Okay, horrible pun ... but thank you John Fossett for appreciating us. Right back atcha! Maktub: Honestly, these guys were the first of the Nu-Soul movement to grab my attention. While Reggie Watts vocal acrobatics may be a showstopper, the musicians are top-shelf and the band is tight. I love all of their CDs, but "Khronos" is still my favorite.
Many moons ago Daniel's director friend Sue Corcoran asked if he and Reggie would be willing to be filmed for an MTV project called $5 Dollar Cover Seattle. We agreed, she swooped in early one day at Daniel's house, filmed a bunch as we attempted to "jam" early in the morning. Fast forward to present day and MTV has released this as one of many $5 Cover Seattle videos. Thanks Sue, Vince and the other folks that helped out!
Daniel (me) ran into Cory from People Within at Uptown Espresso today in SLU. His favorite Maktub show was Bumbershoot 2007-ish? Here's a picture of us (I look like a turtle) but you get the point: he wears orange, I wear green. We should start a basketball team.
Crossed paths with Larry Metro moments ago (thanks for locating the size 'L' Hollow Earth Radio t-shirt). Larry's DJ resume: KCMU > KEXP > Hollow Earth Radio. Larry is loving HER and has a stellar Friday show you should check out. And, as fate would have it, Larry has attended quite a few Maktub shows (even MC'ing one of our Bumbershoot gigs).
Hollow Earth Radio is a Seattle-based non-profit (for now) streaming-only radio station. It's gathering a lot of steam lately, having just moved out of the attic and into a storefront space on 21st & E. Union. Go Larry! Go Hollow Earth!
"At some point, I want people to feel confused," says Reggie Watts, 38, splayed across his Manhattan hotel bed. A biracial Montanan with bright-pink fingernails and a giant Afro, he played in rock and jazz bands before getting into comedy. Last spring, Conan O'Brien picked him to open his national tour, and in a few days he's shooting a Comedy Central pilot for a "trippy variety show." A typical set of his includes improvised electronic-music loops, squirrel impressions and a 15-minute autobiographical doo-wop freestyle. The closest he comes to a joke? "A panther walks into a gazebo. Man doesn't have enough time to say anything, because he's killed instantly." - Rolling Stone 2010 Hot List
words 'n photo in this blog post the property of Rolling Stone
Here's a tune we kinda forgot about. It was recorded quickly in Daniel's bedroom a few years ago with Reggie laying the vocal idea down over a drum machine track and some "fake" scratch keys. This was all recorded directly into a lil' Mac laptop using Garageband. When we recorded the FIVE album in 2009 the band laid "real" instruments over the scratch tracks and just kept Reggie's original vocal (and Daniel's backup vocals). We've always written songs quickly, but this is one Reg conceived and captured while the band didn't enter the picture with real instruments for a few years. The original tune we called "Goodbye Yesterday". We changed the name to "Coffee" with the updated version. They're both interesting versions of the same tune. Listen to Coffee (the updated version):
Click the play icon below to hear the original Goodbye Yesterday scratch track. The vocals are the same in each but the original scratch instruments were replaced in the final Coffee version (above).
An experiment worth trying: Slash of G'nR fame and Maktub of Maktub fame, recording 3 songs together. Go vote for Maktub and participate in the strangest musical plot hatched in many moons.
It's been a while since we've had the entire Maktub catalog available for sale on maktub.com. Between trying to communicate through the crazy web with external ordering systems and not having all the product on hand ... well, let's just say that was then, this is now. As of yesterday, you can buy any of our 5 albums as such:
And as an added bonus, you can buy all our CDs as 5-Pak for $40. This includes free shipping in the US ($8 shipping if you're elsewhere). Such a deal!
Now for the lost track. We recorded "Holding On" as part of the Khronos sessions in 1999. Somehow the song didn't make it on the album and we just recently stumbled up on it. Turns out that it's a pretty great tune. Here you go:
Daniel (that's me) ran into Luke at Banana Republic in Seattle's U Village yesterday. He introduced himself and we talked about the Neumo's show where he last saw the band. Time warp! I ended up scouring the sale for a sweatshirt ($24.99 if you're curious). But the real question about buying anything there is if you wait another month will it be $9.99 -- down all the way from $50? Sometimes you've just got to pull the trigger.
