BUTTON BLOG, 3.0!

Just cause I know Brendan loves it soooo much....

Mount San Antonio (Mt. Baldy) - 10/10/09...

~Matt

A Fond Farewell to a Friend... (Hotel Cafe, 9/12/09)

I know this is about a month late, but I figured we should post the gigography from Jeff's last show with The Quiet. It was definitely a fun one... and a great note to go out on -- as perfectly captured by this video. Here's to all the great memories Jeff.

Set list:

Live Life Now

Change Your Heart

She Will Have Her Way

Company You Keep

Summers Gone

On The Sideline

Another Heartache

I Do

Just a Friend (Biz Markie Cover)

The "Why".

As we inch closer to the halfway mark on our kickstarter fundraiser project, I figured it might be the right time to address a question I know a number of our friends and family might be asking themselves which is "why keep doing this?".

Over two years ago, we released our first CD. Did it bring us fortune? No. Did it bring us thousands of fans? No. Did the major labels come calling? Yes. Did anything come from it? No. And yet here we are gearing up to do it all over again.

So why are we doing this?

After the last CD came out, we did have interest from various labels. Interest to the point we got pages of notes from some of the executives, and feedback from some others, that left us looking at our music in ways we hadn't really thought of before. While some of the stuff was shallow record industry stuff we scoffed at (always act single and don't mention girlfriends on stage), some of it hit a nail on the head that we didn't even know needed hitting... which was: it's about songs, songs, songs. We had a CD with a number of good songs on it, and a number of other songs with really good parts... but then we'd go off and do things that were interesting to us as musicians, and not really interesting to an audience member listening. We had a tendency to do things because we thought it would sound cool, not because the song needed it.

When we sat down to look at the songs we had recorded on that CD, we suddenly saw them in a new light... deconstructing and reconstructing the way we played them. The two most popular songs from the CD-- I Do, and Everything & Nothing, remained mostly unchanged. The other songs ended up with new bridges, new solos, and suddenly they fit comfortably along with I Do, and Everything and Nothing.

This then began to bleed over into the new material we were working on. Suddenly we were writing songs with the idea that everything needed to be there for a reason. The songs finally became about every part working together, playing off each other, as one piece, not 5 musicians playing parts.

And the funny thing that happened was... suddenly the band that was playing out in support of the CD... wasn't the band represented on the CD. And it was at that point we realized, we needed to record again.

And this brings us to the "why" question we mentioned about 500 words ago. Before even launching this kickstarter project, and thinking of going into the studio... we had to each go and individually think about why we were doing this, and what this meant to us. For some of us, it was easy. It came down to a quote from Van "the man" Morrison: "When you make music, not doing it is not an option.”

However, the nature of being in a band does take a toll on many other aspects of your life... it's like having a 2nd job with no paycheck really, so friendships suffer, relationships suffer, your free time suffers. For reasons such as this as well as others, we lost Jeff, a founding member of the band.

Personally, I knew that even if I wasn't in this band, I would be sitting at home writing songs, playing to an audience of my girlfriend, or my cat. The idea of not having music is something I couldn't deal with. Music has been an important part of my life since I was younger, and is something that is going to be a part of my life as long as I can still do it. And the fact I can get up on stage with friends, playing music that we've created, and the fact we can play that music for an audience that supports us, no matter how big or small it is... well that is reason enough to keep doing it. That's why.

Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles, CA, 8/15/09

A loud and energetic audience fueled the latest Quiet stop at the Hotel Cafe. The second to last show before Jeff leaves the band saw us leaving the horn section and light up vest behind, but the rambunctious crowd more than made up for it. We rolled out the newer songs with style, and the audience ramped up Another Heartache to an 11 with our forced arena rock moment of shouting "HEY!" on the designated breaks. We got to feel like Green Day for a shining moment. September is just around the corner, with the big farewell to Jeff show, so we'll make sure it's one for the books.

set:

Caravan (Van Morrison)
Come November
Everything and Nothing
Let it Fall
The Company You Keep
One More Chance
On the Sideline
Another Heartache
Live Life Now
Oh Darling! (The Beatles)

Band News

Jeff Kaptain, founding member of the band Plan-R, which eventually became The Quiet, will be leaving the band next month. He's going to be with us for two more shows, so if you haven't rolled out for awhile, you should come on out and say goodbye with us this weekend. The details and a note from Jeff follow:

Jeff's First (of 2) Goodbye Show!

Hotel Cafe - 10PM (sharp)

1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd

Hollywood, CA 90028

21+, $10 cover

And from Jeff:

Hello, Everyone.

I am writing to let you all know that I have made the incredibly difficult decision to leave The Quiet. I am sure many of you who have followed us through the years must know just how hard this decision was for me. However, in looking at my life right now in the broadest possible scope, I am confident that this is the best decision for me to make at this time.

For all of you who have supported the band and the music for the years of my life I have dedicated to it, you have my deepest gratitude for the love and support you have given. I will always consider myself part of The Quiet family, and I don't believe there are better people than the current group of guys to carry on what we all have put so much into.

My final two local shows with the band will be our August 15 and September 12 Hotel Cafe shows. Thank you again for all of your support...looking forward to seeing you at our upcoming shows.

-- Jeff

Gigography - Lestat's, San Diego, 8-5-09

San Diego twice in one year? Christmas came early for The Quiet!

If that was the kind of thing you wanted for Christmas.

By leaving the full band at home, Brendan and Matt ensured that the 5 people in the crowd outnumbered the 2 band members on stage. The loud, appreciative, and small group was treated to a completely earth shattering acoustic debut of the first ever Quiet Wham! cover.

She Will Have Her Way
Torquemada
It Would Be Funny
Everything and Nothing
On the Sideline
Summers Gone
One More Chance
Another Heartache
Careless Whisper (Wham! cover, first time played)

The Hotel Cafe, 7-17-09

We built this show up as if Jesus himself was going to return in the middle of it. Luckily, it was a good show, so no one formed any sort of disappointment/hate mob after the show. Two new songs, and a new cover, a horn section, a backup singer, all mixed in well to create another solid entry in our monthly visits to the Hotel Cafe.

Live Life Now
Torquemada
Stranglehold
I Do
One More Chance
Another Heartache (new, first time played)
On the Sideline
Let it Fall (new, first time played)
Change Your Heart
Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel, first time played)

The OC State Fair

Nothing beats rocking out sandwiched between beers of the world, funnel cakes, and a sand sculpture of Weird Al's head. Also, nothing beats following a senior citizen balloon hat contest, and self-censoring anything that remotely resembles a swear word in your songs because there's a family with their little daughter dancing to your music in the front row.

Our good friend Edgar documented the festivities, so we will have pictures and video uploaded soon.

BUTTON BLOG!!! 2.0

In an attempt to have some measurable progress for the band... a Quiet button was placed in the visitors log case at the top of Mount Baden-Powell yesterday at approximately 12:30PM. Now the highest known elevation a Quiet button resides is 9,407 ft above sea level.

Brendan loves it when I post my "Robert Frost, Walden bullshit."

~Matt

The Mint, Los Angeles, CA 7-9-08

After years of playing out in LA, we played The Mint for the first time last night. We followed Kevin Hearn, multi-instrumentalist extroardinnaire for Barenaked Ladies. We were lame enough to actually cover a Barenaked Ladies song in honor of the evening-- but we think it went over a-ok. And Kevin's crowd was nice enough to stick around for our set, which isn't typical of an LA gig, so thanks to all those lovely people for giving us a listen.

The set:

Live Life Now
Change Your Heart
Stranglehold
Everything and Nothing
Break Your Heart (BNL cover)
One More Chance
The Company You Keep
On the Sideline
Torquemada
I Do

Quiet Button Reaches New Heights

Yesterday, around 3:30PM, a Quiet button was placed in one of the "Visitor's Record" tins on the top of the Cucamonga Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains -- about an hour from Los Angeles. As far as I know it is the highest place where a Quiet button resides at 8,859 feet above sea level.

Not that anyone really cares. I just thought I would share... (that is the essence of blogs though, right?)

~Matt

Gigography - Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ 6-26-09

A drive out to the 100+ degree desert for our first out of state show. There was a lot of sweating. A big thanks to local AZ band The Great Migration for giving us a backline and saving us a trailer rental.

You Can Have it All

Torquemada

On the Sideline

The Company You Keep

One More Chance

Everything and Nothing

Change Your Heart

Caravan

Setlist Renaissance Hotel, Hollywood, 6/25/09

We went out in style at the Renaissance. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it such a fun show!

Live Life Now
Nothing is Forever
Come November
It Would Be Funny
Summers Gone
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Beauty in Sadness
Torquemada
I Do
Sir Duke

She Will Have Her Way
Change Your Heart
Stranglehold
Suit Yourself
The Rapture
Let it Out
I've Just Seen a Face
On the Sideline
One More Chance
Everything and Nothing
Caravan

encore:
The Company You Keep
I've Got A Woman

Burger King, WTF?

That is all.

Gigography - Saint Rocke, Hermosa Beach, 6-21-09

Jeff, Matt, and Brendan rolled into Hermosa Beach to soft rock the crowd with some acoustic shenanigans.

Images of Jeff, Matt, and Brendan from the show and setlist below:

Matt rocked guitar: Jeff played upright bass (naked): Brendan on vox/piano:


She Was Like Yesterday
It Would Be Funny
Everything and Nothing
On the Sideline
Summers Gone
One More Chance
Please, Please, Please (The Smiths)
The Beauty in Sadness
Torquemada
I Do

Renaissance Residency Setlist, June 18th, 2009

Week two of our residency went off without a hitch, and on time, thanks to the Lakers victory that left Dana sobbing for days. A few shakeups in the setlist to keep things interesting.

Live Life Now
Come November
It Would Be Funny
Summers Gone
I've Just Seen A Face
Torquemada
Crowing (Toad the Wet Sprocket cover, first time played)
The Rapture
I Do
Stranglehold
Patience (Guns N Roses)

Too Late to Cry
Don't Let it Bring You Down (Neil Young, first time played)
She Was Like Yesterday
The Beauty in Sadness
She Will Have Her Way
Let it Out
On the Sideline
One More Chance
Everything and Nothing
Change Your Heart>So Lonely (The Police)> Change Your Heart

Overdue Gigographies

Ok, we've played a number of shows, and haven't reported on them. Obviously that has caused an uproar, and we can set it right now by saying, we played shows, and most of them were mostly awesome. Accurate setlists would be hard to come up with, especially since in two cases, we ended up switching all kinds of things around from what we had written out. But here's some highlights:

The Hotel Cafe, June 5th

We played The Beauty in Sadness for the first time in about a year. Then the Hotel Cafe apparently had to replace the roof, because we tore holes through it with a loud audience enhanced cover of Good Lovin' by The Rascals.

The Renaissance Hotel, June 11th

The first night of a 3 week residency kicked off in a rather late fashion, due to the Lakers going into overtime, and us not wanting to disturb the rabid fanbase gathered in the bar to watch. Once we were sure we weren't going to get our asses kicked for interrupting the game (and Dana was done crying over the Lakers winning), we launched into a 100 minute acoustic set full of songs we don't get the chance to play all that often, including fan (Vince) favorites Come November, as well as lesser played album tracks The Rapture, and Let it Out.

Malibu Winery, June 12th

Our first outdoor show in quite some time took some getting used to, but once we settled in we delivered a 110 minute set of full on The Quiet rocking. Our second full set in a row saw a few other rarely played fan favorites (Vince and Stacia) like Go it Alone, and thanks to an amp delay, the first She Was Like Yesterday since 2006. Key learning: if your fingers are cold and slightly numb, it's not easy to try pulling off Sir Duke.

Life on Wilshire, June 15th

Matt and Brendan showed up and played 3 songs acoustic-- Summers Gone, One More Chance, and On the Sideline. These aren't highlights, it's just what happened.

Old Friends

Over the years we've had the pleasure of playing with many a fine band. We've also played with some bands that aren't worth remembering, and some bands that are worth remembering for all the wrong reasons-- but this post isn't about those bands (though we should come up with one for later-- there was a band I remember calling "Death Wedding" in particular that I would love to track down as a where are they now kind of thing)-- this post is about a couple artists we played with over the years that have some music out that you should check out if you have the time or money.

Until June has released a follow up EP to their debut album from 2007. We've played with these guys more than any other band in the LA scene, and they are great guys, and deserve all the success they can get, so show them some love!

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=314331214&s=143441

A few years ago we were booking one Wednesday night a month at the Derby in Los Feliz-- there was no cover, no typical industry BS, and we got to book bands WE wanted to hear play and not worry about getting people through the door and all that. Even though I don't know this for sure-- Until June showcased one of those nights, so I'd like to think that was the ngiht they got signed. Anyway, through those nights, we were introduced to Diane Birch, who I remember seeing and thinking "if this girl doesn't make it in music, there's no hope for any of us."

Well today, she is the free download single of the week on itunes, and her album is available for pre-order. From the clips on her myspace, this is going to be a damn fine album, so congrats to her, and check it out for yo' self, yo.

free single (this week only):

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=316586924&s=143441

album pre-order:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPreorder?id=315660531&s=143441

Congrats to both these guys. Now it's time to look up the real name of that Death Wedding band.

Gigography - Lestat's, San Diego, 5-8-09

Our first trip to San Diego in a number of years was much more of a success than the last one, with a good turnout, and a good show to boot. Thanks to everyone that stuck out for our very "rock and roll" hour late start. And special thanks to Cynthia, who we met for the first time after having her as a fan for a number of years on myspace, and who was able to provide a ton of great video and photographic documentation of the show!

The Company You Keep

One More Chance


setlist:

Live Life Now
Change Your Heart
Everything and Nothing
The Company You Keep
One More Chance
On the Sideline
It Would Be Funny
You Can Have it All
Torquemada
I Do
Caravan

Gigography - Renaissance Hotel, Hollywood, 5-7-09

When going on family vacations or school trips growing up, I would always get excited to see a piano in the hotel we were staying at, only to get bummed out when it was completely locked and I couldn't play it. So tonight, along with Matt, I finally played a piano in a hotel lobby-- and it was way better than I could have hoped. And after we finished, a homeless man dressed as a pirate, talking like Tony Montana, wanted to jam with us on harmonica. We'll be playing the Renaissance every Thursday in June-- so perhaps that homeless man's dreams can come true soon too.

setlist:

She Will Have Her Way
It Would Be Funny
On the Sideline
One More Chance
I Do

Gigography- Saint Rocke, Hermosa Beach, April 30th, 2009

If nothing else ends up being said about 2009, The Quiet can at least say we were fortunate to discover and play some very cool, exciting new venues this year. First we added Zoey's Cafe to the list of clubs that are actually a pleasure to play (along with The Hotel Cafe and the Troubadour), and now we can add Saint Rocke, a revelation of a venue in the South Bay. We always look forward to playing our music, but it's a rare occurance to find a new venue that actually looks forward to hearing it. Our only regret was that we ate dinnner before getting to the club, because their food looks freakin' delicious. Next time gadget. Next time.

As for the show-- tough to top the Hotel Cafe show so soon, but this was a little more laid back and free wheelin' as well. We let uber fan Veronica (the star of that last Hollywood Attic blog) pick the next song of the set at one point, and so Torquemada finally made an appearance.

setlist:

Live Life Now
Change Your Heart
Clarion Call
One More Chance
On the Sideline
Torquemada (by request)
Everything and Nothing
I Do
Caravan
The Company You Keep

Gigography - Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, April 17th, 2009

This show was pretty kicking. Many long time followers of the band said it was the best show yet, and for once you don't have to take our words for it:

http://thehollywoodattic.blogspot.com/2009/04/epic-night-hotel-cafe.html

the setlist:

Live Life Now
Change Your Heart
She Will Have Her Way
The Company You Keep (original, first time played)
One More Chance
On the Sideline
Everything and Nothing
Stranglehold (original, first time played)
I Do
Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing/Treat Her Right (Chris Isaak/Roy Head, first time played)

Gigography - Zoey's Cafe, Ventura, April 2nd, 2009

Every once and awhile you end up playing a venue that is actually an honor to play, rather than just an obligation. In our case, it's only really happened a handful of times with The Hotel Cafe, the Troubadour, and now Zoey's Cafe in Ventura. Not that there's anything wrong with most of the other places we play, these places just seem to go out of their way to make you feel welcome, and Zoey's truly goes the extra mile, which made for a very relaxed show. Far From Kansas was the first band up, and like us, performed acoustic, and minus a number of members. But JD Levin and Claire Winters couldn't have brought a nicer crowd, or been any cooler, so it was a blast to play with them.

Our set is below, suffice to say, it went well enough we even played an encore-- though I believe it was only JD who was calling for one, but we obliged with honor.

She Will Have Her Way
It Would Be Funny
Everything and Nothing
Torquemada
Summers Gone
One More Chance
I Do
When I Fall (Barenaked Ladies)
The Rapture
On the Sideline
Don't Dream It's Over (Crowded House)

encore:
Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder)

Gigography - Gypsy Lounge, March 31st, 2009

Matt pointed out the last time we had played Gypsy Lounge was on this exact same date a few years ago, still in the Plan-R days. Touching.

Some things had changed... they had current-events related graffiti on the bathroom walls:


This was the 2nd acoustic performance for Matt and I. It happened. The 3-5 people playing pool through the set can confirm that.

setlist:
I Do
You Can Have it All
It Would Be Funny (If It Wasn't So Sad)
On the Sideline
Summers Gone
Don't Dream It's Over (Crowded House cover)

The Gigography Returns!!!

Awwwww yes. Thanks to Bloggery, and a case of show induced insomnia, the much loved (by at least Vince and actual band members) Gigography can live again!

Tonight The Quiet stripped down to an acoustic duo with me on piano/mandolin, and Matt holding up the guitar duties. Our new friends The Steelwells invited us to join them in Costa Mesa for a gig at La Cave. While we're not ready for prime time just yet, for a first show in this format, it wasn't bad at all. Well, parts of the show closing Sir Duke cover were pretty bad, but the audience was clapping along and didn't seem to mind. Plus La Cave is also a steak/seafood restaurant, so they didn't mind us serving up clams.

Things we learned tonight: La Cave is dark. And The Steelwells put on a great night of music that was just fun to be a part of.

the set:
Summers Gone
On the Sideline
One More Chance
Live Life Now (now AKA: Requiem for Space Bat)
Torquemada
Sir Duke

Video from the show proves La Cave is dark (video is minus the opening dedication to Space Bat, R.I.P.):

The Quiet (poster) makes an appearance on "Last Call with Carson Daly"

So I finally found a reason to post.  I was tooling around Myspace and I stumbled upon this nice little video about our beloved Hotel Cafe that aired on Last Call with Carson Daly:

You'll notice the video counts down the 3:41 runtime... when it reads 3:16/3:15 counting down, pause it and you'll see in the upper left corner The Quiet poster from our October 18th, 2008 show, designed by Ashley Tiedgen (below).  I thought it was pretty cool... Hey, I'll take it where I can get it folks...

Bedroom Shenanigans

The Quiet adds themselves to the list of millions of people uploading mellow covers of songs onto YouTube. We figured, we spend hours doing crap like this anyway, why not record it and upload it?

Welcome!

Welcome all 2-5 of you to the new blog of The Quiet. Blogs have certainly come a long way since early 2007-- the last time we updated our old website... we hope to spend hours here writing about complete nonsense, posting photos, videos, whatever else we can come up with to fill these pages. And hopefully, we'll do it a little more often than before.

Love it.

The Quiet.