen in the studio and what may come out of a given recording session. I used to use the over-used analogy of "hearding cats" as it relates to recording Maktub but anymore I think of it as juggling a dozen donuts while lying in bed. Pretty much impossible and if you just leave the donuts in the box on the counter it's much better for everyone involved. Unjuggled donuts are delicious in and of themselves.

Consider this: a box of unjuggled Maktub donuts in the recording studio with a MARC8 club yet-to-be-defined. Whet the appetite?

It's been a while, friends. We're all happily doing our respective Maktub things in our respective corners of the globe. We're beginning the process of dreaming up grand new adventures for the band. More to report on that soon enough ... in the meantime I've been responding to quite a few people in search of lyrics.  Currently I have everything that I know posted here. If anyone wants to help fill in the blanks feel free to email me missing lyrics (feel free to jump in Reggie). I love Reggie like a crazy uncle but I tend to be the voracious typer in the band so I'm happy to transcribe if anyone out there has missing lyrics to forward me.

In other news, I was talking to Thaddeus the other day and he was reminding me what a strange and great time we had making Start It Over. Looking forward to recording again soon ...

Brian Fitgerald (aka Fitzy) sent me an mp3 of a remix of Just Can't Make from Maktub's first album Subtle Ways. It's a great little track and you can download it for free (if that links doesn't work, go here and give it a shot).  I emailed Fitzy today to ask if I could throw up the mp3 on the site.  Not knowing each other, it was cool to learn about current events in Brian's life.  Straight from the Fitzy ...


Go Fitzy!

There's a great Seattle PI blog post about the 20 meanest love songs ... of all times.  The author, Athima Chansanchai, had her own personal list (the article referenced an AOL's Music Spinner list) and wouldn'tcha know that Maktub's 20 Years made her top 5 list. Love it!  Which got me to thinking which line in that song is Athima thinking is truly mean. I'd never thought of it as a mean love song, but alternate interpretations of lyrics are ususally better than the lyricist's intentions. Agree, Reggie? 

Anybody have an opinon on what lines are particularly cruel in 20 Years (or any Maktub song for that matter)? Athima, if you're reading this let us know what you think. Maybe it's as simple as "20 years from now, we still remain the same"?

The week we were preparing for the New Years show we had photographer Greg Bleakney (a friend-of-a-friend) follow us a round a bit and snap photos. We haven't reviewed the photos yet (he took about 1,500) but we'll show them off once we've got a manageable number organized. In the meantime, read Greg's great blog post. An excerpt ...

"Maktub is hands down, my favorite band. During my Ribbon Of Road bicycle tour, their music got me through the low points of my assault in Central America and powered me up and over 16,000 foot passes in the Andes. Therefore, I was truly honored when they accepted my proposal to photo document them as they prepared for their big New Year's eve concert in Seattle."

We all had a great time on New Years @ The Showbox in Seattle. Thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting us. Here's a couple nice snapshots from photographer Gregg Bleakney:



Big thanks to our crew for their help on New Years:
    Michael "Pinky" von Kempf (stage manager)
    Thane Mitchell (drum tech)
    David Verkade (lights)
    Jason Ringelstetter (sound)

Hope to see everyone out at the Showbox New Years Eve gig today in Seattle. We're rehearsing today at noon (again).  You can still buy tickets here or at the door the day of show.

Maktub is playing at 11:30pm sharp (if not a few minutes earlier).

We're busy getting ready for the Maktub New Years Eve show at The Showbox in Seattle. Tickets are selling at a nice clip so you may want to buy your tickets before the gig. The lovely and talented Carrie Akre will be opening. A friend of all, we're thrilled to be playing with Carrie. In addition the unstoppable, unbreakable, unbearably awesome Kid Hops of KEXP fame will be DJ'ing the night away. Expect greatness!

Maktub
Carrie Akre
Kid Hops
Monday, December 31st
Showbox @ The Market
1426 First Avenue - Seattle, WA

A nice article in the Seattle Times today about patron support of the arts in all its forms. There's a section on funding of the latest Maktub album:

But look who we're behind ... Various Artists off KEXP (a good group to follow). Thanks for buying records in Seattle folks -- we appreciate it!  This is from the Seattle Mayor's Office of Film & Music (you have to scroll to the bottom of the page).

Nice to see a Maktub MARC7 sticker on a beat up truck in Ballard last week ...

Or so says Michael Deeds in his new Idaho Statesman review of the new album. I always find it interesting how good critics keep their writing about music alive when they're continually writing about the same subject  ... but Deeds manages to unleash a few humdingers in his review.  A particularly great passage: